Jack & Jill Put Up A Blog

I mentioned that Spot ran into a rattlesnake in the post Rattled.  We were impressed on his ability to actually absorb rattlesnake training and avoid the snake perfectly, so the great thing is that his memory is great. The bad thing is that his memory is great. 

Shall I go on? 

I always tuck him in like this. This is mid-day nap time at home. He is wondering why I must take pictures while he is trying to get some shut eye. You did your job of tucking me into bed now go please.  

The morning after the hike we take Spot to go potty. Why wouldn’t we? He must relieve himself which involves a grassy well sniffed out place to take care of business. We get to his regular pee zone area. Spot stops, stares at the ground and ‘avoids’ the pee zone. Are you kidding me? 

It was a full week of Spot ‘avoiding’ everything. Which makes me think why didn’t we do ‘poop avoidance training’ while he was a puppy when he thought breakfast was ‘dropped off’ every morning out on our front yard.

It was very sad at first because poor Spot would be trembling while peeing, and while leaving breakfast for others (just kidding, I pick up), he walks and leaves a long trail of bread-crumbs for us to dutifully pick up. Trembling, he would do the poo in record speed while maintaining this walking technique. If he couldn’t walk, I don’t think he could do it.

Every branch, rock, mud spot, leaf, puddle was now…a rattlesnake. 

The poor little guy. 

And at the park, the great joy in his life, the dog that will fetch the yellow ball for as long as you want him to because if he doesn’t the world will come to an end…didn’t fetch. His world had ended.  

What were we going to do? Without the ball, how do we wear him out? That’s when we realized WE need the yellow ball just as much as Spot. 

So…we walked the park instead of chasing the ball. He stuck to my side, avoiding all those very scary things such as grass! Every time we got close to the car he sat by the gate to go home. That was a first. 

I thought, what would the dog whisper do? He would try to distract the dog with positive encouragement and not coddle him. Tough love. So that is what we did. We continued with our routine as usual and didn’t coddle him. 

It took about a week and a half for him to get over it all. We are so glad he did, because sometimes he holds on to things forever! Apparently, he forgets some things after a week. Do you think Jack’s memory works the same way? Maybe I should go buy those shoes on Melrose and just tough out the week. 

(Are you there? Let us know you are reading by leaving us a comment.)

My dog prefers traditional yellow tennis balls over multi-colored made for pets tennis-type balls. Brilliant.

I thought I would write about how he must see the black and white contrast between the multi-colored ‘faux’ tennis balls and the yellow ‘real’ tennis balls to know the difference. But, my topic took a turn when I found that they are NOT color blind. Oh.

Just like having children, no matter how much I complain, I believe my dog is the best and the best-est. At the dog park, Spot prefers only ‘yellow’ tennis balls. When someone throws a ball for their dog, Spot will be right there with his own ball in his mouth checking to see what color the ball is to see if it is worth switching out his ball for that one. If it is multi-colored, he’ll pass. If it is yellow, he will annoy the dog to the point where they just give up. He doesn’t walk around like other dogs picking up just any old ball. No, he has a preference. He thinks rather than just acts on impulse. When his brilliance or cuteness is observed by others, I admit I am beaming inside like a proud beauty pageant mama.

Shopping Tip: My bargaining obsession has found that in the sporting area at Target, you can get a pack of yellow tennis balls a lot cheaper and in bulk than the same balls in the dog section.

Spot’s ‘yellow ball’ obsession continued even when a friend at the dog park gave me a bag of 12 multi-colored balls. I thought that with these many multi-colored balls he would just get over it. Not the case at all. One by one, Spot swapped them out for yellow ones. It’s like kids swapping Motts Applesauce and Jello pudding cups at lunch.

“Does any one want to swap their ratty, slobbered, germ infested ball for this exquisitely colored blue and orange ball, cut to perfection product of China? Anyone? Any takers?….Ha Ha! Suckers!”

Links: WikiAnswers – Dog’s Color Blind?