#soft mouth

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

The progress Kovu has made on this whimzee since 11am this morning (it's almost 10pm as I write this) is so fucking funny. I don't even know if he knows he has teeth

[doomspaniels]

I need to work out how Tristan got this, because I am starting to suspect he can steal stuff off the middle of the counter... But this time I let him keep it, because it was just a ziplock bag with two of his own puppy kibbles in it. I thought he would tear it open and get the kibble, I'd take it away while he munched, we'd all be happy.

TWENTY minutes later, the kibble was in crumbs, and there was still no tear in the ziplock. Poor little baby soft mouth! Such hopeless despair!

I took it away and the Spaniels did a few tricks to get a carrot each.

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

He's been trying to open this bag of apples from his happy meal for like 10 minutes but his mouth is just so soft

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

Kovu was taking an absurd amount of time to eat tiny grape tomatoes so I took a video of him eating it and it took 1 minute and 57 seconds after that for him to finish it. He is simply too baby to use his teeth properly

[doomspaniels]

Here's Tristan very obviously, very gently "chewing" my stolen stylus. He's trying to get me to play chase, hasn't quite figured out that he can't provoke me into games by being naughty. I think he also likes the interesting clacky noise of the aluminum stylus on his teeth, which is okay as long as he continues to mostly mouth them with his lips.

Featuring the absolutely adorable pulling-head-way-back to-get-a-good-look, and of course "cocker spaniels think they have hands."

[Sound: one tiny soft "click" of metal against teeth about halfway]

[doomspaniels]

~Tristan and His Ice~

It's nasty hot out there. After we Feed the Big Doggies, I put some ice in the Spaniels' water dish, and give Tristan a few pieces. (Yvaine is not interested.)

Remember, though, Tris has such a soft mouth that he had to learn to munch edible chews. He doesn't crunch the ice in his teeth, just sort of picks it up, happily mouths it, and puts it down when it gets too cold. Then picks it up again, or picks up another piece. Nom nom nom.

[That's one of Tristan's shoes next to him--the sole wore through, and we removed the shoelaces to give it to Tristan. He's had it for months now. He is *so* not a heavy chewer!]

[doomspaniels]

Tristan found a manual we apparently knocked down, or maybe forgot to take the plastic off before recycling. It made a great crackly noise, although he was eager to "swap" for a carrot if asked. (Often when he finds new stuff on the floor--like something I dropped behind the bed--Tris gets lots of praise and a carrot to "swap" and let me have it. Very handy for someone who is clumsy!)

I'm so proud of the little fella, he *almost* left toothmarks on it.

I gave it back.

[doomspaniels]

Tristan stole my brand-new pants.

Tris was having a ROUGH DAY. It was a "sooooo hard to be a puppy" day. We were both exhausted from trying to play as much as he wanted, and he'd been put in the crate twice to unwind from overexcitement (he hasn't gotten like that in months, then twice in one day!)

I found the pants on sale 2/$7 and bought them to be barn pants (I mean, look at 'em, would you be seen in public in those?) When Tris busted through the block into the laundry room and stole them from the clean laundry basket, we said, "well, we have paid more than $3.50 for toys he ignored, we haven't *told* him he can't steal clothes from the laundry room, and these pants seem to be giving him at least a little peace. What the hell."

... for what it's worth, he couldn't even damage the pants.

[Image Description: Tristan, a black and white cocker spaniel, lays on a tile floor surrounded by paper & cardboard scraps he's torn up already. Tristan has his front paws braced on a pair of burgundy and pink plaid fleece pants. He has a pink ribbon drawstring in his mouth, and he's trying to pull it off of the pants.]