I'm really sad
 We were first-time puppy owners, we were nervous, we didn't have the confidence to just lie on the floor and play with her and wrestle and have her climb all over us (plus Mady was really nippy, Gracie is hardly nippy at all so far). I'm sad because Mady is first in my heart, but in a lot of ways she was our learning dog, and we made a lot of mistakes with her that Gracie wont have to put up with. I wish I knew then what I know now... |
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Gaw you're a sweet, sweet man but crimeny you overthink things.  I have three kids. My oldest child's first years weren't worse than the next one's for not having had a sibling! They did different things, THAT'S OK! |
| It's not just the lack of siblings Mady had as a puppy. We also didn't give her the same level of play and attention that we're giving Gracie. |
rdf wrote: Gaw you're a sweet, sweet man but crimeny you overthink things.  What she said...  I made my worst mistakes (to date) with Belle. She still loves me, I still think she defines perfection. She just wants her dinner. Dogs don't keep track the way we do. But you are really reaping the benefit of Gracie having canine elders to chew on and to tell her off. Mady probably wasn't any mouthier than Gracie, she just had fewer outlets (only you & Kim) I bet if you could ask her she'd say that was FINE by HER. I bet she also enjoys having canine company now. Most dogs just go with the flow. Most humans overthink things. Normal. Kristine |
Baba wrote: It's not just the lack of siblings Mady had as a puppy. We also didn't give her the same level of play and attention that we're giving Gracie. I seriously doubt that! It may seem that way to you, but, uh-uh, that simply does not compute. But no matter - look how great she turned out! Do you really think you somehow "damaged" her? Seriously? Kristine |
| I now we didn't damage her, I just want to ensure she has the best life possible. |
Baba wrote: I now we didn't damage her, I just want to ensure she has the best life possible. And you are doing it pretty well, I'd say!  That's a pretty normal feeling, and I'm not sure it really ever goes away...it just morphs to different things...I say the same thing about poor Chewie having to deal with me as a rookie agility human...how he would do so much better with someone more skilled. The learning curve is painful at times! But then reality kicks in, and I know he loves me anyway.  |
got sheep wrote: Baba wrote: I now we didn't damage her, I just want to ensure she has the best life possible. And you are doing it pretty well, I'd say! Totally! You guys are at the top the upper echelon of excellent dog parents. You have nothing to worry about.  |
| Honestly, without this forum how would I ever know what goes on David's mind? Didn't give Mady as much attention? Are you insane?? In the first two years of her life, she did weekly herding lessons and won her first blue ribbon in a herding competition. She does agility. She went to a dog show in Peterborough. She went to an off leash dog park almost every single day and hiking at Bruce Pit most weekends. She went to Grandma's house, where she was showered with yummy treats. She went for walks at lunch where she was showered with attention from passersby. She got cuddles and kisses. She went to Sheepiepalooza. She went to a day long T-touch massage seminar. She went for a swimming lesson in a therapeutic dog spa. She had play dates with her sheepie friends and with her two legged friends too! She spent 3 weeks back at Amber's house, chasing the cats and playing with the family. She taught us how to dispense cheese to her on command. She played tug and fetch with her Daddy in the backyard. My God. I wish you fretted this much about how the division of household chores in our family is uneven!!! Now stop fretting so much. She has had and will continue to have a terrific life. You are just about the sweetest man I have ever met and yet, you drive me bananas. |
Mady wrote: Honestly, without this forum how would I ever know what goes on David's mind? Didn't give Mady as much attention? Are you insane?? In the first two years of her life, she did weekly herding lessons and won her first blue ribbon in a herding competition. She does agility. She went to a dog show in Peterborough. She went to an off leash dog park almost every single day and hiking at Bruce Pit most weekends. She went to Grandma's house, where she was showered with yummy treats. She went for walks at lunch where she was showered with attention from passersby. She got cuddles and kisses. She went to Sheepiepalooza. She went to a day long T-touch massage seminar. She went for a swimming lesson in a therapeutic dog spa. She had play dates with her sheepie friends and with her two legged friends too! She spent 3 weeks back at Amber's house, chasing the cats and playing with the family. She taught us how to dispense cheese to her on command. She played tug and fetch with her Daddy in the backyard. My God. I wish you fretted this much about how the division of household chores in our family is uneven!!! Now stop fretting so much. She has had and will continue to have a terrific life. You are just about the sweetest man I have ever met and yet, you drive me bananas. And she got a car! |
rdf wrote: Mady wrote: Honestly, without this forum how would I ever know what goes on David's mind? Didn't give Mady as much attention? Are you insane?? In the first two years of her life, she did weekly herding lessons and won her first blue ribbon in a herding competition. She does agility. She went to a dog show in Peterborough. She went to an off leash dog park almost every single day and hiking at Bruce Pit most weekends. She went to Grandma's house, where she was showered with yummy treats. She went for walks at lunch where she was showered with attention from passersby. She got cuddles and kisses. She went to Sheepiepalooza. She went to a day long T-touch massage seminar. She went for a swimming lesson in a therapeutic dog spa. She had play dates with her sheepie friends and with her two legged friends too! She spent 3 weeks back at Amber's house, chasing the cats and playing with the family. She taught us how to dispense cheese to her on command. She played tug and fetch with her Daddy in the backyard. My God. I wish you fretted this much about how the division of household chores in our family is uneven!!! Now stop fretting so much. She has had and will continue to have a terrific life. You are just about the sweetest man I have ever met and yet, you drive me bananas. And she got a car! YES!!!! She got a car, a standard zoomie car that I CANNOT EVEN DRIVE!!!! Oooh now I am mad! |
You drove how many hours to St. Louis so she could meet up with sheepie friends at Sheepiepalooza.  She visited a chip truck often enough to become a known regular  |
| Kim's reply is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time, especially the final line. I have tears in my eyes from laughing. David, stop thinking! Just enjoy! |
| Please; if anyone is going to beat themselves up about doing it wrong, or poorly, or not as well as they could have with their first "training dogs" then its going to be ME. And my dogs, bless them, think I'm AWESOME. I know Mady thinks the same of you; so let it go and roll with it! I've seen the photo; you've got a happy, gorgeous girl there. That doesn't happen all by itself; you guys did that. Whenever I think about what I could have done differently, I think about not having gotten the girls at all. What if someone else had been handed this mess? They would have been tied out, or sent to the pound, hopefully rescue... anything could have happened. So them being my "starter" of dogs is really not the worst thing in the world. And lets be serious, we spoil the heck out of them, don't we? I wouldn't second guess yourself so much; Mady isn't blaming you for anything, so why should you do it on her behalf? |
Paula O. wrote: Kim's reply is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time, especially the final line. I have tears in my eyes from laughing. David, stop thinking! Just enjoy! Me too! |
| Kim, you do have your hands full. |
| I get told off all the time. You spend too much time with Georgi & not enough with sherwood. He is 13 & I don't think he wants me rucking him over. It is hard as one dog looks at you while the other one is on my head licking it to death. He used to do that when he was a pup. She is allowed on the sofa, which I did not know. Sherwood was never allowed & I caught her but too late as she has been going on them for ages. So Sherwood has sneeked on them I drag him off but the look on his face when Georgi jump up & layed there with Lori so I let him stay but I am not happy about it. Point is you have to adapt when you get another dog |
| David- I have been stewing over this post all day long. I think you are just trying to get up to 10,000 posts yourself so you are writing garbage posts to fill up space. This was a post akin to Kim asking if Mady would be ruined with siblings, when you guys ALREADY knew you were getting some! You know you are the best sheepie daddy ever. Are you looking for an award?  Kim? Maybe he needs an award. Just to remind him. (as if)  Or a special present. Something he gets when you catch him doing something a good sheepie daddy does. (I'm NOT going to give ideas here)  It is WAY past my bedtime, but I had to get my 2 cents in before closing down for the night. Mady is the most happiest, most blessed, most loved fuzzbutt out there. NOW CHILL!  (Ron, I think we need an award icon... just for David) |
| What everyone else says plus, we had two dogs who were a year apart in age. We got them when we bought our own house but we were both establishing career and business. The dogs spent a fair amount of time on their own. I decided I should get one dog then wait a while to get another so I could give each puppy more one on one time. After they crossed the bridge, we got Rastus I felt bad because he didn't have friend but I didn't have the time to put into another dog. As soon as I did, I got Tiggy, saying "Rastus will so love having a friend as he LOVES all his friends at the park." Shock, horror, Rastus was quite put out at having competition, his best buddy is the cat.  Mind you a sprung Rastus and Tiggy playing tug of war with a tug toy tonight. They snuck off and played in another room but forgot to not make growly noises, so I heard them and snuck and took a peek. As soon as they noticed me watching they stopped playing. I think I am being conned, I still double my dog walking duties by walking them separately, so that Rastus won't get upset when Tiggy chases him.  There are things I've done quite differently with Rastus and Tiggy because I decided that I didn't want the issues I had with our first two dogs. Great, worked well, I have completely different issues with this two. It doesn't matter what you do there are pros and cons and different things work for different dogs and you can't always predict what. JUST ENJOY YOUR GIRLS. Don't make me come all the way over there to abduct Gracie. |
| Well....I guess I need to be the devil's advocate...(sorry KIM).... But, yes David!!! I DO think you did wayyy too much damage to poor Mady~~~ I know you didn't mean it, dear........You tried with all the activity that Kim listed, but, alas, you failed......  As punishment, you will need to slap a couple of stamps on that poor little Mady's tusch, call Fed Ex to pick her up~~and send her to me in St. Lou!!!!! I will TRY to undo all the horrific trauma, and maybe she will be ready to return home, when you attend SHEEPIEPALOOZA, in May 2021..... ((( oh davey...you are soo silly...I would worry more about KIM being ignored when the stork dropped Mady off...poor KIM~~~)  |
sheepieshake wrote: ((( oh davey...you are soo silly...I would worry more about KIM being ignored when the stork dropped Mady off...poor KIM~~~) "KIM"? Who's that agai, oh, yeah, right, her.  |
sheepiezone wrote: Paula O. wrote: Kim's reply is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time, especially the final line. I have tears in my eyes from laughing. David, stop thinking! Just enjoy! Me too! Me as well. You guys are great. xxxx |
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