hi.
this afternoon, my 2 dogs,Murphy and Roscoe, were at the back fence, barking at some deer that were close to the fence.
I was in the house, but had the screen only across the door. I just whistled, and they both turned, and left the deer and came in. They are so good.

.

Grace

Hi Grace,
I thought you were going to say the dogs ran through the screen. My little Chihuahua was visiting our friends house with us. He went into the garden, found a treasured stick, turned round to run back into the house with it and ... you guessed it, the glass door was closed and he ran right into it nose first. He had a sore nose for a while, but was more upset about us laughing.
.

Griff

I think all my/our dogs have wiped out slamming into things. My first, a GSD/B&T mix chased a ball up an ice-covered driveway, and when he went to put on the brakes, they weren't there. His instinct (I guess) was to sit down. So there he was in a beautiful seated position with his ball in his mouth, sliding up the driveway and into the closed garage door, and there wasn't a thing to do about it but laugh as he exploded into a flurry of legs. Nothing hurt but his dignity—if he ever had any—which he didn't.
.


Our (as opposed to my) first, a tri-color border collie, was a true ball-o-holic. Just as she ran down her tennis ball in the local park, she slipped on a steaming pile and slammed into a century old maple tree at full tilt. Folks who'd either seen it or heard the earsplitting, "YIPE!" came running from all over the park to see if she was ok. As each one approached, they stopped abruptly and backed off registering various expressions of disapproval as the pungent odor of the steaming pile (now smeared throughout her fur) reached their olfactory senses—"WOAH!"
.


When our current therapy dog was just a pup of 10 or 12 weeks, he flew out the front screen door so fast he lost it on the icy porch and slid right over the edge and into the hedge shrubs.
.


There were others of course, and the declawed (indoor only) cat was just as bad—slipping & sliding all over creation & back. Cats haven't any dignity either, IMO, but they have that air/expression that dogs lack as if to say, "I meant to do that," and saunter away...
.


How's your Chi-wah-wah with mirrors?

Doc

Hello Doc,

Thanks for those anecdotes. I had a good laugh.
.

.


Little Taco will never see ice or snow, living in South East Australia. He had a problem with our bedroom mirror, and would sit growling at it for long periods. He has worked in out now though.

He makes me really laugh (as opposed to a polite laugh) so many times a day. We hadn't had a dog for many years, and I had forgotten how to behave with him. Laughter starts at dawn when he decides to wake either my husband or I with wet kisses, and ends when he snuggles down to sleep. I know he has been such good therapy for me, and I am walking more now than I have for many years.

I am amazed by therapy dogs, they are so empathic. One of my granddaughters has aspergers, (can't remember the spelling), and her Blue Russian cat used to be able to calm her within minutes if she had a melt down.

When you have a therapy pet, do you need to keep up any special training with them? I only know a bit about guide dogs.

Griff

I think it's important to keep up with training any kind of dog/pet—therapy or otherwise—just as it's important to keep ourselves mentally active/challenged. And this goes for any/all kinds of training, from basic obedience/socialization on up to specialized tasks.

All living creatures instinctively strive to control/exploit their environment. Children & pets do this by testing/pushing the limits of their boundaries (training), as far/much as they are able.

In the case of dogs, like children they need near-constant reassurance/reinforcement in order to feel secure in their place in the family/pack. Periodic reinforcement of training exercises/skills helps reinforce this security, improves/reinforces the bond between pet and alpha, and keeps the pet challenged & "sharp"—they LOVE the stimulation of training and learning new things (regardless of age—old dogs can & do learn new tricks) and making us happy.
.


Doc

I agree... they really love mental tasks, and things to do.

I even see this in our cats. One is indoors only...little Maya. She is endlessly finding ways to play with objects. Her mastery over toys is amazing.

Weezie who does go out only during the day, never played with toys much. She wants OUR things. She loves twist ties curled up, and will steal pens, and rubber bands off the tables, etc.

But has always ignored cat toys, even when she was indoors as a kitten during her first winter with us. She will do string games sometimes however.

They both love BOXES. and tissue paper and so we keep several sizes for them in our dining room. (not conducive to Company however). They play endlessly in them, chew them up and hide under the paper packing!

I think each pet will have their own fancy ...that they like. If we as owners provide that, they can be happy as clams! LOL

Our cat loved musical instrument cases. We used to have bluegrass sessions at our house with anywhere from 6-20+ musicians. All the open cases lay (laid?
.
) open on the foyer (large Victorian foyer) floor while we played in the parlor. The cat's "job" was to try out each case for hiding/napping. On occasion, the music was interrupted by someone cracking up at whatever the cat was doing in the cases. Remember the jellyfish scene in Finding Nemo? Now imagine that, but instead of a clown fish bouncing from jellyfish to jellyfish, a little black cat bouncing from instrument case to instrument case, then darting/zooming through a room full of legs stomping to
.
... Good times.
.


During her mellower moods, she'd curl up on my lap behind—and pressed up against—my guitar. She liked the vibrations, and when the playing stopped, her purring resonated through the sound hole...

My brother had 2 cats who were into paper bags. Go figure.

Doc

I have really enjoyed hearing about all your pets. I thought we were the only family with weird animals.

We had a horse who would beg for vegemite on toast, Siamese cats who did quite bizarre things including bringing baby snakes into our house, and a 17 year old cat who loves book group... She sat and listened to each person in turn.

Animals are such a blessing. I never feel alone when Taco is here, even though he would be hard pressed to bite an intruders toe
.
. I never worried about cat play things littering the house. Now it is dog toys too.

I am so glad I proof read this. Autocorrect had changed toast to teats. You would have thought me a strange person
.


Have a great day
.

LOL that spell check thing on iPhones is really strange.
We just got ours and took them upNorth (where there is no electricity on an island etc) and I used it a bit to come here (4G)

It changed so many words I typed....people would have thought I lost my marbles! I had to proofread each line carefully. It also capitalizes the next line, whether you need a capital or not.
.

.

Haven't spent much time on
.
?
.


I think it'd be weird were you the only family with animals that aren't weird (Did I say that right?
.
)

Doc