The worst dog in the South Bay
I wasn't going to blog about this. I figure it's not really that interesting to read about other people's dogs.
But then I realized that this is MY dog. And what's more interesting than that?
And anyway, when your neighbor bangs on your door at 5 a.m. because your dog is making trouble, I figure it's blog worthy.
![2[3].jpg](http://www.insidesocal.com/pets/2%5B3%5D.jpg)
The sun is just starting to poke through at that hour and the world is a pretty quiet place. Like most reasonable dogs, mine was sound asleep.
Or so I thought. But that's when the banging started.
I looked through the peep hole." Yes?"
"Your dog is running loose," came the voice on the other side.
"That's impossible," I said. "My dog is sleeping."
But then I looked around and noticed that there was in fact no dog in my house.
I ran outside. I looked right. I looked left. No dog.
Finally, about a block away, I saw him running. I hopped in my car and gave chase.
He was happy to see me, but as soon as I told him to get in the car (my language wasn't as delicate as that), he turned around and ran off again. All those months I spent teaching him to stay out of the street were for nothing. All it took was two minutes of freedom for him to forget everything he's ever learned. Or maybe he never learned it in the first place. Frankly, he's not the brightest dog in the kennel.
I finally cornered him in somebody's yard and dragged his sorry rear back home.
But how did he get out? I've had him for a year and he's never done this before.
I spied on him through the kitchen window and saw him in action. He figured out that he can roll on his side and wiggle his way under the fence. He'd probably been planning his escape for months.
So now not only do I have the loudest dog in the South Bay. I also have the sneakiest.
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About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.
Oh M, if only that were the case.
That dog does more walking than Moses did in the desert. And he goes to the park for hours at a time, where he frolics with his doggie friends.
And then there are the trips to the doggie day care, the beach, the parks, the valleys and the hills. And he comes with me to work one day a week.
No, Rocket is getting all the activity any reasonable dog could expect. The problem is he's not reasonable.
In any case, his escape came in the middle of the night, not normally a time when he's itching to go outside.
Some of the above suggestions are good, but I think that your dog is BORED!
Take him for long walks and get him tired out!
It's Anon at 12:04 again, forgot to mention that the best part of clicker training is it's CHEAP! The last ones I bought were from a major pet store chain and only about 99cents, right up at the counter.
I have spent countless funds and more hours on other methods (I have dabbled in rescue for extreme cases such as medical surgery recovery, abuse, geriatric over about 20+ yrs and grew up in a dog loving household) but wish I'd found the clicker method a long time ago. Please also consider supplementing the training with hand signals just in case...in case the dog gets older and loses hearing or the dog gets out in noisy area and can't hear you but can see you. It's a field and trial training method, but it's really helped my older friends adjust to geriatric life and still gives an owner a means of communication - all my dogs get the "hug" sign right off the bat! Signing to dogs also keeps them aware that they need to check where you are at all times for signals, another major plus to have that bond of communication rather than letting the dog control itself.
You've got a beautiful companion, have kept track of this blog just for more of that pointer and it's amazing personality shining through the lens. Hope to see more soon, maybe even the massive benefits of adopting an older dog such as we do on a fairly regular basis. Even if they only have their sunset years to share, they are truly golden moments to savor. Our current elderly resident came to us Sept on his last legs at age 14 with terrible pneumonia and arthritic conditions..but you should see him now! He throws his head back as if laughing for the first time and demands his walk even if it's a gait that draws sympathy from passersby. To live for the simple gift of a biscuit every morning and gentle hands every day must be enough, he has taught me quite a bit and I'm hopeful to see what he still has to give.
Reminds me of the dog I used to have many years ago. A beautiful afghan hound...but dumb didn't even begin to describe him. He started howling at night after I became pregnant. I started making him sleep in the garage. He found the button on the wall to open said garage. (He stood about 6 ft tall on his hind legs.) I found him several times out running amok in the neighborhood. He would come running and jump in the car happy as you please. Well, one night he got out and I was never able to find him. Searched neighborhood and shelters for weeks. He was gorgeous, I can only hope whoever got him treated him well. He may have been dumb as dirt but he was adorable and loving. I still miss him after 20 years.
Thanks! Great advice. And although I didn't really yell at him, I figure he could see the annoyance in my body language.
I have a rescue hound, had more trouble than any dog I've ever owned or rescued or dogsat for in my life trying to train this girl and finally found the answer....clicker training!
You mentioned that you used not so gentle language, and that is the problem as a dog seems to be smart enough to consider "if I'm going to get in trouble by obeying his nasty voice, I might as well enjoy myself a bit more first" and then the running begins again. It becomes easier to use the clicker to associate that sound with responses and rewards of food, then heavy praise. When you angrily call a dog, it just doesn't work because you are almost saying "just wait till I get ahold of you" and who wouldn't bolt? Using a clicker removes the "you" and replaces it with an inantimate object and resulting reward. It's just hard to remember to hold the scolding, reward the correct response is always the best thing when you have a dog with issues such as pound puppies can present. Don't ever forget that you are forced to correct the previous training which might have not been much more than displaced anger rather than positive reenforcement.
Good luck, looks like a dog after my own heart and I've been there and done that with more than one fool dawg. Cayenne pepper in the dirt around the fencing might also help with the digging problem, and it once again doesn't include the owner as the enforcer or terrible voice. Dogs learn quite quickly to not do things in the owner's presence....up to us to find a way to teach them to just not do it at all.
Who is the more evolved species? Careful of your language and only use single words rather than a string of nasties. Dogs have something like a 20+ word vocabulary, so they can easily understand basic words but they balk at sentences or repeats.