1 Karat Kong & Bathtime

Tonight was the dreaded bathtime! To make up for this traumatic experience Moose always gets a treat afterwards! Tonight he got a 1 Karat Kong as I call them.

I can see from comments on yesterdays posts that lots of you pups like carrots like my Moose! So I thought I would share my 'recipe' for this 1 Karat Kong! Ok so it is just a Kong with a carrot shoved in it but if any of you are advanced at Kong de-stuffing maybe you will find this challenging.
Here is what I start off with... nothing special, you can fill with whatever you like.

Like most Kong stuffers I like to use something that will stick to the walls like cream cheese or peanut butter in addition to solid treats.

Then I find a carrot that is at least as fat as the hole in the kong, it should be a really tight fit! I cut the smaller end of the carrot off and shove the other half into the kong so the fatter part is facing out. The longer the carrot the more difficult it will be so don't put too much of the other stuff in there!.

Then I cut the part that is still sticking out so it is flush with the edge of the kong. This way there is nothing that can be grabbed and pulled out!

Then make your hound wait patiently for the Kong...

... And see how long it takes him to get it de-stuffed. Moose can do this in about 15min so if anyone has any other challenging Kong stuffing methods we would love to hear about them!

Wordless Wednesday: Carrots on the Couch edition

Tricky T-day: Tables are turned edition

I am taking over this tricky T-day post from my momma to see if any of you have any people training advice. Some of you regular visitors will know that I trained my momma to open the door and let me out when I ring a bell. On most days momma is parked behind her computer totally neglecting me and she would probably never think to let me out if I had not trained her. So here is how it works: Momma click click clicking on a keyboard, I go to the side door where I keep the bell, and ring ring, then next thing you know momma comes trotting in and sees me standing there waiting for the door to be opened.

We have a similar arrangement at meal times. Momma click click clicking away at the keyboard and I will bring my jug into the office...



...and plop it on her lap which is the command for 'feed me NOW'. She learned all of this pretty quickly considering she is a kind of air headed blond with a short attention span!



So although this system works pretty well I have decided lately to change things a bit and I am trying to train her to come and feed me by ringing the bell. So it works like this: Momma click click clicking away on the key board, I go to the side door and ring ring then when she is on her way to the kitchen I will trot off and bring her my jug so she can fill it while she 'happens' to be up and in the kitchen!

The system is flawless except that she is apparently confused by the bell ringing having 2 meanings and is being very stubborn about it all. She will come open the door but when I don't go out and show up with my jug she stomps off muttering about 'not what the bell is for' an 'abusing the system'! Do any of you training experts have any tips on how to correct this behavior?



From Momma: This is the funniest thing to me that he has put together that ringing the bell is another way to get me out of the office and into the kitchen! Clearly I must have fallen for this a few times and reinforced it before I realized what he was doing. Such a sneaky Moose! Now that I am on to him it does not work anymore though so he will probably give up trying eventually. Not your Typical tricky T-day post but I could not help but feel he was the one shaping my behavior!

Been Caught Stealing

Some of you may recall a previous post where I explored Moose's Pantry raiding abilities so I would know where I could safely store 'foodables'. It was speculated by many of you that he was holding back and acting like he could not reach the higher shelves. Well.... you guessed it! A few days ago he pulled a package of english muffins off of the safe shelf so I decided to set up my camera on the timelapse video mode and see what he did when I left.

I left for 45 minutes and all of the exploring was in the first 5 minutes which answered another question I have always had. Does he get into trouble because I am gone too long or is he just waiting for me to leave so he won't get caught? Apparently it is the latter. He wasted no time as you can see...


Here is a still frame from the video for proof! None of the stuff he got down was edible since the pantry has been re-Moose proofed but one of the things he got down was from the safe shelf so there is double proof!

P.S. This sooper sekrit footage was made possible by this Gorillapod thing. Hee hee!


P.P.S. A few alert readers have suggested that leaving the doors open was some sort of entrapment... In the first post on this matter you can see why! Short story... last time I left them closed he broke them trying to get in!

Surgery for Stuffies?

My bottle buddy (aka piggy) was recently injured during some 'horseplay' as momma calls it (which is stupid because I am a Moose not a horse!). It was accidentally severed I swear!

I love oinkies as you can see, but regardless of what momma thinks I was not trying to make my own 'pig ear' snack!

I asked momma to try to fix him but she said it would require a specialist. She offered to sew some buttons on him but apparently that is the limit of her surgical skills (I thought she was a doctor but she is only a paper doctor whatever that means).

I assumed that Piggy would live with this debilitating injury for the rest of his life so you can imagine how excited I was to read over at Benny & Lilly's that there is a clinic in southern California that specializes in this sort of surgery and recently performed this very life saving operation on another Piggy!

Momma denied my request on the grounds that this operation is purely cosmetic so I guess Piggy will have to live with his handicap after all.

I did get a real pig ear out of the deal though. Sorry Piggy, I tried!!

Señor Moose in Seattle and Photo Challenge

Look what I stumbled across! This is an actual restaurant in Seattle.

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Any of our Seattle pals been there? My own Señor Moose is wondering if they are looking for a Mascot/food tester/dish washer. If you go, please inquire on his behalf!

Oh and ask them if they have any more signs like this:

Also we are submitting this photo of Moose in his Bee costume for Danes Down Under Photo Challenge which is the color yellow this week. We are new to their blog, but think they have a new challenge every week. If you have not met Chelsey, Shiloh and Lucy yet, you should check out their site!






Here is a little clip of Moose in his Bee Costume... I am pretty sure this is what it sounds like when dogs curse! I admit to recycling this pic and video but both of them crack me up so you are all forced to see them again!




Please go and visit Max who got some troubling news today. His family could use some healing thoughts right now.

Tricky T-day: Tardy trainings edition

We have not posted any Tricky T-days in awhile but Ludo posted an update on his trick so we thought we would do the same. Ludo was sabotaged by Pepe but Moose was sabotaged by none other than ME! We have not practiced this trick in ages (almost a month) AND I am not using the most constructive training techniques so we have a lot of work to do!
Just for giggles I started tonight by asking him to 'pick up his toys' while I was sitting across the room on the couch. This is the level we had worked up to a month ago and as any trainer knows it is a good idea to start a bit easier to set them up for success. I was curious to see what he would remember. I also did not give him any clues we were about to 'work' on this. He knew I had treats but that was it. I included his clueless wanderings at the start of the video so you can see what happened and why it is not productive! I dropped back to an easier step to jog his memory and it worked and he did pretty well, but as usual I skipped ahead faster than I should.


Poor Moose, sabotaged by his own trainer! In spite of that he is coming along and I intend to keep working on it more often over the next few weeks.

She is just not that into me

Here is a rare glimpse of my 'girlfriend' and I snuggling. Honestly, I am starting to get the idea that she does not like me too much! A few times I have taken my best stuffy and tried to play with her but every time it is 'Talk to the paw you big Moose'!

 Last night Momma got some Frosty Paws and decided that it would be sweet if we shared it. So being the gentleman that I am, I gave her the spot on the sofa...

...and got ready for our Lady and the Tramp spaghetti moment.

  Then Momma put the cup out for us to share and just look at the look on her face! You would think I was some hideous monster instead of the strikingly tall dark and handsome fella that I am!

So I decided we would just take turns and here she is having her turn... 

  

 And here is my turn!

 

...her turn

 

 ....my turn

   

 ....her turn (I am starting to sense this isn't going well and tried to give her some space)

 ...my turn!

 

I got the last lick though and she even had to take the cup and check my work!

 

I got it back though.

I was so crushed that I tore up the cup so there would be nothing to remind me of this horrible date! I dunno guys... I think she is just not that in to me... what do you think?