[nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs

Wed Mar 17 17:09:20 UTC 2010

Jewel,

What a fun kitty!  I wonder if she will figure out how to open the hamper.
/grin/  Sounds like she's learned to use it to entertain herself.

With Mitzi, it sometimes seems that my efforts to keep her out of things is
a never-ending war of escalation!  Especially when she was a pup.  She'd
have a physical and mental growth spurt and suddenly all the things I
thought were safely out of her reach were just new challenges to be met in
her quest to become the world's foremost thief!

She's chilled a lot as she's moved into adulthood, but has recently
reverted.  We had someone staying at our house for a few weeks around the
holidays, and he simply could not manage to follow the house rules when it
came to giving scraps to the dogs or leaving things where the dogs could
reach them before he went to sleep at night, etc., etc.  So we've had to
treat Daisy for her allergy-based ear infections again, and Mitzi has
reverted to a life of crime.  Sigh.

For her, the joy is in the sneaking and the successful theft itself, as much
as in the rice pudding or pie crust or bits of tasty garbage from the
covered trash can...  When we first got the thing when we moved here and
discovered we didn't have a handy cupboard space to use to keep the dogs out
of the trash, she sized it up and pretended she had no interest in it.  Like
we believed that!  /lol/  Then after we went to sleep thinking all was well,
she turned engineer and figured out how to get into it and spread stuff
around to investigate while I was still dragging myself out of bed to come
have words with her.  She was very impressed with herself!  So we tried
putting the sack of potatoes on top of it, which deterred her for awhile.
She's not really *that* bad a dog, when it comes down to it.

Only since we've had the house back to ourselves (that person is no longer
welcome!) and settled back into our nice, orderly routines, she's started
just taking the sack of potatoes off the garbage can lid so that she can get
into it.  If there's something tempting from dinner in there, waiting to be
taken out in the morning, she will do this silently so she can scavenge
whatever it is.  Otherwise, she will use the trash can to make noise to get
me to come give her attention when I would rather be doing something else
while she behaves like a dog with house manners!  /lol/

So I've been putting her on restriction so she simply doesn't have
opportunity to get into trouble, which has caused her to be more daring when
we're around to keep an eye on her.  Sigh.  A week or so ago, DD left a pie
crust shell on the counter where it should have been safe, then went to get
some pie filling and was reading the package while I did something in the
kitchen that involved paying attention to something other than Mitzi....  In
other words, we were both right there!  Neither of us heard a thing, either.
But when DD looked up from his brief distraction, guess where the pie crust
and tin were?  Mitzi was so impressed with herself, she could hardly stand
it!  She got in trouble, of course, and had to spend some time shut in my
room alone -- a fate worse than death!

Anyway, the battle continues.  I'm a little glum about having to take my
precious evenings to retrain my dog to be civilized again, but there it is.
/smile/  Keeping temptation well out of reach helps a great deal, but if
she's thieving right in front of us like that, it's going to take some more
work.  Sigh.

Daisy, for the record, has learned advanced theiving skills from Mitzi, to
add to her own set.  Mitzi moved on from paper trash long ago, but Daisy can
now perform amazing feats of getting into the paper waste -- especially the
baskets in the bathroom -- and spreading shredded bits of tissue everywhere!
My bathroom here is teensy, so I just don't use the trash anymore, since
there's not room to keep it on the counter.  In my office and bedroom, I
have my waste/recycle cans on display well off the floor.  /lol/  Except I
keep forgetting they're there unless I knock them over and keep
absent-mindedly tossing paper onto the floor where I forget that the waste
basket is not...  Daisy thinks that's okay!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jewel S.
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 5:05 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs

Hi,

I couldn't help but reply to this with a possible solution (though
maybenot for your really smart dogs!). My cat absolutely loves to curl
up with one of my shirts, especially under the bed where I won't catch
her at it. I know about it only because I kept finding dirty shirts in
the middle of under-the-bed, where I know I did not put it. I found
that this has slowed a lot since I got a lidded hamper. It has a lid
that sits inside, and has an indented handle. She cannot open it. I
know she's tried to take things out through the holes in the side, but
the holes aren't big enough. So, no more dirty clothes under the bed.
Maybe this would work for your dogs?

~Jewel

On 3/16/10, Wayne Merritt <wcmerritt at gmail.com> wrote:
> Tami, Mitzy's behavior is terribly funny. Actually, i'ts not that I'm
> upset by Gucci's behavior, sure it gets annoying at times and when I'm
> trying to correct her by slapping the laundry hamper, it's more out of
> frustration. I'm very much amused, even if there's some annoyance,
> when I find a sock on the floor or a shirt or other garment a few feet
> away from my bed. I just hope my parents understand if they ever see
> clothes lying about on the floor, and don't assume that I'm lazy,
> grin. My first guide, a Lab, did this as well. Except he pulled a pair
> of slacks across a floor one day. He got corrected for that, and he
> never touched the slacks again, though he did rearrange other
> clothing. Now that I think of it, the Lab removed the slacks from a
> hanger that was on a closet door. Clever guy.
>
> Wayne
>
> On 3/14/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Oh, she is too funny!  Having a "thinking" dog is very entertaining, if
>> not
>> completely maddening at times.  Mitzi used to hide my shoes and socks
when
>> we were getting ready to go out and play, when she was a puppy.  She
>> finally
>> figured out this would delay us, so she gave it up and began to help me
>> find
>> misplaced shoes and socks.  I had suspicions about how they came to be
>> misplaced to begin with, but she was very helpful about showing me "the
>> other" shoe, sock or glove.
>>
>> Last week, the dogs stashed their favorite squeaky ball, which is also
the
>> one I take to the park for Mitzi.  I asked them to find it, I asked them
>> where it is, I made play motions and asked them to bring it...  Not a
clue
>> from either dog they had a clue what I was talking about.  Shadow ball?
>> What could that be?  /lol/  I tried looking for the dang thing once a day
>> or
>> so, because I hate trying to play soccer with park balls -- usually ratty
>> old tennis balls.  I can't hear them at all, so kicking them for her
>> doesn't
>> work so well.  /smile/  Anyway, one day I looked absolutely everywhere,
>> with
>> the dogs watching avidly and encouraging me every step of the way.  If it
>> looked like I might be flagging in my efforts, they would peer into and
>> under whereever I was looking, as if to say, "It's right there!  Look
>> again!
>> You missed it by an inch."  Goobers.
>>
>> That evening, about the time I was ready to fall into bed and sleep,
guess
>> what I heard Mitzi bringing into my room so I would play with her?  She
>> was
>> very pleased with herself, I tell you.
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
>> Of Wayne Merritt
>> Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:26 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs
>>
>> Though my Gucci isn't trained for laundry work, she will pull things
>> out of the clothes hamper that I've just put there, sometimes right
>> after and other times when I'm in the shower. And then I find a stray
>> sock, T-shirt, or other item on the floor as I'm walking back over to
>> the dresser for something. She will also pull my socks off the couch
>> right after I've taken them off. Really, one day I pulled my socks
>> off, turned to put the shoes under my coffee table, and when I turned
>> back, not 5 seconds later, the socks were gone. She's good. One of her
>> classic clothes relocation incidents happened when we were still in
>> training in fall of 2008. I had dropped a pair of socks one day, and
>> though I found one almost immediately, I didn't find the other one. At
>> that time I didn't know about her clothes relocating tendencies. So I
>> looked all around the place for that stray sock, and even brought my
>> instructor and one of the house maids into look for the sock with no
>> result. It wasn't until I was packing to leave the next day, when I
>> was pulling stuff out of the crate she had been using for the last
>> week or so, that I found the stray sock in the corner of the crate.
>> I'm sure that when I looked at her, she had this total blank look on
>> her face like, "What? I didn't do anything." I sat back and laughed. I
>> think somehow I knew that she was going to be different than my first
>> guide. though my first guide would have moved clothes, he would not
>> have stolen a stray sock and kept it for his own benefit. I'm
>> convinced that Gucci does htis mainly to be sarcastic and to prove
>> that she can. It doesn't matter that I slap the hamper and tell her
>> no, she will still pull things out for her and my own enjoyment, or i
>> should say for her enjoyment of seeing me go, "Now where did I put
>> that thing?" That's a thinking dog for you, grin. I also have to be
>> mindful of where she is and where I drop clothes that i'm pulling out
>> of the dryer, lest she get a hold of something and relocate it
>> somewhere else, grin. Sometimes I'll put her on the tie down chain to
>> try and prevent this from happening, only to have her steel a stray
>> sockt that I missed and take it somewhere, grin. I have to give her
>> credit though, she knows to relocate things to be in my more frequent
>> walking paths so that I'll step on it and then do a doubletake. The
>> very few times that she's made messes in the apartment, she's done
>> them in places that are just outside of my normal walking paths, as if
>> she's saying, "hahahaha, this shows you not to neglect me a park time
>> or take me out later than usual." that devil, grin.
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>> On 3/10/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Rox,
>>>
>>> /lol/  Mill'E is too, too funny!  I wonder if Laveau will pick up some
of
>>> those ways of entertaining herself?
>>>
>>> I did some starter teaching with Mitzi on laundry-related tasks, but she
>>> just used what I taught her to mess with me or to invent new games.  So
>>> we
>>> were entertained, and I didn't have to worry about really training her
to
>> do
>>> actual useful tasks or anything.  /grin/  I keep threatening to do the
>> same
>>> with Daisy, again to keep her amused.  But I get lazy...  Huh.  We all
>> have
>>> cabin fever on top of spring fever...
>>>
>>> I love the towel snapping. /grin/  Are you sure she doesn't think she's
>> your
>>> teenage brother or something?
>>>
>>> Mitzi invented a new game with her ball last night.  She stood on the
>>> edge
>>> of my bed and bounced it to me so I could catch it and bounce it back.
>> That
>>> strange, quirky mind of hers will never cease to amaze me.  /smile/
>>>
>>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>> Behalf
>>> Of The Pawpower Pack
>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:16 PM
>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs
>>>
>>> Lyn,
>>>
>>> Mill'E's favorite chore ever! is doing laundry.  Specifically-- she
>>> loves emptying the dryer, then crawling in and taking a nap in the
>>> warm dryer once it's empty.  She has found ways to keep laundry
>>> entertaining; she pulls towels out, and smacks me with the end; same
>>> with blue jeans.  She has also figured out how to nudge all the small-
>>> clothes into a pile and take them out in bunches rather than one by
>>> one.  She loves laundry!
>>> I am lucky because I have one "pet" dog-- my twelve-year-old golden
>>> Bristol so I already have to look for pet-friendly housing and the
>>> landlords don't seem to care.  I do find that it makes things less
>>> intense for the dogs if they can have time to just be a dog.  All of
>>> my dogs have a fantastic work ethic and love to work.  I want to keep
>>> it that way.
>>>
>>> Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
>>> Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
>>> "It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as
>>> sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs." -- Christopher Moore
>>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>>>
>>> Windows Live Only: Brisomania at hotmail.com
>>> AIM: Brissysgirl Yahoo: lillebriss
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
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>
> --
> Follow me on Twitter at:
> www.twitter.com/wcmerritt
> My blog:
> http://wayneism.blogspot.com
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> www.wayneism.com
> www.whitecaneday.org
>
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