Doodle All Day Long

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Bitter cold in New York and not at all conducive to our usual morning walk to the beach yesterday.  Opted instead for some fetch in the yard and while getting ready, Quincy somehow backed up and managed to fall down the entire flight of stairs with me standing helplessly watching him roll over and over.  Fortunately, he was fine.  I was not, but recovered shortly.  So we headed out to the 15 degree weather and he ran up the hill a few times to fetch his Kong and blow off some steam.  Since it is sooooo cold, I decided to throw a container of seed out for the birds.  Quick as a wink he got the plastic container and was off for the races, streaking back and forth, baiting me to chase him (we don't do chase as we are trying to teach a strong "come".) Ha! he would stop and chew the plastic which was no so brittle from the cold it was shattering and he absolutely would not give it up or come anywhere near me.  You all know that look!  The devil in the doodle. Now it is cold, I am late for work and Quince- a -Wince is being a naughty boy.  So frustrating.  Tried sweet voice and bending down with an outstretched hand full of treats, tried walking away, tried stern voice.  Finally went in the house and he got the idea that he might be spending the day out there (not really).  He did come inside and did settle nicely in his crate.  Later that day, his dog walker sent me a video with them practicing "fetch" with (modest) success.  However, when I got home, it was to my husband stating:  "Show her what you did!"  Quincy managed to unzip his very large dog bed in his new very large crate and had stuffing from one end to the next.  DD said he was covered in it as well.  I guess I should be glad he apparently did not eat the stuffing -  but now I am afraid to leave any stuffed pillow type pad in his crate. He also chewed open a new stuffed dog toy-which I also had to throw out. He used to be more gentle and his toys lasted weeks before they kind of wore out and lost stuffing.  Is this the dreaded Teenage period?  He's 8 month old.  Well, this morning he got a plain blanket in his crate- wonder what he will do to that!   He needs a really long walk and I plan on bundling up and doing just that  - probably in the snow we expect to come tonight.  Happy weekend everyone! 

[Sheila & Finnley]

Oh dear poor lambie ! lol

[Lynda Kamrath]

My dog has the same lamb and it is his favorite toy also.  Does it have a crying cell inside (not a squeeker).  He pushes it and then cocks his head to listen and then chomps on him again to get him to cry.  I can't believe this toy has lasted over a year.  Not at all torn up, but covered with spit.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

OMD! I just imagined cute Quincy inside his crate surrounded by the snow stuffing and it's such a cute picture!!!!  

Zoe likes to unzip her bed to get to the stuffing too but i just zip it back up and she forgets...until the next time that is.  hehehe this blog made me laugh...Zoe was exactly like this.  She's 1 yr and 5 months now and has calmed down a lot!  Great luck and enjoy his quirky personality :)

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

that was my response

 to my husband--"you should have taken a picture"! 

[Sheila & Finnley]

Lori, what a vivid story you told, and I actually could visualise it, because it was so Finnley. She is also 8 months old, and has quite a bit of zippity in her doda right now because she hasn't had much outside play time. She found a stash of those plastic planters that you buy new plants in on the side of the house the other day. They also were quite brittle because of the extreme cold. Now they are scattered all over the back yard like confetti !

We also had a doggy bed destuffing here about a week ago. Great teenage doodle minds destroy alike ! lol

Have a great weekend, and good luck !

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

This happens here, too. If my dogs don't get their walks and they don't have any sympathy for me when it comes to weather, I pay later in so many ways :) I guess Quincy took care of his excess energy in his own way. LOL

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Yes'm, the teen stage is pretty crazy. Murphy had the Hide-A-Squirel game completely intact until......8 months old. Then the squirrels started getting disassembled one at a time. And then the tree trunk. I tried a few more stuffed toys, but probably more because I thought they were so cute, that he just had to have them. Well many dollars and bags of stuffing later, I stopped. As for Bella, she eats stuffing out of any toy she is given. So no stuffed toys here at all. Antlers, WestPaw, kings, nylabones only.

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

What a horrible visual to imagine Quincy tumbling down the staircase.  I hope he continues to be alright.

Ah, the teenage years!  Charlotte is almost eight-months old, and overnight she partially removed the velcro closure of her Snuggle Puppy.  I knew something was up, because I could hear her at work!  This was no small feat, as it is a very well-made plush toy with a pouch for holding a heartbeat mechanism.  She must have employed some pretty surgical chewing techniques to pry loose the strip and attached pocket.  It took some doing, but I detached the whole pouch unit, and plan to sew up the remaining opening (tightly!) today.  

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

So today he managed to give me a black eye! very not his fault and totally innocent.  We were playing on the bed and he jumped on top of my face--oops!  It hurt when it happened,but I did not realize I had me a genuine shiner until I got up later and looked in the mirror while brushing my teeth.  Did some ice, but I fear it was too late.  Red bruised now but I am sure I have black, purple and yellow to look forward to this week!  Luckily I did not trip over the blanket he pulled out of the crate and draped over the stairs or the mess of papers on the floor after he pulled a folder off the table trying to get the pillow that he already chewed a hole in.  hmmm .  Where did my sweet and (relatively) docile puppy get to?  Certainly had to keep an eye on him every second then too, but somehow his antics were a little more tame!  We are off to obedience school, 15 degree weather or not, so hopefully that will blow off more steam.  

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yep, sounds familiar.  He is bored and hoped he could get you to stay home with him on Friday.  These dogs have so much energy that it takes a conscientious effort to get the exercise they want (and need).  Chewing up pillows is just his attempt to "do something".  If a pillow is all that is available, he will take that.  My youngest doodle (an ALD) used to chew the deck, chew on the baseboards, chase mice, and chew up shoes.  We still leave our shoes on the windowsills in the bathroom and close the closet doors, although he is through the chewing stage.  At 8 months, he is hardly into the teenage period yet.  You have some fun days ahead.  The way we handled it was to try to get out every day for some exercise (for the dogs and for me).  We walk about 3 miles 3-4 times a week, they follow us on our bikes, and sometimes use the bike tow leashes (BTL).  But they never have too much.  The bird seed trick is rather cool.  He had run around with the punctured bird seed and scattered it for them all over your yard.  Now I like that idea.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have never exercised my dogs that much although they are free to zoom around the yard when they want to . Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.