Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Walking in the Rain

Everytime I'm out with my guys walking in the rain, all I can think of is that old Gene Kelly movie. My guys look at me all weird when I burst out the chorus to "Singin' in the Rain" ... like they're asking "what the heck did you add to your breakfast, mom?" or "what do you have to be happy about, mom? Didn't you notice that we're getting wet?"

For a bunch of dogs that absolutely love swimming and getting wet, they sure don't like the rain much. The retriever is best of all of them, but even he likes to be dry once in a while. There's something about the rainy days that just don't scream "Let's go swimming!"

Rain is a GREAT time to work on training. There are so many things you can work on with them at this time! Umbrellas, Hoods, Rain Ponchos ... not to mention all the sounds, smells and sights that are associated with rain!

Do your dogs like the rain? How are they with umbrellas? Rain coats? Thunder?

6 comments:

Cyndi and Stumpy said...

When I was living back east, I found that my clients did/would not work their dogs in "weather." Then they wondered why their dogs would not work in the rain, snow, wind, etc. DUH!!!!

GoLightly said...

Hah! Blaze loves to swim, but she hates to get her feet wet. She's very surprised by umbrellas.
Blaze will flatly refuse to go outside, if it's squishy between her toes. She hates that. Blaze doesn't mind storms, as long as Frisbee is available.

Flip can't swim, but doesn't mind getting wet. She hears thunder 100 miles away. Flip hates storms. She just goes and lies down and shivers, thank goodness.

Husband's Old GSD Sam would try to tear the house apart during storms. Often with great success.
Nope, I didn't train Sam.

OldMorgans said...

Most of my dogs were Lab crosses and so loved the water. But none would swim; they wanted their feet on solid ground. They hated to get a bath. They wanted the water on their terms only.
Rain--none seemed to care if it was raining or not. They would wade in the creek in the rain. They would roll in the mud beside the creek in the rain.
Thunder--one time a thunder clap let loose immediately above our place. It shook the house. One dog took off about 100mph down the driveway, thru the fence, out the road and did not come back. I posted signs the next day & got a call. She ended up about 2 miles away straight across country & nearly 4 miles by road.
All my horses, prefer to stay out of the rain.

sagebeasties.blogspot.com

lilyruth said...

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DogsDeserveFreedom said...

GSC - it's so easy to condition them that way. People make me laugh and your post made me think of all the dog owners I know who won't go out when the weather is less than perfect.

GoLightly - One of our guys is like that - swimming is ok, but squishy toes? No way is she going out! No matter how much I've tried, she just doesn't want to be out in the rain. I have to escort her through the door because otherwise, she'll just stand there ... if she could talk, I'm sure she'd be saying something like "you go, I don't have to pee, I'll see you when you get back".

OldMorgans - My first dog did that - we had to be very careful not to allow her outside when a storm was coming. Her worst was when she ran to the next town (almost 5 miles by road, but less as the crow flies - or as the dog runs!)

lilyruth - uh, wow. I will have to send you an email, your post has sparked so many questions in my poor head ... Why do you have so many dogs? Are they all neutered? Are they all trained? ... like I said I'll shoot you out an email.

GoLightly said...

"I have to escort her through the door because otherwise, she'll just stand there ..." Me too.

Heck, Blaze will not go, unless I get the umbrella, and go with her.

She doesn't like worms either.
Considering "my" property used to be a worm farm, her expressions are pretty funny at night.
ewwwww, what was ThaT??
We have tremendous earthworms. The noise they make at night can be surprisingly loud, and Blaze's face the first time she saw one schlooop back into the ground..
priceless.

And yet we walk in ALL weather, except -30 blizzards.
No thanks.