Often times when I’m walking my dogs I think about the differences in their personalities.
Delilah can easily be distracted from most things by reaching my hand into my treat bag. If she is totally focused (like say on a cat or something) sometimes the simple act of reaching into the bag does not work. In that instance, I start feeding treats to Sampson. Usually after a couple of crunches or “Good Boys” her focus is broken and her focus comes back to me.
Sampson on the other hand, sees another dog and loses his stuff. Sometimes feeding Delilah treats is NOT enough motivation to distract him. I literally have to walk up to him and stick the treat in front of his nose and lure him away.
When we walk, I try my best to keep the dogs on the inside of me, and when a car approaches, I hold the leashes close so there’s little chance of one of them getting hit by the car. On our walks, Delilah ALWAYS takes the inside track, meaning she likes to be closest to the curb. I’m not sure how much of that is our training (she’s a left side heeler) or the fact she wants first dibs on any manner of disgusting items she finds on the side of the road.
If they stop to sniff something and somehow Delilah ends up on the outside, they walk a few steps and switch places. It’s actually pretty cool to watch. Sampson on the inside and Delilah on the outside, and within five steps, they’ve switched it up.
A lot of these times Delilah has her nose to the ground…like this.
Nose to the grindstone.
I really have to try and keep my eyes sharp, because somebody around my neighborhood feeds the birds with bread. Not just bread crumbs, but large hunks of bread. Apparently they never got the memo that most bread is bad for birds!
Most times in our travels Delilah finds something she deems edible. And I’m stupid, because I will shove my hand down her throat to keep her from eating it. I can’t even begin to tell you some of the shit I’ve pulled out of this dog’s mouth/throat. (Hmmm, maybe that’s a blog post….LOL)
Then there are other times in the process of her scavenging when she finds things that make her jump. I know it’s mean to laugh, but I can’t help it. (I consider it payback for all the shit I’ve pulled out of her mouth). A LOT of times when she jumps, it’s like a cat, all four feet off the ground. 🙂 (Those are the times I laugh the hardest, because siriusly, that’s funny shit right there, a 70 pound dog jumping like a cat.)
And then there are other times when she finds things and we both jump. And I laugh again. First at her and then at myself.
Saturday was one of those days.
We were almost home, in fact we were right at my next door neighbor’s yard. Delilah had her nose to the ground and was hugging the curb.
SUDDENLY, Delilah popped up off the ground like a cat and at almost exactly the same time, something else popped up out of the road. I (being so well versed in the various types of wild life living in a rural area brings) jumped and squealed like a little girl.
A wee little mousey.
It was a small field mouse. I could tell by the way it stayed there, pressed against the curb that something wasn’t quite right with it, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
What I could do was call Delilah off it, because once she got over her initial fright, she wanted back at that mouse. It was one of those times when the rustling treat bag, Sampson’s treat crunching, my Good Boys and coaxing of her wasn’t going to cut it. I had to literally take her by her harness and gently lead her away, after which I liberally rewarded her.
Of course, she headed back for the mouse, because, well she heard they taste like chipmunk. 😉
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Lol, sounds like an eventful walk! I can just imagine Delilah jumping off the ground with all fours – kind of like a cartoon cat!! Just yesterday, we were out for a walk, when we saw this disgusting snake slithering across the road!! Yep, I squealed like a girl too! Let’s just say, I would’ve preferred to run into a mouse… 😉
The town councils sometimes cull bird populations by spreading poisoned food around, so no food off the ground is any uptight pet parents’ policy around here. 😛 I’m glad you got Delilah to leave the wee little thing alone. Hope he’s alright!
That is so funny! Zoe is the same way as Delilah. A lot of the time I will use the “give Phoenix treats” method to get her attention.
Gah! They taste like chipmunk! That killed me!
Delilah sounds a lot like Bailie. A walk for her is a tracking adventure with the nose to the ground 90% of the walk, likes to put anything she can find in her mouth, and the only way to stop her from a critter is to yank her off. I’m much easier to walk with. As a youngster, I was wild, but I never was one to have my nose suction cupped to the ground, still am not. It keeps Mom busy on walks which is why an hour flies by for her!
Delilah is a treasure hunter! She finds all kinds of goodies with her nose to the ground method. She’s like a canine metal detector, haha!
I love these stories of your walks with Sampson and Delilah! They’re always entertaining and always bring a smile to my face. Thank you!!
That would be funny to see a big dog jumping because of a small ,mouse.
Send Delilah to my house, will ya? I have a mouse problem and my own dogs aren’t taking care of it. Maybe I’m giving them too many treats …
LOL oh boy! I know all too well what you mean about pulling weird stuff out of the dogs mouth! LOL!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Delilah’s walking style reminds me a lot of Luke’s. I just got back from a walk with him when he jumped in the air (for no apparent reason…) and I jumped too because he startled me! LOL He’s pretty good about his “leave it” when he finds stuff, but when he gets fixated on something, I sometimes have to literally haul him off of it. With him, it’s often just eating grass. I tell him “there’s plenty of grass to eat at home, let’s WALK!” 🙂
My Poodle Misty actually killed a mouse on our walk several years ago. I almost had it stuffed and mounted to prove that Poodles are indeed still hunters.
Blueberry loves to flush out critters. She’s like a bloodhound and will track a sent for a while (those are the walks where I get my best cardio in because she is fast when she is on a scent). Even if I see a jackrabbit cross the trail off in front of us and Blueberry doesn’t see it – as soon as we come across where it was – her nose starts working overtime. It’s the main reason I don’t let her off leash. The other day a woman that normally walks her dog in our neighborhood was driving around and stopped me to tell me that her dog had gotten away from her on a walk even though it was on leash. It had seen a coyote and took off after it – pulling the leash from her hand. That would be Blueberry – which is why I attach her leash to my belt loop. Extra security.
Ah, yes…mousies…the ‘other’ white meat. We had one in the garden yesterday and Sam did the Wiley Coyote/Roadruner cartoon double take. Had I not nearly fallen over from laughter at his reaction, I’m sure he’d have had that little critter by the short hairs. Kudos to you, D-dog and Sampson for handling external stimuli well. 😉
You rewarded her for not coming? At least she did not eat the mouse. 🙂
Hi Y’all!
I guess my Humans are right when they tell me I’m the best boy ever.
‘Course she only has one of me and you have two of them. Big difference!
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
What a cute mouse and great picture. I didn’t know bread was bad for birds.