Tully the Gardener

[neve102]

I found a small black thing in the vege patch today... again... such a good helper

 

[musicdeb]

What a good helper! Tully is very handsome!

 

[Mooshi's Mummy]

WTG Tully....you good baby making sure there are no nasties in the garden!

 

[Rugers-Kris]

And the fun begins....LOL

 

[DennasMom]

Mulching? Such a good puppy!

 

[DDSK]

Fertilizing and watering the Strawberries all at once !! Good Dog!!
I would wash those veggies well before eating :scared2:

 

[neve102]

So what are you saying?... do you think she'll go in and dig again, even after I have asked her nicely not to.... Surely not, we never have to ask Tully to do anything more than once!

When I saw her I said "Uh Oh, you're in trouble" and she high tailed it out of there only to do a quick uncatchable lap of the yard and jump straight back in - such a good listener

When my husbands out in the yard she takes great delight in throwing herself into all his netted vege patches and bouncing off. I was very indignant when the vet originally asked when we'd be taking off all those extra toes on her back feet and I did my monologue of "keeping her complete" blah blah blah, now watching how silly Tully is I'm not so sure

 

[DDSK]

Maybe you need to move to a farm and use her as a rototiller.

 

[ruthcatrin]

if they don't give her any problems then I see no need to remove the dew claws. It is fun to watch them bounce around though it!

 

[Catia]

My last girl had her dew claws all of her life, never gave her an issue. I though Great Pyrs & TM's actually can use their "extra toes" I saw a video about it that showed close ups with gr pyrs.

As for yard work. My last girl trained me well. I will NOT EVER plant or dig in front of my pooch again, & that was 20 yrs ago. Planted the entire yard, worked from about 6am-8pm-...she "helped me dig the holes, I thought it was wonderful, all the neighbors thought it was so cute, got comments from passer-by's all day while I was working. Maybe 8pm or so, I went into the house to answer the phone & take a short break.
Not even 15 min later, come back out, the entire front yard is ripped apart-every single plant up rooted-couldn't even tell what used to be a dozen white azalea bushes, everything, not just pulled but completely destroyed-not 1 plant could be salvaged, not even the rose bushes. UGH!
My neighbor thought it was hilarious-He WATCHED the entire thing--"she helped you put 'em in, she thinks they're hers-you should know that!!!" & he laughed like hell.
His pup was 6 mos older than mine, an Akita & very stubborn, so he was rather ENJOYING my lesson.

So be careful letting them help dig anything anywhere you want to plant, because only a few min alone, just a pee run or to answer a phone can be enough time to undo all of your work.

I have since moved to things that are easy & grow fast--vines, morning glories, violas--stuff more 'dog proof' lol since I do not have a yard big enough for a separate fenced off garden.

 

[DDSK]

^^^^^^^^
Thats some funnt stuff right there

 

[neve102]

I like the way the dew claws flap around in the breeze too! It’ll be my luck she gets them stuck in the bird netting / cat hammocks we use to keep the possums out So far so good and it hasn’t been through lack of effort. I think the vet just saw them flapping around and decided they should come off. She looked at me a little strangely when I gave her my rationale for keeping them but I guess she sees the opposite side of dogs coming in with tears etc.

Catia, a week or so too late on your digging advice We replanted all the pots last weekend (thought she was sleeping) and she happily bounced out, had a little sniff then went to town. We then had to erect fencing around the pots – not the best look but the flowers are still there. She certainly was built to dig though... she's very good at it!

Lucky for us she’s a quick learner – Calvin our old setter has taught her how to dig around and around on the couch to make sure that it is super comfortable before you sit down, Murphy has taught her the art of climbing the almost vertical rock face in an attempt to get up into the neighbour’s yard and Sam the Lab has taught her how to rumble with the best of them.

The kids have also helped her master the art of chasing and reverse fetch – I throw the ball, Tully picks up the ball and then runs for dear life with it. She only returns when she sees she’s being ignored to drop the ball at our feet, then quickly pick it up again before we can to repeat the exercise… She’s also fabulous at stalking and tackling the kids when we’re trying to get everyone ready in the morning

I have tried to explain that it’s not the best game to teach her but sometimes I feel like she’s so “Managed†at home with six of us here she needs a little fun. I can also hear the rumbling from the lounge room upstairs after I’ve gone to bed so I suspect dad and the boys are also ensuring she hasenough “fun†from time to time

 

[Catia]

Aww--I wish I'd gotten to you sooner.

Only things yard work wise I will do in front of Tessa is rake & poop scoop.
Sometimes I've caught myself weeding and then she pulls at a plant & I remember...and stop and pray she doesn't THINK about it!

I SO SO skrewed up with my last girl LOL--she was such a helper & it was sooo cute when she was little--the ramifications didn't occur to me until that day!-And stupid me thought it'd be a 1 time thing!-

I was blinded by "puppyness".

I'm still blinded by puppyness--Tessa does it to me every day.

 

[neve102]

Maybe letting Tessa watch you poop scoop is where her current problem has stemmed from.... She's just trying to minimize your workload

 

[ruthcatrin]

Apollo plays keep away too lol. He won't fetch, but he plays a MEAN game of keep away. I decided it was play and stimulation which he needed and decided to have fun with it.

 

[Catia]

I did read some stuff that says sometimes dogs will eat poo so to not offend the owner-a cleanliness thing, so you may not be too far off.

I wish Tessa had been left with all of her parts intact when I adopted her. I never would've removed any of her digits & would've waited a year or so to spay.
She uses her thumbs a LOT.

Keep away doesn't happen much luckily. Her ability to fetch/retrieve used to be stellar--however, as she has gotten 'older' she has decided that retrieving the object is an option--with the exception of water.
If she is in water it's close to 100%.
What she does do is a little the opposite-which is funny--when she takes something she should NOT have, often she brings it to me & snitches on herself. But this is getting less-she has figured out I will take it away, so now it's a partial snitch--she grabs whatever she should not have & hides it in her mouth, comes towards me, but doesn't show me--so I know if she comes into the room not looking at me & slinking by--something is up. She is really good about the command "spit it out"--there have been a few times I have had to pry her mouth open, but not usually.
Last night she stealthed a large piece of French bread with melted provolone & spit it out she did. I took it from her, but 10 min later I put it in her food bowl, only to realize she had already taken the other piece...