Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

White supremacy is terrorism.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I really should read my own blog.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Gentleman’s C

Gentleman’s C

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Badger and I had puppy school last night. He’s in the middle of the class, I’d guess — better than some, worse than others.

He and I both live very cloistered lives, I realized. We’re not used to interacting with strangers, and it stresses us out.

In him, this anxiety manifests as trembling, irritability and occasional growling. Same here, I guess.

Next week, we’re working on “leave it!” Hopefully I’ll benefit from the training; “leave it” has never been my strong suit.

Open thread!

ETA: When we got home, we were so keyed up from the experience that we needed to decompress in our own ways. He ran around like a maniac, and I had a glass of bourbon. Later, he mounted sneak attacks on my husband and me while we dozed. Next week, maybe Badger will have the bourbon and I’ll run around the block…

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    Aww, poor baby. Maybe if they do mop training he’ll be more animated. He certainly got into it in that video.

  5. 5.

    Scamp Dog

    If they’re like the dog classes I’ve been to, you can graduate as the top student just by going to all the classes until the end.

  6. 6.

    tobie

    I feel for Badger–and of you–having to face a class full of new faces! For some some time, I’ve wanted to ask BJers with more canine experience than myself if they’ve ever gone to pet school to help train their four-legged friends, and now I have the answer. Keep us posted on Badger’s (and your) school news.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    @tobie: I’ve had dogs for 20+ years of adulthood, but this is the first training class I’ve ever done. I’ll let you know if it’s worthwhile from my perspective when it’s done.

    I am GREAT at potty training dogs. I don’t use a crate; I leverage my insomnia, affection and ability to read cues to train dogs, usually inside a week or two. But I kinda suck at other training skills, and if nothing else, the class imposes structure.

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    He looks so tiny and non-gruntled in that photo, I just want to snap him up and cuddle him and tell him what a good boy he is, no matter what anyone else says.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    I think this school should have uniforms. I’ve heard that’s really good for student discipline.

  14. 14.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: People always comment on how well trained all my dogs are. In all honesty, it’s more of a comment on how boring I am that the dogs can count on such consistency and a limited vocabulary when speaking to them.
    Plus cookies, a small dog cookie whenever they do what I want.

    Right now it’s 6:38 and I’m getting wicked side eye and grumbles from two of them because dinner is expected to hit those dishes at 6:30 SHARP!

  15. 15.

    SRW1

    Next week, maybe Badger will have the bourbon and I’ll run around the block…

    It’s always a good idea to remain flexible until you’re sure what works best.

  20. 20.

    Humdog

    Ah, the bane of hermit dog owners. Because I don’t socialize much, my critters don’t either and we both exhibit anxiety when pulled out of our normal routine. I love being able to walk them in solitude, but we’d both be better off going to the dog park or the more crowded paths.

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    I hate that “Leave it!” thing. I don’t think it’s as nice as “No,” but my former friends who were into dog training were always screaming “Leave it” at their ill-behaved dogs.

    Badger is SOO Damn Cute

  27. 27.

    JPL

    lol I had a golden and the trainer thought one of those hook collars was best to control his behavior. The babysitter saw the collar on the counter, and said you want me to keep sitting for your sons, that thing goes in the trash. That was the end of the puppy training class.

  28. 28.

    cope

    Our younger Catahoula Joey would climb into my lap while we were driving to Doggy School and then throw up. He did complete the class but I would not say he is any better behaved than our other Catahoula Gina who was not subjected to such ignominy.

  29. 29.

    LAO

    True story, I was at a puppy training class on election eve 2016. Talk about being shocked. The final three weeks of classes were tortious, every one was still in shock but none of us would talk about it. Makes me sick thinking about today. I have some how equated puppy training with trump. Ugh.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    Badger is so adorable. I am pretty good at saying no, but I’m not sure I could say no to Badger. What a doll.

  31. 31.

    tobie

    @Betty Cracker: That’s amazing. I’ve been trying to convince mr. tobie that we should go to the pound and get a dog but he always tells me that potty-training dogs is next to impossible, and I have so little experience that I don’t really know how to respond. Now I know I can cite you as an example. Thanks!

  33. 33.

    satby

    @tobie: oh, it’s not impossible; not even hard if you’re consistent. But if you get an older dog the house training and puppy chewing destruction are behind you, and you get a pretty devoted companion who has been screened to rule out bad behavior before being cleared for adoption. Do it!

  34. 34.

    CarolPW

    @zhena gogolia: When Puck was chasing a cat headed down the driveway and into the street my LEAVE IT! stopped her dead in her tracks (although it could have been the panic in my voice that did the job). I use it rarely, most frequently related to her trying to eat inappropriate things like long dead fish and sheep poop.

    Puppy school was very useful for Puck’s socialization because she was nervous around other dogs and there were not a lot of opportunities to introduce her to non-threatening other dogs. Dog parks can be the devil’s spawn for dogs nervous around aggressive dogs because a lot of owners are assholes. Most of Puck’s socialization with people and dogs now is at the farmers market, a place she loves.

  36. 36.

    Platonailedit

    Speaking of animals pets,

    If animals gave ratings, would it be harder to get a bad rating from a dog or a good rating from a cat?

    — Boyd's Backyard™ (@TheBoydP) July 25, 2018

  37. 37.

    JPL

    @LAO: My DIL was in NYC and she said while visiting clients it felt like the entire city was in mourning.

  40. 40.

    Scamp Dog

    @Miss Bianca: I’m going to meet Meeca and Matt tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. The responsible thing to say is that we’ll meet and then make the decision, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I’ll have a new dog before long.

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cope:

    Have never heard of that breed! Thanks for the introduction. Is it pronounced CataHOOla or CataHOWla? (Or, given it’s Louisiana, some other pronunciation?)

  45. 45.

    JPL

    @Scamp Dog: Providing a home for an adult dog definitely has it’s advantage. Finch was five or six and recovering from heartworm when I brought him home, and he adapted to his new home sorta easily.

  46. 46.

    LAO

    @JPL: it wasn’t post-9/11 level of despair but it was the closest I’ve seen the city since that day.

    @SiubhanDuinne: one of my favorite dogs at my dog run is a catahoola. His humans run a great instagram account for him. @realnicely_dunn. His name is nicely. He’s a hoot.

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @Scamp Dog: *bounce bounce bounce*

    Telling ya, the next CO meet-up should be at dog park. There’s an amazing one in Colorado Springs…

  48. 48.

    satby

    Oh, I just nailed down the last detail to visit a former exchange student now living in NYC with his family! Spending Sunday with them before the jackal meetup. He’s now an American citizen, married and with two little boys. I last saw him about 10 years ago, so I’m looking forward to it.

  49. 49.

    JPL

    I have been taking care of a russian tortoise for my neighbors son. It’s his first pet, and at first he wanted me to go to his house and take it for a walk hourly. He did back down and said she really likes going out, and please just take her out once a day. Cleaning the dishes and food prep takes about twenty minutes in the morning, and at noon the walk takes about thirty. Then later on I make sure she stays in a water dish about twenty minutes. Every morning when I go over, I just pray she’s alive.
    Parents if your child begs for a dog for years, just let them have the damn dog.

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    @Scamp Dog:

    I showed the picture to my husband, and he said, “But if we had it, I’d never be able to do any work again . . . .” And true, I had a vision of him just walking for hours and hours around our town with that beautiful dog.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yarrow:

    Thanks. That’s how I was saying it in my head, but I didn’t like to commit without confirmation.

    I suppose you could just shorten it, the way Labrador Retriever is just “Lab.”

    RANDOM PERSON ON STREET: Nice pup, what kind of dog is he?

    DOG OWNER: He’s a Cat.

    RPOS: Um, okay, have a nice day [backs off slowly]

  56. 56.

    Josie

    When I was much, much younger, I took my silky terrier to a dog training class. We all got in a circle around the instructor, Aussie looked around the circle, and promptly lifted his leg and peed on my pants leg. We did not return to the class.

  57. 57.

    debit

    @tobie: If I can adopt a 10 year old blind, neurologically impaired dog that lived outside her entire life and have her house trained in two weeks, there’s no reason to imagine you and your husband would be any less successful.

    However, chances are any adult dog you adopt will probably already be house trained. Accidents can happen, of course, but you deal with them by calmly cleaning them up, then figuring out where YOU failed in the potty break routine.

  58. 58.

    JeanneT

    @Josie: when I taught obedience (20+ years teaching positive reinforcement skills to pet dog owners, not competition obedience), the more submissive dogs would often pee on my shoes. The owners were always embarrassed, but it’s just one of those doggly things. I learned to wear washable shoes and keep clean up supplies on hand!

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