Have You Ever Been Busted........

[Snout Girl]

We have a row of recently built townhouses near our place that bert and i walk past regurlarly.

i often have a discussion with him when we see one has sold, about the price and who we think might be moving in.

I must talk louder than I thought as the other week a man came out of his house because he heard voices (we were on the footpath, not trespassing!).

he asked who i was talking too, and when i said my dog, and he looked down and saw a squished pug face tilting up at him, he looked at me like i was destined for the loony bin.

i think he thought i was casing the joint and my 'partner in crime' who i was really talking to must of dashed off

[corvus]

What, you can be busted for that?? I'm in trouble...

The neighbours get to hear all manner of "Boys, do you think you can play quietly for a bit? Guys, too much barking! How about you come inside? Erik! Be nice to your brother! Erik! I said leave him alone. Come on, that's enough. Come inside. Kivi! Enough! You are both too noisy! Now inside with you. Good boys. That's right, inside. That means you too, Erik."

Out and about we get smirks from people when we talk to the dogs and ask them to get off the path and then tell them what awesome, clever, special dogs they are and would they like a treat? Yes, I think that was a treat-worthy performance and so on. But we always smile at people that are talking to their dogs as well. It reminds us of the good fun we have with our guys.

[FranVT]

When I moved into Dad's place and Luuka didn't have constant access to a yard for weewees, I would take her out regularly and every time she did a wee on the grass out the front I'd go off my nut with praise 'GOOD GIIIIIRL! WHO'S A GOOD GIRL DOING WEEWEES ALL BY HERSELF ON THE GRASS! YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE! WHO'S THE CLEVEREST GIRL? YOU ARE!' etc. Then we do a little dance where I clap and turn around in circles and she jumps up and does a little dance of her very own

I've been edumacating (thanks Nik!) the people at the dog park I've started frequenting. Before, their dogs would tear off to 'greet' another dog and they'd yell "[DOGNAME]! COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, BAD DOG!" in a very loud voice, and when the dog came back (rare) it might get a little smack or more scoldage. I said "I wouldn't come back either if that's what I was coming back to!" (jokingly, we all had a good laugh). I showed them that if you call them back cheerfully and make a big fuss or give them a treat when they come back then they're more likely to repeat it Who would have thought I would be teaching stuff to others

[HeavyPaws]

Oh yes I've forgotten about toilet training

Standing in the backyard at 7 in the morning in a bathrobe and Pikachu slippers with my hair in rollers and a bandanna going "Toilet! toilet! toilet! GOOD GIRL! Treatikins for a lucky little puppers!"

The neighbours must have thought I was utterly off my rocker

[W Sibs]

All the time... my neighbours are convince that I'm a nutter.

I have had the smirks, the WTF looks and other funny looks while I walk the dogs on a daily basis...

[Vehs]

Well not so much talking stupidly to my dog, but actually doing his voice and responding back to me... meh, we are having a good time, I don't care who sees it

[KZs Mum]

I have also been caught letting my temper get a bit out of control with my parents god/dog. He is not trained AT ALL and after pulling for about 45 mins I sort of said/yelled gruffly: "MAX, walk like a HUMAN!!!!" to which some elderly people got a good laugh! I realise that would've done absolutely nothing to change Max's behaviour.........and the lack of training still gets to me every time I visit my parents. Very embarrassing though!

[Brennan's Mum]

I constantly talk to my dog. I must look like a complete nutter. When we are walking and Brennan is walking nicely you can frequently hear me saying ''Nice walking, this is a nice walk isn't it? We like walking don't we?''. I also tell her what other dog we have seen ie ''Look it's a Beagle...we like Beagles don't we''

And then there are the trips to the pet store where she get's ''What toy do you want bubz? you choose a toy and Mummy will buy it for you''

And training ''good girl, yes you are, you are, you are such a beautiful and cute and clever girl oh yes you are''.

But hey, I would rather be thought of as a nutcase for acknowledging my dog as my companion, then the person who walks there dog in silence and treats walking and training their dog as a chore rather then a fun way to spend time with their dog

[W Sibs]

I constantly talk to my dog. I must look like a complete nutter. When we are walking and Brennan is walking nicely you can frequently hear me saying ''Nice walking, this is a nice walk isn't it? We like walking don't we?''. I also tell her what other dog we have seen ie ''Look it's a Beagle...we like Beagles don't we''

And then there are the trips to the pet store where she get's ''What toy do you want bubz? you choose a toy and Mummy will buy it for you''

And training ''good girl, yes you are, you are, you are such a beautiful and cute and clever girl oh yes you are''.

But hey, I would rather be thought of as a nutcase for acknowledging my dog as my companion, then the person who walks there dog in silence and treats walking and training their dog as a chore rather then a fun way to spend time with their dog

I'm glad I'm not the only one who says this ;)

Or

"Chuckster, you already have enough toys at home you don't need another one" he gives me a sad look with a toy in his mouth "you really really want that toy, huh?" still looking at me with the big brown eyes and i'm totally melting "ok, chuckster, you can get that toy... we just have to hide it from daddy and when you bring it out, we have to pretend it's an old toy you haven't played with for a while, ok?"

the store people (we all are on first name base now) all think i'm a little loony too

Edited July 12, 2010 by CW EW

[Fleuri]

I am sure my neighbours have heard me go on with a high pitched voice. I felt so embarrass.

[Tay.]

I think I talk to my dogs more than I think. And I sometimes tend to have a high pitched american-ish accent when I talk to Jess, according to my friends.

[ridgiemum]

What, you can be busted for that?? I'm in trouble...

The neighbours get to hear all manner of "Boys, do you think you can play quietly for a bit? Guys, too much barking! How about you come inside? Erik! Be nice to your brother! Erik! I said leave him alone. Come on, that's enough. Come inside. Kivi! Enough! You are both too noisy! Now inside with you. Good boys. That's right, inside. That means you too, Erik."

Out and about we get smirks from people when we talk to the dogs and ask them to get off the path and then tell them what awesome, clever, special dogs they are and would they like a treat? Yes, I think that was a treat-worthy performance and so on. But we always smile at people that are talking to their dogs as well. It reminds us of the good fun we have with our guys.

Ha, ha, same here. ;) But insert the name "Holly".

[mita]

My dad used to love to tell the story about how he & my mother were in the busy main street of Caloundra, on holidays. Their cardigan corgi, Biddy, was with them. When they were going off in different directions, my dad heard my mum's voice, loud & clear above all the crowd. 'Biddy!, Go with your father!'

Dad said people looked at him as if he was a Great Dane.

But we've also had startled looks from tradesmen who've come to do work at the house. We'd talk about what we'd have to do with Grandma, so she wouldn't get in their way & trip them up.....or be let out the gate. Make a bed for her in the laundry, perhaps? Put her in a crate?

Noticing panicky looks on their faces....that they were about to be left with a feral Gran....we'd have to explain it was our aged little dog. Who would only answer to Gran.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

Err ... yes Lol

I was over visiting with my neighbour one day where I lived a few years ago. And she says, you know LoPan, I can hear you talking to your dog all the time, the way you talk to her sounds like you are talking to your girlfriend

This is coming from someone who used to talk to her lizard ;)

edit:

Oh no actually I think she said are you as nice to your girlfriend as you are to you dog ? ;)

It was something like that can't quite recall now

Edited July 12, 2010 by Lo Pan

[MooBoo]

Couple of years ago I got busted by a couple of builders who were looking down in our yard, I was toliet training my puppy, so they got an earful of, "go wee wee, good boy, you are such a good boy, thats right we do wee wees outside don't we baby, we don't do it inside..." and so on, they thought it hilarious.

[Kissindra]

talking to them, singing to them - what is the problem? ;)

[KitKat]

Hehehe...i don't only do it to my dogs...but also the work dogs (even if i'm not taking them out!)

[Ons]

only the other night I was walking with the three of them and they stopped to sniff some grass. I started saying to them "come on, quickly, you don't know who has been on that grass and I don't want any of you picking up germs now do I. You wouldn't want to get sick would you". Ummmm the bloke doing his exercises on the nearby driveway stared at me as if I was crazy.

I sometimes wonder what neighbours think too when I'm housetraining a pup or foster dog outside

[DerRottweiler]

lol

This thread fulfills its purpose.

I feel less crazy now....especially since I don't hold conversations with the dog lol!

Apparently I do it more often then I realise, so I imagine I've been busted on numerous occasions, it was just blatantly obvious this time round.

DerRottweiler aka Crazy Guy with the Rottweiler.

[conztruct]

All the time - I hope my neighbours don't listen to me - a couple of the things I'd get caught out on would be:

When bathing the dogs "well, if you stood still we'd be done a lot quicker"

When putting disinfectant on a cut "if you will try and wriggle under the fence then you will get a cut and it will hurt"

Barking "if you don't shut up you'll be a tri-colour bathmat!"

"Well since you knocked your water bowl over, you'll just have to put up with a wet blanket....."

There's plenty of others....I talk to my dog like they're naughty kids and I can reason with them with grumpy parent sarcasm. It's so much like my mum used to be with us that it's scary..........