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.......