Friday, October 29, 2010

Pooches: Mr. B's Hurt Feelings

While Miss M has had so much training that she could run away with Barnum & Bailey, Mr. B came to us "already trained". We knew pit bulls were loyal, and would do anything for their owners, but Mr. B takes it to a whole new level. He absolutely hates disappointing us, and he gets his feelings hurt very easily.
When we first met Mr. B, we spent that night camping in Michigan. Mr. B thought it would be a good idea to chew up the paper towels. When we caught him we yelled and took the paper towels away. He was so upset that he crawled away to the furthest corner of the tent and spent the entire night pouting:
While it's unfortunate he has such low self-esteem, it has worked to our advantage with training. Once Mr B. decided to shred a piece of junk mail
We yelled at him and he nervously retreated into his tepee.
Another time Mr. B found where we kept the food and dragged it into his lair:
We took him behind the counter and yelled. Every time he came near the counter we would yell, and now he won't go near the counter. Once we even left a "trap" of treats lined up behind the counter, and even when left home the entire day the treats were untouched.
Given how stubborn Miss M is, we are lucky that Mr. B does try to please us so much. Even to the extent that he lets us dress him like this:
And this:
And is always happy doing it:

43 comments:

Unknown said...

Aww, Mr. B is such a sweetheart. And, he's so cute in costume!

Sightless said...

Aw what a sweet soul. Charlie's like that as long as I'm around, then all bets are off when I leave (he got into a box of crackers just yesterday!). Mr. B has, hands down, the *best* costume pictures. Ever.

Anonymous said...

I love Mr. B! I really feel like the bigger the head, the softer the heart. My Ernie is a big softie - my roommate yelled at him once for chewing on her stuffed animal, and from then on he would only go into her room if she begged him, and then he'd crawl on his belly once he got in.

Corbin said...

Aw, I love Mr. B's frog costume! That's what I have for Halloween this year, but the head part covers my eyes, and I don't like that...
-Corbin

Unknown said...

Fred is sensitive like that too unlike Haylie who will look at you and then swagger away as the princess she is

BaltimoreGal said...

Aw the baby. Pit bulls are really sensitive animals- people won't believe you but it's totally true. They get their feelings hurt very easily and that is a reason they can be hard to train- positive reinforcement is the best way for sure. At the same token, there is no happier dog than a happy pit bull!

Kari in Alaska said...

Baily in sensitive too while Mesa and Big Carl are our bossy ones.

Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

How Sam Sees It said...

Awww, poor Mr B! It makes you just want to hug him!

Sam

KT @ KT's Refinishing School said...

So cute! My parents' (I still think of him as mine too!) American Eskimo also hates to get in trouble. When asked if he has been eating the cat food (which he had been doing), he immediately hides in shame on his bed.

Mr. B's smiles are the best!

Anonymous said...

Wow, now that is one special dog. He really left the treats there all day? When no one else was around? It took us months to teach Shiva to leave a treat that was on the floor in front of her while we're standing there. She still won't do it if we leave the room.

Go Team Mr. B. One of the sweetest, cutest, smiling-est dogs on the internet!

Kate said...

Mr. B reminds me of Nemo. He's too darn sweet!

Shauna (Fido and Wino) said...

Super cute cowboy costume!

My pittie x is a real softie- if she gets in trouble she looks so darn pathetic. We have to be careful not to raise our voice unless it's for an important thing!

My terrier x on the other hand could care less ;)

Anonymous said...

Poor Mr. B - such a sweetie! He reminds me of the greyhounds we've had in the past. For the most part, greyhounds are a sensitive breed also and ours would always cower if we even raised our voices slightly. Our almost 15 year old mixed breed however, is as stubborn as they come, and to this day, completely unfazed by yelling, no matter how loud or often :) She gets away with murder only because we are just too beaten down to care by the time we've corrected her for the 1 millionth time ans she STILL continues to misbehave :)

Levi said...

I think mommy wishes I was more like Mr. B than Miss M, which I am more like that she wants to admit, BOL!

brooke said...

Awww Mr B. Such a softie! I love all his costumes!

Sightless said...

Quick question, not related to this post =-). I got that nifty pet's eye camera that you wrote about in a previous blog (I couldn't resist). How do you get such good pictures from it? I set it to one minute intervals when I left in the morning and 95% of them were all black and the others were so blurry you couldn't make anything out. I thought maybe the Poodle's ears were in the way and tied them up, but still no luck. Any ideas?

bitt said...

I am falling more in love with Mr. B. Sienna doesn't like being scolded and runs and hides like that. I think pit bulls like to please people a lot.

But she still does what she wants, I mean, she'll chew something up the next day. She has a huge independent streak.

PoochesForPeace said...

he is so cute. Have you read about clicker training? he would be amazing with clicker training seeing how much he likes to work for your approval!

Liz said...

Oh my gosh. I can't believe he dragged all that trash into his kennel. I know that's so bad, but you can't help but smile a little.

Road Dog Tales said...

What a good sport Mr B is - and a handsome one, too! They say someone has to be the boss. We guess that's true. It took a LOT of training around here, too, but now Mom & Dad definitely know who's in charge.

The Road Dogs

houndstooth said...

Awww, Mr. B! I could just kiss that sweet nose of yours! You look great in costume, too!

Kirby, CGC said...

Kirby is a sensitive dude too. I remember the first few days I had him home, it didn't take much on my part to correct him. Such softies we have!

Kirby's mom

kissa-bull said...

please to give mr b lotsa smoochie kisses from ush. our brinksey winksy and guero are like that and the girls are the bossy queens of the house. wonder why that is

pibble sugars
the pittie pack

Anonymous said...

Awwww, Mr. B. You're just such a sweetie. That first picture of you just melts my heart.

Wiggles & WAgs,
Mayzie

Two French Bulldogs said...

Oh Mr. Byou are so darn adorable!
Benny & Lily
Pee S. Great costumes

KimT said...

Hi! Stopping by from the Sat. blog hop - I'm in love with Mr. B!!!

Dexter said...

Dexter is the same way. Only have to catch him once and scold him to correct a behavior. He slinks away like he was just whacked on the head with a shovel. Mango? I think I could whack him with a shovel and he would forget in 20 seconds. Some dogs are just sensitive. Thank goodness.

Mango Momma

Zona said...

Aww.. Mr. B is such a sweetie! And he does look happy to be in his costumes. SO CUTE!!

Wags,
Zona

PittieBoo said...

Mr. B makes me miss my Max- same sweet faces, but Max would have been all over those treats and he would have eaten all evidence of his adventures!

Mack said...

Paris wants to know if she can come over and make it "all better" for Mr. B....

Oskar said...

What a sweet and wonderful dog! It makes me angry that they are illegal where I live.

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all! Thought I'd hop by and see what y'all are up to and by george if poor Mr B doesn't look sad...until you get to the end of the post! I really try to please my humans, but I can be hard-headed if I really want to do something.
Y'all come by now!
Hawk aka BrownDog

Lola and also Franklin, too said...

Mr. B is very sweet. We Pei don't really do that. I mean, we're very well behaved in most ways, but if we get disapproved of, we don't really get upset. Probably much like Miss M we just figure our humans will get over it.

lotsa licks, Lola

the booker man said...

mr. b is just a sweet teddy bear! i love him (especially in his froggie costume). :)

Olivia said...

That cowboy pic just makes my heart melt. He looks like he's grinning!

Our Millie (a bloodhound mix) has such a thick skull. I wish our commands mattered so much to her, but we just have to watch her like a hawk around the litter box, etc.

Anonymous said...

Happy Halloween to you Mr. B and Miss M :)

So much fun to get dressed up now and then huh :)

Waggin at ya,
Roo

ForPetsSake said...

What a sweet soul. You can't blame a dog for trying, though...Those costumes are ridiculously cute. We did our Halloween photo shoot this am and it didn't seem to go nearly as well as all those pics! He's a love ;)

Granite State Pet Sitting said...

Mr. B is so Sweet. I love the picture with him in the cowboy hat. He always looks like such a happy boy.
Your Friends
Geisha,Grover,Lily,Bailey,Wrinkles

Those Elgin Pugs said...

How Sweet!!

Happy Halloween!!

love,
IzZY, Josie, TriXie and Anakin Man

Mary said...

Mr. B. is such a perfect example of a pit bull, temperament-wise! He's even giving you the calming lip-licking in the third photo. Levi is SO stubborn on walks, but he's pretty good about some things inside. When we first brought Levi home, Monty fell on the floor, and I traumatized Levi for life by dramatically screaming and pushing Jason to the floor to get to Monty before Levi could. And see, never tried to get to the birds again! I don't think I could trust him with food out like Mr. B., though!

Susan Campisi said...

I found you over at Daisy the Dog (or was it My Life With Dogs?). Well, anyway, I love your blog. I wish I had more time to keep up with your posts. Mr B is so handsome and loyal and smart! I love him.

Oona Johnson said...

I don't think our furry man understands being yelled at, but Gidget sure does.

Dozer kept barking at the men coming into our house during our Halloween party and since we had never had more than two other people in our house at any given time, it was making me nervous. I yelled at him and sent him into his bed and Gidget went in with him. So I locked em both up for 20 min. lol

Rachel said...

it's over a year later and i just HAD to comment to say:

i think MR. B should be the new face of the statue of liberty.

so. stinkin'. cute!

p.s. he makes an awful cute cowboy, too!

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