You might not believe this, but the Potcake isn't entirely perfect. She does a few naughty things, but with a face like that, it's pretty easy to overlook them...
She barks at my dad. Even though my dad has been living with me almost as long as Boca has, she is still fairly wary of him. She solicits petting from him and he usually walks her on the evening dog walk, but he's not able to get her harness and leash on when I'm not home, and she barks at him at times we can identify, and others we can't. She considers herself a sort of sous chef in the kitchen, and barks when he is chopping things or bending to get something out of the oven. She barks when he is wearing a hat. She is offended by one particular tie-dye shirt that he has. She barks at him when Ruby barks at dogs or horses on TV. She's usually wagging her tail while doing this barking, and while I've tried all sorts of things and encouraged my dad to dole out the treats liberally, I honestly believe at this point that Boca just thinks it's fun.
She chews on my bedding. Boca does this odd flea-biting thing with her front teeth to the edges of my sheets and blankets. It luckily doesn't cause damage for the most part, and I think it's a self-soothing behavior since she usually does it before falling asleep. I haven't had much success in curtailing it, other than gently taking the bedding out of her mouth and then praising her.
She eats rabbit poop. There is an increasingly large rabbit colony overtaking my town house complex that causes undue strife to the guardian of a terrier with a high prey-drive. It's spring which means they just had another batch of babies. The babies are cute, but soon they will just be a new crop of troublesome rabbits. Boca is more interested in chasing squirrels, but she does think that rabbits are magical creatures that leave her trails of delicious spherical snacks down the sidewalk. We definitely need more work on the 'leave it' command.
I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I couldn't come up with five things..Boca Face is a dream to walk on the leash, a lovely house-dog and snuggling companion. She is easygoing and a joy to be around. She's pretty close to perfect!
Buster does the flea biting chewing! It's totally a self-soothing things. He does it with the edge of bedding and the edge of pillows. I try to get him away from that and onto his West Paw Hurley bone, which usually works. He redirects the flea biting onto his bone every single night for like 30 minutes before bed. I thought it was a teething thing at first, but when he never grew out of it I realized it was a self-soothing thing. Sometimes he gets this totally bizarre but happy look on his face and his eyes become all lazy and roll back in his head all happily. They are bizarre little weirdos, aren't they? :p
ReplyDeleteOh, how interesting! I was hoping someone would chime in whose dog does the same thing. Boca gets that drunken look too! I haven't really tried redirecting to a chew as I prefer they not have them in bed at night just in case someone decided to be possessive, but it might be worth a try.
DeleteHahaha! What a cute list! :-) I may have to copy you idea in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou little trickster! I was like WAIT this is only three! Luna is also a proud poop eater.
ReplyDelete-Jessica from Beagles & Bargains
I thought I could come up with more if I racked my brain, but I really couldn't!
DeleteThat's so funny about Boca! Phoenix does the same thing to my husband with the barking. He is able to put her harness and leash on, though! He also knows that he needs to be consistent with giving out treats so we got a treat jar for that.
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting about nibbling that Boca does! Phoenix does that to Zoe. I think it's a grooming sort of behavior.
It's sad because my dad is so good to my dogs and it hurts his feelings. At least Ruby loves him! Ruby also nibbles Boca's neck like that, which I much prefer to my blankets!
DeleteMy dog does the nibbling thing on toys too... never thought it to be a self soothing behavior, but maybe that's the case! He doesn't squeak or chomp on things really. Boca sounds so nice to have!
ReplyDeleteHahahah! Her 'faults' are adorable!
ReplyDeleteLove this. I would have a hard time coming up with 5 bad things Blueberry does too.
ReplyDeleteI think Boca is such a great ambassador for potcakes!
Bless our easy dogs!
DeleteBarley has no interest in wild animal poop--she'll sniff it, but she always rejects it. She knows the very best poop is found inside in the litter box ;) It's a good thing dogs are cute because they're pretty gross!
ReplyDeleteThey really are! Luckily the litter box is inaccessible to The Ginger Sisters.
DeleteThis seriously cracked me up!! First of all, she is definitely pretty close to perfect! But the barking at your dad thing... Cooper does that to my nephew. Sometimes he doesn't bark. Sometimes he does. But he's always wagging. I honestly think that little jerk (Cooper, not my nephew) enjoys scaring the pants off the poor kid. I feel like my "bad things" list for Emmett would be about as long as Boca's. The other two? I might actually break the internet.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny, Maggie - Ruby's naughty list is a little longer, too!
DeleteDogs have such unique personalities. All I can think about when I see Boca though is the couch slouchin'! Lol!
ReplyDeleteShe is a unique and beautiful flower! The slouching is actually a potcake "thing" - who knows how that developed!
DeleteI'd love to see video of that biting thing. Sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteJean from Welcome to the Menagerie