MJB

This post is dedicated to our beloved pooch Mr. Jack Black. Jame and I have had Jack for almost 5 months now, however it seems like we have had him for years!! Don't get me wrong, that is not a bad thing at all!! This guy has enriched our lives soooo much and we are still learning about his quirky behaviour. Like what you may ask? Let me share:

• He purrs. A deep purr!!! I swear he was a cat in a former life. He purrs when he watches you eat or when he is totally relaxed. For those who have never heard this sound, when they hear it for the first time it sounds like a little growl, but nope.....he purrs!
• When he has to go to the bathroom he has to do it in private. DO NOT make eye contact. And when he has to go he frantically looks for a bush to do his business in. Not just any ol' bush...it has to be "THE" bush.
• He loves food. Well, I guess I cannot hold this against him since he is a lab and all! We don't allow him people food, but those puppy dog eyes of his have definitely won over a few family members!
• He hates going out in the rain. When you open the door and he hears/sees the rain, he will practically digs his nails in the ground refusing to move forward. When we finally get him outside he lags so far behind us hinting he wants to go back inside ASAP!
• He never gives kisses. Kind of weird for a dog, huh? He will give you the odd kiss on the hand sometimes, but it is a rarity. Jame tells me he got 5 face kisses on his face all at once, but I don't really believe him ;-) He shows his affection in other ways by cuddling with you or nuzzling his snout into the nape of your neck.
• He lets you know when it is time to wake up in the morning. This is done by either jumping on the bed, wagging his tail so hard that it thumps, thumps, thumps against the wall and makes the loudest noise ever OR he walks up to the the side of the bed and tickles your face with his whiskers.

All of these things crack Jamie and I up all of the time and they add so much to his personality. We love him to death!

When we first got him we were told that he wasn't good with kids and was totally fine around other dogs. Shortly after we brought him home we noticed it was the complete opposite. He is fine with Keisha, Cody and Lacey (family dogs), but when we meet a dog on the street he puffs out and barks and charges. Small dogs he seems to be ok with, but dogs his size or bigger is a totally different story.  A lot of the time his behaviour is hit and miss, so that just make us more nervous every time we approach another dog.

Jame and I have been watching a lot of the TV show called the "DOG WHISPERER". Cheryl told me about this show, but we never got the channel until recently. Cesar Milan is the whisperer and he believes dogs react the way they do based on the owner's energy. I don't want to go into too much detail and bore you to death, but before Jame and I took Jack out today we watched an episode during breakfast. The show was about a dog who charged at others while walking and another one was about an uncontrollable dog at the dog park.  The 2nd half really appealed to us because we have always been so nervous to take Jack to the park. We decided to apply some of the tips Cesar used.

We went to Rocky Point in Pt. Moody. We have never been there before and it is absolutely beautiful. I have a photo shoot there in a couple of weeks...great location. ANYHOW..... there was a fenced in dog park with one lady and her 3 month old puppy. We went in and Jack was totally fine. We were chatting with the owner when all of a sudden we saw this:

"What do we have here?"

There were like 10 dogs that jumped out of the Honda Element. As soon as Jack saw them, we put him on his leash and pulled out some Cesar.  To make a long story short, with some of the techniques we used we were able to let him off leash and roam around with the other dogs. No drama at all. When he started to act up we were quick to put him in his place. Jame and I joked that he was like the park warden. Every time another dog was barking too much, he would run over to them and bark back at them. Or if another dog was super hyper and sprinting around the park, he would chase them and bark as if to say"Slow down". It was humours!Eventually he could have cared less about the 12 other dogs in his presence.

 

This is Wednesday. He is only 3 months old and would not let go of his rubber frisbee!

Some of you might be thinking..."Whoopi" but for us as a dog owner...this was a HUGE MILESTONE for MJB! I am not gonna lie...the whole thing brought a little tear to my eye!

When we got home we dressed him up in his Halloween costume!!! I wanted to do it at the park, but Jame didn't want to embarrass him in front of all the other dogs. We wouldn't usually dress him up, but my boss was kind enough to give me the costume as a gift, so I had to try it on him! As you can tell by the second picture...he was not impressed:

Well, for those of you who managed to read this entry in its entirety... thanks for letting me talk about my bestest 4 legged friend ever! Oh ya...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!