Just in case I don’t already gush about my dogs enough, Cinnamon over at Eat Pray Tri has given me yet another excuse to talk about Honey & Olive. She created a 23PAWS pet party on her blog, where she posts about her super adorable dogs (check out the videos! Guinness reminds me so much of Honey) and other bloggers can link up to their pet posts. If you haven’t already figured it out (it’s okay – we’re all a little groggy on Mondays), the link up takes place on the 23rd of each month, so if you don’t have time to participate this time, definitely think about joining next month!
Honey tends to get a lot of attention on this blog. In part, she simply sits still for longer than Olive, which makes it easier to photograph her. She would also sit on my lap all day if I let her, and when she’s not on my lap, she’s as close to me as she can possibly get. Laying down by my feet under my desk, sitting in a chair next to me – Aaron jokes that if Honey could comfortably fit in one of those baby wearing wraps, I would never put her down. This is a ridiculous possibility, and also a little preview of what I would be like as a mother to actual human children. Total helicopter mom.
Don’t worry though – Olive is far from neglected. She’s just more Aaron’s dog than my dog. Still, I was feeling a little guilty that Honey gets more of a spotlight on the blog and I thought the 23PAWS post would be a great opportunity to share the love.
Aaron and I left Honey with my parents this weekend and took Olive with us to spend some time at our friends’ beach house. Our friends know that Olive’s extremely energetic, but we were kind of looking forward to showing off the 7+ months of intense training we’ve been doing with her, bragging about how long she can hold “down” and how she comes when we call her. Do you see where this is going? I really, really wanted to have some cute stories to share about how it was her first time seeing the ocean and how she did things like tried to eat the sand and chased the waves. Nope.
Olive had to stay in her crate at the house, because within the first half hour of being there, she had jumped on every single person (and given me a baseball-sized bruise on my thigh with her head), repeatedly tried to knock over the table to eat our lunch, and nearly swallowed a random, rusty clothespin (twice). And to follow that up, Olive and our friends’ dog managed to escape the enclosed back yard and run, full sprint, into the middle of a busy, 40 mph road, with nearly ten of us screaming and unable to stop them. By some miracle, both of them were fine, but my blood pressure was through the roof for the rest of the day.
Needless to say, Olive lost her off-leash privileges. It was embarrassing, especially at the end of the day, when one of our friends offered to take her for a week to see if his well-balanced dogs could teach her how to behave. I told him he could take her for more than a week.
The only redeeming thing Olive did this weekend was crack us up with her watermelon-eating abilities. Apparently, Honey isn’t the only dog who eats watermelon like a little person.
She’s lucky she’s so cute, because man, she was such a turd this weekend.
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Fellow dog owners – any words of wisdom? When Olive sets her mind on something (a squirrel, another dog, a person, food), it’s nearly impossible to get her attention. I feel like she needs to be a working dog, herding sheep or something, but that’s not going to happen in Boston.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
She is so precious! Milo loves watermelon too, it’s so adorable to watch them eat like little humans!
Thanks, Laurie! It took Olive a minute to figure out that I didn’t want her to eat the rind, but now she has it down pat.
P.S. Milo is so cute! I love his forehead wrinkles and expressions!
Hi, Amanda! I’m new to your blog and looks like our dogs brought us together today
. I’m so glad bc your blog is so lovely!
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I bet you miss Honey very much! I, not Kona, experience separation anxiety every time we have to travel.
Kona is extremely food-driven (you’d think we starve him to death!) so whenever he’s about to do something naughty, I just yell “treat!” really loud, and he snaps out of it pretty quickly. Is Olive food-driven?
She’s so adorable! Bet it’s hard to stay mad
Hi, Min! Thank you for the sweet words about my blog. Kona is so, so adorable! Those puppy pics just melted my heart – he was so tiny!
Olive is extremely food-driven and borderline aggressive around food (we feed Honey and her on opposite ends of the kitchen). I actually have to water down her food to get her to slow down or she chokes herself! I think I need to be better about having treats with me, although her prey instinct seems to trump whatever I’m offering her. Maybe I need more exciting treats.
That is so funny about Honey getting all the attention. I have some friends who are like “poor Toby never gets any love on your blog”. The same thing happens though….Guinness sits still longer and Toby is always moving. He is also completely black and he blends in with everything. Sometimes I can’t even see him in the picture! HA! I think I will dedicate next month to him though…he needs some love.
Olive, Olive, Olive….what are we going to do with her? Guinness used to run away from me like that when he was younger, but if I just sternly say his name. now and tell him to sit he will stop. Have you ever watched any episodes of The Dog Whisperer? I for the life of me can’t get Guinness to not bark at the doorbell or jump on people when they come in the house. Other than that he is a pretty good pup (except of course when he is showing off the goods or ripping up the trash)
Guinness seems like a great dog. Those videos made my day.
I’ve watched a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer, but maybe I should watch some more. The trainers we’ve been working with just kind of roll their eyes when anyone mentions Cesar Millan. haha Our friend who offered to take Olive for a little while is a big believer in his training methods – he used Cesar’s book to completely transform a dog he rescued. I think with Olive we need to be better about getting her to behave before we let people say hi to her, as opposed to trying to get her under control during/after the fact. Our trainer would probably say we’re reinforcing the bad behavior by letting it get to that point. Oh, the psychology of dog training…most of it is training the humans.
I totally agree. Its all us. Its so hard sometimes though b/c they are just so cute!! I think his training methods can work, its just a matter of really being serious about them and sticking with it. That is the hardest part!
How can you stay mad at such a sweet face? Olive is adorable. I know I would fold under her gaze.
Some dogs are just stubborn like that. Our oldest, a Shih-tzu, is very hard headed when he gets distracted. In the house, he’s an excellent listener. But when he’s outside, God forbid he see a cat/squirrel/leaf/wind move because he is gone and there is no stopping him. No form of correction has worked on him (we’ve tried everything!) so we just leave him on the leash now (unless he’s in a fenced yard). But our youngest (the Chi-tzu), she loves to follow commands and she just aims to please. She just wants to be near you, no matter what, and she wants your praise. Of course, most of the time when they are running free around the house, they are unstoppable. They share a dad, and I swear, they know they’re actually related!
Yeah, it’s really hard to get dogs to listen outside. Honey is better because she, like one of your dogs, aims to please, but Olive has such a one-track mind that when she sees something she wants, she blocks out everything else. We’ve been using a remote control e-collar at the recommendation of our trainer, and that helps, but we had to crank it to max capacity over the weekend when she bolted, and even then, she really fought it. Definitely no more off-leash privileges for Olive – it’s not worth the risk.
Oto does the same thing, he locks in on squirrels or children (great huh?) and it’s impossible to break his concentration on them. I recently found something that seems to be working though. I carry a small spray bottle (or squirt gun) and when he starts locking in on something, I give him a little spray and it snaps him out of it. You have to be willing to look a little strange to the people around you when they see you squirting your dog but it really seems to work. I got this little mini spray bottle at The Christmas Tree Shop so that I can just carry it in my pocket on walks. Good luck!!
That’s an awesome idea! I am definitely going to pick up a small spray bottle and give it a try. I’ll report back.
I’m a horrible dog trainer, so I have no advice. But, I have small dogs and also don’t let them off leash. I agree that dog training is more about training the people, so I’m not sure what that says about me.
Nice to meet you and your pups.
Nice to meet you too, Carrie! And thanks for your comment – it’s nice to know I’m not alone in struggling with the dog training.