Fun with Jacques

I have always loved tormenting, er, having fun with my dogs. It is something I have done, starting with my beloved shepherd, Niko. Occasionally this “fun” begins because I’m bored and in need of entertainment, but usually it happens in the moment. I’ll see a box/basket/whatever then will see one of my dogs and think “Wouldn’t it be funny if…”

Really it’s a win-win for everyone. I get a good laugh and the dogs get lots of treats and praises. Trust me, my dogs have no shame so they’re not humiliated doing this. They will do anything for a treat!! Jacques is a little different. He is a very proud dog, but like any dog, his stomach gets the better of him and he winds up letting me do what I want because he knows he’ll get lots of treats in return.

This blog is a brief pictorial of all the fun I’ve had tormenting Jacques thus far. I’ll admit, in the beginning he was a little hesitant, but now… he just goes along with it. I’m sure if dogs could roll their eyes, he would roll his so hard they’d pop out of his head. I hope you at least get a little chuckle out of my fun with Jacques.

This was one of those times where I walked by the empty box looked at Jacques then looked back at the box and thought “Wouldn’t it be funny if…” It’s a “Jacques in a box”!! (It took my husband some time to realize it was a play on “Jack in a box”…) I cackled for a long time about that one.

I occasionally like to dress my dogs up in clothes or costumes – not because I necessarily like dogs in clothes, but because I find it amusing. (With the exception of Jacques’ badass skull and cross bones jacket in the winter, I rarely leave clothes on them very long.)
One day I was trying to do laundry and Jacques decided to help. (Okay, really he just kept getting in my way so I decided to amuse myself since he was there…)
As a geographer, I like to use things for scale. In these two instances, Jacques was the closest thing handy… and again, I got a laugh out of it. (For the record, he doesn’t care for the gnome. They must have had a falling out or something.)

One day while I was trying to work, Jacques was going crazy with his toy cow and its EIGHTEEN squeakers. (I’m not exaggerating either. It literally has 18 squeakers. Yes, I’m a moron for buying it for him.) I finally put it out of his reach so that I could have some quiet. At the time I didn’t realize he was so OCD/ADD about his toys. This kept him quiet (and me amused) for quite some time. He looked so pitiful that I eventually gave in and gave him his cow back. He showed his appreciation by squeaking the dang thing non-stop for the next 10 minutes.
And finally… one day I decided it would be fun for him to get on the treadmill with me. After some coaxing and quite a few treats he hopped on with me. He was doing so well, I upped the speed a little. Apparently I upped it a little too much because he flew off the back of the treadmill. Luckily he wasn’t hurt, though I think his ego took a bit of a beating because he refuses to get back on the treadmill with me.