I don't want my dog anymore . . .

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
My neighbor and I both have several acres. He and I share a fence line (my fence) and we allow the dogs to play with each other at some point during the day. Typically the dogs don't go into the pasture where the llama is, but my neighbor must have been caring for the llama and allowed the dogs in the pasture with him.

Doesn't matter, a dog covered in llama poop is on my *$%& list. We have to bring him in town to be groomed today to get the stench off him. I had to put up with the odor "parading" around the house last night. I am injured and physically unable to bathe the beast. (I always did the grooming on our other poodle. So, it's frustrating having/needing someone else to do it.)

 

[Teach97]

I say next time yu gor to groom him throw some onions and potatoes in there with him and say some incantations over him! Just don't marinate him and put him in the trunk! That will make the news and folks get alltesty about it! Never had a poodle but I had weiner dog name puddles and I used to tell him that he was going on the bun next! We got in a horrible fight over a piece of toast one time....in the end we both dicided we didn't want the toast...

 

[Orchid]

Hmmmm...our yellow Lab ate a pan of caramel rolls the other night. He refuses to chase the deer out of my garden. He insists on thinking he is a lap dog. And last night he came in the house with grease on his tail from helping DH in the garage.

I think he may be a poodle in disguise.

 

[klf73]

maybe he needs a friend, four legged type

that way he can have a partner in crime

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

@Teach97 @Orchid, thank you for making me laugh!

I'm sure that any mischievous dog is a poodle in disguise.

I have a garden bed of elephant garlic. I'm going to fetch some now. I'll braid a ring of garlic and tie it around the dog's neck.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
Do you mean my poodle needs a partner in crime?

If so, baaaad idea. When we took him, we took his brother as well (they'd been together for almost 2 years). I knew immediately that they needed to be separated for each to do well. The brother we found a fabulous home for (professors with no other pets that had raised poodles before, etc.). Admittedly, we re-homed the "smarter" of the two. I just couldn't keep up, especially with my current injury.

So, we kept the "dumb" poodle. It's a lot easier to train a "dumb" poodle as one only needs to give them a treat twice with the command to sit, lay down, crawl, salute, etc. The dumb ones don't question you. The smart ones take the treat, ask why you think they should perform all these "tricks" for food, and then they require an essay before they'll comply.





(Of course he is not really dumb. For those that miss the sarcasm.)

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Indeed. Any specifics? Unless the dog has passed away, bash away. What dumb things can you share?

Yeah, dang it, he has been dead many years now. But I love him still and laugh at him as well! He was a goofball!
Scary smart, though. He could open any gate made, even with locks on it.

He got a bee sting on his foot once- moaning, groaning, walking on 3 legs..... took him to the vet. Vet said yep, give him this and that, he'll be fine. Alekai milked that for at least 3 weeks. He's be in the back yard, galloping along, having a blast with a frisbee and tennis ball- unless you tapped the window or opened the back door- then it was back to poor, poor, pitiful me, limping along on 3 legs again!

(too much Linda Ronstadt back then)

He used his frisbee, upside down, to scoop up his tennis ball. Carried it all over, bouncing the ball in the frisbee.

His greatest joy was bouncing on the water bed - started a regular tidal wave, that eventually bounced him right off! Really messed him up when I got satin sheets for it. That became "slip, slidin' away". Always landed on his head.

One year, I got him a can of tennis balls for Christmas, carefully wrapped it and put it under the tree. He sniffed it out and started opening it under the tree. I yelled at him. He straightened up, present in his mouth and took off running..... with a string of lights around his neck! Took the whole tree with him!

I lost Alekai to stomach torsion. His fondness for potato kielbasa soup was his downfall. The guy who gave it to him is EX-DH now.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
Indeed. Any specifics? Unless the dog has passed away, bash away. What dumb things can you share?

Yeah, dang it, he has been dead many years now. But I love him still and laugh at him as well! He was a goofball!

I'm sorry he is gone. We miss our first poodle terribly. We ALL still dream about him several years later.


Quote:
This is what I'm talking about.

My first poodle could get in/out of anything. He would go on "walks by himself". I even kept the dog tied to my waste while I showered and slept!!

It was so bad when he was a teenager that I boarded him for 6 weeks while I considered whether or not we could keep him. Keep in mind, we picked the trainer first and we diligently trained this dog, but when he was 18 months, I'd had it.

I was very forthcoming with the woman who boarded him. I laid it all out for her about his "escapism" and all that we had done to work with it. She said she had lots of experience and wasn't afraid to take him on. I doubted that she really understood.

I brought her the dog, and then I didn't call for a week. I just knew that she would tell me to come get him. On about the eighth day I called. She told me I was lucky that I hadn't called sooner because she was exasperated with the dog and would have had me come get him.

He was able to get out of a crate, out of a kennel, inside the garage, inside the electric fenced yard and off the fenced 5 acres and it took her and her neighbors hours to get him several times. (I felt bad, but validated.)

She didn't need me to come get him when I called her, because she "had it worked out". She and her husband, who was in a wheel chair, took the dog with them when they went to the store, or anywhere else. (The dog was a service animal -- a TRAINED one, so they had no moral issue deciding to take him in stores, etc.) They also made better sleeping arrangements for the dog: he slept in between them on their bed. Their "own" poodles didn't have access to their room, but mine slept in their bed between them.

When I came to get the dog after my six week vacation, determined to try again before I gave up on him, they didn't want to give him back. (They board poodles professionally. They give poodles back all the time.) Of course we took him, but he never put me through hell again with all of the ways he could get out and go on walks "by himself". Being boarded was the "solution" I overlooked. He stayed by my side (and my family's side) from that point forward as he didn't want us to get away from him.

The dog subject to scorn in this thread is also talented opening doors, etc. I have the back door, the "doggy door" barricaded. The cover that came with the door, combined with a metal plate we put on isn't sufficient. (I will eventually replace the door, so the doggy door isn't an option.) He will let himself in or out without the barricade (that grew in size after he demonstrated his ability to move things.)

I tried leaving the dog in an unused room while we are gone from the house. The door to the room needs to be re-hung. The house has settled, the wood has changed. A tenant removed and replaced the door knob badly, so it is difficult to use. All of this makes it extremely difficult for me to open this door. But the dog can do it, from the inside, pulling the door in after moving a 5 gallon bucket of paint out of the way. I've put the dog in the room, and told the kids to inspect the closed door. Then we step out of the house and *wait*. The kids were stunned when they saw the dog was able to get out.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

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Is the stomach torsion "twisted stomach" syndrome?

My mother, who fell in love with poodles after she met my standard, almost lost her female to this twisted stomach thing. Fortunately, she decided to work from home. She realized something wasn't "right" with the dog and rushed her to the vet, which saved her life. The dog had emergency surgery.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Is the stomach torsion "twisted stomach" syndrome?

My mother, who fell in love with poodles after she met my standard, almost lost her female to this twisted stomach thing. Fortunately, she decided to work from home. She realized something wasn't "right" with the dog and rushed her to the vet, which saved her life. The dog had emergency surgery.

Yep, it's a problem with all deep chested dogs. Feeding anything the can be "gassy" makes it worse. One thing I have learned since then? DO NOT teach them the "rollover" trick.

I dragged the vet out of his girlfriend's bed at 3 a.m. He met me at the clinic, I assisted in the surgery and we tacked his innards after the realignment. I went to work and got the call 5 hours later that his heart just hadn't withstood the strain and had quit.

I have a lab and a hound now, when they roll on their backs I always make sure they roll back to the same side. Never all the way over.

I do miss having a SP, they are a hoot! PITA, but still a hoot!