Bored puppy is bored

So, I love my puppy. This is not news.



What's news is that he picked up what I'd characterize as a minor sniffle and cough at one of the apparently pestilential doggy assembly areas he frequents, and is thus banished to only dog-free zones until it resolves, on order of his veterinarian.



Who apparently cares more about the health and well-being of San Francisco's dogs than my sanity, furniture and laundry.



Yes, I'm shut up in a house and tiny urban backyard with the Wild Thing from Michigan, formerly  known as my perfect Scottish Deerhound puppy Rawley.



It used to be I could run him to the dog park for an hour and get a four-hour nap out of it -- helpful when one needs to work. Instead, I'm leaping up from creating a new page on the PetHobbyist.com web site to house web cam feeds, shouting, "Rawley! No!" every four point two seconds.



It's not that I can't walk him. I can and I do. I walked him last night until both Kyrie and I were semi-comatose, and he still fussed and whined for half an hour before settling down and going to sleep. I just got back from walking him up and down my neighborhood streets, and he's standing outside chewing the deck furniture as I type this.



Plz send help kthnxbai.



Photo: Rawley is bored.

Comments

[David S. Greene]

But at least, uh, um, he's got a fashionable collar. Very nice collar, Rawley. Good thing you can't chew on it.

[Paula]

I really had no idea he had Naughty in him. Hope he's all better very soon!

The collar came with him from me, David. Glad you like it. :)

[Jill]

Treadmill??? LOL

[Carol V]

He definitely looks like he needs a nice game of aligator mouth!!

[The Other Lori]

This is one reason why I'm trying to convince my husband that when we are finally ready for a puppy, that we should just get TWO puppies. They can wear each other out!

[Sandi K]

Ah yes...the middle name of No. Same thing happened to my cat when she was a kitten...and it still applies even though she is 3 now, although her middle name is No-No. lol I hope Rawley's sniffles go away soon!

[Melinda]

Play hide n seek! It's a great way to work his little puppy brain on some basic obedience skills (sit, stay, find!). Start out easy by hiding just out of his sight to make sure he doesn't break his sit/stay. Just around the door or down a hall. Release him to "find" you. Gradually increase the difficulty of the find by hiding in a darkened room with the door open, behind a couch, upstairs.



Once they catch on to the game, you can do all kinds of variations: find Kyrie (provided she'll sit quietly in another room :-)), find Ronan, find your favorite toy, hide with Rawley and have Kyrie come find you.



This game was a sanity-saver for me during Opie's first rainy winter with us. 10-15 mins was great exercise for his growing puppy brain, and tired him out as nicely as physical exercise. We're now playing this often with 1 year old Jet; when it's time to play "find it", Opie (7), Sparky (13), and Nicky (6) still line up to play.



It will bring out the kid in you all over again!

Melinda

[Alison]

The thought of majestic Kyrie playing hide-and-seek makes my mind boggle :o))

Do you think she'd 'play along' Christie, or would it be better to just stick to Rawley ?

[Verde]

Hey, at least he didn't eat a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans and go on a complete caffeine and sugar high like a bad puppy I heard about. :`)

[Gina Spadafori]

Or pull steaks off the counter like a certain OTHER bad puppy I heard about. :)

[Marcy]

Oh my goodness, this brings back memories of when my Mandy kitty was a baby! I wondered if I would live through it.



She has pretty much outgrown most of it, but still manages to get a few bratty moments in once in a while. LOL



Hang in there...you will survive.