Pets

[Cathy]

Ack, those EYES! I'll do whatever you want, Mona. That flash of white at her neck is unearthly, no?

 

They're beautiful girls. How can they be evil?

[mongo_jones]

i thought it was understood that all cats are evil. why are they being allowed to pollute this wonderful thread about dogs anyway?

[Cathy]

i thought it was understood that all cats are evil. why are they being allowed to pollute this wonderful thread about dogs anyway?

 

[Leslie]

oh, i wish alu and gobi would only carry things around. but no, they like to rip them to shreds as well. actually, we'd thought that gobi was the one who shreds everything not locked down, on occasions when we leave them both alone in the house. this because we never had this problem before we got her. but last week while mrs. jones was out, they lost track of me in the basement and after half an hour or so i heard loud rustling sounds in the living room. i sneaked up quietly to catch gobi in the act, but found this scene instead: gobi lying calmly with a newspaper partly under one paw, while alu viciously tore at it with her claws and teeth, ripping it apart like it was a bacon flavoured rabbit. my theory now is that alu is the evil genius who uses gobi to fetch things for her to destroy.

 

basically, everything has to be kept out of their reach when we're not home. and gobi's got quite a reach.

Activity treat balls might be helpful. We learned about them in doggie class. One fills up the treat ball or buster cube, daily, with their daily allotment of dog kibble. The idea behind it is it gives dogs a "job" to do and helps them with their drive to work or keep busy. They "work" for their food by rolling the ball/buster cube around to get the food to dispense, a few kibbles at a time. Our dog likes to be fed this way and keeps him busy for as long as it takes him, and it's kind of like playing with a toy at the same time. It can be a bit messy though, if they dispense the kibble and it sits on the carpet until they get hungry, (which happens when he just feels like rolling it around to watch the food dispense) so it's good to confine it to one area.

 

Note, Robbie only uses the round treat balls, although I have seen other dogs use the Buster Cube. He is intimidated by the Buster Cube, which takes more force, but if you'd like to try it with your dogs, I still have it and can mail it to you to try with Alu or Gobi. Just let me know...

[GG Mora]

oh, i wish alu and gobi would only carry things around. but no, they like to rip them to shreds as well. actually, we'd thought that gobi was the one who shreds everything not locked down, on occasions when we leave them both alone in the house. this because we never had this problem before we got her. but last week while mrs. jones was out, they lost track of me in the basement and after half an hour or so i heard loud rustling sounds in the living room. i sneaked up quietly to catch gobi in the act, but found this scene instead: gobi lying calmly with a newspaper partly under one paw, while alu viciously tore at it with her claws and teeth, ripping it apart like it was a bacon flavoured rabbit. my theory now is that alu is the evil genius who uses gobi to fetch things for her to destroy.

 

basically, everything has to be kept out of their reach when we're not home. and gobi's got quite a reach.

Activity treat balls might be helpful. We learned about them in doggie class. One fills up the treat ball or buster cube, daily, with their daily allotment of dog kibble. The idea behind it is it gives dogs a "job" to do and helps them with their drive to work or keep busy. They "work" for their food by rolling the ball/buster cube around to get the food to dispense, a few kibbles at a time.

If mongo starts letting his dogs drive to work, he's asking for an intervention.

[Leslie]

oh, i wish alu and gobi would only carry things around. but no, they like to rip them to shreds as well. actually, we'd thought that gobi was the one who shreds everything not locked down, on occasions when we leave them both alone in the house. this because we never had this problem before we got her. but last week while mrs. jones was out, they lost track of me in the basement and after half an hour or so i heard loud rustling sounds in the living room. i sneaked up quietly to catch gobi in the act, but found this scene instead: gobi lying calmly with a newspaper partly under one paw, while alu viciously tore at it with her claws and teeth, ripping it apart like it was a bacon flavoured rabbit. my theory now is that alu is the evil genius who uses gobi to fetch things for her to destroy.

 

basically, everything has to be kept out of their reach when we're not home. and gobi's got quite a reach.

Activity treat balls might be helpful. We learned about them in doggie class. One fills up the treat ball or buster cube, daily, with their daily allotment of dog kibble. The idea behind it is it gives dogs a "job" to do and helps them with their drive to work or keep busy. They "work" for their food by rolling the ball/buster cube around to get the food to dispense, a few kibbles at a time.

If mongo starts letting his dogs drive to work, he's asking for an intervention.

 

I want to add to my last post that the dog trainer posed a question to us. "Why do we feed our pets their food in bowls?" Well, maybe, because we eat our food in bowls? Doesn't mean they need to. Hence, the justification for feeding them out of activity balls/cubes where they work to expend their abundant* energy to get their food. I wouldn't use one for an older dog, but for pups, and young working type dogs, it's kind of a clever idea... n'est-ce pas?

 

*that can sometimes turn to destructive if not properly channeled with toys and activity

[FaustianBargain]

omygawd...kitty kuteness attack!

[Leslie]

omygawd...kitty kuteness attack!

Yessss!

[fantasty]

*gorgeous* kitties, all of them. Those Johnson girls have grown up so nicely!

[fantasty]

i thought it was understood that all cats are evil. why are they being allowed to pollute this wonderful thread about dogs anyway?

 

Following Cathy's lead:

 

This is Arthur. Note the foil on the chair as a cat deterrent. He found a place to perch anyway:

 

 

 

 

This is Arthur on a hot summer day, by the watering hole:

 

 

 

 

This is Arthur's belly:

 

 

 

And this is Lady Cheeses, who is not quite the ham that Arthur is:

 

 

 

Last but not least, this is Nigel. He lives in the country and is a mighty rabbit hunter.

 

[Leslie]

awww, cute!

[Cathy]

that Arthur.

 

And Lady and Nigel, of course.

[Evelyn]

What beautiful kitties Fantasty...Love that belly on Arthur.

 

One of these days I will post Allie (aka Beast) photos.

 

When Beast was a kitten I lived in a house with a 2 1/2 story atrium, which she wanted to leap from. The vet suggested foil on the steps to the landing. Worked for about a week, before Allie decided it was no problem to walk on the foil, and then knock it to the tile floor and proceed to take running leaps to "ski" on .Thankfully I moved before she took a dive.

[g.johnson]

Has Nigel lost a chunk of ear to a killer bunny?

[akiko]

Nuala is in for a big shock if she accidentally bites down on that button that causes the whole tape measure to suddenly retract!