Can Duke Become More Independent After Being a Velcro Dog?

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Awwww... so SWEET. :!) I like the way he keeps his tennis ball close by and handy... :biggrin:
 
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You never know when you'll need a tennis ball. How horrible it would be if someone wanted to play fetch and there wasn't a ball around!
 
turbo-1 said:
My wife got a yearly bonus and she got some idea that she might want to buy Duke a new, comfy bed. He already had 3 beds set up so he can sleep anywhere he wants and he was happy. Anyway, I found this really puffy dog-bed, and we think we have a winner. He loves this bed. He climbs on and turns himself around and the bed just wraps up around him.

newbed.jpg
BTW, he didn't poop out that tennis ball, and the gray under his chin is a skineeze toy. He likes taking toys to bed.

For at least several seconds upon seeing this, I just made little incoherent noises along the lines of, "AWWWWWHODALITTLEPUPPYAAWW."

You are a lucky man, and that is one lucky dog.
 
I've never met him, and I love that dog.

edit: I like that he gives his tail the ball, and keeps the chew-rope just at [STRIKE]hand[/STRIKE] mouth. Very VERY resourceful.
 
Yeah, I love that dog too. Thanks to turbo and his wife. :smile:
 
drizzle said:
Yeah, I love that dog too. Thanks to turbo and his wife. :smile:
We love Duke! He is a sweetie. He barks and hops around when he sees people. Not to scare them, although some people get scared if they are not "dog people". If they had a clue, they would would note that his tail is wagging like crazy and his butt is wiggling - he doesn't want to scare them off, he wants them to come and say "hi" and rub his ears.

My wife says that if she dies, I should take Duke for walks in local towns until he finds me a suitable mate. She's right. He's an instant ice-breaker.
 
Turbo,

Just read this: Dhttp://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/02/dolphins-save-stranded-dog-family-vacation/" The story is heart warming.
When Audrey D'Alessandro and her husband, Sam, walked out of their home on Marco Island, near Naples, Fla., to go fishing, "we saw these two dolphins, and they were splashing and making this big commotion" in a canal behind their vacation home, she said.

Although it is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming through the canal on their way to the Gulf of Mexico, Audrey D'Alessandro said that this time, "they were just there, in one place, splashing water against the canal wall."

When the D'Alessandros went to investigate, they saw that an 80-pound Doberman Pinscher was standing on a sandbar, half-submerged even at low tide. The dog, which disappeared from a nearby home some 12 hours before, was too weak to bark, she added, and could not get back onto land because of a several-foot-high canal wall.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/02/dolphins-save-stranded-dog-family-vacation/#ixzz1FpgTRtmT

and guess what the dog's name is? You guessed it, Turbo !
By the time the nurse lowered herself into the canal to get onto the sandbar, the dutiful dolphins were gone, but her husband called firefighters, who helped Audrey D'Alessandro hoist the dog out of the water. Turbo :cool:, who was shaking and unable to stand after being rescued, was quickly reunited with his owner -- who got the happy news while putting up lost-dog posters.

A few days later, a thankful Turbo and his owner made the eight-block trip to visit the D'Alessandros, who have a yellow Labrador of their own.

But Audrey D'Alessandro brushed off the island-wide praise the couple received afterward, saying that while "people pulled up to us when were driving and said, 'You're the couple that saved that dog,' I said, 'Yeah, sure.' But I think it was really those dolphins."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/02/dolphins-save-stranded-dog-family-vacation/#ixzz1Fpgit2Lr

Thought that story might brighten your day, even just a bit.

Rhody... :wink:
 
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turbo-1 said:
I'd risk my life for Duke. It might seem silly, but he is very dear to me and to my wife. She needs at least one of us around.

Here is an uplifting story from the survivors of the tsunami in Japan,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703363904576200571710073008.html?mod=googlenews_wsj"

The owners left with their children without untying their two dogs, in haste and I am sure great fear, the, dogs broke loose somehow and took refuge in the upper part of the house that survived. The owners were overjoyed they survived.

Rhody... :biggrin:
 
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edit:

I thought duplicate posts were not allowed, guess I was wrong, sorry...

Rhody...
 
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Hmmm... I bet they utilized a modified canine aquatic propulsion...



...that's right: THE DOGGY PADDLE!
 
You're going to need one of these, turbo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPIszdcCcc
 
lisab said:
You're going to need one of these, turbo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPIszdcCcc
If I buy one, you can kill me. I'd deserve it. Duke is already spoiled to death.
 
I'm lucky that the neighbors love Duke. While I have been laid up with this bad sprain, I've had considerate people come walk him so he can "do his stuff", and visit with me a bit when they bring him back.

The first time the organic gardening neighbor dropped into walk him, my wife stopped in after work to thank him for taking Duke for a walk. He said "Why thank me? Because I brought him back?" He and his family and their dog all love Duke and would gladly take him in if something happened to my wife and me.

BTW, their house is clad in reddish-brown stained cedar clapboards, and the daughter keeps saying "He matches our house!" like that's a good reason to steal my dog.
 
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For dlgoff! Here is Duke in his new ride. He loves going for rides. That chest harness and double-ended leash is his passenger restraint. That doesn't allow him enough leeway to jump out, not that he would anyway. When we come back home after a ride, I have to coax him to get him out. He will happily just sit there on the seat in case I decide to take him for another ride.

DukeUTV.jpg
 
Thanks turbo. What a lucky dog...I mean man. For having such a nice ride.
 
rootX said:
His seat belt makes me worry :redface:
Believe me, I have tested his restraint pretty thoroughly. Nothing bad is going to happen to my dog! I experimented with threading the shoulder-belt through his chest harness and around him, but that didn't work too well. Luckily, this harness has front and rear D-rings, and with the double-ended leash, I can secure him pretty well. He's not going anywhere.
 
dlgoff said:
Thanks turbo. What a lucky dog...I mean man. For having such a nice ride.
Between my property and other neighbors' properties, we have miles of trails through the woods. One of my neighbors has a good sand-pit on his property, and a couple of large Ford tractors, so our trails aren't just muddy ruts - they are often wide sand-bedded roads. When his boys were younger, they used to fix up junk vehicles and race them around out there, so they built some pretty demanding/fun roads, some steep, some real curvy, and some very pretty as they wind through birch and pine groves and along streams, including a beaver bog.
 
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turbo-1 said:
DukeUTV.jpg
Where's turbo-1? This is the third time he's been late since he bought me this ATV. Where's Jimmy? Oh yeah, he's ignoring me. Where can I get a driver at this hour?
 
Jimmy Snyder said:
Where's turbo-1? This is the third time he's been late since he bought me this ATV. Where's Jimmy? Oh yeah, he's ignoring me. Where can I get a driver at this hour?
Duke said:
After I paid for the utility vehicle with 4WD AND paid for a driver, why is the driver turning paparazzi on me? I'm not Britney Spears and I never wear underwear anyway! Take me for a ride NOW, you slacker!

I have to cut off his Internet access.
 
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I have created a monster! Just a couple of minutes ago, I said "We might have to take a ride to Tractor Supply to get a trailer-ball." and when he heard "ride" he was ready to go. Not the "get in the truck" ride, but the ATV wind-in-the-face ride.

It's nice living up here. One of my neighbors (Fire Chief) just bought a nice new custom-built flat-bed trailer, and he told me that if I ever need to use it to move my utility ATV or anything else, just come get it. I'd leave him a note, of course, but that's the beauty of living in a place like this. Everybody watches everybody else's back, and shares with others.

I think deep-down we're Amish people who use modern stuff, and will drink, party, etc.
 
Duke and I had a nice ride tonight. My wife used the ATV to move and plant some bushes and perennials she got from our neighbor's sister, and when she was done, Duke and I went out for a ride. We visited with neighbors (Duke starts looking at me and whining quietly if that lasts too long), played tennis-ball-fetch with a collapsible Chuck-It clone ball-thrower in a nice mowed field, and rode around on lots of very nice sandy-bed roads. When Duke has had enough exercise, he jumps into the ATV with little urging and sits up on the seat leaning into me with a big hangey-tongue grin. If he's feeling tuckered, he puts his front paws across my legs and hangs his head on my lap. Life is good.
 
Today is very hot and humid, but I still took Duke out for a ride so we could play ball in the woods, shaded from the direct sun. On the way, we stopped to say "hi" to the neighbors, and Max (who is Duke's gay suitor) jumped in the ATV when I asked if he wanted a ride. The three of us rode down into the woods and played fetch for 1/2 hour or so, until the boys were panting like crazy with tongues hanging out.

They both got back in the ATV when I called them (Duke on the seat and Max on the floor) and we rode back home. I thought they were winded, but they both piled out and started charging all over my neighbors' lawns and gardens at full-tilt. I'll have to make sure to have a camera with me next time - they are pretty cute together. Max is a German shepherd/pit bull mix, and is sweet as he can be. My neighbor loves to have both dogs running free on his property, and when low-lifes drive by slowly, looking around, he smiles, waves and under his breath says "Ooh! Big scary dogs, you scum." There have been quite a number of break-ins and home-invasions in the area over the last couple of years, but we've had no trouble. When Al and the family visited the Fryeburg fair a few years back, he bought a bone-shaped hand-lettered sign for his dog that says "Yard protected by Max" and he bought another one for Duke that we display on the corner of our log house.
 
turbo-1 said:
They both got back in the ATV when I called them (Duke on the seat and Max on the floor) and we rode back home. I thought they were winded, but they both piled out and started charging all over my neighbors' lawns and gardens at full-tilt.

Good dogs and they're happy you took them out.
 
dlgoff said:
Good dogs and they're happy you took them out.
They both love rides, playing tennis-ball fetch, and hanging out together. When we rode back out of the woods with both dogs in the ATV, grinning like fools, my neighbor and his daughter started grinning, too. It's pretty cute. We are really close-knit up here. When my wife gets home today, she's going to start cleaning out one of our chest freezers, so she and Duke can stay in the shade and cool, and my neighbor and I are going to jack up and level my new wood-shed. He's giving me a bunch of concrete pavers, so I can keep the hemlock stringers off the ground.