The Dog Blog

I love a tired 'houla

2011-11-05T10:38:00.002-06:00

Bayou was really tired after daycare Friday. She came home, ate, went out to pee and came in and plopped down. That was all she wrote. She slept the whole night on the couch. I love a tired 'houla.

Love that look

2011-10-27T16:41:00.000-06:00

Snow doggy

2011-10-26T15:01:00.002-06:00

Tired but still has energy to play in the snow!

Then again, maybe I am tired...

"Dog Tired"

2011-10-26T14:43:00.002-06:00

This is what they must mean when they say someone is dog tired! Look how contorted she is. LOL

Aspen Meadows 1st Anniversary Party

2011-10-16T10:49:00.001-06:00

Today is the 1st Anniversary Party at Aspen Meadows Pet Resort where Bayou goes to daycare. I'm looking forward to going and celebrating with them. I really like this daycare and want to be supportive. If David goes with me we'll bring Bayou. If he doesn't go I'll leave her home with him. They are asking the clients to paint pictures of their dog(s) on the wall in the daycare. If they have someone who can help me I'll be happy to do it. I printed out a picture of Bayou as a model. I'm not much of a real life artist so we'll have to see how it goes. I hope they have a lot of people to show up at the party. Bayou really wanted to go to daycare today but it's her day off so she's home with us. She's doing okay. She'll be there tomorrow though. She loves going to Aspen Meadows. It's her favorite place!

Bath Day

2011-10-12T16:29:00.002-06:00

Bayou couldn't wait to get to daycare today. She wouldn't even eat her breakfast from her tug-a jug. I had to put it in her bowl so she could eat fast so we could get out the door for daycare. lol When we got there Debbie took her in and Bayou was so excited to get in the door that she almost wiggled herself to death. haha she got a bath today. She was bathed, had her ears cleaned and nails clipped. They even put the cutest bandanna on her. It has "boo" all over it. I've never seen her in a bandanna before and she looks so cute. Aspen Meadows Pet Resort is the best daycare I have ever taken an animal to, ever. If you live in Colorado Springs and need daycare or boarding for your pet (any kind of pet, I've seen a turtle there before) please check with Aspen Meadows Pet Resort first. Beth, Debbie, and all the other ladies at Aspen Meadows are so nice, great with the pets and the customer service is incredible. You also can't beat their pricing! Give them a call if you have a pet daycare, boarding or grooming need. I highly recommend them.

By the way Bayou smells and feels great and looks cute too!

Great time at daycare

2011-10-10T17:17:00.001-06:00

Bayou had a great day at daycare. One of the workers hugged Bayou before she left. Of course that made her pee on the floor. LOL. No leg problems though which made me happy. She'll go again on Wednesday.

Off to see the daycare...

2011-10-10T13:23:00.002-06:00

Little Miss Bayou went down the yellow brick road to daycare today. She was so excited when she got there. She was jumping all over the place. I really need to work with her on not being like that. It's like having an unruly child in a store. Thankfully they understand at Aspen Meadows and they treat her kindly. I'll probably pick her up a bit early today so she doesn't wear her leg out again.

Go for a ride!!!

2011-10-09T05:23:00.001-06:00

We took Bayou for a ride on Saturday. She loves sitting in the back seat.

Stiff legged puppy

2011-10-08T08:08:00.005-06:00

Bayou was a bit stiff this morning but not limping near as bad as she was yesterday. It's snowing out and she went out on the porch and played in the snow. She was rolling around on the deck. It was funny. When she goes out again, I'll try to get a video of her if she plays again. She's on the couch right now. I'm glad she is better though.

Limping Lizards (or is that 'houlas)

2011-10-07T17:12:00.000-06:00

Little baby Bayou isn't limping as badly tonight as she was this morning. It's supposed to get cold tonight so I'll have to make sure she stays warm tonight in bed. I think we'll all be under the covers tonight since they are saying we might get some snow. I'll keep Bayou out of daycare until Monday, I think. It will depend on her activity level. We can probably get her out on Sunday for a walk at Garden of the Gods if she needs it. I don't want to over do with her since her leg is still sore for her. She's sleeping on the couch again (still!). She started walking better when David got home. She was so excited to see him that I think she forgot about her leg a bit. She is still limping though. I'm sure this is just an issue of her doing too much at daycare this week. I'm glad she's doing better but my hunch is that she will be stiff after sleeping all night. We'll see how that goes. Have to keep her warm though.

Poor little pupper dawg!

2011-10-07T10:19:00.001-06:00

Bayou woke up with a sore leg this morning. She's been favoring it and just spending her day snoring and dreaming on the couch. I kept her home from daycare. I'm sure she must have played too hard yesterday in daycare and then it was cold last night so she probably is just sore. I'm sure the sun today will warm it up for her and laying on the couch will give it a chance to heal. If she's still favoring it on Monday, I'll call the vet for an appointment. She did do some artwork this week.

I love the enrichment they do at the daycare. Aspen Meadows Pet Resort, here on the east side of Colorado Springs, is the best daycare I've ever had a dog visit. They are very caring and do lots of fun stuff with the pets they care for (including a turtle they had one day!). I'll leave Bayou just for a bit this afternoon for an appointment but other than that I'll be with her all day today. I'll go to the store later when David gets home. I don't want her spending too much time alone since she is not feeling well.

I want to start taking her hiking but I can see that I'll have to go slow with that. I don't want to hurt her. So we'll start out slow and see how she does. Because she only has a single coat she gets cold easily so I will have do get a doggy coat for her. I'll get something that will work well with hiking.

I think she'll be on the couch most of the day today so it will be a quiet day for both of us. It will give me some time to get some things done around here since she's not asking to go out every 5 minutes. lol

Computer is finally working

2011-04-19T20:27:00.000-06:00

It's been too long since I blogged about Bayou because of computer problems. Things have been going good with her. I think we've really bonded over the last couple of weeks in a way that we hadn't bonded before. She is such a sweetheart and I love having her. We don't have training at SMS this week. We'll have class again next week on Wednesday. Clay wanted to give us time to train together and for Bayou to grow up some. Obviously she's still a puppy but she is maturing. I'm really looking forward to the things that she and I will be able to do together. I do need to get her out though. I haven't taken her for a walk out in the neighborhood and I haven't taken her to Petsmart yet either. Mostly I haven't done that because my allergies have been so bad that I've been miserable and sleeping a lot because of the allergy medicine. Anyway, she's getting so big. It's like she grows over night. She's been great sleeping with us and when I nap during the day she sleeps with me on the couch. She's going out on her own but still bringing things in though less often. I'm still working with her on that. She's in for the night now and needs to lay down so I'll be going for tonight.

Training is going well

2011-04-06T20:33:00.000-06:00

We had our 3rd lesson this week with Mackenzie. We worked on "place", walking along side me and coming to me. We worked with other dogs there for distractions. Bayou is doing so well. Things at home are a lot better too. Hardly any biting, she gets down when we tell her to and she comes to us most of the time too. The platforms David made this weekend are awesome and we get to practice place with them. My laptop crashed again so I won't be blogging much this coming week or so but I wanted to update about training. Our next session is on my birthday at 1pm. I'm really looking forward to it. I put her new bed in her kennel and now she goes in there on her own. How ironic. Maria came to clean the house today and I felt like Bayou did a much better job. She didn't bark the whole time and when I let her out she wasn't totally crazy (just a little bit crazy lol). One thing we have to work on is her bringing "stuff" into the house (tumbleweeds, poop, bark, sticks, etc). It's something we really have to work on. It's 8:30pm and she's already asleep in her kennel. Almost time for all of us to go to bed. I'll post when I can.

Oh! My! Gosh!

2011-03-28T22:21:00.000-06:00

It's taken me hours to get the software installed to download some pictures of Bayou. They are definitely worth the time it took though. One of the pictures is the one that is now at the top of first page of the blog. Here's a couple more.

This one is Bayou on the bed that I got using my AGC's that I earned on Swagbucks. I only had to pay $1.50 (one dollar and fifty cents) for the bed (it's a $40+ bed too).

David took this one of me and Bayou sleeping on the couch. I of course am wrapped in my Snuggie.

Here is a video of Bayou eating food out of one of her puzzles. She's pretty quick with it. She learns fast.

That's it for tonight. I need to let Bayou out to potty and then head to bed. I'm glad I was able to get some new stuff on here. Can you see how big she is getting? Goodnight.

What a day!

2011-03-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

For some reason today was difficult. I think Bayou was just not wanting to wear her collar today. I kept it on her until just a bit ago though. She's sleeping now. I think maybe I had it set too high and it was annoying her instead of getting her attention. Even when we did the long lead exercises she just wasn't wanting to participate. I guess it's only natural that she would want some time off. There are just so many teaching opportunities every day that I think it overwhelms her (and me too sometimes). She is learning though because even with the collar off she listens better than she did before we started SMS.

One of the things that was bad today was she was constantly trying to bring poop in the house. I'm still using the For-Bid but if I forget even once, we're in trouble. I purposely didn't clean up the yard today though because I wanted to work with her on not doing that. I'll clean up the yard in the morning so tomorrow isn't as bad as today (poop wise LOL).

We have our lesson this week at the SMS facility on Thursday at 4pm. I'm thinking we can be a bit more focused there, even though there may be more distractions. (Does that even make sense?) What I'm trying to say is that she'll be in a "work" environment and not home where she's used to everything. I know that I need more training on how to more effectively use the collar. There is a learning curve.

Overall though, things have been great since we started with SMS. Bayou has only been in her kennel once for 2 hours (when I was out at an appointment) since last Wednesday. Other than that, even when we eat, she has been out of the kennel. I like that she is tiring herself out now. I don't have to put her in the kennel to "force" a nap. She even takes naps with me on the couch now. I love that. It reminds me of Huxley and Blitz. It's a good memory and feeling. Especially after a day like today I need to remind myself of how much things have changed for the positive in less than a week. It was a rough one today but better than most good days we had before.

I have taken some pictures of Bayou. I just need to download them to the laptop. I'll do that in a just a bit and then post again. No videos yet though. I should try to get one on Thursday when we are training. I can let David train and I'll shoot video for a portion of the lesson. That will be fun.

Okay, off to download some pictures. Back in a bit.

Where does the time go?

2011-03-26T14:55:00.000-06:00

It's already Saturday, March 26!! Clay came by on Wednesday as planned and we started working Bayou with the collar. It has made a huge difference. She's no longer going after the bushes when she's out, she's not going after the wires and plugs inside and the barking is a lot less than it was. The biting has almost stopped. When she gets real excited she tries it but with the collar we can settle her down and get her to stop. I'm amazed that in just an hour of training we were able to accomplish so much. She hasn't had to spend any time in her kennel when I'm home. Before Wednesday she would spend hours in her kennel because she would get into so much mischief when she was free. Now she plays with her toys, chews on chew sticks (bully sticks and a bison bone) and actually lies down to sleep all on her own.

We're still getting used to how to use the collar but I think we have a pretty good handle on it in the short amount of time she's been wearing it. She doesn't seem to mind the collar much. Getting it on her in the morning can be a chore but eventually we get it on her. She wears it all day. I don't take it off of her until she goes out for the last time at night before bed. One night I took it off before I let her out and it took forever to get her back in. One of the issues that is always brought up when using a training collar is that the dog will not behave without the collar on. I'm finding that when I say "off" of "come" when the collar is not on that she pays more attention to me than she did before. "Off" especially is really working well.

Today she's full of energy so she's kind of crazy but not as bad as she was sans collar. Next Thursday we're going to the SMS facility to do some training. I wish we could train more but I know we need the practice time in between sessions to work with Bayou. We're using a long lead to work with her on "come". One of us holds the lead and the other holds the transmitter and we call her back and forth, ping pong style. It works really well. We spend most of the time saying "off" though because that has a few meanings - get off, stop, leave it alone. It's nice to have just one command for all of that instead of having to teach her a different saying for each thing we want her to do or not do. It makes training a lot easier and it helps to move things on quicker too.

I find that I have more trouble than Bayou does. I'm so used to saying "leave it" that it's hard to transition to "off". I'll get it eventually though. lol It also makes it easier for David and I to say the same commands since there aren't so many of them.

I used my AGC's from Swagbucks to buy Bayou a bed big enough to go in her kennel which is 42" long. I paid a whole $1.50 for it. I love Swagbucks!! Only thing is we're not putting anything in her kennel right now because of potty training issues. It's in the living room right now. She seems to like it and how big it is. She still uses her tiny beds too. Or the floor. She's lying on the floor by the back door right now. I think she's ready for a nap. It's really nice, since she's not in her kennel all day, that she actually tires herself out by playing, training and going outside. She's becoming a regular, normal dog now instead of a crazy lunatic dog.

I haven't taken very many pictures of her lately so I need to get on the ball with that. Videos too. I want to get some training videos to post on the blog. I also want to take a picture of her on her new bed to post on the Swagbucks Facebook wall. SB's likes when people post pictures of "prizes" they've received. The trick is to get her on the bed. We don't know place yet so we can't use that command and we don't have a command to make her stay somewhere (beside "sit" which she only does for a few seconds). I'll put some treats on her bed. That should keep her there long enough to get a picture.

I think while she is sleeping I'll clean up the living room. There are beds, blankets, toys and chews everywhere. It will only take a minute or two to do it so it's no big deal. I also need to clean the yard today. There's not much out there because I'm really doing well keeping up with it. It's a lot easier to do a bit every other day instead of waiting a week and doing it all at one time. As she gets older that will become more important.

Today a little girl, a toddler, came running over to the yard to see Bayou. I think she scared Bayou because Bayou came around the deck and ran inside. She really hasn't met any kids. April 4th she gets her last set of puppy shots and then I can take her to Petsmart so she can be around other people and other dogs. She needs that. Speaking of socialization, I haven't emailed Rebekah yet. I was wondering if Bayou would be better this week because of the training, but without the collar on I don't think there would be much of a difference right now. She's not allowed to wear the collar in class. Without it, at this point, I think I would just be holding her back from the other dogs and watching her choking herself by pulling on the leash the whole time. She's too big for me to hold her now. She's got to be close to 25 pounds. They only time I pick her up is to put her in bed at night. I'm going to fix that though by putting the blanket chest at the end of the bed again and teach her to get up there and then up on to the bed. Of course that means she can get out of bed too but I think she'll be okay with that. As long as she doesn't get out to pee on the floor, things should be okay.

I have to decide today whether I'm going to go to the Puppy Class or not. I want to be able to let Rebekah know ahead of time. I won't just not show up. That would be rude. I'd like to give it a shot but if all we do is sit around while Rebekah talks, I won't be able to take it because Bayou will be bored and that is stressful for me. I guess I could ask Rebekah what the plan is for tomorrow. The thing is I just really don't want to go. It's just not fun. When we used to take Watson to Christine, it was at least fun and we learned things every session. I think Rebekah could go over all of this stuff in an orientation session with humans only. Then the 6 puppy classes could start the following week. But, it is her class, not mine.

I'm so excited to go to the SMS facility on Thursday. I'm sure Bayou will love it too. She loves new places. I don't know if any other dogs will be there. Either way, I'm looking forward to learning more. David and I need to spend more time training though. It's been hard this week to get the training in because I have a sore back. I had to get a 2nd shot in 2 weeks on Friday. This time is was in the sacroiliac joint. I couldn't have sedation because I didn't have a driver (David was working, Lisa is in China). I felt everything that Dr. Jenks did. It wasn't horrible or unbearable but it did suck. No more shots without sedation. For 5-7 days I have to watch my activity level but the training doesn't take too much physical energy so I should be able to get back to it now.

Bayou is slowly learning to retrieve. She will go after the ball or toy and bring it back to your general area but doesn't give it to you. She may drop it close enough that you can get it but she doesn't really bring it to you. Of course, she's not a retriever so I'm not expecting miracles from her. She'll get it though. Eventually.

That's it for now. I'll do my best to get some pics and vids to post. Later.

What a pill?!?

2011-03-22T00:23:00.000-06:00

Bayou was a total pill today. When she was outside she was tearing apart that bush that Watson tried tearing apart. When she was inside, not in her kennel, she kept trying to chew the wires and plugs to the lamp and laptop. I sprayed Fooey on it and she still went after it. When she was in her kennel she was barking or whining. Yeesh! I couldn't catch a break today. Tonight though she got tired on her own and laid down on the floor and fell asleep. I took her to bed at 9pm. She went right to sleep after figuring out where she wanted to position herself. She always starts out up by my head, or on my head, and then moves down to the side of my legs. She's all about being comfortable. I think I was frustrated with her today because I know that there is a way for us to get her to stop doing things we don't want her to do but we just haven't learned the techniques yet. We're getting close though. Wednesday afternoon is fast approaching. I'm a bit nervous about the remote collar and how it will feel to Bayou. I also worry that I won't be able to do the training correctly and efficiently. I know it's just jitters from knowing knowing the plan yet. Once we get going though, I'll have a lot to do with Bayou everyday getting her to stop things she shouldn't be doing and to do things that I want her to do. That pretty much takes up my whole day. lol

I'm looking forward to when Bayou will sit and stay put or place so we can take some good pictures of her. I need to get outside tomorrow and try to get some outside shots. Her colors will show up a lot better in sunlight. Her eyes too.

We're investing a lot of money into this training so I feel a responsibility to make sure that our investments pays off. We'll start working on that Wednesday.

It's almost 12:30am so I better get back to bed. More later.

2nd Puppy Class

2011-03-20T23:30:00.000-06:00

Today I took Bayou to her 2nd puppy class. It wasn't much fun for me or for her because I had to keep her on leash the whole time and away from a couple of the dogs (one was aggressive, the other the tiny dog). She did get to play with a Labradoodle and had fun doing that. There really wasn't much for Bayou to do since there was more talking than training. I'm not worried though because we start training in private one-on-one lessons with Clay on Wednesday. After a few weeks, when she is ready, Bayou will start going to group classes. The puppy class just isn't a good fit for Bayou. I only took her because we've paid for the classes and I hate to waste the money but that hour or so takes everything out of me and Bayou (and not in a good way). So, anyway, I'll email Rebekah and let her know that we won't be coming back to puppy class. I know we will get a lot better results with Clay in private sessions.

I don't even know what I've blogged about or when I did it so I may be repeating some info. Thursday the carpets were cleaned and they pee stains actually look worse now than they did before for 2 reasons. The first reason is because the rest of the carpet is so much cleaner now, the pee stains show up more and second, when he cleaned the stains they all just got bigger. It didn't remove any of them, just made them bigger. Oh well. At least most of the carpet looks better. Bayou has peed in the house since the carpets were cleaned but not very much. We catch her in the act and make a big fuss to get her to go outside. It works for the most part. I think that even though the carpets have been cleaned I'll still need to use some Nature's Miracle to remove whatever it is that Bayou is still able to smell.

Through another dog training website I found out that a new daycare is in where Preppy Pet used to be. It's called Aspen Meadows Dog Resort. I'm going to call to see if I can go and check it out before Bayou goes there. She has to wait until the first week of April, at least, because she has to have her rabies shot. And I'm not even sure if Clay will want her going to doggy daycare. Lots of bad habits can be learned there. I don't want to undermine what Clay will be doing. We're investing a lot of time and money into Bayou's training and I want to make sure that we follow what Clay says we should do (or don't do). If she's able to go to daycare at some point, at least I know there is one closer than Lucky Dog.

I'm up but David and Bayou are in bed. She goes to bed without a problem and stays there until I take her out to pee in the morning (usually around 4:30am when David is up getting ready for work). I'm not sure if we'll train her to sleep on the floor or if it will be okay to have her sleep in bed with us. She's well over 22 pounds now and she's only 15 weeks old. I don't know how big she will get but I don't think she'll be a small dog. That reminds me, when Clay got Watson out of the truck the other day to show us how his training is going, I thought it was a different dog. Watson has really filled out and looks like an adult dog now. He is absolutely beautiful. He did great with the training demonstration. He missed a few things but I'm okay with that. I don't want a perfect dog, I want a happy, obedient dog.

Today when Bayou came in the back door she ran and leaped up onto the couch where I was laying. I couldn't believe the air she got. lol We'll definitely not have that happening once training starts. She will only be on the furniture or us if she is invited. No more jumping, crazy dog. Maria comes on Wednesday morning to clean the house and I'll be glad when she comes back 2 weeks later and Bayou has made some improvement. Maria will be a good judge of how Bayou is doing with her training.

I'm really looking forward to Wednesday afternoon getting here so we can start the training in earnest. The puppy class that we went to today seems to be more of an informational class than a training class so I think working with Clay is the better way to go. There are all kinds of things that Bayou is doing that I can't wait to get her to stop (biting, digging, chewing on power cords, running away from me). I know I have to be patient though because she only is a puppy and training takes time. I just want to get on with it. I'll finally have some guidance and can work with Bayou more often with the specific training behaviors we're working on. I think it will be great for Bayou because she'll get more energy out during the day and learn to be more focused. It will be good for me because I'll have something to do and a plan to follow. So far all I've done is try to stay a step ahead of Bayou and for the most part, that's really not happening. She's running things right now. She's in for a rude awakening when private lessons start. Not that it will be mean or anything, it's just that she's so used to being in charge that once I'm in charge she'll know things have changed. And they do have to change.

At the end of puppy class, Bayou was finally calm enough to do "sit" and "down" with treats. I think she was just worn out from choking herself at the end of the leash all class long. She'll sleep good tonight though. Then we'll be one day closer to training with Clay. I don't want anyone to think that the puppy class is bad, it's just not a good fit for Bayou and me. We don't need all the new puppy info. We need training techniques. I don't think this class will do a whole lot of that. We did use the clicker today but Clay told us we won't be using a clicker with his training. We'll still mark the behavior but it will be with a verbal clue ("YES!!"). I'll be glad to be done with the clicker. It's too hard to hold her leash, hold treats and click the clicker. One less thing will really help. I'm thinking too that we won't have her on leash much in the private lessons so I won't have that to hold onto either. Once she gets comfortable enough with training and we are doing the right techniques (after about a month or so) then she'll be able to go to group classes. That is going to be a lot of fun working with other dogs who are being trained the same way. It will give me something to do and it certainly will give Bayou something to do that will tire her out. I think there are a couple of classes a week. I'll probably try to attend whatever classes are available to me. It will be nice to have a focus again.

Tomorrow I have to go out and clean the yard early because I think the lawn guy is coming to fertilize. I didn't clean today but I did yesterday so it shouldn't be too bad. I let the Scott, the yard guy, know that we have Bayou so he doesn't use any dangerous chemicals. He'll have to pull weeds instead of spraying them to kill them. I may have to get a sprinkler at Lowe's for the fertilizer since the sprinkler system hasn't been turned on yet. I'll have to check with Scott on that too. I can't wait for there to be moist, green grass in the backyard. Right now it's all dry and gets tracked into the house so easily. And fresh grass is so much more fun to play in. It makes cleaning the yard a bit of a challenge but between Scott coming every week and we cleaning up at least every other day it shouldn't be a problem.

I need to get some more pictures of Bayou to post and a video too. I want to tape our classes with Clay. I need to get a before video of how crazy she can get and then a week later video again if she's made improvement. I wish I hadn't sold my camera tripod. I could really use it now. I'll have to look for one on craigslist or online. Speaking of online. I ordered the bed that fits in her whole kennel. The little round beds I got still work but there not as comfortable as they could be for her. Clay also suggested with put a divider in the kennel so she doesn't have as much room to keep her from peeing in there. Right now she has so much room that she can pee on one end and sleep on the other. Not good. I couldn't find any dividers at Petsmart so I'm going to see if I can come up with something from Lowe's. Her bed will be here this week so I need to find a divider soon.

I guess that's it for tonight. I'm getting sleepy and swagbucks is calling my name to Midnight Bucks! lol

Busy, busy, busy

2011-03-18T15:50:00.000-06:00

I've been so busy with Bayou and other things that I forgot to update the blog. She got her Bordetella shot on Monday so I could take her to daycare at Lucky Dog on Thursday so we could get the carpet cleaned. She weighs over 21 pounds now!! She was at daycare all day and had a blast but she's still tired today from all the playing she did yesterday. SMS is coming over in about 15 minutes to do their demonstration. I'm also going to check out another trainer (Rick Walkley @ Focus Dog Training) before I make any decisions. He said he would work with her for an hour and then we can decide whether or not his training is for us. He's going to call me today to set up an appointment. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

We're able to let Bayou out on her own now. We just leave the door cracked and she comes and goes as she pleases. It makes life so much easier for me and more enjoyable for Bayou. She is going under the deck so we need to get the rocks put around it. We also need to finish the fence between our yard and Mike's. David's going to try to do that this weekend.

SMS will be here soon so more later.

I am so looking forward to Friday

2011-03-13T20:09:00.000-06:00

I am in great need of direction with Bayou and her training. I know that I will get that soon. It seems like she isn't too interested in treats anymore because she gets so many of them. Using a toy as a reward (at some point) will be so much better IF I can get the right toy for her. I spent a lot of time today trying to get her to come in from the back yard. She wasn't getting into any trouble, I just wanted her to come in. She doesn't come when I call her unless she's interested in coming to me. I can't chase after her because my back is still hurting and honestly I don't want to have to chase after my puppy. I'm really hoping to see some change within a weeks time, just a little change. I want to see the possibilities.

I emailed a carpet cleaning place today to see if they can come and clean the carpet this coming week. The carpet is disgusting. It needs to be cleaned. I'll feel better when it is done. Then I'll have to really stay on top of Bayou, making sure that she doesn't have accidents in the house.

David has had hockey Friday, Saturday and tonight. He has his last week of school this week. It's been hard with Bayou because David has to spend time away from home or when he is home, doing his homework. I understand completely that it's necessary but I'm looking forward to him being able to help me more with Bayou. I know he will put in the time once he has some. lol

Thankfully, Bayou is napping which gives me time to do some laundry. It's very much like having a little kid. There are all the ups and downs but mostly joy that I have Bayou. She's going to be a great companion one day soon.

Sit Means Sit (really, it does!)

2011-03-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

On Friday, March 18th, at 4pm someone from SMS will be here to do the demonstration for us. I have the money set aside to start the program. Bayou is being a little angel right now (sleeping). I tried to get her to nap on our bed so I could get a nap in but she wouldn't settle down. I think that what I really need help with is getting her to come when called and go in her kennel when commanded. All the chasing around and bending is hurting my back and frustrating me. I'm not frustrated with Bayou, I'm frustrated that I'm so out of shape that I can't keep up with this puppy. Getting her trained is going to make all the difference for me. Sit Means Sit is definitely the way to go for me and Bayou. The video above shows a German Shorthair Pointer puppy who is 17 weeks old. He is very energetic and unfocused in the beginning of the video. After a week they recorded him again and there was marked improvement. He was very focused and obedient. I'm glad to see that there will be a noticeable difference in just a week. I'm looking for perfection in a week just improvement.

I wish that someone from SMS could come sooner but that was the first appointment that I could get so that David could be here too. I just have to make it through the next week and then things will move forward in the direction I want them to. I honestly have no idea what to do to train Bayou to come to me, walk with me, stay, focus, retrieve a toy, etc. I've tried using treats but I think she's sick of treats already. They aren't even special anymore. I don't know if SMS uses lots of treats or not. I know that they do use a toy and of course the e-collar (which is like a tap on the shoulder, I've felt it myself). I look forward to when Bayou wants to do things just to please me and get a toy vs. bribing her with treats to get her to do anything.

I've been watching as many videos as I can on youtube. There are lots of SMS videos. I really look forward to the changes that are to come.

Next week I'll be ordering a new bed for Bayou's kennel (a 28" x 42"). She's too big for the small beds me have right now. Ha! I just looked over at her and she's got her belly up and her legs dangling everywhere. She looks very comfortable. Anyway, I'm going to use an Amazon Gift Card that I got through Swag Bucks to pay for the bed. I may have to pay a little under $2 for it with the AGC. That's such a great deal.

David has hockey tonight and tomorrow night and maybe on Sunday. That's a lot of time for Bayou and I to work on sit, down and stay. We're just beginning "stay" so I'm sure that's going to take a while. We also need to work on paw and high 5. She tends to do high 10. LOL I know she is smart and can learn. I just need to learn the way that works best for her through SMS. I've seen the difference that SMS has made in Harley/Watson so that gives me a lot of hope. Beside that training they also have get together classes around town (at least that's what was happening when we gave up Harley/Watson). I really want to get her out there with other dogs and eventually work her with distractions. We'll definitely be able to practice that with the dogs out back.

I'm just so anxious to get the SMS training started. I want to see change and improvement in my relationship with Bayou. I want her to be focused on me and attentive to what I want her to do. I guess I can be patient.

Not such a great day

2011-03-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Maria told me that Bayou is more hyper than the 2 puppies she had. That made me feel bad. What is it about me that makes crazy dogs? Tonight David said that she's crazy and I need to do more with her during the day. That really made me feel bad. She's been barking all night, all day really, and when she's out of her kennel she runs around like a crazy dog and gets to a point where she jumps at us and bites. Really, why do I bring this out in dogs? I know the best thing I can do is put her in Sit Means Sit training. Puppy classes just don't do it. She has too much energy (not a bad thing) and the puppy classes don't give her an outlet to get that much energy out. I think that SMS would be a better thing for Bayou. I do feel bad though that I'm not doing whatever it is that I need to do to make her a more calm, happy dog. Don't get me wrong, I love her and plan on doing whatever it takes to keep her and make her a calm and happy dog.

Well, she's finally tired herself out and she's sleeping. The snoring is way better than the barking. LOL

Seriously though, I was embarrassed today at Bayou's behavior while Maria was here. She barked almost the whole time she was here and when I let her out, once on leash, once off, she just went nuts jumping up on Maria. She just kept saying how hyper Bayou is and that I seem to bring that out in dogs (she saw Harley before he was given away). I don't want to be embarrassed by my dog and I don't want my dog to be so crazy that she can't have a nice life. I want a companion dog but I pick these breeds that have more energy than I can deal with. I'd take her out walking if I thought she would walk with me but I know she won't at this point. We didn't learn very much in the first puppy class and now we don't meet for another 2 weeks. I need to do something between now and then to try to fix this problem. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to take her to PetSmart and see how she does there. They have slippery floors so I'm not sure she'll like that but she has to get used to them.

I know that she's just a puppy and that barking, digging, biting is all part of the package but I also know that at this point it's excessive. Maybe I'll contact SMS and see what they can do for me. I think Bayou is old enough to start training with them (she's 13 1/2 weeks now). I know they use an e-collar and I have no problem with that. Whatever it takes to get her to behave and make life better for all of us (including Maria). I don't want Maria to dread coming to the house to clean because Bayou is going to bark the whole time.

So, once again I have a dog that is running my life but the difference this time is that I'm not giving up. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work.

Bark, bark, bark

2011-03-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Bayou has been barking her fool head off for the last couple of days. When she's in her kennel she barks. When she's not in her kennel she's either barking or biting. Ugh! I know it's just a puppy stage so it's not a real big deal but it's still not pleasant. We've been letting her go out into the yard and we just watch her from the door. She does just fine. At night or early in the morning she'll go out, do her business and then come right back in. It's nice to not have to take her out on the leash every time (especially when it's raining or snowing or really cold). Maria is here cleaning and Bayou will not stop barking. I just gave her a Kong with some cream cheese in it and she's quieted down since you can't eat and bark at the same time. LOL Maria notices how big Bayou is getting because she only sees her every 2 weeks. Maria says she's much bigger than 2 weeks ago. At puppy class on Sunday Bayou went on the scale by herself and it looked like she weighs about 18 pounds now. She's growing by leaps and bounds. No puppy class this week because Rebekah will be out of town. I'll need to get Bayou out to PetSmart and PetCo so she can meet some other dogs and people. I'm kind of disappointed with the class since there is only one other dog and it's a tiny one. I'll check with Rebekah and see if there are any plans for other dogs joining this class. I really need to get Bayou more socialized.

It's a beautiful day out today so Bayou is having fun going out on her own and running around the yard. That will help her use up some of the energy she has pent up. She is so energetic. She doesn't seem to mind the vacuum while Maria is cleaning the dining room and it stopped her from barking too. Yay! Hopefully it will last for more than 5 minutes. LOL

Good day

2011-03-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a fairly good day today. Bayou hasn't gone out quite as much which makes life a little easier for me. No accidents in the house either (so far - fingers crossed). She is napping right now which gives me a minute to blog. I have to go to Petsmart tomorrow to get treats for puppy class tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to get the Bil Jac Little Jacs. They stay softer longer than the Zukes do. I'll look at others too because she'll need variety. I'll have to get something extra special too for those times when she's not as interested in treats. I have to remember to bring a favorite toy too. That won't be easy since she has so many to play with. I'll probably bring her duckie or her little Kong. That reminds me, I don't know where her baby Kong went to (the pink and white pacifier shaped Kong). It's probably in the toy box so I'll have to check that later. Bayou has been kind of rowdy today. I think it's because I'm not able to exercise her as much because of my back hurting. It's still very painful to walk. She's old enough now that I should start taking her for walks but she's not very good on the leash. She pulls and nearly chokes herself. I know we'll be learning some leash stuff in puppy class so maybe I'll wait until then to take her out of the yard to walk. That's about it for now. Nothing exciting going on here right now.

Can you say "I don't want to go out anymore"?

2011-03-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

I can't even count the number of times I took Bayou out today. lol I still have to take her out before we go to bed too. We'll be going to bed at 9pm. I'm hoping that since David doesn't have to get up for work tomorrow that she will sleep past 4:30am. No biggie is she doesn't but it would be nice to sleep a little longer. Bayou is sleeping right now. She got into that crazy frenzy that she gets into just before she crashes and sleeps. I'm hoping she will grow out of that. Sunday she will be 13 weeks old and we'll be starting puppy classes. I hope she's not too aggressive in class. I'm hoping the other puppies put her in her place.

Well, she's awake and wants to go out. Imagine that...

Vet appointment this morning

2011-03-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Bayou had her vet appointment this morning to get her third set of shots. She weighed in at 16.6 lbs! I'm still feeling really bad so I haven't been able to play with her as much as I usually do. It takes all my energy just to take her out during the day. She's been really good and has slept a lot today. That has given me time to sleep too. She was very good at the vet. Dr. McKenney said her infection is getting better and she's good to go with puppy classes. I'm not sure how I'm going to do though. Moving around really hurts and there will be lots of movement during the puppy class. David will have to help out. That's it for now.

Bayou did well while I was gone today

2011-02-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

I left Bayou for 2 hours and she did just fine. No accidents and she wasn't barking or whining when I left or when I got home. I'll be leaving her again tomorrow to go pick up my laptop. I miss my laptop but have enjoyed using this netbook. I'm online a lot less than I used to be since I have to watch Bayou every minute that she's out of her kennel. I try not to put her in there too often. She likes being out with me and I like having her with me. There would be no sense in having her if she spent all her time in the kennel. She loves sleeping in bed with us. She is spoiled and I know it. I'm still not feeling great today so I'm not going to blog too much. I get an injection in my back next Monday. David is going to have to take care of Bayou once I get home so I can rest. When he gets home he'll have to let her out and then feed her. She'll have been in her kennel for an hour and a half by then. I know she will do okay. The only thing I worry about is if she has an accident. David can't get down there to clean up and it will be difficult for me to do that too on that day. I'll make sure to take her out many times before I leave. I'm sure it will be okay. Off to surf the net for a while.

Things are getting better for Bayou

2011-02-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

I think the Clavamox is working. Bayou isn't peeing as much now. She's still having an accident or two but not nearly as many as before. She's eating and drinking normally and still has tons of energy. On Thursday Bayou goes for her 3rd set of shots and get checked again to see if the infection is gone. She starts puppy class on Sunday so I really hope the infection has cleared up. I'm very excited to see how she behaves with other dogs and people. I'm sure she'll love the people but I'm wondering if she'll be like Harley and be shy. Even if she is I'm sure that won't last long. I'm also anxious to see what her weight will be on Thursday. I rarely pick her up anymore. She's just too heavy. I do lift her up to get on the bed at night though. Yes, she is sleeping with us. It actually makes things a lot easier because she can wake me up right away if she needs to go out. She's doing pretty good sleeping through the night though. She's still waking up for the day at 6:30am which doesn't thrill me but we always seem to get a nap in later in the morning or early in the afternoon. I have a doctor's appointment for me tomorrow so I'll be leaving her alone for a while, about 2 hours. I think she will do okay. I'll make sure I take her out just before I leave and keep her out for a while. It's supposed to be nice out tomorrow and that always helps.

I wasn't feeling too good today (back pain and such) so David helped out with Bayou today. That was so helpful to me. It allowed me to relax and get the rest I needed. I took a shower tonight and that helped too. I feel a whole lot better than I did just a few hours ago. The pain meds help too. ;-) The best thing though was that Bayou was easy to take care of today. She's sleeping in her kennel right now. I'll take her out before we go to bed and then we'll pack it in for the night. I think I'll be feeling better tomorrow and will be able to get more done around the house. Bayou isn't getting in the way of that, the back pain is. She's a joy to own. I took a picture of her today. She's getting bigger every day.

That's it for tonight. I'm going to wake Bayou up and take her out for a potty break then it's off to bed.

Back from the Wizard

2011-02-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dr. McKenney called me around 12:30pm. She said that Bayou still has the vaginitis but doesn't have a UTI. She's put Bayou on another, stronger, antibiotic. She'll take that two times a day until it's all gone. I think there is a weeks worth of pills. I also have to limit her water. She'll get 1.5 to 2 cups of water every 2-3 hours to control how much she's drinking. She may be peeing so much because she's drinking too much water. I hope this antibiotic helps take care of the problem. Dr. McKenney mentioned surgery but said Bayou is too young for that. I don't want her to have to have surgery. The receptionist said that Bayou isn't as big as she thought she would be. Dr. McKenney wanted her to gain 8 - 10 pounds in a month and she's only gained 6. Maybe she'll be a small dog after all. I've had her out of her kennel as much as possible. She's been biting so I put her in there when she does that. She's her rowdy self so I know she's not feeling bad. I have to make sure the antibiotic doesn't make her throw up or have diarrhea. Well, she's wanting out of her kennel so I better let her out to play.

Off to see the Wizard!

2011-02-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

I dropped Bayou off at the vets this morning. I don't know how long they will have her. I'm going to enjoy my time without her even though I miss her already. I put her on the scale when we got there and she now weighs - drum roll please - 14 pounds 2 ounces!! I sent a text to David to let him know her current weight and her sent a text back saying "fatso, ha ha". She is a little chunk now. I can barely pick her up. I'm going to have to do a lot of work with her on walking on the leash and going up and down stairs so I don't have to lift her any more than I have to. I'm aching all over because picking her up is so difficult. She wouldn't walk into the vets so I had to carry her in. I think there were just too many smells out there to distract her. I sure hope Dr. McKenney can figure out what's going on with her. I'm gong to pick up some Nature's Miracle spray and clean up all the places where she's peed in the house to deter her from doing it anymore. I guess if I have to take her out every 15 minutes I'll have to do that to keep her from having accidents in the house.

It's weird not having her here. The house is so empty without her but like I said I'm going to enjoy this little slice of freedom that I am blessed to have. I need to get the house straightened out but I don't really want to do that while I have time to myself. Having a puppy sure does mess the house up. Why is that? lol Part of the problem is the boxes from all the stuff I've ordered for her (though I think everything I've ordered has been delivered now. I'm keeping one of the boxes to see if I can use it to send my printer back to Office Max since it's not working right. Once they get it they'll send me a gift card so I can go buy another printer at Office Max. I don't know what kind of printer I'll get but it will definitely be one that will print out nice pictures. I want to have a nice picture of Bayou to put in my bag. I want to be able to show the picture to people. She's just so darn cute.

I'm kind of hoping that they'll keep her for a few hours so I can get some stuff done around here (besides relaxing that is). It would go faster without Bayou under foot or barking in her kennel. It will give me a chance to change out her kennel too. I have a new waterproof pat for the bottom layer and a new blanket for her to keep cozy on. Both are washable. Heck, everything I have for her is washable.

I've been giving Bayou her meals out of different toys every day. I do that to stimulate her mind. Once in a while I'll just put her food in a bowl but mostly I use the puzzles and Tug-a-Jugs. She loves having to work for her food. I wish there was a way to raise her kennel off the floor so it would be easier to get to her. All the bending over is killing my back and shoulders. I can't believe she's at 14.2 already. No wonder is harder to pick her up. I wonder how big she'll be once she's done growing. Hopefully not too big since she likes sleeping in bed with us. ha ha

Okay, off to get some things done around here. I'll start with Bayou's stuff and then move on from there. Wish me luck!

Yikes!

2011-02-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Bayou was in her kennel all day today because the furnace guys were here from 9am - 3pm. When David got home I went out to run errands. I think she was in her kennel some of that time too. I got her a bully stick when I went to Petsmart and she loves it. I also got her an ID tag that will go right on her collar instead of hanging off of it. She was able to get the tag in her mouth with it hanging off the collar. I've let her out of her kennel tonight but she's so wound up from sleeping a lot today and being in her kennel that she's going ballistic. She's biting on all the cords tonight which makes it difficult to let her out of the kennel. I'm going to have to duct tape the wires down so she doesn't bite them and get caught in them. It will be much more fun for her and me if the wires aren't an issue.

Dr. McKenney called me today. She wants me to bring Bayou in tomorrow and leave her for a while so they can get a urine sample (without poking a needle into her bladder). I'm sure she won't be there too long since she's still peeing constantly. I hope they can find something to help her. because it's getting frustrating having to clean up after her in the house all the time. I know she doesn't mean to do it but it's still frustrating.

Besides that stuff she is still a doll and I love her. I can't wait to go to bed tonight and cuddle with her. Or should I say watch her cuddling with David. :-)

The big crash!

2011-02-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to post until today because my hard drive crashed on my laptop. Lisa was my savior and loaned me a netbook so I could be back in the loop.

Bayou still has an infection. She's peeing 4-5 times when I take her out and then peeing again within 10 minutes or so in the house. She's destroyed the carpet. I left a message with Dr. McKenney and hopefully she'll call today. The antibiotic I've been giving her doesn't seem to have any effect on her potty habits. Something has to change though. It's getting to be very frustrating having her pee in the house. She knows to go to the door when she has to go out but it's like she just can't wait that minute or two. I'm sure we'll get it figured out soon.

Also, our furnace was leaking carbon monoxide yesterday. I was afraid that it would effect Bayou so I called the heating/AC guy and they came by to check it. The heat exchanger is cracked and that's why it's leaking. The system is turned off for now. The furnace guy let us borrow a space heater so it wouldn't get too cold in here overnight. They will be installing the new furnace today. That means that Bayou will spend more time in her kennel than she'd like. She's in there sleeping right now. She tired herself out playing. I'm ready to go back to bed until the furnace guys come to install the new one.Yesterday was going to be such a good day until the CO leak. It went all down hill from there. At the end of the night though I was finally able to get a shower in and get online. Those 2 things make me feel human again. I would have liked to get more sleep but taking a nap on the couch is going to have to suffice.

I have some pictures and video of Bayou that I"ll post once I get my laptop back and can download them from the camera.

Okay off to nap like Bayou.

Naps are good

2011-02-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

Bayou and I both napped twice today. I was glad to get the naps in because I wasn't feeling good today. I've given Bayou both her doses of amoxicillin and For-Bid. She ate the food with the For-Bid on it without any problem. I give her the amoxacillin with peanut butter and she eats it up. Dr. McKenney said it would take at least 24 hours for the amoxacillin to work. I haven't seen any change in her peeing habits yet. She's still peeing multiple times on each outing. She slept quite a bit during the day but she's wound up tight tonight. I must go and play with her. Later.

Trip to the vets

2011-02-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was getting worried about Bayou having trouble peeing. She seemed to have frequency and urgency, both signs of a UTI. I called Ask A Vet on one of the news channels last night and the vet said that I should take her in ASAP. It wasn't urgent but it needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. So I made an appointment with Dr. McKenney for 7:50am this morning. I tried to get a urine sample (don't even ask lol) but couldn't so they got one this morning by inserting a needle into her bladder. The results showed that there wasn't a lot of bacteria in her urine but there was a little blood (which could have been caused by the needle insertion) and she also has a vaginal discharge. Dr. McKenney gave me amoxacillin for her to take 2x/day and she also gave me some For-Bid to help with the poop eating thing. The Dr. said none of these things were uncommon and should respond to the meds. I've already given her 1 amoxacillin. I forgot to put the For-Bid on her food this morning so I'll do that at lunch time. Bayou should show improvement over the next 24-48 hours. If she isn't showing improvement then I need to call the vet Saturday morning. I hope it clears up with the antibiotic though. The visit, UA sample and meds cost $96.00. It could have been a lot worse, money wise, so I'm going to be grateful that I can afford the care that Bayou needs. She's napping so I'm going to try to get a quick nap in too.

Tornado video

2011-02-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

I took a short video of Bayou eating out of the Tornado. She's getting quick at it.

Bluetick Coonhound History

2011-02-16T13:53:00.002-07:00

The modern Bluetick's color indicates that it descended from the Grand Bleu de Gascogne (French Staghound) as well as the English Foxhound. Many French hounds were brought to America and contributed to the coonhound breeds. One owned by George Washington was recorded as giving birth to 15 puppies, and Washington likened their musical voices to the "bells of Moscow." The Grand Bleu was too slow on the trail to please the American hunter, but when bred to American hounds, it increased their coldtrailing ability and their endurance.
Although Blueticks were originally classified as English Coonhounds, Bluetick breeders broke away from the English breeders in 1945 because they didn't want to follow the trend toward producing a hot-nosed, faster hunter. Proud of their larger, cold-nosed and resolute, if slower hounds, they named their breed and maintained their own hunting style. For a short time, puppies with blue ticking were classified as Blueticks and those with red ticking were still called English. But that practice soon ceased as each Coonhound maintained its own group of staunch supporters.
An intelligent, cold-nosed hunter that trees hard and long, the Bluetick has the ability and endurance to stay on the most intricate track. He is a free tonguer on the trail with a medium bawl or bugle voice when striking and trailing. This changes to a steady chop when running and a steady course chop at tree.

Catahoula Leopard Dog History

2011-02-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Catahoula originated in North Central Louisiana in the geographic area around the Catahoula Lake from which it got its name. The word Catahoula is of Choctaw Indian origin and is translated into English as "sacred lake", just as the Choctaw word Choekahoula means "sacred home."
The first settlers to that area of Louisiana found the woods full of wild hogs and these Indian dogs that were indigenous to the area. In fact there were so many wild hogs in the woods that they were considered to be a nuisance and of little value. Early settlers described them as being so poor that you could make "head sauce" (pronounced sowce and meaning hog head cheese) out of them but they had no meat on their bones. This generated the names "razorback" or "piney woods rooter."
The idea that the natives had Catahoulas upon the arrival of the first European settlers to the area is difficult to prove and is best offered as legend. The fact that the natives had domestic dogs was recorded by the scribes of Spanish explorer, Hemando de Soto.
As of 1539, when de Soto's expedition landed in Florida and began their odyssey throughout the Southeastern U.S., there was only one species of domestic animal in North America, the native Indian's dog. This dog was described by members of de Soto's expedition as looking exactly like the wolf except that it barked and the wolf only howled. There were 700 men on the expedition and the various scribes that wrote of their experiences gave only that limited description of the Indian dog (other than numerous references to eating them). It stands to reason that if there were more interesting observations made, they would have been reported.
The Spanish explorers had their "war dogs" with them and they were described as bloodhounds, mastiffs and greyhounds. Legend claims that these war dogs cross bred with the native Indian dogs and produced a new breed or crossbreed for the surviving Native Americans. This information was passed down from generation to generation by the European settlers in what is now North Central Louisiana. Most of these settlers were farmers who had migrated west as the Eastern lands were used up and no longer produced the crops that they were in the habit of raising.
More important to the history of the Catahoula was the herd of swine that de Soto's expedition brought with them from Cuba and Santo Domingo. These hogs were brought along as a reserve or emergency food supply. De Soto would not allow these hogs to be killed as they were for emergency or survival only. Only one time during the 3 years of de Soto's command did he allow for the consumption of pork from these hogs and that was during a time of short corn supplies from the Indians. Of the 300 head of hogs, caught on the islands of Cuba and Santo Domingo and brought with them to North America, 13 sows were recorded as belonging to de Soto. After his death some three years later (on the west side of the Mississippi river) his second in command, de Moscoso auctioned off 700 head of hogs that belonged to de Soto. This sort of increase from 13 sows should give an indication of how many hogs were actually in the herd when the expedition broke down in what is now North Louisiana or Southern Arkansas. The remaining members of the expedition killed and salted the meat of as many hogs as could be carried in the small boats that they built to travel to Mexico. The remaining hogs (the numbers had to be staggering) were given to the friendly Indians or liberated to live in the lush river bottoms of the area. These hogs destined to become known in Arkansas as "razorbacks" and in Louisiana as "pineywoods rooters" were found in the woods as the land was settled.
Just as the Longhorn cattle were left by Spanish explorers the wild hogs were a ready made resource for the settlers. The only flies in the ointment were the facts that there were so many hogs in the woods after 3 centuries of inbreeding and survival of the fittest that they were poor in condition and extremely poor in type; they were also "wild." To overcome these problems the settlers began killing off the sows that must have resembled the original swine (European Wild Boar) and replacing them with modern (for the time) Hampshire Mars. The Hampshire was used because the breed was considered the most active of domestic breeds at the time.
The early settlers around the Catahoula lake region of North Louisiana began to use these Indian dogs and/or crosses of them to pen and catch wild hogs and cows. This practice was soon developed into a method of managing herds of wild cattle and wild hogs. The peculiar way these dogs work stock is what separates them from the rest of dogdom. Their style of working stock is to effectively provide a "canine fence" around wild cows or hogs and hold them for their master. Their masters then provide direction to the movement of these wild cows or hogs while inside this "canine fence."
Catahoulas have been bred by working-oriented breeders since their instincts to work wild hogs and cattle became evident. The ability to handle wild herds is instinct and cannot be taught. A single outcross or crossbreeding so affects the instinct that it eliminates those pups from ever becoming breeding stock. This self governing instinct could easily be lost if bred for pets or show without the trial by fire working aspect being tantamount. Regardless of size, color, or color of eyes, the working instinct is the true acid test of purity in the Catahoula.

Magic lunch is over

2011-02-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

I gave Bayou her lunch (just kibble) in the Magic puzzle. She's so quick at getting all the bones off it now to get to the food that it's amazing. I'll remember to take a video of her next time I give her food in the Magic or the Tornado. I let her out of the kennel to eat and then let her run around for a few minutes. I put her in her kennel when she started biting on the furniture. She's not thrilled to be in the kennel but she's playing so she's not doing too bad. If she really hated it she would do what she did last night in the crate and pitch a fit. She hasn't done that at all today. She's content playing with her stuffed birds (a pheasant and a duck).

I ordered the 2 blankets from ABC Distributing (through Swagbucks Shop & Earn) and I also ordered that pad on Amazon. They should be here by next week. She's not tearing up the blanket so we are okay so far.

She's been chasing her tail once in a while. It bothers me because Harley did that. I don't want her to turn into Harley, at least the way he was with me. The good thing is that I know that Sit Means Sit is out there and if I can't make her behave that I have an alternative. I'm not going to let another dog defeat me. I will give it everything I have so it will work. She's not going anywhere.

At quarter to three I'm going to jump in the shower. I don't like leaving her alone for too long so if I take a shower then, David will be home 15 minutes later. She should do okay with that. She's found the bottom of the kennel, the tray, and she's already figured out that she can't pull it apart like she did the carpet. She is learning fast.

I'm going to have to do some research on this tail chasing thing. It worries me.

Got a few things done

2011-02-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Bayou woke up just long enough for me to vacuum and to get the dishes in the dishwasher and get that going. She's napping again/still. I think she likes how open the kennel is compared to the pen and crate. I'm just glad she has settled down. The puppy pen was driving her crazy because she knew she could get out of it if left to her own devices. I think she gets it already that she can't get out of the kennel. I measured it and it's a 42" kennel. I'll have to look for a pad to put in there. I'd like something that wouldn't soak through but is washable. I saw one online for $13 but I'm hoping I can get one in town so I can have it quicker. That's a really good price though. I also should get a blanket for Bayou, something she can cuddle up in. I saw one of those online too for $8. I'll have to think about what I want to do regarding the pad and blankets. I don't remember seeing anything like that and certainly not that inexpensive at Petsmart. Online may be the way to go. Until then I can use blankets and her little bed. Think I'll go window shopping online. lol

She's definitely growing

2011-02-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

We've had Bayou for 19 days and she's already outgrown the puppy pen. I had to take it down today because she was climbing up the side of it to get out and she was tearing at the carpet. So, now she is in the big kennel.

She's actually sleeping right now. It's smaller than the puppy pen but still fairly big. She has plenty of room to play in there. I can feed her in there too and that's a plus. I'll list the puppy pen on craigslist and hopefully I can get back the $30 that I paid for it. I just can't believe how fast she is growing. In about 2 weeks she will go to get her 3rd set of shots at the vet. It will be interesting to see what her weight is then. Only 19 days until she starts her puppy classes. I wish it were sooner. I want her to socialize with other dogs and other people. Puppy class will be good for her.

I have to admit that I was feeling overwhelmed this morning when she was trying to get out of the puppy pen and when she was tearing at the carpet. I felt like she was taking over. Then I remembered that I had the big kennel and that putting her in there would solve both problems. She's not going to be able to get out of the big kennel and it has a slide in tray on the bottom so she can't get to the carpet. Problems solved.

Last night she went ballistic when I put her in her crate to go to bed. It was horrible. I let her go for about a half an hour and then when she quieted down a bit I got her out. She fell asleep in my lap. I know I shouldn't have given in even though she was quiet when I took her out. I let her sleep in bed with us too. She did fine. No problems and she slept later than usual. I don't mind her sleeping with us at all and if it means I can get more sleep, I'm all for it. I'm tired because I'm only sleeping a few hours at a time. It doesn't give me a chance to recharge my batteries. Today I feel better though because I was able to sleep more. I'm going to vacuum up the dining room once she's awake and take care of the dishes and laundry too. Having her in the big kennel makes life even easier than having her in the puppy pen. Having her in the right enclosure makes things work so much better. I'm glad I bought the kennel and the puppy pen. I got a lot of use out of that puppy pen in 19 days! lol

I got an estimate to clean the carpet. It is for $75. Do I get it cleaned for $75 or buy a carpet cleaner for $135.00? I know she's not through having accidents so maybe the carpet cleaner is the way to go. That would allow me to clean as we go. If I get the carpet cleaned I'm pretty much assured that she'll have an accident immediately after it's clean then I'd need the carpet cleaner anyway. The dining room floor is worse than I thought it was. Now that I've taken down the puppy pen I can see the carpet more clearly. She had more peeing accidents than I realized. I'm so glad that this isn't permanent carpet. I'd lose my mind if it was. I can live with this carpet as long as it's relatively clean. I can even put up with the holes from the carpet being torn up since I know that at some point we'll have new flooring. We'll probably go with a linoleum or vinyl type flooring instead of the tiles. The tiles take way too long and I want to have it done in a day or two, not in weeks. It was fine that it took that long to do the bedroom because we weren't using it but we use the dining room to walk through every day.

Man, she is out like a light. She's sleeping on her bed which is also getting small for her. I'll have to invest in a bed that fits the big kennel. Right now I have a blanket in there so that she's not sliding all over on that tray. It's easier to wash the blankets and beds than it is to take care of the carpet.

That's about it for now. I may try to nap while Bayou is napping. Sounds like a good plan to me.

So things are calm now and everyone seems to be happy. I guess I can't ask for more than that.

Ugh!

2011-02-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

I was out getting dinner and putting gas in the car so David could take it to school tonight. I thought he wasn't leaving until 4:30pm. When I got home at 4:25pm his Jeep was gone. I expected to find Bayou in her crate but instead she was in her pen. She had pooped on the rug (so much for putting the blanket in there to make cleaning easier) and tore a hole in the rug. ~sigh~ The poop is cleaned up, I've moved her pen to the other side of the room and I still need to vacuum up the carpet that was torn out. I definitely need to get the carpet cleaner now. I don't know if I will get it tonight or wait until tomorrow. I should have told David that if he left Bayou alone that she needed to be in her kennel, with a treat to keep her busy and not free in her pen (especially since she can now climb out). None of it was Bayou's fault. It was just mis-communication on the human's parts. Could have been worse, she could have climbed out of her pen. I think you dug up the carpet because it was wet (she dumped her water bowl out) and she was probably thirsty, We are going to replace the carpet anyway so it's not a great big deal. Now we have a hole in the carpet in the master bedroom and the dining room thanks to Harley and Bayou.

I just took her out and she pooped again! She's looking for treats in her Tornado puzzle. She likes that toy. I think she is finally settling down a bit from her little freak out when David left and I wasn't here. I'm keeping her in the pen and not letting her run loose. She's not thrilled to be in the pen all the time but until I can trust her with potty training, she's going to be a penned up pup. She finished with the Tornado is is on her bed. I hope she sleeps for a little while.

I have to admit that when I first came home to all this (poop on the carpet, rug tore up, Bayou in her pen instead of her crate) I got pretty frustrated but I feel just fine now. She's not doing anything that we're not letting her do. Yes, I could be all upset, but really, what good would that do? I'm just so thrilled to have Bayou that things like this aren't going to get me down. She's sleeping now. Ah...

Treat pouches on order

2011-02-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Glad I took time to call about the treat pouches. Neither Petsmart, Petco or Mike's have them with the hinge. So I ordered 2 of them on Amazon, used my $25 AGC's and only had to pay $4.98 for both treat bags (free shipping too!). They'll be her in a week or so. Until then I'll just have to put treats in my pocket. I will need the treat bag for puppy class in March though. I got one for me and one for David.

I've been looking for the "place" blanket but haven't found it yet. I think maybe it's in the car. I'll have to look. I also have those 2 doormats that I bought in the trunk. I need to bring those in too. I may look for a baby blanket though instead of the place blanket I have so I don't have to worry about folding it and it coming unfolded. I think a small blanket would work a lot better.

I researched the carpet cleaners and I think I will go with the Bissell Spotbot Pet Handsfree Spot and Stain Cleaner with Deep Reach Technology. The difference between it and the Little Green ProHeat is that the pet model has a hands free option. You just set the machine on the stain and it cleans it. That would make it easier for me so I wouldn't have to be bending over all the time. I think I like that better than getting an upright. I'll run over to Target and get one when David gets home. I can look at baby blankets while I'm over there.

Bayou is still sleeping. When she gets up I'll take her out to potty. Looks llike she's waking up so I better go.

Every half hour

2011-02-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've been taking Bayou out every half hour except when she is sleeping. I bring treats with me to reward her for going to the bathroom outside. So far she only had one small accident at the door when we were getting ready to go out. I'm trying to let her walk to the door and go out but I may have to carry her out for a while longer so accidents like that don't happen. Thankfully she stopped when I said "Outside!" and only a few drops of pee went on the carpet. She's sleeping again now. I think she hasn't been getting all the sleep she needs because I've had her out of her pen too much. I'd love to hold her in my lap but she's going to be a much bigger dog soon and having her on our laps won't work. I'm not going to let David hold her on his lap either. I fed her lunch using the Magic puzzle and she got all the bones (caps) off right away and found her food. I went ahead and took out the towel and blanket and will wash them. I put in another blanket and her bed - no more towels. It will be much easier to clean blankets than to clean the rug. I did send an email out for an estimate for cleaning the carpet in the dining room, living room and hallway. I'd like to get them cleaned once the potty training phase is over. I'm still considering buying a carpet cleaner so I can keep up with accidents (including throwing up) as they happen. I don't know though if I should get an upright one or a spot lifter type. They have the carpet cleaners I'm considering at Target. The have a specific pet model though I'm not sure what's different about it. I'll have to do some research on that. I want to get the carpet cleaned though.

Second load of blankets and towels in the washer. I'll only have one more load of laundry after that then I'll be done for the day. I need to get the dishes in the dishwasher too. Because I've had Bayou out of her pen so much I haven't been getting to things like laundry and dishes every day. Now that I'm keeping her in her pen again I'll be able to get more done around the house. I do need to run some errands but I don't know if I want to leave her alone in her crate for about an hour. I know she'll do okay, she's done it before, but she's still young, 9 weeks now. I'd do the errands when David got home but he has school tonight. I'll have to think about how I want to do this. I'm sure I could get the errands done before he leaves for school at 4:30pm. Maybe I'll just run out this afternoon. I think Bayou will be okay in her crate. I want to go look at the carpet cleaners and buy one TODAY! I want to get the carpets cleaned now before stains set in. I can't wait until we can replace the whole carpet in the house. It looks so bad from 10 years of abuse and 6 dogs since 2007.

I want to get a bigger bin for Bayou's toys. Maybe 2x the size that I have now, which is shoe box size. I'll look on Amazon first to see if they have something. A cute dog toy box would be nice. Okay, I'm going to call about the hinged treat bag before I go anywhere. I don't want to waste time just going from store to store. I'll research the carpet cleaners too so I can just go and get one instead of standing there comparing them. Off to make some calls.

Working on things with Bayou

2011-02-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today I'm starting over on potty training. She will either be in her pen (the majority of the time) or her crate but not running around the house free. She's having too many accidents in the house. I'm taking her out every half hour or after she wakes up. She's been whining while in her pen but I just ignore her and eventually she goes to sleep. I fed her in her crate using the Tornado puzzle and she loved it. She really is smart and can figure it out. It's fun for her to find her food instead of it just being in a bowl. I've been using treats to reward her for not eating poop and for going potty outside. So far, so good. I need to get a treat bag though. Right now I'm just putting the kibble in my pocket. It doesn't work as well as a treat bag but we're getting along doing it that way for today. I'll probably go out when David gets home and look for a treat bag. I want one that has a hinge so it either stays open or stays closed. The one with the pull string on it isn't very good. Treats fall out of it easily. I've already checked Petsmart and they didn't have one so I'll check Petco and Mike's Natural Pet Food store. Maybe I'll call and see if they have them first. If not there is one on Amazon I can order with my AGC's that I got from doing Swagbucks.

I'll be cleaning the yard later today when David is home to watch Bayou. I saw quite a bit that I missed the other day and of course, she's been out there since then going potty. The less she has to tempt her the better.

I'm going to take the blanket and towel out of her pen and wash them. I'll check her beds too to see if they n eed to be washed. I'd like to be able to wash them once a week but for now it will probably be a daily thing. She's not having accidents in her crate or pen so that's a good thing. Taking her out every half hour helps avoid that happening. I'm thinking of putting her crate in her pen to see if she will go in there on her own. She still isn't thrilled with the crate. I'll have to put treats in there to get her in and also feed her in there like I did this morning.

Bayou is sleeping right now so she didn't go out at 10am. I'll take her out as soon as she wakes up. I have to get her on a schedule so that the accidents in the house are few and far between. I guess while she is napping I will try to nap too. Later.

Has this really only been 1 day?

2011-02-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

The morning was a bit rough. Bayou threw up all of her food. It looked undigested. Of course she did it on the carpet that was about 3 feet from the vinyl floor. Oh well. I felt bad for my poor little Bayou. I think the Blue Puppy food I'm giving her doesn't agree with her tummy. So we took it easy most of the day since she was not feeling 100%. In the late afternoon she was asleep in her pen and that gave me time to take my shower. I let her out to play once I was done getting dressed. She was enjoying play time. When David got home she was very excited and went to greet him at the laundry room door. She had rested enough during the day and suddenly had a ton of energy. She was full of piss and vinegar. I left her with David and I went over to Petsmart. I bought some more Bitter Apple, small nail clippers, sensitive stomach food and an ID tag. There was a kiosk where the engraving was done my a laser. It's a small pink heart with her name on the front, our address and cell numbers on the back. When I first put it on her she was flopping around trying to get it in her mouth, which of course she couldn't. It looks cute on her.

UPS delivered the food puzzles (the Magic and the Tornado). I put just a few pieces of food in the puzzles to see if she liked them. She was able to figure them out pretty quick. She's a smart puppy. She really likes the puzzles and the plastic bones that cover the snack sections. She was playing with everything. I'm glad I got such a good deal on them and ordered them.

She had a ton of energy tonight and I let her play it off. She whined and barked when I first put her in her crate but she settled down fairly quickly.I'm sure she'll get me up not long after midnight. I was doing some reading tonight on crate training and potty training. I think I'll follow these new suggestions since things haven't been going as well as I wished they would. The majority of the time she pees multiple times while out in the yard. It's just a dribble each time after the first time where she seems to empty out a lot. Even though I cleaned up the yard, Bayou is finding every single piece of poop that I missed and is trying to eat it. I'm constantly saying "leave it" while we are outside. I keep her on the leash so I can kind of tug on her to let her know that I mean business. I think however that I will start using treats to get her attention, a positive reinforcement vs. a negative one. Anyway, the peeing thing has become an issue because she'll pee outside multiple times and I bring her in and think she's good for at least 30 minutes but all of a sudden she'll just stop what she's doing and pee just a couple of drops, sometimes more. She's very good about letting me know she needs to go out to poop but not so much for peeing. So, what I'm going to do is go back to the beginning and start over with potty training which will also involve crate training. I'll need to get us into a routine so that she knows what's what. We'll start tomorrow.

I'm getting tired so I think I'll stop for tonight. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and working on getting this right. Only 3 weeks until Puppy Class and I want her to be ready to socialize and learn. Goodnight all!

Middle of the night

2011-02-14T02:07:00.000-07:00

Bayou woke me up around 1am because she had to go potty. I let her out of her cage and had her follow me to the door. I put her leash on and we went out. It's chilly out right now (40 degrees) but the sky is beautiful. So many stars. I saw on the the dipper constellations, the big one I think. It was only a 3/4 moon but it sure did light up the back yard. We stayed out and walked around the yard for about 10 minutes. Then Bayou started her potty mouth activities so I brought her in. I'm going to start bringing some treats out with me to get her to go with me when I want her to "leave it". I have that spray deterrent that I might bring out with me and spray the poop so she will leave it alone. I did clean up the yard yesterday but obviously didn't pick everything up because my little poop detector found everything that was out there. I do bring a poop bag out with me each time I go out but in the middle of the night it is difficult to see what there is to pick up. While she still has loose stools I'm not picking up immediately. I'm waiting until the next day to pick up. Makes it a lot easier for clean up purposes but more difficult to deter the poop detector.

So, here I sit, in my chair, with my laptop on the arm of the chair and Bayou sound asleep in my lap. I know I should put her back in her kennel but I don't want her to start whining and wake David up. He doesn't have to be up until 4am and he really needs his sleep. And I like to sit with her anyway. It's nice having a lap dog (though she won't be one forever).

We're another week closer to starting puppy classes with Rebekah. I really want to get Bayou around other puppies but I think I have to wait until she has her kennel cough vaccination.for her to visit Petsmart, maybe rabies too. I'm going to check craigslist to see if there is a puppy get together in town. I know there is one up in Monument at the Petsmart but I'm not sure what shots she has to have before joining. I've also seen one at Bear Creek Park. I think they are older than Bayou though, like say, 4 months. I don't want to get her around dogs that will scare her though she doesn't seem intimidated by Zeus (adult black lab) and Freckles (adult St. Bernard). She runs right up to the fence when they are out. Still, there is a fence between them and I don't have to worry about contact just yet. I don't know if Rebekah does more than puppy classes or not. If not, I'll have to get her set up with someone else that is recommended by the vet to continue training.

I was thinking yesterday how much I love having Bayou. She seems to be so much easier than Harley/Watson was. I just hope that as she grows she doesn't acquire an attitude like Harley/Watson did. I'll definitely stay on top of that. I know it's going to be more difficult when she can get out of the pen so I'll have to work on down, stay and wait to keep her in there. I'm not going to fight with her. She will have to obey me. She's growing so much already. When we first got her she couldn't even put her nose over the pen, now she can put her entire head over it. We'll definitely have to start working on down more diligently.

Now might be a good time to get her back into her kennel. She seems to be sound asleep (despite my typing on the laptop lol) and might not put up too much of a fuss. I'm thinking of bringing her to Petsmart tomorrow. I have to get an ID tag for her and some supplies for puppy class. I also need to look at the different brands of dog food and check prices. I'd like to keep her on Blue but if it is a lot more expensive I may have to change her kibble. I'm not looking to give her anything cheap, just not the most expensive thing on the shelf.

I feel like I'm fading so I'll quit before I forget how to spell words or make sentences make sense. Then again, maybe I'm already past that stage. LOL

Slept better last night

2011-02-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Bayou didn't wake me up until 3am. She needed to go to the bathroom. I held her on me until she got back to sleep then I put her in her kennel and I went back to bed. She woke me up again at 6am to go to the bathroom. We went back to bed, Bayou in her kennel, me in my bed, and slept until 8am. David got home around 9am. Right now Bayou is sleeping on David's chest.

They both are sound asleep. It's so cute. Maybe we should put her in her kennel and both of us go back to bed. David didn't get to bed until after midnight and had to be up at 4am to go to work for a few hours. So he's pretty tired. I wouldn't mind getting some more sleep.

Bayou didn't eat her food this morning so I'm going to keep close tabs on her today. I'm sure she's just not hungry because she's tired but I don't want to just blow this off as nothing so I'll watch her.

Playful night

2011-02-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Bayou is in bed. She tired herself out playing. I let her out of her pen, put a blanket down on the floor and put some of her toys out. She had a ball. She finally got sleepy and napped in my lap before I put her to bed at 8:45pm. She went into her crate without a problem. She's such a good girl (most of the time lol). I made her pen into a rectangle earlier today and put it up against the kitchen/dining room wall. I can see her better from my chair now. It also seems more organized. I like this set up better. Now I need to get the rug cleaner and clean up the carpet. I'll go out tomorrow once David is home from work and get one. I was thinking about getting another pen for outside but I'm not sure it would last long because she'll be able to get out of the pen before too long. It would be good to have a pen though so it limits her bathroom area and keeps her from going under the deck or under the fence. Our neighbors dog came under the fence today and actually came in our house because the back door was open. It was kind of funny. He was shy but didn't do anything bad. Mike next door had to come over the fence to get him. With a pen even if another dog got in the yard Bayou would still be protected. We'd have to stake it down though. A new one online costs about $70. I think I'll keep looking on craigslist before I buy online. I'll check on Amazon too because I got $25 in Amazon Gift Cards from Swagbucks today. That could pay for 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of a pen. I'm so glad I found Swagbucks before we got Bayou. It's really helped out with getting things for her.

Here's a picture of the new pen set up:

I have a towel in there for her to sleep on and a blanket in the rest of the pen. If she has an accident I can wash the towel and blanket which is easier to do than cleaning the carpet. I also have her little bed but it's in the dryer because she peed on it again. I need to be more vigilant about getting her out every hour. She was letting me know when she needed to go but she's not always doing that now. She's been pretty good with the potty training and always wants to go outside to do her business. It's only when we don't notice her need to go out that she has an accident.

We (Bayou and I) did take a nap today. I was exhausted from being up so much the last 2 nights. I'm hoping that she sleeps through the night tonight, well, at least until 4am or so. I think that I can keep her up more in the evening so that she'll sleep later in the morning. She's only 9 weeks old so she does need to go out quite a bit at this point so I'm not looking to get 8 hours of sleep out of her. She's been doing great though. I'm so glad that she is feeling better today. I was worried about her yesterday. She has almost finished the bottle of Pedialyte. I've been giving it to her today instead of water just to boost her electrolytes. I think it has helped a lot.

I'm going to see if David and I can take her for a ride tomorrow. She enjoys being in the car. I'd like to use the tie down but it's way too heavy for her. Maybe I can find something more light weight for now. I don't want her to have to always be in the crate when she's in the car. I think she will definitely be a "head out the window" king of dog.

David told me earlier tonight that Bayou was getting nippy with him so he put her in her pen. We must stop this behavior. I've done some research online and watched some videos that were helpful. She needs to get a timeout, away from us, when she bites. I may have to get a gate for the bathroom so she can go in there for a timeout. I don't want her to bite me like Harley/Watson did. That was a terrible way to live. I don't want a dog that does that. David is on board with whatever we need to do to get her to understand that biting is NOT okay.

Every time I look at Bayou I can't help but think of how beautiful she is. I love her coloring and markings. She is such a joy to have.

David will be home soon from hockey so I'm going to quit blogging for now. More later.

Bayou is better

2011-02-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Bayou of course started feeling better last night at bed time. She did go to sleep for a while but had me up from 12:30am until about 6am. So she's napping and I'm blogging. She ate her food this morning. She was so hungry. I'm still giving her the Pedialyte just to make sure she stays healthy. She been going outside to do her business. She also went out once when the Zeus and Freckles were out and she just barked her little head off at them. She went right up to the fence and was barking. It was a playful bark though. She wanted to get to them. She's so tiny compared to them, it was funny to see her yapping at them. I think they showed her how to jump up on the fence though. She did it when she came in and I put her in her pen. I'm looking for another pen for her for outside. It would make cleaning the yard a lot easier and she'd be able to run around a bit instead of being on the leash all the time. I found one at Petsmart for $70 plus $6 shipping. I don't know that I want to spend that much though. I might put a "wanted" ad on craigslist and see if anyone has one to sell. The one we have I only paid $30 for. I wouldn't mind spending that much. It looks like her puzzles will be here on Monday. I can't wait to see what she does with them. I've got to take out some of the toys in her pen. She has too many in there right now. I don't want her getting bored with everything. I'm just glad that she is feeling better and is back to her playful self.

Puny puppy

2011-02-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Bayou threw up about 3 - 4 times Wednesday into Thursday morning. She also has diarrhea. She has slept most of the day but she's also been active and played too. I got her some Pedialyte to drink. I don't want her getting dehydrated. She's lost some weight but doesn't look ill. Her eyes are still shiny. If she's not feeling well again tomorrow I will call the vet and see what I can do. I've kept her in her kennel most of the day because I'm afraid she will poop on the carpet so keeping her contained is the best thing. She ate a couple of pieces of food and has been okay. I wasn't able to get the yard cleaned up today because I spent all my time with Bayou so I'll have to try to get it done tomorrow. All the snow hasn't melted yet anyway. I think the reason she threw up was because she ate some grass yesterday. It's been weird to have her so quiet all day. I miss her being a playful puppy (did I just write that lol). I'm sure she'll be herself by tomorrow. I just hope she sleeps tonight since she's been sleeping most of the day. If not, we'll just nap tomorrow.

The sound of heaving in the middle of the night

2011-02-10T01:21:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Bayou woke me up heaving. I fed her too much food and treats yesterday and she threw up some of that food. No blood, no behavior issues (lethargy) and she was able to pee and poop when I took her outside. She does have diarrhea though. I really need to watch the treats in addition to her 1 1/2 cups of food per day. Maybe I'll cut her back to 1 cup for now. I'll give her 1/3 of a cup 3 times per day. I will limit her treats to 1/4 of a cup per day max. I need to be using her kibble for training and playing, not treats. Treats should be for the new behaviors or the ones she's having difficulties learning. I also have her a lot of cream cheese yesterday in the Kongs. I put just the 1/2 cup of kibble in the Kongs but I sealed each Kong with a dollop of cream cheese. That probably didn't help any.

I feel like a bad mom for doing this. It's one thing if I want to make myself overeat but it's a total different thing to make my puppy overeat because I'm not being careful enough with her portions. I need to ration out the food each day and only use that much, no more. I'm going to avoid using treats throughout the day and stick with kibble for motivation. Treats will be for puppy classes and training new behaviors and issues. I don't want my dog to become fat. Being fat, whether it's a dog or a human, makes life difficult and unhealthy.

I guess I can look at one good thing though - I heard her heaving and woke up right away to change out her kennel and to bring her out to pee and poop.

I was watching some videos on Youtube last night about teaching a puppy not to bite, to come, etc. I had almost forgot about the vast number of videos out there that can help me with training Bayou. But before I can implement behaviors I have to get Bayou and me on a schedule. I need to feed,potty train, play, exercise, and teach her new behaviors at the same times each day. I want her to look forward to things and know what's coming and when. I believe that dogs like routine. It would be good for me too. I have no schedule at all. I eat whatever, whenever and I know it's having an ill effect on me. I don't want to drag my puppy into that kind of world. She deserves better than that.

The info I got from the videos on teaching a puppy not to bite was very helpful. We need to tell her "no" in a stern voice and remove ourselves from her. Right now we're saying "no" and then letting her do it again with no consequence. She gets to stay with us for the most part. I put her in her kennel sometimes when she bites but not consistently. She gets so excited when she's with David and she lunges at him to bite and bites on his chest and belly, through his shirt of course. Sometimes though she'll start kissing him on the face and then she ends up biting him if she gets too excited. We need to make sure that until we can trust her that her mouth is no where near our faces. And we have to be absolutely consistent on the consequences for biting. If we're not both doing it, it won't work. I feel dread when I think about a dog biting me like Harley/Watson did. He doesn't do that anymore though so I know we can work with Bayou so that she doesn't even start doing it.

Anyway, thankfully Bayou is settled down again in bed. I'll check her bed again in the morning to make sure she didn't get sick again. I'll wash both beds just to be safe. The wash and dry nicely. And tomorrow I'll work out portioning out her food and treats in plastic zip bags so all I have to do is reach for a bag and dig out the 1/3 cup of kibble. I'll put treats in other bags. Once the food and treats is used up for the day, she is done. I know I give her too many treats and I will stop that immediately. I just hadn't though completely about how much treats adds to her daily ration of kibble. In total she was getting too much for her little self. I have it under control now though. I need to get some smaller bowls for her. The ones we have are gigantic so it makes whatever I give her look like a small amount. I need appropriate size bowls so I can gauge better what she is eating.

I really shouldn't be up in the middle of the night tonight because I have to drive a friend to the airport in the morning. I don't have to pick her up until 9am so it's not like I have to get up real early but I want to be fully awake on the drive to and from the airport. I will probably bring Bayou with me on the drive. I don't know that I'd want to leave her home alone for an hour yet. I have some errands to run at Wal-mart but I won't get to those until David gets home and can watch Bayou. I don't want her to dislike being alone while at the same time I want her to be comfortable being alone. Leaving her with a portioned "treat" will help with that. (By "treat" I mean kibble in a Kong.). I can look for the new dog bowls while I'm at Wal-mart.

I also want to take video of Bayou and me doing training, playing and exercising. I don't want to miss out on being able to look back and see how much she has grown. My digital camera will work just fine for that purpose but I will need a tripod to get the angles I want. I'll just get a small table top model. I can probably pick one up on Craigslist. If not, I'm sure Wal-mart has them. I want to post the video so everyone can see how the training is going and how cute she is when we are training. She runs around a lot and it's cute. I did work quite a bit with her yesterday on recognizing her name and learning to "come" when called. David sits in his chair and I go across the room and we call her to us so she has to go back and forth, hearing her name and the "come" command. She did really well doing that for the first time.

Something else that I need to do is have a plan of training, playing and exercising. I need to keep things interesting for her. If she gets bored, she won't want to learn anything. So far that is not the case, but I could see where it could get that way. So I need to add in at least one different thing each day. I can add in work on a new trick, on an agility skill and a new behavior. I need her to want to be close to me. Right now she hesitates to come to me. I think it's because I'm the one who is always putting her in her pen and kennel. I need to get David to help out with those things. I need to also do calming work with her so that she learns to settle down and that she trusts that it's not a bad thing. She can't be bouncing off the walls all the time that she is awake.

Well, it's 1:15am and I should head back to bed. I think then when I get home from dropping my friend off at the airport I will need a nap. Hopefully Bayou will be up for a nap too. I'm hoping (is that the right word LOL) that the snow melts in the yard so I can clean the yard up. It really needs it. It should be melted by the end of the weekend. I have poop bags so I can take one out every time I bring her out and keep on top of cleaning up the yard. I didn't keep up with the other dogs and either killed myself doing it all in one day or paying someone to do it once a week. Neither is a good plan. I will keep up with it daily so she's not tempted and I don't have to worry about where I walk out there.

Okay, off to bed I go. I'm sure Bayou will be waking me up in a few hours since she has a stomach issue. Poor baby! I love her and really want to do right by her. I want to live up to her expectations of me.

Play time

2011-02-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Bayou and I have had a great day today. The weather is nicer so she's going outside more and we've been training and playing more today. I let her have the run of the living room and hallway today so we could play with her Chuck-it ball. She really enjoyed that. She got pretty rowdy at the end so I put her in her pen. She's there now sleeping. She was on her back with her belly sticking up but she heard me and sat up.

I can't believe how big she is getting. I'm glad I can tire her out with training and play though.

The only bad habit I can see that Bayou has is eating poop (coprophagia). I need to get the yard picked up but it's been so cold that I haven't done it yet. It's like a minefield out there. LOL I think the snow will be gone tomorrow so I'll be able to clean it then. That will help with her bad habit I'm sure.

David just got home and Bayou is happy to see him. We make her sit before we pick her up and she does it the majority of the time on the first request. That's without distractions of course. When someone else is around she goes crazy. When Maria was here cleaning the house she asked if she could take Bayou out for a minute. They played and Bayou really enjoyed it. I'm glad she is friendly with people.

I'm going to have to work more with holding and handling Bayou. She's not as comfortable with it as I'd like her to be. She's either in her pen or on my lap but I'm not handling her enough so starting today I'll handle her more.

We just got in from outside. She seemed to be enjoying the warmth of the 13 degree weather we are having. There's no wind so that's a good thing too. Now she's napping yet again. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. LOL

I think today is going to be a rough day for me

2011-02-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

I can't get Bayou to go outside because it's 2 degrees and below 0 with the wind chill. She's very whiny too. She's not doing anything wrong, it's just frustrating that potty training has taken a turn for the worse because of the weather. She is so confused about where she should go (on the potty pad, outside, in her pen - which is a no-no). The weather is supposed to get better day by day so hopefully we can get on track again. She needs consistency.

Maria is coming to clean the house today and it's a disaster because I didn't keep up with it this past week and because of the dryer breaking down about 2 weeks ago. It's up and running again and most of the laundry is caught up but I've still got towels to fold and a blanket to wash. I know the house is smelly because she's been using those puppy pads inside. I really want Maria to come today just so the house will smell better. I'm not going to have her clean the whole house today, just the rooms that are not messy (the bedroom, the bathrooms, the laundry room, the kitchen - if I can get the dishes in the dishwasher). We are definitely going to have to replace this carpet once Bayou is old enough and isn't having accidents in the house.

I can tell that Bayou is getting bigger because I can see her face over the top of the pen when she stands up against it.

Finally! I got her to go out and she did her business. I had to carry her out to the corner of the yard but once she was out there all systems were go. That's a relief. I just checked the weather and the wind chill advisory has been canceled. It should start warming up from here on out. I know it's supposed to be in the 50's this weekend. Hallelujah!

This morning instead of putting her food in her dish I put it in 3 Kongs and sealed them up with cream cheese. Bayou really enjoyed that. I can't wait to get those 2 dog puzzles for her to eat out of too. I know she'll have fun with them. I forgot to check Shop & Earn on Swagbucks to see if National Pet Pharmacy was a participating merchant - and they are. I missed out on 100 Swagbucks because I wasn't thinking. I still have 80 sb's pending for the Cabela's purchase we made (jeans for David). I've got to remember to check the Shop & Earn list before I buy anything anywhere except Amazon. National Pet Pharmacy has great prices and a lot to choose from.

Well, whiny girl is still whining. Maybe I should do some training with her. Yeah, I think I'll do that.

Bayou has settled down

2011-02-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

I did some training with Bayou and now she is sleeping. She loves to do training. I think it's going to be fun bringing her to puppy classes. The distraction of the other dogs will be huge. Whenever anyone comes in the house she goes nuts (dryer guys, pizza guy). She wants to meet everyone. I don't know what shots she needs to be able to go to Petsmart. I'd like to be able to take her there so we can work on leash training and getting her used to being in a different environment. I could bring her to PetCo and Lowes too. Once the weather gets nicer I can start taking her for short walks. Right now she's all over the place when on the leash. I want to work with her on staying by my side. If we didn't have snow we could practice in the back yard too. Plus the cold keeps us in. I'm still cold from our last time we went out and that was about half an hour ago. Brr. Chill. Brr.

For treats I got some Bil-jac Little Jacs and then I ordered some Zukes. All the Zukes are harder than the Little Jacs. I'll use the Little Jacs for puppy classes. She likes all the treats but it's harder for her to chew the Zukes. They tend to not be fresh when I buy them (or maybe they just are harder treats). I have to get a treat bag for puppy class but I have time to get it. I'll have to look at the list and see what else I'll need for class. I wish I could have started classes sooner with her but the next session doesn't start until March 6th. It will be really nice to have the classes at the vet's office. It's so close. David said that he would go with me since the class is on Sundays at 4pm. We'll be learning a lot in 6 weeks time. I'm also going to try to get Bayou certified as a S.T.A.R. puppy (it's an AKC certification). S.T.A.R. stands for socialization, training, activity and responsibility. There are things I have to do as an owner and things that Bayou will have to do (not be aggressive with people or other dogs, sit, down, come, walk on a leash, etc.). If she passes she'll get a medal, certificate and be listed as a S.T.A.R. puppy with the AKC. The test only cost $10.00. Once she passes that test we'll start working on the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification. There are 10 skills that Bayou will have to learn to be CGC certified. I wanted to do this with Harley but he was so out of control that it wasn't even a thought once his behavior got out of control. Bayou though will not get like that. I will work with her every day with training, play and being held, groomed and checked (like by a vet). I want her to be a great puppy. She's still sleeping so right now she is the perfect puppy. lol

Bayou in her pen

2011-02-08T16:55:00.002-07:00

Here she is in her pen with all of her toys and her bed. It's a 6 panel pen.

Bought the Tornado and Magic

2011-02-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was looking up the Tornado and Magic today and found a website, nationalpetpharmacy.com, that had them both and they were $29 and $24 dollars. Usually they are $40. So, I went ahead and ordered both of them. I think that Bayou will enjoy them. They should be easier for her than the Tug-a-Jug and Kibble Nibble. Here's a picture of the Magic puzzle.

It will probably take her a while to figure out how to get the bone covers off but I know she'll be able to do it eventually. I can't wait for them to get here.

Bayou has been whiny today. I think it's because she wants to go out but it's so freakin' cold out that as soon as she gets out she wants to go right back in. She did poop outside (thank goodness) and she didn't have the runs. So she must be getting used to the Blue Buffalo food.

We worked on training today and she did really well. I worked on her recognizing her name. She doesn't seem to know that her name is Bayou. She'll learn though. She's really doing well with sit and down. She will do sit at a distance which is great.

I just tried to take her out but she ran right back in. It's just so cold out there that I don't think she'll go out until she absolutely has to.

Bayou is really enjoying her new beds that I got at Walmart. I got one for her kennel and one for the pen. Of course she peed on the one in her pen earlier and just now peed on the other one (I took it out of her kennel while the other one is being washed). She just doesn't want to go outside today and I can't blame her. I don't want to go out there either. David took her out when he got home and she peed 3 times. Obviously she had to go again.

She really is whiny. She's spent most of the day trying to get my attention with whining but I've been ignoring her when she does that. I give her attention when she is quiet instead. The weather is supposed to be a bit nicer tomorrow so hopefully I can get her outside more. But we still have tonight and tomorrow morning to get through. She's only 8 weeks old so I can't expect perfection. I know she would do so much better if the weather was nice and I could get her out there every hour. She's really rowdy right now in her pen. She's playing with her bed instead of sleeping in it. lol More later.

I love my Bayou

2011-02-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

David took this picture of Bayou tonight while she was sitting in his lap. She is so adorable. I got a few toys for her today while I was at the store. I got small Chuck-it balls, a small rope dog, a little squeaky duck, and a Tug-a-Jug that has a rubber stopper instead of a rope one. She already unwound the rope one in the purple Tug-a-Jug. This one is green and has a rubber stopper. I'll put her food in it in the morning. She seems to like the smaller Chuck-it balls. They fit in her mouth better. The duck is smaller too and it squeaks. She played with that a lot tonight. I also got her 2 beds, one for the pen and one for the crate. She seems to like those too. They are machine washable and very soft.

Today was a better day because the weather was nice. It's so much easier to take her out when it's nice out. Tomorrow it's supposed to be arctic again and blowing snow. The weather will make it a difficult day but she's a champ about going outside. Of course, with blowing, cold wind and snow she might not be as thrilled to go out. We'll handle it though.

I need to get on a schedule with Bayou. I need to feed her at certain times, train with her, take her out, play with her, etc. This past week we've just been flying by the seat of our pants, taking care of things as they come up. It's been okay but I know I'd feel better with a routine/schedule. Since the weather is going to be bad tomorrow I can work on that when Bayou is napping. I've got to keep the laundry going too. I want it all finished up by the time David gets home from work tomorrow. I'll feel more relaxed now that I can clean up after Bayou easier. I won't have to worry about the towels, sheets and blankets waiting to be washed. It'll all be caught up.

I'm waiting on $25 in AGC's from Swagbucks to come in this month. I could use it on the puppy but then again maybe I should set it aside for gifts (birthdays, Christmas, etc.). There is a puzzle game I'd like to get for Bayou. It costs about $40 or so though so I'll have to wait until I have that much in AGC's. The puzzle is called The Tornado. Here's a picture of it:

It will keep her mind sharp and she'll have fun eating her meal from it. I just looked it up and it's $40. I could have that much saved by mid-March but I want it sooner so I'll probably get it sooner than that though so she can start working on it now.

Well, I'm falling asleep so I better go to bed. The wind has really picked up and it's 24 degrees out. That middle of then night

Not an easy day...

2011-02-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

It wasn't that bad but it was more difficult than yesterday which was a breeze. I think it was because it was cold and windy out. We got some flurries too. It wasn't anything that Bayou did. She was pretty good today. It's just that bringing her out is hard when the weather is like it is. We've made it through most of the day with probably one more trip outside before we go to bed. I don't know what the weather will be tomorrow but Tuesday it's supposed to be 5 degrees. That stinks. That makes it really hard for me. I'll get through it though.

I realized that Bayou gets whiny when she needs to go to sleep. She wants out of the pen so she can sleep in my lap. I'm not going to let her sleep on me all the time. She's already getting bigger, heavier and harder to hold. So, she either sleeps on the carpet or in her kennel. The vet said she should gain 8-10 pounds per month. She'll be twice as big by the end of the month. Hard to believe. Her mom weighs 40 lbs so maybe she'll be small too. I don't know anything about her dad, beyond breed, so he could be huge and she could take after him. LOL

I have a lot to do tomorrow so Bayou will be in her pen a bit longer than I'd like but things have to get done. I'll take breaks though to work with Bayou on "sit, down, fetch". She's doing really well with those behaviors and looks forward to doing them. I bought a book that shows how to teach her 101 tricks from the simplest (sit) to some fairly complicated behaviors. It will be fun to work with her. She is smart and I have total confidence that she will learn quickly.

It's way past her bedtime so I should get her to bed. She's sleeping in the pen and I want to get her into her kennel. More tomorrow.

Easy day

2011-02-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'm shocked at how easy the days are with this puppy. Having the puppy pen makes all the difference. I don't have to watch her 24/7 and that allows me time to do things around the house and have some time for me too. It's cold and snowy today but she's been going out nonetheless. She's really doing well with "sit, down, fetch, bring it and come". I know she doesn't really know what all of them are but she's doing the behavior so I'm happy. Puppy classes start on March 6th and go for 6 weeks. I'm hoping to get her S.T.A.R. certified (an AKC certification for puppies). The CGC certification is the real goal though. I want her to be sociable and obedient. It will take time working with her but I'm just fine doing that with Bayou. She's a beautiful, loving puppy. I'm glad we adopted her.

Car ride for Bayou

2011-02-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

David needed me to bring his medicine to him at work today so I loaded up Miss Bayou and we drove across town to drop off the meds. She was just fine during the drive. She howled a couple times but she's so cute when she does that that it doesn't bother me right now. I'm sure when she gets older, that howling be become annoying. LOL We also stopped at the gas station and the bank on our way home. She didn't have any problems. David's coworker, Kim, came out to get David's meds since David was in the middle of a job. He asked to see Bayou. She got so excited when she saw him. I'm glad she's meeting people and is not afraid.

Bayou has spent hours playing this morning and ha now settled in on my lap for her mid-day nap. She is so precious.

I got a call from the vet this morning. Her stool sample came back negative, which is good. No worms or parasites.So she is very healthy. I gave her a little cream cheese in a Kong and she loved it. Her little pen is a mess with toys and kibble everywhere. At least it's contained to the pen though.

I emailed the lady who is doing puppy classes at HPVH but haven't heard back from her yet. I want to get Bayou into as many puppy groups as I can. I want her to get used to different dogs and people. I want her to be well socialized. I think the only place she'll really learn bite inhibition is with other puppies who won't take any nonsense from her. Yelping when she bites us isn't deterring her at all. She seems to listen when we say 'no' but she needs to focus her energy on toys, not us. She has done really well today with 'sit'. Now she knows to sit before I even ask sometimes. We'll work on down next.

Last night she slept in her kennel without much of a problem. She whined a little bit but for the most part she just slept through the night. That made me very happy. I want her to be comfortable in her kennel. She actually went into it on her own today. I just encouraged her and let he come out when she was ready. She only stayed in there for a couple of minutes but I'm glad she wasn't afraid to go into it. She's only in there when we go out and at night. So it's not a bad place to her. She's still not always thrilled to be in the puppy pen but I just let her work it out. I may put her in there since she is sleeping. That will give me a chance to take a little nap too.

I've won $25 more in AGC's from Swagbucks. I'm going to look at getting Bayou a bed and poop bags. She needs a little bed to sleep on. I guess I could check Goodwill first though before I buy a new one. Definitely need the poop bags though. The backyard is already a mine field. For some reason too, Bayou is trying to eat her poop. Huxley used to do that. I'll have to research it again and see what, if anything I can do to deter her from doing that. I'm excited about the AGC's (they should be in by the middle of the month). It's so nice to get her stuff without having to spend any money. I think I'll go window shop on Amazon right now.

Bayou's first vet visit

2011-02-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

I sent an email to Leona at Hope for Animals (the rescue we got Bayou from) to ask about specific information about Bayou. She was born on December 5th, 2010. She will be 8 weeks old on Sunday. Her mom is a Blue Tick Coonhound and her dad is a Catahoula Leopard Dog. She had her first set of shots when she was 6 weeks old and was dewormed then too (1/21/2011). We adopted her when she was 7 weeks old (1/29/2011).

Today I took Bayou to the vet for her first visit with Dr. McKenney and her staff. She weighs 8 lbs. 4 oz. Everything checked out okay and she got her 2nd set of shots. They are checking to make sure she doesn't have any worms or parasites. I'll get those results tomorrow. Bayou was very well behaved while in with the vet. She stuck close to me and cooperated as much as a puppy can. Dr. McKenney said she is at a good weight right now and to continue her on 1 1/2 cups of food per day. She will get her 3rd set of shots on March 3rd or so. Then a month later she'll get her last set of puppy shots. There is a puppy class at HPVH and hopefully I'll be able to get Bayou signed up for that in March.

I decided to get her shots at HPVH instead of through the rescue. I will probably get her fixed there too. I don't want to have to go all the way down to Pueblo to get her fixed. I don't want to have her travel for over an hour after same day surgery. I'm going to have her micro-chipped at the same time. Better to have a 10 minute drive home instead.

I love how she makes a sound when she yawns. It's so cute. She seems to be doing just fine after getting her shots. She's already gone potty twice. She's sitting on David's lap right now. She was sleeping but she's awake and playing now. We're having to work with her on not biting our hands (or other body parts). She's going to be a big time chewer so I'll really have to have lots of things for her to chew on that are safe (like the Kongs and the Busy Buddy toys). I did get all the stuff from Amazon that I ordered. She plays with some of it but doesn't really get it all yet. She'll learn to play as we go along.

David is working with her on "high five". I've been working with her on "sit". She sits before I take her out of her puppy pen. I'm going to start having her sit before she goes out the door too. The weather has been really cold and snowy so I haven't had her outside for very long, just long enough to go to the bathroom, then we run back in to the warmth of the house. She's back in her pen now because she needs to play for a while. She whines when I put her in there but she's going to have to get used to it so I can get things done around here during the day. She also needs to be okay with being in her crate so I can transport her. She's been sleeping in bed with us which has been hard on me because I wake up constantly to check on her. I think I'm going to start her sleeping in her kennel tonight. She'll whine, probably for quite a while, but eventually she will go to sleep. And then I will get a good nights sleep.

She's actually in her puppy pen and not whining. She is playing with one of her fetch dummies. They are covered in canvas and she loves to chew on them. At some point I'll teach her how to retrieve them. She's whining again. I don't like it but I know she has to get used to being in the pen. I can't let her run around the house because, first, it's too dangerous for her to do that and second, it would keep me busy 24/7 and I just can't be expected to do that. I need some time to get things done around here. Now she's playing again. Oops, nope she's trying to dig her way out of the pen. And the whining begins again. LOL

I want to go to bed early tonight so she'll have to sleep in her kennel. She won't like it but she'll get used to it. It'll be difficult for us until she adjusts but that's okay. I don't want her to get upset when she goes in her pen or crate/kennel.

That's it for tonight. I'll keep an eye on her to make sure there is no bad reaction to the vaccinations. So far so good.

Our little Bayou

2011-02-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

Half a day later...

2011-01-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to the adoption fair and we're home now. I couldn't believe all the puppies that were there. If was so hard to get to them too because people were just grabbing them up like a Wii at Christmas time. We took our time and figured if there wasn't one we were interested in by the time everyone grabbed them up then we weren't meant to have one. After a while of watching them and watching everyone grabbing them we decided on a pup. The foster mom told us it was a boy but it's actually a girl. The puppy had a great personality and temperament and had wonderful markings. It took a while to decide but finally we agreed that we would take her home with us. We had to fill out a looooong application and a spay/neuter agreement and then have the foster mom follow us home to do a house check before we could get the puppy. The puppy drove down with the foster mom from Monument. They followed us to the house.

When we got home I got the puppy to pee and poop outside. That was exciting. We couldn't imagine that she would have denied us but we waited until the home visit was done and the foster mom said the puppy was ours to really celebrate. We have named her Blue Bayou but we will call her bayou. She's in her kennel right now sleeping so I'm letting her get some rest. It reminds me of how much Harley slept when we first brought him home. It wasn't long though before he was awake allllllll day. I've taken Bayou out twice since she got home. She peed and pooped all the while being on her leash. She's handling the leash great so far. I think she is going to be a great dog.

The rescue didn't really know when they were born. They say they are 8 weeks old but I don't think she is. She's awfully small for 8 weeks but who knows. They also weren't sure what kind of mix she is. I think she's definitely Catahoula and something. They said her mom was a Blue Tick Coon Hound put on her paperwork it says she's a lab mix. I guess we won't ever really know unless we do some genetic testing. I don't care enough to spend the money on that. I love her no matter what breeds she is.

We bought her food, treats, toys and bowls. There will be stuff coming from Amazon too so I'll have that to look forward to this coming week. She's been sleeping about 2 hours now. As soon as she wakes up I'll bring her out to potty again.

I feel really good about this dog. I don't have a sense of dread like I was afraid I would have.

It's been over an hour since I typed that last sentence. A busy little girl has been eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. And some sleeping too. She whines when she's in her kennel. We'll have to work with her on that.

What am I doing up?

2011-01-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

It's 4:30am and I'm up. I didn't even get to bed until after midnight and it took a while to fall asleep because all I could think about was what I'd have to do if I got a dog/puppy today. I know I've potty trained 3 other dogs but for the life of me I can't remember how I did it. LOL It must not have been too traumatic since I am not scarred by the event. I'm concerned about weather moving in Sunday night. It's supposed to get cold and drizzly or snowy. Looks like Tuesday won't even get out of the teens. A little puppy will have a hard time going out in that. I also was just thinking about David waking up in the morning and waking up the dog. If it's a puppy it will probably need to go out right away which means I'll be up and out that time of the morning. I've never acquired a dog in the winter months before. It's more to think about. We got all of our dogs between April and August. It makes it a lot easier to potty train a puppy when it's warmer out.

I'm going to have to think long and hard about getting a puppy this time of year. Beside the cold to deal with there is the dark too. I don't want to be chasing a puppy in the dark. I'd lose sight of Harley completely when he was out when it was dark. The puppy pen would help with that. Just lots of logistical things to consider.

I'm not completely ready for a dog either. I need more Kongs and chew toys. I only have 1 Kong right now. I'll have to pick up about 3 of them today if we end up getting a puppy. We'll also need to get a collar and leash, food and water bowl. I'll be hand feeding some of the time so she can get used to me. I want her to know that everything comes from me (food, water, shelter). I do have a lot of stuff on the way though. I bought $110 worth of stuff on Amazon with the AGC's I earned through Swagbucks. My final total, that I paid out of pocket, was $3.68!! Not bad. I think things may start arriving today (the order was split into 3 orders). I also have some treats coming. I need those to put in the Kongs and toys. Mostly she'll be getting kibble for training treats and rewards. I'll set aside her daily portion and only use that much each day. I don't want to start out by overfeeding her.

This is all hypothetical of course since I don't even have a dog yet. LOL We've thought about a name too. Her formal name will be Blue Bayou. That will honor the Blue Tick Coonhound in her and the Catahoula side too. On a day to day basis though we'll call her Bayou. That will be fun.

Now watch, we'll either come home empty handed or with a male, senior dog after all this "planning" for a female puppy. LOL I have a medium sized plastic kennel ready for transport. It has a towel in it and a tiny Kong. It's a red Kong not a baby one. If we get a puppy I'll probably buy a baby one. Harley loved his baby Dong (until he was old enough to start eating it, silly boy). That's one of the difficult things, getting chew toys that don't get destroyed all the time. The Kongs and Busy Buddy stuff is pretty long lasting. It's the plastic and plush stuff that doesn't always last. Following tradition we'll be getting an AKC plush toy for the little bugger. They have to have something to sleep with now don't they?

I know the puppy years are hard work and trying but it eventually does get a whole lot better. I want to make sure she's well socialized in this next month so we'll have to somehow get people to come to the house to meet Bayou. She can't be around other puppies until she's had all her shots but she could be around older dogs. After she does have all her shots I'll be taking her everywhere with me. She'll get to meet lots of people at the PetsMart, PetCo and Lowe's. Then she'll be in puppy class which will help with socialization with people and other dogs. I can start walking her around the neighborhood to meet the neighbors and their dogs. I want her to be well socialized and learn bite inhibition from the get go.

She's going to become a chewtoyaholic. She won't need to bother with anything else because she'll have her toys to chew on. She'll also be house trained pretty quick if I am consistent with her. We're going to work really hard on bite inhibition this time around. The first time she bites we'll be yelping so she knows it's not okay. I don't want to go through what I did with Harley biting me.

I'm not sure how old she would have to be to begin training with Sit Means Sit but I don't want her becoming a monster and needing Sit Means Sit so I want to be proactive. I'm not going to just let things go and get worse by the day like I did with Harley. I'm going to work on things from the second we get her. I also want David to be more involved in the raising of the puppy too. He likes to play with the puppy but he doesn't always help with the not so fun stuff (feeding, potty breaks, training). That will be different with this dog. I already have a book with 101 tricks in it that I'm going to teach the puppy. From sit to who knows what. The trick training will give her something to look forward to. So, we'll have obedience training, trick training and pretty much from the start some agility training. I'm going to have David make some agility equipment from PVC pipe. It looks pretty simple to make so I'll be able to help him do it. I want this puppy working all day so it's tired out at night. I want to keep it's mind and body active all it's waking hours either with obedience, training, agility, playing with chew toys and playing with us.

I think I'm going to go back to bed for a few hours. I'll probably just lie there thinking about all this stuff but hopefully I'll be able to sleep a little bit. It's going to be in the mid 50's today so it will be a nice drive up to Monument (the PetsMart on Jackson Creek Parkway, 11am - 2pm). I'm hoping we'll have a really fun ride home with a puppy in the car (in a crate of course). Okay off to bed I go.

So much for the plan (LOL)

2011-01-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well, somehow David and I came to the agreement that we're going to start looking for a dog now. Tomorrow we are going to an adoption fair up in Monument to look at some Catahoula puppies and other dogs. We're leaning toward the Catahoulas because I love the breed and have always wanted one. Here's a pic of one of them:

How could anyone resist a face like that. I know that looks aren't everything that's why we're going to go look at them and see which one has the temperament we're looking for. We won't definitely come home with a dog though.

Here are my concerns: What if I fail again? Will our 4' fence be high enough? Do I really have what it takes to care for a dog, especially a puppy?

Here's why I'm thinking of doing it: I miss having a dog. I want to show myself that I can succeed with a dog. I want a reason to get up (and stay up) every day.

I know I'll be able to figure out if it's the right thing once I'm around all the dogs. If I feel overwhelmed and anxious, it's not the right time to get a dog. If I feel good about it and I find the right dog, then it is the right time.

I've been doing a lot of research and investigation on Catahoula dogs specifically. I've been emailing with breeders and owners, reading blogs and asking questions. I know I can't do enough research before getting another dog. I've thought a lot about what went wrong with the first 5 dogs and I think I've figured out a few things. Yeah, I'm not 100% sure that I'll be able to do this but I really want to try. After seeing Harley's change with Sit Means Sit, I know that even if the worse happens I can always take the dog through training with them. So I know that I want have to give up another dog.

So tomorrow we'll be off to the adoption fair. I'll let you know that happens.

Moving forward with the plan

2011-01-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

I talked with David tonight about the puppy/lose weight/save money & swagbucks plan and he's all in. We both feel like it's a good idea to have a carrot dangling in front of us to help us lose weight. We both want a dog but we agree that it wouldn't be right to get one while we are so out of shape. I was glad that he wants to move forward with this plan.

I have already started doing some research on yellow lab breeders in the area. It's too early really to be thinking that far ahead but I just wanted to see if there was anyone around who has AKC labs. I did find a breeder out in Calhan (Eichorn Kennels).but I'm quite sure that I don't want to pay $900 for a puppy. When the time comes, I know the right dog will come along.

I'm really excited though about working on losing weight. I actually feel like it's possible to lose 100 pounds. I know it will take time but I'm willing to be patient with the process. I didn't buy any candy today when I was at the store. I just kept thinking of getting a dog and it made it easy to say no. I know this is only the first day but it was at least a good day. David and I both weighed ourselves and I have a chart on the bathroom wall to show the date that I lose each 10 pounds. I'm not putting a time frame on it. It's about losing the weight not about how long it takes to lose it. I can't wait to lose that first 10 pounds.

David also agreed to putting aside $25 each time one of us loses 10 pounds. That should get us about $500 plus we'll have the AGC's from Swagbucks to use. I have $114 in AGC's already, with $20 coming tomorrow. I already have enough swagbucks to buy all 5 of my $5 AGC's for February. If I can get a minimum of $25/month in AGC's that will get me to about $300 in the Amazon account. I know we'll be able to set aside more than that, but that will be a good base for getting a dog.

Underneath my chart in the bathroom I printed out a picture of yellow lab puppies in a Radio Flyer wagon. It' will be a constant reminder of what I am working for.

I have to get out and start walking again. It's going to be difficult in the beginning because I've gained so much weight but I know that I can lose weight by eating healthy and exercising. I'm going to stick to the neighborhood for now. I'll add Palmer Park in once I'm capable of doing the loop. It will be good practice for taking the dog for walks every day. There are so many things I want to do differently with this dog but the most important is to walk him every day. I didn't do that with any of the other dogs and it made walking with them a nightmare. I want a dog who will walk with me on and off the leash. If I can have the discipline to lose all this weight, I know I will have the discipline to walk with my dog every day.

So, the weight loss journey begins. At the end of that journey I will be healthier and capable of owning a dog. Right now though I'm just looking forward to losing that first 10 pounds!

How are weight loss, a puppy, saving money and Swagbucks related?

2011-01-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

I had already gone to bed tonight when I had one of those epiphanies that I sometimes have. I'll see in the morning if it still sounds like a great idea. LOL

I need to lose weight. A lot of weight. At least 100 pounds of weight. I realized tonight that I need a reason to lose the weight. I know I should do it just for my health and well being but I need something more tangible than that. I need a goal. So, what goal could I come up with that would really motivate me? I thought about it for a few minutes and quickly came up with having a dog again, a puppy. I don't want one right now because it's not the right time for a puppy or dog but maybe a year from now. In that year I can work on losing weight so I can be more active for a dog. So, here's my idea: for every 10 lbs that David or I lose in weight, we'll put $25 in a puppy fund. I don't ever want to get a puppy again without being ready financially to take one on. So saving money for the next year, only when we lose another 10 lbs, would be a great goal. I also would save my Amazon Gift Cards that I'm earning through Swagbucks to help prepare for the puppy (toys, collar, leashes, bowls, etc.). That would give me an amount to work toward every day on Swagbucks so I can get the 5 $5 gift cards per month ($25 total). So if I want a puppy in a year I would have to lose enough weight to be more active and save money and AGC's.

I'm going to talk to David tomorrow about this. I think it would make it easier to lose weight and say no to junk food and fast food if we have an alternative to look forward to. Do I really want that Payday and Cherry Coke or do I want to lose weight and get a puppy? That will always be the question. It makes me want to get out and go for a walk, but it's almost 10:30pm so I'll hold off on that for tonight. But having that question would, I think, make me choose the right thing each time. I want to be healthy and I want to be active and I want a puppy. Saving money and getting AGC's through Swagbucks will help me to achieve those goals.

I've already thought of a few names for the puppy (I'm leaning toward getting a male) - Segway, Chopper or if it's a girl, Vesper. Planning ahead like this is a smart thing to do. I don't want to just jump into getting another dog. I want to be emotionally, physically, financially and mentally ready for a puppy. I think this time around I would get another Lab or GSP. I would want the dog to be temperament tested before we would consider him or her as a member of the family. I would also make a vow to work with the puppy every day on training and learning. I would love to be in good enough shape to take the dog to agility classes. I'll have to look on Amazon and see if they have agility equipment that I could save my Swagbucks toward.

Every day I would be working on losing weight, earning swagbucks and saving money so that in a year David and I could get a puppy. We would both be in better shape and have more to give a puppy. Part of the reason it didn't work out with the other dogs is that I didn't have the energy to keep up with them and take them for walks and do training. I was worn out just didn't minimal things with them. So losing weight and saving money and swagbucks would really have a purpose, a tangible purpose. I would have so much to look forward to in a year's time.

I'm really excited about this idea. I hope I feel the same way about it in the morning. I'm sure I will. And I hope David can be as excited about it as I am. He needs a tangible goal too and I think a puppy would be the thing to get David focused on get healthy and active and losing weight. I wish I could wake him up now and talk to him about this but he has to be up at 4am so I won't disturb him. I can wait until tomorrow to talk to him about all of this.

I'm glad I got up and blogged. If I hadn't I never would have been able to get to sleep because my mind constantly would have been on this. Now I can go to sleep knowing that I have a plan and that in a year or so I will have my puppy. Yay!

Swagbucks and dogs

2011-01-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

I hope you've noticed the swidget (swagbucks widget) in the upper left hand corner of my blog. I've been using Swagbucks for a couple of months now and I've already earned $125 in Amazon Gift Cards! All I have to do to win is watch some videos, search on the Swagbucks toolbar for things I would normally search for, complete surveys and find codes. It sounds like a lot but you can get quite a few Swagbucks daily for very little effort. I happen to have a lot of time to spend on Swagbucks since I don't work but there are a lot of swaggers who do work that continually win on Swagbucks. There are other prizes beside the AGC (Amazon Gift Card) like PayPal deposits, merchandise, etc. I have a lot of fun and win things along the way. It's definitely a win-win for me and Swagbucks.

If you're interested in joining Swagbucks here's a link you can use that gets you a sign up bonus and gets me referral points for your search wins: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/internettie You can also click on the "Sign Up" button on the swidget on this blog page.

So, you're probably wondering what this has to do with dogs. Well, I was thinking that if I had Swagbucks available to me when I had the dogs I could have saved a lot on dog toys and treats by ordering from Amazon with gift cards that I've won. My idea right now is to save up the AGC's for next Christmas. We didn't have much of a Christmas this year and I'd like to guarantee that next Christmas is a whole lot better. If I happen to get a dog before Christmas then I'll probably use the AGC's for doggie stuff. I don't have any plans on getting a dog though (of course I never really plan on getting a dog, now do I LOL).

I'm requesting a relationship with Swagbucks and my blog. I'm not sure that I'll get approved but I'll certainly keep you updated if I do.

The Dog Blog has always been about more than dogs. It's about life and how one thing effects another. I just tell my story through my adventures with dogs. So please keep reading the Dog Blog and please join Swagbucks. There's nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

2010 is coming to a close and 2011 is just hours away. The best thing that happened this year, dog-wise, was seeing Watson (Harley) at the Chapel Hills Mall. It was so nice to see him happy and obedient. He's a great demonstration dog for Sit Means Sit. Everyone loves him. He's so friendly with all the people who stop by to see the demonstrations.

The big question for me always is will there be a dog in my future. I do want one again some day if I can find the right dog but I'm in no hurry to cross that bridge. I know the right dog will find me one day. Until then I'll just remember the dogs I've had and be thankful that they were a part of my life. They all added something positive to my life (and something negative but now is not the time for that). I have special memories of all of them - Skooter, Moped, Huxley, Blitz and Harley (Watson). I love looking at pictures and videos of them all playing and enjoying their time with us.

My wish for 2011 is that all the animals out there who do not have home or the love they need would find the place where they belong, where they will be loved and treasured. There are so many homeless animals out there. Consider volunteering at an animal shelter or rescue or donate to one. They can always use the money. Check too to see if they need supplies that you might have on hand. Anything to help out those poor animals. If you are in a position to adopt an animal please make sure you've thought it out. I'm guilty of adopting without putting enough thought into it and it was horrible when I had to give them up. I know they all are in great homes and loved so I don't feel bad about that, just that I didn't make the best choice in adopting them.

Anyway it's going to be a great 2011 whatever comes my way and I wish you all a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

Sit Means Sit demonstration

2010-12-05T17:01:00.001-07:00

Harley (Watson) was at the mall today and we got to hug him and watch him do tricks and get loved on by everyone who walked by. He looks the same just a bit bigger. He's very leggy. I couldn't believe that I was patting him and letting him lick my face. It was wonderful. He can do all kinds of tricks including bowing down. He's so cute when he does that. I can't thank Cindy and Clay at Sit Means Sit enough for letting us visit with Harley (Watson). If you ever need dog training please go to Sit Means Sit dog training. They are amazing.

Watson at Chapel Hills Mall

2010-12-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Cindy that Watson will be doing demonstrations at the Chapel Hills Mall through New Years. He may be there this Saturday. I would love to see him. I'm waiting for Cindy to get back to me about the time and place. I'm so excited to think that I might get to see Watson again. Woohoo! I'll definitely be taking pictures and video and I'll post them here for your enjoyment.

Harley (now called Watson)

2010-10-23T19:20:00.000-06:00

I sent an email to Cindi a couple of weeks ago asking how Harley is doing. She said that Harley, now called Watson, is doing great. He's still with Sit Means Sit. He's a demonstration dog for them. He went to Las Vegas again in September. He's also doing dock diving. He loves to swim. I was so glad to hear that he is having such a wonderful life. I miss him but I know I did the right thing letting him go. Have a wonderful life, Watson!

Happy 1st Birthday Harley!

2010-06-05T22:42:00.000-06:00

Today Harley is 1 year old. I sent an email to Cindy wishing him a happy birthday and asking how he is doing. I'm glad that she was able to take him but sometimes I miss him. Today is one of those days.

Wondering about Harley

2010-05-12T17:30:00.001-06:00

I wonder how Harley is doing with his training in Las Vegas. I'm sure he is doing well and having a good time. He needs to be busy all the time and I just couldn't do that for him. David said he is missing Harley more than usual today. Me too for some reason. Every time I see his picture I get a pang of sadness. I think I've decided to not go to school this summer because I'd have to get a student loan to attend and I just can't bring myself to go into debt for anything. Should I have kept Harley? Probably not. It wasn't just time I wasn't giving him. I also wasn't giving him the opportunities that he needed (walking, playing, etc.). I do miss having a dog though. I was looking at the RMGSP Rescue site yesterday. JUST looking! Honest. GSP's have too much energy for me. I just wanted to look to squelch the "I need a dog" feeling. It worked. Looking at the GSP's reminded me of how much work it is to have a dog. I've never liked cleaning the back yard and I sure don't miss doing it now that I don't have a dog. I'm just not the right person to own a dog. At least not now.

Harley is in Las Vegas

2010-05-08T16:13:00.000-06:00

I got an email back from Cindy. Harley is in Las Vegas and will be there another 2 1/2 weeks. He's doing well. She said he is a very happy boy. I'm glad to hear that he is doing so well. She said that if she gets any video, she will forward it on to me. I miss having a dog but not enough to want another one right now.

Still missing them

2010-05-05T21:26:00.000-06:00

Skooter turned 4 on May 1st. Hard to believe. Moped is 3. Huxley and Blitz are almost 10 and Harley is 11 months tomorrow. I know that they all are doing great in their new homes. Makes me sad that I couldn't give them what they needed to make it work.

I've been thinking a lot about all of my dogs the last couple of days. David went inpatient from the ER on Friday night. If I had a dog or dogs it would have been even more hectic than it was. He had to have his gallbladder removed on Sunday. He was home on Monday. I'm glad I didn't have to do double duty as wife and dog owner. But it also was kind of sad to come home to an empty house all those nights.

I sent another email to Cindy asking about Harley. I feel bad that I can't seem to let go of him and the rest of them. I don't think I'll ever be happy with or without a dog. When I have a dog I feel overwhelmed. When I don't have a dog I feel so empty and sad in that doggy place in my heart. A dog is not in my immediate future though because school starts in 27 days. I don't feel ready for it today but after this weekend I don't feel ready for anything.

If I had just hung in there with Skooter and Moped I probably would have 2 great dogs right now but I just couldn't get past the stress. I have to say that my experience with Harley was the worst of all of them but I still miss him a lot. As always, I know I've done the right thing for my life at this point. It doesn't make it any less sad or easy to deal with.

I guess I just plain miss my dogs. *tears*

I finally did it

2010-04-26T02:32:00.000-06:00

I gathered up all of Harley's stuff (toys, supplies, books, etc.) and put it on craigslist. I have people interested in most of the stuff. Now if I can just get them to schedule a time to come by I'll be in the money. It's sad selling off the final stuff but I know I need to do it. The problem is that I keep finding stuff that I missed when I was posting on craigslist. No big deal though. I'll just modify the ads or figure out something else to do with the stuff (like the pooper scooper bags, I'll give those to Lisa and the 101 Tricks book and the puppy magazine, I'll add those to the book ad). It's so bittersweet selling off the last of Harley's things. I'm glad that he's doing well though. I didn't send an email to Cindy this weekend asking how Harley is. I'll probably send one this week though.

I know that when we get pictures, that Harley will look happy. He's finally getting all the attention and training that he needs. That's critical to him being happy and well adjusted. I've been feeling kind of irresponsible for all of the money I had spent on Harley during the last 2 months. I was willing to spend the money but not be committed to working with Harley. That's water under the bridge though. I have to move on. It would be nice to get rid of all of the stuff still sitting around the house.

Yesterday I went and worked with my computer client again. If Harley would have been here I know I would have hesitated about going but I didn't have to take him into consideration. I like being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. There is a lot of freedom in that.

That's all I can post tonight. I need to get back to bed.

Doing the right thing

2010-04-17T20:05:00.000-06:00

It's such a bittersweet feeling knowing that Harley is doing well. David said that maybe if we had gone with Cindy's training that we could have kept Harley. That made me feel sad. I felt like even if Harley had been well behaved that it wouldn't have worked out but maybe I was wrong. I'm happy for Harley. I'm glad that he's playing with other dogs and getting to run around a lot. And it really is cool that he may become a demonstration dog. I just wonder if all these things that I'm getting to do now is worth giving Harley up. Yeah, it's great that I can take 4 classes this summer and that I could be out all day Monday to celebrate my birthday, but really does it mean more than having Harley? I don't know.

I guess that I'll have to make the most of my life to make giving Harley up worth all the pain. I am walking with Kitty 3x/week and I have signed up for summer classes so I'm moving forward. It just seems a little empty without a dog. I'm not only missing Harley but Huxley and Blitz too. I know I'll get another dog one day but not for a long time. Once I know that I have time for a dog and won't mind putting in a lot of effort then a dog can be a possibility but until then, I don't need to give away any more dogs. It just hurts too much.

Maybe one day I will be able to see Harley do a demonstration. I'd love to see him doing well. All I think about when I think of him is the biting. I'd like to have a more positive picture in my mind of Harley. I love him and I miss him but I know I've done the right thing. Doing the right thing often isn't easy but it has to be done anyway. It doesn't make it suck any less.

Harley is doing well

2010-04-17T19:09:00.000-06:00

I sent Cindy an email asking about Harley. This is her response:

"Harley is doing well. No more mouthing past the first day, gets along great with other dogs, he runs with dogs at our facility every day and loves it. We don't have any pictures yet but will send some when we do. Harley is going to accompany one of our trainers to the Sit Means Sit School in Las Vegas and learn to be a demonstration dog, he is showing a lot of potential. We will keep you posted"

I'm glad to hear that he is doing so well. He needs the kind of life that he has right now. I'm so proud of him becoming a demonstration dog. He'll love all the attention and love he gets for being a good boy. Harley will get to visit Las Vegas before I do. LOL Lucky dog! I'm so glad that Cindy doesn't mind keeping me posted on how Harley is doing. It makes all of this so much easier. He never would have been a good dog with me. I didn't give him what he needed. Cindy is definitely making sure he gets what will make him a well adjusted dog. I'm so grateful to her. I feel a little bit sad knowing that Harley could actually get past the bad behavior and that maybe I gave up on him too soon. It's never easy for me to give up a dog. I don't ever want to give up another one though. It hurts too much.

I miss them all

2010-04-17T02:44:00.000-06:00

I woke up in the middle of the night and was thinking about Harley. I didn't have any interaction with him during the night because he was such a good boy and didn't get up then but I miss him being down the hallway. Logically I understand that I am better off without Harley and that Harley is better off without me but emotionally I still miss him and think about him often. I'm going to send Cindy an email to ask how he is doing. Everyone once in a while I think about paying Cindy $1,000 (don't ask where I come up with that amount, I don't know) to get a well-adjusted Harley back. It's just a fantasy but I do think about it anyway. Not that I really want him back. I'm happy with things the way they are now. But there is often no sanity when missing someone.

I'm also missing Huxley and Blitz. If I had known then what I know now, I would still have them. They really are great dogs. I love watching the videos I have of them playing. They really were good girls. But I had issues with them too - cleaning up the yard was a yucky job, Blitz would wake me up every night by whining, they got into the kitchen trash can, etc. They were always happy to see me when I got home though. I loved my German Shorthaired Pointers. I feel so melancholy when I think of them. In the moment it seemed like the right thing to do, giving them up, but in hindsight it was a mistake.At least I know that they are taken care of very well. I wonder sometimes if either of them passed away, would I be told. Probably not, since they are not my dogs anymore. I wish that walking them and cleaning up after them wasn't such a chore to me. But that's why I gave them up - because they were more work than I wanted to do. it doesn't stop me from missing them though.

David was talking about Skooter and Moped last night, how he still misses them. I agreed. I still miss them too. I think back and realize what a great dog Skooter was. If I had only worked harder with Moped or given up just Moped and kept Skooter. I know that Skooter is a great dog. I'm sure his new family treasures him.

Sometimes I wonder if what I do with the dogs (always ending up giving them away) is some kind of commitment issue. I love them all dearly but I can't seem to make the 100% commitment that is needed when owning a dog. Why do I feel compelled to get dog after dog knowing that I'll just end up giving it away? I think sometimes that it is a sickness I have. I keep doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting a different result each time. I would have to know going into owning another dog that cleaning up the yard and walking the dog wouldn't be an issue. That both things would get done every day without it being a hassle. That's not the way it has worked out though. Five dogs in five years. Not a good record.

I cried for weeks after Huxley Buxley and Bllitzy Witzy were given up by me. I cried for one day with Harley's departure. I guess maybe I'm getting used to giving up my dogs. That's sad. I know I'll have a dog again one day but not during this season of my life. I need time right now to be able to study and work on me with Marianne. The dogs will always play a role in my life but not interfere with me living my life the way I choose to. School probably would have been possible with Huxley and Blitz though. They were good girls. But that wouldn't have helped when it came time to have to clean the yard up or walk them. I'm just not the right person for a dog. At least not at this stage of my life. Maybe one day though I can get a dog that has already been trained and walks well on a leash. I know it's just a dream, but I'll keep on dreaming it.

I guess that I need to move on from all of this. It's so hard to though because they all were good dogs. They had their issues but they were wonderful companions. I just didn't put the time into them that they needed. That's why I don't have any dogs right now, just memories. What I wouldn't give to have Huxley and Blitz sleeping in bed with me again. Oh well. What's done is done.

A little sadness

2010-04-15T19:12:00.000-06:00

I'm having a moment where I'm missing Harley. No particular reason why, just thinking of him. I know I'll have moments like this, probably forever, and that's okay. I don't mind missing him. I'd rather miss him than be angry at him for biting me. I'm sure he is doing well with Cindy. He really is a good boy, just too much energy for me. Kitty brought her dog Sammy on our walk this morning. I thought it would make me miss Harley but all I could think of is that he would have been a handful to try and walk up on the Mesa. Maybe it's contributing to this out of the blue sad feeling about Harley. It's not an overwhelming sadness just a pang of it. I am glad that I can do what I want each day. I'm able to go to school without worrying about not paying enough attention to Harley. Getting him a new home was the best thing for both of us.

Life without Harley

2010-04-15T00:06:00.000-06:00

It's weird being without Harley. I think about him all the time but I don't miss the bad things about having him (biting, cleaning the yard, having to watch how long I'm out, etc.). I never realized just how ingrained he was in my every day life. There's not much that I can do that doesn't make me think of him. I am glad to know that he is doing okay. I'll probably check up on him again soon. David wanted to drive by where he might be living but I just couldn't do that. It would be too difficult. I don't want to cry over Harley anymore. I'm out walking again and enjoying my time outside and inside the house. It's sad but it's relieving to know that I don't have to consider Harley every waking moment. I do miss the cuddly little guy though. He wasn't a bad dog, just misguided in his "love" for me. I can't dislike him for loving me so much. But the biting really was something that I couldn't put up with anymore. I've also registered for classes for this summer because I know I'll be able to put my full attention into school without Harley here. Sometimes I think that I'm just telling myself these things so I won't miss him as much. Maybe I am but whatever it takes to get through this I'll do. I miss Harley.

email from Cindy

2010-04-11T01:29:00.002-06:00

Cindy replied to my email:

"Harley is doing very well. We are working on teaching him self control. He loves to play with toys and is having a great time playing with the other dogs. He went to group classes today and did pretty well for his first time. Feel free to email or call any time."

I am glad to know that Harley is doing well. I know that self control is a major issue for Harley. That's why he was always biting me. I know that he loves his toys. It's good to see that Harley is getting along with the other dogs. Group classes will be great for Harley's socialization. I'm so thankful that Cindy is allowing me to keep tabs on Harley. I know that Harley will end up with the right person, whether it's Cindy or someone else.

I still have a lot of dog stuff that I need to put on craigslist. There are all of his toys and all of the stuff up in the kitchen cabinet. I hope I can at least make a few bucks on the stuff I have. Two of the leashes I bought were pricey and I'm hoping to get close to what I paid for them. I guess maybe I should list those on eBay.

Anyway it's good to know that Harley is doing well. I feel much better knowing that.

Wondering how Harley is doing

2010-04-10T12:24:00.003-06:00

I sent an email to Cindy today asking how Harley is doing. David wants to know so I finally asked. I haven't heard back from her yet. While I was out today I saw more labs than I've ever seen before. There were tons of them. Oh well.

It's going to be okay

2010-04-09T07:46:00.002-06:00

David just called to tell me that he isn't mad at me for giving up Harley. He must have been reading the Dog Blog. I'm glad that he's not mad at me. He said he's been quiet because he really misses Harley, that he loves Harley and this was harder than losing Skooter and Moped. I don't really know what to say. I feel bad too. It will take time but we'll both move on from this. David really wants to know how Harley is doing. I wonder how he is doing too. I just don't know that I want to contact Cindy to find out. I feel like I need to leave this alone, to let it be. Hanging on to it will only make it worse. I need to let go completely.

Anyway, it is still quiet and lonely in the house. It will take a while before it becomes my place again. I'm not thinking of Harley every single moment though and that's a good thing. The dogs out back are barking. Sometimes I wonder if they are calling Harley or missing him. Probably not. It's me that is missing him. I'm determined though to not let this ruin my day or the days to come. I love him, I miss him but I'm moving on with my life. He's in a good place and I'm sure he's getting lots of attention. Both Harley and I win in this situation. It's going to be okay.

Harley, Harley

2010-04-08T21:00:00.002-06:00

Today was definitely a better day. I went walking with Kitty this morning. Of course, there were a lot of dogs up there, including labs, but I did okay. I did talk about Harley but it didn't make me sad. I came home and slept for a bit after our walk. It really tired me out. Then I went to see Marianne. We talked about me giving up Harley. I thought I would cry while I was in there but I didn't. I think I was too excited about making a reservation for a helicopter ride on my birthday to feel bad. When I got home I made my reservation for the flight and took in a package from my sister. She sent me a big box with presents. I'm excited to open it on Monday. So, my day was so full that I didn't have a lot of time to think about Harley. It wasn't until David got home that I started to feel bad. He's still not saying much to me. He just asked what I was doing and when I told him I was writing in the Dog Blog he shook his head and said "Why? We don't have a dog.". I think he's mad at me. He's going to have to get over it though because I did what was best for me. It has been nice to not have to worry about Harley every waking moment. I miss Harley but I don't miss how I felt with Harley. The stress level was just so high when he was here. I was always afraid he would start biting me. I haven't been bitten for 3 days now. I think that's a record.

I was wondering again about Harley though. I hope he is doing okay and is making progress. He really does deserve to be with someone who is not averse to training him. It seemed like a lot of work to me and I think that's a big part of why it didn't work for me and Harley. I do wonder where he is sleeping at night and if he does miss me. A part of me, a very small part, still wants to go get him and take him back but there is more of me that is okay with him being gone. I don't think I'll ever stop wondering about him. I still think about Skooter, Moped, Huxley and Blitz and it's been a long time since I gave them up. I'll always miss my dogs.

David has gone to bed without saying anything to me. I know he is upset about Harley being gone. I'm upset about it too but I've got to move on. I can't stay stuck in grieving for Harley or the rest of them. They are all doing fine and I need to be okay too. I took Harley to the doggy daycare a while back when he was really frustrating me. Maybe he thinks he's at doggy day care again and that I'll come back and pick him up. Nah. He's a dog. He doesn't think that way. I hope that when I die that all the pets I've had in my lifetime will be in Heaven with me. That's what would make it Heaven.

So, it was an okay day. I'm still feeling sad and a bit lonely but I know I can get through this. I've done it before. That was one of the ways I knew that I was ready to give up Harley - it was more bearable to go through this than to have Harley biting me. And this is very painful. So I knew that I was ready to give him up. It was still difficult but it was necessary.

Now I can take my Huxley and Blitz stuffed animals out of the closet again. Harley was going after them and I didn't want him to ruin them. I think maybe I'll get a stuffed lab too. That way I can always have Harley here with me in spirit. He honestly is a good dog. He is loving and could be gentle. He just chose not to be gentle with me. But I still love him.

Difficult night

2010-04-07T20:35:00.004-06:00

It hasn't been a good night. David and I haven't spoken a word for hours. I think we're both having a very difficult time with Harley being gone. Everything reminds of Harley. It seems like every commercial has a dog in it. There was even a dog doing a high five like we did with Harley. This is so hard.

Finally David said something. It wasn't about Harley though. It was about American Idol. I know he's hurting just as much as I am. It's probably hard for him to have to tell his friends that I got rid of yet another dog. They must think I'm mentally ill. Oh yeah, I am. LOL Seriously though, yesterday wasn't near as hard as today has been. Yesterday I felt more relief. But today there have just been too many reminders of Harley. Every time the dogs behind us are out I get teary eyed. When I come out of the bathroom I expect him to be there waiting for me. But he's not. I gave him up.

It doesn't feel like the right decision in this moment. I can't stop crying. I'm not sobbing just crying. I hate this part of giving up a dog. At some point it always feels like I did the wrong thing even though I know that I didn't.

David just went to bed. He told me he's having a hard time tonight. I knew he was. The house is just too quiet and too lonely. And the dogs out back are barking. I really can't believe that I did this to us again. I'm glad I have an appointment with Marianne tomorrow. I need to work through all this. I know it will be okay but it just doesn't feel like it right now.

Why have I done this so many times? Really, is there something wrong with me that I've done this 4 times with 5 dogs? I know I never intend to give them up. I know that I always think this will be the time it will work out but it never does. Life sucks without a dog. I wonder what Harley is doing tonight. Is he already in bed? Probably. Where is he sleeping? Is he okay? I know he doesn't feel like I do but I wonder if he misses me. I think I was closer to him and than any other dog I've ever had.

It's so hard at first because the only routine I've known involves Harley. There is lots of empty space in my day right now. And it hurts. The silence is overwhelming. I don't want a dog that bites me all the time but I really wish that Harley could have gotten over that with me. Would I have spent the money even if I had it? Probably. I hate giving up on them. I hate giving up on me. At some point I just don't feel capable any more. I wasn't doing everything with Harley that I could have. There was more that I could have done. But I also did put in an effort. Maybe not 100% but I was close. I loved him 100% though and I still do.

I know I'm rambling. I just need to do that tonight. I would rather have not ever posted in the Dog Blog again than have to post about giving up Harley. I hope that David will be able to forgive me for doing this. I hope I can forgive myself. At least I have things to do tomorrow (a walk with Kitty in the morning and an appointment with Marianne in the afternoon) so maybe it won't be as bad as it is right now. I know I'm going to be sad walking without Harley and I'll probably cry when I see Marianne so I guess I shouldn't expect tomorrow to be okay. But I have to keep moving on and moving through this grief. I'm crying for all my dogs tonight. Not just Harley.

Okay, I need to stop blogging so I can stop crying. I don't want to use up a whole box of tissues tonight. I'm not quite ready to go to bed yet, to face my bedroom without Harley in his kennel. I'll go in just a little while. The reality is just too hard to face right now.

I was going to post a picture but I don't have any with me and Harley. I have some video of him and me but no pictures. Why do I let that happen? I'm just be glad that I have a lot of pictures of him to comfort my broken heart.

Harley is gone :-(

2010-04-07T18:15:00.002-06:00

Harley is gone. I reached my breaking point on Monday and called Cindy at Sit Means Sit. She was the only one who offered to take him. I called in the afternoon on Monday and she called me back within minutes and said that I could bring him to her house out in Black Forest. It was a very sad day. I love Harley and wish that I could have kept him but the biting was just too much for me. Everything I did every day revolved around Harley. I felt like I was suffocating with him. I have tears in my eyes already just thinking about him. Cindy seemed confident that she could work with Harley and she thinks that he is a great dog. He's just not great for me. I loaded up his food, treats, bison bones, Buster Cubes and Ultra Balls to take with him. I used one of the chain leashes when I let him out of the car. He seemed fine of course. He wasn't very happy at first to see me drive away but then they walked him toward the house and he seemed fine. I cried for the rest of the day.

I wondered what his first night was like away from me. Then the next day I wondered how he was doing at his new house. Cindy lives out in Black Forest with some land. I hope Harley is able to enjoy being there. Cindy may not be the one who keeps Harley. He might go with another trainer or a client. I know that wherever he ends up he will be very happy. Cindy thinks that she can get him to start behaving in a week or so. If I could have afforded it I would have done the training with them but I'm out of money and couldn't afford to spend any more money on Harley. I feel bad that money came into play but it wasn't the main reason for giving him up. I thought that having Harley was going to be a completely different experience than it ended up being. He was never the hiking buddy that I wanted which makes me sad.

It's only been 2 days since I let him go but for some reason today was really difficult. The house seemed so empty without him. It was just so quiet today. I wasn't getting up every five minutes to let him in and out. I'm relieved at all the things that I don't have to work around anymore but that does not lessen my sadness. I feel foolish that I have given up 5 dogs in as many years. I really had good intentions with all of them but I guess I'm just meant to not have a dog. I still would love to have one but it would have to be trained before I got it for it to work out.

Oh how I miss Harley, Skooter, Moped, Huxley and Blitz. I am not over giving up any of them. I was foolish to think that it could work out with Harley. Hopeful, but foolish. I really intended that I would never give Harley up but I never counted on him biting me all the time. I hope that it was just me he is like that with and that whoever ends up with him will find his gentle side. He does actually have one.

So, here I sit, once again, crying over giving up my dog. Cindy said I could ask about him if I wanted but I think it's best if I just let him go. I don't know how it would make me feel if I hear that he is doing well. I think I would feel like I made a mistake and that he was salvageable. I'd rather just know that I've done the right thing for me and for Harley and leave it at that. David is having a very difficult time with this and I can't blame him. He didn't get to say goodbye to Harley like I did. I told Harley that I love him and that he would be okay. David wasn't home from work when I brought Harley to Cindy. David misses Harley greeting him when he gets home from work. On the other hand, I feel relieved that he's not attacking me and my shoes when I come in the house.

Harley was spending far too much time tethered or in his kennel. He also had started to tear up the bushes in the back yard. He was already digging along the fence but when he started digging up the bushes, that was kind of the final straw. I really, really hope that Harley will do okay with someone else. My only fear was that he would behave so badly that Cindy would want me to take him back. He's not that bad though. He really is a great dog. I just don't know how to handle a dog so that he or she is at her best. Harley made Huxley and Blitz look like a walk in the park. I still had issues with them though. Blitz was always waking me up at night and they were always getting into the trash. Oh well, that situation is over too. I need to move on.

Now it's time to build my life again. I know that The Dog Blog will continue because it will take a long time, if ever, to not miss all my dogs. And as ridiculous as it sounds maybe one day, years from now, I'll be at a place in my life where a dog would actually make sense. But I'm not anywhere near that point in my life right now. Now I can think about walking again and going back to school without worrying about leaving Harley for hours on end which just made him act worse. I hope it doesn't come across as me being selfish because that's not it at all. I did have Harley's interests in mind when I made my decision. I had sat and cried in Marianne's office for one hour before making the decision at Lisa's house to call Cindy. I thought I was feeling bad about my 50th birthday coming up on Monday like if I didn't celebrate it this year I would never have a reason to celebrate. I think what I was really feeling though was that if I didn't let go of Harley right now, I never would. That thought was overwhelming.

I wish that I didn't have to post this. I'm embarrassed and feel so bad that I've given up Harley. Even though I know it was the right thing to do, I still feel bad and sad. The tears will continue to come. I'm sure of that. At some point they will stop. I'm sure of that too. But in the mean time I'll just grieve over my loss. Again.

Spoke to Dr. J

2010-04-05T09:36:00.003-06:00

Harley is doing his best to destroy the back yard. He has about 2/3 of the big bush out there torn out of the ground. I put his super large ball out there but he doesn't seem to have any interest in it. He'd rather pull up parts of the bush. I'm not sure how to get him to stop digging and destroying in the back yard.

I talked to Dr. J last night about Harley. She wants me to do some repetition work with Harley when he starts biting. I have to remove myself from the situation by going in another room for about a minute. If I come out and he goes after me again I have to go right back in the room. I have to do this 4-5 times or until he stops going after me. If he continues after 4-5 times then I need to go in the room for 5-10 minutes to let him deescalate his frustration. I can see that I'm going to be spending a lot of time walking down the hallway and sitting in my bedroom. But who knows, maybe he'll surprise me and get it the 1st or 2nd time.

My homework from Dr. J is to note how the above protocol is working and to write down what was going on just before he started biting. There may be something that is triggering him that is not completely obvious so I need to really pay attention to what is going on around us.

I felt better after talking to Dr. J. Having a plan helps reduce the stress. Dr. J also told me that it will be another 2 weeks or so before the Prozac begins to take effect. So, we play the waiting game but at least I have a protocol to use in the mean time.

Dr. J wants me to continue working on getting Harley to relax and getting him to sit-stay. I think I'm feeling overwhelmed by Harley already today.

Plotting and planning

2010-04-04T01:09:00.002-06:00

It's 1am. I'm up and Harley is in bed sleeping (as he should be). I was thinking about my last blog entry and realized that I'm not showing a complete picture of Harley. He's more than just a dog who bites me. So today, Easter Sunday, I'm going to have David videotape me working with Harley so you can see how smart he is and how cute he can be. I don't want anyone to think that I'm just trying to highlight what is wrong with Harley. There's obviously more to it than that. So, we'll do a little video later today.

I'm hoping to get Harley out for a walk today. The weather is supposed to be nice, up near 60 degrees. Maybe David would consider going with us. I'm going to try to walk Harley over to the mailbox and back then walk him around the cul de sac a few times. I'm sure he would enjoy that. I'm hoping that Harley can have another good day today as far as the biting goes. He made it all the way until 4:41pm yesterday before he bit me. I was doing some reading on bite force and it said that Labradors have about 125 pounds of force in their bite. Pit bulls and Rotties are up in the 300's. So, I guess I'll keep telling myself that this could be much worse than it is.

I watched a few episodes of "It's Me Or The Dog" yesterday. The one thing I took away from it is that you have to work with the dog, you have to practice. The dog obviously won't learn what it isn't being taught. Follow up is key in this process and I haven't been following up very well. Harley will only improve if I put the time into working with him. Why pay an expert like Dr. J if I'm not going to follow the advice completely. I need to stop getting so frustrated with Harley. He will definitely pick up on my frustration and will feel frustrated himself. I need to have a positive attitude and show Harley that together we can do this. I know that the best thing I can do for Harley is to walk him. A tired dog is a good dog. It would be good for me to get out there and start walking too. I won't be able to just go up to Palmer Park and do the 40 minute loop right off. Taking some shorter walks with Harley will get me ready for going up there. It will get Harley ready to go up there too.

So, I need to work with Harley more consistently. It's not going to be an easy process and I will only get out of it what I put into it. It would not be fair to give Harley up without working with him and being committed to making this work. There are 3 things I need to keep in mind - 1. there are going to be expenses every month with Harley (Prozac, bison bones and treats) and that will just have to be a part of the budget 2. Harley can't do this on his own, I have to do this with him and 3. I need to give the Prozac time to work. I'm willing to do all of those things to try to make the situation with Harley better.

I didn't get to talk to Dr. J last night. She got home late (around 9pm) and emailed and asked if we could talk tonight instead. I told her that would be fine. I feel I can benefit from having the extra time to gather my thoughts and write down some questions or thoughts that I have. I need to remember that I paid Dr. J for this service and I need to take advantage of the follow up time that she includes with the evaluation/diagnosis. I need to stop feeling like I'm in this all on my own because I am not. I have David, Dr. J, Lisa and Marianne to help me weather this storm. I could ask Lisa if she would walk Woody with me and Harley a couple times a week. I need to get Harley socialized. He's been too isolated these last few months that he's been out of training. I need to have him in controlled situations where he can succeed. I'm sure Lisa would love to get Woody out there and spend some time with me. I certainly would enjoy spending time with her.

I'm also going to ask Marianne if I can drop by her office at least once a week for just a few minutes to let Harley get used to her and her office. I'd like to do the same thing with Lisa. I'd like to stop by her house so Harley gets used to being in different environments. He's probably acting out as much as he does because he is so bored with spending all of his time with just me. I'm going to ask David if he would take Harley for a walk without me once a week. Just a quick walk over to the mailboxes and back. I need Harley to get used to being without me so that his separation anxiety can lessen. And I need to be contacting Dr. J at least 3x/week just to let her know how things are progressing. I can't believe that a month has already gone by since she did the evaluation. We have 2 more months of follow up and I intend to use that time to it's fullest.

I'm thinking that I might also be able to get Kitty and Sammy to meet up with Harley and me for a walk each week. I would love the opportunity to spend more time with Kitty anyway. Sammy is well behaved and maybe Harley can learn from Sammy and Woody how to settle down and be a polite dog. So there's a lot that I can do to help this situation improve with the support of my friends.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do about school. It's not what anyone else wants me to do but what I truly would like to do for me. Harley obviously fits into my decision so what happens over the next month will have an impact whether I keep Harley or not. What I really want to do is to take online classes and to go to campus for 1 class. That way I'm getting the best of both worlds. There is no way I could sit at school all day or leave Harley all day. Especially not right now. Classes start June 1st so I have plenty of time to work with Harley and Dr. J to make this situation better. I'm thinking of taking 4 classes, 3 online and 1 on campus. It would be a lot but I think that I really need it to get the structure and routine back into my life. Harley can only benefit from that.

Now it's 2am. I should be getting back to bed. I'm glad I took time though to think about all of these things. I can start putting this all into action later this morning by taking Harley for a walk.

2010-04-03T17:06:00.003-06:00

Harley is really growing as you can see in this picture I took today (April 3, 2010).

Here's a video of Harley biting my arm. Usually I would get up and walk away but I just wanted to show what it is that he is doing.

Here's another video of me getting Harley to sit, using treats, after he has started jumping on me and biting me. He went after me again when he thought I was going to get my shoes out of the closet.

He made it until 4:41pm

2010-04-03T16:42:00.002-06:00

Well, we made it to 4:41pm before Harley bit me. So he's tethered right now. He bit down really hard on my arm. I tried to get him to sit but he wouldn't. I got up and walked away from him. He came after me, jumped on me and started biting me. Not good. But he's laying down now and is settled. I'll let him off the tether in a few minutes. I need him to relax first and then I can try again. He was doing so well. I'm really proud of him for how long he went today without biting me. I wonder how many PSI his jaw exerts on my arm. It sure does hurt. At least he didn't break the skin.

Quiet day

2010-04-03T15:03:00.003-06:00

I hesitate to blog about this for fear that I will jinx it but Harley hasn't bit me once today. And it's 3pm! I'm not sure what's going on but he hasn't tried biting me at all. He's either been outside or laying down inside. What a peaceful day this has been.

I got an email from Dr. J and she is going to call me this afternoon. I've gone back through the paperwork she sent me and reread the handouts on Separation Anxiety and Changing Attention Seeking Behavior. I think that I have been trying to do too much with Harley at one time. I need to focus on just a few things and not overwhelm him or me. Until I can get him to behave the majority of the time it's pointless to try to get him to do the Sit-Stay Program or to try to take him for walks. I want to work on getting him to relax and to understand that he will not get what he wants until I am ready to give it to him and he will have to do something to get it (sit-stay, down-stay).

It's so strange to have him acting like a regular dog today. I don't know what to make of it.

I'm looking forward to talking to Dr. J. I want to talk to her about doing too many things at one time (which I believe has been my mistake not her telling me to do that). I get anxious to get things going and I tend to jump in with both feet without looking when it comes to a project. And Harley is a project. So I think I've put too much on me and Harley and I need to slow down now and start from the beginning. This past week I haven't done anything with Harley because I was so frustrated with him biting me and going after me. The only thing I did was tether him when he was in the house and not in his kennel. The weather has been nice so he's been outside a lot. He hasn't been tethered 24/7. I haven't had to tether him at all today. Maybe the Prozac is starting to work. Who knows? I'm just grateful to not have to fend him off all day long. The biting is annoying but just having to keep him away from me all the time is so time consuming and frustrating.

There are so many things I'd like to be able to do without Harley interfering (reading, playing on the laptop, emptying or filling the dishwasher, doing laundry, cooking, etc.). I want to be able to get to a point with him that I tell him to stay and he does until I release him. I'm going to have to ask Dr. J what exactly I should be doing and in what order should I be doing it. I know some things have to be done concurrently but I don't think I'm supposed to be doing it all right now. Or if I am, it's not working and I need to come up with a new plan of attack.

The things I'd like to work on are 1. Separation Anxiety 2. Changing Attention Seeking Behavior 3. Relaxation and 4. working to get the gentle leader on him. That only will keep us very busy. I don't want to feel like every waking moment of my life is centered on Harley. I know I have to put in the time and effort to make changes but I feel like I have given up my life completely for him. That's not completely Harley's fault either. He is an attention seeker but I think I just pay too much attention to him making the situation worse than it could be.

Harley has been tearing apart our bushes in the back yard. He's dragged pieces of them all over the yard. His digging is quite noticeable along the fence. If he finds anything he can tear up, he does. And he stole another toy from the dogs behind us. It must have been right up by the fence and he was able to get under the fence and pilfer it. I'm going to have to give some of Harley's toys that he can't play with to them.

I know that part of our problem is that we aren't in any kind of a routine but with the advent of classes starting in June I'll need to start getting into a routine now so I'll be prepared by the time I start school. Part of that routine will have to involve walking and training with Harley. I know that every moment is an opportunity to train but I'm talking about specific training sessions. I think that both Harley and I will benefit from a routine.

I can't believe he is still sleeping. This is so unusual. But nice.

I've decided that I'm going to work with Harley for the month of April and if I don't see any progress then I'm going to find someone to take him. I'm not expecting miracles but I do expect things to change somehow during the next month. I think I'm being realistic (if I'm not, I'm sure someone will tell me). The Prozac will have had time to take effect, we'll be on a routine for a month and we should be able to start walking again. All of those things should make a noticeable difference in Harley. I still have hope that I'll be able to take him up to Palmer Park for walks and to Lisa's and Marianne's for visits. I also think that he'll be able to get along with other dogs and not play so rough. I know this will all take time but if I don't see some forward progress in the next month I am going to let him go.

I know that I have to make a complete commitment to this again and not give up just because it's time consuming and difficult. Things should also be easier with the nice weather coming. I'll be able to get him out more walking and he'll want to be out in the yard more too. I feel bad that I had given up on Harley this past week but I'm not going to clobber myself over the head about it. I'm going to just start from today and do my best. I know that Harley has it in him to be a great dog. I just have to figure out how to draw that out of him. I guess he'll have to "figure out" how to draw it out of me too.

It's funny the way things work out

2010-04-02T11:26:00.003-06:00

Harley remains tethered most of the day because of his biting. I try to get him outside as much as possible so he's not tethered as much. The weather has been nice so he's been enjoying being outside. I went out in the yard with him yesterday. I was cleaning up the yard and he was trying to help by getting under my feet. lol He did go after my shoes while I was out there but it wasn't the whole time I was out there.

I continue to give Harley his Prozac daily. I haven't noticed any change though. I don't think the DAP collar is having any effect at all. He still doesn't like it when I leave the house. He whines and screeches when I go to put my shoes on. I think he settles down as soon as I leave though. I've listened from the garage and he doesn't bark the whole time I'm gone. He's always fine when I get home too. I keep him in his kennel for about 15 minutes so he can get used to me being home without jumping all over me or going after my shoes.

I always have good intentions when I get a dog and believe I've made a commitment to the dog but I'm realizing that my commitment does not last. I think that maybe I just shouldn't own a dog. I love Harley and I love his companionship (when he's not biting!) but I don't love all the things I have to do to take care of him (cleaning the yard, working with him all the time, taking him for walks, etc.). I let my emotions get the best of me and convinced myself that I couldn't live without a dog. I believe that I was wrong. I do think I could live without a dog. There are of course things that I would miss about Harley but there would be more things that I don't miss.

I know anyone reading this must think that I'm a crazy person when it comes to dogs. And maybe I am. Like I said though, I have good intentions. They just don't pan out for me. I keep asking myself what the point of having a dog is if he's always in his kennel, outside or tethered. There is no relationship in this type of situation. I'm just feeling more distant from Harley. Some people think that he will just grow out of this biting thing but I don't know that I want to wait that long. Maybe he'd be just fine with someone else. I don't know.

At least Harley doesn't act up while he's tethered. I know he doesn't like it but he's not going crazy to get off the tether. And because I'm using the chain leash he's not able to break the leash. He must be getting bored because he started chasing his tail. I'm going to let him out so he can play in the yard. Well he doesn't want to go outside but he's occupied with chewing on a bone so I'll leave him off the tether.

I've either got to put 100% into this situation with Harley or I need to give him up to someone who will put in 100% with him. It's not fair to me or to Harley to not put in the effort. I guess I'm just feeling beaten down this week because of all the biting. I know he doesn't mean to hurt me and it's trying to be mean. I know he's just trying to get my attention in the only way he knows how at this point. He is getting better about sitting in front of me instead of just biting me right away. So maybe there is some progress. It's hard to see when you're in the middle of something like this.

I think that David wouldn't be very happy if I gave Harley up. I know he wants me to keep working with Harley but he's not the one who is getting bitten. I am. And he's not the one who has to work with Harley 24/7. I am. I wanted a companion dog not a high maintenance puppy. I guess I should have thought it through even more than I did before getting Harley. I know I was just missing Huxley and Blitz and wanted to heal that hurt and Harley did heal my broken heart but now he's breaking my heart. It's funny the way things work out.

I know in my heart and my head what I want to do but I'm just afraid of giving up on this too soon. I think I need to do something though before it gets totally out of hand. It could get to a point that Harley isn't manageable at all and I don't want that to happen. There is no good outcome with that scenario. I need to talk to David and see where he is with this. I know that I'm the one who has to make the decision since I am Harley's caretaker but not being quite sure how David feels about the whole Harley situation makes it harder to make a decision. I guess I just want and need some support no matter what I end up doing.

Tethered

2010-03-30T12:40:00.004-06:00

Well, Harley continues to flea bite me today so I put him on tether. I can't let him bite me anymore. It's no fun having him tethered but what else can I do. David wants me to give it a few more weeks to see if the Prozac helps at all. I know I can put up with a few more weeks but the question is do I want to put up with more. I guess that today I'm feeling like I just haven't done enough with Harley and I need to give him time to let the Prozac take effect. I have him tethered with the chain leash so he can't chew it apart. It does have a leather handle so I have to keep an eye on him anyway. I know that I've given up on Harley and I can't do that. I need to keep working with him and give him the opportunity to change.

Every day I wake up and tell myself that I'm going to give 100% to Harley but then he starts biting me and I just give up. Like I've said before, I've spent a lot of time, effort and money on Harley and I don't know that I'm ready to throw the towel in on him. I thought that a lab/retriever mix would be an awesome combination for a dog but that has not proved to be the case with Harley. I'm sure he's got something else mixed in there. I wanted a dog that had the temperament and personality of a therapy dog. Harley is the polar opposite of that.

I'm going to have to put him in his kennel now so I can take a shower. I'd leave him tethered but I'm worried that he would chew on the couch or the leather handle on the leash. He's safe and won't get into trouble being in his kennel. This situation is really getting me down today.

If you're not part of the solution...

2010-03-29T22:07:00.002-06:00

David told me to tether Harley to the couch tonight. Not only was he trying to bite me, he was trying to bite David too. When he seemed calm we let him off the leash but he just went right back to biting again. He's in his kennel now sleeping. I felt so much less stress with Harley on the tether but what's the point of having a dog that you can't interact with? I've got to figure out what the solution is to this problem.

It doesn't get any easier

2010-03-29T15:36:00.003-06:00

I spent my whole hour with Marianne talking about Harley. I cried a few times. Deciding how to handle things with him is not easy. It just comes down to this - I don't want him biting me again. Maybe he'd be okay with someone else but having him just doesn't work for me. Right now he's tethered to the couch so he can't go after me. That's not having a pet. When I got home today I let him out and he was okay for a few minutes. Then he started jumping on me and biting me. I literally had to push him out the back door to get him to go out. I'm just sick of him going after me. Of course right now he's laying down, looking oh so innocent. But I know that within minutes of letting him off the tether he'd be back at me again. I just want to be able to sit in my chair and work on my laptop without Harley getting upset and going after me.

The question I keep asking myself is have I made enough of an effort with him? Am I just giving up because it's difficult? How much longer should I let him bite me before it's okay to say I'm done? He's not a vicious dog. At times he can be really gentle and sweet but the majority of the time that he's in the house and out of his kennel or off of his tether his is biting me or jumping up on me. How much more of this do I have to endure? Would I be a bad person if I found someone else to take him? He's very high maintenance and I don't have that much to give. I end up giving everything I have to Harley and having nothing left over for myself.

I don't know that I would ever feel like I worked hard enough with him no matter how much time, effort and money I put into him. So do I do what's best for me or do I keep trying to make this situation work and keep getting bitten in the mean time. I felt so sure when I was talking to Marianne and now I'm second guessing myself again. Maybe I should give it more time. Isn't that what I do with everything though. How much time am I supposed to give it and how much abuse am I supposed to put up with. I want to be a dog person but I don't think that will ever work out for me. Harley senses something in me that tells him that he can take advantage of me. He seems to have no boundaries with me. If he wants to attack me, he attacks me. End of story.

David doesn't seem to be too concerned about what Harley is doing to me physically, mentally and emotionally. I think that he thinks that I'm just giving up, that I don't want to put in the effort that it would take to get Harley to behave (if that's even possible with me). But I'm the one who has to deal with Harley 24/7, not David. He gets to go to work and not deal with this all day. I don't have that option. I want to be able to make decisions based on what I want to do not on what is best for Harley. I'm not sorry that I got Harley. I have learned a lot about myself on my adventure with him but maybe now is the time for me to move forward. No matter what I do it won't be easy. Keeping him and having him biting me stinks. Letting him go would make me very sad.

I guess I was hoping that David would have some sympathy for me going through this but I don't really see that from him. I'm not saying he's bad because of that or that I'm mad, I guess I was just hoping he would make this easier for me. I'm going to have to figure this out on my own, well with Marianne's help. Do I even want to make this work anymore? I don't think that I do.

His behavior tires me out!

2010-03-29T10:16:00.003-06:00

So, I ended up going back to bed for a couple of hours. When I woke up I let Harley out of his kennel. I'm making him sit at the door before he goes out and before he comes in. If he's sitting there and takes more than 5 seconds to go out or come in I will shut the door and go sit down. I won't get up until I'm ready to let him in or out. The thing is, that I've been doing this, it's just that now I'm doing it with attitude and purpose. Harley must finally be hungry - he's eating kibble from his Buster Cube. That's good to see. He didn't empty the cube but he did eat a good amount from it. He is standing at the door but not sitting so he doesn't get my attention. When his butt sits down mine will get up. There he goes, he's sitting. I'll go attempt to let him out.

I opened the door, counted to 5, he didn't go out so I closed the door, came in and sat down. I reached for my laptop and he started licking it so I set it aside. He started to flea bite my legs, which I just have no tolerance for today. I turned away from him but he continued to bite me. I got up and he still continued to bite me. I brought him down to his kennel and put him in it. That's where he is right now. I know that he is just trying to get my attention but I pay too much attention to him as it is. He needs to learn how to deal with things without getting my attention.

I'm going to re-read the handout that Dr. J sent to me about stopping attention seeking behavior. I'm going to go over it again with David too. I want to make sure that David and I are doing our utmost to deter Harley's attention seeking behavior. That's going to be our focus for the next few days. I can't do anything else with him until we get his attention seeking under control.

I'm falling asleep again so I'm going to take a nap before I jump in the shower. He's being whiny but that's his issue to deal wit, not mine.

Not starting off very well

2010-03-29T07:57:00.003-06:00

Harley and I got up at 7:30am. It's just before 8am and he's back in his kennel because he was trying to bite me. My upper arms hurt so much that I can't fend him off very well. There will be no playing with him today. I'm going to try to take him out for a walk. It's hard though because he'll go after my shoes, after the leash, bolt out the door and pull (which my arms just won't take today). I just want to go back to bed and hibernate until it's time to go to my appointment this afternoon with Marianne. That certainly won't help anything though. What to do? What to do?