Amazing that those pups inherit so much of their parents' behavior!
Yes, Decibel is definitely a drama queen at times.
She isn't doing it all the time, mind you, and that was what threw me about it at first, and we thought it was serious, but in retrospect, yup, that is what it is. She makes a few of those low monkey hooting noises when you hug her and reassure her (whoo-hooo-hooo) before she is ready to be 'out there' again. Sounds like a kid that is just coming off a tantrum or crying fit.
I am so glad that her brother has the same needle aversion. It is funny, because she isn't a whiner or cry baby about running around outside, where she has certainly had her share of being run over by a faster dog, running into a fence or post, or tripping over something or stumbling. Not that she is clumsy, not her, but as I told you, she loves throwing herself at top speed into tall grass or the pond.
It is good to know that she might pretend I regularly saw her leg off with a rusty knife or the like, and that she might pull that on me in public... always interesting then.
If I know she is just acting, I won't feel so bad.
Decibel rarely needed correction at first, she loved showing off how clever she was, but now she tries to get away with stuff.
Nothing bad, mind you, just she is sloppier on recalls, (Huh? Me? Oh, you want me to come? Right now?) and she tries to find ways around the rules without breaking them. In fact it is interesting to try and follow her thought processes. She is not allowed to take paper out of the recycling bin. She has learned this rule. But I didn't say she is not allowed to take paper from the porch and rip it up, right? (It was on the floor, so it is our fault. I don't say anything about that).
Okay. So I collect, and put it in the bin.
Now you can just see her cruising around for another source of paper products to entertain her, can't you?
She won't take it out of the bin, cause I said that's a no, but other paper, that is still okay.... peek up on the coffee table where the bills are piled up.
DECIBEL!
Oh, yeah, right ma, no taking stuff off the table. I was just looking!
She likes paper products. She is NOT smoking. It is a almost empty paper towel roll.
All the best,
Dog days
here we are in the dog days of summer and Decibel takes frequent dips in the pond, which is quite cool.
She still finds things that are new. At times she watches TV now.
She seems to see quite well up close, but at times stuff that is distant puzzles her (a low flying hawk, a strange object in the distance like a garbage can or ladder). Harold likes to play hunchback and move oddly and when he pops out of the bushes or from behind a barn, you should hear Decibel go off!
No danger that any strange hunchbacks can sneak up on me.
Naturally I don't discourage that sort of protective stuff, but I do tell her to go check it out, and then she is all silly and wiggly because it was someone she knows.
She loves playing with the cat in the morning. Quincy likes the attention, and is rather unconcerned, even when it looks like Decibel is eating his ears. He rubs against her and even rolls over, and he could be running off or hiding, so it is mauling with his consent.
I have been letting her in the pen with the sheep and she is rather good about them. When they are just eating, she is ignoring them or trying to steal a little feed, and will go out the door on my verbal command, which I think is pretty good. She can do the same in the chicken coop, although there I have to insist she go out the door, before I can turn my back... those chickens are fun to catch.
Once or twice she has helped move the sheep, not in a completely concerted effort, but without pulling one down or getting too wild, or chasing them and I think she did help. I mostly let her do what she wants (and not freak when the sheep go the wrong way for a bit), as long as she tries to keep the sheep together and only correct her when she gets too riled up, or the lead sheep is putting her head down to ram her. Decibel needs to know that she can get hurt by the critters, and the sheep is mellow for one of the woolly kind, and does not butt hard.
Decibel likes it when animals move, not that overt talent that Barley had, yet it isn't just wild chasing either. With Barley I learned that if I told him where to go, it would be chaos. If I told him what I wanted for an end result, we would get it done. With Decibel, right now I am just watching her; she moves so fast and well, and seems to like the game of boss sheep around.
Decibel does have the same spatial smarts; she knows the layout of paddocks and corrals, where the gates are, where you can get in or out. I always thought it was so cool that Barley would see a rabbit through the fence and then book the opposite direction, to get to the gate, to get in there with the rabbit. Most dogs just yap at the fence.
Naturally she loves sneaking up to the cows to get a reaction out of them, but again, they are mellow representatives of their kind, and mostly ignore her or chase her for a few steps, which the wild child thinks is just fantastic. These are isolated incidences; for the most part she sticks close to me when we are around livestock.
She is getting plenty of roughage these days, from the apple tree in the backyard.
Because we had gotten a bit sloppy (it happens), we have reinstated the humans rule law, and spent the last week or so making sure that we walked through doors first, and that dogs only followed when called. Long down stays are back. They might never be obedience titled, but even such a little thing shows almost right away. No more demand barking while we make their dinner. Now there are downs and sits and such, and it is best to be quiet, or we think of more assignments, and the food just sits there... out of reach. Decibel is smart, so it did not take her long to figure it out. Half the stuff she knows I cannot remember teaching her. Like giving a toy or treat when I tell her 'aus' (German for 'out'). She just does it.
To date Decibel is the only dog who likes showers. She has no fear of the doggie shower in the laundry room, nor the one upstairs. She makes fun of her 'siblings' when they get a bath, and is in the shower with them. And she loves it when I cool down the pigs with the spray from the hose. Whhooosh, that's Decibel flying through the spray, biting at it and getting all of us wet in the process. She should be wearing a cape for those fly bys! Biting into water spray is one of her favorite things to do.
Please, sir, may I have some more?
Hugs,
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