naughty rosie.. tsk tsk tsk

It's all starting to sound a bit like a broken record.

I finally got around to getting some balloons on the weekend. I had read that one way to discourage dogs from digging was to put balloons full of water into their holes. I filled up about 5 balloons and dumped them into the deepest holes. We'll see if anything happens.

I spent the evening craning my ears to see if I could hear a splosh of water and a yelp of surprise. No such luck yet...

On the weekend I also noticed, that since the garden was now fence free, the dogs went wandering to their heart's content. This meant more dog poo on my veggies, and some very deep holes along the fence..

*sigh*

A fence was dutifully put back up, and restrengthened. We shall see if she manages to get over this time. And of course there are balloons in those holes now... *holds breath in anticipation*

On Saturday night, I noticed Rosie was getting quite antsy. Kept on moving around the living room. I called her over to encourage her to just chill out with the humans. She'd come over in my direction, never looking me in the eye, do a semi circle, before turning away to wander again. I'd call her back and she'd do the same thing. It was like she was refusing to come when called. Husband ended up sending her back outside. Although I'm not sure she knew it was for her insolence of refusing to acknowledge me.

Last night after I let them in, I caught her craning her neck over the coffee table in order to sneak some food off the table. If there's one big no no in our household is that you don't beg for food or steal it off tables. She got immediately reprimanded and sent back outside again. She hasn't done that in a while, or at least gotten caught for eating off the table in a while. I had actually thought she'd learnt that particular lesson.

The husband is getting a little short tempered at Rosie, and it's not foreboding very well for her stay with us. He's been mentioning quite often lately that he wasn't sure getting her was the right thing. I'm half and half about it. Her antics don't impact me as much, mainly because 1. I don't do much in the garden so don't really appreciate all the mess and damage she creates, and 2. she has yet to run away from me on a walk. I've had her not respond, but never to the point where she just ran off into the bush and I couldn't find her. Then again, I don't do 'exciting' walks with her. We just do a few laps of the oval. Whereas the husband takes the dogs out to roaming the countryside.

As a result of Rosie's antics, Freddie got to spend the night with us again. Boy that boy sheds a lot of hair... I only just vacuumed that bedroom floor the other week.Not that you would know it, looking at that floor.. *shudder*

Fred's in the Dog House

In a weird twist of fate Freddie spent the night outside while Rosie got to stay with the Humans last night.

We came home to discover not only did Fred destroy his bed (again), but that he chewed up the hose.

That's the second hose that has succumbed to wolfhound teeth. *sigh*

Welcome to my household which consists of one Chewer, and one Digger.

The consequences of his actions meant that Fred wasn't allowed inside the house (a huge privilege) after dinner. Although I don't think Fred really understood why he was left outside. I mean, shaking a mangled hose thing without the hose isn't exactly revealing to a dog. It's not like we caught him chewing it. In which case, maybe he'd understand.

I think the reason why he did it was because we've been quite busy lately at work, getting home fairly late at night, and haven't had time to walk him. 3 days without a walk makes a dog very bored indeed.

At least I managed to give him a quick walk around the block before we ostracised him.

All my reading of dogs (in forums and dog training books) suggest that our choice to do so probably would've made no impact. It would've been a punishment and not a correctment/learning behaviour technique. But I think leaving Fred out there made the hubby feel better at least. After all it was his hose. Fred ate the one I bought a long time ago.

After we let Rosie in, I don't think she really knew what to do with herself.

She came in and after realising Fred wasn't behind us, wandered around to check and then gave us both a look of shock and awe, as if to say:

"I'm the favourite tonight? Really? Are you sure?"

It's funny because the night before, she knew that she wasn't going to be let in after her shooting range escapade. In fact, she didn't even bother getting up after dinner. Dogs sure get used to routine. Although it says a lot that she already knows that she won't get let in if she's done a runner the day before.

Anyway, let's hope no more nasty surprises greet us when we get home tonight.

what on earth is going on in the world of fred and rosie??

"Where have all the updates gone?" I hear you ask.

Well, see, Fred and Rosie were privy to a special event a few months back. Their parents finally decided to make their doggies legitimate, and tied the knot in January. This was followed by a month of absence as they cavorted around Europe, while the dogs spent time busily getting buzzed by their grandparent's electric wire fence.

Lots of stories to tell you, but not much in terms of photos.

Freddie is still as adorable as ever, and due to Rosie's constant misbehaviour gets to spend most of his nights in our room.

While we were away on honeymoon, the puppies were placed at the inlaws, who live on 1 acre. This meant there was plenty of room for the dogs to run around. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of kennels.

When we went to find doggies, we went to lots of dog shelters, which sometimes also doubled as kennels (i.e. places for doggies to stay while the owners went away). And I must say, no matter how often they get walked, the little piece of concrete that they could call their own just seemed way too small for my liking.

So it was to the in-laws they went. And while they had plenty of space to roam, there was concern that Rosie would dig herself out, or Freddie would jump the fence in search of their parents.

So an electric fence was erected. I am told that Rosie was the first Victim, having run to the fence to greet visitors, only to yelp in surprise. It took a while for her to warm back up to the inlaws for dinner. Which is a feat for a dog who adores food.

When we ended up picking them up a month later both dogs were neither distressed or overjoyed to see us.

Our own backyard is fenced in half, in an attempt to stop Rosie from digging up too much of the established rose bushes and fruit trees in our yard. The night we got back, Rosie managed to figure out how to jump onto the other side of the fence.

And so began Groundhog Day for Rosie. She had figured a way to get onto the other side of the garden, but couldn't seem to get back. This happened almost every night. Rather than just go all the way to the bottom of the garden and let her out, we decided to leave her there, each time a little longer, in an attempt to teach her that it really was silly to do what she was doing. After all, once she got over there, she'd start to whine and howl in despair.

Especially forlorn were the whimpers as she watched Fred get fed, or Fred get taken for a walk.

Rosie is Top Dog in the backyard and has always made a point of eating before Fred. Initially Freddie wouldn't eat whenever she jumped over. But soon doggie hunger instincts took the best of him, and he started eating regardless of her enraged barks.

After a few weeks of this constant jumping we began to realise that:

1. Rosie would never learn to make sure she had an escape route before jumping over the fence

and

2. She was really only doing it for attention.

It was starting to get a little irritating.

Not to mention the fact that she was POOING in my VEGETABLE PATCH! GRRRRRRrrrr

Eventually we relented and took down the fence, just to see if she would still go over, and of course we wondered what was so fascinating abt the other side of the fence.

The minute the fence went down she stopped going over.

Obviously the novelty of the jumping was simply because she was jumping into the forbidden.

But does Rosie's little defiances stop there? Oh no.

The dogs went for a walk on the weekend. Husband came home with only one dog. *sigh*

Rosie wandered off during her walk, and couldn't be found no matter how hard he looked. Good thing I got those dog tags, right?

I got a call yesterday morning to discover that she had wandered off to the shooting range.

We ended up driving down a 7km winding dirt road with lots of potholes last night in pitch black through state forest to pick her up. The guy who found her lived out in the middle of woop woop, and to be honest, I wasn't really appreciative of having to spend an extra 30 mins to pick her up. It had been a LOOONG day.

There was no contrition as we went to pick her up. She had been chained up, and the minute I took her collar, she was intent on running away. Husband grabbed hold of her and made sure she got in the car safely.

We dropped her off at home, and I was amazed to watch as she pranced, yes, pranced to the gate, wagging her whipping tail up high as Freddie watched from the other side of the gate. As if to say, 'check me out. aren't I clever? i made them drive out to get me". Usually whenever she wanders off on a walk, she comes home, covered in cobwebs and stinking of some unknown animal poo. But not this time. This time she was smart enough to get US to get HER.

Anyhow, we're kind of at our tether in terms of Rosie. Not only does she wander off on walks, refusing to come when told, but she's a helluva digger. There are craters the size of a moon in our backyard the husband just does not appreciate. Refilling the holes do nothing. She's cleared out entire garden beds. We even went to such desperate measures as putting dog poo in the holes. Which seems to stop her a little, but all she does is find another place to dig.

The other day our next door neighbour came knocking, warning us that Rosie was digging another Escape Route at the fence.

I'm starting to think I might need the assistance of a dog behaviouralist. Because at this rate, I'm not sure if we can really keep her. Her constant disappearing act makes me think that

1. our yard is too small for her, and
2. we don't have enough time for her.

We had hoped that the dogs would keep each other company, but the more we watch them together, the more it looks like that Rosie isn't really interested in Fred. If anything, they pretty much ignore each other until dinner time, when Rosie starts up her growl at Fred to make sure that he remembers she eats first.

And I'm sorry to say that she doesn't really endear herself to anyone. Sure, she's the prettiest dog you'll ever meet. But affection? Sure, give it to me if you want, but don't expect me to want it or ask for it. She's more like a cat in that regard. And I'm sorry, but I signed up for a dog, not a cat.

If you give her a cuddle or a scratch she will accept it. But the minute you stop she just wanders away. Goes and sits under the table, or wanders off into the study, curls up in a ball and sleeps.

Fred, on the other hand, if you give him a cuddle and stop? God forbid. He'll put his head on your lap and look up at you begging for more. If you're tickling his tummy and stop, his paws will start waving in the air, trying to grab hold of you to try and encourage you to keep tickling.

Maybe if we had Rosie on her own, we would never really think twice of her behaviour. But when you put her beside the affectionate and docile Fred who only ever needs to be told once not to do something before he stops, it's a different kettle of fish.

I know it's bad to compare dogs - each personality is different. But when he is just so .... doggie.... he just makes Rosie look all the more worse for what she is.

You may consider me petty, and perhaps her 'crimes' so to speak arent' all that bad on their own in isolation. But trust me, this has been a buildup of over a year or so. It's not the first time she's run away on a walk. It's not the first time she has refused to come when called, and it's not the first time she's dug the backyard into oblivion or done things she knows she's not allowed to do (eg, go over the fence).

There are moments when I feel like a very bad dog owner. I guess I'm just despairing at ever being able to get through to her. Let's just hope that a dog behaviouralist is all I need to get Rosie back on track.