Halle makes me laugh sometimes because she’s such a notoriously curious dog! Her nose is her ‘commander in chief’ and she just follows wherever sweet smells take her.

Being a Weimaraner with a strong hunting drive, our poor little girl occasionally just can’t help it. Especially when Vish and I come home from the grocery store, she’ll put on her inspector hat and jump right in. Halle will make sure to quickly greet us and display proper manners with a rapid kiss and turbo cuddle and then quickly hop over to the market totes for some serious snooping and investigating.

Our Weim immediately soaks in what’s on the menu for this week, swiftly analyzing everything.

“I smell pasta – not for me, but I do like fresh tomatoes! Oh bread, boring! Ha jackpot! Mom’s making a stir fry which guarantees some green and red peppers in my belly, perfect!” } Halle

Her main job is to locate the immediate goods – the fresh produce. That’s when her true Weimaraner super hunter comes out, pointing away with anticipation. Our girl knows what’s good for her. So cute, she’s such a pro. Our curious dog then practically topples the fruits & veggies tote to get that extra last sniff at the very bottom. Making sure that bag is fully secured and moving on to the next. LOL!

And if by any chance the lettuce manages to stick out, it’s no match for our pup. Halle will go for a quick but very discrete taste without hesitation. She just can’t resist and then runs towards her base, which is pretty much the living room carpet to fully enjoy her fresh find. Of course it’s then followed by a “Nope, Halle. That’s not very nice!” which leads to her getting embarrassed and coming up to us with sincere apologies.

Sometimes if we happen to buy something new and tasty, Halle turns into an automatic pushy sniffing dog. Kinda like “Move Mom & Dad, I gotta check this one out up close!”

So nosy. I guess it’s the Weimaraner ways.

Next Halle transforms into a supervisor and positions herself smack in the middle of the kitchen at a good vantage point, making sure that all the food and goodies are stored in their proper place. Keeping a steady and serious eye on all movements. When it’s time to refill the pantry with dry goods, yup – the pushy sniffing dog returns, double checking the totes one more time making sure we bought her favorite sardines.

She’s very picky while doing her rounds. She tends to ignore the toilet paper and Scott towels. They aren’t fun until we empty them out and give her the wrappings for a quick (monitored) 30-second burst of excitement. That really gets her going!

Empty cereal boxes are even more exciting.

After everything is neatly put away and the totes are folded and stacked away, our furry monkey finally goes back to her base for a good rest. A good stretch followed by a nice long yawn and she’ll roll into a bagel for some good shut eye. It’s hard being the curious dog grocery snoop. But someone’s gotta do it!

Does your pup go around the house snooping around for whatever catches his fancy, nose-deep in the closets, the laundry room, even in your purse? Then my friend, you have a snooper in the house. For Halle it’s her most fave activity along with playing ball and snoozing!

Our dog is so bad at stealing stuff and getting away with it that if she were an actual human thief she’d easily top the list of world’s dumbest criminals caught on tape.

I think Halle really wants to be really good at being sneaky. Deep down, she wants to be covert operative sneaky but she just doesn’t have the skills!

Don’t get me wrong, our Weim is very quick, strong and extremely intelligent. Her prey drive is also very strong. Despite everything, being sneaky around the house is where she falls into the epic Dog FAIL category!

Halle knows very well not to grab any household items or steal clothing articles for her chewing romps and she’s grown to be very good with respecting stuff that doesn’t belong to her. Her house etiquette is very good.

We’ve also established a strong “drop” cue which helps a great deal when she does slip up. We also don’t give into the chase or show any signs of frustration, which makes the whole idea of snatching household items very mundane and kind of boring really.

Let me also add that Dog behavior like any human behavior is subject to fluctuation. Every now and then, our precious Weimaraner will decide to have a little fun and take a chance by grabbing something that she’s not supposed to touch.

She does slip though and when she does, she’s just too adorable. She has a really soft spot for fabric or anything soft. Sometimes, she just can’t help it. Again, it’s ONLY CUTE because it’s not a habit or re-occurring nuisance.

On very special occasions, it’s almost like she can’t help it, and we don’t really have a problem with it as long as the frequency is minimal and she lets go when we ask her to. She’s good like that which is very important.

What we do have a problem with is that she’s just horrible at being a sneaky dog. I mean terrifyingly horrible! LOL

One time, our friends were visiting with their new born baby. We were chit-chatting and holding the baby around the dining table while Halle was doing whatever it is she does. The baby car seat was on the ground close to us with the baby coat and tuque. All of a sudden, we catch Halle in the act of quietly tip-toeing to her favorite area rug to enjoy the baby tuque she just snatched from the car seat. She knows that’s a big no-no so she made a point to be extra sneaky and very careful. The only problem is that the area rug is in plain view, only a few feet from the dining table. She could have easily chosen to go up the stairs to the second floor and none of us would of noticed a thing.

Come on Halle? Is your need to be on your super rug, in plain view, stronger than actually getting away clean? LOL

Result – she didn’t even make it to the rug. As soon as we noticed, she froze and gave it up!

Don’t even get me started on that cute little frozen face whenever she’s caught in the act. Pure CLASSIC!

Halle will attempt to grab something very rarely but when she does, she always takes the wrong route. She’s like a bank robber that has no exit plan. Funny Dog.

“Dad, do you really have to put me out like that?” } Halle

Her sneaky dog skills are so bad that Asia and I WISH our Halle could improve so that when she slips up, she could reap the benefits for more than 30 seconds!

It’s gotten to a point that we don’t even worry about it anymore because in the rare event that it does happen, her un-common sense ends up showing us what she’s up to anyway.

She’s actually the tip-off to her own crimes.

Asia and I laugh about it all the time. It’s honestly just too funny.

We’re assuming she does this because of her Velcro Weimaraner ways, always needing to be around us. Sometimes I wonder if she does it because she knows deep down how much fun Mom and Dad get out of it!

So the question of the week – Is your Dog a Sneaky Fail?

I know what you might be thinking. Hold on. We are not saying that she’s a human, a super dog or a baby. She’s just so much more than a pet dog. We’ve both had several dog pets in the past; shepherds, retrievers and cockers come to mind. But I tell you nothing compares to a Weimaraner and nothing compares to OUR weim, Halle.

She calmly entered our life at the tiny age of 8 weeks and we’ve been touched by her beautiful presence and curious soul ever since. We had just lost a loved one in the last year and her bouncy innocent energy was a total joy. As a puppy she was very energetic, playful and curious. Attentive, cautious and very social, she knew how to turn heads everywhere we ventured. She loved being in our company and we loved being in hers. We knew that we didn’t just purchase any dog, we purchased a very unique dog.

We humans get touched and affected by all animals, especially domesticated ones because we share our homes and lifestyles with them. Pet dogs and cats are still the most popular companions in our modern world. Their natural presence just makes us feel good on many levels.

Our Weimaraner Halle definitely transformed us psychologically, physically, spiritually and socially on a powerful level.

Psychologically

“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” } Andrew A. Rooney

Being business owners and partners, engaged family members and friends, curious with many interests, (maybe too many) we are extremely busy. On the go all the time with very little time for ourselves or any R&R. Halle entered our life with all her wonderful puppy naughtiness including potty training, playtime, walks and the works. So, after a few days of being tired and on a puppy-high we suddenly realized that we had a lot more time than we had originally thought. It was just allocated in different things. Hmmm, we thought. So then for the first time in our business career, we actually started taking some REAL time off. To play with Halle! Nah, just kidding. We always make time to play with Halle – so much fun! But I mean to relax and let go. To calm our body and mind. To watch movies, read books, play video games (hockey) and take nice long walks with, and sometimes without, our beast. Our pet dog showed us how to calm down and enjoy the present moment by observing her play, curiously tracking and examining her surroundings. We fine tuned our natural instincts. We now follow her lead when we need a time-out. Just to make it clear, we are STILL her pack leaders ;)

Physically

“A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk.” } O.A. Battista

When we are not working or spending time with family and friends, we are quite the relaxed-urban-outdoorsy types. We are busy bodies. We always need to move both physically and mentally. Because we mostly work from home, we sometimes need a change of scenery so we just go out. Because we love any type of physical activity the next step for us was to get an active pet dog we can share our outdoor adventures with. And of course we gravitated towards the sporting breeds. We landed an absolutely perfect Weimaraner who is the strongest most energetic dog of its class. A lot of work but we happily comply everyday. Because of her high energy level she needs to be vigorously exercised daily. Since we already exercise every day it was a win-win situation for all of us. Luckily Halle only requires 1 to 2 hours of physical and mental activities per day. Compared to other Weimaraners we know in the area, they need at least double that or more. We are happy that Halle is the most non-energetic-Weim. :P It works out for all parties plus at the end of the day, we get a very happy, calm and balanced pet dog. Halle always reminds us that it’s time to go out. We will talk about games and all the fun activities we do with our super pet dog in future discussions.

Spiritually

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they do make our lives whole” } Roger Caras

As I mentioned earlier, our puppy entered our house at a time where our lives were turned upside down by a great loss in the family. Her joyful presence was so appreciated and loved. She helped us move forward everyday without looking at the past. We learned that all dogs live in the present moment. They never worry about the past or the future. They just are. So every new day is a fresh start to a new adventure. She gave us exactly what was missing in our life – some tranquility, love and compassion. We are very passionate with everything we do so raising Halle was no different. We jumped right into it giving our 200% and kindly learning from each other. When Halle approaches us with her favorite ball with her enchanting deep blue eyes and soft silver coat and her cutie tail going faster than a wiper blade, it’s an invitation to play and enjoy the present moment for a few minutes. Priceless. Everyday we are grateful for Halle being part of our lives.

Socially

“If your dog doesn’t like someone you probably shouldn’t either.” } Unknown Source

I could tell you this, we have made more friends and acquaintances in the past 2 years than I can remember. Whenever we go for a walk Halle becomes the people-magnet, instantly, and she loves it. We have taught her to sit and wait until we give her the ‘ok’ to greet people, kids and other dogs. Everyone wants to touch her, and cuddle her. Her loving energy just jumps at you and you can’t resist. We have a very strong bond and good communication with our pet dog that we have developed and established from the very beginning. She knows her role and rank in the family which is good for everyone. We will definitely talk about pack leaders and pack structure in another post because that it is the foundation of your relationship with your dog. Halle has helped us become more aware of people and their relationship with their pets dogs. Whenever we go on a road trip and go through drive-through with the windows down it becomes a petting zoo where in our car where everyone pets dog LOL. Halle’s sympathetic demeanor freely gives out lotsa love.

We love all living things. We would take a pet dog any day. Scratch that. We would take a Weimaraner any day.

Halle has turned us into the better people that we are today.

We are not over-glorifying her. We are simply saying that we have been blessed by the Universe to be able to share every delightful day in her presence. We often say this to ourselves when we are having a quiet present moment “She’s only been on this earth for a little over 2 years and she’s already given us a lifetime of special moments and extraordinary memories that we will treasure in our hearts forever.”

I know the post sounds a little mushy and romanticized but we just had to honor our Beautiful-Barbarian-Weim. If Halle had not entered our lives, essentially HalleBalleDog.com wouldn’t even exist. So aside form everything that I have mentioned and more, Halle has also managed to find a way to become our Internet partner! ;)

I’m sure that you have many personal stories about your pet dog and we truly want to hear them. Share your wonderful moments below: