Month: January 2022

Great Little Communicator

Pam Hogle The Thinking Dog Blog , , , ,

11 week old Orly, a golden retriever, holds a red toy and stands up against a wire fence

Orly has definite opinions and wants — and she’s not shy about communicating them.

On day 2, she decided to try leveraging the cute factor to get her way. When she wanted out of her play pen, she grabbed a toy, stood up, and launched into full tantrum mode.

It didn’t work.

So she refined it. As soon as I walked into view, she instantly sat, perfectly quiet. That was tougher. I decided that the tantrum meant that she urgently needed to go out, so every time she threw a fit (and didn’t quiet within about 30 seconds), I let her out of the pen and took her straight outside. I let her do her business (or gave her a minute or two) and put her right back into her pen.

That helped a little, for a short while. Now we have a different pen problem: When she wants out, she simply launches herself over the top … I’m working on a solution to that one. Meanwhile, she’s spending more time outside the pen.

That has allowed her to figure out a more effective way to ask to go out: She rings the bells.

Over the years, I’ve tried several times to get Cali to ring a bell to ask to go out, since her preferred method is sitting in front of the door — not helpful when I am upstairs working. Cali has consistently wanted nothing to do with the bells, the buttons, or any other gadgets.

Orly is a different dog entirely. I put the bells on the doorknob and jangled them a bit when I let her out. After the second or third time, she walked over and nudged the bells. I figured it was a fluke or she was just playing with them, but I let her out anyhow and told her how clever she was.

Then she did it again. And again. Very intentionally walking over, touching the bells, and waiting to go out. Orly even did it when I had a friend over.

After a day or so, Cali even did it a couple of times.

Orly went through a brief testing phase — ringing, stepping outside, then immediately turning around and asking to come in. That didn’t last long; I think that she was just making sure I would respond.

I then put a bell outside, too, so she can ask to come back inside; she picked that up in a couple of days.

Orly has recently added a mind-blowing twist to the bell-ringing saga. I was sitting at the dining-room table, having coffee. Cali was outside; Orly at my feet. Cali (the bell-refuser) approached the door. Her usual MO is to stand there and wait for me to notice her. No longer.

Orly leapt into action, heading over and ringing the bell. I’m a little slow, and was on my first coffee of the morning … so I assumed that she wanted to go out. Nope.

I opened the door; Orly stood aside; Cali entered; they touched noses and … wow.

I don’t leave Orly unsupervised downstairs or outside, so I don’t know yet whether I’ll be able to hear the bells from my upstairs office. I’m pretty sure I will hear the inside bells, and I hope that I can hear the outside ones too. (I might not know that until spring!)

I suspect that the reason she picked up the bell use so quickly is that she enjoys ordering me around. Puppy and dog owners have this delusion that we’re training our dogs. In reality, they are training us.

When something doesn’t work (standing-up tantrum), they try something else (magic sit). If we could get people to do what we wanted just by sitting down and looking at them, wouldn’t we? And now that Orly has deployed her communication skills to get me to let Cali in, who knows what’s next. I’d better watch my back. She’s definitely the smartest person in any room of this house!

How DO People Get Great Pet Photos??

Pam Hogle The Thinking Dog Blog

I’ve been trying to take great photos of Orly. Years of trying to get great photos of Cali, Jana, Oriel, and many other dogs notwithstanding, I am failing.

You probably noticed that my photos in the post introducing Orly were blurry. Of course they were: She never stops moving. She’s even active when she’s asleep! In that she’s like her aunts Cali and Oriel, both dogs with extremely active and varied dream lives.

When we picked Orly up from her breeder, we tried to help with a cool photo: Orly’s mom, Charm, with a puppy from each of her 3 litters: Orly, her full brother Dash, and their half sister Lila.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was not to be. These are all very young golden retrievers, after all. They do not sit still. Especially not when there are other goldens to play with and new people in the room!

When I worked at NEADS, I was always amazed at the graduation photos, with as many as a dozen dogs, all perfectly posed in the unlikeliest of places. I never did figure out how the photographer did it.

Just once, I tasted success. I still have no idea how I got this photo:

5 dogs sit in a row, all looking at the camera

Orly Wins Cali Over

Pam Hogle Stories, The Thinking Dog Blog , ,

11-week-old golden puppy Orly plays with Cali, also a golden. They are in lots of snow. cali wears a blue and yellow coat.It finally happened. After just over a week, Cali started playing with Orly outside. Cali would lead Orly on a wild chase through the snow, around the raspberry bushes, between the cherry tree and the fence, through even deeper snow … and so on.

Then she invited Orly to play inside. They are very sweet together, wrestling and tugging toys.

When Orly is very tired and in bite-everything mode, she starts to nip at Cali’s neck and legs and tail, and I have to intervene. Orly gets a nap and Cali gets a break.

For THIS I Gave Up My Sofa?!

Pam Hogle Stories, The Thinking Dog Blog ,

9-year-old Cali meets 10-week-old Orly. Both are golden retrievers.Cali cannot believe her run of bad luck.

First, some very nice people came in and … took away her sofa. The sofa that she loved to lie on so she could look out the windows in comfort, getting up only to bark at people who had the nerve to walk by with a dog.

Her mom keeps talking about a new sofa but Cali is beginning to think that her mom is imagining things. There’s no sofa. No, but there is a big puppy pen. Not a good sign.
A living room with an ex pen, a chair, and no sofaThen her mom left town for almost three weeks! Imagine! OK, well, she got to stay home with a great dog sitter, and Deni showed up after a couple of weeks, but still.

Finally, Cali’s mom came home. Just when things might be looking up, the whole family got into the car and drove all day in very cold weather. They went to a house with a bunch of golden retrievers, including this small puppy. So annoying.

Finally, they went to a hotel and got to sleep.

But.

The next morning guess what happened?!! They went back to that house and took the puppy. That’s right. That little puppy got into the car, into a spiffy little red crate, and settled in as if she belonged there.

Golden Cali, wearing a purple sweater, stares at the ex pen and its occupant, 10-week-old golden puppy Orly
Why does Orly get the best bedroom?

(Which she did.)

They all drove home and the puppy took up residence in the living room.

Cali is not delighted to have a new little sister. She does not like the new living room decor. No sofa; instead, a huge ex-pen with a puppy in it. And the puppy has all the best toys.

Even so, she’s starting to come around. She spends a lot of time watching Orly, the puppy. And has even sort of maybe considered playing with her, just a little, but only when she thinks that no one is watching.

Welcome a New Thinking Dog!

Pam Hogle Main Blog, The Thinking Dog Blog ,

10-week-old Orly, a golden retriever, eats from an orange treat toyCali has a new little sister, and the Thinking Dog Blog has a new co-star. Orly joined the family on December 29 at almost 10 weeks of age.

Golden puppy Orly works on a blue treat toyShe’s one smart cookie, and benefited from an amazingly thorough early-puppyhood enrichment program in her birth home: She is a master of stairs already, is comfortable in a crate, and asks to go out when she needs to go.

She’s a connoisseur of treat toys and enjoys slow-feeder “puzzle” bowls, snuffle mats, and a wide variety of stuffable and fillable treat toys. (A good little Montana girl, she seems partial to her West Paw Toppl and TuxOrly, a 10-week-old golden retriever, plays in the snow toys.) She also loves to play tug, chew on just about anything (we call her Baby Shark), and run around in the snow. She enjoys watching TV but has not (yet) asked for a tablet or smartphone. She’s well on her way to mastering the magic sit, and has fabulous recall.

She’s a little analytical and often sits and watches a new thing, seemingly pondering what it is or why it’s there. She notices everything but does not seem to fear anything.

Orly examines a sloth toy in her exercise penKoala has been sweet and tolerant with Orly; as of Day 2, Cali is still pretending that she’s not here.

Orly is Cali’s niece, the daughter of brother Sailor.

We’re working on some basic training and we’ll start puppy class in a few weeks.

Orly will undoubtedly take some of the pressure off of Cali by providing fodder for many blog posts in the coming months. She’s also the reason that the Thinking Dog may publish less frequently … I’m hoping to post at least every two weeks and will try for every Monday as usual.

Happy new year everyone!