We've all heard of the terrible twos. Or even the not so great threes.
Well I would like to introduce you to the dog version (at least in our house) the Ferocious Fives.
What is this you ask?
Oh, just Floyd going absolutely bananas ever since his birthday.
He has just been a downright rascal and brat. I have no idea what's gotten into him.
He gets plenty of love, attention and walks every single day.
And to thank us for his lavish life, he's been doing the following.
1. Dumping the trash.
Every. day.
His favorite is the kitchen trash but really he doesn't discriminate.
2. This.
We were out of the kitchen for 2 seconds.
Floyd gets bites of eggs every morning when we have breakfast.
These shenanigans resulted in NO eggs for Floyd that day.
3. Stealing laundry.
Every chance he can get. Clean, dirty, he doesn't care but if there's a free sock around Floyd is certain it's his.
And will take multiple laps around the house egging you on to chase him.
If the back door is open, forget about it. That sock is going to live out in the yard for awhile.
4. Escape artist.
The other day we were doing yard work and Floyd was helping, per usual.
And I was walking him inside (by the collar) and he wriggled out of my hand and DARTED into the yard just before we were in the door.
Floyd is strangely fast when he wants to be and this incident turned into a good five minutes of Mister and I lunging after him all over the yard. Floyd is really good at ducking and moving at the last possible moment when you are about to catch him. There were quite a few football tackle attempts and landings on our rear. I'm sure our neighbors got a kick out of our craziness.
But then he does this and looks so sweet and innocent and how can you be mad at him?
'Who me? No, I never do anything that I shouldn't.'
Per a suggestion from Kait, we are currently trying out a new time out spot.
We had round one last night and I'm pretty sure he hated it. After I let him out, he went out into the yard, sat down and faced the other direction...#bassetprotest
Anyone have any other suggestions for helping us tame this beast??
i love bassets so much & all their quirks!! that basset protest sounds SO familiar! but then they ARE so cute and you can't stay mad! it's a neverending cycle!
ReplyDeleteHaha! Oh, Floyd. I have a doberman who is 8. She went through the same phases, terrible twos, not so great threes. Even hit the ferocious fives and scandalous sixes and sevens. Ha. But what I found to be most effective is to really up-play when she does good. Make a huge deal out of it - treats, affection, baby talk. Then when she was naughty, I'd tell her no, of course, but I would ignore her. I'd turn my head away and wouldn't look at her, no affection. If she sat beside me, I'd turn my whole body away from her or get up. She's one of those dogs that thinks her heart is broken when you don't love on her. It totally worked. Now, she still gets in the trash occasionally, but doesn't act out near as much. Maybe it would work for Floyd?
ReplyDeleteI am DYING over this! Our Murphy and Floyd have to be identical twins, personality wise. Josh and I literally had the same thing happen to us as your number 4 yard incident. The way you described it was so pot on, I was laughing so hard while I was reading because I just KNOW our neighbors thought we had lost our ever-lovin' minds. It was dark and Murphy was running CRAZY around the yard and I swore we were never going to catch him. But you are so right, when they lay down and snuggle up, nothing sweeter or cuter. You're a funny pup, Floyd!
ReplyDeleteawww but hes sooo cute though!
ReplyDeleteomg, floyd! what a rascal! henry also thinks any time he's allowed upstairs it's free game on socks! and then you'd better not even try to get it back if don't have a treat to trade! hope floyd starts settling down and acting his age ;)
ReplyDeleteBella Bear - AKA the stealing sock artist in our house...actually she will bring you anything...a shirt, pair of shorts...your shoe...even your phone...at least she is trying to be helpful lol
ReplyDeleteYou should not frame Floyd in such a manner so that it appears he knocked eggs off the counter ;) Everyone knows he was off stealing toothbrushes!
ReplyDeleteHahahah Floyd, that cracks me up...although if I found the eggs like that on the floor, I wouldn't be too happy ;) so funny....what a fun post, though!
ReplyDeleteHahahah Floyd, that cracks me up...although if I found the eggs like that on the floor, I wouldn't be too happy ;) so funny....what a fun post, though!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Rolo was acting up last night, too! He was whining all night and moping around. We first tried the tough love approach and then the gentle, fun approach. Neither really worked. They're such stubborn (but sweet) animals. :)
ReplyDeleteWe've tried to use timeouts on Ozzie and we put him in the (dark) bathroom for a few minutes if we get really annoyed at something he keeps doing... but we don't think it works because he seems to like it in there. He never whines or cries or anything, even when Tim forgot he was in there and left him for like 30 minutes. He just comes out, as happy to see us as ever, and continues to do whatever it was he got sent to timeout for in the first place. Sigh.
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