#the crows bribe the spaniels – @doomspaniels on Tumblr

Scavengers must have found the remains of somebody's bar-b-q, because Tristan came in with a rib bone. This time I was trying to get a relaxed "show me" of a precious found treasure, while a rude little sister attempted to maintain her impulse control.

Tristan tried to let me see it in his mouth, but I asked him to drop it so I could see better.

Tris put it down, but set it between his paws, which was entirely reasonable. Such the good boy.

Then he gave Gwyn the dirtiest suspicious look, like "okay I put it down so you can see, can you get the creatchur offa me now so I can munch in peace?"

So I left him happily munching outside to get bored with it (doesn't take long), and took Gwyn inside to have a crunchy treat of her own.

#tristan #guinevere #cocker spaniel #dogblr #found treasure #the crows bribe the spaniels #show me #Spaniel Eyes #bratty little sister #shameless bribery ftw #Tristan is the very best #side-eye #long post #munchings and crunchings

doomspaniels

Oh, what naughty thing did you find out in the field, honey?

Whatcha got? Show me.

*Gwyn rolls over on her back to give me a very clear view of the T-bone in her mouth, without letting go in the slightest*

Ah. Melodrama. You have melodrama. And also something dropped a T-bone inside our fences for some reason. Okay.

Since Tristan was still out on Sniff Patrol, we practiced "show" and "give" of very precious treasure, with lots of treats AND getting the precious treasure back immediately.

#guinevere #cocker spaniel #dogblr #found treasure #the crows bribe the spaniels #show me #give #shameless bribery ftw #long post #100% doofus #Spaniel Eyes #melodrama puppy #blep

doomspaniels

My goodness, Tristan, what did those very generous crows drop for you today? Show? Oh, good boy. Have a candy.

Yes, I promise I won't let her take it when you put it down. You can take the candy.

Hmmm, yeah, I have no idea what that is, but it's pretty clean. All right. You enjoy that, kiddo.

#tristan #cocker spaniel #dogblr #the crows bribe the Spaniels #what horrible thing do you have now #bone #animal injury #show #Tristan has mastered being the best #florida farm dog #Guinevere got to go inside and have a different treat #farm livin' is the life for me #your mother was a hamster

doomspaniels reblogged

doomspaniels

@spartathesheltie Pursuant to our conversation :) about the American cocker at Crufts yesterday, and their ability to carry birds in those itty bitty mouths, I got a few more pics.

Show cockers have these bizarre sculpted clips meant to create the illusion that their muzzles are tiny and their eyes are about to pop out of their heads, their ears are even longer and less useful (not to mention the body is a Swiffer). I've seen retired show dogs with more utilitarian clips, and they look... well, like Tristan. Their mouths are small, sure, but reasonably proportional.

I've *had* cockers carry some pretty large, and heavy, stuff... including one whole opossum. (Galahad was so *very* proud of his giant rat. It was also only playing dead, and we put it outside the fence to recover. It was a third his size, but he managed to carry it in his delicate lil cocker mouth without a single tooth mark.)

I know I don't often provide a lot of size context, but my cockers are truthfully quite little, and they're about average for American cockers. I suggest that the carrying capacity of cockers has to do with their accordion-like lipflap expansion. I think we could inflate those mouths like a balloon. Seriously, I think the American cocker has hamster somewhere in its ancestry.

wagrobanite

Yes, the size of the bird they were getting robin sized robin-sized! So tiny tiny birds compared to something like Labs who retrieve Ducks

doomspaniels

I've seen Yvaine grab and snarf down something robin-sized, whole, in one move. It happened so fast I didn't even get a good look at it, much less have an opportunity to intervene. I've also seen her catch and carry wild rabbits easily. And Yvaine is a teeny little TinyLady.

I've also seen videos of several people who compete in some hunting thing with American cockers. The birds (or "birds") they're retrieving look maybe crow-sized? I'm not sure. Yv & Tris aren't remotely interested in our crows, but that might be because the crows bribe them.

#cw: animal death #animal death mention #the crows bring bones thst are picked clean and drop them for the dogs #ehen there's a large carcass and the crows are full they bring bits with meat attached #the crows bribe the Spaniels #interesting dynamic #clever birds #they also bring sparkly and brightly colored presents for the horses #which sometimes includes broken glass #at least the horses don't seem to notice #and the presents are left where the horses won't step on them or eat them by accident #so that's a relief #cocker spaniels remain ridiculous #despite being impressively effective at hunting #they are very silly and goofy #and part hamster