Have your dogs inadvertently been useful.

[m-j]

When I first got my youngest Grey I'm guessing he hadnt travelled in cars much as he would have a loose poop and release his anal glands. He did this one time on the way into town, I stopped got as much off the blanket as I could rolled it up and put it into a bag and continued on our way. 

In town as I was looking for a carpark in the park I noticed a small group of young boys walking around some parked cars and I thought to myself they they are casing those cars. Anyway found a park got the dogs out locked the car leaving the back windows down a couple of inches. As I was walking away I noticed the kids had started looking around the cars where mine was parked, they spotted mine with the windows down and went over to it. I was kind of hidden from their view by some bushes, they looked in the front windows, looked around to see if anyone was watching and then moved to the back window. By this stage I had my phone out ready to take a pic if they put their hand in. One of the guys must have got a whiff of the blanket turned and walked away waving his hand in front of his face, the others had a sniff and followed suit. I was standing there nearly wetting myself laughing, made sure they left then continued on my walk.

Who'd have thought a pooey blanket could be useful:-)

[poochmad]

Definitely. Though not in the same way.

 

a while back OH was away and there were about 6 teenagers talking across the road late at night. Then the boys came over and climbed into the tree near our house - too near for my liking!

 

because it was so quiet, I could hear what they were saying and they were egging one of the guys to break into a house.

 

i was pretty scared, even though our house is like a fortress so I encouraged our elder male to bark who has a bark like a really big dog, turned on our lights and they took off.

 

dont know why I didn’t think of that in the first place!!

 

der!

[poochmad]

I should also add the time when I witnessed a horrible incident and ended up in a state of shock, barely able to function for a week.

 

my dogs stuck to me like glue.

 

i couldn’t have gotten through it without them.

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by poochmad

[RuralPug]

I'm not sure this counts as inadvertent, but I never have to worry about picking up food that my arthritic hands have dropped or knocked off the bench to the floor! 

[Kazm]

Don’t know if this really counts as technically he’s not my dog. 

One of Mollys pups ( almost 2 now) frequently comes and stays with us and whenever he sees my mother in law, ( who lives in a granny flat off our house) he barks so loudly and even though we try to stop him he just won’t. So she tends to stay away. I love that boy

[m-j]

I started this thread after a discussion at work. Similar stories to these came up with my work colleagues as well. These stories could be spruiked as reasons why we need dogs in our lives, along with the many other benefits.

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by m-j

[Scottsmum]

Countless dogs (and cats) over the years have ensured my covers stay firmly on my bed during the day when I'm not in it....

[Loving my Oldies]

My dogs are super super useful:  they are beautiful creatures for me to love.    

[Little Gifts]

I had mother and son staffords (mother a foster fail and the son came back to live with me 6 months after he was adopted due to serious medical issues). I lived on a small acreage property alone and had the flu. At that stage my parents were living on the small acreage property next door. I made myself a cup-a-soup and some toast and decided to walk next door so they could see I was getting better. I went to walk down the 4 front stairs and my right leg went through the stair gap. I flipped and hit my head on the brick wall on my way down, knocking me unconcious. My piggy girl stayed by my side while her scaredy son ran next door to mum and dad's. They said he was making noises they had never heard before and kept running back and forth to our shared fence line. So they decided to see why he was being so strange and followed him back to me. I had to go to hospital, was concussed and injured all 4 limbs. I still have a big dint in my right leg. No idea how long I would've laid there without him going for help. The funny part was my piggy girl devoured the toast and slurped up all the soup but not until I was carried inside by my parents!

 

Quite a number of years later I'd moved into the suburbs. I'd only been in this house a month or so. The dogs and I had had a huge day and they were snoring next to me on the lounge. They suddenly heard a noise that concerned them and they went beserk, running upstairs. I had 3 intruders in the upstairs of my house ransacking the place. One guy was chased out of a 2 storey window (broken ankle but was dragged off by his mates) while the other 2 were chased out of the front door and off the property. Instead of chasing the intruders up the street both dogs raced straight back and stayed by my side. I had run into the back yard with the cordless house phone and had no idea how many unwanted people had been in my house. When I rang 000 they had no police to send and with emergency still on the phone and the dogs by my side I had to go back into the house, check room by room and lock the place up till the police could get to me. It was beyond terrifying.

 

I was incredibly thankful both those dogs came into my life and were my saviours at such significant times. You like to think your dogs will be there like that in a crisis but you never really know. The son in particular had health issues and severe anxiety so I was really surprised at what he was capable of under pressure.

 

When my current pei girl was still a pup I had a fall and shattered my wrist. It was in plaster for 3 days while I was hopped up on pain meds until I could have surgery on it. My sister took a pic of me passed out in bed with my arm sticking in the air. My pei and stafford girls were both lying all over me maximising mummy contact while I couldn't complain. But not once did they knock my arm or need to be cautioned. They didn't just lie quietly by my side either. How did they know to be careful of the arm? 

[m-j]

They are so astute, many times I've said how did they know that or to do that. As an instructor the amount of times I saw dogs run rings around their owners and the gadgets used to prevent whatever:-)

Edited April 22, 2018 by m-j

[Maddy]

My dogs help me control my weight by eating most of my meals for me. They're very thoughtful like that* :|

 

 

*Unless the meal only contains vegetables. In which case, I'm on my own. Literally. They check my plate, decide it's not worth their time and retire to various beds for their other occupation: making sure my bed linen isn't too smooth/soft by peppering it with short, prickly greyhound/whippet hairs.

[suziwong66]

My dogs have been incredibly useful in helping me finding my innate talent...picking up poop and vacuuming extraordinary amounts of chocolate lab fur!

[poochmad]

LG / holy heck!!!

[Kajirin]

Scout was multi talented - he was great at finding underground water leaks in piping and digging them up for me.  He had a ball doing that   Also one night there was someone lurking around the shed, I let him out and he chased whoever it was off up the drive...then returned to 'protect'.

Sarge has yet to grow into his protectiveness as he's on his own now.  He is barking now at unusual noises - which is good.  He is also good at finding skinks and frogs that have come inside and not hurting them lol.  But that's about the extent of his 'talents' so far  

[gillybob]

I have PTSD and when it gets nearly out of control Cedro sticks to me like glue, he sleeps at the foot of the bed and stays close in the day time. Often I don't realise its as bad as it is I only notice because of his behaviour.

He has helped me through some very dark times over the last four years and Im very thankful for that.

[tikira]

Kira has taught me to watch where I walk. She now cannot hear me coming, and a black dog in a dark room has forced me to learn "the Kira shuffle"

Jingo has taught us to stay away from an open front door... as it is a really scary thing when it eats your favourite toy!

Di

 

[poochmad]

Dogs are amazing animals. I think we’ll all agree on that.

[mowgliandme]

My previous dog has rescued my grandmother twice, with no training at all!  

My grandma used to live with us and was sometimes unsteady on her feet, she would go for short walks around the block and once she fell over at the end of the street and couldnt get back up. My dog kept on whining out the front window (something she had never done before) until i took her outside and she took me to my grandma. I have no idea how she knew, grandma was very softly spoken and I dont know how she would have heard her from more than 10 houses away!

 

Years later we had a similar incident happened with grandma falling over in the backyard and she kept running between grandma and me until we we could rescue her~

 

Current dog has only been useful at teaching me to pick up after myself as otherwise she will steal my socks for attention :P 

[coogie]

I think my dogs are broken. Last year when I had flu and could barely move my girl nicked my lunch that hubby had left, then my tissues, then as a final insult dribbled into my lemsip rendering it undrinkable. Both my Goons couldn’t care less if you are sick and will dement you off your deathbed so they can have a walk. Friends tell me how intuitive and caring their dogs are , mine just mercilessly noseboof the crap out of me for a snack, play, yard time, whatever. Sigh, Lassie they are not.

[Animal House]

Mine have taught me that they don't care about a persons social status, financial wealth or lack of, their appearance or popularity.
If I'm in my pj's for days, look like crap when I'm sick, dressed up to go somewhere, flat broke or have money in the bank....they don't care, they don't discriminate.  It's all waggy tails and kisses, and the same for visitors. 

I wish there was more people like that.