Our first Boston Terrier. What a good dog. She was housebroken in 3 days with the help of a crate (the best invention since the napkin). She has at least 120 toys and can retreive most of them by name. She can catch a small cloth frisby in mid air, which is surprising even to the vet, because of her very short muzzle. She sleeps in my waterbed every night. She drinks water from a sports bottle, which is convenient in the car. She's a ball of energy, loves to walk, pulls a little too much though.
We had her in obedience school but took her out because we didn't like the change in her behavior, it made her submissive, which it was supposed to do I guess, but we liked her better with the independent stubborn streak she was born with. It makes her one of the family, with a mind of her own. We like that, I don't want a dog to be afraid of me, which is what was happening in obedience training. They teach you to be the "alpha" dog of your pet's pack.
Now she has a couple of new tricks, she can catch tiny pieces of dried liver in mid air when you toss them to her and most astonishing of all, we bought her one of those gumball type machines with a bone shaped handle that dispenses treats, and she has learned to use that too. It is just hillarious.
We fill the machine with homemade treats, we use ground liver and beef heart, and whenever she wants a treat she goes over to the machine and pushes down the bone handle with her foot and clink, clink, out drop a few goodies. She loves them. I didn't know if she would actually use the machine when I bought it at a yard sale. The woman we bought it from said her dog would never use it, it was just like new. But, then I thought, what a sight if we could get her to operate it. It was worth the $10.00 I spent on it the first time I saw her walk over to it all on her own and push down that handle. What a thrill, I giggled, my sister giggled, my mother giggled, and my father was really amused. My parents really like Madison, here are some pics of them together. They spend hours like this while I'm at work.
My aunt and uncle were utterly amazed when they came over to visit and Madison walked over and pushed that bone down all by herself without any encouragement. They were just chatting when she decided she wanted a little treat and she went over and got one. They thought that was so cute and funny they couldn't believe it.
I guess most people think we're nuts, making our own dog treats, but Madison loves them. Everything in them comes from our kitchen and they are quite edible, but most people think they need salt, they are very low in sodium. You roll out the dough and cut them into shapes and bake them. We have a bone shaped cookie cutter, but for the machine I just use a pizza cutter and cut them into 1/2 inch squares. They work fine and usually 2 to 3 come out at a time. I'm so tickled by it I just had to write about it.
Here is the dog biscuit recipe Madison likes the best.
Boil liver and tounge till tender and save out 1 cup of liquid. Mash the livers and dice the tounge up fine.
Combine all the ingredients in order. Roll out on lightly floured board. Adjust consistency with more flour or water if necessary. Cut with cookie cutter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, until dry. Store in airtight bags in fridge.
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Madison is the smartest dog I've ever seen. She loves to go swimming in her kiddie pool. She will stick her head completely underwater and bring up a leaf or whatever you drop in for her to get. One time, we dug up a worm to feed to one of my sisters frogs and just for fun dropped it into Maddie's pool. She jumped in, stuck her head underwater and came up with the worm dangling from those pendulous lips of hers. What a sight! She gets in that pool and starts chasing the splashes she makes with her feet. Of course that just makes more splashes and she chases them faster and faster around and around, till she makes herself dizzy. What a great dog.
She shakes hands now and rolls over too. She loves to give kisses and wants you to blow raspberries against her lips. What a mess! We really love our Madison.
