Kim's Thoughts

Nope, I am not referring to the movie icon King Kong – I am referring to those funny looking hollow red things that you buy for dogs!  The girls and I have discovered the power of the Kong! 

I bought a couple a long time ago and put the treat in the end and stuck a little bit of it out the opening and gave it to the girls to play with – well, they got the treat out quickly and tried to play with the Kong, but it didn’t squeak (an absolute drop dead requirement of any toy that has any hope of holding Megan’s attention), so that was the end of the Kongs – they were left in the corner of the room – alone – unloved!  I put them in the toy box, but they were never pulled out by the girls…  poor Kong!

Well, my friend Jennifer (of Life With Miles fame) and I were comparing notes on our dog’s activities one day and she suggested I try giving them Kongs to occupy them when I’m not at home.  I told her I tried that once and it didn’t do much good and that I was concerned they might fight over the treats if I’m not there to supervise!  She explained how she uses her’s and I decided to give it a try!

I got out the two Kongs I already had and bought a couple more — then, I took three of them and broke up 3 or 4 treats and stuffed them inside the Kong (didn’t leave them whole and sticking out, like the package suggests).  Then, I covered the opening with a little peanut butter and stuck them in the freezer to freeze the peanut butter and make it last longer!  Before I left, I got them out of the freezer and gave each girl one of their own and watched for a few minutes — well, they got to licking the frozen peanut butter and didn’t even notice I was leaving for work!!!  When I got home, the Kongs were not only empty, but clean as a whistle!!!  And the girls seemed happy and nothing else in the house was disturbed!!! 

I have done this a couple times now and it seems to be working — AND — even when they are empty, now, Megan seeks them out to play with!  She rolls them around and tries to stick her nose into the opening and pushes them around with her nose!  They hold her attention longer, now!  I run them through the dishwasher every other use or so and she still plays with them even when they don’t have any peanut butter residue at all……SUCCESS!!!!

I hope it continues to be of value!  I have a new couch being delivered this morning!  I picked a style that I think won’t promote chewing – cushions are similar fabric and type as the ones on the chairs that they have never seemed interested in (from a chewing standpoint – they love to curl up in them, though) – but, I don’t want to leave anything to chance!!!

The all mighty, powerful Kong is my new hero!!!

I haven’t been blogging much, lately — been busy working, getting ready for Christmas (still not ready – so way behind this year), and my Mom’s visit!  But I did have something I wanted to share…

I’ve written about Megan’s love of toys – balls that squeak, in particular.  Well, she has taken her games with her favorite ball to another level!!!  Last night, she was laying on the floor about 2-3 feet from my chair and was just laying there watching me.  I noticed that her ball was right there at my foot.  So, I gently nudged it so that it rolled over to her and landed right in front of her.  She looked at it and looked at me and back at the ball and back at me — I could tell she was thinking hard about something!!!  ha-ha-ha  Then, she took her nose and pushed the bal

l so that it rolled back over to me!!!!  I said “thank you, baby, you want it back now?” and nudged it with my foot back over to her again.  She immediately took her nose and rolled it back!!!!  I was impressed!!!!  I thanked her again and rolled it back…..this went on for about 5 or 6 rounds until my excitement over this new activity got the best of her and she grabbed the ball and started dancing around squeaking it in sheer joy!!!

I was amazed — she never did that before — I didn’t teach it to her — she just saw me do it and thought about it and decided it might be fun — and it was!!!!  And she seemed to enjoy it, too!!!!  Don’t know if this was one of those one time things or if she’ll add this new game to her bag of fun things to do!!!

On another note — the living room furniture is all rearranged in a weird setting — I have a new couch coming from Dossenbach’s tomorrow morning and someone is coming to get the old one this afternoon.  So, to make it easier for him to get the old one out of here, I pushed it over to the bar that separates the living room and kitchen and arranged the chairs in a cosy setting at the end of the living room and pushed the accent tables out of the way over in front of the TV…….this sent the girls into a frenzy — their living room was changed – their favorite seats were in different places – they were NOT happy!!!  ha-ha-ha  I told them that they had better enjoy the old couch as much as they can cause we’re getting a new one on Friday!!!  AND – Megan’s favorite place to sit is on the over stuffed pillow back on the old couch – every day I come home and it is all packed down where she was up on it sleeping!  Well, the new one has a narrow non-pillow type back — she’s not gonna like that much!!!  ha-ha-ha

OK — so I do believe that dogs understand more than a lot of people give them credit for.  Some think it is just your tone or some key words that they are actually responding to and picking up on.  I think differently — I have seen the girls (and other dogs I have had in the past) perk up when I have said things in a wide variety of tones and different wording…..so I am convinced that it is NOT just my enthusiastic voice or the word “biscuit” that sends them into a mad dash for the kitchen cabinet that houses their favorite treats!

But – how much do they REALLY understand?  Can they grasp what I’m talking about when I hold a full conversation with them?  Will they remember our talk about what they should or shouldn’t do during a particular situation and actually do (or not do) it?  I obviously think the girls do fully understand — I actually spend time “reasoning” with them and talking to them like I would a child…..I know, you probably think that the men in the white coats are waiting outside to take me to my padded cell…..

Here are some of my more successful “conversations”:

• On the subject of ensuring Megan has her favorite toy available during the day to keep her occupied:
  • “Now, you know you’ll be sorry if you leave that ball in the bedroom.  I’m going to be shutting the door and you won’t have it to play with and you’ll only end up getting yourself into trouble or have to play with one of the toys you don’t really like.”
  • Result – she goes and gets her ball and takes it into the living room! 
• On the subject of trying to save what is left of my furniture, I leave the house with this last word of advice before I head out for work each day:
  • “OK, I’m off to work now.  I’ll be back soon.  You girls be good.  Have a nice day.  Play nice with each other.  Don’t eat the couch.  Bye, now.  Don’t eat the couch.”
  • Result – no new furniture destructions have occurred since I started saying this every day – obviously they didn’t know before then that this was something they shouldn’t do – now they’ve been told!
• On the subject of stopping them from getting too rough when they play and making one or more really mad about it:
  • “Hey!  That’s your sister!  You’re supposed to love each other!  If you p*** her off too bad, she might not ever want to play with you anymore – then where would you be – who would you have to play with?”
  • Result – longer and longer periods of more “loving” interactions between them all and less taking the rough housing too far!
• On the subject of anything they did that I’m not happy with:
  • “What did you do?  You’ve really gotta stop being such little brats!  I am NOT happy right now!  You better just go lay down somewhere and not come near me until I cool off!  This was totally unacceptable!”
  • Result – (regardless of whether or not whatever they did made this conversation come out with an angry tone) they hang their head and give me space and time to cool off and after a while they come up cautiously to apologize and make nice with me!
• On the subject of not being ready to come inside when I need them to (usually not a problem, but if they are on a mission or totally engrossed in something, it can be a challenge getting them to come in):
  • “OK, I’m not waiting any longer.  You can just stay out there all day (night) cause I’m leaving and you’ll just have to be stuck!  Good bye!” and I close the door and (if at night) shut out the light.
  • Result – they usually come running so they don’t get left outside!  This tends to work even if the use of the word “biscuit” or shaking the treat box doesn’t get their attention – it shows them this is their last chance and they take it!

Now, I obviously also use the important key words when I need to be sure they understand — down, sit, stay, come, stop, etc….I’m not totally oblivious to the fact that they are NOT children and need consistent commands that they can clearly understand and know what is expected of them — but I also truly believe that they do become accustomed to the way their human families talk to them and the words they use!  Just like children – they aren’t born knowing how to put a sentence together and they don’t get the formal education on the parts and structure of a sentence until they get into school, but they learn how to put a fairly decent string of words together to make a sentence by listening to their parents and siblings…….

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it!