Sunday catch-up - the attack, an award and tag!

JD - Hello everyone! FH wants to witter on for a bit again, so before we hand over to her we just want to show you a photo of us that was taken on this morning's walk.

Max - We thought it would help you make it through FH warbling on and on and on.....

JD - We rather like this photo! Look at the blue sky - this was taken at 6.00 am so we had the whole nature reserve to ourselves which meant there were loads of bunnies to chase, it was ACE!

Max - We rather like this photo as it shows how compact and sporty I am.....

JD - ....and how tall and leggy I am!!

"Can we go chase the bunnies now please?"

FH - Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thanks for your comments on my last post about JD and the pitbull, they were so helpful.

My boys have had a few disagreements with other dogs in the past but it's always been a lot of noise about nothing! Once, Max needed to be taught some manners by a Mastiff when Max wouldn't take 'no' for an answer when he wanted to play chase - he was pushed to the ground and was pinned by the Mastiff's jaws. It lasted about two seconds and certainly taught Max not to push his luck! Twice JD has had to be reminded by Neo the pitbull that he doesn't like to be rushed at when he's greeted - both times he knocked JD over and gave him a loud warning growl, JD now understands! JD has also had to teach a Jack Russell not to boss him around - again, lots of loud posturing and flinging to the ground before the Jack Russell submitted. The Jack Russell's owner was perfectly fine with it - he said he realised his dog had a tendancy to bully if he wasn't put in his place early on.

In all these previous situations if I didn't know a bit about dog phycology I might have thought it was an attack and got a bit freaked out. Thankfully, having two dogs has taught me a lot about canine body language and how dogs interact and I know it's very important for the dogs to sort situations out themselves wherever possible - usually problems only occur when humans get involved! As the Poupounette's wisely stated, it's all about a proportionate response.

In fact, I have had one owner shrieking at me in the past when JD and Max approached her pug from the side (as dogs do), screaming that they were ganging up on her dog. She scooped her dog up, shouted some more (which obviously made my boys bark at her) and then she ran away, still carrying the pug - now, don't try telling me that that poor pug isn't going to end up with emotional problems! Can you imagine her reaction if one of my boys had needed to correct the pugs behaviour for something - I'd have probably been arrested!!

I've come a long way since we first got the boys and I learn more about dogs every day. I remember when we first got JD and Max, ringing the breeders in a sheer panic on day 2 saying "they keep on fighting - and they're making the most horrendous noises!" The breeder calmly explained to me, a complete novice, that they were in fact playing and that I'd better get used to some of the noises they made! Even then I wasn't convinced but I look back now and realise I was a complete twerp!

I really did think that the only reason that JD didn't get hurt the other day was because the owners of the pitbull got her off him in time, so I'm really grateful for Hsin-Yi's comments. JD's collar got a bit ripped in the fracas but that's all - if she'd wanted to do some damage I realise now that she could have done, even in just a few seconds. I also realise that what I was probably reacting to was the owners panic more than anything. (By the way, I also meant to say in my previous post about giving a dog a daily stimulant as opposed to specifying a daily walk. JD and Max get their daily stimulant as a walk, but a training session or agility session has the same effect. The pitbull in question hadn't had anything for a week - as Mango said no wonder the poor thing went 'cracker dog insane'!)

Now, before I hand over to the boys I'd like to show you a couple of photos from yesterday's walk. If you're anything like me you'll look at these two (not particularly good quality - sorry about that!) photos and possibly get a little teary eyed at just WHAT we can learn from our dogs about living in the moment (as Khyra wisely stated) and not hanging onto the past. Please take a look at JD and Max - playing with Tasha, the very same pitbull that attacked JD the day before!

Tasha - "Hey, Max! Wanna play chase with my stick?"
Max - "Why, I don't mind if I do Miss Tasha!"

Tasha - "Tag! You're 'it' JD!"
JD - "Aw, no fair! Abbey has me by the back paw, you girls are ganging up on me!"
Abbey - "He he he - well, us girls have to stick together, eh Tasha?!"

FH - I met up with Tasha's owners on yesterday's walk and we discussed Hsin-Yi's comments - they were very interested (and relieved) and are going to find out some more about Ian Dunbar. As the dogs were very relaxed with each other when we all met up we spent about 10 minutes together - and Abbey the gorgeous Goldie joined us too! I applaud Tasha's owners, caring for a rescue dog with known issues is a wonderful thing to do and they're doing an amazing job!

JD - Right, back to US now I think!

Max - Quite right! Now, before we go any further we want to boast about an award we got!

JD - It's the 'happy 101' award from The Booker Man! Thanks Booker!


Max - With this award we have to tell you 10 things that make us happy. So here goes:-

1 - Cuddling with the humans! It's our most favourite thing in the whole wide World!
2 - Eating - oh gosh, we so LOVE to eat! We love cheese, chicken kibble, real chicken, biscuits, horse poop, discarded chips, doggie choc drops, chews, bread...well, you probably get the idea!
3 - Going on walks. We get so grumpy when it rains as it means our walks are cut short, or even (sob!) cancelled - we say 'phooey' to the rain!
4 - Sleeping - especially in a patch of sunlight!
5 - Playing zoomies!
6 - Meeting up with and playing with our friends. It makes our walks like a million times more fun!
7 - Having toys! JD likes rope toys and Max's favourite is squeaky chicken - he's had squeaky since the first day he got here and (amazingly!) squeaky is still in one piece, despite being played with every day!
8 - Cushions - need we say more?!
9 - Paddling in the sea - wonderfully refreshing!
10 - Visiting our friends blogs - it makes FH happy which means that it makes us happy!

JD - Thank you SO much for this award Booker! We think all our pals already have this award, but if you haven't please feel free to take it as we'd love to know what makes you happy too!

Max - We've also been tagged by Santa, Minnie and Honey to play a game!

JD - Oooh, we LOVE games! The rules of the game are the Photo Tag Game are:

1. Open your first photo folder

2. Scroll down to the tenth photo

3. Post the photo and tell the story behind it

Max - Here's our photo - we'd only lived with our humans for about 2 weeks at this point!

JD - Actually, it's a rather happy coincidence as this photo nicely fits in with FH's comments earlier about not understanding us at ALL when we first arrived! You can see our puppy play pen in the background, the new rugs that FH had bought for us, the fact that everything is piled up on the table because we chewed everything that wasn't nailed down when we first arrived - and if you look rather closely several damp patches on the ground where FH had mopped up after us as we were still being house trained! (These rather stinky carpets are now long-gone, he he he!)

Max - In this photo we're having a marvellous game of bitey face - we were really hyper and were 'grrrrll-ing' at the top of our voices! A few seconds before we had been sitting nicely and then we suddenly launched at each other! At the time this photo was taken FH and MH were wondering what on earth they had taken on - and they were actually wondering if they were going to be able to cope with it all! Thankfully, they stuck with us and - in FH's words - came through the other side!

JD - Thanks for tagging us Honey, Santa and Minnie - if any of our pals would also like to play this game please do - it's a fun way to look back and remember!

Max - Before we sign-off we'd just like to thank Miss Twix for hosting such a pawesome date night. Whew - we had SO much fun!

JD - We sure did! Thanks Miss Twix - our paws are still sore from all that dancing!