Unfortunately a lot of time has passed since my last blog update. Sometimes there’s no stories to tell and sometimes there’s no energy to tell the stories. I’m not sure there’s either right now, but I’m going to try!
Heineken was sick. One night she puked. Then the next day she was coughing. And then there was diarrhea. So I took her to the vet. I was worried that Heineken might have a worm, so I took Stella along too. I figured if Heineken had a worm then Stella probably caught it as well.
Rewind to the last visit (pre-dog training) to the vet: I struggle with Heineken and Stella as I get them from the car to inside. Once inside, we bark/lunge/scream at an innocent dog at the counter. The receptionist asks us to wait outside until she can get a room ready. So yes we got demoted to the parking lot waiting room. Then when we were in the exam room, Stella was so out of control that the vet could barely examine Heineken. Not to mention that Stella would tackle every new person that came into the room. I left feeling very frustrated and pretty much like a failed dog owner.
Ok, back to present times. So for the first time in a long time I had both dogs to contend with. I did practically get dragged inside again, but once inside we were able to act fairly normal. I got Heineken on the scale, then I got Stella on the scale. Stella actually stayed still enough to get a reading. Heineken even saw a cat in the waiting room, but I was still able to maintain control! Once in the room, we did a lot better greeting visitors. Stella also handled Heineken’s examination much better. She sat next to me and waited her turn. This time I left feeling like I actually could control my four legged friends!
Heineken has started her school. We missed the first class, but I still worked with Heineken on the heeling. We had our second class last night. It’s a lot easier the second time around. Plus Heineken is much calmer than Stella. We started out a little shaky. When we were walking in circles, Heineken just wanted to either get to the dog in front of her or behind her. But after the first round she was getting the hang of it. We did the normal heeling exercises with the sits. Then last night we started the stay as well. And we also learned the lay down. Heineken felt like a breeze student though compared to Stella. We will be busy as we work through our lessons!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Dog School Graduation!
We have passed graduation! Really graduation was much easier than Trainer Jason hyped it up to be. That’s ok though. By the end of the class, there were 5 student dogs (we probably started with 10). All but 1 dog passed (this dog made improvements, but he still liked to lounge at other dogs/people if they got too close to his human).
We started with our heel, right turn, left turn and sit. We did a warm up sit-stay. I’m proud of Stella. Not only does she sit when I stop walking (she’s on about a 90% rate when we train), she also mastered her stay. Then we did the races. We raced on the paper plate recall game. The first round was Gracie and the greyhound, Sweetness. Gracie easily won. Sweetness got distracted and thought it was time for socialization so racing wasn’t even on her mind. Next up was Stella and a lab, Baubers. Baubers basically did the same thing that Sweetness did so Stella won. Boomer, the last dog raced against Sweetness and won and then he raced against Baubers and won. Then Stella had to race Gracie (Fierce competition). Gracie had Stella on the recall, but Gracie either didn’t sit or didn’t stay so Stella was declared the winner. (Stella then had to race Boomer, but Stella easily won). We all think it was pretty close between Stella and Gracie so they are sharing the title “Paper Plate Recall Champion.” (They don't mind though because they are BFF). Then the dogs had an extra long time of socialization.
Now that we’ve passed we can take Heineken through free of charge and we can also bring Stella back if she ever needs a refresher. I’m still debating, but I think Heineken will be a student in the next class.
I don’t think I ever blogged about my initial desire from dog school. My goals were simple.
1. I wanted to be able to walk both Heineken and Stella without fear (basically meaning if we saw another dog I wanted to be able to keep them in control). All the while retaining my arms. This does not seem like too much to ask.
2. I wanted Stella to stop jumping on me.
While being in class, my goals have expanded (I want Stella to listen to me all the time, I want Stella to be better behaved with visitors, etc).
So did training meet my goals? 50%. I still don’t feel that I can walk both of them enjoyably, but if I do try to walk them I won’t be so nervous about it. We can get out of the house without Stella screaming and this is a huge accomplishment. I also think that Heineken needs to learn to heel before walking both of them will be completely enjoyable.
For the jumping, Trainer Jason did tell us how to handle it, but it was very difficult to practice. Stella is such a spasoid that it’s hard to anticipate her jumps. But I do think the jumping is better but I think this is mostly because she listens to me better. So when she jumps, I tell her to sit and she actually does as opposed to before when she would just continue to jump.
Stay tuned because we will probably have Dog School Part 2 in the near future. I’m sure taking Heineken through will result in different challenges too.
We started with our heel, right turn, left turn and sit. We did a warm up sit-stay. I’m proud of Stella. Not only does she sit when I stop walking (she’s on about a 90% rate when we train), she also mastered her stay. Then we did the races. We raced on the paper plate recall game. The first round was Gracie and the greyhound, Sweetness. Gracie easily won. Sweetness got distracted and thought it was time for socialization so racing wasn’t even on her mind. Next up was Stella and a lab, Baubers. Baubers basically did the same thing that Sweetness did so Stella won. Boomer, the last dog raced against Sweetness and won and then he raced against Baubers and won. Then Stella had to race Gracie (Fierce competition). Gracie had Stella on the recall, but Gracie either didn’t sit or didn’t stay so Stella was declared the winner. (Stella then had to race Boomer, but Stella easily won). We all think it was pretty close between Stella and Gracie so they are sharing the title “Paper Plate Recall Champion.” (They don't mind though because they are BFF). Then the dogs had an extra long time of socialization.
Now that we’ve passed we can take Heineken through free of charge and we can also bring Stella back if she ever needs a refresher. I’m still debating, but I think Heineken will be a student in the next class.
I don’t think I ever blogged about my initial desire from dog school. My goals were simple.
1. I wanted to be able to walk both Heineken and Stella without fear (basically meaning if we saw another dog I wanted to be able to keep them in control). All the while retaining my arms. This does not seem like too much to ask.
2. I wanted Stella to stop jumping on me.
While being in class, my goals have expanded (I want Stella to listen to me all the time, I want Stella to be better behaved with visitors, etc).
So did training meet my goals? 50%. I still don’t feel that I can walk both of them enjoyably, but if I do try to walk them I won’t be so nervous about it. We can get out of the house without Stella screaming and this is a huge accomplishment. I also think that Heineken needs to learn to heel before walking both of them will be completely enjoyable.
For the jumping, Trainer Jason did tell us how to handle it, but it was very difficult to practice. Stella is such a spasoid that it’s hard to anticipate her jumps. But I do think the jumping is better but I think this is mostly because she listens to me better. So when she jumps, I tell her to sit and she actually does as opposed to before when she would just continue to jump.
Stay tuned because we will probably have Dog School Part 2 in the near future. I’m sure taking Heineken through will result in different challenges too.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Dog Obedience Training Progress!
Ok, so another month has gone by. Quickly too. Stella has had 4 classes in dog obedience school. She is progressing better than I am! After the second class, we have learned how to quiet Stella when she’s barking and going crazy like she was for the first class. Apparently what happens is that she gets so excited, she just becomes pure adrenaline and has no control. I have to snap her back into the real world, remind her that her main responsibility in life is to focus on me. I learned how to correct this at the second class. At this last class, we got to the yard and took our spot. The trainer turned around and saw us, and I said, “You didn’t even hear us coming!” He was impressed with the improvement.
In class we have been gradually learning more and more and sending less information to the dog.
Here are the training goals – as in what needs to be demonstrated at graduation, yikes! and where we are (in class and Stella’s progress):
1. Walk in heel including the dog sits when the person stops walking – our new assignment for this week is that Stella will sit with only the command spoken (in the past, we pulled on the leash, and pushed her butt down – we are slowly taking information away). I have not worked with Stella on this part yet, but she does fairly well now at stopping when I stop, so I feel confident that this will be a smooth transition for us.
2. Lay down for 2 minutes – this is a newer item and one that we struggle with a little. I haven’t been disciplined in working with Stella on this one as much, but I will have to get better if I want to graduate school. Right now Stella is fighting going down, but on our 3rd go around, she’s generally ok laying there until I start walking.
3. Recall (maybe with a dog race too?) – this one is tricky. In our last session, we started working on this with a distraction. It’s easy to get a dog to come to you when it’s just sitting there, the real test is if it’s distracted on something else. Will it respond to your call then? Our assignment has been to recall the dog 5 times a day (Stella has an inside leash now and is in the pinch collar often). Stella does great with this. Actually I have a hard time even testing her because usually when I start to walk away, she follows me. However, when I am calling her after socialization, she’s not as quick to come. It always depends on how tired she is. So now we are learning with treats! The exercise is this: we approach a plate a certain distance away. I tell Stella to stay. I step away from Stella and walk toward the plate (the first time, it was 1 step). I place a cookie on the plate. I walk back to Stella. (This is assuming she has sit/stayed the entire time). Then I allow her to get the treat. As soon as she gets and eats it (they are small so this is seconds), I start running backwards and call Stella. When she gets to me, I tell her to sit which she does and she gets the treat. I have a feeling Stella will learn this exercise extremely fast because she loves treats.
4. Sit/Stay, this is where Stella sits and stays and I walk around her or to another person or wherever. Eventually dropping the leash. – Stella is getting really good at this one. We practiced with a tennis ball (it’s tough for a dog to sit and stay when a ball is thrown) and the first couple times she would always get up, but she got the hang of it. In our last class, I was able to drop the leash and walk to the fence and she stayed the whole time. I think the graduation task is to be able to walk across the yard which will be hard, but I think she can do it. Once in our neighborhood I dropped the leash (in a controlled manner). It was nerve-wracking, but Stella stayed!
5. Meet and Greet – this is a new one. Also one that he doesn’t expect us to make much progress outside of class because a second person and dog are needed. For this one, we walk across the yard and shake hands with another person. The dog sits when we stop and stays in a sit until we are ready to walk. We struggled with this one. Probably more me than Stella because I was weak in my corrections. But Stella got too focused on the person and dog approaching us so she wasn’t focused on me. The trainer taught us some corrections that I need to work through. I might use Brian and Heineken so that we can in fact get a head of the class.
When I think about graduation, I get really nervous. I feel that it is unlikely Stella will graduate. I also feel this is more of a reflection on me than on Stella. Stella is learning though.
So we will continue to work through our homework. We are also going to start working around Heineken. Heineken is a big distraction for Stella so it will help to test her and get her really good at her exercises.
Now I just it need to stop raining so that Stella and I can get outside to practice.
In class we have been gradually learning more and more and sending less information to the dog.
Here are the training goals – as in what needs to be demonstrated at graduation, yikes! and where we are (in class and Stella’s progress):
1. Walk in heel including the dog sits when the person stops walking – our new assignment for this week is that Stella will sit with only the command spoken (in the past, we pulled on the leash, and pushed her butt down – we are slowly taking information away). I have not worked with Stella on this part yet, but she does fairly well now at stopping when I stop, so I feel confident that this will be a smooth transition for us.
2. Lay down for 2 minutes – this is a newer item and one that we struggle with a little. I haven’t been disciplined in working with Stella on this one as much, but I will have to get better if I want to graduate school. Right now Stella is fighting going down, but on our 3rd go around, she’s generally ok laying there until I start walking.
3. Recall (maybe with a dog race too?) – this one is tricky. In our last session, we started working on this with a distraction. It’s easy to get a dog to come to you when it’s just sitting there, the real test is if it’s distracted on something else. Will it respond to your call then? Our assignment has been to recall the dog 5 times a day (Stella has an inside leash now and is in the pinch collar often). Stella does great with this. Actually I have a hard time even testing her because usually when I start to walk away, she follows me. However, when I am calling her after socialization, she’s not as quick to come. It always depends on how tired she is. So now we are learning with treats! The exercise is this: we approach a plate a certain distance away. I tell Stella to stay. I step away from Stella and walk toward the plate (the first time, it was 1 step). I place a cookie on the plate. I walk back to Stella. (This is assuming she has sit/stayed the entire time). Then I allow her to get the treat. As soon as she gets and eats it (they are small so this is seconds), I start running backwards and call Stella. When she gets to me, I tell her to sit which she does and she gets the treat. I have a feeling Stella will learn this exercise extremely fast because she loves treats.
4. Sit/Stay, this is where Stella sits and stays and I walk around her or to another person or wherever. Eventually dropping the leash. – Stella is getting really good at this one. We practiced with a tennis ball (it’s tough for a dog to sit and stay when a ball is thrown) and the first couple times she would always get up, but she got the hang of it. In our last class, I was able to drop the leash and walk to the fence and she stayed the whole time. I think the graduation task is to be able to walk across the yard which will be hard, but I think she can do it. Once in our neighborhood I dropped the leash (in a controlled manner). It was nerve-wracking, but Stella stayed!
5. Meet and Greet – this is a new one. Also one that he doesn’t expect us to make much progress outside of class because a second person and dog are needed. For this one, we walk across the yard and shake hands with another person. The dog sits when we stop and stays in a sit until we are ready to walk. We struggled with this one. Probably more me than Stella because I was weak in my corrections. But Stella got too focused on the person and dog approaching us so she wasn’t focused on me. The trainer taught us some corrections that I need to work through. I might use Brian and Heineken so that we can in fact get a head of the class.
When I think about graduation, I get really nervous. I feel that it is unlikely Stella will graduate. I also feel this is more of a reflection on me than on Stella. Stella is learning though.
So we will continue to work through our homework. We are also going to start working around Heineken. Heineken is a big distraction for Stella so it will help to test her and get her really good at her exercises.
Now I just it need to stop raining so that Stella and I can get outside to practice.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
First Class of Dog Training
I’m pretty excited today. Last night was our first night for Stella’s training class. I was a little nervous, but excited. The three of us left, and Stella was completely excited. I did feel bad for leaving Heineken behind though, and it didn't help that she was obviously bummed out. We get to the class early because the trainer needed to size the pinch collar. There were already 2 dogs there, and Stella was barking and jumping like a crazy animal. We had to wait while the dog in front of us got fitted. It felt like a long time even though it was only a few minutes, because Stella was pulling, barking and jumping. Then it’s our turn. The trainer gets Stella fit and teaches us about the collar (it basically applies pressure evenly around the neck when the leash gets pulled), and then we go find a spot in the yard. Before we got started, all the dogs had to get fit so we were probably standing there for about 15 minutes. Stella barked about 13 minutes of those 15. All the other dogs were sitting there being normal and quiet, but not our Stella. She was definitely proving to be the clown of the class.
Now we were ready to get started. The trainer tells us that we will start with heeling. Basically we will walk back and forth and if the dog gets ahead of us then we do a 180°. He decided to use Stella for his demonstration to both Stella's and my happiness. He’s walking with Stella and as soon as she gets ahead of him (the dog’s nose should be in line with the human’s knees), he turns around. Stella lets out a squeal, but he kept going. He said that it didn’t hurt her (I believe it, Stella is made of steel), but that she was just complaining about turning around. Then as they were walking, Stella started to drag or as the trainer said, “Now she’s trying to plant roots on me.” But he just kept walking and of course she had no choice but to follow. Then it was our turn. At the beginning of our exercise we had to turn around every couple of steps, but after a few minutes Stella was getting the hang of it.
The trainer continued to use Stella as his demonstration dog. She did well too. She seems to be a quick learner so she probably was a good demonstration dog. I was grateful because it was that much more training for Stella and by an expert too! We continued with our exercises. Next was to have the dog sit when we stop walking. Overall I think Stella was receptive to the exercises. She still barked a lot, but she wasn’t barking when we were moving so at least it wasn't 100% of the time.
We end the class with doggie socialization, so the dogs get to run around and be dogs. Stella is of course done barking at this point - she's off the leash and moving. The dog that was next to us started barking as soon as socialization started. At one point he got in Stella's face and was barking at her. Brian and I felt that was good pay back for Stella!
We will be continuing the training at home this week. The goal being once per day for just 15 minutes or so. I’m anxious to see how Stella takes to the training when she’s on familiar turf as opposed to the class yard, but I’m also excited to keep working with her. Our classes are weekly so hopefully every week we’ll have more progress to share!
Now we were ready to get started. The trainer tells us that we will start with heeling. Basically we will walk back and forth and if the dog gets ahead of us then we do a 180°. He decided to use Stella for his demonstration to both Stella's and my happiness. He’s walking with Stella and as soon as she gets ahead of him (the dog’s nose should be in line with the human’s knees), he turns around. Stella lets out a squeal, but he kept going. He said that it didn’t hurt her (I believe it, Stella is made of steel), but that she was just complaining about turning around. Then as they were walking, Stella started to drag or as the trainer said, “Now she’s trying to plant roots on me.” But he just kept walking and of course she had no choice but to follow. Then it was our turn. At the beginning of our exercise we had to turn around every couple of steps, but after a few minutes Stella was getting the hang of it.
The trainer continued to use Stella as his demonstration dog. She did well too. She seems to be a quick learner so she probably was a good demonstration dog. I was grateful because it was that much more training for Stella and by an expert too! We continued with our exercises. Next was to have the dog sit when we stop walking. Overall I think Stella was receptive to the exercises. She still barked a lot, but she wasn’t barking when we were moving so at least it wasn't 100% of the time.
We end the class with doggie socialization, so the dogs get to run around and be dogs. Stella is of course done barking at this point - she's off the leash and moving. The dog that was next to us started barking as soon as socialization started. At one point he got in Stella's face and was barking at her. Brian and I felt that was good pay back for Stella!
We will be continuing the training at home this week. The goal being once per day for just 15 minutes or so. I’m anxious to see how Stella takes to the training when she’s on familiar turf as opposed to the class yard, but I’m also excited to keep working with her. Our classes are weekly so hopefully every week we’ll have more progress to share!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Benefits of the dog park
We took Heineken and Stella to the dog park for officially the first time. (We had gone there before, but Brian and I were too much of chickens to let them off their leashes). Stella was obnoxious from the minute we touched the leash at the house until we got her inside the fence. It must be that the excitement just boils out of her. It’s only about 15 minutes away from the house, but Stella whined the entire ride so it felt longer. Then when we got out of the car, she let out her typical high pitched whine/bark to announce to all the other dogs and people that she had arrived. But that dog park is magical. As soon as Stella was close enough to get a different scent she was distracted enough to stop the racket. Thank goodness.
I was in charge of keeping an eye on Heineken, and Brian was responsible for Stella. Heineken is quite boring to keep an eye on actually. I decided that she must be socially awkward or an introvert or something. She was more interested in the smells on the fence and trees than in meeting other dogs. She was concerned about the security of the park, because I saw her do her perimeter walk. This is where she goes right to fence and runs the edge. I think to make sure there’s no squirrels or other creatures that don’t belong. Eventually Heineken did make a friend. She found a dog that would chase her so she had fun running around like a maniac for a few laps. Then she got excited when a small dog showed up. Heineken has always preferred the little dogs.
Stella was far more entertaining to watch. She loved chasing the dogs around. It was almost like there were so many dogs she didn’t know what to do or really which one to go after first. Stella’s preferred play method (at least with Heineken) is to run straight at Heineken and plow into her. I think she’s comfortable doing this with Heineken only though because I didn’t see her doing that to her new friends. At one point, Stella saw Heineken and she took off presumably so that she could plow into her. At the last minute, a new dog ran by. Luckily for Heineken, this new dog distracted Stella from her original plan.
It was a little muddy at the park and there were some puddles. I was thankful that Heineken and Stella are somewhat prissy. They consciously avoid the puddles and the places where it was very muddy. We saw other dogs that would just go lay in the puddles. Heineken takes the relaxed method of walking around the mud, and Stella takes the Stella method of flying over the puddles. Stella found a nice German Shepherd to chase around the park. The German Shepherd was not bothered by the puddles and ran through a big muddy one. Stella was chasing him, so she jumped over the puddle, but she didn’t clear it! She ended up right in the middle of the puddle with an Oh Crap look on her face and a wet belly!
We only spent about a half hour there, but that was enough to completely wear the dogs out. They slept the rest of the day and they were still tired on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so well behaved!
Stay tuned for the next post. We start doggie training with Stella tonight which I’m sure will result in stories.
I was in charge of keeping an eye on Heineken, and Brian was responsible for Stella. Heineken is quite boring to keep an eye on actually. I decided that she must be socially awkward or an introvert or something. She was more interested in the smells on the fence and trees than in meeting other dogs. She was concerned about the security of the park, because I saw her do her perimeter walk. This is where she goes right to fence and runs the edge. I think to make sure there’s no squirrels or other creatures that don’t belong. Eventually Heineken did make a friend. She found a dog that would chase her so she had fun running around like a maniac for a few laps. Then she got excited when a small dog showed up. Heineken has always preferred the little dogs.
Stella was far more entertaining to watch. She loved chasing the dogs around. It was almost like there were so many dogs she didn’t know what to do or really which one to go after first. Stella’s preferred play method (at least with Heineken) is to run straight at Heineken and plow into her. I think she’s comfortable doing this with Heineken only though because I didn’t see her doing that to her new friends. At one point, Stella saw Heineken and she took off presumably so that she could plow into her. At the last minute, a new dog ran by. Luckily for Heineken, this new dog distracted Stella from her original plan.
It was a little muddy at the park and there were some puddles. I was thankful that Heineken and Stella are somewhat prissy. They consciously avoid the puddles and the places where it was very muddy. We saw other dogs that would just go lay in the puddles. Heineken takes the relaxed method of walking around the mud, and Stella takes the Stella method of flying over the puddles. Stella found a nice German Shepherd to chase around the park. The German Shepherd was not bothered by the puddles and ran through a big muddy one. Stella was chasing him, so she jumped over the puddle, but she didn’t clear it! She ended up right in the middle of the puddle with an Oh Crap look on her face and a wet belly!
We only spent about a half hour there, but that was enough to completely wear the dogs out. They slept the rest of the day and they were still tired on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so well behaved!
Stay tuned for the next post. We start doggie training with Stella tonight which I’m sure will result in stories.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Too long. I can tell because I have multiple dog stories to tell. But one at a time!
Brian and I went to Florida for Christmas. My parents have a condo there and we spent the week with them. My parents brought their dog, Molly, to the condo for the first time. The condo has a lot of mirrors. One of the main mirrors starts at the top of the stairs and goes back to towards the sitting room. An illusion to make the place look larger. The bedroom closet doors are also full length mirrors.
Molly got to the condo, saw the mirror, herself and went ballistic. She does not handle other dogs well, and this one in the mirror was especially wicked. When Molly showed her teeth, this other dog showed its teeth. It was Molly’s worst nightmare – a dog that won’t back down. We thought for sure that Molly was going to either break the mirror or her teeth. She was getting ferocious with that other dog there. Molly sported the Mohawk all week and had a hard time walking past the mirror without getting snarly. Once it was especially bad when I was sitting in front of the mirror applying makeup. Molly walked by and noticed that this other dog was awfully close to me and she got defensive. I had to walk away before she would calm down.
Here: the picture says it all. (In case your reality is blurry like Molly's is - Molly is on the right and the other dog is on the left).
Brian and I went to Florida for Christmas. My parents have a condo there and we spent the week with them. My parents brought their dog, Molly, to the condo for the first time. The condo has a lot of mirrors. One of the main mirrors starts at the top of the stairs and goes back to towards the sitting room. An illusion to make the place look larger. The bedroom closet doors are also full length mirrors.
Molly got to the condo, saw the mirror, herself and went ballistic. She does not handle other dogs well, and this one in the mirror was especially wicked. When Molly showed her teeth, this other dog showed its teeth. It was Molly’s worst nightmare – a dog that won’t back down. We thought for sure that Molly was going to either break the mirror or her teeth. She was getting ferocious with that other dog there. Molly sported the Mohawk all week and had a hard time walking past the mirror without getting snarly. Once it was especially bad when I was sitting in front of the mirror applying makeup. Molly walked by and noticed that this other dog was awfully close to me and she got defensive. I had to walk away before she would calm down.
Here: the picture says it all. (In case your reality is blurry like Molly's is - Molly is on the right and the other dog is on the left).
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Happy (early) Birthday to Stell-Bells, Jerry Jerry Dingle Berry and ME!
As a result of our NM trip, Heineken is now the proud wearer of the halti. Heineken is really good in the halti. I don’t think she really likes it, but when she has it on, she walks right next to me during our walks. There’s actually slack on the leash! She hasn’t tried to wiggle out of it either. Stella by contrast spends 97.5% of the walk trying to get hers off. I think Stella is getting more used to the halti just for the mere reason that she’s back to pulling a lot during the walks. It doesn’t help that I spend a lot of the walk holding the leash up to try to keep Stella’s head off the cement – her preferred method to removing the halti is to rub her nose on the cement – ouch. Once she tried to use Heineken as an accomplice in the halti removal scheme. Stella (as we are walking) puts her head under Heineken, so Stella is trying to rub against Heineken’s belly. Well Heineken perseveres and keeps walking. Stella stays the course though and eventually Heineken’s back legs aren’t even touching the ground, she’s just riding on Stella’s head. So at least Stella is still providing me with some laughs.
Stella has been demoted to the smaller crate again. And Heineken has pooped her way into the box as well. Last Monday Stella had an accident in her box (the large one at the time). I’m pretty sure this was a direct result of Stella eating Heineken’s food Sunday night (they’re on different foods, plus twice as much food equals twice as much poop!). So after Monday, Stella went to the small crate. (The small crate is less comfy because there’s no bed in there, and she’s probably a little cramped). Well in a true tag team effort, Heineken pooped on Tuesday. So now Heineken is inhabiting the larger crate when we leave. Stella definitely knows what she is missing though. The other night I was crating her for bed, but both crates were open. Stella decided she would go in the larger crate. Since Heineken is still a free dog during the night, I just let Stella sleep in there. Stella sleeps better in the larger crate which means that we sleep better.
Stella turns 1 year old on Saturday! This also happens to be Little Jerry Seinfeld’s birthday. AND MINE! Stella’s birthday present will be a trip to the vet to get boarded while Brian and I head to Florida. Definitely not a great present for Stella, but a terrific one for me. I’m looking forward to a week without dealing with the dogs. I’m sure by day #2 I’ll miss them miserably and be ready for their craziness again though.
Stella has been demoted to the smaller crate again. And Heineken has pooped her way into the box as well. Last Monday Stella had an accident in her box (the large one at the time). I’m pretty sure this was a direct result of Stella eating Heineken’s food Sunday night (they’re on different foods, plus twice as much food equals twice as much poop!). So after Monday, Stella went to the small crate. (The small crate is less comfy because there’s no bed in there, and she’s probably a little cramped). Well in a true tag team effort, Heineken pooped on Tuesday. So now Heineken is inhabiting the larger crate when we leave. Stella definitely knows what she is missing though. The other night I was crating her for bed, but both crates were open. Stella decided she would go in the larger crate. Since Heineken is still a free dog during the night, I just let Stella sleep in there. Stella sleeps better in the larger crate which means that we sleep better.
Stella turns 1 year old on Saturday! This also happens to be Little Jerry Seinfeld’s birthday. AND MINE! Stella’s birthday present will be a trip to the vet to get boarded while Brian and I head to Florida. Definitely not a great present for Stella, but a terrific one for me. I’m looking forward to a week without dealing with the dogs. I’m sure by day #2 I’ll miss them miserably and be ready for their craziness again though.
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