Not too long ago, I teased The Herd about not walking in the rain. I egged them on and told them to go get their human's rain gear and make them take them out on a walk. The shoe is on the other foot. I have wussy dogs. Neither one will brave the rain to go potty. They have a dog door, so it's not like I will open a door and lock them out. They can come and go as they please. But they refuse to go out in the rain even after a 10 hour night of sleeping. So I put my gear on and egged them on to go out and go potty. For the record, we went for a long soggy walk yesterday.
This morning, we woke up to a thunder storm. And a repeat of yesterday.
"This is such a bad-jodhpurs day. I need to move to a climate more conducive to floofy jodhpurs."
"Mom, are you getting this request? This climate is unsuitable for optimum jodhpurs floof."
"Yes I see that dog door to my right. I'm a Princess. I use Princess high doors when they are available to me."
"Oh Princepessa! I'm so happy you are inside. That storm is no place for a lady!"
"Cupcake, your jodhpurs make a perfect pillow!"
'Retardo, watch where you put your paws or I'll give you a knuckle sandwich. And not the kind mom gives us on Thursdays."
For the record, there are TWO beds in my office. SomePup is a wussy pup. I'm just sayin.'
"Princess! Did you hear that scary noise? Oh My Dog! I'm so scared! Hide me from the monstah!"
"Retardo, your brains are loose. Ain't nothing but a little thunder. Shut your yapper and go to sleep."
Yes, that is a tick collar on Loki. I use them on the dogs now. I no longer use Advantix or Frontline. Last year, I had made the decision to not use the products for fleas and my dogs never get fleas. I think some of that has to do with the raw diet and some of it has to do with them being in-door dogs who don't lay in dirt or mud all day. Yet they do go to public places where there are dogs and people and you'd think they'd get fleas but they don't. I barely bathe them either. I probably bath both dogs two or maybe three times per year. (I do towel them down after muddy walks though! I'm not crazy.) Both dogs are so clean in their coats and in their mouths. Raw diets rule.
Ticks on the other hand are another story. They are seasonal where I live, November-February and I made a decision to use Advantix during those months only. Shortly after I used it on them, Juno got sick in November. Not knowing if she has autoimmune disease or if it was bacterial infection, I decided I would not chance it and never use the products, that I believe are poison, again. Yes, the tick collars are poisonous as well and you have to wash your hands, but they seem so much less invasive. I use one recommended by my integrative vet, called Preventic. That collar rules. We've been in heavy tick areas during search training and I've been crawled on and bitten by ticks and neither dog has yet to get one since wearing their collars.
What did I say about rarely giving my dogs a bath. Well "rare" just popped up! By the looks of her tongue, that probably needs washing too. Though note how shiny white her teeth are. Raw knuckle bones rule!
Well apparently rain isn't good for the jodhpurs but mud must be.
I must have forgot to check the box "does not dig in mud" when looking for a dog to rescue.
Yesterday, a few of you commented on the Chase it toy not lasting very long with your dogs. I whole-heartedly agree that it is a toy that can be destroyed in 35 seconds by most dogs. What I don't understand is why anyone who buys a toy for their dogs let them have the toys permanently, 24/7. Part of playing with toys with my dogs is the novelty of the toys. Except for one or two very low-drive rope tugs I leave around the house for them to play with each other, I put all our toys away. And yes, during play they will destroy the toys. I accept that they will de-stuff stuffies. I rarely buy stuffies. Occasionally I will (Christmas, case in point) and let them have it. But the toys that are really fun get put away and taken out to play with by me. It's a great way to train dogs too, with toys that they do not have 24/7 access to. And yes, eventually that Chase it stuffy will be destroyed. The nice thing about Chase It, is you can pretty much replace the toy with a new stuffy, a stuffless skunk or squirrel (those things are awesome) or even a rag and still make the game really fun. So I challenge all of you who tell me a toy won't last. Take their favorite toys away and pull them out when you play. Then you'll find out how long toys can really last (except for stuffies).
Hummm, I can certainly see why you would not want your lovely jodhpurs to become "soggy". "BUMMer" (that's my pun). I hate rain too. I call it "cloud Pee". Who would want pee all over them??? Camelot... that is where the weather is just right for discriminating Dawgs. I'm just sayin'.
Dearest JBJ -
The rain is PAWESOME!
Woo sit out in it - your khoat soaks it up and woo turn all spongie -
When woo khome in, woo shake and share the wet love!
Maybe woo need to khome to Khamp Khyra and take my Princess RainKhloud khours!
Pantyloons&Jodhpurs,
Khyra
Woo DIRTY Girrrrrrrl!
Oh the trouble we khould get into!
Pantyloons&Jodhpurs,
Khyra
aka PRK
Me and Ammy just took our mom for another walk in the drizzly fog. It was great! ...except for all that towel action.
Play bows,
Zim
What is it with puppies and rain? If you wanted them to stay out of the rain, it would be the first place they go. If you wanted them to stay in, they would pester you until they got to go out, come heck or high water! 🙂
I don't like going out to toilet in the rain either and my humans always have to drag me! 😀
So much to comment on -
First, The Herd wants it noted for the record that they have no problem walking in the rain. The Hu-Dad is the technical problem. Just saying for clarity.
Though Rusty and Cheoah both can cross their legs for a very long time before having to go out to pee. Walking in the rain - no worries. Peeing in the rain - no way. Go figure.
And The Herd does not have toys laying around to chew on, but more out of preventing skirmishes. Ok, fair enough, they do chew on Rusty and he does squeak when that happens, so I guess they do have one squeaky toy.
I do the same thing with my dog's toys. I only leave out bones, tennis balls and one rope tug. When Jackal was young I couldn't leave any of his toys out. He has slowly earned the right to have those out. The only reason I leave the tennis ball out is because he ignores it unless he wants to play and then he brings it to me. I leave the tug out because they will play with it together or bring it to me to play. They are well trained. 😀
Oh and I'm glad the Preventic collar is working so well. 🙂
Ooouuuu, I love to play in the mud! Its so good fur the complexion, too. But I don't much care for thunder & lightening.
a-roos to yous,
jack a-roo
We have a huge toy chest in the garage that the stuffies rotate into and out of. Usually they make several round-trips before Dennis finally does them in. (And it's ALWAYS Dennis.)
The only thing my mom can focus on right now is the 10 hours of sleep. Please give her a few moments to recover....
Okay, we're back. Fleas apparently are bad here because Wilbur got them just hanging out in the yard, even though Steve and I are on Advantix, so it wasn't our fault. Mom felt really itchy as soon as she heard that and obsessively washed everything in the house and now Wilbur is on Frontline too. So far so good. I wish my mom would do the raw thing though. That sounds pretty tasty.
Kat
Oh I don't like the rain either! I'm so glad it has been pretty dry lately! 🙂
Can you believe I had a bath on Sunday? 🙁 I don't know why they thought I was dirty! I mean I only dug one small hole in the yard!
Mochi
the first and second picture grab at my heart.
We got Mom to order a Chase It for us. Mom thinks TD is more likely to play with it than Phantom but you never know with a sibe.
TD LOVES the rain, he would sit out in it all day. He could do that the next few days if only he could get the Momster to agree.
We are amazed at the cuddling that goes on there, you will never find us sleeping in any way that allows our furs to touch:)
Woos, Phantom and Thunder
Princess J:
We totally understand how you feel about the soggy weather. We don't like it either. And can you believe our mom gets mad at us when we peepee inside on a rainy day???
We swore that we wouldn't use poisons on our dogs for skin parasites, that is, until K developed a severe tick allergy. Last spring, on two occasions, she broke out in hives and her face swelled up. Ticks caused it both times. Now, we use a Preventic collar during tick season. It seems to work well, and it beats the terrifying allergic reactions.
You asked about the initials K and R in my blog. I did that for ease of typing and anonymity. But, so that you can put a name to each, K is "Kyna" (pronounced Keena) which means "one who is loved" in Gaelic. R is for Rono (pronounced so that Ro rhymes with No. Henry Rono was a graceful and fast human runner. Since R was destined to be my husband's running partner, we named him after a runner.
darwin is glad to see other dogs are as unmotivated by rain as she is. if it's raining outside, she will do her business and hurry to get back under cover.
i've been trying to get her to like the rain by taking her to the park when its raining so she can play and have fun. it worked a little. one time we went and she was playing with her husky friend winston, and his mom had an umbrella, and between play sessions, darwin would run to her side and get under the umbrella. such a wuss. heheh