You’ve never been smothered until you’ve been smothered by a Cavalier. We call these face hugs. They’re a Princessface Maizey specialty.
Does your Cav do this or something similar?
 8 comments  Cavalier Query, pictures photos and memories  maizeymaymay Copyright © 2011 Lessons From and For 4 Legs - All Rights ReservedI haven’t been able to post lately cause every spare waking moment I have has to be spent grooming Magnus.  "See how pretty I was at nine months?" I remember Maizey’s hair getting to this stage when she was his age, but she had much less hair and has always been much more tolerant to grooming than he is. Perhaps you remember her cocklebur debacle, which if it had happened to Magnus would surely have resulted in his getting shaved to the skin! He seems to be giving me a run for my money when it comes to just getting brushed. Even though he is submitting to the nightly grooming ritual, he certainly doesn’t love it. I’m settling for tolerance out of him, but I would prefer a bit less misery for the rest of his grooming life. That will come with Handling in my new Training Levels books, but we don’t get to that until the end of Level Two. Until then I’m trying to make it as pleasant as possible with liberal application of treats and not pushing him too far past his tolerance. In the treat department we’ve found using the squeezy cheese bottle as a bribe for them to be still works wonders. Just lay it next to the current grooming torture victim and the very hope of some of that elixir of the dog gods squeezing out seems to lull them into complacency. (Since I posted a similar picture for WW, there seems to be some concern that I’m overdosing my dogs on squeezy cheese. Let me insert the disclaimer that very little cheese is actually dispensed and you must admit it makes an hilarious picture!)  "Squeezy cheese-the solution to all grooming ails!" Magnus further complicates the grooming issue by insisting on tramping through every weed and sticker patch he can find. His hair is just long enough the stickers go straight to the skin. The ones that don’t make it to the skin make an instant mat. So Cavalier Query: What kind of grooming tools do you find most helpful? What kind of shampoo, conditioner and detangler? Do you use a slicker brush? He hates his, and settles most easily with a natural bristle soft brush. The most important query of all: How do you reach those hard to reach places? I know most people are sane and groom on a grooming table. I don’t have one, and Maizey has always been like grooming a rag doll So I mostly just flop her upside down and brush her belly, under her legs and chest. Magnus doesn’t love that near as much. Please help me out with your vast experience! If you want me to be able to post about Maizey’s Tricks Class, Magnus next class, or any of my new found knowledge from my new Training Levels books please help me not have to spend so much time brushing tangles, snarls, and twigs out of this teenage boy!  "Why do you think we'll be hard to clean up? We're not that dirty!" 3 comments Cavalier Query, grooming Handling, magnus, maizey maymay Copyright © 2011 Lessons From and For 4 Legs - All Rights ReservedRemember Mother Goose? She had so many pearls of wisdom to share with young impressionable minds. One of which some consider to be an early commentary on the stereotypical roles of boys and girls: WHAT ARE LITTLE BOYS MADE OF? What are little girls made of, made of ? Stereotype or not, Magnus is putting the truth of this nursery rhyme to the test. In the process he is also putting my patience to the test. How so? For instance, one little girl dog and one little boy dog go outside. They go out in the same yard, spend the same amount of time zooming the same course around the garden and yet when they come inside four little feet look like this: Four little feet look like this: Want to guess which one is the boys’ feet? Yup, the dirty ones. I mean seriously! What does he do? Dance in worst muddy puddle in the whole yard? I think I could handle it better, but look at Maizey’s feet, barely a speck of dirt. “Sugar and spice and everything nice?” Well, it’s at least nice for keeping my floors clean. And the part about snails? Well you would think that was just an exaggeration that rhymes with “puppy dogs’ tails.” Apparently no one told Magnus it wasn’t to be taken literally. Last year we had a slight snail infestation. Snails are not high in my list of favorite things. I find them quite disgusting. Apparently no one told Magnus that either. Twice now he has proudly and happily brought me a dead snail shell. Yuck! The snail shells are really putting my “always throw a party when Magnus brings me anything” rule to the test. Have you ever had to act excited as your little boy puppy obediently spits an old snail shell right into your hand? It’s not easy! What makes it worse is we have been diligently working on him bringing me his most valued possessions in exchange for something else. But why do his most valued possessions have to be so gross? It’s not that Maizey has never done anything gross on her life, she is a normal dog after all, but Magnus leaves me wondering if any one else has observed this phenomenon in their Cavaliers? Today’s Cavalier Query: Are your boys more “boy” than your girls? Are your little girls really sugar and spice and every thing nice? In Magnus defense it is impossible to resist this face: 13 comments Cavalier Query cavalier query, magnus, maizey maymay Copyright © 2011 Lessons From and For 4 Legs - All Rights ReservedFirst, a special thanks to all you have joined the 2011 Walking Challenge! Many are off to a banner start, especially those who live in warmer climates than the frigidly cold weather we have been having. (You know who you are and you know I am jealous!) It’s exciting to have so much support. Thanks to Kathleens’ thoughtful suggestion, I made a badge for us all to post on our sites if you would like to. If you have any suggestions of how to make it better please let me know! Miss Kodee and Becky passed along this great site to help figure out and track mileage. I have been playing with it and it is super cool. I also have used google maps and google earth, but I think I Map My Walk even better. Be sure to update me with our progress in a comment in any post, it doesn’t have to be a walking challenge post. Again if you have a good walking story to share feel free to post a link, I will love to read everyone’s adventures! Query: How To Walk Two Dogs At Once How do you walk both of your dogs at once? Now I know there are a lot of rules about loose leash walking and both must be good on leash before they go together and all that jazz. . . Be reassured both dogs are getting plenty of individual practice. But I really need to be able to walk them together sometimes. Time is short, energy is low, the weather is lousy and I am doing good to get out there at all, let alone twice, or whatever the case may be-I need to be able to walk them both at once sometimes. So I want the inside scoop here! What kind of leash do you prefer? Leather? Nylon? Flexi-lead? How long is your leash? Six feet? Four feet? Do you use one of those dog couplers that lets you use one leash and have two dogs on the end? (I hesitate to think the kind of chaos that could create when they decide to zoomy around and tug on each others ears!) I prefer a nice 3/8 to 1/2 inch, six foot leather leash for one pup, but two nice 3/8 to 1/2 inch, six foot leather leashes, each with their own dog on the end is not working well for me either. (Insert sighs and rolling eyes here!) What about different kinds of walks? When we walk by the river we use a long line for more freedom. I have a pretty good setup with a 15′ long line with hook on each end, and I hold onto the middle. Keeps tangling down, my hands are free for c/t’s, it can be gathered up for nice walking. It works pretty well, but what better ideas do all you brilliant people have? And what about taking a nice stroll through the city with two dogs on one sidewalk? You know the quick jaunt around the block? How do you make that as fun and leash tangling free as possible? Once again I beg and thank you for the benefit of your wisdom. We have 361 miles more to go and need your advice to make it happen! 10 comments Cavalier Query, walking challenges loose leash walking, magnus, maizey maymay Copyright © 2011 Lessons From and For 4 Legs - All Rights Reserved |
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