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Post by hooligan on Sept 28, 2012 18:08:05 GMT -5
LOLOL!!! I love Jack!! What a little monkey! You always have the best stories. Your Jack is quite a character! Ha! "Little monkey" is nothing compared with what Jack the Brat sometimes gets called around here. But I see that you're waiting for a U-litter male. Congratulations. Reyna is such a good girl, but I suspect that once your new little guy comes along, we'll have some stories to swap. LOL.
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Post by Andreina on Sept 28, 2012 18:40:54 GMT -5
Jack is too funny. I know those antics all too well too. Scarlet's choice is my hair brush though.. As soon as she can find it she jumps into a play bow, nub waggin and throws it around the room so excited she got it lol!!
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Post by hooligan on Mar 14, 2013 18:19:20 GMT -5
Belated fourth birthday wishes to all the Friday, March 13, G-litter pups . . . actually, not pups anymore, though Jack still does his best to imitate one from time to time. Sorry, no birthday pix.
And those who know Jack the Brat will get a kick out of this. We were at a SchH work day this past Sunday and were told that Jack is actually "too well-trained." Too well-trained? Needless to say, Bill and I nearly fell over! After we had picked our jaws up off the floor, the person explained that Jack is too concerned about being a good dog (hah!) and needs to worry less about pleasing us. Ummmmm . . . we've never noticed that pleasing us is high on his to-do list. LOL . . . it was an interesting observation, though we're still shaking our heads over it.
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Post by Andreina on Mar 14, 2013 19:54:06 GMT -5
hahaha too cute Dyanne! Happy birthday Jack!!
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dreambarks
Junior Member
Every Dobe has his day!
Posts: 66
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Post by dreambarks on Mar 31, 2013 12:49:22 GMT -5
Very belated birthday wishes to G-litter pups, wherever you are. It calls to mind how I came to find my fifth Dobe!
After the loss of my last Dobe I did extensive research on other breeds, particularly rare and primitive breeds, to determine whether there is a similar breed with fewer health problems. I came to the conclusion that claims that a breed has no health problems simply mean there's no testing done.
I'd been talking to a woman about adopting her Dutch Shepherd--it had been ages since I'd had any breed other than the Doberman. One morning I was waking up when I heard a thump from a room down the hall. When I got up I went to investigate and found one of my last Dobe Ariel's teddy bears on the floor. The odd thing was, her toys were in a box and I couldn't figure out how this toy managed to jump out!
A day or two later I was sitting outside and heard a crash from inside the house. When I went in I found a portrait of Ariel had fallen from its place and come out of its frame. I replaced it securely, but a short time later it happened again. I finally concluded that it wasn't going to stay put anymore and had to put it away so that it wouldn't get broken.
I guess the clincher was when I talked to a trainer about adopting a retired bomb dog Malinois. He told me that he had six Dobes at one time, but found that "they think too much". This struck a chord with me, because that's exactly what people have always told me--about myself!
So, with hindsight, I have to say that I'm glad I found another Dobe. I only wish I'd had Tyrion from puppyhood.
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Post by hooligan on Mar 31, 2013 17:37:48 GMT -5
. . . I only wish I'd had Tyrion from puppyhood. LOL. Be careful what you wish for. I remember puppy pick day very well. The two pups who became Jack and Gunner (RIP, sweet boy!) spent several hours (hours!!) "playing" with each other. One would line himself up in one corner of the room and the other would line up in the opposite corner. Then they would crouch down and STARE at each other, trembling with anticipation. At a signal from one or the other, they would run full puppy speed toward each other, slam into each other, roll around and bite each other and then go back to their corners and start the whole process over again. No wonder this is how Jack and I spent our first year together. He was a hooligan from Day 1. Attachments:
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dreambarks
Junior Member
Every Dobe has his day!
Posts: 66
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Post by dreambarks on Apr 1, 2013 18:36:24 GMT -5
Ohhh, I think I did hear that one of the puppies from the G litter got parvo ... so saddening. I'd never get over something like that. Tyrion hates anyone bumping into him, so I guess he's the odd guy in the litter. Once in awhile he runs into a body slammer type dog, like a Bullmastiff or Lab, so he gets on top and pins them down. I'm glad to know his brothers were all rough 'n tumble--helps to understand his attitude. I'm trying to teach Tyrion to fetch, but all he really wants is to destroy toys. The indestructable ones I've bought, he loses interest in after a day, so I have a huge Galileo, Rhino bone, and a Goughnut that are going to waste. I've tried storing them in kibble, but he only licks the crumbs off and discards the toy! The Kong squeeker ball we were using only squeeked for two training sessions. I'm hoping that he will start to appreciate teamwork after more fetch sessions.
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Post by hooligan on Apr 2, 2013 9:03:24 GMT -5
Jack isn't interested in indestructible toys, either. Just no fun, I guess. He will fool around with his Kong, but only if it's stuffed with treats. He murders all stuffed toys instantly.
Fortunately, we've played fetch with him since Day 1, and he absolutely loves to retrieve. And because we're doing schutzhund with him, he also likes to play tug, and we encourage that. But his fetch balls and the tugs come out only if we're playing (i.e., working) with him. We don't leave them lying around so that he can pick them up and play with them on his own. The theory is that this makes the toys special and helps to increase his drive and his focus on the handler.
A hangover, I think, from his play with Gunner and other littermates is that if we're approaching another dog while we're out hiking, Jack immediately goes down into a prey crouch and stares intently at the other dog. We can see him loading and we know very well that he's just itching to charge, so we don't allow this if he's on lead. But if he's off lead, we take advantage by shouting "plaatz" as soon as we see him start to go down. This gives us time to attach his lead and head off the charge. And the bonus is that the owners of the approaching dog think that Jack is wonderfully well-trained. They often say, "Wow, your dog is so obedient." Little do they know what he had in mind! LOL.
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dreambarks
Junior Member
Every Dobe has his day!
Posts: 66
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Post by dreambarks on Apr 2, 2013 9:47:20 GMT -5
I agree, the squeeker ball is supposed to be my toy that I might let T play with on my terms. However, getting him to give it up is a challenge. Fortunately, I've found that he can eat carrots without getting itchy, and I've never seen a dog so excited over a carrot stick! So basically I'm trading a mini carrot for the ball when he brings it back--if he brings it back. I've been using a remote collar and pairing the vibration with the recall command. So that works until he becomes too fixated on the ball. I wonder if he thinks there's a rodent inside the ball that needs to get out! Tyrion crouches when he sees another dog coming too. And when he's running at the dog park he will run toward you and stare right at you. At the last second he passes by, but now I have an idea what's in his mind. . . . I bought a regular sized Chuckit with comfort grip that we haven't taken out of the wrappings yet. I'm wondering if the ball is really big enough. I wish I'd gotten the Great Dane size. Tyrion's head is 12" long, not counting the stop.
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Post by Dobereich on Apr 2, 2013 10:59:40 GMT -5
Dyanne you really do paint a picture and send me for a chuckle. I just wanted to interject and clarify something. Thankfully there has never been an incident of parvo with the G-litter pups, just a G.I. virus that was not fatal to anyone and cleared rather quickly. Gunnar was struck by a car and lost his life in August 2010.
Just a note about the issue of giving out the ball. Not all Dobies are food driven, but most have tons of play drive in my lines. When the ball drive is so high, another ball tends to keep the dog's focus better then food, and you will get quicker releases and longer focus.
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Post by hooligan on Apr 2, 2013 11:51:46 GMT -5
. . . I just wanted to interject and clarify something. Thankfully there has never been an incident of parvo with the G-litter pups, just a G.I. virus that was not fatal to anyone and cleared rather quickly. Gunnar was struck by a car and lost his life in August 2010. Just a note about the issue of giving out the ball. Not all Dobies are food driven, but most have tons of play drive in my lines. When the ball drive is so high, another ball tends to keep the dog's focus better then food, and you will get quicker releases and longer focus. Thanks for making that clarification, Monica. I wasn't sure how much to say, so opted to say nothing. I still think about Gunnar (kicking myself for misspelling his name earlier), perhaps because he and Jack were so similar in temperament and we had looked so closely at him before following your advice and picking Jack. It's going to take a long time for Marion and I to match the 68 pages (and counting) of the N-litter thread, but right now, we seem to be giving it the old college try. It has been a while, and I had nearly forgotten that we had used two balls when we were training Jack to come back to us during his "fun" fetch sessions. This worked great, and once this behaviour was solid, our next goal was to tone down his excitement over the game. After a few throws, he would get so cranked that he was an utter lunatic, so we had to teach him that he must sit calmly and drop the ball before he got another throw. And then there was the struggle to end the game. He just never wanted to call it quits — and he let us know it.
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Post by hooligan on Apr 2, 2013 12:19:48 GMT -5
. . . And when he's running at the dog park he will run toward you and stare right at you. At the last second he passes by, but now I have an idea what's in his mind. . . . I bought a regular sized Chuckit with comfort grip that we haven't taken out of the wrappings yet. I'm wondering if the ball is really big enough. I wish I'd gotten the Great Dane size. Tyrion's head is 12" long, not counting the stop. Oh, yeah. The run straight at you. Sigh. When Jack was about 18 months old, I was throwing the balls for him one day after training. With a ball in his mouth, he was tearing back toward me at full speed, when I saw "the look" in his eye and realized what was coming. The little b***** (that word is not "brat") slammed straight into me — on purpose. This was NOT a miscalculation. He took my legs right out from under me, and I swear I went six feet in the air, then landed flat on my back. Knocked the air out of me, and as I lay on the ground moaning and trying to catch my breath, he did a little victory lap around me. In the end, though, I think he realized that he had hurt me. And he has never done it again. In fact, he's actually pretty careful with us during play, but I guess he just had to try it out that once. If the Chuckit is the regular (tennis ball) size, you're probably fine. Jack actually prefers this size to larger balls, perhaps because it fits nicely in his mouth.
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Post by Lisa on Apr 2, 2013 20:13:58 GMT -5
Just a note about the issue of giving out the ball. Not all Dobies are food driven, but most have tons of play drive in my lines. When the ball drive is so high, another ball tends to keep the dog's focus better then food, and you will get quicker releases and longer focus. That's so much true Monica! Asha does not care much about food. When I pull out a ball she would do everything to get it. I always have three balls. One for Gino and two for Asha Gino is happy to exchange it for food and Asha is obsessed with the game.
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dreambarks
Junior Member
Every Dobe has his day!
Posts: 66
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Post by dreambarks on Apr 2, 2013 21:07:04 GMT -5
Oh dear, that sounds painful. Do you feel that he's developed some empathy with age?
It took Tyrion awhile to learn not to trip me. He would get distracted while heeling and swing around so that his rear foot would catch my foot. Eventually I would remember to drop and roll, but there were some inconvenient injuries for awhile.
I tried the two ball method for fetching, but oddly Tryion only wants the one in my hand, even when I've tossed the one that still squeeks. It would have been more convenient than the carrots. I don't know if he'll ever enjoy fetching.
I was told that a regular tennis ball would fit in this Chuckit, but it looks awfully small.
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Post by hooligan on Apr 3, 2013 10:31:58 GMT -5
. . . Oh dear, that sounds painful. Do you feel that he's developed some empathy with age? . . . Jack? Empathy? You mean like when I'm snugged up under a blanket feeling like death . . . and Jack says, "Oh, you're not feeling well? Playing with me, me, me will fix that." LOL. Actually, Jack has always been very sensitive to our anger, and especially Bill's, but he has also always communicated his unhappiness by becoming stroppy in return. "Bark, bark, don't be mad at me. Bark, bark, stop it. I really hate it when you're mad at me." So we learned early on (or he trained us) to be very calm with him, even when we had to really grit our teeth to do it. And I also must say that he has finally started to like pleasing us and being a good dog, even when there's nothing (e.g., a treat, play) in it for him but a quick "good boy." I'd say that this is definitely a function of maturity and getting a brain. Don't tell him I said this because he still has his moments, but he is turning into a really good dog.
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