Noticeable Improvement

Guinness is still bouncing off the walls, but he is becoming better in so many ways. In fact, I think he is becoming a Hershey clone. When I tell him to drop something, he doesn’t drop it, but loosens his grip so that I can take it easily. He is tolerating being toweled off on rainy days. He is behaving himself out of the crate more and more every day. When someone appears while he is off leash outside, he listens to me as he races toward the person while I am yelling, “No jump! No jump!”

I have Christmas-themed stuffed animals lining the stairway. He loves to grab the Garfield angel and the small reindeer. At his welcoming party last summer, Sasha gave him a blue stuffed teddy bear. He is an aggressive chewer, so we have not allowed him to have that toy. This evening, I tried letting him have that instead of the Christmas animals. He KNEW it was his! When he has something in his mouth which he should not, he can be caught. I was not trying to take the teddy bear from him, but he thought I was. There was no way he would allow me near him! He ran like a maniac whenever I came close. I could not have caught him if I had tried.

I think back to Hershey’s haunting eyes as he would stand on the deck, peeking between the slats, watching me play with Guinness in the yard. I wonder what he was thinking. Was he jealous of the new puppy? I don’t think so. Did he realize that Guinness would take his place in the family when he expired? I think perhaps. Was he just too tired to join in our game but wanted to watch what we were doing? Definitely that! Within the past month while playing outside, there were two incidents where Guinness tried to hump Hershey, declaring dominance. But Hershey, who has never minded being humped, did not allow it and humped Guinness instead. He may have been ailing, but he was not going to relinquish his authority.

The Magician

Guinness: Yesterday, I was licking my incision, so Mark took me and Daddy to the pet store to find a hood. I love shopping! But this hood thing they bought was terrible! It was like a huge lampshade on my head making it difficult to walk without bumping into things. I could barely eat the food in my bowl. Worst of all, I looked ridiculous! What were they thinking? I managed to remove one of the ties which secured it to me. Daddy thought he would trick me by using Hershey’s special rolled leather collar to hold the hood on. But I showed them! When Daddy came in to let me out this morning, the hood was no longer around my neck. I was sitting on it!!! I was sorry to destroy Hershey’s beautiful collar, but I could not allow it to restrict me. I ripped it into a million pieces and tore up the hood. In the process, I ingested some of the leather and plastic, causing me to vomit in my crate. I hope they got the message to never try putting such a thing on me again! They can’t figure out how I could have done it. Mommy said that I am just like Hershey. Apparently, Hershey ate a fifty dollar Promise Halter within three days when he was in puppy school. Uncle Gary dubbed me “H 2,” meaning “Hershey the second.”

Playtime with little kids!

Mean-spirited Cousin

The patient.


Guinness: Today began as such a good day. There was a festive spirit in the air. Uncle Gary and Aunt Ruth are here. Then cousins Mark and Laura arrived with their two darling children. I was eager to play with them, but they thought I was too excitable, and left me in my crate. I heard Mom tell Mark about our bad Tuesday and that I choked after her strict correction. He quipped, “You know, dogs are good actors.” What kind of friend is that! Quite unexpectedly, Mark opened my crate and pricked me with a needle. It wasn’t long before I was very, very sleepy. When I awoke, I was missing some body parts. I don’t understand why someone who appears to like me would do such a dastardly thing. At least, Mom and Dad seem to be feeling genuinely sorry for me. I plan to play their sympathies up to the hilt!

Ups and downs

This morning was the first time that Guinness definitely “asked” to go potty! [Up Ü] When we were outside playing, he seemingly had forgotten all of Grade 1: he would not Come, Come On (casual Come), Sit, Let’s Go. [Down] I don’t think the reason is that we removed his leash too soon, but that we did not refill our pockets with treats, yet continued to expect him to obey without a food reward.

We store our summer pots under the deck, and he joined me. Now that it is full of patio furniture, there isn’t much room for an adult to move around, but he can scamper everywhere. He refused to Come when called. He wallowed in the water gathered in the sunken concave of his overturned pool. As I attempted to grab him, he slipped and fell in the water, drenching himself in dirty water. [Down] My usual calm demeanor exploded. Grade 2 cannot begin soon enough. The first class is tonight, thank heavens. [Up]


Daddy suggested that perhaps his shenanigans are due to missing Hershey. :’(

Guinness was charged with excitement as we arrived at school. He normally is beyond control as we burst into the building, but, tonight, he was hysterical. [Down and Up] Obviously, he loves school. As the attendance was taken, the teacher dubbed him, “Wild Thing.” Class is more enjoyable than Grade 1, because the dogs and handlers are on their feet the entire class period doing fun exercises. Also there is no boring 15 min. lecture at the end. Some of the things we are working on this week are learning to Come into Side, Jump (over a barricade), Down with no treat, and many exercises without leash yet with treats. [Up]

Score:
Ups – 4
Downs – 3

OK. We'll keep him.

Eleven Years, One Month, and Twelve Days

This morning, we traveled three and a half hours to my sister-in-law’s. Hershey and Guinness were extremely excited to be going on a trip! He couldn’t wait to get in the car. I had to barricade Hershey in the house to prevent him from trying to jump into the car prematurely. Once in, Hershey settled behind the driver, resting his chin on the back of Daddy’s seat so that he could watch where we were going. Guinness was bouncing around the back, but his favorite spot was touching Hershey – lying beside him, sitting so close he was almost on him, straddling him, or biting at his dog tags. At one point, while Guinness was lying peacefully snuggled up to him, Hershey momentarily gave up his preferred peeking position to rest his head on Guinness’ back. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough with the camera.

Hershey adored his Aunt Janet and pranced up to the porch when he saw her. We had a fun day of running errands with her. The final chore was cleaning up the graves of my parents, Etha and William Henry Herne – after whom William Henry Hershey was named. Before we reached Janet’s house, his health commenced deteriorating. Perhaps it was the mushrooms he ate two days ago. Perhaps his body was tired of struggling to be healthy.

He was, without doubt, a treasured chocolate lab extraordinaire. No dog could surpass his matchless canine-ality. In the beginning, he was the worst puppy on this face of this earth. He made mincemeat of the BBQ hoses, dug up buried electrical wires, destroyed my flowering plants, ripped the veneer off the kitchen cabinets three times, ate a hole in the wall, flunked puppy class, and on and on. Then he moved to California and literally became the perfect dog overnight! He was a stellar student in intermediate and advanced obedience classes, earning the right to travel everywhere I went, and to go for walks off leash. He has been on television twice: Once in Chicago on the travel report segment. I sent in a picture of my red Grand Cherokee showing a laughing Hershey hanging out the back window with a description of “Why I love my car.” The second time on a Toronto news cast. He and Grant strolled the irises at the Royal Botanical Gardens after Daddy had completed an interview.

There are myriad awesome stories to be told about him which must be published in a biography. One of my favorites is when he was to have his blood tested before his heartworm medicine was prescribed. As the vet entered the room toting the equipment to draw blood, he leaned his right side against the wall, lifted his front left leg, and turned his head to the wall. Today he valiantly tried to fight his failing body. Either Guinness was pooped from his roaring day, or he sensed that his very sick brother needed peace and quiet on the way home. My poor baby, Hershey, was miserable. It was an easy decision. In fact, Hershey took control of the situation and succumbed while Daddy carried him from the car.

Daddy says, "All Dogs Go to Heaven." I have no doubt of that. Hershey is an angel now. I hope that my Dad is playing fetch with him.

Grant is going to miss his napping buddy as he sets his eyeglasses on the living room coffee table signaling to Hershey that it is time for “an eye rest” with Daddy. I will feel a stab everytime I pick up my car keys from the basket to realize that no eager shadow will appear at my side. How will I endure not having a phone call interrupted by a fuzzy imp demanding a treat? Who will teach Guinness to be extraordinary?

Sickly, but loved, brother

We continue to worry about Hershey’s declining health. He seems to be permanently lethargic. Last week, Mark, our nephew and exceptionally brilliant veterinarian, suggested placing him on his hypoallergenic food only (no home cooking even when he vomits) and Prednisone every day. Such a smart vet! He has only vomited once in the past week, instead of every day.

This evening, I ran several errands and took only Hershey with me in the car. He deserves some quality time. I purchased a couple of new dog toys. Hershey is unimpressed, but Guinness loves both. Guinness adores Hershey. I could not make the pictures line up in the right order, but you get the idea. Guinness tried to sit on Hershey’s lap (extended front legs)! I grabbed my camera, but not soon enough. Then he snuggled up, side by side, with Hersh. By the time my camera was in gear, he was near Hersh playing with his new ball. Again, he seemingly tried to sit on Hersh, but only straddled him. Hershey moved under Grant's desk to escape torture. I finally had to give it up and put the annoyance back in his crate.

A MILESTONE

The weather has turned nasty – cold and rainy. Guinness is very good about staying in our yard and coming when called, so I decided to try taking him out without his leash dragging in the muck. We always have his leash dragging, inside and out, when he is out of his crate to make it easier to catch him. He was perfect! Later in the day, I even tried a couple of short “proms” (meaning promenade, or a walk around the condo property) with no leash in the rain. Again, he stayed with me and responded to commands. We had more roaming time in the house today, this time with no leash. The experiment has been a success! Guinness has earned the right to not have to drag his leash everywhere he goes.

Growing by leaps and bounds

He is growing so big that we cannot keep him in his crate fulltime. We have to teach him to behave in our house as we have no room for a larger crate! We have been allowing him in selected rooms, one at a time, but today I did not barricade him and allowed him to roam the house with me for well over an hour. He was perfect! Well, almost… He did break a CD case, but the CD is fine. And he did grab objects which had to be removed from his mouth. He picked up a small glass chest filled with marbles and spilled them. But, he obeyed, “Sit. Stay,” while I picked them up! Now is that a good boy or what?!

Cuddling

Grant often held Guinness on his lap and rocked him when he was tiny. At 50 pounds, he is no longer tiny. He climbed up into Daddy's lap for a cuddle.

The Spirited Graduate

Whew! He made it, and with pizzazz! I was in NC, so Grant had to attend the final class alone with Guinness. Grant, uttering a prayer, entered the building with fear and trembling, anticipating what might occur. But Guinness was on cue and a ready disciple. There were eight exercises to be evaluated. The initial ones --“Sit and Accept Praise,” “Sit Stay” for 1 min., “Down on Signal” – were perfect. Then came “Down Stay” for 3 min. He broke his stay, but others did also. In our yard and at class, Guinness is an angel with “Leash Respect.” They graded him as “Needs Improvement.” They must have seen his leash disrespect as he entered the building! “Look At Me” is a cinch, and he did OK with “Walking On Lead.” He is so cute trotting like an Arabian horse beside Grant. The final test was “Random Recall” with the dog sitting in one corner of the room while the handler stands upright in the opposite corner of the large rectangular hall. Guinness was the last dog to perform. Most dogs were leash free for this exercise, and the majority became distracted thus did not complete the recall. As Grant set up Guinness in one corner, the teacher snapped a lead on him and whispered, “We need to be able to catch him.” Grant positioned himself in the far corner, and loudly summoned with determination, “Guinness, Come!” He rocketed directly to Grant, dropped his rear on the floor, looked into Grant’s eyes; Grant proclaimed, “Yes!”; fed him, clipped on his leash, praised him again with “Yes!” and treated him a second time while the entire room cheered. The teacher complimented Guinness while removing her lead. Loudly enough for the entire class to hear, Grant annunciated, “Oh ye of little faith.”