Wally's Protests, a 70lb Problem

Wally demonstrates determination and will in all he attempts. Whether its finding us out in a game of hide and seek, chewing, fetch, swimming or just sleeping. He knows what he wants to do and when. We discovered this quality very early on in Wally's demeanor when he employed the flop defense mechanism. The flop defense mechanism consists of stopping mid-stride, relaxing every wagging muscle and laying there. Eyes rolled whichever way will allow for a pitiful gaze at whoever is trying to subject him to what he deems an unworthy task. Places Wally employs the Flop:

• When leaving the dog park
• Leaving the house and heading towards the Jeep (I slammed his paw in the door once... Never to be forgiven.)
• When told to crate up
• When leaving the house for a walk but not heading the way he wishes.
• When leaving the building I work in on campus and heading towards the parking lot.
• When attempting to leave the park, cemetery or any place else he deems fun.

I asked an alleged dog trainer at the dog park one day (I bet he was just one of the fish people at Pet Smart) he claimed I just had to be more interesting.... Did he not see I was carrying a chuck it, bag of treats and a waterboy? What else should I be packin to get my 70lb wonder to move? I end up picking him up and carrying him. He looks ashamed, I have to field questions about what happened to my poor cute puppy... I reply "he's just an ass, that's all, no injuries, not hurt, just a stubborn ass who doesn't want to leave the dog park".

Wally's First Vacation

Merry secured the in-laws Sunriver house for all of us so Ali, Ryan, Merry and her Ryan, Carissa and I and the dogs Wally, Sara, Bentley, and Maui all journeyed forth to find some sun and relaxation for a few days. We loaded Wally and Bentley's crate into Merry and Ryan's truck, I could see Wally's head turning back and forth as he tried to figure out what was going on. He sniffed the air and seemed to settle in and enjoy the ride. At each stop both dog's heads would pop up and sniff.

I was so excited to spend time with everyone. I was really worried about how Wally would do with the change in rules and scenery. He surprised me though. He gave proper respect to Ali and Ryan's old girls and relentlessly pestered his playmate Bentley. He barked a little but not obsessively. He had one freakout at the river where he was just too excited to stop. We went on daily walk and runs with our hounds. Wally pulled some but i fixed it by making his leash into a halter. In the evenings we would release the dogs onto the golf course and play fetch with them. They sounded like a herd of horses thundering up and down the course.

Carissa and Sunnira had a great time together. Sunnira would wake Carissa up each day. She was so excited to have her cousin there to play with. She would clap and cheer when Rissa awoke. Too cute. All in all a successful trip.

Dog Psychology?

A five pound ball of fluff with cute little brown eyes... Grows into....... An almost 50 pound personality who is determined to rule the house. I have been completely committed to ensuring Wally has plenty of exercise. A tired dog is a good dog every book says. As Wally has grown and begun to come into his own as a dog personality however something began to occur that I did not anticipate. Wally decided he was in charge. I made our puppy into a spoiled brat who thought we were his minions to do his bidding. Much like children, it turns out each puppy has a different level of need for discipline, rules and boundaries. I saw nothing wrong with fawning over our cute puppy. Petting him constantly, talking to him in that choo choo choo voice, buying him multiple toys of all different types. All of this did not equal out to him becoming the most devoted dog ever. We now had a full fledged stinker on our hands. The last straw was a bite to my forearm as we were walking along he was excitedly jumping up and down nipping at my jacket... And, the growling when I told him to get off of the couch. Wally thought he owned the place. So I read the six dollar pamphlet I'd just purchased the week before on Being your dog's leader and having them love you for it and away we went to save our relationship with our pooch. Day one. We were not allowed to speak to, look at or pet Wally.. I realized I talk to that dog all the time. The day was so weird. Wally was completely subdued. Just looking at us and knawing a bone wondering what was going on. I took away half of his toys. Wally was essentially doggie grounded. We suffered through day one. We now have new rules to follow in our interactions. No fawning over the dog, no petting unless a command is given such as "sit" and the affection is the reward. We are in our third week of this treatment and Wally seems much calmer, does not growl anymore and actually listens. Being a pack leader isn't so bad after all.

Swing Low Wagger Tail and Eating Disorders

Wally has his first and hopefully last yeast infection in one ear. The vet informed me after giving me a rather accusatory look that these are caused by a variety of things. After which he grilled me about his food, play habits, swimming, sexual activity (just kidding) toys and any other changes that may have happened in the the past few weeks to trigger the infection. An ear cleaning, shot, new puppy food made from bison, and three prescriptions later, we left the vet armed to combat this thing that is good for making bread but very bad in wagger ears. Thankfully Wally will eat ANYTHING so getting him to take his twice daily pills is as easy as one, two and cheese. After six days of the medication and cleaning he is starting to look much better.

Something about eating disorders though..... I realized in obedience classes we have worked on sit, down etc. however, what does one do when their puppy turns into a wild jackal in the presence a garbage can or any other precious human food? My dog has an eating disorder.... Eggs flew everywhere, the floor was instantly covered in scraps. He tore into these as if he was a starved beast who'd roamed the prairies in search of food for days on end. Not a puppy eating a prescribed food made from BISON three times a day!!!!!!!!!!!! What do I do!!!??? I don't want him to become ridiculously fat from feeding him all the time. Yet, I don't want this food obsessed beast who will ravage a garbage can and growl at those who try to stop him. At least my sister's dog Bentley hides his eating disorder. He only binges when left at home with food on the counters. I wonder if he waits until he can't hear the car in the driveway anymore or if he just dives right into the glorious treats.

Ahhhhhhh the glories of dog ownership.

Wagger Days Cont....

Training classes have been going very well. Despite our good progress I've always been paranoid about Wally being "that dog" in class. You know the kid who is always getting sent to the principal's office? Carissa has been in school with one such kid since kindergarten. He is a great athlete, I bet in the dog world he would be some sort of pointer, you can tell he really wants to be "good" and he's adorable but ridiculously high energy. I think some of us are just born lacking the ability to get in line, not throw pencils and not poke the person next to us. Which leads me to "that dog". The owners of "that dog", roll into class a few minutes late most Saturdays at which time their 100lb yellow lab announces their arrival with a huge bark. They shuffle to their assigned seat trying to not fall over from the force of "that dog" the entire way as he wheezes from the pressure of the collar. He attempts to fraternize with the dog next to him, she is a pretty lady but socializing is not allowed in the class. Which reminds me I must write some details about our trainer and the rules. We have assigned seating!!!! Which is probably a well thought out plan for keeping some dogs apart. The lady forgets to zip her mom jeans each class. She does not put up with undesirable behavior from our canine companions. Disruptions to the learning environment by them is the equivalent of a girl walking in topless to an all boys school.. She would be the principal diving across the room to quickly shield the poor boy victims from the atrocity. The trainer quickly shuffles herself to "that dog's" spot and gives the lady lime juice for the barking, a rope toy for the boredom and all the while I'm wondering if "that dog" was tired now, what is he like before? The final straw must have been the owner of "that dog" refusing a halter which is a brilliant and very humane way to train your dog to lead with good manners if they are a predisposed puller. The owner even went so far as to just turn away and ignore a little. Our trainer must have had enough because I saw the lady shed a few tears and leave our dog class. She piled "that dog", and her daughter who looked rather sticky from some candy she was eating into her escalade and zoomed off. I never thought I would see someone get 86'd from dog class......... My paranoia around Wally becoming "that dog" lessened slightly because he's coming along very well.... I did however start to worry about pissing this lady off though.... I offered to sweep up the dirt I'd tracked in because I forgot to change from my garden shoes but she smiled nicely and said they'd had much much worse get tracked on the floor. I felt a little more relaxed but my eyes then happened upon the sign stating "A $5.00 fine will be assessed to all dog owners who allow their dog to "mark" the pole". Now I have a whole new worry, what if Wally decides to pee on that pole someday!!!!!!!!!

Wagger Days

In the past when I contemplated dog ownership, I observed actual dog owners and read about dogs but I never comprehended what REALLY went into living with a dog, really. I imagined taking a walk everyday which involved the mental image of a warm, sunny day, hound pal at my side walking on a slack leash. The reality of dog ownership in the northwest, perhaps half the daily dog walks will be in the freezing cold and pouring rain. I've accomplished the slack leash part by feeding treats along the way to make staying by my side the best thing ever, thank you to CJ.... We are now in month four with Wally and I wouldn't trade him for the world. I kiss his little dog head everyday and watching his ears ahead of me when we walk makes me laugh for some reason. I have to ask myself though, is every dog owner really spending this much time? Everyday I go home for lunch now to release the hound for a few and give him lunch. We went to the dog park last night and stood in the pouring rain, freezing while Wally chased around the ONE other dog, a really speedy Beagle whose brown belly was just an inch off the ground, ears pinned back as he ran. Wally's tongue hung to the side while he smiled and ran to his puppy heart's content. I wondered, what are all the other dog owners doing? What do they do with their dogs when it rains? I didn't see an inordinate number of people just walking their dogs yesterday. So where do these people go? If we didn't take Wally out, he would drive us absolutely crazy all evening long. Where is this secret indoor dog park that everyone goes to on rainy days? Do people just let their dogs sit at home and turn inside out all evening? Poor Wally would just go crazy. I find it hard to believe we are great dog owners. I just wonder what everyone else is doing?

Something to ponder, upon the completion of a contribution to our yard health, aka taking a poo, Wally goes into a MC Hammeresc four legged running man. I wonder, why the shuffle? Perhaps they wipe their feet in case the drop zone conflicted with paw placement? Maybe it all just felt good, who wouldn't do a little dance afterwards? I don't know... Another canine mystery.......

Wally updates

Wally is doing excellent at walking on a slack leash right by me. Eagerly awaiting a hot dog treat. The minute I run out of them however he knows..... He then becomes a crazy puppy again. I suppose all can't be "good" 100% of the time...

So I usually report funny things in my blog but today I am a bit under the weather and I've been having trouble writing for a few days anyways. So we're just going to go with it today. I am so glad we enrolled in the dog training class. Puppies are so much work and there are so many excellent strategies the trainer knows that I would never think about trying. One is for bite inhibition, holding binaca in your hand, when your puppy bites down on your hand, you give him a spritz. Doesn't hurt them but they don't like the taste so they associate biting you with bad taste.... Another is water and vinegar in a spray bottle. Wally was barking in the kitchen at us a lot, he gets very excited about all the smells while we're cooking. To control this we give him a squirt and say AHHHGGG!!! when he barks. He is doing that much less now.

Today on our walk I also figured out when Wally started going crazy and getting to the stage of wanting to bite and tug on my pants, I put him the "listening" position which is his bum on my feet and my arms around his chest. I then pet his ear and scratch his little puppy chest and he calms down a bit. He also seemed to start realizing that acting that way results in him having to sit there like that and he did not act that way the rest of our walk. Maybe there's hope yet? We're for sure signing up for the next round of training.

Carissa and Wally are struggling in their relationship. She is a kid in his eyes and should be a built in playmate. He just can't understand why sometimes she just doesn't want to play. He gets very upset with her. Then she gets upset with him and it all goes downhill from there. They'll figure things out though. I know we're going to miss the puppy in him when he's grown up but I am looking forward to our canine good citizen. :-)