Rant About My Puppy

[LaRen616]

I will not be sending out a Christmas card this year.

Yesterday's "picture with Santa" was terrible!

I had bad thoughts going in, I even said to my ex "this isn't going to go well", it was worse than that. Sinister did great in the store, he walked nicely next to me, sat when I told him to, he was a good boy, Malice was a demon. She barked and screamed the whole time! She did settle down for 1 second and that was for 1 of the many shots taken with Santa, her picture came out beautifully but Sinister looked terrible in the shot. We wanted to try again for another but she got so bad that my ex got pissed off and said he was done and took her outside. It was VERY embarrassing!

I dont know if she was terrible because there were a ton of people and dogs around or if it's because Sinister was with us? She has been to Petsmart and Petco several times before and she was perfectly well behaved, she goes to my mom's hair salon and she is always a good girl. I dont know why she was so naughty but it was very upsetting.

We had the angel and the devil yesterday. We felt like idiots with an out of control puppy.

I forgot to mention that there was a Lab mix there and Malice and him/her were instant enemies, barks and growls were exchanged, that was the first time she met a dog she didn't like.

[fuzzybunny]

Sorry you had a bad visit with Santa. If it makes you feel any better, it happens to all of us at some point . You've hit the 6 month mark. That's when both of mine entered their butthead stage, lol.

[GSDAlphaMom]

Maybe it was santa? How many pictures are out there with screaming kids on santa's lap? YTOSS?? (Younsters Terrified of Santa Syndrome?)

[LaRen616]

Haha, no she was fine with Santa, sat next to him nicely but barked his ears off.

[Good_Karma]

Well, I can tell you with absolute certainty that if I had tried that with either of my dogs it would have been an unmitigated disaster. Rosa would be terrified and Niko would be belligerent and probably clear the store and have people running for their lives in terror.

I think dogs have good days and bad days, just like people. Sorry it didn't work out to get a good picture, but at least you have a funny story to tell people (I know it's not funny to you right now, but someday...).

[LaRen616]

Originally Posted by Good_Karma

Well, I can tell you with absolute certainty that if I had tried that with either of my dogs it would have been an unmitigated disaster. Rosa would be terrified and Niko would be belligerent and probably clear the store and have people running for their lives in terror.

I think dogs have good days and bad days, just like people. Sorry it didn't work out to get a good picture, but at least you have a funny story to tell people (I know it's not funny to you right now, but someday...).

The only thing that was somewhat funny at this point was the way Sinister looked in the picture. He looked ridiculous, his 2 fangs were out so he looked like a vampire and he had one ear down and you cant see it so he looks like a one earred dog. I cant send that out!

[Jax08]

oh....I MUST have a Christmas card!!!! Sometimes...it's the imperfect pics that are the best!

[LaRen616]

Originally Posted by Jax08

oh....I MUST have a Christmas card!!!! Sometimes...it's the imperfect pics that are the best!

My mom wants me to send them out, but Sin looks so goofy!

They would be good for a laugh.

I wish I could cut Sinister out of this years picture and put in his one from last years instead.

[RascalsMomSue]

Don't feel badly. My husband plays Santa for most of December: photos with Santa are a big fundraiser for our rescue (if you go to All Shepherd Rescue's facebook page there is a great pic of him with a GSD looking up at him at one of the local wineries from last weekend). Many otherwise well-behaved dogs can't handle the stimulation of the environment and the big guy in the red suit (especially if it's someone without patience) can be overwhelming and scary. One of our former fosters came by and was clearly not wanting anything to do with Santa until he smelled my husband and realized who was in the suit. I won't even bring my own dogs out to do Santa as a group anymore because they lose it when they realize who Santa really is (and 3 of them wanting to get to "daddy" with the added distraction of snack dogs on retractable leashes is too much for me to deal with by myself...their training goes out the window) but fortunately I can dress up hubby (I made his suit a few years ago) and and plant him in front of the tree at home for our pic. You may want to try to take their pics separately or rent a suit and have someone they know do Santa at home...there is hope .

As for the idiot who came by while we were taking Santa pictures yesterday and tried to insist to a group of fairly savvy GSD folks that his 6 mos old Dobie was Sch 1 because the pups parents were titled "and even a novice knows it's hereditary"....I don't think there's any hope for him!

[amaris]

now that you've described the photo...you HAVE to post some of them up if you have them :P

also...PHOTOSHOP...u can put one year's dog in with another's year's backdrop :P