One of the things I have learned from having Tippy is that each day is truly a new day to be cherished and experienced. Things may look the same to me when we go on our walk, but, they really aren’t. There are always new smells from the critters that went walking by the night before, a new bird to chase, a new twig that has fallen out of a tree, etc.
I try my best to be observant of my surroundings and enjoy the newness of the day. I love Spring because things that I can see do literally change overnight. The grass is greener, flowers and trees bloom, butterflies appear, leaves bud out, etc.
Today on our walk, I spotted some of the tiniest wildflowers, henbit and white violets.
Things were going well, until Tippy smelled, and started digging up, a dead animal that the neighbor had buried. When I approached her to get her to leave it alone, she started growling at me. This “food aggression” is something I have been working on with her, so knew that I couldn’t just walk away. I took one step closer, she’d growl, I’d wait until she calmed down and take another step. When I was beside of the hole, she put her nose down in it, growled, and started digging.
My next step was to try to distract her by throwing a small stick. This didn’t work, but she did look up.
Fortunately, there was a larger, longer stick laying nearby. I got it while she continued to dig. I took my foot and pushed dirt back into the hole. That didn’t even phase her. So, I stuck the stick in the hole to try to claim the space. When I did, she grabbed the stick and I grabbed her collar. She didn’t growl or act aggressive in any way when I did. I led her away from the hole and let her go after we went about 20 feet. I was worried that she would make a beeline back to it, but she didn’t!! She obediently followed me back toward the house.
When we got a comfortable distance from the dig site, we played fetch with the stick. She really enjoyed that and ran around like a wild puppy. This was a treat for her. I rarely will play fetch with a stick because she doesn’t realize that it sticks out from her body and when she runs past me I get clobbered with it. A Frisbee is defiantly safer.
Wild flowers, lesson learned, AND fetch. What a wonderful walk we had!
Tippy Tales 
Tippy is so cute. In the second photo she looks so innocent. I like the way you distracted her to get her away from the “dead thing.”
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Thanks. I think she’s pretty darn cute myself. 🙂
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Fortunately, my Victor hasn’t dug up dead things yet (that I know of) but he is food aggressive which is a big issue. It’s even gotten him rejected from certain doggie daycares. I wonder if it’s because he’s a rescue. I’m his fourth home. Maybe he’s gone hungry in the past.
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It is possible that he has gone hungry in the past, but you should be able to overcome his aggressive behavior. I know part of Tippy’s problem is that she has days, and times, that she believes she is the pack leader, not me. I’m working on it and it is getting better. If you have the means to do so, you should probably get a dog behaviorist to help you and Victor overcome those tendencies.
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I am glad you thwarted the digging up of the dead animal! I know some dogs (*cough* Choppy *cough*) who have a propensity for rolling in them. It’s not pleasant!
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Haha Tippy has been known to roll in dead, smelly stuff too! YUCK!
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I try to be mindful on our walks as well and try to see the world as B does,
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To Tippy, it is a new day!
And yes, they pick up all kinds of smells.
Ours do too. It’s a good thing they can smell a lot better than us. 😉
Plus their sounds they pick up.
I watch them pretty close and then look in the direction of what has caught their attention. Maybe it can be seen or maybe not.
I know now what has been making our dogs want a short walk…..and I figured it was.
I told my husband there was…of course he never believes anything I say.
We have a mountain lion close….too close. It has been In our driveway even.
A neighbors son had been hunting today and got lost on our property. He said he had found scat ( a more polite way of saying poo ) from a mountain lion.
And we also have a bear too. We saw scat from that ( wow..it rhymes! Lol….just funning you )
But seriously….a bear and mountain lion…not too cool.
I don’t go out in the dark. I want to see whats coming after me…I think. 😉
And as far as rolling in smelly dead things, there is a reason for that, but I forgot… I will have to look it up.again.
Take care and give your pup a hug for me!
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I don’t like to go out here at night either. When I have to, I take a flashlight and don’t go past where the outside houselights show. One night, we both heard something close by, she got scared and pulled me back toward the house. I didn’t put up much resistance. LOL I know that we have coyotes, bob cats, foxes, skunks, and a few black bear. So, if Tippy is scared, I figure it is prudent to retreat. 🙂 Oh, I think rolling in dead things is instinctual – long ago ancestors did it to mask their scent to potential prey.
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Yes we have all that out here too.
You probably wont belive me but, I ha e saw. A red fox almost as big as a shepard dog. It crossed our driveway in daytime. There is a neighbor who feeds it.
And there is a coyote I have seen as big as a sheppard. Seriously. He is in good shape. He has been eating other cats and little dogs. So, he is well fed.
I don’t like to be ugly, but he better avoid this area.
When it comes to my family….family wins.
I am noticing that many wild animals are starting to come into cities looking for food.
We have taken away some of their habitats…
I hear California is going to reintroduce black bears. That will be interesting.
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I believe you. I don’t know why people want to feed wild animals, but they will and then get upset when they become a nuisance. It really upsets me when “they” reintroduce a species that has been extinct in an area for a while. It just upsets the ecosystem, as the normal predators are not used to catching them and they overwhelm the environment. That has happened around here with river otters. They reintroduced them and now they are eating all of the fish out of the farm ponds and streams. So, don’t even get me started on that subject!
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