Everyone Loves…

a dog in uniform.

Scooby doesn’t do anything very special for a living, and lately he’s been very energetic and restless. My vet told me that everything was fine with him, in fact, everything was great. I feel like the blame goes to his few months on a new raw diet (Tom Lonsdale Style). He’s shiny, energetic, and poop-patrol no longer involves a goopy mess. I’m all for the polished and healthy part, but the energy level is wearing down my knees. About a month ago we were learning the bicycle ‘heel. He liked it well enough, but he fell and since then has been a bit fearful of it. He won’t stay close anymore and heels about five feet off to my left, well off of the sidewalk and onto people’s lawns or the street. I trained him from puppy-hood to pee but save his poop for home but they are all wary of dogs on their grass. It’s quite frustrating.

So while surfing the ‘net I came across a very nice blog post about dog backpacks (which I’d heard about from a friend) and their usefulness. A few days later I’d bought my pooch a pack. It’s similar to the Aussie Naturals pack but has one small addition that I couldn’t pass up, it’s reflective! For a black or dark colored dog, I consider flashy things to be a must. When we take those occasional hiking trips or early/late walks I need to keep an extra good eye on him and that is hard at those times. Add in the fact that people in my area drive like blind maniacs at times and you have a recipe for disaster. We already have reflective/light-up leads and collars (he doesn’t wear them at home), so having and eye-straining backpack fit the rest of the dog stuff.

Friday I tried to get him into it.

He definitely did not like it at first. He did the whole “not-moving” thing the moment I put it on him. Only after much coaxing  and cheese did he finally walk around a few steps. I then realized my error and on the next try, put it on, but did not click on any straps. He saw through it and tried to do the classic “barrel roll” to get it off.

I was persistent though and eventually he gave in (cheese helped).  My brother’s dog seemed to think he looked okay. She barked at him a while from her perch on top of a box.

I can only say that afterwards, he was happier to have a new rope-thing to chew at.

Anyhow, now he’s walking about with it empty (and all the neighbors love it). I’ve been getting compliments and questions galore for his nice behavior. Soon I’ll start with weights (coins to soda cans) and maybe afterwards we’ll be able to go on a hike or to the park with him holding his own stuff (and maybe some of mine).