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peteyfoozer
Garden Addicted
Boone’s life isn’t too complicated. He spends the day with me …well actually he spends every minute with me unless he is choosing to play LGD in the back yard to the chickens, rabbits and Mister the horse. He’s also been quite effective in telling us if ranch dogs have snuck out in the middle of the night to chase calves in the back pasture or even corral by the big barn. He hands me whatever I point at or ask for, which is very handy. He picks husband’s laundry up off the floor every day and gives it to me to sort into the hampers, gives me whatever I drop (glasses, phone, etc) searches for and locates my meds. the channel changer (Randy loves turning on TV then leaving house. I truly dislike TV 
)
He goes out each morning with Fen and the man, to do chores. He then comes back in, eats breakfast, then chuffs at me with a decidedly judgmental look on his face.
Apparently there is a daily cookie quota I am supposed to meet, but usually fail to.
Part of my daily entertainment, as he is so huge, and our house is so small, is to toss a mini milkbone across the room and watch him stretch for it, to avoid getting up. It’s amazing how long he really is.
He enjoys going to town and meeting new people. (Very unusual for his breed) Being an introvert, it’s actually been a good thing for me as people always stop to ask questions about him, which is about the only thing I am comfortable talking about.
At 30 1/3 inches at the shoulder, and #135 lb last time he weighed in, he is the perfect size for me to hook my fingers in his flat leather collar so he can help me forward and keep me upright. I’ve had several nasty falls without him. I was only employing his mobility skills outside and in town, as usually I can pinball off of walls or furniture in the house and keep myself from actually landing, but last time I went over backwards, spraining my wrist and the big guy ran to check on me, stepping on my hand, dislocating my thumb and peeling the hide off the back of my hand. My thumb is still pretty painful in spite of using my comfrey ointment which worked wonders on my wrist. We work together now, making sure hes next to me at all times. I could use a walker in the house, but it’s pretty inconvenient trying to get it around stuff, as I said, the house is very small. I actually gave away the dining table years ago because I couldn’t get my wheelchair past it when I was completely non ambulatory, so having Boone’s help has been a game changer.
Still, he IS a puppy still at only 15 mo. and easily bored. I’m limited to enrichment games to entertain him. He particularly likes if I get a handful of kibble and toss it across the room so he can use his skills searching each bite. It’s most fun when they go under stuff as he can actually rearrange the furniture to access it
He does let himself out back when he wants, but seeks me out the moment he returns inside. It’s still a little unsettling the way the bathroom door gets yanked open if he suspects I’m in there. If so, he boops my face then leaves. As I mentioned, he is really big, with an extremely broad head and each time he comes in from his nightly patrols, he slaps my face with his monstrous tongue, I guess to let me know he’s watching over me while I’m (or was, until he smacked me in the face) sleeping.
He dislikes the long drive to town and back as much as I do (2 hr to small town of Burns, 3 1/2 to Nampa, ID where we do all our shopping and errands) and cries during the first 30 min of the trip, although he always jumps in his seat willingly and doesn’t mind at all going from place to place while in town. It’s the 4 hr drive that gets him.
All my doctors know him, and the hospital people have always had nice things to say about him, both when we took TheMan in and when I went to have my hand x-rayed.
Luckily, strangers always let me know “He’s a BIG dog!” as I might not remember.
Except when we go out to eat. He doesn’t fit under the tables, and he likes to mansprawl in the aisleway. I recall his size easily, then.
I’ve used positive reinforcement for all his training. He’s responded really well, particularly for a breed developed to think and work independently without any direction from their humans. “ Obedience “ and compliance are both against the LGD nature, so Boone is my unicorn.
He is a dedicated, opinionated, playful gud boi, and I’m darn lucky to have him.
)He goes out each morning with Fen and the man, to do chores. He then comes back in, eats breakfast, then chuffs at me with a decidedly judgmental look on his face.
Apparently there is a daily cookie quota I am supposed to meet, but usually fail to.
Part of my daily entertainment, as he is so huge, and our house is so small, is to toss a mini milkbone across the room and watch him stretch for it, to avoid getting up. It’s amazing how long he really is.
He enjoys going to town and meeting new people. (Very unusual for his breed) Being an introvert, it’s actually been a good thing for me as people always stop to ask questions about him, which is about the only thing I am comfortable talking about.
At 30 1/3 inches at the shoulder, and #135 lb last time he weighed in, he is the perfect size for me to hook my fingers in his flat leather collar so he can help me forward and keep me upright. I’ve had several nasty falls without him. I was only employing his mobility skills outside and in town, as usually I can pinball off of walls or furniture in the house and keep myself from actually landing, but last time I went over backwards, spraining my wrist and the big guy ran to check on me, stepping on my hand, dislocating my thumb and peeling the hide off the back of my hand. My thumb is still pretty painful in spite of using my comfrey ointment which worked wonders on my wrist. We work together now, making sure hes next to me at all times. I could use a walker in the house, but it’s pretty inconvenient trying to get it around stuff, as I said, the house is very small. I actually gave away the dining table years ago because I couldn’t get my wheelchair past it when I was completely non ambulatory, so having Boone’s help has been a game changer.
Still, he IS a puppy still at only 15 mo. and easily bored. I’m limited to enrichment games to entertain him. He particularly likes if I get a handful of kibble and toss it across the room so he can use his skills searching each bite. It’s most fun when they go under stuff as he can actually rearrange the furniture to access it
He does let himself out back when he wants, but seeks me out the moment he returns inside. It’s still a little unsettling the way the bathroom door gets yanked open if he suspects I’m in there. If so, he boops my face then leaves. As I mentioned, he is really big, with an extremely broad head and each time he comes in from his nightly patrols, he slaps my face with his monstrous tongue, I guess to let me know he’s watching over me while I’m (or was, until he smacked me in the face) sleeping.
He dislikes the long drive to town and back as much as I do (2 hr to small town of Burns, 3 1/2 to Nampa, ID where we do all our shopping and errands) and cries during the first 30 min of the trip, although he always jumps in his seat willingly and doesn’t mind at all going from place to place while in town. It’s the 4 hr drive that gets him.
All my doctors know him, and the hospital people have always had nice things to say about him, both when we took TheMan in and when I went to have my hand x-rayed.
Luckily, strangers always let me know “He’s a BIG dog!” as I might not remember.
Except when we go out to eat. He doesn’t fit under the tables, and he likes to mansprawl in the aisleway. I recall his size easily, then.
I’ve used positive reinforcement for all his training. He’s responded really well, particularly for a breed developed to think and work independently without any direction from their humans. “ Obedience “ and compliance are both against the LGD nature, so Boone is my unicorn.
He is a dedicated, opinionated, playful gud boi, and I’m darn lucky to have him.
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Are there any trainers you like in particular for dogs? The only ones I've found online that I really like are Cheri Wulff Lucas, Larry Krohn and Robert Cabral. Of course, I like Sara Carson for tricks.
