Recent trip
The dogs and I returned from our Las Vegas outting. They had a good time guarding the house. There was a lot of fireworks noise all weekend. They had a lot to guard.
We did go on a long walk around the neighborhood. We went early in the morning before the heat got up to 107. It’s mainly a dog neighborhood which is a good thing. There were a few errant cats which Cinnamon considers snack food. There was also one aquarium turtle on the front lawn. Neither Cinnamon nor Baxter have ever seen a turtle before. They left it alone and got busy with smelling things in the new neighborhood and searching for errant cats.
Cinnamon did get almost within 2 feet of a cat lying on the sidewalk. Eventually the cat decided it wasn’t a friendly dog and took off. I hadn’t seen it, it was the same color as the sidewalk. Cinnamon hadn’t seen it either, otherwise I would have been dragged sooner. Baxter actually lived with cats in his former life, but he has assisted in helping purge the backyard of cats with Cinnamon so he has changed his ways and now is less than hospitable.
The big problem happened a couple of miles froom the house in Santa Clarita. We were driving along and had gotten to surface streets. Some guys in a pick-up truck decided to introduce their shepard and Jack Russell terrier to Baxter and Cinnamon at a stop light. To say the dogs didn’t like each other was an understatement. It was all barking and nashing of teeth on both sides of the closed windows. Lots of noise. Very upset dogs. So unless you have some idea how dogs are going to relate to other dogs in cars don’t attempt to introduce them.
I’ve been through this before. Cinnamon hates most dogs and gets territorial. She likes dalmations. If she sees a dalmation she’s alright. Baxter likes some dogs like Australian shepards but doesn’t like small dogs like terriers or poodles. I saw the shepard but not the Jack Russell in the truck. The shepard started barking immediately then the Jack Russell popped up and Cinnamon went nuts. Baxter started whinning at the Shepard wanting to play but started barking at the terrier when he saw it. Very not good. If I was on the street I would have crossed to the other side of the street and distracted the dogs.
I have rude dogs with poor dog manners. I know that because I read The Secret Life of Dogs. I also had a great dog trainer and had Cinnamon in the puppy socialization class for 5 weeks. She’s still a punk scardy dog even though she’s almost 75 pounds! She does a nice puppy bow at greeting, but then she sniffs too much and she humps bigger dogs. She has no dog etiquitte. Baxter is the epitomy of rude dog. He does cat moves. Cat moves are the biggest insult you can do to another dog. One dog was so insulted that he jumped over a fence to bite Baxter in the face. I keep trying to show Baxter that rolling on the grass in front of a dog is just the wrong thing. You are supposed to bow to another dog then approach to the side and politely sniff. But he always moves from bow to full stomach slide. It’s how a cat says “up yours” to a dog. Very not good. It’s not as horrible as giving the neck, which is dog for flipping them other dog off. Cinnamon does that. But she does that behind the gate. She usually hurls herself at the gate barking then gives the dog in front of the house the neck. Whoever is walking their dog has no idea why their dog then goes crazy. But they go crazy. People seem to have lots of problems controlling their dogs in front of my house when Cinnamon is outside. It has improved the sale of Halti collars in the neighborhood though.
The dogs did love the trip. Not as many people were waving at them this trip. They slept most of the way there and back. Now that they have been there it’s not as exciting. The big deal will be the fireworks tonight. They will stay inside to lessen the noise. There are three places in the community that set off fireworks near the house. Almost every year one of the places sets one of the hills on fire. I wanted to be home just in case something got too close. So I get to spend the 4th at the big house with the big dogs watching the big fireworks display. Have a Happy 4th everyone.
