Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nail Drama!

Today was nail, ear, and teeth day and I know the dogs never look forward to it because honestly I don't either. Nubs is good for it. He'll pull his paw away a few times, but overall lets me do whatever I wanted to him without too much hassle. It wasn't always like this as at one time it took 2 people holding him down and lots of treats and peanut butter to get all four feet done. Today that's a thing of the past but with Peanut the nightmare is all returning.

I sat down on the floor while Peanut watched me do Nubs's nails and ears from the couch. I figure maybe if she see's that big brother doesn't mind his nails being clipped and dremeled that she'll learn it's ok as well. Hey it worked with the Hair Dryer! When I finished with Nubs I had him go lay down and called Peanut over. She walks up all shy, with that cute little loving look in her eye and walked past me at first then walked right into my lap, laid down and curled up with me laying her head on my chest and just gave me the cutest/sweetest kiss on my chin. I mean how can you not MELT when your dog does that? Nubs was not happy about his Mom cuddling with Peanut on the floor and ended up being banished to his crate. Nubs standing there demanding my attention, licking at my face frantically isn't going to get you far!

So after I ended the cuddle with Peanut (which was so hard I tell you), it was time to go to work. First I play with her paws a tad getting her use to being handled again, and I snip the first nail, and that was the end of nail clipping on her for the day. She jumped up, gave me that "OH HOW DARE YOU VIOLATE ME LIKE THAT!" look, and walked away. I didn't clip it too short, in fact I only took of the tip because she moved and I didn't want to get too much. She was being that big of a diva. I should have known not to even try the dremel, but did anyways. Yeah, that is going to take some work.

On a good note, Peanut knows how to speak on command! The bad news is she has a horrible, screeching bark and she knows how to bark on command :(. Life around here is never boring that's for sure.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Life with a Nose Working Dog

I've been battling a nasty little cold the past few days so last night I decided to take some Nightquil to knock me out so I could sleep. The only issue with the stuff I have is the next morning it is HARD to wake up. My normal wake up time is 9am yet today I rolled out of bed at 10:30am. Oops!

Nubs was whining in his crate because his food was an hour late, and Peanut was whining because her daily dose of morning heat from the heater was an hour late. I feed them, let them outside, then decide that because of how sick I am, breakfast would be a good thing to help keep me up and going at work. I had some left over ham from New Years Day, then the last 6 eggs, and 4 slices of cheese... Scrambled eggs anyone?

I sit everything out, and turn on what is now known in my house as the "Puppy sitter" AKA the furnace and then let the dogs back inside. Nubs makes a mad dash to the heater, with Peanut on his heals. As she passes the food on the counter top, you can just see the wheels in her head start turning. I'm surprised that she didn't get whiplash with how fast her head whipped back toward the smell of the food. Her body followed her head and she ended up on her belly resembling Bambi and his first steps on ice.

It only took her a few seconds to get her footing, and she was doing her thing trying to locate where the source of smell was coming from. It took her 3 seconds to locate the bowl of Ham on the counter and .2 seconds to indicate to me that she had found the smell. How does she indicate you ask? Well, what better way then paws on the counter and taking the ham bowl in her mouth and trying to pull it off the counter.

Me- "Peanut, thank you for locating that smell. What would I do without you?"
Peanut - "No need to thank me Mom. Just give me the reward of eating the ham, and we will call it good"
Me- "I don't think so young lady. This is my food and that's that."
Peanut- "Tough call Mom. I think you will give me that ham or I will melt you with the power of cuteness!"
Me- "Try me!"

It didn't work. Peanut was put outside the kitchen (which lasted a whole 30seconds) and I went back to making my food.

Nose working dogs are great dogs, but their noses NEVER turn off.