Thursday, January 26, 2006

Does your dog ever do this? Here is a picture of our puppy dutifully licking the dirty dishwasher. It's not that we want him to do this. We just can't keep him away. His favorite thing is licking the cheesy whisk left over from making homemade mac 'n cheese. If you're wondering what that thing is on his ear, it's a wet Cheerio! He started licking when I put the cereal bowls in the top rack and a Cheerio dropped on his head. What annoying/embarrassing habits does your pet have? Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Karen said...

Okay, I'm laughing OUT LOUD at the wet Cheerio!! I WAS wondering what that was on his ear!!

Our dog eats cat litter. Correction. She eats what's IN the cat litter.

Nasty...just nasty.

Roberta said...

Oh Meredith, don't get me started!!! Our dog, now 8 months old, eats everything. I cannot tell you how startling (and then disgusting) it is to wake up to her barfing...usually chunks of plastic...she has eaten her toys and the kids toys and the dustpan and the hard plastic edge around the table, and oh yeah her blankets. Now she has decided to revisit the idea of eating the woodwork. I smooshed cayenne pepper into two spots where she did her damage, told her "NO!" and turned around. She immediately licked it, went back later and licked again. I just refilled one of the areas and what did she do? Lick it AGAIN!!! She licks the windows, the fridge door, the metal handrail, us. We don't find ourselves to be "dog people" so her behavior is not so endearing, maybe that adds to her oddness. She is neurotic I tell ya! Perhaps it's lead poisoning...although she was weird before that. Maybe permanent brain damage from the parvo she got as a wee pup. She was doing so well in the beginning. Why is she in the house you ask? Well, because she is a runaway. She will take off and just not stop...really...and if she's on a rope she eats it, and if she's on a cable she pulls until her collar breaks (we are so surprised she hasn't strangled herself) or the cable pulls loose. One day, I kid you not, I looked outside and she was playing with her hoola-hoop...hilarious in itself...I looked away and the next second I looked again and she was loose. She had managed to unhook her collar whilst hooking the caribeaner (sp?) to the hoola-hoop! She's a regular Hudini (again sp?). Sooo...what is the next step? Continuous supply of valium? Shock collar? Deliverance? Anyway...enjoy your dog...hopefully my comment will make you think "He's not that bad!" ;)
PS Karen~ It's a good thing we don't have cats!

Meredith said...

Karen, And I thought our dog eating dirty Kleenex out of the trash was bad! Yuck.

Roberta, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog's behavior. Wow, what a stinker! We got our dog at 8 months old and my breeder friend told me that that is the worst time for dog's behavior - they are like terrible two year olds. Have you tried the bitter apple stuff, on her snout? That is what finally helped with Pilot. I know right now you are busy with other things, i.e. a newborn, but what helped with us is being consistent with the same punishment over and over again, every time he misbehaved. And then tons of praise when he did well. We also kept him in the crate if he was really bad.

Anyway, I don't know if that will help you, but hang in there, I don't think it will last forever. Please Lord, don't let it last forever!

Blessings.

Lani - the flowerlady said...

Oh yeah, that and worse...don't leave any diapers lying around or you'll be cleaning them up again...eeeewwwww. They say they're supposed to grow out of that poop eating thing but I don't know....

Karen said...

My in-laws' dog eats poopy diapers, too. Forgot about that. Glori probably would too, if we left 'em where she could get 'em.

Roberta - deliverance. Good idea!
;-D

Roberta said...

Yes, we used the bitter apple, it helped some. We really are trying to be consistent (does being consistently ANNOYED count? jk! ;) )
She really only seems to respond to negative reinforcement, and the training book says a bird-dog such as this will think you are breaking the rules if you say "Good Dog!" and by jove, she does and immediately disobeys. Apparently a good bird-dog will always be pressing the limits...great...good to know...:)
But truly I must say you were of some encouragement when you said THIS is the worst age...we are praying it gets better from here. She is loveable. I bought her a new "tough" chew toy, I figure she may be bored and it might just keep her from chewing the house apart.

elisa said...

Well I've come in a little late. It's been busy around here. We have a dog but she is out of the annoying puppy stage. Yes they do grow out of it. However we are now in the old dog stage. The annoying habit of the older dog is tooting. Whew, it's bad. She sleeps right next to the computer and there are some evenings that I can't take it. I've had to put her out in the snow and she doesn’t have a winter coat built up. It’s probably from all those years of eating poopy diaper and plastic toys.