Carla's Posts - MyCorgi.com2024-03-29T11:03:41ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3098523760?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://mycorgi.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2njb55238814r&xn_auth=noVote for Corgi's!tag:mycorgi.com,2011-03-19:1150197:BlogPost:9321422011-03-19T02:29:32.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p>They're in the lead. Let's keep it that way:</p>
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<p><a href="http://jezebel.com/#!5783164/march-madness-friday-18">http://jezebel.com/#!5783164/march-madness-friday-18</a></p>
<p>They're in the lead. Let's keep it that way:</p>
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<p><a href="http://jezebel.com/#!5783164/march-madness-friday-18">http://jezebel.com/#!5783164/march-madness-friday-18</a></p>Discussion Updatestag:mycorgi.com,2010-12-21:1150197:BlogPost:8238472010-12-21T22:30:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p>I've started a number of discussion, asking a number of questions over the last year or so that I've been on MyCorgi. I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who offered me advice or suggestions, and provide a bit of an update on some of our progress.</p>
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<p>1) "Puppy Running in Front/Cutting Me Off" - She steers clear of my feet since I took everyone's advice and starting kicking her if she got in my way. Now she hustles out of my way if she sees me coming, lol. She still gets…</p>
<p>I've started a number of discussion, asking a number of questions over the last year or so that I've been on MyCorgi. I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who offered me advice or suggestions, and provide a bit of an update on some of our progress.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) "Puppy Running in Front/Cutting Me Off" - She steers clear of my feet since I took everyone's advice and starting kicking her if she got in my way. Now she hustles out of my way if she sees me coming, lol. She still gets a boot every now and then, particularly if we're at the dog park and she decides that she needs to stop on the path directly in front of where I'm walking to sniff something, but overall, she's learned that my feet=dangerous!</p>
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<p>2) "Attention/Distraction Training and General Overexcitement" - Well, the general overexcitement is still an ongoing issue in our house; I've sort of accepted it as part of her temperament. It's unlikely that she will ever be one of "those" dogs (you know the ones, who are just calm as calm can be). She blows a casket if someone even so much as breaths in her direction, but I'm grateful I don't have an excited pee-er, so I guess that's something. Her attention has improved, although it's still not terribly fantastic. We use mild corrections on walks if she focuses too intensely or too long on something, so she's learned that she can look at something briefly, but we need to keep up the pace and she can't walk into me from being distracted. I'm hoping as she continues to age, the overexcitement and focus will improve.</p>
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<p>3) "What's going on in her head" - She recently got the privilege of having the entire living room to roam in while unsupervised. She hasn't tried to escape yet, but I'm pretty sure she will start up again in a few weeks. I've since discovered that she's a "grass is greener" type of pup - if she's inside, she wants out; if she's outside, she wants in. I've just learned to live with it.</p>
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<p>4) "Dog Park Jumping" - This continues to be an ongoing problem. Fundamental to the problem is the fact that people at the dog park are idiots, so it's nearly impossible to curb the behaviour, even with vigilant correction. *Sigh*</p>
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<p>5) "Car Whining" - She got quite ill back in June, and ever since has stopped whining in the car. I'm not sure the connection, but it was literally the first time we went back to the dog park after her health improved, there was absolutely no whining. No idea why, but I'm sure happy for it. She continues to whine in the house, but I'm learning to accept that I have a whiny dog and must try not to have it annoy me so terribly much. It really is an awful sound though.</p>
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<p>6) "Doesn't Like the Basement" - This is probably her biggest improvement, I would say. I decided that it was time she go down the stairs by herself, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Knowing that she would not accept food bribes to go down the stairs, I decided to take a different (and harsher, to some) approach. I would stand at the top of the basement stairs and when she came over to me, I would take her two front paws and place them down, on the first step to the basement (she was not happy about this). At this point, she couldn't go back up, so had to either keep going down the stairs, or stay there and do nothing. After some cheering on my part, she chose to continue going down the stairs. I did this several times a day for a week or two.</p>
<p>One day, a few weeks in, I stood at the top of the stairs as I always had, and she came over next to me. As I reached down to grab her front paws and place them on the top step, she hopped down herself, and went down the stairs to the basement. After that, all I had to do was go to the top of the basement stairs and stand, waiting for her, and she would come over and go down the stairs herself.</p>
<p>And, just yesterday, I actually didn't have to stand and wait for her at the top of the stairs anymore. I was just walking downstairs to grab some laundry, and when I was about half-way down, she took it upon herself to come down with me, no invitation needed. She puttered around a bit, then layed down in her (until now, mostly unused) basement dog bed. It was really nice.</p>
<p> </p>What the Heck, Edmonton?tag:mycorgi.com,2010-11-23:1150197:BlogPost:8048212010-11-23T04:30:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Overnight low of -31 Celsius/-24 Fahrenheit (<u>without</u> the windchill!)?!?!?! Tomorrows daytime HIGH is -18 (-1 Fahrenheit). What kind of high is that?</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This is some January/February weather, sure, but not November. I guess mother nature decided that because we had such a crappy summer, she needed to kick-start winter into high…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Overnight low of -31 Celsius/-24 Fahrenheit (<u>without</u> the windchill!)?!?!?! Tomorrows daytime HIGH is -18 (-1 Fahrenheit). What kind of high is that?</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This is some January/February weather, sure, but not November. I guess mother nature decided that because we had such a crappy summer, she needed to kick-start winter into high gear.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey is NOT happy about the weather. She has some wicked cabin fever going on; we've been going for short walks outside (with booties AND socks), but she can't play in the yard without losing her booties to the snow banks. We tried to play this morning, and she was SO geared up to go outside, we got outside and it took about 15 seconds for her to start limping and hustle back to the house. She had this look on her face like: "WHY IS THE GROUND SO COLD? GOING OUTSIDE WAS A MISTAKE!"</span></p>
<p></p>Winter's Finally Arrived on the Prairiestag:mycorgi.com,2010-11-15:1150197:BlogPost:7998652010-11-15T04:48:46.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Well, we held out as long as we could. Forecast for the upcoming week is snow and lows of -10 Celsius (that's about 14 Fahrenheit) with overnight lows of -20 (-4 Fahrenheit) with the wind chill. Winter’s a-coming.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My fall jackets got moved to the basement this weekend, and my snowpants came out of the closet.…</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Well, we held out as long as we could. Forecast for the upcoming week is snow and lows of -10 Celsius (that's about 14 Fahrenheit) with overnight lows of -20 (-4 Fahrenheit) with the wind chill. Winter’s a-coming.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My fall jackets got moved to the basement this weekend, and my snowpants came out of the closet.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey booties came out of hibernation too (much to her chagrin).</span></p>First Dremel Sessiontag:mycorgi.com,2010-10-29:1150197:BlogPost:7876382010-10-29T15:03:53.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I've spent the last week "preparing" Casey for her first Dremel session. I took it out and turned it on for a few days, then I spent some time Dremeling my own nails, let her near it to sniff and investigate, but today, she actually had to lay down and have the tool vibrate on her body.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She was not a happy camper, lol. She tried to get up…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I've spent the last week "preparing" Casey for her first Dremel session. I took it out and turned it on for a few days, then I spent some time Dremeling my own nails, let her near it to sniff and investigate, but today, she actually had to lay down and have the tool vibrate on her body.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She was not a happy camper, lol. She tried to get up twice, but I just gently pushed her back down and gave a firm "no." After that, as always, she resigned herself to her fate. Of course, she got a bunch of treats and praise, and all she had to do was lay still for 10 seconds.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">What a tough life for a puppy dog :)</span></p>My dog is SO smarttag:mycorgi.com,2010-10-05:1150197:BlogPost:7665402010-10-05T23:03:44.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I was waiting for supper to finish cooking last night, so I plopped down on the floor in the kitchen to wait out the oven (we have no kitchen table in our kitchen, only out in the dining room - so no chairs). Casey was laying in her usual spot at the edge of the kitchen (I have a very strict "no dog in kitchen while cooking" rule since I almost dropped a pot of boiling water on her and myself a while back when she decided to…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I was waiting for supper to finish cooking last night, so I plopped down on the floor in the kitchen to wait out the oven (we have no kitchen table in our kitchen, only out in the dining room - so no chairs). Casey was laying in her usual spot at the edge of the kitchen (I have a very strict "no dog in kitchen while cooking" rule since I almost dropped a pot of boiling water on her and myself a while back when she decided to stretch out in the middle of the kitchen right behind where I was working).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I invited her in while I was sitting doing nothing, and she came over for some pets. Realizing that I had nearly 10 minute before dinner was done, I figured we could play a bit of fetch/tug while I was waiting. But I was feeling lazy, and didn't want to get up and walk over to her toy box in the living room to grab one of her designated tug/fetch toys (they're a bit longer and she's not allowed to have them when we're not playing together).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey always has a few toys/chew items in her bed area for her own amusement (yesterday she had a ball/rope, a weird plastic squeaker thing and a beef hoof).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">So I looked at her and said "go get your rope toy" and pointed to the living room. I have NEVER given her this command before, or anything even remotely similar to it. Her toys are her toys, and they just sit for her to play with. I've never even referenced "rope toy" in a sentence.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She looked at me, and then headed straight into the living room to her bed. Now I was 100% confident that she was going to grab her beef hoof and bring it back, because I've encouraged an absolutely disgusting habit since she was a puppy of occasionally allowing her to sit in my lap and chew on the hoof (I know, I know - it's really gross. I only let her do it when my pants are already dirty and they go into the wash right afterwards, lol).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Much to my surprise, she comes trotting back with her rope toy in her mouth! And brings it straight over to me!</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Apparently, she speaks English now.</span></p>Casey VS. Bicycletag:mycorgi.com,2010-09-01:1150197:BlogPost:7422922010-09-01T17:11:04.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Yup, that's right. My dog got run over by a bicycle. We were on a multi-use trail yesterday and a gentleman was riding a bike with his dog. Usually when cyclists pass Casey and I on off-leash trails, I call her over and either make her heal, or we just stop and move to the side and wait for them to pass. This time, I saw that he had an off-leash dog with him who was quite a ways away from the cyclist on the side…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Yup, that's right. My dog got run over by a bicycle. We were on a multi-use trail yesterday and a gentleman was riding a bike with his dog. Usually when cyclists pass Casey and I on off-leash trails, I call her over and either make her heal, or we just stop and move to the side and wait for them to pass. This time, I saw that he had an off-leash dog with him who was quite a ways away from the cyclist on the side we were walking, so I figured I would let her go see the dog while the gentleman rode on. DUMB.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As Casey ran over to see the dog, the dog crossed in front of the cyclist to the other side. Of course my dog, being completely oblivious to anything and everything happening around her except for the one thing she's interested in, also crosses in front of the cyclists, except she didn't have enough time to make it all the way across.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">To give you a mental image, imagine Casey as a big ol' doorstop, and the bike as a huge door slamming shut, only to be immediately and violently stopped by this fat, noisy doorstop.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The poor gentleman on his bike goes flying over the handlebars and topples to the ground while Casey ran in crazy circles around the bike and the man on the ground barking and whining and generally making a scene.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She's fine. She was shaken up for about 30 seconds, but immediately took food from my hand, so was obviously not shaken up enough not to eat something, lol. About two minutes after the accident, she was running and playing with a pair of border collies, and frolicking in the water, so doesn't seem any worse for the wear. She's eating, drinking, peeing and pooping just fine and isn't yelping or whining when you put pressure on her side where she was hit. Obviously we’re watching her carefully to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens, and taking it easy for a few days, but overall she seems pretty much normal.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">At a minimum, I hope she learned her lesson and steers clear of cyclists now and perhaps pays a bit more attention to where she's running.</span></p>
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<p></p>Coyote attacks on Casey: 0; Dog attacks on Casey: 1tag:mycorgi.com,2010-08-20:1150197:BlogPost:7325772010-08-20T02:38:08.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">To all you coyote naysayer’s out there, it seems that the ole "residential nylon leash walking is much safer than extendable leash walking in a ravine" axiom has been disproved today. Why? Because on a nice suburban walk around our nice residential neigbourhood with nothing but concrete sidewalks, single family houses and manicured lawns, my dog was attacked.…</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">To all you coyote naysayer’s out there, it seems that the ole "residential nylon leash walking is much safer than extendable leash walking in a ravine" axiom has been disproved today. Why? Because on a nice suburban walk around our nice residential neigbourhood with nothing but concrete sidewalks, single family houses and manicured lawns, my dog was attacked.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Was she attacked by a coyote? No, by a brutish adolescent lab-mix that has been poorly treated, poorly socialized and poorly trained for the duration of its pitiful life.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey and my husband (who was bit on the hand) are both doing fine. But I must say, the irony is not lost on me.</span></p>
<p></p>$30 Wasted?tag:mycorgi.com,2010-08-18:1150197:BlogPost:7316662010-08-18T20:00:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">There's a wonderful off-leash ravine hiking trail about a 10 minute drive from my house. The last two times we were there, we spotted Coyotes. The first time I saw one, he was quite a ways in the distance, just milling about minding his own business. The second time, we were nearing the end of our walk and he (or she) was watching myself and Casey quite intently from about 15 feet away up a little side path from…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">There's a wonderful off-leash ravine hiking trail about a 10 minute drive from my house. The last two times we were there, we spotted Coyotes. The first time I saw one, he was quite a ways in the distance, just milling about minding his own business. The second time, we were nearing the end of our walk and he (or she) was watching myself and Casey quite intently from about 15 feet away up a little side path from the main trail.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Not surprisingly, I was a little freaked out after the last time (I made eye contact with the bloody thing; I was so close I could see him breath in and out!) so we hadn't gone back since then.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">But as I mentioned in the opening line, it's a beautiful trail that's very close to my home and it is a nice change of pace from walking on the boring old suburban sidewalk to go to an undeveloped woody area.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">So, I set in motion some plans to minimize the danger of my dog getting eaten by a coyote, while still enjoying this beautiful area. I rummaged up an old cross-country ski pole from my garage, which has a sharp metal prong on its end; I purchased some bells from a craft store and made a little bell collar for Casey, and attached several of the bells to my new "walking stick" (AKA - sharp poky ski pole), and I purchased a $30 extendable leash.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">While it is an off-leash trail, Casey likes to run through the brush, which is exactly what I want to avoid because that's where hungry and/or bored Coyotes like to hang out. I figured an extendable leash would be a nice compromise, because she would still be leashed, but it would give her some freedom to roam about and sniff as she sees fit (one of the benefits of a nice ravine trail).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Well was I ever wrong. Yesterday, we went back to the ravine since the Coyote spotting(s), and I put the new extendy leash on her for the walk. The thing about those extendy leashes, as oppose to the plain old nylon ones she's always had, is that she has to pull slightly to overcome the tension of the lead and get it to unravel past the 2 feet that always stays out. Except that the second she feels the slightest tension on the lead, she immediately slows down and moves back into a heel position. Every time I tried to get her to pull on the stupid thing, it would give the slightest bit of tension on her collar, and she would go back into a heel. I tried stopping, but then she would walk back and sit next to me. I tried moving backward, but she would notice the tension and start walking backward with me.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">I basically spent $30 on a two foot lead.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Now I'm pretty sure with a bit of work I could train her to use the lead, but I don't know if I want to now, because then she might start pulling when we walk with the nylon lead, thinking that that's OK. I'm sort of undecided, but annoyed at myself for not thinking about this and buying the stupid thing with grand thoughts of ravine trail walks in mind instead of practical things like whether it would actually work.</span></p>Cat Chasingtag:mycorgi.com,2010-08-06:1150197:BlogPost:7212212010-08-06T00:20:44.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Let me preface the below statement/question with the following: we have a long-standing tradition of cat-hating among the women in my family. My mother hates cats, my grandmother hates cats, my great-grandmother hated cats. In fact, my grandmother fondly tells a story of her mother (my great-grandmother) who, upon finding a cat in her (farm) kitchen who had decided to partake itself of a recently cooked chicken, picked it up,…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Let me preface the below statement/question with the following: we have a long-standing tradition of cat-hating among the women in my family. My mother hates cats, my grandmother hates cats, my great-grandmother hated cats. In fact, my grandmother fondly tells a story of her mother (my great-grandmother) who, upon finding a cat in her (farm) kitchen who had decided to partake itself of a recently cooked chicken, picked it up, broke it's neck and threw it outside to be eaten by the dogs.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Let's just say the apple doesn't fall far from the great-grandmother tree.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As a child, my mother regularly chased cats out of our yard, and I did the same. Now, as a home owner myself, I do it in my own yard. For whatever reason, people in my neighbourhood seem to think it's acceptable to allow their cats to roam the streets freely, peeing and pooping and pillaging people's yards as they see fit. Despite bylaws against these activities, cats are in abundance around these parts, wandering in and out of yards regularly.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Are there</span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">any foreseeable consequences (other than dead or injured cats) to encouraging Casey to chase cats out of my yard?</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As it stands now, I'm chasing them all out, but if I've got a dog, why not get her to do it? Does encouraging her to chase cats encourage her to chase other small animals? That is, does encouraging her to chase one thing, encourage other things? I feel like it doesn't, because we play chase/tug with toys, but she's smart enough not to chase other things when told not to, but I'm just curious.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Has anyone else trained their dog to chase off animals? How did you do it? How did it work out?</span></p>
<p></p>Rude Behaviour?tag:mycorgi.com,2010-07-22:1150197:BlogPost:7110342010-07-22T21:04:19.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Our next door neighbor has a 9 year old Akita who she regularly walks and takes to the same dog park Casey and I frequent. This Akita met Casey for the first time when Casey was just a pup (about 3 months old) and, being that we live next door to one another, has met Casey numerous times on and off-leash (at the aforementioned dog park) since that time.…</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Our next door neighbor has a 9 year old Akita who she regularly walks and takes to the same dog park Casey and I frequent. This Akita met Casey for the first time when Casey was just a pup (about 3 months old) and, being that we live next door to one another, has met Casey numerous times on and off-leash (at the aforementioned dog park) since that time.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Now this Akita HATES Casey with a fiery, fiery passion. Everything about her body language and behaviour, since their very first meeting, has been "I despise you and you need to stay out of my space." She'll actively avoid Casey when out walking, and if Casey gets anywhere near her personal space, she growls, shows her teeth and air-snaps in a very obvious "GO AWAY" set of actions. She'll turn her back, move away, do anything and everything in her power to avoid interacting with my dog.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This doesn't bother me in the slightest; Casey is very high-energy and can be obnoxious and it doesn't matter to me in the least if my neighbors dog dislikes her. I don’t blame her either, sometimes I find Casey’s energy and excitement a bit obnoxious, lol.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I am wondering why it is that Casey hasn't taken the hint from the Akita's very obvious and very consistent reactions to her. Despite constantly being informed in no uncertain terms to steer clear, every time we see this Akita Casey lunges and cries and does everything in her power to get near. And if she's successful (sometimes she is, sometimes she isn't) she gets the same response she's always gotten.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I can't imagine she doesn't remember these past reactions, and she seems more interested in this Akita than a lot of other dogs we’ve passed while out walking. Is Casey getting pleasure out of annoying her? Is she hoping to change her mind? Is she just an idiot?</span></p>Somebody has seperation anxiety....tag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-22:1150197:BlogPost:6894132010-06-22T21:30:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My neigbours Beagle to be exact. That dog's got pipes, and has been howling off and on for the last 7 hours. They’ve got their windows open and you can hear it clear as day. He'll stop for a few minutes, and then start right back up again. Holy-moly that guy's got stamina, and his howling is causing other dogs in the neigbourhood to howl. We've got a whole chorus going on. Casey…</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My neigbours Beagle to be exact. That dog's got pipes, and has been howling off and on for the last 7 hours. They’ve got their windows open and you can hear it clear as day. He'll stop for a few minutes, and then start right back up again. Holy-moly that guy's got stamina, and his howling is causing other dogs in the neigbourhood to howl. We've got a whole chorus going on. Casey keeps looking at me like "what in gods name is going on?"</span></p>What the heck!?!?tag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-17:1150197:BlogPost:6853622010-06-17T23:13:36.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey and I just went for a walk around our neighbourhood. A few minutes into our walk, we stop at a nice patch of grass to see if she needs to go to the bathroom (she already peed at home, but I wanted to see if she needed to poo as well). She sniffs and wanders, sniffs and wanders, but nothing comes of it. Fine. We keep walking.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">About 60…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey and I just went for a walk around our neighbourhood. A few minutes into our walk, we stop at a nice patch of grass to see if she needs to go to the bathroom (she already peed at home, but I wanted to see if she needed to poo as well). She sniffs and wanders, sniffs and wanders, but nothing comes of it. Fine. We keep walking.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">About 60 seconds later, she stops in the middle of the sidewalk and starts to go to the bathroom (#2!?!). Now you cannot tell me that in 60 seconds time, she went from not having to go, to having to go so badly she couldn't hold it and had to go in the middle of the bloody sidewalk! It would be one thing if it was diarrhea or something, but it's solid.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She did the same thing last week, and I don't know what is going on. Why wouldn't she go when we stop if she has to go so badly that a minute later she's stopping dead in her tracks and going on the sidewalk?</span></p>Corgi Hair, Everywheretag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-13:1150197:BlogPost:6823592010-06-13T18:51:13.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I sweep the main floor of our house daily. Casey and I have a ritual, I take out the broom and she positions herself directly behind my sweeping activities, to supervise of course.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As I sweep, she walks behind me, dropping hair on the floor with each step. I'll complete a full circle around the house, and upon walking back around to where…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I sweep the main floor of our house daily. Casey and I have a ritual, I take out the broom and she positions herself directly behind my sweeping activities, to supervise of course. </span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As I sweep, she walks behind me, dropping hair on the floor with each step. I'll complete a full circle around the house, and upon walking back around to where I just swept, find a nice trail of fresh dog hair exactly where I finished sweeping. In 24-hours time, huge hair-balls will have accumulated down the main hallway and in the corners by the end tables of our living room. I could wash and furminate her, vacuum the entire main floor, and wash all her bedding, and in 24-hours there will still be huge hair-balls in every corner of the house.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I love sweeping up her hair into big piles. It's satisfying in a really disgusting kind of way.</span></p>Solid Poop!tag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-05:1150197:BlogPost:6766762010-06-05T01:31:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">After two and a half days of diarrhea and vomiting, we took Casey to the vet this morning. The vet said it didn't feel like Casey had any blockage in her intestines, so sent us home with some antibiotics, diarrhea and stomach medicine.…</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">After two and a half days of diarrhea and vomiting, we took Casey to the vet this morning. The vet said it didn't feel like Casey had any blockage in her intestines, so sent us home with some antibiotics, diarrhea and stomach medicine.</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">After a 24 hour fast, she got her first solid meal in almost three days (she was DYING you guys! She was starving to death - or at least that's what she would have you believe if you listened to her last night when she realized she wasn't getting any food before bed, lol).</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Lean ground beef and plain rice. I tell you, that dog is damn lucky. I don't cook ground beef for NO ONE (not even my husband, I HATE the smell of cooking ground beef. YUCK. The only smell worse is the smell of cooking chicken. As you can gather, we do not cook meat in this house).</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I hide her pills in the food and she was so hungry I don't think she noticed. We went outside and she had a semi-solid poop! It wasn't really solid, but it had shape and didn't come spraying out of her backside like a fountain (sorry for the gross description for those who have weak stomachs!)</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Hopefully she's going to be OK. I want my whinny energetic puppy back!</span></p>Still Sick...Maybe Doing Better?tag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-03:1150197:BlogPost:6752942010-06-03T14:17:39.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We moved Casey's crate to just outside our bedroom last night so we could hear if she needed to go to the bathroom or threw-up in her crate. She threw-up at about 2:30am, and I took her outside where she had a <em><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">very</span></em> runny diarrhea poo. After cleaning up her crate, I offered her some water which she refused. I then went and got some vegetable broth (we didn't have any chicken…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We moved Casey's crate to just outside our bedroom last night so we could hear if she needed to go to the bathroom or threw-up in her crate. She threw-up at about 2:30am, and I took her outside where she had a <em><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">very</span></em> runny diarrhea poo. After cleaning up her crate, I offered her some water which she refused. I then went and got some vegetable broth (we didn't have any chicken broth and it was 2:30am), and put some of that in a bowl with some water. She also refused to drink that.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">At about 5:30am this morning, she was making some noise again. I took her out to the bathroom, but she just peed, no poo at all. Once back in her crate I offered her some water and she took a few small sips.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This morning, we went outside again, and again, no poo, only pee (which I hope is a good sign!). She seemed a bit more energetic than yesterday, and when I offered her the same broth from last night, she drank a fair amount of it.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We're going to take it easy today, rest and relax and see how she's feeling as the day wears on. She's just relaxing on her dog bed with a bowl of water and broth nearby. If the broth stays down well, and she doesn't have anymore bad diarrhea, I might try giving her a bit of food later in the day.</span></p>Sick Puppy!?!tag:mycorgi.com,2010-06-03:1150197:BlogPost:6750482010-06-03T02:00:37.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey has been sort of lethargic today, which I chalked up to the warmer weather. She ate her food same as usual this morning, and had two normal bowel movements (one first thing in the morning, the second at around 11:00). She had a fair amount of water throughout the morning/early afternoon too. I gave her a kong around 1:30 and she didn't eat it; wasn't interested at all, which is unlike her.…</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Casey has been sort of lethargic today, which I chalked up to the warmer weather. She ate her food same as usual this morning, and had two normal bowel movements (one first thing in the morning, the second at around 11:00). She had a fair amount of water throughout the morning/early afternoon too. I gave her a kong around 1:30 and she didn't eat it; wasn't interested at all, which is unlike her.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We went to the dog park at about 2:00pm and that's when I noticed her acting a bit differently; she's usually very lively and runs up to every dog, but today she wasn't as interested in playing or running. She did end up running and playing a bit, but was definitely less enthusiastic than usual. Again, I thought it was just the heat (we don't usually go to the dog park mid-day). She had some water before we left the dog park (from a bottle and dish I bring for her) and then when we got home, she had a small amount of diarrhea in the backyard. We went inside and she had some more water.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">She spent the rest of the afternoon just napping/relaxing. I put her in her crate while I ate my supper, and at around 6:45pm she threw-up her breakfast in her crate. I cleaned that up, and we went outside to see if she had anything to do, but she just peed a little. We came inside and I put a bit of her kibble in a bowl to see if she would eat. She just played with it a little, but didn't eat any of it. I thought a bit of fresh air might help, so we went for a very slow, short (5 minute) walk around the neighborhood. As we were walking, she suddenly stops in the middle of the sidewalk and has some very runny diarrhea. After cleaning that mess up, and cleaning her up, she's just laying on the main floor on her dog bed (with water near-by that she hasn't had any of in a while).</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">At what point should I be worried? I was thinking that I would wait overnight to see how she is tomorrow morning, and to see if she'll eat her food/water tomorrow morning like usual.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I'm a bit nervous, I hope it's nothing serious!</span></p>Rainy Days and Dirty Dogstag:mycorgi.com,2010-05-29:1150197:BlogPost:6716652010-05-29T23:00:00.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I have a motto about rainy days and walking corgis: you go out once, you go out for a long time, you come home and wash'em, and then you stay in. Today happens to be a rainy day up here in Alberta, as was yesterday, and so will tomorrow. So instead of doing our usual 2-3 20/30 minute daily walks, we went to an off-leash ravine trail (10 minute drive from our house) for 1 1/2 hours, just to make sure she was good and tired so…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I have a motto about rainy days and walking corgis: you go out once, you go out for a long time, you come home and wash'em, and then you stay in. Today happens to be a rainy day up here in Alberta, as was yesterday, and so will tomorrow. So instead of doing our usual 2-3 20/30 minute daily walks, we went to an off-leash ravine trail (10 minute drive from our house) for 1 1/2 hours, just to make sure she was good and tired so we didn't have to go out again today. Once she was sufficiently tired and dirty from the rain/mud and from running around in the ravine, we headed home.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Upon arrival, we get out of the garage and head back to the house (she is off-leash). I open up our side-door and start calling to Casey to come inside. She stands there with the most pitiful look on her face, like she's about to walk down death row.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">"Come-on, let's GO" I say, trying to hustle her inside. I'm standing there getting rained on waiting for her to hustle her butt inside. She slowly makes her way to our back-step, and then stands there again, looking at me like she's going to the guillotine.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">"OK, Inside!" I say. She slowly walks up the back steps, then stands at the top looking around for an escape route.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">"What in the bloody hell is wrong with you?" I exclaim. "INSIDE!" She stands there for another 3 or 4 seconds, weighting her options, then slowly makes her way into the house.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Smart damn dog - the second we get inside and my coat is off, she is whisked away to the basement wash basin where she spends the next 10 minutes of her life getting a thorough scrub down to wash all the mud, grim and grit off her legs and belly. Next time, she'll be leashed on the walk in.</span></p>The Other End of the Leashtag:mycorgi.com,2010-05-28:1150197:BlogPost:6709882010-05-28T22:03:58.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I'm currently reading Patricia McConnell's "The Other End of the Leash." The very first line in her introduction (after the story) is: "All dogs are brilliant at perceiving the slightest movement that we make, and they assume that each tiny motion has meaning."</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Couldn't be truer! Just yesterday, Casey was on the mainfloor of our…</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I'm currently reading Patricia McConnell's "The Other End of the Leash." The very first line in her introduction (after the story) is: "All dogs are brilliant at perceiving the slightest movement that we make, and they assume that each tiny motion has meaning."</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Couldn't be truer! Just yesterday, Casey was on the mainfloor of our house in the living room in her playpen. I was downstairs with my husband, and ran upstairs to grab something from the kitchen ("ran" being the operative word here - I literally ran up the stairs because I was in a hurry to get back downstairs). When I got to the top of the stairs, Casey was sitting on her bed, wide-eyed, head-bowed low, ears slicked back like she was caught with her hand in the cookie-jar. Apparently, I only "clomp" around the house when I'm angry or annoyed, and she took my heavy steps to mean that I'm mad about something. Today, I did a little test to see if this were true, and while in the kitchen, I took intentionally heavy steps out into the living room where she was. The same thing again! It's crazy how aware they are.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Gotta be more cogniziant of my own behaviour!</span></p>Some People....tag:mycorgi.com,2010-05-22:1150197:BlogPost:6673232010-05-22T19:35:52.000ZCarlahttp://mycorgi.com/profile/Carla448
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I just watched the dog (owned by my neighbour directly across the street) wander over to their next-door neighbours front yard, take a big dump, and then wander over to a vehicle parked on the street and start chewing on the bumper. All the while (obviously) being completely unsupervised. He wandered around in the street for about 30 seconds before meandering back to their backyard.…</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I just watched the dog (owned by my neighbour directly across the street) wander over to their next-door neighbours front yard, take a big dump, and then wander over to a vehicle parked on the street and start chewing on the bumper. All the while (obviously) being completely unsupervised. He wandered around in the street for about 30 seconds before meandering back to their backyard.</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #5e5e5e; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">What is wrong with people?</span></p>
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