Well, I Spoke Too Soon!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My husband and I look bad this week, almost like we have been in a catfight.  We are sore and cranky and putting all the blame on one Chocolate Labradoodle named Fudge. 

It started on Saturday morning.  I got up with the dogs and went out and plopped down on the sofa.  When my daughter woke up, the dogs got very excited and started wrestling.  Vern jumped up on the couch with us and all of a sudden, Fudge leaped onto the sofa and landed smack dab on top of my chest.   I am pretty sure I will be sporting an imprint of her paw on my chest for awhile and I told my daughter I see a future entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only woman who has one breast in front and one in back.   I could tell my daughter was very worried by the way she said, “Just promise me if you can’t find a bra, you will not walk around braless.” 

My daughter was having a friend over to go out on the boat with us, so my husband and I left early to get the cover off and take the dogs for a walk and then they were going to meet us over at the boat.  I was concerned about Vern having a new person on the boat, but he quickly figured out if she was our daughter’s friend then she was all right with him.  Everything was going fine….Fudge was seated on my lap…Vern wasn’t peeing himself every time the new person spoke to him…until Fudge spotted a flock of geese in the water and decided to leap up and forward to get a better look and gave me a big, fat lip.

Luckily, I had a hold of the handle on her life vest or I do believe Fudge would have jumped off the boat to get to those geese.  On land, she barely glances at them, but in the water seems to be a whole different story.  No matter, I am now walking around with a fat lip and an inverted breast.  The rest of the day passed uneventfully, which brings us to the worst day of all, Sunday.

 

My husband went to Home Depot and to get gas for the boat. After a couple of hours, I began to worry that he had gone to Ohio to get the gas and called him only to find out he was at the boat and someone was there to do a Safety Inspection and he wanted us to meet him over there.  My dogs have started something new in the car. They like to bark at other dogs as we go by and I hate it.  My trainer had given me a small air horn to use if another strange dog approaches, but I opened that horn and at the first bark in the car, I “horned” them. 

The horn has stopped Fudge from barking, but not Vern.  The horn is loud enough to wake the dead, so you can only imagine how wonderful it would be to be walking your dog and have a blue van approach you with a woman inside screaming “NO!” and honking a horn, one dog continuing to bark, and the loud horn going off again.  I am surprised someone has not dropped dead of fright right in front of my van and then I would have a major fiasco on my hands as I tried to find my phone to dial 911, all the while honking my horn at two dogs, now barking at someone lying in the road, clutching their chest and holding a dog on a leash.  I do try and use discretion when honking the horn and opted not to use it when we passed a group of horses with riders for fear I would cause a stampede.

I only had to use the horn once on the way to the dock on Sunday, but I was hopeful my husband heard me coming and would be waiting to help me with the dogs and all the stuff I had to carry.  No such luck. I could see him on the pontoon and I waved, jumped around, and even yelled his name once, but he must have turned off his Selective Hearing aids because he didn’t move. 

I walk my dogs on prong collars, but because Fudge had the choking episode and the vet had been concerned about an obstruction, she wanted me to use a harness for seven days.  Luckily, I had a Walk Your Dog with Love harness at home and that is what we have been using.  The first day, I used the collar I thought it was a godsend. Either Fudge was too weak from her four hours at the ER vet or the new collar felt weird to her, but she did not pull at all.  By day two, that had all changed and either I have the collar on wrong, Fudge had regained her energy, or she realized that pulling against the harness gave her super dog strength, because now we call it the Walk Your Dog with Cuss Words collar. 

Nevertheless, I had to get to the boat, so off we went and I was grateful when my husband finally saw me and came out and took Fudge.  Our inspection went well, and once again Fudge and Vern were wonderful with the inspector and Vern, especially, made me proud because new people are hard for him and we were in a very confined space and he never even barked and sat right beside her.  The only glitch, so far, was when someone with a dog (a Goldendoodle puppy) walked by our boat and Fudge reacted and Vern acting on her energy barked, too. 

 

Finally, we got going and it was a perfect day.  We found an island with no one there, beached the boat, and let the dogs get in the water.  We wanted to try out our dog ramp which required one of us get in the water to guide them up the ramp.  The other person in the boat did not volunteer, so even though the water was still very cold, I got in to help. Neither dog likes to jump into the water.  Fudge can be lowered into the water by her life vest, but Vern is too heavy. We also don’t think the ramp is going to work for Vern because of his size. We did the ramp a couple of times with Fudge and I had the bright idea to let her off her leash and I said and I quote, “there is no where she can go.”  Meanwhile, Vern would not jump off the back end of the boat, so I was encouraging him to just walk in and swim to me.  This is where it all went wrong.  Something about the water and Vern being in it amps Fudge up and she takes on the role of a dominatrix.  

We have been correcting her, but on this day, all of a sudden she jumped out of the back seat and onto the land.  This is a dog that won’t jump up on the bed without help and rarely jumps down and she cleared at least eight feet without batting an eye and took off like a bat out of hell into the densest, most impossible to penetrate area of land you could imagine.  Vern started to follow, but came immediately back when called. Not Fudge. 

 

My husband had no shirt on and ran into those briars after her and instructed me to take the only small path we could find, which I did with Vern.  It is a testament to how much I love Fudge that I went into the woods without a concern for snakes.  We searched in panic for at least an hour and still no Fudge.  Finally, I heard my husband yell he had her and then both of us got slightly lost trying to make our way back to the boat.  I kid my husband all the time about watching Daniel Boone, but he said he actually looked for signs of shrubs, etc. being disturbed and tracked her that way and found her on the other side of a briar bush and she came to him. His back, arms, and shoulders are all torn up and I could kick myself for letting her off her leash.  I knew better.

We have never had a dog like Fudge. Vern is so exceptionally good on that boat and is a joy to have with you, but we have to be so watchful with Fudge.  I don’t know if you want to call it her prey drive, but she is on constant alert for anything that moves and I really believe she would follow her nose wherever it leads.  It seems to be getting worse and never in a million years did we imagine she would jump off the boat.  We are implementing new rules on the boat and she will never be off leash again and we are going back to square one with the come command.  Both of us are discouraged, but this was my fault and could have ended very badly because of my stupidity.  kOn Sunday, my husband was my hero and later when we were out to dinner and he was drinking a beer he said, “If we hadn’t found Fudge, the thought of her being lost and alone in those woods would be more than I could bear,” and I knew exactly how he felt.

 

P.S.  I keep telling myself, there are no bad dogs, only bad dog trainers, but I don’t usually like to take the blame for anything, so I am working on a new slogan.  I think I like, If life hands you a reactive, prey driven, naughty little lemon Chocolate Doodle, don't sit around making lemonade, make lemon cupcakes, and bring them on the boat with you along with an extra strong dog leash.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Knock on wood - Sedona has never gotten out or run off, so I can only imagine the panic you felt when you couldn't find Fudge.  Years ago, my daughter's dog bolted out of the back yard and went running through the west LA neighborhood where she was living, across several major streets.  Fortunately, she and a couple of strangers were able to corner Dixie in an apartment complex so it ended okay, but as a result, Rebecca developed a pretty serious of dog-related PTSD.  Even now, she's over-cautious regarding her dogs.  Glad you found Fudge and that "all's well that ends well!"

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Denise :)

Sherri, Thanks! That sounds like great advice. I can't wait to think of a funny word :)

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Laurie, you made me laugh so hard I cried!!!!  I am so glad Fudge was ok! 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

"Walk Your Dog with Cuss Words collar" HA HA HA! I love it. This applies to Winston sometimes too.

I'm sorry you had such a hard time. I can't believe she did that. You must have been scared to death!

I took a recall class with Sophie and we were taught to use a recall word (i.e. not her name and not a word you would use regularly in everyday covnersation). That way she only identifies the word with the greatest treat that exists in the whole world. She only gets that treat when she responds to the recall word. Also, you have to use it in repeitition in really loud excited voice, like it's the funnest thing in the world to come running to you when you start shouting that word over and over again. So it should be a word that you can repeat many times fast without getting tongue tied. Two sylabol words work best. My word is monkey. I have long since gotten over my embarrassment of squaking "Monkey Monkey monkey monkey monkeeeeeyyyyy" in the park, because I swear she comes every time. Treat or no treat. It really worked. You just have to practice it 3 times a day for a few weeks and she'll get it. Worked for me!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Donna, Another good idea. She had gone pretty far and although, you can hear my voice for miles, a whistle would be a better idea. Thank you!

F, I agree with you. I wish I could get my panicky self to be nicer :)

[Donna K & Quincy]

Laurie, I think you could possibly train her with a whistle and a really good treat that she only gets when she comes to the whistle and at no other time. Sometimes when Quincy is in the backyard and doesn't come when I call him, I use the whistle and he comes running. In case you think you can't keep track of a whistle, I hear it's the latest rage in necklaces. :>)

[F, Calla & Luca]

When Luca has escaped in the neighborhood I have changed my tactics to your neighbors. I used to yell but enticing him back works much better. I even tell him how glad I am that he's home when I get him in.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, I could not believe it either. She is exhausted and I left her home and took Vern for a walk, swim, and let him roll all over the place. You would have no idea he had been at the groomers today :) I am hoping the trainer calls me back asap :) If she does it again, I am going to start drinking...LOL!

F, I hope I never drop a leash :) I really think you have great doodles!!

Donna, LOL about the blog material. I actually had one written about her, but she keeps doing naughty stuff :)  I love that horn...the power it gives me...LOL!  Thank you for the song!! I can't imagine a lost dog that you do not find and the horror and terror that would go along with that.

Bonnie, Thanks! What is going on with Fudge and Owen? I hope this is a stage for both of us. It has been a bad week, but it is going to get better!

Jane, I pushed on that gate and it stayed locked. Maybe I didn't latch it all the way, but I really think I did and I am usually a big checker, but maybe. I was so proud of Vern. Thank goodness my neighbor was home and started calling Fudge, because that is who Fudge finally went to, not me. Maybe because my neighbor was calling her in a sweet loving voice and I was screaming like a mad woman. We need to figure this out, before she gets injured. Thanks!

Lisa, Thank you for a lovely comment. I think we could be twins :)  I was baking cookies when this all happened. I will send you one :)  It is amazing how we all love the Doodles we read about and have gotten to know on DK!!

Pat, Thank you! I am so glad Trav just went around the corner. Good boy, Trav!! I hope our next outing is very boring. LOL

Doris, Thank you! I hope over time Fudge gets better or she may be walking the plank :) LOL

Thanks, Janie!

Leslie, My fat lip is gone and my boob is back in place :) We were so upset with Fudge, we didn't check her for anything and took them home and went out to dinner. I guess we thought a good meal would make us feel better. She is freshly groomed. The good thing about a Chocolate Doodle is you can't see the dirt..LOL!!

[BG and Gavin]

Laurie I am so sorry Fudge gave you TWO scares.  Do not blame yourself about the boat incident.  She gave no clue that she would jump off the boat.  An hour is an eternity!  I felt sick for you.  I am very proud of Vern for conducting himself like a perfect gentleman in both cases (as did your wonderful husband).  I hope your trainer has some "boot camp" exercises to whip Fudge back into shape.  Take care.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, I can't believe she ran off again today! Fudge, WTD??? Good boy, Vern for staying home and telling your mom!

Laurie, it's very easy to learn to like drinking. I could give you some lessons.