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Sunday 27 November 2011

My Dog is Trying to Kill Me!

Yes, it's true.  My loving 7 month old pup, the one I feed, walk, pet, play with, and enjoy, is trying to kill me.

Last week, as I was walking down the stairs, he darted out in front of me and I almost missed my step.  I narrowly grabbed the handrail to keep myself from plummeting down to the main floor.  I had a few bruises on my shins.

Yesterday, as I was cleaning my house, he ran in front of me..I fell face first into my dining room chairs.  I put my hand out to break my fall and now I have a huge bruise on my hand.

This evening, I was taking him out for his evening stroll with my son.  We walked wonderfully until we came upon what I call "Devil's Stretch".  This is an ordinary stretch of land..about 2 blocks long.  On one side of the street are typical suburban homes, on the other is a park.  Well when hubby or son are walking the dog along this stretch, he behaves beautifully.  However, when I'm holding the leash...HE GOES NUTS!!!  He pulls away, bites the leash, growls at me, and barks up a storm.  He runs back and forth yanking me and the leash with him.  Then, once the stretch is over, he goes back to calmly walking beside me...weird!!

Well. this evening, I had the leash as pup, son and I went by Devil's Stretch.  Pup started up as per usual, but, he now weighs over 45lbs!!  He started running back and forth, turning somersaults in the air (quite the agile puppy!)  At one point, he ran behind me and yanked my left arm straight out behind me.  Then he jumped up so my arm went up.  He then yanked back and I fell, on my left side, right into the muddy grass in the park.  He then must have seen a squirrel or something, because he kept on running until I was completely flat, face first in the mud, with my arm stretched out straight out in front of me.

It took me a few minutes to roll over and get my bearings.  I was covered in mud on my left side.  It was a miracle that I had never let go of the leash.  I looked up at my son and asked him if he was planning on helping me.  He told me he would as soon as he stopped laughing!!!

So there you have it...pup throws me down stairs..he flings me into chairs, and he drags me through mud.  When I walk him tomorrow, as a precaution, I'll wear my son's hockey helmet!!


For more blogs, please visit http://cluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/ and http://thecluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/

Sunday 20 November 2011

The Social Butterfly

My pup has lots of friends.  Lots and lots of friends!!!  Everywhere we go..a new friend pops up!

Sadly, however, it wasn't always this way.  In the beginning, when our 7 month old pup, was only 2, 3, or 4 months old..he didn't have any friends.  It wasn't from lack of dogs in our neighbourhood, oh no, not at all.  It was because our pup hadn't been fully socialized yet.  He didn't quite understand "canine" language.  Other tiny pups understood him.  When he jumped up and nipped at their ears, they let him.  Occasionally, they would bite back and a full out Sharks/Jets rumble would break out.  They would fight till the other owners and I would have to pull them apart.

But, when my little pup would come across an adult dog, well then the rules would be completely different.  Adult dogs would have no time for him.  They'd turn their back on him, or just growl, saying "Back off pup..can't you see I don't want to play with the likes of you?!"  Of course, being a young pup, and therefore, completely clueless, my pup just wouldn't take the hint.  He'd jump at and yap at the adult dogs..ignore the fact that they were ignoring him, he'd nip at their ears...just long enough for the adults dog, with lightning speed, would pin him down until the yelping started.  The other owners would apologize to me and try to get their 70 lb dogs off my 11lb puppy.  As soon as the dog was off, my pup would start up again until once again he'd be pinned down.  Actually, I didn't mind it one bit.  I figured the best teacher to teach my pup the ways of the canine world, is another dog.  And so it went....

Now my pup is 7 1/2 months old.  I gotta tell you, he learns fast.  Now, he has so many friends...pups his age, and dogs 10 years older than him.  He plays really really well with everyone.  When we come to a soccer field, baseball diamond, or a dog park, he's out there playing with everyone.  He's got his regular friends that he sees every day, and he is constantly making new ones.  He loves and plays with all dogs...except...he doesn't really care for very young pups.  I occasionally find myself trying to pry him off a 2 month old that he has pinned down...he has no time for them.


For more blogs, please visit http://cluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/ and http://thecluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/

Sunday 13 November 2011

The Vet

Being first time puppy owners, we take our pup to the vet...A LOT!!

"Honey, do you think pup has a limp?"
"Honey, does his right eye look normal to you?"
"Honey, do you think we're feeding him (enough/not enough/the right food)?
"Honey, do you think he gets (too much/not enough) exercise?"
"Honey, do you think he's gaining enough weight?"

The list goes on and on.  I've got the Vet on my speed dial.  They roll out a red carpet when they see us coming. I'm pretty sure that in the 5 months since becoming puppy owners, we've sent 2 out of the 4 vets to Hawaii, and the other 2 have had major renovations done in their homes.

The funny thing is that I don't even like doctors.  But pup does...A LOT!!  Pup looks forward to these trips.  From the moment we walk through the glass doors, to the moment we leave, our pup gets treats....lots and lots of treats.  The Vets tell us that it's better for the dogs so that they have less anxiety.  I think that giving a pup treats for 1 solid hour has proven Pavlov's theory tenfold.  Hubby and I just have to spell V.E.T. and pup begins to salivate.

Vet is walking distance from our house.  Whenever it's time for a walk, pup begins by wagging his tail and leading the way to the vet.  When we change direction and turn left instead of going straight, pup begins to pull and pull.  Pup can't believe that we're NOT going to the vet.  The further from the vet we go, the louder pup whimpers.  He's mad and sad and I can almost see the betrayal he feels just by looking into his eyes!!  He can't believe his loving masters aren't taking him to the vet...why it's only been 3 days since he was poked, prodded, and weighed....how could his masters be so cruel???  A pup's gotta have treats...just gotta!!!

And so it goes, every walk the same...till we get to that point mid-month when, "honey, do you think we're feeding him enough for his weight?" kicks in, and off we walk towards those glass doors.


For more blogs, please visit http://cluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/ and http://thecluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/

Sunday 6 November 2011

The Phantom Poop

I am a very conscientious dog owner.  I've had my 7 month old pup for 5 months now.  In this time, he's been professionally groomed 2ce.  He gets monthly pedicures.  We've home bathed him half a dozen times...in short, we've done everything by the book.

We walk him several times a day...morning, noon, late-afternoon and evening.  And, let me tell you...my pup is REGULAR.  I've had entire dinner (!) conversations with hubby about the regularity of our pup.  We talk, size, weight, and consistency of the poop.  We talk poop bags (regular or lavender scented), poop bag holders (the kind you clip onto the leash, or the kind you carry in your purse), and of course, we talk poop..lots and lots of poop.

And, because as I said before, we are conscientious, we always, always, always pick up after him.  Noon and early afternoon walks are easy.  In broad daylight, it's very clear to see where pup has gone.  Sometimes, I'll be picking up his poop from a neighbour's lawn, only to find the neighbour at the window..sighing with relief that we didn't just dump and run.  We would never do that.  I hate getting up in the morning, only to find that someone else's dog has gone on my lawn and no-one cared to pick it up.  Therefore I would never do that to anyone else.  In the early morning and at night, hubby and I always have a flash-light with us.  We do this out of respect for lawns everywhere!!

But....

Having had pup since June 1st, this is our 1st Fall season with him.  The Autumn leaves were very pretty in October when they started changing colours.  Yellow, orange, gold, red...I just loved them all. Now, in mid-November, they are kind of a dull brown.  If they're dry, they crunch underneath our shoes.  Pup loves the sound and runs through them.  He tosses them in the air, and bites at them.  Sometimes they get stuck on his snout.  He's perfectly happy with all this..and we love to watch him play.  What we don't like are the leaves that are all wet.  They just kind stick to the bottoms of your shoes, and stick all over pup's face and legs. (sometimes his back if he's rolling around in them).  Also these brown wet leaves look very much like a certain something that belongs in a poop bag...which brings me to yesterday.  Yesterday, hubby was exhausted.  He had done yard work for most of the day, winterizing the house, raking up leaves....cleaning out the garage, etc...Being a loving, wonderful wife (!), I suggested to hubby that he stay home last night to relax, while son and I would walk pup. (I should also mention at this point, that we are in the transition stage in puppy food.  Pup is now slowly going from puppy food to adolescent food).

Son and I took a few poop bags with us (just in case), and the flash-light (of course).  Off we went on our evening walk.  Well, we came upon a house and pup took his usual stance (heaven forbid pup wait until the park that was only 1/2 a block away!).  Pup had to go and he wanted to go NOW!!  As I said, he took his stance and began.  He went and went.  Son and I began to give each other nervous looks...it was gonna be huge.  Pup, unphased by our body language, just kept going and going.  He got up at one point, went a few feet further, and continued to go.  What felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, the pup finally got up and walked away.  I gave son the leash, took out 2 bags (I knew there was no way all that could possibly fit into 1 bag), and I took out the flash-light.  I searched and searched...and searched some more.  I scoured every inch of that lawn, but all I could see were yucky wet brown leaves.  I looked forever...at least 10-15 minutes.  I'm pretty sure I found the needle in the haystack, but the phantom poop was nowhere to be seen.  I took back the leash and gave son the flash-light.  I figured his 14 year old eyes were better than mine.  He combed through that front lawn with the precision of a CSI agent.  The poop was gone!!!

I feel really bad about this.  In 5 months, this has never happened to me.  But I just know, that when those folks woke up the next morning, they had the same reaction as I did when I found poop in my yard.  They thought we didn't care..it was a poop and run...they thought they'd NEVER do that to anyone!


For more blogs, please visit http://cluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/ and http://thecluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/