17 posts tagged “dog”
Today Marly decided to make a dash out the front door and chase Bandit all the way across the cul de sac, through the neighbors' yards and into the woods back behind those houses. I finally got a hold of her and brought her home. I just hope Bandit recovers and comes back too.
The more I work with Marly and take her places, the more I am beginning to realize that her meeting-new-people issue is really just at the house. A territorial thing and especially outside in the yard. Inside she usually gets over it much faster and settles down. Maybe because inside it is easier for people to appear that they belong there because they can settle in more easily by sitting on the couch or being in the kitchen (where the food comes from). Outside usually everyone is just standing around talking. Her MO is to sort of hide behind me and bark at whomever I am talking to. She will strain her neck to sniff at them, but is careful not to get close enough for them to touch her. All the while her tail is wagging like I have never seen and she is smiling - she has a totally happy posture (with the exception of the hiding behind me part). The only thing that truly worries me is on occasion she will put her fur up during the process. She does this when she is playing with Sadie too, sometimes. I am not really sure what to make of it since I know it is typically an aggressive or fearful show.
It is almost done. Just waiting on things to arrive so I can get them wrapped and then packed back up to ship to my family. My only hangup is one last gift - it is for a friend's mom. What do you get for a perfect stranger who has everything? Suggestions anyone?
Tonight we go get the tree...last night dinner took priority and the tree place that we wanted to go to was closed after. We hit up Target instead where I bought a new/better tree stand, outdoor lights and gutter/shingle clips for them (YAY! I can do lights across the peaks on the roof now!), and Neil picked up a lighted, moving penguin. Yes...a penguin. It slowly flaps its little flipper wings. Personally, I think it looked a bit like it was staggering and offered to set up an empty six-pack next to it - maybe even attaching an empty bottle to one of the flippers. Hehehe! Really, it is cute, just very silly.
Per vet orders both Marly and Sadie are on fish oil supplements (I had already started Sadie on them, but wanted to make sure Marly was old enough to have them) and Marly also gets to have some plain, active yogurt for awhile to see if it helps settle her tummy. She eats way too much stuff that she isn't supposed to (like leaves, shoes, dirt, cat fur, etc.) and has pretty constant runnies. Luckily nothing so bad that she is making a mess of the house like Sadie did a couple years ago. Aside from that she got a clean bill of health yesterday and at 16.5 weeks old is a whoppin' 41.6 pounds!
Marly was three months old yesterday. I am going to try to get a good photo of her today. Right now we are working on the 'sit' command along with 'stay'. We are also working on staying out of the kitchen. She does pretty well with all of them when I can get her attention. Yesterday I learned yet another valuable lesson in not paying enough attention to what she is doing when she is loose in the house. She got a hold of a loose corner of carpet in the entry way and pulled it up. Luckily there wasn't too much actual damage, but she frayed it enough that the carpet no longer reaches the tack strip to hold it down there. So, it looks like the carpet will be replaced in the next year or so (once she is through this "puppy" stage) and until then I am going to have to be really careful when I vacuum that area. The good news is that I was seriously contemplating tiling the entry, dining room, living room, and kitchen anyway, along with both bathrooms and the laundry room. A huge job? Yes! Worth it in the long run for durability and ease of cleaning with two dogs and two cats running around? Absolutely!
And speaking of house projects...I bought eight Leyland Cypress today that will go in two groups (I think) along the back part of my lot. They grow extremely fast and will make nice screens so that in a couple years the backyard will have much more privacy from the neighbors that are up the hill from us and look directly into our yard. Eventually the cypress will get to somewhere around 50' tall...but that is a ways off even with how fast they grow. I couldn't find the red maples I wanted. I will check the big nursery in town next weekend. Otherwise, they may have to wait until spring time.
Yesterday Neil and I participated in the fall session for PhotoWILD! 2008. Apparently they are doing the regular spring session as well toward the end of April...we may do that one too. All entrants can submit photos for the contest next May. In my free time (what's that?) I will be sorting through the photos I took and posting them to Flickr. I am sure some will make it here as well, but if you are interested in seeing the bulk of them, head over there.
Clyde's little adventure doesn't seem to have deterred him much from his desire to go outside...though, he isn't quite as pushy about it all as he was previously, but he is still right there at the door every time I take the pups out. Naughty kitty!
Not much else happening. I will be in Knoxville a couple days next week. Other than that, just trying to get back on track with getting some projects completed around here.
WOOHOO! Marly made it through the night!
Either I was finally so tired I didn't hear her, or she actually slept (or at least was quiet) all night. And there weren't any accidents in the crate this morning. Granted, this could be a fluke. Maybe it was a somewhat delayed reaction from her shots the day before...but whatever the case, it gives me hope!
Yesterday (and we will again today) we worked on going for a walk. She already does fairly well on a leash - most of the time - but if she gets overwhelmed with a new area or if there are too many other distractions she sits. And that is that. She doesn't budge without quite a bit of encouragement. We did make it to the end of our road yesterday, but this morning the new little outdoor kitty was following us and Marly want more to play with the kitty than to go for a walk. We will try again later when the outdoor kitties are off hunting.
All in all things are going well. Neil will be back tomorrow which will be nice. Now am off to try to convince the kitties not to tease the puppy when she is in her crate. They like to investigate which, during the day when Marly isn't always sleeping, can create quite a ruckus.
Today is Marly's first trip to the vet. It ought to be interesting - Sadie is going too for her rabies shot (finally!), so hopefully she can help keep Marly calm. My biggest concern is the whole puppy carsickness thing. Sadie used to get so sick as a puppy that she would start salivating and drooling all over the place before we ever even got IN the car. A sort of Pavlovian reaction from getting sick on previous rides. And then inevitably she would barf all over the place (even if she hadn't eaten anything). I have my fingers crossed that Marly will not get so sick (or maybe not sick at all). We'll see. At least now I have the Xterra, the back of which will be much easier to clean than the back seat of my old tiny Honda Civic.
Unfortunately, I haven't had time to sew any clips onto one of the blankets so I can secure it to the tie-downs in the back, so for today I will just have to drive very slowly/carefully so they don't slide around too much in the back. Sadie is big enough now that she can brace herself around corners and such and her weight holds the blanket pretty much in place, but Marly, she's still just a wee thing!
In other critter news...Sadie went running to check on Marly today as she threw a rather boisterous fit from her kennel. This is the first time Sadie has shown any real interest in the puppy, let alone any nurturing or caring tendency toward her. Mostly it has just been a lot of growling and teeth baring while trying to protect her food dish, sleeping space, treats and toys. The best part of all that, though, is that Marly figured out very quickly that Sadie was all growl and no bite. Unless Sadie actually barks (which has only happened twice thus far), Marly usually will steal whatever toy or treat of Sadie's that she is after, or she will just barge her head into Sadie's dish. When Sadie does actually bark then Marly promptly sits in the place she was standing and stares at Sadie with her head cocked trying to figure out the situation.
It is all very cute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Potty training is coming along, slowly but surely. Crate training is going very, very well. Only the one real fit today, though now I am learning I have to be careful at night to try to distinguish Marly's 'need to potty' whine vs her 'dreaming of chasing things' whine. She talks a lot in her sleep. She also gets the hiccups. Does anyone know if this is a normal puppy thing? It cracks me up, but I don't want it ignore it if it can be an issue.
WOOHOO! This evening Marly went into her kennel all by herself. No coaxing. No putting her there. She just went in and plopped down in a couple places before finding the perfect napping spot.
I am so excited! I know this won't be the end of the anxiety woes, but it does mean that she is starting to figure out that it is "her place". Only a few accidents today...it was so hot and my house sucks for being energy efficient (read: my AC does not much when it gets into the 90's) so I am not sure if it was sweat or if she wet herself sleeping. She was soaked when she woke up - and I know she didn't get up and pee because I was watching a movie and keeping an eye on her the entire time. I will have to ask the vet about that one next week when she goes in for her first shots.
I am super annoyed with my vet office right now. Twice this past month I have had Sadie in for shots...both times I have requested she get her rabies shot (that was actually due back in July). The first time it just simply didn't happen. It didn't dawn on me until I got home that I never got a tag or certificate for her. So, I took her back Saturday when I took Bonnie and Clyde in for their annual round. It was then they told me her rabies was good until 2009.
Huh.
That would mean that she had her last rabies shot in 2006, which I knew hadn't happened. So, this evening I dug through her records and sure enough, the only certificate I have for her is from back in 2004. A three year shot means it is due in 2007.
This all means that I get to spend yet another Saturday morning sitting in their office to try to get her up to date on what is the only vaccine required by law out here. Gah!
In the meantime, I hope nothing happens that they need any sort of proof of vaccination. *sigh* I am sure no one will care when I tell them that the vet told me she was good to go until 2009.
Sadie pulled the naughtiest of all naughties first thing out of bed this morning...she decided to go take a tour of the neighbor dog's house. Remember the photo of the Great Dane and her matching doghouse I posted sometime back? Yes, that house. Thank goodness for her little puppy sake that Molly was not in her house or even in the yard. Molly doesn't like other dogs. Molly will maul and eat other dogs. (This is what her owners have specifically told me, I am not about to test their word on this.) So, it has come down to the wire. Sadie can no longer go out without being on her leash...at least until I get the fence installed.
No more procrastinating! Monday I will call to get the bid and I will get the proposal submitted to my HOA so I can get their approval (one of the blessings that is also a curse about living in a nice neighborhood setting...there are rules to keep broken down cars from sitting in front yards and such, but there are also rules that impede moving forward with yard projects when the time finally comes to getting around to doing them). Hopefully, I will have the fence up before I leave for my trip home over the Fourth of July...it will all depend on the company's schedule and how fast I get my HOA approval back.
So, that was my excitement for the morning...traipsing through my neighbor's backyard, sans bra, in my pjs, dragging my dog home because she decided to not listen at the most crucial moment. She has never been a good 'off-leash' dog, but up until now, she has mostly been good about staying in her own yard. I guess we have gotten a little too comfortable with things and it is time to go back and work on some puppy rules.
