It has been a while, so this one may be long, and is in random order.

July 1st is Canada Day, so Gen, Moogli and I went to a pool/BBQ party at
a friends place. Moogli met a dog that I have known since she was 8 weeks
old. Dini, a (now) 8 year old Golden Retriever. They first met in the
winter, and had a great time. She was the first "big dog" that Moogli
tried to play with. Mostly because she is so calm and laid back. Well,
she is still calm and laid back, but, it being summer and very hot, she
is also *really* whiney. Almost non-stop. Whereas Moogli, the social
butterfly who managed to charm his way ont everyone's lap, wanted to
playplayplay with her. He started barking and play bowing and running
past her at top speed. She just wanted to be left alone, so she ignored
him. However, once Moogli saw that she was going into the pool,
*voluntarily*, the idea of playing with her diminished a bit, so he
decided to go play in the flower garden.

Moolgi has started channeling the spirit of Ghandi, in a passive-
resistance sortof way. It all started last week. Seeing as how Genevieve
is a teacher, she has the summer off, so she has been taking the Moogster
to a park by the river. When it is time to go, he will walk with her
until he realizes that they are leaving, at which point in time he starts
trying to walk the other way. When he sees that it isn't working, he just
flops on his side. At this point in time, we have a couple of choices:
Either pull him towards us (and have to give him a bath that night and
deal with a grass-stained dog) or wait him out. So far, waiting him out
has worked. It only takes about 5 minutes and he decides that getting in
the nice, air-conditioned car is far preferable to baking in the sun.

The dog park that we frequent is getting more of a pain in the ass. What
with summer finally hitting its stride, more and more people are showing
up. There are a lot of lab/lab mixes in this area, most of them owned by
people who have no clue at all. So, they show up at the park and, for
whatever reason, seem to be fascinated with Moogli and Cocotte. The older
ones aren't too bad, they wnder around, sniff for a while, and then
wander off. it is the young ones that are the problem. They
sniffsniffsniff non stop. They will literally walk around behind Moogli
with their nose as far between his legs as they can get it. Usually all
it takes is a couple of snarks by Moogli to get them to leave him alone,
but once last week, we were treated to the site of Moogli barking at this
lab, quite annoyed at him. As I am walking over there to shoo off the
lab, Moogli lets out this snarl, and the lab goes to his belly, his neck
stretched out on the grass. Moogli wanders off and isn't bothered by the
lab again.

At the same time, the dog park is getting fun. We go there at the same
time as Gen's parents and Cocotte, Moogli's mom. They like to run and
wrestle. While Moogli will never be as solid as Cocotte, he is faster and
leaner. It is now at the point where he is faster than she is when they
run. He also turns and corners like nothing I have seen before. The speed
is incredible.

We had Gen's parents over for supper, and they brough their dog with
them. Moogli and Cocotte had a grand old time running around the
apartment. At home, Cocotte is not allowed up on sofa's and couches.
Moogli figured that out, and used that to his advantage. He would run
around, with Cocotte in full chase, and jump up onto the bed. She would
stop, where upon he would turn around and bite at her face. She would be
getting ready to jump up and he would jump down, run throughthe apartment
and jump onto the sofa. Repeat as necessary. Took her 15 minutes to
figure out that sofas and beds are simply softer wrestling spots in the
apartment.

Cocotte likes toys[1]. At home, she is toy deprived, whereas Moogli has
about 7 toys scattered around the house at any one time. While cleaning
up in preparation for the visit, we put all of Moogli's into his crate.
Over the course of 15 minutes, she took all of them out and placed them
in the middle of the dining room, as if to show Gen's parents the
*proper* way thinsg should be done.

[1] Cocotte is much more toy oriented than Moogli. She will grab a toy
and try to coax you (or another dog) to play by walking around, just out
of reach with it.

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Marcel Beaudoin & Moogli

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'Of course you realize this means war.'
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Marcel Beaudoin wrote:
Moogli only does that when he is trying to get out of the room to chew on
a sock or something he is not supposed to have. Then, it depends on
whether he is closer to the door (he runs) or us (rolls on his back)

Sounds like you need a little more work convincing him that giving things up to
you is a good thing. :}

I'd suggest taking every opportunity you can to play the "thank you" game.
Wait until he has something in his mouth, then ask him to drop it by showing
him a treat he can't resist. Whip the object behind your back while you praise
and treat, then give it right back to him and leave him alone. (Of course, you
wean the treats down to an occasional reward as he gets better at dropping the
objects quickly and willingly.)

I still need some work with Murphy, but Madigan and Kenzie are very dependable
at drop it, and I used the "thank you game" to teach them. They can be tugging
on a toy together, snarling and growling and almost to a state of losing their
tempers, and a quiet "drop it" will end it immediately.

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Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m.