The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
kateincornwall said:
Just the thought of taking Reuben into a shop fills me with horror , maybe one day :facepalm:
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It's not as horrifying as it sounds, as long as it's not a shop with food. It's a lot harder for me to manage Carbon in a Pets at Home than it is in a clothing shop. He's also been going into shops since last summer, so has had a lot of practice. Still there was a rather embarrassing moment yesterday when he got into a shouting match with two Jack Russells. Ugh. I don't 100% blame him - they had a go at him first. he was tired from being in the shop for so long and I should have reacted quicker to steer him away. He's usually very good with small dogs so I wasn't cautious enough.

Luckily any shop in Padstow is used to flocks of dogs so they didn't bat an eye.

The other thing is the tail and making sure it doesn't knock over anything delicate on lower shelving. I'm still not used to dealing with a tail! :rofl:
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Boogie said:
Spencer has been ‘shopping’ since he was eight weeks old so he takes it all in his stride. The hardest thing to train was ignoring things on the floor.

:)
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My SD trainer has already said that I will need to go into shops without Carbon, 'plant' food distractions, come back with Carbon and use that as a training session. I can just imagine how that is going to go down in "littering is a capital offence" Bavaria. I'll probably do what I do now which is to bring my own food distractions (usually an open plastic container of sausages), place it down temporarily, walk Carbon past and then pick it up again. That's a modification that keeps me out of the Regensburg Incorrect Recyclers and Litterers Prison (I'm sure that is a thing).

In any case, I've already got my hands full getting him to ignore what is ALREADY on the floor. In Bavaria, that's PRETZELS. Mothers use them as disposable kid pacifiers (dummies) so they get dropped everywhere!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Human faces have been blurred to protect the (not) innocent.

(Actually it was just a bit of muck on my lens, but it worked out perfectly :LOL: )

Once upon a time in a land not so far away called Wales, there was a Very Important Dog named Pongo. One of the ways that Pongo is Very Important is that he has a kind and loving Monkey Butler (tm @SwampDonkey ) who feeds him Delicious Tidbits on his own Special Silver Fork. Pongo loves his Monkey Butler SO MUCH that he lets her think the Special Silver Fork is hers.

But it isn't. :shake:

One day Pongo had a special Spanish Gentleman dog visit. This friend is special because he has the magical power to make bread rain from the sky. Today, however, Pongo wanted to show his friend how HE could make food rain out of the sky, too. Well, not really out of the sky but rather from his Special Silver Fork.

Pongo concentrated Very Very Hard to make the magic power work. His friend helped him concentrate. Just in case.
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It worked! Here comes the Special Silver Fork for Pongo...
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...and here comes the Special Silver Fork for the Spanish Gentleman. With Pongo carefully supervising, of course.
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And because this was a Very Special Day all around, Pongo gave the honour of licking the Magical Plastic M&S container clean to his Spanish Gentleman friend. Wowsa!
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All was well in the Kingdom of Wales and Pongo was pleased with his beloved Monkey Butler.
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His Spanish Gentleman friend was pretty chuffed about the whole thing too!
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THE END. :wasntme:
 
Rosie

Rosie

Location
South Wales
Emily_Babbelhund said:
Human faces have been blurred to protect the (not) innocent.

(Actually it was just a bit of muck on my lens, but it worked out perfectly :LOL: )

Once upon a time in a land not so far away called Wales, there was a Very Important Dog named Pongo. One of the ways that Pongo is Very Important is that he has a kind and loving Monkey Butler (tm @SwampDonkey ) who feeds him Delicious Tidbits on his own Special Silver Fork. Pongo loves his Monkey Butler SO MUCH that he lets her think the Special Silver Fork is hers.

But it isn't. :shake:

One day Pongo had a special Spanish Gentleman dog visit. This friend is special because he has the magical power to make bread rain from the sky. Today, however, Pongo wanted to show his friend how HE could make food rain out of the sky, too. Well, not really out of the sky but rather from his Special Silver Fork.

Pongo concentrated Very Very Hard to make the magic power work. His friend helped him concentrate. Just in case.
View attachment 7660

It worked! Here comes the Special Silver Fork for Pongo...
View attachment 7659

...and here comes the Special Silver Fork for the Spanish Gentleman. With Pongo carefully supervising, of course.
View attachment 7662

And because this was a Very Special Day all around, Pongo gave the honour of licking the Magical Plastic M&S container clean to his Spanish Gentleman friend. Wowsa!
View attachment 7658

All was well in the Kingdom of Wales and Pongo was pleased with his beloved Monkey Butler.
View attachment 7661

His Spanish Gentleman friend was pretty chuffed about the whole thing too!
View attachment 7657

THE END. :wasntme:
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Pongo is Very Proud to have introduced Carbon to The Way Things Really Ought To Work at hooman mealtimes. He has put a lot of effort into traing his hoomans and this is his proudest achievement.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Our Sunday tradition has become the Padstow Gauntlet walk and as this is our last Sunday in Cornwall for a while, that's what we did. The Padstow Gauntlet consists of starting at the crowded car park, negotiating the church yard (no weeing on the graves, please), watching the deers in the park attached to the stately home ("See the puppy?" "Good boy!"), off lead through the wheat fields and along the beach path, back up to the WW1 memorial and grassy park (off lead again for a proper hoolie before reaching the picnicker section) and then down into town to walk around the port. The port is the real challenge as every weekend there are what seems to be hundreds of dogs of all shapes and sizes, plus food and children and seagulls: this is heart of the Padstow Gauntlet.

As @Selina27 can attest, Carbon finds the Gauntlet a challenge. When I came in March, I thought that if I could get him to walk through that mess without batting an eye by the end of our stay, we'd be golden. Well, mission not quite accomplished, but how far Besito Boy has come. Today he had a little shout at a Staffie on the beach path, but to his credit (and maybe mine too) he made a quick recovery. Once in town, however, he really shone. It was a sunny Sunday so chockablock with people and dogs. We walked around the harbour three times, alternating five minutes on a hands-free heel and five minutes on a loose lead. LOTS of treats were used but no luring. I marked and treated him when he voluntarily looked back at me and away from temptation (another dog, someone eating fish and chips). I used hand touches to distract him in advance if I thought we were walking into a particularly challenging space. He had precisely one slip, which was ignoring a hand touch cue in favour of sniffing another black Labrador's posterior. Maybe he thought it might be Cassie or Bramble?

He has come so far since the first time I dragged him shouting his way through the Padstow Gauntlet last June!

This evening we headed over to Porthcothan beach for a sunset cliff walk. The tide was out so I thought I'd try giving him a bit more freedom by letting him go leash-free for certain sections of the walk that don't have a steep drop down to the beach. I figured the worst he would do was go down one of the steep staircases that I can't negotiate down without him. Do I know my dog or what? The first staircase, down he went. Yes, I could have prevented it, but frankly I was curious to see what he'd do.

What he did was run down to the beach and very nicely greet a couple and their Labrador. I waved at the couple to let them know he wasn't on his own, then pipped the whistle for him. He reacted immediately, zooming back towards the staircase. My heart soared! What a SMART dog! What a GOOD boy! Until...he veered off right at the base of the staircase to do a zoomie victory lap around the beach. As Carbon would say: "Pfft!" To his credit, after a thankfully short detour, he ran back up the staircase with a happiness and enthusiasm that made me forgive all transgressions immediately.

Now we're off to bed to rest up for our big adventure seeing @Natalie and Monty tomorrow. I'm excited and I know Carbon would be too if he knew what was coming!

Some snaps of Besito Boy (and one random scenery shot) at Mother Ivey's Bay: que guapo es, mi corazon!
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M

M.F.

I loved the description of the victory lap!

Are you finding that having a Labrador allows a certain freedom, that people aren’t afraid of your dog? I definitely find that with mine. On the weekends, the promenade is full of families who are terrified of dogs, but then I’ll hear one kid say to another, “He’s a Labrador, he won’t bite.”
 
Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
Emily that's a brilliant read -- a huge well done to you, now you are reaping the rewards of all your training work with Carbon :) He did so well :star::star:. The Padstow Gauntlet is indeed a big deal for him.

As for this -
Emily_Babbelhund said:
he veered off right at the base of the staircase to do a zoomie victory lap
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Cassie may have whispered in his ear :wink: -- it's one of her specialities :rofl:

Have a great day with Monty and @Natalie, can't wait for the photo's!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
M.F. said:
Are you finding that having a Labrador allows a certain freedom, that people aren’t afraid of your dog? I definitely find that with mine. On the weekends, the promenade is full of families who are terrified of dogs, but then I’ll hear one kid say to another, “He’s a Labrador, he won’t bite.”
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Oh yes, definitely. The difference between having a Rottweiler and a Labrador is black and white. Carbon is forgiven SO MUCH. Even what I call his 'shouting' at other dogs (which is thankfully happening rarely these days) is usually just laughed off. To be honest, at the beginning I resented what I've come to think of as Labrador Free Pass: it's just as ridiculous to assume all Labradors are good as to think all Rottweilers are bad. However I've come to accept that as just the way things are and to appreciate Carbon's golden privilege when it comes to preconceived notions.

Just as Brogan's Rottweilerness made it difficult to protect him 100% from other humans and breed-specific laws, Carbon's Labradorness is an extra layer of protection to keep him safe.

Then there is the irony that people often challenged the fact that Brogan was a certified assistance dog due to his breed, where I get asked very frequently if Carbon is assistance dog (or guide dog in training) because of his breed.

Finally with Carbon I've (so far) not been refused lodging or even questioned on booking requests. Hotels, B&B, Airbnb: in the booking request I write that I'm traveling with a "2 year old black Labrador" and that's that. I can't tell you how many convoluted email exchanges I used to have before booking a place with Brogan because they were fine with large dogs but not with a Rottweiler.

So yes, definitely a lot of advantages in having a breed that is nearly universally loved and has a rep for friendliness!



Selina27 said:
The Padstow Gauntlet is indeed a big deal for him.
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You saw him on a bad (yet for that time a pretty typical) day, so you really know how excited I am for him to do as well as he did yesterday. :D
 
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