My Dog Relives His Slavery

[Gail Simone]

I posted this on another thread, but I think it's kinda hilarious.

My greyhound is doing the funniest thing.

When he gets out into our big backyard, he loves to run, run, run, run. You just see a flash of him going by out the back window, then a few seconds later, he turns around and you see the white flash going in the other direction.

He's awesome. He's so full of life, it's hilarious.

A while ago, I went out and tut-tutted over the 'track' his constant running was making in the grass in the back yard. Then I realized a weird thing.

He had made a perfect oval. Now, he's a rescued racer, but this squashed circle was almost perfectly symmetrical, just a perfect little dog run.

Weirder than that, we realized we had never seen him do this run clockwise. It's ALWAYS counter-clockwise.

Which means that he, through constant running, re-created his dog racing track in our back yard. He thinks he's still racing!

HA!

Gail

[Jack Zodiac]

I think the obvious thing to do... is have him race the neighbors' dogs for money. I mean, that's what I'd do.

[Bo Bo]

That's hilarious!

edit: nevermind Jack beat me to it

[Jack Zodiac]

Jack beat me to it

We're changing your name to "Always Comes In Last." :tongue:

[Bo Bo]

We're changing your name to "Always Comes In Last." :tongue:

sadly, story of my life :frown: :tongue:

[hellokittykat]

But now he enjoys it thanks to you, Gail. :smile:

That's a totally cute story. :biggrin:

[Sabrinaset]

All I know is all those retired police dogs who were trained to sniff out illegaly downloaded porn always seem to be jumping into my lil bratty brothers window!

[Corrina]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

[hellokittykat]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

Haha! :biggrin:

[Jack Zodiac]

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

Do you walk around your backyard goin' "I see nozzink, I hear nozzink, I know nozzink!?" :tongue:

[mgs]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

that kinda sounds like your dog is trying to keep itself busy. Gails' dog has it's running, which is good, but yours, you may want to find out it's parentage or where it came from. if it does this sort of thing methodically, without any initiative from you, it may be really bored and in need of a 'game' to give it purpose and direction otherwise it could get depressed.

[scout1279]

Gail, that is so awesome that you rescued a grey hound. I want to do that some day.

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.
My dog used to dig trenches so she could lie in them and hide from the birds, which she would then attack. Also, when we would let her out of the back door, she would crouch down and peer out around the bush that was there. Before we moved she killed three birds. I am so glad the birds here are smart enough to stay out of the fenced in area.

[Solaris]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.


I think you should rent her out for root removal: set up her pen in the neighbor's yard where they want the roots dug out, and voila! :wink: I know I could've used help like that, a time or too.

Our dog Warrl is so funny when he and Bear play fetch with the ball: Warrl carries one of their chew bones around in his mouth, while Bear gets the ball---but Warrl runs like he's gonna get the ball. He outruns Bear, and when he gets to the ball first, he bunches up his body and pounces on it, like a cat with a paper ball. Then he bats it around a few times with his front paws (like soccer) before he has to yank them out of Bear's way, as Bear comes running in. Warrl looks like a big fluffy cat when he does that.

[Solaris]

Do you walk around your backyard goin' "I see nozzink, I hear nozzink, I know nozzink!?" :tongue:

SCHULTZ!!!

[Corrina]

I have *tried* to play with the dog. I bought her all kinds of dog toys. Many toys. Her favorites are the stuffed ones. Which she rips to shreds and tries to eat, so I stopped buying those.

She doesn't want to play. She wants to dig. She wags her tail and everything. She rushes out to her spot each morning, all excited. You should hear the barking from the holes. She's very happy.

I take her for long walks. She comes back and digs and digs and digs. I mean, three walks a day, human company & such, and she still wants to dig. She won't stay in the house with me or anything. She hates it in the winter. She wants to go outside and dig.

She's six. She's supposed to mellow out, right?

I blame whoever owned her before. She was from a dog rescue, she'd had puppies already, and someone had notched her ear, a nasty wound. Still, she's not afraid of people, though I suspect she had good reason.

This is why I like cats better. They are independent, not permanent two-year-olds.

I much prefer Gail's dog, recreating the track. Great thing to do Gail, rescuing a greyhound. Very smart, too, that your dog remembers the training so well.

[Corrina]

SCHULTZ!!!

Yes, but that's WWII.

Trenches do me no good in WWII with all the aerial bombardment. But if a cavalry charge ever comes, I'm set.

[CutterMike]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.


Have you checked the holes for truffles?

[cedardryad]

My chow is the typical chow, he hates water, and plays with the cats' toys. I tried to get him to play with dog toys but he's not interested. Apparently he loves anything that winds up and moves quickly. I love my Simba.

[Ben Morgan]

I think the obvious thing to do... is have him race the neighbors' dogs for money. I mean, that's what I'd do.You'd race your neighbor's dog?........of course you would.

[s33r]

I don't have as interesting a dog as everyone else. But I can say with confidence that she is the most mellow being alive. Our last cat, right off the streets, was a tiny little thing and scared to death of an eighty-four pound boxer-mutt. She would constantly hiss and attempt to intimidate the dog, despite the fact that she didn't come up to said dog's knees. Said dog would humor her and back off.

Several times I saw the cat scratch her face, and the dog didn't retaliate at all. She barely blinked. But she stopped trying to lick the cat. That was one ungrateful cat.

[Chiroptera]

My dog's got, by the vets estimation, probably about a 1/3 of coyote in her blood line. The rest of it actually appears to be Husky/Grey Hound.

She's this gorgeous, short furred skinny girl, with the perfect husky color tones right down to the bushy curling tail. She looks like a husky, she moves like a grey hound... But she's a coyote in mentality. She's a loner. She'll lay with me when it's storming, or she'll come lie down in the den when we're all sitting around watching TV on the weekends, but she's not much for cuddly snuggling like some dogs.

When we take her out to the park she runs like crazy, and as soon as she gets to the high grass she does the classic coyote technique. She leaps a good 3 feet up into the air, and come down front paws first to scare up mice and rabbits.
Unfortunately or her, the park is mostly wooded, so these lil critters have plenty of places to run. She only catches a mouse once in awhile, she's never caught a rabbit.. Heaven help 'em if she ever scared them up out in a field. She moves so fast in fields that half the time I can't even keept track of where she's gone.

[Cam63]

He had made a perfect oval. Now, he's a rescued racer, but this squashed circle was almost perfectly symmetrical, just a perfect little dog run.

Weirder than that, we realized we had never seen him do this run clockwise. It's ALWAYS counter-clockwise.

Which means that he, through constant running, re-created his dog racing track in our back yard. He thinks he's still racing!

HA!

Gail

Maybe he's a lefty.

[Cam63]

Hmm... What paw does he write with ?

[TCJohnson]

My poor kitty kat has a missing leg...but he doesn't know that yet. To this day you see him trying to scratch his chin with the missing leg. He cocks his head to the side and you see all the muschles in the thigh where the leg is missing movinglike he is trying to shake it. It is sad and funny at the same time.

[hellokittykat]

Calban is ten shades of awesome. :biggrin:

[Nick Soapdish]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

Maybe she's after gophers. She could have a team-up with Bill Murray's character from Caddyshack.

[siuntres]

Santa's Little Helper still wants to compete.

[Gail Simone]

I don't have as interesting a dog as everyone else. But I can say with confidence that she is the most mellow being alive. Our last cat, right off the streets, was a tiny little thing and scared to death of an eighty-four pound boxer-mutt. She would constantly hiss and attempt to intimidate the dog, despite the fact that she didn't come up to said dog's knees. Said dog would humor her and back off.

Several times I saw the cat scratch her face, and the dog didn't retaliate at all. She barely blinked. But she stopped trying to lick the cat. That was one ungrateful cat.

hahahaha! That's a funny image.

Anyone have pictures of these pets?

[Gail Simone]

Santa's Little Helper still wants to compete.

'Scruro would clean his clock.

:)

Gail

[Dreadstar]

Dogs are great about being so candid about their instincts.

I'd take my Border Collie to the park and she'd end up herding the geese around. Not just chasing them, actually containing them in a tight group and moving them to the lake. And she absolutely LOVED a game she played with the neighbor kids. She'd stand 3 feet past the sidewalk and the kids would line up another 20 feet past that and try to get to the sidewalk without her touching them.

I think she lost that game maybe once.

[LewisH]

great escape. (She hasn't told us about him bouncing a baseball against the wall when she locks him back up in the cooler, has she?)

While we're sort of on the subject of dogs and motorcycles. (Greyhound, Great Escape, Steve McQueen? No?)

http://www.imz-ural.com/downloads/flash/URALCartoon05.swf

[scout1279]

I have *tried* to play with the dog. I bought her all kinds of dog toys. Many toys. Her favorites are the stuffed ones. Which she rips to shreds and tries to eat, so I stopped buying those.

She doesn't want to play. She wants to dig. She wags her tail and everything. She rushes out to her spot each morning, all excited. You should hear the barking from the holes. She's very happy.

I take her for long walks. She comes back and digs and digs and digs. I mean, three walks a day, human company & such, and she still wants to dig. She won't stay in the house with me or anything. She hates it in the winter. She wants to go outside and dig.

She's six. She's supposed to mellow out, right?

I blame whoever owned her before. She was from a dog rescue, she'd had puppies already, and someone had notched her ear, a nasty wound. Still, she's not afraid of people, though I suspect she had good reason.

This is why I like cats better. They are independent, not permanent two-year-olds.

I much prefer Gail's dog, recreating the track. Great thing to do Gail, rescuing a greyhound. Very smart, too, that your dog remembers the training so well.
My dog is a six-year-old lab mix. They never mellow, and yes, they are perpetually 2. It's the breed. My Annabelle is also the sweetest dog I have ever known though, so it's a trade off. (Not that my last dog wasn't wonderful. I still miss her, but she lacked Annabelle's sweetness.)

As for the digging, I was watching the Dog Whisperer, and he said that some dogs need to work and feel useful. Excercize isn't always enough. Maybe if you get one of those doggie backpacks and fill it with some random stuff for her to carry when you go out for walks. If the digging is that much f a problem, it might be worth a shot. Otherwise, I suggest writing to the Dog Whisperer. He's not nearly as much of a sham as the pet psychic.

[LewisH]

the lab is trying to get to them?

[Stressfactor]

I sooooo want to rescue a racing Greyhound but every rescue group I've met requires you to either have a backyard or to spend quite a bit of time at home so that the dogs have company and someone to walk them often. I'm apartment bound for the forseeable future and I have along work day and a hefty commute so that lets out the latter as well.

I will never forget, though, the first time I encountered a ReGAP group (Retired Greyhounds as Pets) doing a fundraiser at my local Borders. A lot of the people brought their dogs and it was amazing to see all these dogs so competely laid back. No barking, no hyperactivity, to whining... As I was talking to one gentleman about the group his dog sidled over to me. I was listening to the man and therefore was not paying attention to the dog -- a situation she found unsatisfactory. All of a sudden a feel this soft double bump at stomach level. I look down and the Greyhound has just bumped me with her head and then is looking up at me with this total "I'm here, I'm cute, WHY are you not petting me?!" look. Of course, I had to oblige then. :biggrin:

[mgs]

As for the digging, I was watching the Dog Whisperer, and he said that some dogs need to work and feel useful. Excercize isn't always enough.

that's what I was saying. don't know about the DW guy though. never seen the show. but it's common knowledge that certain dogs 'need' to work (as anyone who works with them knows) sheepherders, hunters, cops that handle them, etc. Some things are just bred into them and it's up to the owners to either teach them useful, positive things or let them drive themselves crazy with random bad habits they pick up.

[TCJohnson]

Calban is ten shades of awesome. :biggrin:

The other day I found a lost dog and took him home until I could find the owner. It looked like this guy:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Ckc2.jpg/250px-Ckc2.jpg

She was friendly, well groomed and had tags stating she had all her shots so it wasn't like there was much danger.

For the most part I kept her in a spare room, but at one point she did get out. ALl my cats climbed to safety except for Caliban who couldn't climb fast enough. The puppy got to chase Caliban around the couch three times.

And the dog wasn't even barking, I think she was just chasing because Caliban was running. Honestly, I thought it was good for Caliban to have his ego knocked down a few notches.

[Sally Sensational]

that's what I was saying. don't know about the DW guy though. never seen the show. but it's common knowledge that certain dogs 'need' to work (as anyone who works with them knows) sheepherders, hunters, cops that handle them, etc. Some things are just bred into them and it's up to the owners to either teach them useful, positive things or let them drive themselves crazy with random bad habits they pick up.

Got any recommendations for what to do with a hyperactive Siberian Husky?

[mgs]

Got any recommendations for what to do with a hyperactive Siberian Husky?

sorry, just nature observer, not canine enthusiast. ;)

somethings I've heard about them though is that they do tend to get overheated. Since they are a bit more 'wild' than some other breeds, they like the organization of dogs (needng to know who is boss, etc) not much about their nature/play habits though. hmm...

.Edit: just some general info you already know. nothing new, but interesting for others.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/siberianhusky.htm

[The Ray]

Dogs are evil. Cats are our allies in the war against dogs.

[scout1279]

Dogs are evil. Cats are our allies in the war against dogs.
Aww...my Annabelle may be a little devil, but how can anyone say she's evil?

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i130/scout1279/?action=view&current=Anna-devil.jpg

[Chiroptera]

Dogs are evil. Cats are our allies in the war against dogs.

HEhehe, there's a reason I love Catwoman. :tongue:

I love my dog but I'm total cat person.
Horror Story to counteract all the cute:

When I was 17 my cat got attacked by a neighbors dog. I threw myself between them. The dog tried to bite my cat. I knocked the dog on his ass. My cat decided to use me as a tree. Climbed from my leg all the way up to my hip and hung there while I fought the dog back and got back inside.

Worst infection I've ever had, a nasty bout of cleaning and antibiotics, and I'd still do it all again without a moment hesitation. :rolleyes:

[Cam63]

My poor kitty kat has a missing leg...but he doesn't know that yet. To this day you see him trying to scratch his chin with the missing leg. He cocks his head to the side and you see all the muschles in the thigh where the leg is missing movinglike he is trying to shake it. It is sad and funny at the same time.

*1970s voiceover* We can rebuild him... Make him better than he was... faster... stronger... dah dada da dah !

[mgs]

*1970s voiceover* We can rebuild him... Make him better than he was... faster... stronger... dah dada da dah !

will you rename HER, #2? ;)

[Cam63]

Steve, Steve Austin will do.

[Justin D.]

My black lab mix re-enacts trench warfare in my backyard.

She digs. And digs. Her holes are up to four feet deep. Then she connects them. We've have to move her dog area twice now to refill in everything. Currently, she's digging up all the tree roots

And she barks at the dirt when she's digging. Sticks her nose into a tight spot and barks. And wags her tail. I've tried to get her interested in chasing tennis balls and sticks and whatnot but, no, she likes to dig.

It's bizarre. But should the WWI German Army invade my backyard, I have a safe place to fire at them.

Maybe your dog discovered echoes and is endlessly fascinated with it.

I can't wait to get a house with a backyard so we can get a dog. I'd love a jack russel or some other kind of smart, medium-sized dog, but we'll likely get whatever young dog is at the pound.

Or a morkie. Seriously, I don't care how manly you think you are. You can't resist a morkie. Go ahead.

http://www.cobiespups.com/images/morkie_male_forweb92897.jpg

Oh, you can resist that? Try this!

http://puppystars.com/images/gallery/morkie3.jpg

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[Cam63]

Yep... That's one adorable critter.

[K-DoG7p7]

The other day I found a lost dog and took him home until I could find the owner. It looked like this guy:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Ckc2.jpg/250px-Ckc2.jpg

She was friendly, well groomed and had tags stating she had all her shots so it wasn't like there was much danger.

For the most part I kept her in a spare room, but at one point she did get out. ALl my cats climbed to safety except for Caliban who couldn't climb fast enough. The puppy got to chase Caliban around the couch three times.

And the dog wasn't even barking, I think she was just chasing because Caliban was running. Honestly, I thought it was good for Caliban to have his ego knocked down a few notches.
Used to have 2 like that

but one of them was sick.. very sick so we had to put her down..
and the other one well.. she is deaf and going senile.. and operates at 1/6 speed .. unless he sees another dog :P