JMFS

What breed is she? I'll keep my eyes and ears open for similar cases. Can't say I've heard of this one, but it has me curious!

I knew you'd be able to fill me in. Some of the reviews I read did indicate what you mentioned. I'm not sure what it means, but a couple said they were told to "bah like a sheep." I'm not sure I'm up for that, lol. Their price tag was hefty as they charge for each dog (base price for one, $200 for each additional). I will contact Dr. Curtis, thank you. If nothing else, she may know of someone local or have someone who's willing to travel. The sticking point with the gal in Gainesville (which is likely where Dr. Curtis is given her UF email address) is that she doesn't do home visits and I feel like that's going to be an integral part to this process. There have been no more arguments between the girls and I don't feel like I'm killing myself trying to manage the situation so that's a plus. I did find a good OTC calming supplement that works on Esther. I give it to her 30 minutes before we eat and she's settling down on the couch with us now. When I had to do a 4-hour round trip drive Saturday the husband sure did cheat and gave it to all three dogs while I was gone. I was so frustrated because it's a 1x per day med and he gave it 5 hours too early. Needless to say he had a pretty easy day and is scratching his head over why I have issues getting work done. <insert steam coming out of the ears emoji here> That's the equivalent of plying children full of ice cream and cake to keep them quiet while dad "babysits." Grrrrr. One thing this supplement is doing is calming her down enough to where she's learning the routine. She now simply goes to the couch and hops up instead of balking. She does seem to be projecting her inner Momo, though, and prefers the floor. Fine by me! More room for my yarn. I do keep her tethered at these times and want to phase that out (I sit on the end of the leash so she can't get to Abbi or walk on Gertie). I'm thinking maybe a mat on the floor with her treat will do the trick. The only issue there is Gertie doesn't get a treat because I love my couch and don't want it slobbered / peanut buttered / apple sauced (natural, no xylitol or sugar, just mushed apples). I'm not to the point of trusting them both on the floor with Kongs. Gerts doesn't seem bothered by it, though she's Definitely watching Esther enjoying herself, and I don't want to foster a problem there. Boy oh boy this dance sure was easier with Momo being outside and Gertie being inside! Mo was happy to be with us, but he liked to sit away from us when he was inside. You could see how uncomfortable he was on the couch - he never liked beds much, either. Esther wants to be Everywhere, despite all the play they do and the brain exercises. I'm mentally designing our next houses with all this in mind! Esther is absolutely getting better and loves training, but she presents some unique challenges I haven't come across before now. She's so mischievous, lol. Gertie and Momo had their moments, but Esther seems to delight in testing the boundaries. Especially with attempting to entice me to chase her. The closing door trick and "bye!" still work, though, ha! Gets her to come running 7 out of 9 times.

Bark Busters is the company - my edit button is missing. Over the phone it sounds good, but as I'm finding videos that show Zero training, only before and after, I'm leery. I can't find a single video of anyone practicing the training, all advertisements don't show any of it, they have a choke collar on their store page . . .. I figure if anyone knows anything about them and can tell me to give it a shot or run for the hills, it's you. :) I looked up reviews and found some snarky comments, but for as many dogs as they say they've trained it's actually very few.

Canine Communication. Tonality, posture, eye contact. They assured me there are no alpha rolls, no scruff grabs, no e-collars, shock collars, prong collars, choke collars, etc . . .. I can't find much about it online other than how to sign up for a course to get certified, but I'll admit I only looked for about 5 minutes because I need to get to work so our subcontractors get paid. We have a consult set up for Aug 24th and I asked what happens if I am not on board with their methods and he said we'll part ways as friends.

Rachel Ray Simply Nourish: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/simply-nourish/

Smart! I've been told I type like I talk. I don't know any other way to do it! I send these long messages to my daughter and I get back, "ok." Ack! Details, child, details! Yes, a little broth in the water is smart! We have the opposite issue with Esther - that girl would drink up the entire pool if we let her!

It drives me bonkers when Esther pushes past Gertie. Argh! Lookie here, you young upstart, Gertie earned the right to go first! Meanwhile Gerts is over there like, "can I go now?" The treat was in Gertie's area in the office, where Mo rarely went, and they were both headed to that area. Mo was doing a "new stuff, let's sniff" exploration, Gertie noticed he was close to her toy, rushed to get to it first then snapped and snarled at him when he got too close. That was the first time she'd Every shown any guarding issues and that was about a year ago. All I could think was, "she learned it from you, Mo, stop looking affronted." That trainer hasn't responded so I'll keep looking. I'm wary of their statements and I'm suspicious it's going to be Alpha training. I found another of their trainers that talked on their page about the pack and how mother dogs treat their pups to keep them out of trouble, and make them feel safe. That's setting off red flags.

Momo did that and was none the worse for it. He liked to "dive" for rocks. I would throw a tennis ball at the dog park and he would instead stick his head under water, dig around with his feet, then come up with a rock 2x the size of his head (slight exaggeration). There were bubbles as he let the air out of his lungs. He'd be under for a good 20 seconds on average, much to the delight of bystanders. I always have the weird dogs, lol. We humans do the same when we swim under water and want to stay under a little longer. :) I think Loki's just smart about how to use his lungs and keep the water from going up his nose! For hard stools pumpkin puree and sweet potatoes are also good. Abbi gets a sweet potato chew every evening. I believe Loki eats kibble (I remember us talking about storing it). You can get more water into him by softening his food with water, or you can mix wet food in with his kibble (or feed it separately). The only concern I would have is if he's "snarfing" the water. That's where they suck it up their noses. If he did that regularly I'd be more cautious, but the occasional nose full of water is no biggie.

Complex to be sure! I feel Gertie picked it up from Momo and is transferring it to Esther, albeit at a Far lesser intensity. I still remember the day she and Mo got into it and I was Shocked that Gertie was the instigator. Mo was approaching her food toy, something he normally didn't do, and she had something to say about it. I was both proud and horrified, lol. Proud that she stuck up for herself, horrified that I might have to work on this, yet again. I contacted someone who's not on the PPG site, but they do say they use force free methods. "Pain-free, treat-free, and clicker-free." I'm not sure what else is left. Telepathy?!

The more we chat about it, the more I'm feeling I definitely need that expert set of eyes. Esther reacts, but only when Gertie starts something. To me it's a reasonable response because if I was happily chatting away with someone and all of a sudden they slapped me across the face I'd react a lot like Esther does. I think that experienced set of hands to see these interactions in person will be an important piece to heading these conflicts off before they even start. In the meantime I'll continue to eliminate contentious situations. An ounce of prevention! So glad I have your advice because I'd feel totally lost otherwise. You've taught me so very much. 💜

Alright, so your summary is in line with what I was thinking. Nutshell: it could add to the overexcitement The odd thing is Gertie has been the instigator every time. Esther happily shares toys (no tension when Gertie comes near - opposite, she entices Gerts to play) and it's the same with treats. It's a very strange thing to experience after Momo's situation! No whale eye, no tensing, no movement of her head to block or make to snap / bite. The only thing she does that drives me Bonkers is push Gertie out of the way for a better position (e.g., to get closer to me). She gives no push back when redirected. I usually ask for a sit, but lately it's been do overs. E.g., she rushes past us down the stairs, Gertie and I go back into the office and I close the door. Esther comes bounding up the stairs like, "hey! Aren't we going?!" We're down from 5 repeats to only 1/2 (she gets down a few stairs and a vocal correction brings her back). This last time I think Esther was simply too excited / trying too hard to curb her impulse to bark and jump when the dog comes on the screen and Gertie coming up behind her all stealthy like Gertie does surprised Esther. I didn't have treats in my hand, but she was aware they were there. I couldn't agree with you more about the in-home training and I'll reach out to the two or three other trainers you and I looked at (I'll have to look them up again, I can't remember that far back, lol). I know I can do this over time, but my gosh it would be much faster and easier with someone experienced And there will be fewer steps back. Thank you as always!

Would you go with a 15', 20', 30', or longer lead? Looking on Chewy now and trying to decide between a tie out where I can have my hands free, or a lead where we can move around the yard. When she's finally ready for the dog park perimeter I'll use her regular 6' bungee leash that I can buckle around my waist and the martingale collar. The side of the park we'll have to work on is near a busy street and I don't want to risk her slipping out or yanking the leash out of my hand. The other side would put us at risk of running into other dogs as they enter the park. Can you tell I've put some thought into this? 😆😅

Esther is such a little poop sometimes, but she lets up when I say. I Should have praised her so missed opportunity there. She's learned a lot about wrestling in her 3 months with us! That Chin Pin is a signature Gertrude move (where they pin each other with the jaw bone, no teeth). Interesting thing about this play session is Esther was the one to end it. They parted ways beautifully, I think. Expert opinion question: Esther is in Love with the flirt pole. I do not play with them together with it because a) excitability and b) Gertie doesn't share and also very much enjoys the flirt pole. I truly believe I could walk Esther down the street, without a leash, and only the flirt pole. That's how I pulled her off the puppies and got her home when she escaped. The question is: would that flirt pole be a good tool to use outside the dog park when I'm ready to get her to stop going ape over other dogs? I know it would be an excellent distraction, but I'm concerned it may put her in a height of excitability and thus lend to lowering her threshold when we walk closer. She's coming along nicely with "drop." I'm capturing it when she plays with her Kong - every time she drops it to dislodge the treats I say "drop!" and she's starting to piece it together. This girl self-trained on the potty bell after watching Gertie do it twice, she's Smart and very open to capturing. Oh the things we could do if only she could behave in public! Here's my thought: Walk around the perimeter with the flirt pole. When she starts to stiffen up I drop the flirt pole (if she even stops looking at it to notice the other dogs, that is), to redirect her attention. Move closer, pole, closer, pole, and so forth. Her prey drive and killer instinct are Momo level. Gertie was playing with a cicada this morning and I called her off the poor thing. Other than the time a boy threw one down my bathing suit they've done nothing to wrong me, and I'm sure that was equally traumatic for the cicada, so I save them when I can. I walk Esther to the middle of the yard and Gertie joins us. I take off Esther's collar thinking they'll play. No, this psycho goes Straight for the cicada, chomps it in half (no playing) and I have to get between her and it to get her away (it was still buzzing so I thought it could be saved, I had to put it out of its misery 😞). This pitiful creature was just trying to dry its wings after freeing itself from its cocoon. No telling how many hours it fought for freedom only to be ended by Esther the Pester. Oh! They got into a fight a couple nights ago. I was doing desensitization / conditioning training with Esther with YouTube dogs - we're still not up to real life interactions and that's my fault as we have so little time to train. After about 5 minutes of Esther getting treats for being good Gertie comes over to see what's going on. Ugh. Mistake. I was watching the video to see when a dog came on (Bondi Vet channel) so I missed what happened, but suddenly there was an eruption and yep, Esther had Gertie pinned. Don't know when Gertie is going to learn to stop starting fights because she's Not a scrapper whereas Esther is. I've said it before, but good grief what happened in her young life?! 9 months old and she's a brute. My best guess is Gertie touched Esther while Esther was trying to contain herself as we were training. I was able to verbally break it up, but I was ready to splash my half gallon of water onto them (the beds are joined by a waterproof mattress pad, bring it on!). Lesson learned: Esther can be trained for her reactivity Only when Gertie is contained or elsewhere. I'm remembering Hrdrika (sp?), Remy, and Hannah, and their journey at this point! We're not in quite the same situation, but parallel at the least, and the frustration and feelings of failure are probably similar.

Oh my goodness! What a good boy! Esther would have come crashing through the door and we would be working on sit several times, lol. He's more on Gertie's level for demeanor. Such an adorable poof! Beautiful work. 🥰

Chiming in to let you know you're not alone! Esther was really bad about it and it was a culmination of Everything happening. She was excited, but she's also a very submissive pup. I had to check my tone often, even a regular voice could cause a light drizzle. The good news is Adrienne's telling the truth, lol. It Does subside with time. :) She's 9 months now and we were dry for weeks, but today I let the cat in because it was pouring rain and poor little guy was miserable. Well, because it was a downpour I also halted our outdoor excursion for Esther. Mistake. Cat + full bladder = excitement puddle However, the good news is that previously Any move towards her would cause her to squat and piddle. As her confidence, and bladder, has grown we have relatively little accidents. She's a tough nut to crack given her timidity so I think we'll have a few more before we can call it a done deal, but in 3 months' time it's improved greatly. I haven't gone over the articles so I don't know if this bit is in there (it likely is), but just in case - the Best course of action is to ignore the fact that she made a mess. Clean it with an enzymatic cleaner asap and act like nothing happened.

Never boring and Always appreciated! This has me intrigued. I'm guessing this is sort of like offering a dog a "guilt-free" dig zone such as a sandbox filled with toys they can find. I just need to come up with some things she would enjoy more than chasing bugs on the ground, chewing that nasty (but likely intriguing) stump, going after lizards (so so many lizards . . .). This will be a challenge. However, it gives me something to consider for our next house! The husband is going to Love this. Especially when I start perusing Pinterest, haha! "Dear, you know that extra culvert piping we'll have?" "Could we maybe . . . )?" "And this extra concrete block, do you suppose we could . . .?" "Oh, I noticed scrap wood over there, might we . . . ?" I'm imagining an agility couuuuurse! I'm getting ahead of myself, though. First I need to come up with something more temporary for this house. We're a ways off, yet, from building the dogs' dream yard. For now we could perhaps do some nose work. I'm a Wee hesitant in the back yard and would have to leash Gertie (or leave her inside) to avoid potential conflict. Esther has a Spectacularly sensitive nose. She may even be more nosy than Momo was, and she gives Abbi a run for her money. Poor Gerts with her average nose. Still better than mine, but she's amongst some real hound-level sniffers. An odd thing about the collar is that she actually Wants to wear this one. She avoids the other one that's the same style, but without the contraption. Even after the shock she walks into this one and gets excited to see the remote in my hand. I do believe she sees that as a precursor to treats. You're right, though, it's tempting to smash that vibrate button for every little infraction! It seems to have a feature where it stops working after 3 pushes of the button. I discovered this when testing the intensities (while I was holding it, not while it was on Esther). After the third push relatively close together it started flashing at me as though to say, "knock it off." The manual doesn't reference this feature so it's just a guess. If I'm right then that's a really cool safety built in. Overall I'm liking the idea of it for recall. She seems to ignore it now for correction and I don't want to turn it up. I think it wouldn't do much other than desensitize her to the sensation. I put it on my neck at a higher setting and even without fur there's not much to the vibration intensity (I figure what's fair for her is fair for me). Unless she's really interested in something she comes right to me after I buzz her, and of Course she gets rewarded handsomely. She brought Gertie with her at a full run the last time we were out - that surprised me. She's got to think vrrrbt = treat. I'll keep a close eye on her behavior, though, and if she starts to perceive it with any dislike (pawing at it, turning her head away when I go to put it on, etc . . .) I'll cease its use. I will also be training her with the silent whistle in the future. It's tough right now because Gertie comes over expecting rewards. Good point on the invisible fence. I don't want her associating other dogs with negative consequences. I've been training her at the gate while the neighbor's dogs have been inside to avoid that possibility, but eventually I'll have to do it when they're out because that's kind of the point of training at the gate. To get her to remain calm and not try to get loose to see them. When they're out I'm going to take the "look at that" approach and reward for calm behavior. We have to be pretty much at the front door she's such a nut - our fence is about 75 feet away. We can get to about 60 feet before she starts pulling on the leash and 50 is where she starts whining. She's not this wild about the older dogs and I can walk our fence line with her when they're out, but those puppies are simply too much to bear and she Must see them.

From several articles I've read about dogs being adopted during the pandemic this is a super common issue now. I think you're on the right track, though, and you always keep Loki's happiness and well-being in mind. He's in excellent care!

Oh shoot, I was tired and missed the raw part. The Jolly Pets Monster Ball would still work with that if you have a brush that would clean it, depending on how goopy the raw food is. I know very little about raw diets so forgive my ignorance in attempting to help troubleshoot. Some of the maze bowls are easier to clean than others. The petal style I used would be pretty tough to clean and I only ever put kibble in it. It was easy enough to spray clean with kibble. I'll keep thinking. Can't promise I'll come up with anything, but I'll try!

ROFL! The thought of fattening her up Was entertained. She already eats 3 cups per day and doesn't gain a pound. The large breed feeding recommendation is 2 3/4 cup. I've seen videos of dogs escaping their crates. The thoughts that must go through their minds to go to those lengths! And the turmoil you must have felt! Already anxious because you were late, then a missing dog, followed by the examination for goodness-knows-what damage. Oof! I'm looking for a way to disable the shock feature on the remote. I feel awful about it, but I managed to shock her even with out the prongs. I guess they don't have to be attached. I had it turned to the lowest setting Just in case so thank goodness for that. She acted like something bit her butt and recovered quickly, thank goodness. They put the shock button right in the middle and I was juggling her treats with the remote in my hand and accidentally pushed the button. :( I'll just make sure I don't have the remote in my hand until we're all situated. I'm contacting them to see about disabling that shock so we don't have another accident. I was thinking of an invisible fence, but the husband mentioned wire. I even joked that we have enough Amazon and Chewy boxes to really puppy proof it, lol. The Puppy Bumper may work as well. I only have her collar on her if the girls aren't playing and I take it off inside. The vibrate is excellent! I used it today for calling her off a tree stump - she likes to chew them. The first couple times she ignored me but when that thing went brzzzt the second time (I waited a second or two between pushes) she looked up and I called her over, gave her a treat. The second time she went to the stump and I pushed the button she stopped immediately, I called her over and gave her a treat. I followed up with the beep once she got to me. I figure this way I don't have to carry the remote, treats, And clicker. Level 16 / 99 works well on the vibrate. I think 99 was made for the Gerties of the world who have no cares to give, lol. I laid it on Gertie at level 1, did a vibrate test, and she leaned into it like it was a lovely massage. That girl . . ..

I was trying to find a post where I linked a few different bowls. Ah well, here's an Amazon search you can check out. Chewy has some, too, but fewer options than Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=dog+slow+feed+bowl&ref=nb_sb_noss Without knowing how big she is / will be, here's one that's very similar to what I had for Momo. I liked how some of the food stuck in the "petal" so he had to work to get those last little bits. He would eat potato skins in 3 chomps as a reference for his speed. His bowl was a bit smaller (he at 1.5 cups each feeding): https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B082KB7PC8/ref=twister_B08BFY7MCP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 There's also the Kong Wobbler and since you're already separating the dogs it could be worth a look: https://www.chewy.com/kong-wobbler-dog-toy/dp/44195 Fair warning - it makes a lot of noise on hard floors. I've had to show each dog how to use it and they've all caught on quickly. If you have patience and time, this is another favorite around here: https://www.chewy.com/ethical-pet-dura-brite-treat/dp/180973 It takes a while to load the kibble, but keeps them busy. Sometimes I'll put a handful in there and the rest in the Wobbler just to change things up. This one is the same as the toy above - takes a little effort and time to get the kibble in there, but another well-liked treat toy: https://www.chewy.com/petstages-orka-tire-tough-dog-chew/dp/46935 And finally, our easiest toy. Easy to fill, easy for the dogs to empty, but still slows them down and so far has stood up to extra chewing: https://www.chewy.com/jolly-pets-monster-ball-dog-toy/dp/38809 I like this one as well, but Gertrude chewed the inside up. I made the mistake of thinking she had the hang of these toys and had grown out of that break it phase, but nope. She normally ignores the toys after the food is out so who knows what compelled her. However, I'll give it another try some day because it was a good one. https://www.chewy.com/planet-dog-orbee-tuff-mazee-puzzle/dp/38750 And then there's the good ol' placing piles of food around that she has to find. I don't know what type of space you're working with, but I'll put the idea in the hat just in case you can make it work. Oh, and if she won't destroy a snuffle mat that's another option. Mine will tear it up if I'm not monitoring.

So the neighbor has some new Poodle puppies and it was Far too much for Esther to handle. She was Bonkers. She so wants to play and their high pitched barks sent her into a frenzy. Adrienne, this dog is going to be the death of me! Our gate is metal with bars and she managed to get her 40 lb self through those bars. You know how she sploots? Yeah, she's made of rubber and she somehow manipulated her body to get through those bars. She first stuck her head through and it stopped at her brow. I was walking over there at this point to try to lure her away with excellent treats (liver). She Shot through like a freaking missile and woosh! She was across the street, running their fence line. I had No idea she could wiggle through. First defense: management. No more off-leash front yard play, which totally stinks because I think I've painted a pretty good picture of how wild the back yard is. There's little I can do about that - we have about a 10' perimeter that we keep natural so we have privacy. But, that's where all things gross, creepy, crawly, bitey, and dead are. This poor girl is going to live her life on a leash if she doesn't settle and if I can't think of something to manage her. Her recall is great when there aren't other dogs. Even when Gertie is chasing bicyclists I can call Esther back. Second defense: really reinforce her recall. I am now armed with a clicker and started conditioning her to love that sound last night. She was scared of it at first, but now her ears perk up and she looks at me. l think we'll have great success with this. Third defense: I know you're not a fan, but I got an e-collar for free to test. The brand is Pawious and it has vibrate (1 - 99), beep (1 - 9) and shock (who cares, won't be using it and the prongs are still in the box). My thinking here is to use the vibrate when she gets near the fence. I tested it today and 16 is about right. 1 - 15 didn't get her attention and 16 seems to be like a tap on the shoulder. She went near the gate, I hit the button, she looked away, I gave a treat. Once she stopped going to the gate but looked at it, I pushed the button, she looked away, treat. I was thinking the beep might work like a clicker. When she does what I want I can beep, treat. I'm iffy about this method of vibrate, but if it keeps her safe I'm willing to give it a try. Thankfully our street isn't very busy, but there was some jacka.. revving his engine and speeding down it earlier today. All I need is for one of his kind to come by when she's broken loose. I don't know what about a dead-ending street says, "go 50 mph then slam on your brakes!" 🤬 Fourth defense: Eventually we'll get to the point of going to the dog park and walking the perimeter. I can go a Long distance from where the dogs congregate so we have a massive playing field to work under threshold. She's starting to simply wag her tail and look at me for a treat when there are dogs on the screen now, whew! I was envisioning us having to buy a new television because she was going to try to hop through it. Live and up close, though, with scents, it's still a challenge. This certainly gives us something to think about when we build our next house! We're downsizing but it's taking forever because we're so doggone busy with work that it's tough to get this house prepped for sale. Until we build that dream home, I need to come up with some ways to keep this girl safe. Oh, I got her to come back by using the flirt pole. She is so enamored with it I think I could walk her off-leash in front of a pack of dogs. That could be a slight exaggeration, but once I brought it out she was like, "puppies who?" and took the nasty toy at the end, then we walked home like nothing ever happened. I did not scold or get upset with her, but instead rewarded her for heeling. The funny-but-not-funny: the neighbor is Horrible with training - she's a breeder, too! She came to the fence with the puppies and Esther was happy to be in reach, but the whole time she was yelling (yes, Yelling), "sit! sit! down! stay! sit! sit!" My happy arthritic self was scurrying as fast as I could (which is not at all, lol) to get her leash and flirt pole! Poor Esther was sitting there like, "shhhhh, lady, I'm here for the puppies!" Her poor pups get zero positive reinforcement. :(

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/sunshine-mills-july-2021/ Just in case anyone uses these brands.

Now that I've had a moment to read through, I have additional insight on the GF preference. My husband does like . . . zero training. I do Everything except for the very first early morning potty break (and I'll gladly do Everything else if I don't have to wake up early, lol). Yet, they always want to lie next to him on the couch. I think it's because they consider him more of a playmate. Kind of how Adrienne says female voices entice play, I think the fact that he doesn't discipline, train, feed, cut nails, squeeze glands, take to the vet, exercise, bathe, put in the truck, etc . . . the girls that they think he's just one of them. They know he's not a dog, but they know he's not the boss (ha!). He's also 10 times more relaxed than I am - I'm under high stress these days and who the heck wants to be around that energy when trying to chill?! I also get up from the couch 5 or more times in the 2 hours we're on it, which means everyone has to move if they're next to me. He's like a bump on a log so there are no disruptions. (Don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint - he works very hard during the day and has earned this reward - he also does most of the cooking, which reinforces the justification for that reward, lol. I'm the one who insists dogs must be at least 40 pounds to qualify for our household and he's not comfortable with anything over 20. He'll help when I ask, but otherwise he leaves it to me and I'm good with that.) His voice is usually more friendly, or at the least less authoritarian, while mine is friendly but stern. I don't allow them to flop all over me (with my arthritis it's difficult for me to sit comfortably and any weight on one side or the other can cause searing pain) while he's essentially a pillow for them. He scratches them constantly where my hands are usually busy with crochet. He doesn't mind licking as much as I do and I give corrections for licks where it takes him a second to realize he's being licked and needs to give a correction (he lets Abbi lick him as long as she wants to, but I can't stand it so I'm training him, too). If I invite them over to me they happily come hang out. Those are some observations from my experience for your reference. :) I think it's because he's a calmer soul than me, haha.

Boy I sure made it sound simple back then. I didn't have an Esther. This dog is an enthusiastic licker, ugh. She's quick, too, lol. I've determined she just loves to taste Everything. I had my head on my desk a moment ago and I had Gertie on one side, Esther on the other, and was petting them both. Everything was calm and sweet as I was scratching their chests and destressing, but noooo, Esther had to ruin the moment. She gave me a fast flick of her tongue on my mouth, gag. I know what goes into that maw, lmao! 🤢 I wasn't even expecting it she's so fast. What do you do for a one lick offender? A drive-by licker? Lickety splitter? A lick bomber? Haha It's so much easier when they continually lick! Maybe she'll eventually grow out of it since the worst of it has subsided.

Oh my gosh I Love his little mane. His hair is wild and that's adorable!