Tinsel's Journey

It's official. Tinsel thinks he is a miniature rare blue merle Belgian Shepherd dog. While he enjoyed himself at the Sheltie picnic on Saturday he was part of the pack on Sunday with the Belgians. He was generally at the end of the flexi lead visiting with all the Belgians in every variety except Lakenois. They, in turn, accepted him like he was one of them. I think he needs a doggie psyciatrist - or a mirror. He learned to go over a 6" jump, do weave cones, sit in the tire for a count of 5 but wasn't interested in walking through the tunnel even though his big sister went through on the "I don't do agility" course. He sorta played dunk for the weiner, wasn't fond of the water that his snack floated in so lost interest, and agreed to lay on a feed bag during musical mats. Both days he got lots of good attention from humans and animals alike which is a bonus for both of us. Ontario Sheltie is to be commended for all the work she put into gathering us together for a picnic. Poor girl sat through rain to keep the spot for us all. It was lovely to meet other sheltie people and chit chat under the shade of the trees with the lake just footsteps from our site. It was a great, relaxing doggie weekend. Saturday Tinsel was comfortable enough to drink from his water dish even though people were moving around. That's a first. He also got a bit of a jerk on the lead when he tried, for the third time, to pee on one of the ladies. It wasn't intentional on my part but more reactional when I turned my head and saw his leg coming up. He survived it and held no grudge but I felt really bad about it. Don't know if it was something about her or that there had been an intact male beside her for a long period of time but Tin was determined to mark her. BRAT!
 
Sounds like a great time, all except for the almost pee-on-the-lady thing. I hope we are going to SEE some of the festivities...the games sound like a lot of fun.
 
Sorry I wasn't able to make it Saturday. I was getting stuff ready when I realized I wouldn't be going. Did Tinsel do his wave?
 
About a month ago I was chit chatting with my neighbor in the middle of the street. After about five minutes I looked down and to my horror Danny was peeing on my neighbors shoe. The deed was done and all I could do was apologize and take Danny for his walk. Why he did it I will never know. My first sheltie peed on my leg when I was out walking him and stopped to talk to some friends.
 
Our male westie Michael was a brat for this. Hubby got very adept at moving his leg away from him at the just the right time so as not to get marked. He only did it at dog shows to Dave but tried several times to me when I was grooming one of the other westies, especially if it was Bobby on the table. Eventually, with enough tellings, he stopped trying to claim me.
Tinsel hasn't shown the same tendancies toward wanting to be numero uno as Michael but then we don't have any resident male dogs here either. He didn't try it today but whether it is because of the correction or because he didn't feel he had to assert himself I don't know. As I said, I don't know if it was the woman or the intact dog that drove him to mark. Only time and observance will tell me the answer to this. I'll be having Connor and Gem here for a couple of days so it might be enlightenment of the worse kind. Fingers crossed that this isn't going to be a "thing".
We really didn't get much in the way of pictures today. Most of the time Dave had one dog while I had the other so the camera mostly stayed in the bag. Tinsel did wave a bit on Saturday but not with his usual intent except for while we were eating. Sunday he waved and waved and waved so much so that I was being asked to teach a few of the Belgians to do it. The thing is it's the way he looks at me when he does it - the bigger dogs don't have the same effect. He's so intent at trying to communicate that you just grin. Anyway, he is one tired little sheltie. When I got up to leave the family room he didn't even raise his head. Normally he is my shadow. Hope he doens't think that we are now going to picnic daily.
 
I had to laugh about the Sheltie leg-lift! I remember the first time I took Colonel Underpants to the beach. He peed on a kid's sand castle -- with the kid sitting there! :eek2:
 
My worst leg lifting experience was with Bobby. We had a lady come to see us about getting a male westie puppy. The girls were in various stages of season so the boys were engaged in the great westie pee competition. I told the woman that I would bring Bobby upstairs but thought it best to keep him in my arms. She begged me to put him down so she could see him. I didn't see her large, open tote bag beside her on the floor. You got it. He peed right into it! I nearly died of embarrassment. She laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall out of the chair. She did go on to buy one of my westies and became a good friend. And yes, she got a male which she named Jordie.
 
I enjoy hearing your pee marking stories. Finley and my last Sheltie were neutered before they learned to mark but, Rusty my rescue wasn't neutered until we adopted him. It's been a bit of a learning experience for us. I taught Rusty to pee only on street signs, on our daily walk, and not plants and bushes. I never realized how many street signs there are in the neighborhood. How can such a small dog hold that much pee?:eek2:
 
:yuckyuck
Danny Boy has an endless supply of pee to be used on leaf in middle of road, twig in road, bird poop on sidewalk, not to forget every bush, tree or shrub he passes. No wonder the fox followed him home.
 
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