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06 February 2007
How would you explain to a dog that it's too cold to go outside?
Hee. My father is always forcing his great dane to go out when it's snowing. I'm still mystified how a dog bred in Denmark refuses to get his paws snowy. At least your puppy is acting geographically appropriate.
My dog, bred in northern England, sometimes refuses to go outside when it's chilly and drizzly. And we live on the SF peninsula! (CLIMATE BEST BY GOVERNMENT TEST)
Lulu (pug/chi) freaking loves the outdoors and HATES her coat and her sweaters. Yesterday when it felt like -17 outside she was just standing in the yard looking around and couldn't understand why I was so happy when she finally did her business.
I gave her a new toy this morning before we went out so that her mind would be on the toy and she'd want to come back in quickly. I AM ALL ABOUT BRIBING MY DOG WHEN IT BENEFITS ME.
Alright, she won (as usual): she got to run around the backyard like a loony while I stood there yelling WOULD YOU POOP ALREADY??? Now business is done and we're both back inside, warm and cozy. Shame you can't reason with a dog.
Yelling at pooping dogs was the reason my mother always refused to give people names to pets. Our neighbor used to stand outside yelling, "STOP SHITTING IN THE YARD, HERBIE!" and it was often a bit disconcerting, especially if you didn't realize Herbie was a scotty.
There are days when it's miserable and our dog just takes her sweet time sniffing around. We don't have the luxury of a fenced yard, so we have to walk her and scoop after her. (or at least that's what you're supposed to do around here). But since the weather's been so brutally cold these last couple of days, she's been remarkably quick about her business!
When it comes to snow, it can go two ways. She'll bury her nose in it and play a bit. Other times, she'll actually sit down when her feet get too cold. How is that better- a cold butt versus cold feet? (Mind you, she's a 60 lb. dog) I even bought her booties, which she hates worse than cold feet. So I'll just rub whatever foot she holds up to me, and we continue on our way.
Now that we've got the dog problem solved, if anyone has any advice on how to reason with a chicken, I'd appreciate it.
After three years, one of mine has decided that she's going to sleep on a pile of wood next to the garage, not in her coop. I mean, why? It's cold outside! And there are evil possums afoot! And chickens are such a creature of habit, why did she suddenly stop sleeping in her coop? I can't figure it out.
And no, she doesn't have a sweater. Maybe that's the problem.
Oh. I'll trade you. You can have my perfectly legal but overpriced and underheated two-bedroom in the suburbs. (No dogs allowed.) I'll come live in your basement apartment.
Barney hates rain - if it's wet, he won't go out. Snow and cold are another story. He LOVES that. Since it's been so cold out, I haven't been able to take him to the dog park and he's been really, really restless and barky as a result. This means he goes to the back door every five minutes, or he is hyper until I take him for a walk. Of course when we do go for a walk, it seems like the worse the weather is, the more he likes to take his sweet time!
Barney does have a very cute fleece-lined coat that velcros around his neck and his tummy. Since I don't have to put his legs in sleeves, he will wear it. He's also badly in need of a haircut, but I won't take him for one until the weather gets better. (It just seems cruel to get him cut short when it's -7 F outside without windchill!)
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
