Lightning's Revenge

A while back, I wrote about how thieving Thumper steals Lightning's bones, along with the question "Do dogs think?".  I had planned to follow that up (promptly) with Lightning's revenge, but then he got sick, and I got distracted, and now it's December, and I'm writing a post I planned to write in October. 

With respect to the question of dogs thinking, my dog trainer friend sums her opinion up as, "Dogs are problem solvers".  Thumper has demonstrated that on MANY occasions, some of which result in Lightning losing a chew bone.  I think Lightning has been taking notes from his buddy....read on and compare to Thumper's scheme.  My take on Lightning's thoughts are represented by bold print.

The scene:  Family room, where Thumper is lounging on the fancy posturepedic dog bed while Lightning is on the rug.  All the people are present.

Problem:  Thumper is on the comfy dog bed.  I want the comfy dog bed.

Research:  Thumper always wants what I have, so I have to use that to my advantage. 

Solution:  Walk over to the people.  Sit and stare at them until they talk to me and pet me.  Then snuggle up against them and make Thumper jealous.

Result:  Thumper saw Lightning getting pets, and immediately he left the comfy dog bed to come bump him out of the way and take his place.  Lightning ran over and took over the comfy dog bed.  Problem solved!

As for the bones, Lightning discovered that he can hide his bones upstairs under a bed that Thumper can't quite crawl under.  Lol.  Thumper is not fond of the stairs, but Lightning loves them.  He always has.  He runs up and down them like it's an A frame on an agility course.  So, much to my surprise one day, I heard scrambling up the stairs and some noise from the bedroom, and then Lightning appeared with his bone.  I didn't know he had it in him to outsmart Thumper about the bones, but he did. 

So, my conclusion is that yes, dogs think.  I doubt that they sit around plotting how to outdo each other.  I think it's purely spontaneous.  I've seen them think on their feet and come up with a fix for a problem as it happens - which makes sense because I think we've all witnessed that dogs are "in the moment".  They leave the big thinking and worrying to us.  ;)

 
Now I feel better.....finally got this one done.  In other news - still going to obedience class with Thumper, and he's giving me some blog fodder for future posts.  Lightning is jealous of all the treats Thumper gets while training and does not hesitate to let me know it. 
 

Do Dogs Think?

I often wonder how dogs think.  Do they think "I took two naps now my people should be home"?  Do they watch what their people do and think "those crazy people....where are they always running to"?  A dear friend who is also a respected local dog trainer says that dogs think but not that deeply.  Her position is "dogs are problem solvers".  I can't argue with that - as demonstrated by Thumper in the following tale:

Sunday, as I was leaving to go work on the new house (will it EVER get finished?), I gave each dog a chew bone.  They ran in opposite directions and sat with their bones.  You would think they don't trust each other....lol.  When I got home later, Lightning had chewed on his, but it still looked new.  Thumper's was a nub. 

I went into the bathroom to run my bathwater, and my two shadows followed me. Thumper took his position on the foot of the bed (his bone was now gone).  Lightning sat on the floor and chewed contentedly on his bone.  Suddenly, Thumper barked. Very loudly. Lightning, who obviously believed he had missed something while chewing on his bone, dropped the bone and scampered out of the room.  Immediately Thumper hopped off the bed, grabbed the bone, and jumped back to his spot.  Thumper's problem-solving process would have been like this....

Problem:  I don't have a bone but there is a bone in this room.

Research:  Lightning has a bone.  Lightning always runs to the door when I bark.  

Solution:  Bark and take Lightnings bone when he drops it and leaves the room.    If it's in my mouth, it's mine, after all. 

Very similar to the scientific method, isn't it?  (Yes, I'm a science nerd....). Next post I'll share how Lightning has figured out to cope with his thieving buddy.  

So long post tonight.  If you stuck with it til the end - thanks!  Do you ever think about stuff like this - do you wonder if your dog is a philosopher like I do?

It's mine!

We are headed out of town this weekend, and I just dropped the dogs off for boarding.  It's a really neat place - vet office on one side, kennel on the other.  Halloween decorations, including a dancing broom, in the lobby.  That broom will never be the same again - after checking them in, I turned around and saw Thumper lifting his leg by that broom.  Now it's his broom.  Definitely the embarrassing pet moment of the day for me....Mr. Personality just trotted back over like nobody saw him.  ***sigh*** 

Quickie Update

Hi there - I've been enjoying reading all of your blogs, but I've been less than regular in blogging myself.  I have been snapping lots of pics the pups doing silly stuff, so I'm going to do a quick update here of random stuff.

1.  We are moving!  We stumbled across a house literally around the corner from us as it went up for sale.  1 acre yard, decent house, though a little bit neglected the last few years.  Can't wait to introduce the dogs to the big back yard and watch them run.  Makes my heart happy just to think about it.

2.  Thumper caught another mole.  The guys found it Sunday when they were mowing the yard.  He killed it and hid it this time, so I wouldn't throw away his treasure like before.  I have seen no evidence of a bitten nose this time, and I have not found any ringworm either.  (To recap a previous post - he killed a mole a couple of years ago and ended up with a giant ugly sore on his nose.  I blamed the mole.  I'd like to link to the previous post about his mole-hunting expeditions, but I can't figure out how to do that.)

3.  Since Lightining's surgery a couple months ago, he wants to play alot more, and he is a bit bolder in playing with Thumper.  Typically, if Thumper has a toy, Lightning ducks and hides.  T is top dog, way more alpha than Lightning.  So I was very surprised to Lightning take Thumper's ball, and play keepaway with it.  Or dog parade as I like to call it....Lightning marches purposefully around and around the furniture with Thumper following him step for step.  It eventually turns into chase-me-up-the-stairs, and then Lightning dives under a bed with the ball (Thumper is a bit too big to crawl under there).  Lol.  He's not such an old guy after all.  ;)

Go ahead and stare.  You shiny eyes don't scare me.   I've got the ball now.  HA!

NOTE:  When Thumper got the ball back, he tore it up.  Gutted it and left what was left scattered all about.  I guess if he can't have it, no dog can.  

4.  Thumper has mastered the "down" command.  So far, he knows "sit", "down", and "off".  Working on "stay" and trying to break him of pulling on the leash.  Thanks to some advice from Human Rescues Dog, I am feeling inspired.

5.  Lightning is giving me really dirty looks right now.  I think he is trying to make me feel guilty for blogging instead of petting him.  He keeps scratching his ears and looking pitiful, glancing glaring at me while he does it.   Now he's licking his toes....

On that note, I will wrap this up and go scratch his ears.  It's nice to be needed.

Good night and stay cool...it's miserably hot here.  Thank goodness for A/C.

Woe It's Monday

Thumper says, "Mom says somebody keeps stealing her weekends. I'm gonna keep my new ball safe in case they are still here! I love my ball. It's the best."

My Fluffy New White Comforter

Just when I think the boys are not going to give me any good blogging material, Thumper delivers. Enjoy. :)

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This morning I was dragging. I've had a couple of nights not sleeping well and was less than chipper as I dragged myself upstairs to rouse the baseball player for his last day of school. Of course, two dogs were racing me to the top of the stairs. They beat me. It didn't take long until my wake up call was complete, and I turned to go back downstairs. This was when I learned what wakes me up FAST--the sight of Thumper, peeing on the new WHITE fluffy comforter (I had been searching for one that I liked for the last few weeks and finally found one!) on the guest bed. Yep, he hiked his leg up and christened it like a mailbox. I momentarily wondered if PetSmart might take him back....then ran for the enzymatic pee remover and started cleaning like a crazy person. I sure hope that stuff works. We have company coming Friday night, and I really don't want them to have a pee-scented bed covering. I've gotten past fretting over dog hair everywhere, but this.....this is a bit much. What the heck could he have been thinking??

So, the enzymatic cleaner is still working. The instructions said to cover it with a wet cloth and wait 24 hours. I'll know by morning whether he did any permanent damage. Meanwhile, he is spending a bit more time than usual on his "taking care of business" breaks. Maybe it's the full moon? Does that affect dogs?

Monday Mischief - Lightning's Day

Thumper is VERY toy driven. Stuffies to fight with and unstuff or balls etc to fetch. He's not picky. In a pinch, paper is a great substitute. Lightning is just the opposite. Maybe it's age, or maybe it's mischief. His idea of a toy, now, is Thumper's heels. Thumper runs to fetch, and Lightning chases him and chomps on his heel. It's a sneaky move. So this Monday Mischief is dedicated to Lightning, who is normally not my mischief maker. Have a great Monday (is that even possible????). :)

Juggling and when the balls fall

Now that we are past Monday, I really hope this week improves. I got home last night, hugged the dogs, and remembered how wonderful dogs are. Give me dogs over people most any day.

I guess I'm trying to juggle too many commitments and failing at them all...but would you believe the worst experience of the day came from my sons Boy Scout scoutmaster? They should really raise their standards for people who take that position....I know some men who are awesome scoutmasters, and the good have outnumbered the bad overall, I guess. I did call one of those awesome scoutmasters and talk to him about the evenings experiences. I hope it helps the boys in the troop.

I'll leave you with a picture from last weekend-of Thumper helping me fold clothes. I think he was trying to tell to play with dogs not laundry. Once again I think dogs are smarter than us. They live. We just juggle until the balls fall, and go home to furry friends and start to pick them up again.

Monday Mischief

Hi everyone,

This is me with my frog. It's not a real frog but Mom thought it was at first and she was scared and she screamed. It feels like a real frog. It's stretchy and squishy and it flops like a real frog. It's my favorite. I just found it in the yard and I don't know who put it there but if I did know they would be my best friend forever.

Wordless Wednesday: No, I'm not hiding a frog

New Dog Tag

Mom says I need a tag like this one....

Motivation? What's that?

I don't know how it is where you are, but running is all the rage around here. I ran track WAY back in junior high, but my mantra these days has been "If you see me running, its because somebody is chasing me". So, you can probably imagine where this is going - last fall I got all excited about the idea of running (huh?) and signed up for a 5K in February. I had plenty of time to get in shape, right?

Well, here it is....January 29. And guess who never got past week 5 in the 10 week long training program. Me! I was doing well, until I had a couple of unfortunate outings with Thumper which ended with me on the ground with banged up knees. After taking a couple weeks off to heal, I had lost all motivation to train. Plus it was raining alot and cold and running in that weather hurt! Good reasons to stay in. I used to enjoy exercise but in the last couple of years, I have completely lost all interest in it.

I don't know why I'm rambling on about this tonight. In other news - Thumper ate some fluff from his bed today and barfed it back up in his crate. Hidden, of course, in the corner. He's got good aim. :/. Then when he got out of there, he set down his bone and Lightning ran off with it. Lol. Payback, doggy style!

Have a good day. I'll be running with Thumper again trying to prep for the 5K. I'm sure he will give me tales to tell.

Nuts

We had a hickory tree in our backyard that sadly had to be cut down a couple months ago. The squirrels loved it. They would run through it and drive the dogs crazy...lol. They also got their food from it.

When the tree was cut down, I picked up as many nuts as I could from the ground. I left them in a bucket on the patio and forgot about them. I noticed squirrels were leaving shells all over the stump where the tree was. I had missed alot of nuts....I felt them with every step I took back there!

Recently Thumper has been more vocal than usual when he's looking out the door. I didn't give much thought to it. Then I noticed that the bucket had been moved (hubby had moved it) and there were shell pieces all around it. Looks like the squirrels moved their eating place, and it is about 10 ft from where Thumper watches them. Watching him watching them makes for good entertainment!

Good news!

Thumper had a vet check up for his heart worm treatment. He's been on medication since February. The test shows that he is heart worm free now! Yay!

He's done it again......

So, he's done it again. Thanks to (I'm sure you guessed it) Thumper, I'm now frequenting the chiropractors office.

It started a couple of weeks ago....this really irritating popping in my neck and headaches. Awful headaches. While reviewing my situation with the doc, he asked if I had been in any accidents or been jarred lately. Ha! That "jarred" my memory. I had definitely been jerked around by dear Thumper on a walk, when we happened upon 2 dachshunds hanging out (unleashed of course) with their human. Seriously, who lets little dogs with no leashes loiter in a street at 9:30 at night? Anyway, the dachshunds moved, Thumper caught sight of it, and then he lunged. Omg. Totally caught me off guard, because he had been acting like he was going to ignore them. Im really glad he didn't get the dachshunds. He looked really sorry for misbehaving when I finally got him back by me. I really hope the doc can make my neck normal again. Til then he's in time out! Lightning is enjoying Thumpers new status, I think.

I am such a good boy.  Aren't I, Mom?
Can we go for a walk?  I know how to heel like a good dog...we can leave Thumper here.

Sort of Monday Mischief

I've been trying to exercise more. I walk the dogs more and have started to run with them too. They have to be leashed since Thumper has no self control, so my walk / run really keeping up with Thumper. He is much faster than Lighthing and I would otherwise go. He believes he must always be in the lead....so my walk / run proceeds with him doing something like this (see picture below). yes, the picture is a bit blurry, but that is pretty much how these treks go. Happy Monday everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mischief

Can you see him? Not sure what he was hiding from, but he was doing a great job!

Trouble

Some dog is in BIG trouble....

Wordless Wednesday - Bitey Face

This is what happens when Bitey Face gets out of control.

He couldn't let Thumper get the best of him, so Thumper now has a swollen upper lip. Apparently Lightning has a mean bite with his little teeth.

They are just like two-legged boys.....not happy until somebody's bleeding.