We went for a walk in the park....you'll never guess what happened next!

Went for the clickbait title! I wasn't actually sure how I might cleverly title my relation of these events. I debated whether I'd write about this at all, actually, but here we are. In a way it's embarrassing, and it's certainly a cautionary tale. You see, about two weeks ago I sprained my ankle while walking Elka.

This lovely picture? I took it about half an hour before the Fateful Moment. (Though it really is my new "good" picture of her; it's the shot I wanted, and I actually got it for once.)

Black and White Sunday February 24 2013

Oh, and for everybody who asked on Wednesday: Elka was holding a small "leather" notebook. There was a thread on Doberman Talk of dogs holding objects, and it was something that came to hand. I told Elka to "take it" and "hold it", and got the picture. Granted, it was of questionable quality, but there you go!

Wordless Wednesday October 31 2012

Tasty Tuesday, February 21 2012

I was mean to Elka today.

Not <i>mean</i> mean. Just..."testing her self control" mean. A little background: earlier in the day, I had given her a Monster Mouth. I noticed at the time, but didn't follow up on it, that one of the little molasses cookie treats I'd used to stuff it with had bounced out of the "area of play". Several hours later, Elka was chewing on something, which I instructed her to drop it. And she did.

So, I upped the ante.

Tasty Tuesday: Happiness is a Monster Mouth

Teaching Elka "Where's your Kong?" and "Where's your Monster?" have been pretty easy, all things considered. You know why?  When she brings me her Monster Mouth, or her Kong, we get excited, and then we go to the kitchen, and then we stuff it!

Command Clinic: Drop it

I've put off this particular command clinic because, thinking back, I couldn't actually remember how I taught Elka "drop it". It's a cue that she certainly knows, and obeys, as I mentioned in this post, when she dropped the remains of a turkey sandwich she'd found in the park. If I was already eating a turkey sandwich and told to spit it out, I don't know that I would. So, good Elka, really!

So, "drop it" is important. It can keep your socks hole-free, keep a game of tug civil and controlled, protect your fingers while playing fetch, and keep your dog from consuming hazardous things like rocks and bottle caps and the like.

Want to play a game? Tug!

Elka's favorite game is Tug.  She will try to play it with any toy ever, from a rope (you know, marketed as a tug toy) to Gumby (who puts up with it), to a tennis ball (which fits almost entirely into her mouth and doesn't work).

Tug is a fun thing for her, and can be for me too, though the game has to have rules, as one might guess.  There are some people who in fact say that you should never play with your dog, as it can mess up the "pack hierarchy" or make your dog aggressive.  I don't really buy into the whole "pack" notion; dogs know the difference between people and dogs.  A whole bunch of dogs together might make up a pack and have rules within it as such, but if you've got people and an "only dog" in a household, I don't think it applies.

Aggressiveness is a can of worms I don't really want to get into, or at least not when we're talking about a fun game! Suffice to say, if your dog has aggressive tendencies in the first place, or is very very possessive with toys, don't play tug.  There are problems already in place and you don't need to ask for more.  But if you have a well-balanced dog who lets you give and take toys happily?  Tug away!