lindalove

Yesterday we did our usual PetSmart run. It was a light day as I only needed dog food. Usually I don't leave that place spending less than $40.00 at a time.

As I was making my way to the register, a guy with his two boys ( aged 7 & 9 roughly) and their Rhodesian Ridgeback came in. The kids were well behaved as was the dog until they got past the rug in front of the doors.


The dog was walking along on his leash just fine until he started walking across the clean, shiny tile floor. Once all four feet were on the tile, the dog freaked out. Initally he just stopped walking which lead to the father pulling on the leash. When a full grown, male Rhodesian decides he is not going to do something, it takes a patient owner to find the right trick to get the dog moving again. In this particular case, a whole hat filled with tricks wasn't going to make this dog walk across the floor.

By now the father and his 2 boys are trying to convince their beloved pet to walk. The dog decided that he was going to handle the floors by walking on his nails. Ever seen a dog do that? It's really strange sprinkled with comedy. Here's this 100+ pound dog walking on his nails as a way to manipulate the floor tile.

Since there were people in the store that liked to leave their carts in the middle of the aisles, I cut through the bird section of the store so I could pay and get out of there. By that time, the weary Rhodesian was shaking at the end of the dog collar aisle. At one point he disappeared, then as I was paying, the dog decided to make a go for it and dragged both the kids back to the rug at the front of the store as the father couldn't look for a collar, hold the dog's leash and watch his boys all at the same time. LOL

As I was leaving, I gave the what seemed to appear to be a well mannered Rhodesian a scratch under the chin and asked "Are you happy to be sitting the on the rug?" The dog wagged his tail, the kids started laughing and the dad grunted at me.

It was obvious that this dog was very well taken care of and loved very much by his humans, however his humans overlooked a very simple lesson that all dogs should be taught.

That lesson would be teaching their dog to walk over all kinds of surfaces. All dog owners should teach their dogs to walk over tile, storm drains, manhole covers, ect.. so they don't freak when they are taken some place that has some other floor covering besides carpet. Judging how this dog reacted to the tile floor, I'm gathering he has been raised with carpeted floors or is only allowed to roam on carpeting at their house.

Concrete or pavement acts like a natural nail file for dogs. So for dog owners that dread nail cutting duty when it calls, spend more time walking your dog on such surfaces and you won't have to worry about it. Not only will your dogs nails be trim, but the both of you will get some exercise and quality time while the neccesary "pedicure" is going on.

JStrider

and if humans walk on pavement barefoot it acts like a pumice stone...

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-=JStrider=-

~Clatto Verata Nicto

jRuntlets

Same goes for horses. Well, the walking over strange surfaces part.

Amusing:
My horse has ALWAYS been terrified of "odd" sand patterns. Flat spots where a previous horse has rolled freaks her out. She'll jump over it at all costs. She also isn't much for the sand after it hails. What a pansy. :P

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Horses come and go, but some leave permanent hoof prints on your life.

*Nikki*

That cracks me up that a horse is afraid of sand shapes like that......who would have thought!

Lady Sage

I suppose pets arent immune to minor bouts with psychosis too.

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