March 2, 2012

Obsessions

Those of you that never met Abby probably don't know how insanely light-obsessed she was! She would go nuts over any sort of light or reflection. It was especially a challenge to cook at night. You have NO idea how much your pots, pans, and spatulas pick up the overhead lights in your kitchen and throw them back up on the ceiling until you have a light-obsessed dog! Making dinner was always chaos. I'd have to hunch over the stove/pots in an effort to shield any bouncing lights. Otherwise Abby would go nuts, barking at the ceiling, jumping up on the counters - and I was always afraid she'd hurt herself on the slippery wood floors.

As much as we miss that girl, it's kind of nice to be able to cook without doing a Hunchback of Notre Dame imitation. Every time I pull one our shiny stainless pots out of the cupboard, I still flinch, expecting to be charged by a frantic tripawd.

Luckily, Rita is oblivious to the magical mystical powers of shiny objects! Hooray! This is our first dog who's not light-obsessed and it's wonderful. (Those of you who knew our previous dog, Bailey, know how crazy she was for the laser-light. She had to be "buzzed", as we called it, with the laser at least three times/day - chasing it up and down the halls and around the house. Crazy. We couldn't even show Abby the laser because she didn't know when to quit.) I got Rita the shiniest tag ever, with little pink rhinestones, and I'm constantly noticing it bouncing reflections off the walls of the house or the car, and she could care less. It's awesome.

"I'll wear these as long as you want. Just give me the cookie."
However, Rita does have other obsessions - mainly treats and, after really getting a taste for one, birds. She hangs out by our pantry, where the treats are stashed, a lot. I'm hoping to use her treat obsessiveness to train her to wear Abby's old Doggles:



"Are we done yet?"
Abby never liked to wear them for more than a second, but I'm hoping I can train Rita to wear them, since she loves to ride with her head hanging out the car window. Forget the safety aspect - it's worth the training time invested for the Cute Factor alone!

5 comments:

  1. So cute in the doggles! As you know, I can relate to the light obsession. Thank goodness Indy is less insane than she used to be.

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  2. Rumbles loves the laser light and some flashlight tag, but he doesn't notice other flashes.
    He's most obsessed with rugs, blankets, cushions, pillows, and if worse comes to worst, towels. The dog cannot lay down unless there is something to lie upon. He has a bed in most every room. But if we find ourselves in a room with a bare floor, he paces and snorts until I find something to cushion his princely behind.

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  3. Oh Rita is so cute with goggles!

    Thank goodness she loves treats and doesn't care about shiny objects! (Although I would used the shiny object problem as an excuse to NOT cook!)

    Dog obsessions are so funny! I still hesitate to turn on the water hose outside fearing a charging three legged dog is going to come after me and take my hand off to grab it! (hubby lost his 1st wedding ring that way)

    Rocket never understood why the water hose was so important but he'd run over to it too with Comet. Now, he runs over to it and says, "Remind me, why are so excited about the water being turned on?"!

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  4. We saw a laser-obsessed dog the other night and were stunned, we thought only cats did that!

    Rita is just darling. You can definitely use that food-motivation to your advantage, just don't tell her that!

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  5. Finchy is obsessed with squeaky toys. OMD! He will squeak them over and over and over until he has destroyed the squeak. Those are outside toys only. Chili Dawg didn't really have an obsession. For a few years he was obsessed with shoelaces. He would bang his head into the closet door until it opened, gently remove a shoe, and then remove the laces leaving the shoe intact.

    My parent's have a mastiff that is obsessed with the laser light. So funny to watch a 90+ pound dog gallop around after a little red light!

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