Sunday, September 23, 2007

101 Reasons to Carry Kibble in Your Pocket

There's probably more than 101 reasons to carry kibble in your pocket, but it's a good start. Somewhere I will actually write all 101 reasons, but this is a great place to start, one at a time. I'll make reason #1, the one that inspired me to write this -- it happened to me at the park today - and fortunately I had kibble in my pocket to help someone else.

1) Your dog has taken another dog's ball/toy at the park. Your dog plays keep away with its new found object of desire and the poor other dog looks very sad and confused. Your dog won't even come near you when you approach because it has always found that the keep-away game is fun and works. So, offer a treat, approach very slowly or run the other direction if necessary; request a sit - say the word "drop" as the treat is placed near their nose, and -voilĂ ! - the ball drops, you pick up the ball, your dog gets the treat, and everyone is more or less happy. (Of course, the underlying issue here, teaching your puppy dog to only touch their toys and not take anyone elses - but that's an entirely different chapter.)

2) - 101) To come . . .


Until the next inspiration,

The Puppy Nanny

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Why we go to the park in the first place . . .

I wanted to share something that happened to me recently. I live on in the Richmond and visit Mt. Lake Park on a regular basis. There is an entrance from 8th Avenue that leads right up into the park where the dog run is. I have normally thought of the dog run area as pretty safe since the street is way behind it and while a dog could escape, if you were paying attention, it wouldn't be a problem.

As I was walking down Lake Street passed the 8th Avenue entrance, a little black dog was running around and it came up to me, then it checked out some people behind me -- I asked them if it was there dog since it was running around off leash, and I didn't remember seeing them with a dog earlier. It was not their dog -- and there was no other person around, no one getting out of a car, no one walking down the steps from the park.

So, I figured he was an escapee -- and I called him to follow me up to the park, he took off ahead and before I could get up there since I'm still not walking at canine speed, he was wrestling around with another pup. I recognized someone I knew and asked who the little black dog belonged to and she pointed to a gentleman sitting in the grass with a bunch of people chatting. So I told him his dog was out running around on Lake Street and I that I had ushered him back to the park. Acting very hohum, they essentially had a conversation with the dog asking him "what he as doing down there - naughty dog".

Excuse me -- Naughty Person - roll up the newspaper and hit yourself in the head. Fortunately, a happy ending for everyone. So - please don't be the person who sits around at the park, chatting away with people, drinking your coffee, while your dog runs out of the park and down the street and you have not even noticed! It was just a painful reminder for me as to how many people get so absorbed in their dog park social life - they forget why they are there in the first place.

Safety to all,

The Puppy Nanny