Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s Follow-Up. I know it’s Saturday, but hey, I’m still following up, right? 😉

You Make Me Laugh – September 20, 2015

Cupcake said, “Mom bought me 3 new bowls before she figured out that I am not afraid of my bowl, I just don’t like to drink water. Period. Sometimes I will lick water off the grass or try to drink from a puddle of filth outside.”

Oh Cupcake, you sure like to challenge Mom, don’t you? I’ve been told for dogs who don’t drink enough water, that adding a bit to their food can help. Has Mom tried that?

Jan K said, “Sampson might like one of those fountains? Luke almost always drinks out of the top of the fountain where the water is bubbling out. There might be something about moving water with some dogs, since Luke also likes to drink out of the hose. Does Sampson do that too?”

Sampson WILL drink out of the hose, but neither one of them liked the fountain. Which reminds me, I should break it out and see if I can transition them to it. 🙂

Sue said, “Jeffie likes to help me water houseplants – he gets a drink along with the plants. He used to be big on helping water outside, too. Not only would he get a drink now and then, he’d grab the hose to pull it along .:-)

Awe, he’s such a big helper!

Jackie Bouchard said, “You’d be surprised how many of the dogs at the shelter run over when I go around topping up their bowls with the water pitcher. A lot of them love to drink from the stream!”

It’s cool that so many dogs do it, I’ve never had one that did. Until Sampson. 🙂

Paved by PawPrints said Cody likes to do the same, “And once the water’s in the bowl, he’s suddenly like “No thank you!” and walks off!”

Hahaha it’s like he plays you.

If My Foot Would Reach

Lauren Miller said, “Zoe does the same thing with the hitting the end of the leash and ignoring me for minutes on end! I’ve began waiting, too.. Just like you did and when she finally turns around something fun happens.”

Here’s the thing. I’m not sure she was planning on turning around. What do you do then?

Jen Gabbard said, “It takes so much longer for us silly humans to remember that we’re supposed to somehow make ourselves the most awesome thing on the planet everytime we do a recall. It’s challenging.”

It is definitely me. I feel like we go along fine and then there’s an issue but because I haven’t dealt with it in a while, I forget what I’m supposed to do.

Genevieve said, “Can’t you tell your self you’re gradually cutting the treats to every other time?”

SO, they don’t always get treated for everything I ask them to do, except for their recall, and that’s because I want that recall to be super solid. I keep special treats just for that purpose in the hopes it will be the deciding factor should something distract them.

Kim of CindyLu’s Muse said, “Oh I hate when I do stuff like that. Feel guilty and horribly inadequate every time, too. Funny how our dogs survive – even thrive – in spite of our mistakes, isn’t it?”

You have a point there Kim, I just always feel so inadequate when working with my dogs.

Two French Bulldogs said, “Mom is guilty of the same thing.”

Why is that? Is it because it is human nature?

Emma said, “Sometimes Mom has a hard time reacting correctly to dog thinking too. She is still punishing herself for failing me at our nose work event in May. We get it, I bet she knows you did wrong, and she did wrong initially, so two wrongs make a right and you both should sit on the couch and eat snacks together and call it even.”

I totally get where mom is coming from Emma. It’s hard to be easy on ourselves! I do like your snack idea too. 😉

Jan said, “Delilah is just one of those dogs who will always take the road less traveled by. Learn it. Live it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. She makes wonderful blog content.”

I’m glad someone’s enjoying reading about it, because sometimes living it is damn hard. 😉

Jan K said, “You really thought you were more stubborn than Delilah? LOL….I often say that I’m more reactive than my dogs. When we took Cricket hiking last weekend and got approached by off leash dogs, I totally forgot everything I knew and though I at least got her off the trail and tried to block the other dogs, I should have smartly taken the opportunity to feed her treats while the dogs passed. Duh.”

I don’t know what I was thinking. But more stubborn than Delilah, well I was barking up the wrong tree!  Okay, so a bit of a ramble here. I’m guessing most of you are around my age, which is remaining secret, but you can just agree with me. We did not learn Common Core Math, we learned Math the old way, which was repetition. We did it over and over again until it was ingrained in our heads and I think training dogs is a lot like that. If we don’t do it day in and day out, we forget the way we WANT to handle it. But seriously, who can deal with that bullshit day in and day out?

Pamela said, “How long would it take to really discover who’s more stubborn? And don’t you have to get to work on Mondays?”

Pamela, that might just be a something to bet on in Vegas. Maybe if Delilah and I started Saturday morning…one of us would give my Monday. 🙂

2 Brown Dawgs said, “Nope you did not ruin her or make a mistake. You told her what you wanted and she did it. I think you did exactly right. You do not want her to get the idea that taking off and then coming back gets a treat. You won the battle. Good for you! (PS I also would not have rewarded her for responding to reaching in the treat bag. I may have called her and then rewarded her for responding to that. I realize our training is a bit different than what is popular today. We do not focus on treats for training and sometimes our ending on a positive is us winning the battle.)”

Thank you for that. I like to hear how other people handle things. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have given her the treat for moving towards me, because she hadn’t responded to me. I’m still on the fence about scolding her though.

Sophie said, “The good thing is that she thinks you have forgiven her for running off and loving you all the more. Delilah is a good girl and we know dogs don’t hold grudges the way we can sometimes.”

Well I have forgiven her, it’s me I’m mad at. LOL

Comes The Darkness – Barks and Bytes

Julie said, “Cocoa and I run every morning and it has gone from walking out in my shorts and tshirt to layering. I actually thought I could have worn gloves the other morning!! ”

Oh my gosh, me too! There was one morning where I alternated putting hands in my pockets. LOL

Monika said, “Having two dogs will absolutely guarantee you’ll never get two perfect faces looking back at you digitally. Trust me, having been there, I learned it’s a hard fast rule of nature.”

Why do they make it SO hard?

Jan said, “I rarely actually LOL, but the butt bombing did it. I think you may have come up with a new thing.”

Yahoo! I’m glad I can make you LOL Jan. And Delilah says Butt Bombing is a thing!

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom said, “I’m with Emma – that butt bombing pic is a one-in-a- million that you couldn’t repeat if you tried.”

Nope, you know why? Cause my dogs don’t cooperate with me. If I WANTED her to butt bomb, she probably would have smiled at the camera.

Blueberry’s Human said, “Although we do take up the night hiking which I don’t really mind. I usually end up scaring myself more than there actually being anything to be scared of. Sometimes my own breathing startles me.”

Are you SURE we aren’t related? I scare the hell out of myself too. LOL

That’s it for me friends.  I’ll be answering any of your questions about InstinctRaw Bites on that post. Thanks for joining me and have a great weekend.

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