Guard Dog

Posted on May 18, 2009



Austin is growing more every day. Now a little over 4 months, and 45 pounds, he's graduated to the Large Breed Eukanuba dog food. He's learned to "wait" and sits patiently making eye contact with myself or a friend until we release him to eat. This same training is being applied to fetching his favorite rope or getting a treat. One of my favorite purchases has been his Buster Cube. This dice-like box ("where's your box?" - asking him where his dice is was just weird) holds his dry food in a maze that he has to push it around to get his food out of. It keeps his mind busy while he runs around the house pushing around his "box." I LOVE it, although I do occasionally lose it under the bed or couch, and I can tell when he's not got that extra worn-out disposition because he lost his cube somewhere. It is awfully loud though. I'd like to see it made in rubber.

Another great find was his flossy rope. We used this device to teach Austin how to fetch, which wasn't his natural inclination for quite some time. (Now he's really taken to it, and makes off with my slippers too). These flossy ropes are laced with spearmint dental floss and have a nice fresh aroma (instead of everything smelling like hamburgers or salmon). Austin loves it, and has learned its name. "Austin, where is your rope?" I'm also doing training by lining up 3 of his toys, all with distinct names, and having him select the toy I call. "Rope, Sock, Slipper" He's doing pretty well with that one too.

Austin has also discovered his big boy bark, and is learning to be quite the watch dog. I'm learning too how he has very different sounding barks for different reasons. His "Mommy, I've got to pee" bark is more like a bark/whine with high-pitched squeals thrown in for good measure. His "stop working on your computer and throw my rope" is much more urgent/demanding sounding while still staying in the upper register. But his "somebody is in my yard, walking up to the door" bark is deep, surprisingly deep. "Oh hello mr. dog." To be honest, we didn't expect him to have much watch tendencies being a lab, and while he may not put up a fight, it's plenty of time for "Annie get your gun." Good boy.

Have I mentioned he like jumping on the trampoline too? I'll have to get some pictures and share more of that next time. My backyard, aka "the jungle", has been a haven for ticks, which required removal from the pup - not fun - has been alieviated by getting Advantage for bigger dogs. He must have outgrown the last dosage. I removed about 4 ticks, but haven't seen any since his last dose. I HATE ticks.