As a general rule I am opposed to the existance and right to exist of
most poodles, toy or regular. They are usually some of the stupidest
dogs around, only topped by dalmations. But then I learned that they
tend to reflect their owners.
Ours is brilliant.
:)
After the forensic reconstruction of the crime scene, here is how this
came down:
1. We move, my job stays in old location, hence I'm away from home
several nights a week. Houses can get creepy at night without dad to
protect.
2. Bat
3. Local breeder had a batch of toy poodles with a very good
(competition grade) pedegree. Ours is pure black.
4. Daughters who "always wanted a dog and we're growing up".
5. "Honneeeeee????"
6. After resigning myself to defeat in this matter, I said to pick out
the quietest one.
Two days later, I come home and am greeted by this little
self-propelled fuzzball.
I'm quite intruigued by her intelligence. Unfortunately, it has had
development issues in regards to "accidents", but nothing unique there
in regards to puppyhood. She still needs a time-out punishment of one
form or another every day, but at least we're progressing. In regards
to the intelligence, I've noticed that she learns through play. If you
can make whatever it is you want to teach her part of play then she
gets it right away. Of course, EVERYBODY has been entertained by the
sliding puppy on the kitchen floor and she's been no exception to
this, but I observed that she doesn't make the same mistake twice.
After plowing into the cabinet, she learned to only go straight on the
slippery floor and then use the rugs for directional changes. Till I
removed the rug... Now she generally avoids the kitchen floor. Go
figure.
Running? I never knew toy poodles could run like this. She loves to
run. Outdoors, we established the boundaries of the yard (no fence)
and haven't had to deal with border violations more than once. It's
the funniest thing seeing her stretch out like a greyhound in full
gallop. In the evening, right before bedtime, she'll decide she wants
to play/run again. Ahem, I wonder who started that???? OK, so one
evening we determined that she already had her run (but she didn't get
that memo, evidently). I didn't budge, so she grabs her favorite
squeek ball, throws it in the air, runs across the room, catches it
and then proceeds to tear through the house at full tilt. The
turnarounds are a hoot as she skids through her turns on the carpet
but she's hanging it all out. After about five minutes she'll drink a
bunch of water and then she's ready to go to her pet taxi to chomp on
her sqeek toys for a while before falling asleep..
I puzzled over one thing until I realized that thousands of years of
human-dog companionship has ingrained in certain traits. When I am
home, she instantly becomes my dog. When I am away she's everybody
else's dog, but whenever I am there, her first loyalty is to me. It's
not that she ignores the others, but there is an alertness and
obedience which transfers to me.
Yes, we're going to breed her. She's gotta earn her keep. :) We named
her Layla Bokeh.
AG
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|