The DOOM Spaniels

My spaniels are companions, and I think they are the most perfect dog for the job if you like cuddly and playful. We walk together outside, we cuddle inside, they learn and practice tricks, it's perfection to me. I've had a number of excellent cocker companions now, who have all done that job magnificently. Lately my disability has been worse and we have had an extraordinary cocker, who has also been helping me in many ways.

Tristan knows many tricks that help with my various disabilities, like handing me things I drop (and drop again, and drop again... good grief), bringing me stuff I have left out if it's not obviously a dog toy, bringing me named items like the supper dishes, and finding things I have lost. Tristan is a superbly clever boy, probably the only one of our previous cockers who could manage much of what he does, but I expect Gwyn will probably eventually learn a lot of it too.

When we got him, I was looking for a companion, not a helper, but probably if you look you can find someone breeding spaniels who are already known to be steady and extra trainable.

Spaniels are extremely sensitive to handler emotion. I don't doubt that they could recognize panic attacks, but they'll probably need to have a lot of practice in advance to respond when it happens, otherwise they may be too upset by your distress. If you have experience training you may still want to consult with a service dog trainer online or in person for specific task training[*], and if you don't have much experience there's probably a local trainer who can help you get started in-person with a good foundation for helpful tasks and then help you work on expanding.

...

Now, having had nothing but good to say so far... my cockers have been very, very clever. And like an intelligent child, if they run out of things to do, they'll find something themselves. Several of Tristan's tricks grew out of redirecting his mischief[**]. For the first few years I spent part of every morning devising puzzles (taping cardboard to a spinner puzzle, stuffing tissue into empty parmesan jars, putting paper towel tubes over sticks and hanging them at nose height) to keep Tristan occupied. Spaniels who get bored will disassemble your house to see if they can.

Tristan is mostly content now to do the helpful tricks he knows, learn more, and practice fun tricks like spin or touch when I have the opportunity to play. I'm going through spaniel puppy again with Gwyn, of course. Today I stuffed large toys tightly into a bucket with a strip of cloth hanging out the side, then tucked the bucket under a chair, so she can squirm in, pull all the toys out, and eventually get the strip of cloth.

There are more easygoing breeds if that doesn't sound doable. That part of spaniel life is understandably not for everyone.

When Gwyn chooses to put down her soft toy to start gnawing on an allowed chew, I have been saying, "Good girl, making good choices!" But because everything morphs into song lyrics in my head, this has become "doing all right, making good grades, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

I guess my puppy is studying nuclear science. I'm very proud.

Dish scrubber brush, Day 20: 30 days of holds

Again, Yvaine's photo with the sponge was taken several nights ago, since she was going to be otherwise occupied for an unknown period of time.[*] But Tristan saw the photos being taken, and by now he recognizes this game, so he came over, ready to hold the sponge for HIS turn.

Which is why we have photos of Tristan holding the scrubber brush *and* a sponge, because he's a good boy.

...

[*] Yvaine came home the same day, but is still a little tired and sore from the sedation and the biopsy inside her nose.

A short story about a very clever puppy, in three parts.

[Image Description 1: Tristan's blue puzzle spinner is covered in toys he has pulled off of it, which is how we use it. On the side, two bolts with blue plastic hold the spinner together.]

[Image Description 2: Tristan, a black and white cocker spaniel, lays with one paw on the spinner's base, chewing on one of the bolts.]

[Image Description 3: One blue plastic covered bolt has been unscrewed from the puzzle spinner. It doesn't have much in the way of tooth marks. I thought he would just chew at these bolts, I didn't think he would unscrew them. I'm so proud of the little rascal.]

Tristan has a beetle. This one was dead (or maybe a shed exoskeleton) when he brought it inside, so it doesn't need rescuing.

*skitter*

*POUNCE*

*throw*

*pause* *stare* *toss headwings*

*skitter*

*POUNCE*

*throw*

*pause* *stare* *toss headwings*

*skitter*

*POUNCE*

*throw*

*pause* *stare* *toss headwings*

[no sound]

I heard a crackling, rattling sound, so Yvaine and I went to see what Merlin was up to. Merlin met us after we’d gone only a few steps, upset, and doing his sad “expecting to be punished” slink.[*] I patted him and murmured reassurance, and went to investigate.

So. I got to the kitchen, Yvaine running ahead, Merlin slinking behind… and there was a tiny Stonehenge of ice cubes on the floor.

MERLIN HAS FIGURED OUT THE ICE DISPENSER.

And once he was sure he wasn’t in trouble, he ate all the ice.[**]

Wait. How often has he done this when bored and home alone?

… [*] He’s had that since adoption; we never gave him any reason to expect it. [**] I figure that falls under the “if you catch it, you can have it” rule.

[Image Description 1: Yvaine ran ahead, and stood in the middle of the ice Stonehenge in the kitchen. Image Description 2: Yvaine still hopes for a carrot, but Merlin is eating the ice.]

See this thing? Merlin’s Primary Human and Yvaine’s Personal Furniture each have one of these, because our first cocker liked to chew leather… specifically, wallets. We still keep our wallets in them, but we never latched them. Just putting the wallets into them was sufficient protection.

Yvaine’s Personal Furniture keeps a small bag of dog treats in her mini-trunk. Merlin found it while the dogs were home alone (so, so alone, abandoned forever). He managed to OPEN the trunk and pull everything out to get to the treats. He might have had help.

Clever little rascals.

Time to start latching the mini-trunk when the dogs are alone in the house. These dogs are *really* good at problem-solving.

(Rerun from the DOOM Spaniels Facebook page, June 2017, because they are clever spaniels.)

Rerun from the DOOM Spaniels’ Facebook page, August 2017:

He brought it to us like a trophy.

When the dogs were home alone last week, they managed to steal a jar of alfredo sauce off the kitchen island, somehow open it without breaking the glass, and devour as much of it as their snouts could reach. Impressive.

Every incident astounds me and gives me more places that I can’t leave food while the dogs are unsupervised. Granted, this one was an accident–jars are not normally kept on the island, and we just got interrupted before we finished putting the non-refrigerable groceries away. Oops. One of these days, they’re going to work out how to open the pantry.

Still. We found the ¾ empty jar, and had no idea how they opened it. We could not find the lid–we looked in all the normal stashes, but it wasn’t there. Wherever he hid it, Merlin dug it out the next day and was carrying it around proudly.

Now that we have the lid, I *still* don’t know how they opened the jar. It’s bent, and battered, and pierced, but none of that would pry it off the jar.

… Word of warning: canine alfredo farts are deadly and persistent. Do not, under any circumstances, repeat this experiment intentionally.

Once when I was halfway through my first decade, I had an opportunity to eat as much candy as I could. It made me extremely ill. So I very much empathize with Mister Merlin, who stole a bag of candy (sugar and corn syrup, no xylitol) that I forgot to put out of reach when I left the house today. Merlin is one sad little puppy, although after his most recent trip outside he came up to sleep on the bed instead of returning to his under-bed cave, so he might be past the worst of it. We're watching all the usual--he's not panting, his gums are pink, his capillary refill time good, he's drinking lots of water. He's going to be okay. But mostly, I screwed up and the poor fella is suffering for it. I feel so guilty... but all we can do is wait for it to pass. I'm sorry, buddy. It's my fault. [Image Description: Merlin, in a cheerier moment from earlier this week, lays happily panting on the kitchen floor after returning from Helping to Feed the Big Doggies.]