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Sunday, May 20, 2012

ear-cleaning dobes and leg-nibbling pitties.

You probably saw it in the latest video - Ramsey is obsessed with cleaning Suvi's ears. She will even halt a game of tug to check Suvi's ears with a few quick tongue probes. Ew. And weird!




Based on the comments on the video, it sounds like a lot of other people have dogs that do the same! Is it a dominance thing? A momma-ish thing? A doggie OCD thing?

I'd say it happens daily around here. In the video, Suvi gets annoyed - which happens about 25% of the time. More often though, she just lays down, closes her eyes, and enjoys the bath. Of course, when we pull out the camera, it must trigger "show time" for her, and what you see above is what you get...(or, alternate theory, she's embarrassed and doesn't want her baths shown on the internet?? ;)).

Just as bizarre is ...
the way Suvi nibbles Ramsey. I know from the time I spent with Suvi's momma (Sula) and from talking to her foster parents, that she did the same thing - they called it "corn-cobbing" because of the super quick little nibbles up and down something. Often a blanket or pillow, it was totally un-destructive, but seemed to be comforting to her. Well, Suvi does the same thing. Sometimes on blankets, but usually on Ramsey. She'll corn-cob her legs while they're wrestling, her neck or ears or face while they're snuggling. (oh, and every now and then, Suvi actually corn-cobs Chad. and chews on his thumb, softly....)

Again, I don't know what it means - is it submissive? Is it in her nature? Is it just sweet, sisterly love?

Any way you slice it, both habits (compulsions??) are endearing, and we love to watch the way Rams and Suv interact with each other. Of course, Ramsey also cleans Pablo from time to time, but Suvi wouldn't dare try to nibble him....

Happy Sunday! Hope the weather where you are is as beautiful as ours here - going to try to get outside and enjoy it today.

9 comments:

  1. My (now deceased) wiener dog did that corn cobbling thing to his older and bigger ladies of the house (also now deceased), once he did it on me, it felt weird. I jerked my hand away and said "What are you doing?", then I realized he was doing that corn cobbling thing and I felt bad because he seemed to think I was upset with him, but I wasn't. He would never corn cobble me again after that, only the two bigger dogs.

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    1. Aw! The first time Suvi did it to Chad, we both just watched and giggled - and now she does it from time to time. Interesting that he did it to the bigger dogs, but sounds like they didn't do it back? Maybe that does point to it being submissive!?

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  2. Too funny...our Dobe, Caesar, enjoys cleaning his sister's ears too. But she won't let him lick as long as Ramsey does on Suvi! Great video, but I'm more impressed that you were able to lay there with both R & S laying on you! :-)

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    1. Haha. Suvi is really good at arranging herself in a way that doesn't make her too heavy - it must be because she's been doing it the same way since she was a puppy. Ramsey is a little more awkward, but once she settles in, we're all pretty cozy!

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  3. What I want to know is how in the heck you can handle those dobie elbows poking into your body!?! Youch! And you didn't even flinch :-)

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  4. My dobe does both the corn cobbling things and cleaning my other dog's ears all the time. When he stops, my other dog gets mad and shoves her face and neck back in his face! It's so cute. I think it's just their way of loving each other.

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  5. We had a labradoodle that did corn-cobbing. He would get all excited and do it to our black cat on command. "Nib your baby!!" Hehehe... So cute.

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  6. My Akita used to do it. Our breeder called it "flea nibbles".

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