Diddy's Tuck observations reminded me that I wanted to post about a little
incident from this past weekend, to wit:

I took the dogs out for a nice run on the trails, the weather being halfway
decent. Trails were muddy as hell, but that's nothing new...

At any rate, at one point in our usual circuit we cross a small feeder
stream which is in a gully, and which has wide, mucky/muddy banks at the
crossable points even at the best of times - the sort of sticky, sloppy mud
where you go in up to the ankles. Where the gully's higher - approx 6 foot
deep and 10 feet wide - a 12' wide plank has been laid across to allow
crossing with dry feet.

Morag, being particular, *prefers* to use the human crossing and stay out of
the mud; she trots across the slightly bouncy plank nonchalantly, which is
made easier for her, of course, by the fact that she's narrow (approx. 6" at
her widest point, e.g. her chest) and lightweight.
Brenin CAN cross the plank with little difficulty, but A: doesn't care for
the bounciness and, even more so, B: doesn't see the point; he prefers to
slop through the mud. I, however, sometimes don't want to deal with sticky
mud 8" up his legs and splattered all over him elsewhere, especially in
weather too cold for splashing him off in the big creek on the way out.
Therefore, I am sometimes a Big Meanie who insists that he cross the plank,
as I did this weekend.

So - Bren started towards the muck, I said "Anh", indicated the plank, and
said "walk it". Normally, he makes faces but then galumphs across. This
time, however, he happened to be carrying a small, flattened soccer ball
which he'd picked up a bit further back. He looked at me, and then at the
plank, then from side to side, with the gears in his brain clearly clicking
over.

I repeat "walk it". He starts towards the plank, but turns to the side and
drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, about 3 feet away.
"Bren", says I, "pick up your ball, let's go." "Wurrhf!" says Brenin, and
proceeds to very deliberately give it a poke with his nose, sending it over
the edge and into the mud.
"WROO!!" says he, doing a little front-foot jig, giving me and the ball
alternating Significant Looks... "WrooWOOwoo!" Which rather obviously can
be translated as "Oh, gee, what a pity! I guess I'll just HAVE to go down in
the mud to obey you and get the ball..."

"sionnach" wrote in message
...
(snip)
So - Bren started towards the muck, I said "Anh", indicated the plank, and
said "walk it". Normally, he makes faces but then galumphs across. This
time, however, he happened to be carrying a small, flattened soccer ball
which he'd picked up a bit further back. He looked at me, and then at the
plank, then from side to side, with the gears in his brain clearly
clicking over.

I repeat "walk it". He starts towards the plank, but turns to the side
and drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, about 3 feet away.
"Bren", says I, "pick up your ball, let's go." "Wurrhf!" says Brenin, and
proceeds to very deliberately give it a poke with his nose, sending it
over the edge and into the mud.
"WROO!!" says he, doing a little front-foot jig, giving me and the ball
alternating Significant Looks... "WrooWOOwoo!" Which rather obviously can
be translated as "Oh, gee, what a pity! I guess I'll just HAVE to go down
in the mud to obey you and get the ball..."

Oh good one! He's a lawyer dog, aren't you glad he's on your side.
Karla

"sionnach" wrote in message:

"WROO!!" says he, doing a little front-foot jig, giving me and the
ball
alternating Significant Looks... "WrooWOOwoo!" Which rather obviously can
be translated as "Oh, gee, what a pity! I guess I'll just HAVE to go down
in
the mud to obey you and get the ball..."

Did you make him walk the plank?

Suja

"sionnach" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


Diddy's Tuck observations reminded me that I wanted to post about a
little incident from this past weekend, to wit:

I took the dogs out for a nice run on the trails, the weather being
halfway decent. Trails were muddy as hell, but that's nothing new...

At any rate, at one point in our usual circuit we cross a small feeder
stream which is in a gully, and which has wide, mucky/muddy banks at the
crossable points even at the best of times - the sort of sticky, sloppy
mud where you go in up to the ankles. Where the gully's higher - approx
6 foot deep and 10 feet wide - a 12' wide plank has been laid across to
allow crossing with dry feet.

Morag, being particular, *prefers* to use the human crossing and stay
out of the mud; she trots across the slightly bouncy plank nonchalantly,
which is made easier for her, of course, by the fact that she's narrow
(approx. 6" at her widest point, e.g. her chest) and lightweight.
Brenin CAN cross the plank with little difficulty, but A: doesn't care
for
the bounciness and, even more so, B: doesn't see the point; he prefers
to slop through the mud. I, however, sometimes don't want to deal with
sticky mud 8" up his legs and splattered all over him elsewhere,
especially in weather too cold for splashing him off in the big creek on
the way out. Therefore, I am sometimes a Big Meanie who insists that he
cross the plank, as I did this weekend.

So - Bren started towards the muck, I said "Anh", indicated the plank,
and said "walk it". Normally, he makes faces but then galumphs across.
This time, however, he happened to be carrying a small, flattened soccer
ball which he'd picked up a bit further back. He looked at me, and then
at the plank, then from side to side, with the gears in his brain
clearly clicking over.

I repeat "walk it". He starts towards the plank, but turns to the side
and
drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, about 3 feet away.
"Bren", says I, "pick up your ball, let's go." "Wurrhf!" says Brenin,
and proceeds to very deliberately give it a poke with his nose, sending
it over the edge and into the mud.
"WROO!!" says he, doing a little front-foot jig, giving me and the
ball
alternating Significant Looks... "WrooWOOwoo!" Which rather obviously
can be translated as "Oh, gee, what a pity! I guess I'll just HAVE to go
down in the mud to obey you and get the ball..."






That is so VERY funny!

"Suja" wrote:

Did you make him walk the plank?

I did not. G I get such a kick out of his creativity, even when he's a
pain, that I tend to tacitly reward it unless it's a real safety issue.
I DID, however, insist that he retrieve the ball, even when he realized
that oops, the water he'd dropped it into was a bit deeper than he'd
thought.

"Suja" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


"sionnach" wrote in message:

I did not. G I get such a kick out of his creativity, even when he's a
pain, that I tend to tacitly reward it unless it's a real safety issue.

I'm sure I would've done the same thing. Even when I know that encouraging
independent thinking can come back and bite me on my ass.


I very much encourage independent thinking

"sionnach" wrote in message:

I did not. G I get such a kick out of his creativity, even when he's a
pain, that I tend to tacitly reward it unless it's a real safety issue.

I'm sure I would've done the same thing. Even when I know that encouraging
independent thinking can come back and bite me on my ass.

I DID, however, insist that he retrieve the ball, even when he realized
that oops, the water he'd dropped it into was a bit deeper than he'd
thought.

Hey, he laid his bed....

Suja