Phog and The Vacuum

I would say that most dogs I know are either indifferent or afraid of the vacuum clear, but always the original Phog is not one of those dogs. To him vacuuming the kitchen is clearly a task that requires him to participate in, because vacuuming is a fun game. I really should video tape him. Imagine me with the vacuum, which isn't that hard, everyone has probably vacuumed themselves one time or another. Now imagine a lab interacting with me and the vacuum. Not sure what that looks like, I'll elaborate. He half jumps off the ground switching between jumping at the vacuum and jumping away from the vacuum. Of course thought this elaborate dance, I just continue to vacuum. I move forward, towards Phog, he thinks that I am playing with him. If I change directions, he chases me to continue the game. You might think this makes vacuuming more difficult. It actually doesn't. If Phog is playing with the vacuum, then he isn't trying to pull some thing off the counter.

Shelby the Good Canine Citizen

Before Phog, we had just little ol' Shelby, a sable colored Sheltie who is 13 years old. Shelby is nearly deaf now, but besides that she is in excellent health. Today we (Shelby and I) went for a walk around the neighborhood. We hadn't gotten that far when we ran into our neighbors around the corner who foster animals so they can be rehabilitated at then sent on to permanent homes.

The first dog they had was Daisy, who had been chained to a tree for four years previously, Shelby with her very gentle way was a key in helping her learn how to better interact with other dogs. They now have Gigi a 3 and half year old terrier who had been at a puppy mill and locked in a cage with little to no human interaction for that time. Shelby gently approached her and Gigi modeled her behavior by following her around the neighborhood for her first walk. Gigi had never been on a walk before, this was a completely foreign concept to her, but she was able to learn from Shelby. And even believe it or not for the first time was able to go to the bathroom outside. These all seem like pretty standard things for most pet owners, but if you have never learned these behaviors previously, they are very important milestones.

Personally, I am very proud of my gentle Shelby and have begun to wonder if her gentleness could help other dogs in similar positions better adjust to canine society.

Please do not buy puppies from stores that support puppy mills.

The Kong Bed

Well I am taking a page from the Zender's book, and starting a blog about our adventures. Currently it seems that the largest variety of our adventures involve the newest member of our family, a very hyperactive Labrador retriever named Phog. If you haven't had the chance to meet Phog quite yet, he is really quite friendly. However he can be overly friendly and quite destructive when bored, there are some walls and speakerwire that can attest to this.

The most recent episode of destructiveness involved Phog's brand new kong bed which boasted a claim that it was chew resistant. We presented Phog with his new bed on Saturday, and it was an instant success, well except for that fact that he didn't really lay on it at first. Instead he carried it around the house in a Linus style fashion, running about excitedly. Eventually he did lay on the bed and we considered it a great success. I think he enjoys running around the house with it more then anything else.

Well Nick came home on Thursday night to find Kong stuffing leaking out of Phog's cage. Apparently he got bored enough while we were away at work so that we can earn money to feed him, that he decided destroying his bed would be a lot of fun. I seriously doubt that Phog will be getting a new dog bed anytime soon. And perhaps the next dog mail should be made out of chain mail because that might be chew resistant enough for Phog.