We Love Them, But.. But!

[Guest oldNELLIE]

Oh, Miss Nellie. I should start by saying her bad habits really are more annoyances...she has never done anything truly destructive, she doesn't chew, go tot he bathroom in the house, and she is happy to be alone all day. So we have been lucky.

 

But here goes!

1. She is a whiner. If she is awake, she is whining for something.

2. She is a little OCD. She will become almost trance like while...drinking water, licking the couch pillows, licking her butt...if we are not there to stop it she will lick herself raw.

3. She wants to always sit where I am sitting. This includes "my" seat on the couch. She will cry at the door as if she needs to go out, and when I get up to take her she will double back and jump into my spot.

4. She wants to always lay where I am laying. She will jump onto the bed and stand over us staring. When she realizes we are not going to give up the pillow spots she will nest herself directly between us - private parts beware.

5. Not only is she a bed hog, but she is also a blanket hog. DH and I rarely have enough of the comforter to cover us completely.

 

As an aside, I realize we could banish her from the bed, but I'll be honest, I don't want to. The NEXT one is not sleeping on the bed

 

6. She wants breakfast between 3 and 5 am. We have tried everything to break this habit. It is not going to happen with our skill level of training or dedication. It is much easier to roll out of bed and feed her so we can all go back to sleep. Like someone above said, better at 4 am then 6:45 just before the alarm goes off.

7. Her farts scare her. She will go FLYING off the bed or couch with zero regard to what is in front of her. Again, private parts (or dinner plates or wine glasses) beware.

 

Um...I think that's it for now

[EnzaFerrari]

A few of Enza's quirks are amusing. A few are rather frustrating.

 

Her love of sticks is often hysterical but when they get too big, I get knee capped by my own dog. The fact that she's figured out how to twist her body/head to maneuver long sticks through narrow passages is disconcerting as I now truly believes she plots.

 

She will spend all day not touching the paper/pens/dishes/etc on the coffee table when I am not there. However, if I'm home and not paying enough attention to her, she will walk up to them, stare at me, and start removing everything from the table. Each time she pulls a piece of paper off, she will then look at me before doing it again. See...plotting.

 

Her constant need to find a new mommy or daddy on our walks. She will walk up to just about anyone and lean on them. If it's really cold/windy/rainy, she has no problem walking up to any doorstep and standing there hoping someone will take pity on her.

 

She is becoming obsessed with little kids - in a good way. She wants to be near them, wants to sniff them, leans into them (and often knocks them over). She licks their faces, tries to lay on their laps, etc and so on. It's weird, a bit freaky, and rather sweet. Although I'm pretty sure it's because she's figured out that they always have food and often drop it.

 

She has figured out that if she doesn't get up for her last turn out, I will inevitably head to the cookie jar. Even if she is "pretending' to be asleep, she will leap up and run for it. If I head for the cookie jar sans coat/shoes 20 mins earlier, she won't notice and continue to sleep. The moment she sense it's the final walk, she will lay there thinking, "if I am very very quiet, I will get a cookie."

 

In the last 6 months or so, she has decided that she hates male greyhounds. (With a few minor exceptions of Ollie and Harry and the major exception of her boyfriend Laddie - if she doesn't see him for a few days, she will start walking towards his house.). All other non greyhound males she is totally fine with. Female greyhounds she is okay with as a few fosters have leaned up against her on walks and she not only accepts it but leans back. But any other male greyhounds? Oh hell no. I *think* I've narrowed down what triggered it but am working on treating her when a male greyhound comes by and also removing her from all situations when I can tell her back is up. It does suck as it means no more Open Houses for my super friendly, adores kids girly.

[Guest greytsmom]

Ok.. so in order from best to worst...

 

Show - seriously.. he is almost the perfect dog. He can get a little too excited and ram his excessively hard head into a variety of painful locations with every bit of strength in his 80lb body.. and he will counter surf if he gets the chance.. but truly.. he is almost perfect in every way.

 

Choo - Girlie is trouble on 4 paws, in the best possible way.. yes, she wreaks havoc whenever she can find a way to do so.. but somehow it ends up being funny and cute rather than anything overly serious. Her worst sin was eating 2 library books. The bad side to Choo Choo comes out only when Ty gets involved. He drives her nuts (which I will detail in his section) and she can get VERY snarky at him. We've never had an injury, but I am always cautious when she starts going at him.

 

Ty - *sighs* He is the sweetest, gentlest soul.. but he just isn't wired right. I'm not being mean.. I'm just being completely honest. Ty came to us as a spook.. and he was, but with a lot of work his spooky tendancies are mostly behind him. Unfortunately, his issues go beyond that. He is fear aggressive and can be aggressive over toys and other high value items. We've worked hard with him on this and the episodes of aggression are slowly getting further and further apart. He also doesn't seem to understand normal dog to dog communication. He doesn't understand when the other dogs are asking him for space, he doesn't understand when Choo snarls at him that she isn't comfortable with his behavior, he doesn't understand how to play with other dogs as an equal. We've tried working on his issues from a dominance stand point.. but the reality is, he doesn't seem to have a hard time understanding what WE are trying to communicate with him.. but seems to have no understanding of communication from other dogs. He is also an incessant slurper.. of paws, of beds, of his private parts. It seems to be almost a calming tick.. like he goes to his happy, safe place when he is licking. We try to allow him some grooming, obviously.. but when it starts to become obsessive, we gently distract him and try to re-focus him.

 

Ok.. so I went all serious on a mostly light-hearted post... but we actually have a behavioral issues dog, so... Ty can get REALLY frustrating sometimes, but I just remind myself that he is lucky he landed with us. We have the time and energy to work with his issues.. there are a lot of homes that couldn't or wouldn't deal with his problems.. and every time we hit one of those moments where I can say "wow... only a few months ago Ty would have freaked out if that happened..." it makes my heart so happy. He is truly a wonderful boy.. he is just different.. but we love him for who he is.

[Guest greytsmom]

We had a GSD (died this past July ) who had the same inability to speak or understand canine language. She too was wired very differently. Our vet said she was lucky to be living with us as another home would not tolerate her behavior and have her put down. She lived to age 13 and became an endearing loving dog (with a few of her oddities intact).

 

Ok.. so in order from best to worst...

 

Show - seriously.. he is almost the perfect dog. He can get a little too excited and ram his excessively hard head into a variety of painful locations with every bit of strength in his 80lb body.. and he will counter surf if he gets the chance.. but truly.. he is almost perfect in every way.

 

Choo - Girlie is trouble on 4 paws, in the best possible way.. yes, she wreaks havoc whenever she can find a way to do so.. but somehow it ends up being funny and cute rather than anything overly serious. Her worst sin was eating 2 library books. The bad side to Choo Choo comes out only when Ty gets involved. He drives her nuts (which I will detail in his section) and she can get VERY snarky at him. We've never had an injury, but I am always cautious when she starts going at him.

 

Ty - *sighs* He is the sweetest, gentlest soul.. but he just isn't wired right. I'm not being mean.. I'm just being completely honest. Ty came to us as a spook.. and he was, but with a lot of work his spooky tendancies are mostly behind him. Unfortunately, his issues go beyond that. He is fear aggressive and can be aggressive over toys and other high value items. We've worked hard with him on this and the episodes of aggression are slowly getting further and further apart. He also doesn't seem to understand normal dog to dog communication. He doesn't understand when the other dogs are asking him for space, he doesn't understand when Choo snarls at him that she isn't comfortable with his behavior, he doesn't understand how to play with other dogs as an equal. We've tried working on his issues from a dominance stand point.. but the reality is, he doesn't seem to have a hard time understanding what WE are trying to communicate with him.. but seems to have no understanding of communication from other dogs. He is also an incessant slurper.. of paws, of beds, of his private parts. It seems to be almost a calming tick.. like he goes to his happy, safe place when he is licking. We try to allow him some grooming, obviously.. but when it starts to become obsessive, we gently distract him and try to re-focus him.

 

Ok.. so I went all serious on a mostly light-hearted post... but we actually have a behavioral issues dog, so... Ty can get REALLY frustrating sometimes, but I just remind myself that he is lucky he landed with us. We have the time and energy to work with his issues.. there are a lot of homes that couldn't or wouldn't deal with his problems.. and every time we hit one of those moments where I can say "wow... only a few months ago Ty would have freaked out if that happened..." it makes my heart so happy. He is truly a wonderful boy.. he is just different.. but we love him for who he is.

[galgrey]

Pre is pretty much a pretty greyhound (not that I'm biased or anything ), but sometimes when we go for long walks and he's not into it, he holds up his paw and fakes and injury. When I try to get him going again he limps on it. I was worried the first time he did this b/c I thought maybe something was wrong, but when we turned around to head for home the "injury" was mysteriously gone. He trots along just fine.

 

The thing is . . . we walk in a circle around our neighborhood. If he'd just keep going we'd be home A LOT sooner than turnng around! Silly dog, can't teach him geometry of a circle, I guess

 

I've never had a dog do this, but I used to have a horse that did it. Lame away from the barn but sound if you turned him around.

[Guest happygrey]

Well, Bentley is only 2.5 and he's quite a handful -- we love him to bits but he can be maddening at times. Good thing he's so cute and affectionate to make up for it! :lol

 

Some of the things that drive me the most nuts:

 

-He constantly sneaks into the bathroom to steal and eat snotty tissues

 

-Ditto for my daughter's bedroom for crayons (his FAVORITE) or her stuffed animals

 

-He jumps on us when he wants something/we come home/decides we're not paying enough attention to him

 

-He's very jealous of us giving any attention to Tatam and could be a hockey player with his body shoving technique. He's constantly shoving Tates out of the way if we are petting him.

 

-He's super "busy" - if I get up to cross a room he's right there with me. The only time he ever really lies down and stays put is late at night right before we all go to bed.

 

But like I said, we love him!! As my hub loves to say: He's got a lot of personality!

 

ETA: I thought of a couple more...

 

-Endless noisy nesting, shaking and resettling in the middle of the night -- especially if he's cold. That's why he sleeps in a sweater.

 

-He always steals Tatam's bed, we have to manage them getting into their beds at night otherwise Tatam stands around looking bewildered with Bentley on his bed.

 

-Not that great on his leash. Also doesn't really love walks. He's a big weaver, and walks (drags along) like a pony in anything above 75 degrees. Hysterical, considering that one of the main reasons I wanted to get back into dog ownership was for the exercise!

 

-The noisiest dog I've ever heard. He's got a collection of snorts, rumbles, whines and barks that crack us up. Unless they're waking us up.

 

-Loves to snack off the dirty plates in the dishwasher as much as possible.

 

-Beelines it to the garbage can the second it's opened. This makes clearing plates at night quite challenging.

Edited December 29, 2010 by happygrey

[Guest zombrie]

Wow, I guess I just got very lucky!!

Mira doesn't do anything wrong. She is perfect... she literally does nothing that makes us mad. She is the definition of "good girl"

Doolin we brought home on 11/11 and he doesn't do anything wrong either. At first he kept us on our toes, but now that he's settled he doesn't do those things anymore, besides the occasional counter surfing. Maybe as more time passes those bad habits will come out..or I just got lucky!

My GSD and Golden Retriever on the other hand...I won't even go there! The list will go on forever!

But we love them all the same.. sometimes

 

ETA: If you want to add a naughty boy to your pack, consider Naughty (AHK LikeItOrNot)! He has been at Greyhound Friends in MA for over a year now and he lives up to his name. He is a very cute kind of naughty if that makes sense. Once I walked into the main kennel and the entire runner carpet on the kennel floor (for the houndies who do the Bambi impression on slippery floors) was almost entirely in his kennel!

Here he is stalking me in the field:

 

I just thought this was an appropriate thread to introduce him

Edited December 29, 2010 by zombrie

[Guest DarkHorse]

Are we sure we love them?

 

Both of my two have their "quirks" and it seems like the more worn out I am, the more they choose that particular time to pull out the quirks.

 

Dexter:

-Food hound. He's gotten much better at not pushing Araley out of the way for her food/treats, but he still skulks around if I'm not there to tell him not to and if she gives him an inch too stick his needle nose in, he's slurping up her food.

-Whiner. If someone else is up and making noise, he absolutely HAS to be with them and will whine and whine and whine to get that. Of course, once they're somewhere he can't lay comfortably, he has to come bursting back into the bedroom, slamming the door open as he does so. But if I close the door and someone's moving around again, it's back to the whining.

-He picks up his sister's bad habits. She used to jump up on people she was meeting and now he does too. She licks her butt endlessly, now he does too. Night licking transferred from her to him as well.

-He tries to pretend that he doesn't hear me. I know that he's partly blind, not partly deaf (see "whiner" above for evidence of his hearing) but he wants to convince me that it's the other way around. He'll sometimes not follow commands and then when I get up to tell him more strongly, he gives me an innocent "You mean me, momma?" look.

-He doesn't watch where he's going. At all. He can and will step on everything. I know he's blind on one side but as often as not, the things he's stepping on are mostly on his seeing side. He just doesn't care to take the time to look around. This also leads to a lot of walking into walls for him.

 

 

Araley:

-Scared. Everything leads to a cower. If I sound even the slightest bit stern, it's a cower. If something moves, it's a cower. If it's a little cold outside, cower. If I give her a look, cower. She's TERRIFIED of cords and cables, to the point of launching herself away from them if they move. Same goes for boxes. She's slowly getting better but even after three years, she's still scared of almost everything large that moves over her head or off to her side.

-Neurotic. Particularly with licking. She licks her butt after every walk and will often keep going until she is told to stop. She licks her back toes if she's left alone and unmuzzled. I can't even leave her to go to the washroom without coming back to her licking her toes. She will lick them raw, even from a perfectly healed state. Sometimes, she'll spend almost all of her time muzzled to get them healed and if she is unmuzzled after that, she's lick them raw and bloody again. She also licks her lips endlessly, especially at night. She'll just lie there with her head held up and lick and lick and lick and then when she's told to stop, act like she's being beaten.

-Princess. She owns the house and is therefore very put-off whenever anything alters what she has determined to be the way of things. If she wants the one bed, she is very upset when Dexter is on it. If her bowl is in the wrong place, it's the end of the world. If she's not allowed into the kitchen, she sulks.

-Demanding. She must be the center of attention at all times. If she's not, she will force herself to be. She sticks her nose in everyone's face and under everyone's hands in order to get this attention. She will shove people around to get into the right position for petting.

 

 

To be fair, my cat isn't perfect either: he eats plastic, meows a lot, stinks up a room when he poops and thinks that the bed (and my body) is his pillow.

[Guest june]

I've been pretty lucky with my greys. A couple who were/are counter surfers, but now I gate them out of the kitchen when I'm not home and monitor when I am home.

 

My new girlie on the other hand, who is a total love bug, has some irritating behaviors.

 

First thing she tried to take over the bed as I posted in another thread, but we are making progress on that one.

 

She is pushy with the other two although they are standing their ground

 

She does not get walking on the leash, but drags behind and tries to get to every vehicle and house we pass and at times just stops and won't move

 

She loves to go for rides in the van but she doesn't want to get out

 

I'm sure I'll discover more but as I said she is a total love bug and I have hope that she will come around.

 

june

 

PS I've thought about leaving her behind when we go for a walk and see if that changes her attitude, or maybe she'll just be content to stay home

[Guest sandlot13433]

Sabre eats anything and everything...items he has eaten thus far include two pairs of underwear, a bra, yarn, an entire zoom groom brush (in pieces of course), and a tube of neosporin ointment. The bra and the yarn required vet visits. Every time a vet opens up his chart, they laugh and mention how they remember the bra incident and wasn't that so funny. Many of the others required me to make him vomit it up. So needless to say, I have had to work very hard to control our environment to prevent him from having access to these inedible things he can't resist eating! And here's a photo of him...he looks sooooooo innocent...

[Guest kydie]

Gee! I'm lucky:

Mr Bob(the grey) is perfect,, then again when you live with this bunch,, any thing you do is not that noticable

 

Dutch(the GSP) is a tank,"move over I'm coming through,, let's eat, NOW!" "are we going hunting, I'll get in the truck, just in case"

 

Buggsy (the lewellyn setter) "pay attention to me,, I'm cute" "No I don't want that to eat for supper, or I"ll think about that food later" as he walks away

 

Kydie (my old girl 1/2 chow 1/2 golden) "Are you talking to me?" "Leave a message, I'll get back to you later"

 

Yep! love them all, what a crew

[Jerilyn]

I am amazed every day at how good Lila is, but there is one thing...rabbit poop!

I was actually glad when it got really cold again because when it was warmer bedtime potty trips were taking forever because she had to search out every rabbit turd in the yard before going potty. Some bedtime snack!

Edited January 2, 2011 by Jerilyn

[Guest felicity]

I love Lancer, but sometimes he drives me a little nuts!

 

1. He likes to walk around with his food bowl to show us how hungry and desperate he is for food (most often right after dinner). This often cute, except for when he mistakes his water bowl for his food bowl and walks around pouring water over the entire apartment

 

2. He spite pees when we are being too slow in the morning. When we are taking too long getting dressed he will calmly walk over to a piece of furniture, look at us directly in the eye and lift his leg. He doesn't usually mark indoors, and never pees a lot (either in the apartment or when we take him outside directly after a spite squirt), so it seems to be a pure display of a diva attitude

 

3. When I am making food (which I guard with my life around Lancer) he will act like he needs to go outside simply so he can sprint to the kitchen when we get inside and eat the food before I catch up with him.

 

4. Lancer licks his boy parts. A lot.

 

5. Lancer shreds anything made of paper or thin plastic into tiny little pieces that are impossible to pick up. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion I have found school assignments turned into confetti. And, of course, the line "my dog ate my homework" is like crying wolf.

 

6. He thinks mommy getting dressed is a really fun game. Sometimes he will grab my shirt out of my hands and run away with it. Other times when I am pulling up my pants he will stick his head through my legs and get tangled trying to walk through . Although most of the time its kind of endearing, when he makes you trip over yourself on a rushed morning it becomes significantly less cute.

 

7. Lancer's obsession with food has put me on a strict diet. I have probably lost 10 pounds since we got him 7 months ago. When food is around he will inch up to you 1 mm at a time (all the while looking disinterested) until he is finally within reach and snatches at the food. Thankfully, we have become more vigilant, but any food out must be watched like a hawk. For me, being lazy, this has resulted in me having less food around and, thus, on a dog-induced diet.

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

Bang loves to relocate our shoes. Because of our closet habits, this usually means that MY shoes are strewn all over the condo.

 

~D~

[Guest jalocket]

I love my sweet pups but my male Spain is like a teenage gir l. He will literally be snuggled on his soft bed, with a bone in his mouth, making that whispery whimpering sigh every 8 seconds or so. It's like he loves to hear his own voice. He receives regular vet care, is as healthy as a horse, he just loves to be the diva. My female Leah is the easiest dog in the world to please. Something soft to lay on and she's good to go for about 10 hours of Law and Order marathon nap-time LOL! But Spain, it's like he's not happy unless he's making some kind of noise. LOL sometimes I have to stop myself from just screaming "What can possibly be wrong with you now?!! You're living a charmed life, you run this house, how are you unhappy??!!! Shush!!!!"

Edited January 3, 2011 by jalocket

[Guest Javagirl]

I'm so lucky, Laddie is so sweet, a cuddle bug, funny, mostly quiet and sleeps really late... but every once in a while, when he gets excited and worked up - he nips my butt! Yeeeooouuch!!!! Why does he do this?

Also - he licks everything - we call it his "texture thing". He licks the hard wood floor, rugs, bed, and if nothing else is available - himself. We are always hounding him to stop licking!!! It gets really embarrassing when we're visiting friends and family.

Oh well, he's my boy and I hate being without him.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I can't really complain about my guys, but compared to a Golden all sighthounds are saints to me. I couldn't live with a doo-doo eater, so my props to those of you who can! lol

 

Oh, LOL I DO have one who bites my ass at the park when she is feeling playful. Yes, it hurts, and yes, she's left bruises through my jeans! HA!

[Saharasmom]

Sahara: Tears up paper. She is 8 years old, but shows no sign of stopping. Sometimes she will pull mail off the counter to shred.

 

Coltrane: Walks slowly if he thinks a walk is boring. We were laughed at by some college kids in the Outer Banks as he was dragging so far behind me. He was pouting because I wouldn't let him pee on the Wright Brothers monuments.

 

Atlas: Just started eating Sahara's poop about a month ago. 'Nuff said.

[greyhead]

I'll ask Spencer if he wants to go out while I'm up. He'll say no. Then I'll get all settled on the couch, feet up, blankie over my legs, book opened up, coffee in hand...and he goes to the door! He does this a lot. Good thing I love him so much!

[ozgirl2]

Pre is pretty much a pretty greyhound (not that I'm biased or anything ), but sometimes when we go for long walks and he's not into it, he holds up his paw and fakes and injury. When I try to get him going again he limps on it. I was worried the first time he did this b/c I thought maybe something was wrong, but when we turned around to head for home the "injury" was mysteriously gone. He trots along just fine.

 

The thing is . . . we walk in a circle around our neighborhood. If he'd just keep going we'd be home A LOT sooner than turnng around! Silly dog, can't teach him geometry of a circle, I guess

 

 

My former boss had a Lab who injured a paw & got a lot of attention from the injury. Cy said that the dog, for MONTHS after he was healed, would hold up a foot for sympathy! And often, it was a different foot!!

[NeylasMom]

There are some great stories in here. As I was reading through, I thought Zuri doesn't really have any things I find annoying and then I smacked myself in the head remembering that he does have one obnoxious habit. Anytime we got to a public event, particularly one with other dogs, if we aren't constantly going around meeting and greeting every person and dog, even if we've already met everyone and then want to hang out he gets bored and starts barking. Except he doesn't have a normal male bark, he has the MOST OBNOXIOUS high pitched LOUD bark you have ever heard. The best part is that one minute he's standing there behaving and the next minute he belts out this horrific ear-piercing bark and you'll see the people standing nearest to him flinch! I know there are plenty of people on here who have met him at events, either my local rescue group's open houses or events like GIG who can vouch. THE. MOST. EAR. PIERCING. BARK. EVER!!!

 

So I can either pay attention solely to him, working on sits and downs, or I can start taking him around to re-meet all the people and dogs, or I can ignore him and be completely embarassed by my supposedly well trained dog. The best is when I was at an open house giving advice to one of our adopters on how to teach their dog to stop whining every time they took her somewhere in the car and he started doing this. Yeah, because they're going to take my advice when I can't control my own dog's barking.

 

Everything else that Zuri does that's sort of annoying is also at least equally hysterical so I can't really complain.

 

And Neyla, well Neyla was truly perfect. The only "flaw" that I could possibly identify with her was that she was a resource guarder in our home, with other dogs only, but it never bothered me. She was just my bossy girl and the other dogs learned to respect her. And even that dissipated in the last 6 months when I quit fostering. Yep, she was perfect.

[ozgirl2]

This really is a sweet thread.

Maybe it is because they're no longer with me, but I honestly can't think of a single thing that Bailey or Holly did that bothered me...my two perfect angels :wub:

 

 

I was thinking the same thing! Cody was a perfect angel! (And as I'm reading the thread, I say "Oh, yeah... she WAS a bedhog... Oh yeah, she did eat poop! Oh yeah, she DID get into things!" )

[Sirocco_Nikki]

Yukon (12.5 y.o.) has recently turned into a pushy, sassy little pig. Demands lovies and the right to lick ice cream dishes.

 

 

 

 

And we couldn't be happier. Yukon was VERY hand-shy and afraid when we got him 4 years. For months, he hid behind the chair in the family room. He'd only willingly come out to eat. I thought obedience training might help him develop confidence. He shook so bad that the poop would just fall out and he never realized it. So, sassy rotten behavior by our old guy is a major cause for celebration.

[FiveRoooooers]

I'll ask Spencer if he wants to go out while I'm up. He'll say no. Then I'll get all settled on the couch, feet up, blankie over my legs, book opened up, coffee in hand...and he goes to the door! He does this a lot. Good thing I love him so much!

 

Don't you hate when they do that?

[turbotaina]

.... THE. MOST. EAR. PIERCING. BARK. EVER!!!

 

...

 

Yes, yes he does.

 

Ah, Turbo. Well, there's the non-stop hoo-hoo lickin'. And since he knows it drives me nuts, he'll do it to get my attention. Sometimes, he'll jam his snout between his belly and his thigh and look at me, waiting.

 

The drool. Never have I ever met a greyhound who can drool quite like Turbo. I know a female who froths when she gets stimulated (by scents, etc), but Turbo brings it to a whole new level. He's famous for his saliva fangs. He'll do this if there are a lot of dogs present (i.e., lots of butt sniffin' to do) or if there is a human within a 200 foot radius who has anything edible. When hubby and I eat, we generally have to put a bib under Turbo's chin, or we'll end up with a layer of saliva all over the furniture. His begging is hysterical, because he won't look at you - he'll look just beside you, take a quick glace your way, then avert his gaze, all the while the ropes of saliva growing longer.

 

He's a dinosaur sponge. No matter how tight a ball he's curled up into on the bed or couch, he will expand. And you will end up on the floor.

 

He has to be on the couch of any place we go. One night before heading to Sandy Paws, Inugrey and I once spent about two hours trying to prevent him from getting on her sofa. We ended up calling it a night and just going to bed, because he wouldn't give it up. Any time I'd take him on home visits, he'd spend most of the time trying to get on the potential adopter's furniture.

 

He also thinks he knows where he's going on walks, and if you don't go the way he wants to go, he'll walk as slowly as possible and make you look like you're abusing your dog by dragging him to death.

 

Whenever we get ready to go for a walk and I try to put his Therapaw on for his corn, we have to turn around in three circles until he'll stop and let me put it on

 

He hates German Shepherds.

 

His racing name was Sendahl Boss and he's a very, very bossy boy when it comes to other dogs. We like to call him the drill sargeant. If there's unauthorized play (either with dogs or cats), he'll go and break it up. If a dog goes submissive and belly up, he'll go chew on its legs. Needless to say, we don't do dog parks any more

 

But for all that, there's not an aggressive bone in his body. He's the sweetest boy in the world, will cuddle at the drop of a hat, has no space or resource guarding issues. I'm a very lucky human to have adopted him - he's the best dog in the world