Annual Exam

Today was our day for annual shots. If we drive past Home Depot, he knows our destination is the vet’s, and he starts going crazy. He, like Hershey, loves visiting the vet’s office. He cannot wait to get inside. After we entered the exterior door, I paused in the entryway to reassemble myself, put the car keys away, and adjust the leash before opening the interior door. Guinness couldn’t wait! He pushed it open himself, bounding to the front desk where he bounced repeatedly on his hind legs to greet the staff on the other side. Katie, who looks after billing and dispenses treats at the end of a visit, was in her office – his next place to invade.

We were ushered into an exam room and a new vet introduced himself, though I could not absorb what he was saying as my attention was diverted by a dynamo dog. I explained to him that the goofball is too excited to settle for being weighed unless I am alone in the room with him. He exited, and Guinness sat on the scale: 75.6 pounds. He has lost three pounds, but the vet explained that he still does not have a defined waist, so we need to cut back on his food by another quarter of a cup per serving or do more exercising. It is unfortunate that he does not enjoy fetching like Hershey did. Hershey would retrieve until our arms were sore from throwing. Guinness might fetch a toy eight times, at most.

The new doctor chuckled at our comic. Guinness put on quite an exuberant show including nibbling the doctor’s ear. Keep in mind that these snapshots are just that – a snap of a second in time. Guinness was in constant motion!

Morning Song

From the beginning, as I released Guinness from his crate each morning,
I had the routine of singing this rousing ditty:

Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope you’re feeling fine.
Good morning, good morning, good morning,
It’s time to rise and shine.
It’s time to get up, you sleepyhead.
It’s time to get up, get out of bed.
Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope your feeling fine.
(from Bullfrogs and Butterflies)

Now that he no longer sleeps in the crate, it is Daddy who usually is first to get up with him in the morning. As soon as I awake, he demands that I sing to him! He won’t leave me alone unless I sing, staring into his eyes and petting him as he sinks to the floor exposing his tummy for rubs.

Security System

We were all tucked into bed when a motorcycle roared past our house. Guinness immediately sprinted to the kitchen barking ferociously and continued to bark long after the cycle was gone. I am not sure if that is what bothered Guinness or if he saw someone outside in the dark. I eventually had to go downstairs, look out the window with him, and assure him that no one was there. It is nice to know that he is eager to protect us.

Cookie Monster (almost)

We have made it far more difficult for Guinness to play Catch-me-if-you-can by removing all his favorite objects. The hand soap at the kitchen sink is now kept in the sink with the dishcloth. So he has to be more creative. Tonight he took a Tupperware container of cookies off the counter to play the game. No harm done to cookies or Tupperware.

H2

Hershey loved to lie in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. In fact, we kept a throw rug there so that he would not soil the carpet. Today is the first I have seen Guinness lie there. Yep! He is Hershey the second aka H2.

Goody Two Shoes

Back to the crate!

This is what we found when we came in this evening.

Funny thing is, as we left, we told him he had to stay home and be a good boy. This was the first time that he didn’t even try to dash out the door with us. He knew he was staying home alone. We did one thing wrong: we didn’t turn the TV on for him! We always leave the TV on Fox News to educate him as a Conservative. He has been loose in the house when we are away since June 23rd, with almost no problems. My shoe a week ago was the first casualty, then the butter tarts a few days ago. Tonight was a mess, but no calamity. It is a miracle that the two books he chose to remove from the shelf were out of date scrapbooking catalogs. They probably were the only two books that were disposable! I was so lucky! I could have had a disaster, because this is where my scrapbooking supplies, albums, and magazines are as well as some of our personal library.

BTW, yesterday around 1 AM, I heard Guinness running in our bedroom. He had a shoe. I dragged myself out of bed to retrieve it. I followed him to the living room where I could see, in the darkness, that something was on the floor. I turned on a light. Butter tart evidence had surfaced.

Evidence

Around 1 AM, I heard Guinness running around. He had a shoe. So I had to get up to retrieve it. He ran through the living room where I could see, in the darkness, that something was on the floor. I turned on a light. Butter tart evidence had surfaced.

Neat Boy

Check out his toys!

New Trick

Yesterday while cleaning the house, I vacuumed the sofa and turned the cushions over. I wondered if Guinness was noting that the seat cushions come off the sofa. He is a smart boy.

We went out briefly this morning. When we returned, the blanket was off the sofa as well as the seat cushions, plus he had ripped apart a tag that was inside the sofa. [sigh]

Houdini

On the way to the airport to pick up Grant, I stopped at a Farmer’s Market to buy him some treats – a cherry pie, some butter tarts, and banana oat cookies for me. At home, I placed the pie box on the counter, the four tarts wrapped individually in plastic wrap on top of the pie box, with the cookies beside the box.

When we returned from dinner, Guinness was in his normal spot – on the sofa downstairs. He has been on a kick again of removing the blanket. Today I had shaken it out and tucked it in firmly on all sides. I was pleased to see that he had not pulled on the blanket. We assumed he had been a very good boy.

There are few items which Guinness can find for his catch-me-if-you-can games. The dishcloth, which has always hung on the faucet or over the center of the sink until recently, now must lie in the bottom of the sink. We heard Guinness prancing around and a sound like gushing water. Grant asked if I had turned the dishwasher on, which I had not. I was mystified at what the noise was. I found Guinness dancing in the dining room with a dishcloth. In the process of stealing the dishcloth out of the sink, his head must have pushed the faucet handle up, turning it on. Time to find a plastic gismo for hanging the dishcloth under the sink inside the cupboard. Also it would be a good idea to ensure that the drains are always left open.

Since I was in the kitchen, I asked Grant if he was ready for some pie. I reached for the pie box, and realized that the large, gooey, sweet, raisin butter tarts had vanished. In fact, there is not a crumb or piece of plastic or stickiness anywhere! I wonder how they evaporated??? It seems highly unlikely that he would have taken them from the counter. He has not done anything like that in months!

Grant said, “You must have left them in the trunk.”
“I know I didn’t leave them in the trunk.”
“You are accusing him falsely. Find evidence that he ate them.”
“There is no evidence.”
“See?”

The Game

The Catch-Me-If-You-Can Game continues to be his favorite. Here he has my shoe for the one hundred and fifty sixth time. As long as we are home, there is no destruction. But today, I absent-mindedly left my closet door open when we left the house. My shoes were put away, so it should not have been a problem. But, he discovered that he can pull shoes off the shoe rack. My new left black sandal is no more.

Intermediate Graduation

Of the three students in this session of Intermediate classes, Guinness was the only one to show up for the final exam. We went through all the paces and he did OK. Well, he was too goofy and excited to concentrate, so the first time for some exercises were flops. We went through our paces of waiting at the front door to the store, walking slow, fast, to the left then right, and doing a sit/stay, down/stay, and stand/stay.

Another task to accomplish is for the dog to obey the commands sit, down, and come while the owner is barking the commands from ten feet away without holding a leash. Guinness is capable of doing that, but that is not how our teacher performs this maneuver. For the past several weeks, she takes the dog to one end of a long aisle in the store with her holding the dog on a 40 foot lead. The owner is to stand 40 to 50 feet away and command the dog, “sit,” followed by “down,” then “come.” As if that is not difficult enough, she throws some treats in the middle of the path. We are to tell the dog, “Leave it” while they are bounding to us.

There are several problems with this. First, if the dogs do not want to sit or go down when we dictate to them from afar, there is absolutely no way to correct them to encourage them to obey. We have done this repeatedly week after week with the same result. Eventually, the dogs might obey after repetitive tries. It is entirely frustrating for the owner to stand there helplessly begging the dog to respond.

The second issue is that Guinness is a large dog with long legs and can run very fast. His two classmates are tiny dogs – a Yorkie and a pug. It takes them a long time to run from the teacher to their owner 40 feet away. The owner has time to note if they are going to be distracted by the treats or not and command them to “leave it” if necessary. Guinness moves quickly enough that, if I tell him “leave it” before he sees the treats, that clues him to search for a forbidden item. Once he sees the treats, it is all over, because I cannot yell “leave it” quickly enough nor is there any way to correct him when he does eat the treats. One night, a customer walked past during this ridiculous scene and commented, “You call this dog training?”

However, once Guinness is down, when the come call is uttered, he bounds towards me, devours the treats, and sits at my feet. The next step, after the dog is sitting in front of the owner, is to tell the dog to stay while the owner walks down an intersecting aisle out of sight. After a few seconds, the owner calls the dog to come again. Guinness almost always succeeds.

For the finish, a throw rug is in the center aisle, and the owner is to tell their dog, “Go to your bed,” then “Lie down.” We have fair success with those commands.

There has been no improvement in response to this useless and unrequired ordeal. Of course, it is an ultimate goal to have your dog obey from a distance, but you cannot teach them without corrections if they choose not to obey readily upon command. Guinness learned that there is no consequence if he doesn’t listen to me, thus delaying our goal of teaching him to come on command.

Despite this negative of the class, the teacher is sweet, knowledgable, loves the dogs, and loves her job. I cannot say these things about the “professional” teachers!

He did receive his diploma, but I felt like it was a gift. This was the opposite of the exam at the "professional" school. There he legitimately earned his diploma but was denied it for no obvious reason.

Playtime with Cadence

This past winter, Guinness and Cadence were in Grade 2 together at a “professional” school. They do not allow the students to interact, so dogs and owners never really get to know each other. Serendipitously, we met on a Labrador Retriever’s Yahoo Group this spring, so we arranged to meet at a dog park today. Initially, they played with anyone and everyone, then they seemed to gravitate to each other naturally. Who knows? Maybe they did recognize each other! They certainly had fun playing together. Both left the park exhausted and very dirty!

Teaching Mom Who's Boss

I rented a dog video (“Eight Below”) recommended by a friend, to watch this evening while home alone. Guinness is not used to Mommy watching TV. He begged for my attention again and again. I was sitting with my feet on a hassock. He climbed up on the hassock, then tried to walk up my legs. His next ploy for attention was jumping around in the kitchen with something he was not supposed to have – the hand lotion bottle. He had not touched that or the soft soap container in months. Except for dish cloths, he is very good about leaving things on the kitchen counter alone. But he was desperate for attention. From the kitchen, he went to the dining room, of course. I closed the door, and the chase was on. He ran upstairs. When I reached the top, he ran down. I chased him out of the dining room again; back upstairs. I closed us into the master bedroom and he raced in circles around me. When he paused, I nabbed his collar, and he forfeited the prize. Thankfully, there were no holes in the bottle.

Another Major Advancement

I have been thinking for the last few weeks that we are ready to try leaving him uncrated for a few minutes. There hasn’t been a time yet when I really wanted to try that – either he was going with me or I would be away too long. Today, it was too warm for him to make a brief half hour trip with me. I took him to the sofa on the lower level, told him “down/stay.” As soon as I picked up my keys, he was behind me, but I told him he had to “wait.” When I returned a half hour later, he was at the door to greet me, and the house was exactly as I had left it. Hurray! Then I continued my day and realized he was not around. I looked downstairs, and there he was lounging on the sofa. I assume he stayed there while I was away too. What a good boy!

Indulgence

A neighbor’s home was broken into in broad daylight last week. We have beefed up our security measures making sure that the alarm is on all the time. My knight in shining armor is away for a couple of nights, yet I have a dog – my best protection! Why would I close him into his crate incapacitating his defense ability? So Guinness had the privilege of sleeping with mommy last night! He did VERY well! He was a good bedfellow.

The Game Continues

We have eliminated most of the alluring objects from Guinness’s grasp – flowers, plants, wastebaskets, my shoes (he doesn’t bother Grant’s shoes), washcloths – making the house a temptation-free zone for him to roam. However, he misses the catch-me-if-you-can game. I left my closet door open this morning, affording him the opportunity to grab a shoe. Later, I heard him bouncing around upstairs, meaning that he has something he shouldn’t. Since the house has become sterile of his favored booty, the excited activity means that he has found something else suitable as a game piece – this time, a remote control.

The game now has a strategy: begin the chase in the dining room where he can run around the table making it impossible to catch him.
Solution: I close the door to the kitchen and chase him out of the dining room to the living room.
Alternatives: From the living room, he can escape to the – a) den, b) kitchen, c) lower level, d) upstairs.
Den: This means the game is over, because I close the doors and he has no where to go.
Kitchen: He has a smidgen of a chance here if he runs around the table, past me, and out the doorway again. Usually, I do corner him behind the table and game is over.
Lower level: This choice can extend the game a bit, because he can keep me at bay around the coffee table. That can also give him the opportunity to race back upstairs. More often than not, I am able to corner him and retrieve the prized game piece.
Upstairs: He will find himself closed in and cornered in any of the three rooms he chooses. The game does last a bit longer in the master bedroom, because he has learned that staying on the bed is defeat. If he runs in a dizzying circle – on the bed, off the bed, round the room, back on the bed, off again, etc. – he can prevent me from catching him for a while. But his latest angle is to stand in the master bedroom doorway and wait for me to catch up to him at the top of the stairs. At that moment, he dashes past me at top speed back down the stairs to another room.

Unless the item is valuable and in mortal danger, I am in hysterics before the end of the game.

The breeder suggested that the chase can be stopped by sitting in the middle of the room playing with his favorite toy. But he doesn’t have a toy that he likes better than the forbidden object! If I have no patience, treats will win the game, though, it does take coaxing for him to decide that a cookie would be a nicer end than to continue playing The Gingerbread Boy. Can you believe it? I treat my dog for stealing contraband!!!

Playing

Tonight, he decided that it was time for mischief. First, he stole Mom’s shoe. Then he tried to play with Dad’s Panama sun hat. When that was put away, he pulled out Mom’s straw sunhat. We heard him running around upstairs and knew he had something that he knew he should not have. He had found the money pouch Mom had left on the stairs. Next he found a handkerchief to chew up. All of this was a ploy to play games and get attention.

Pool

He had fun playing in his pool today

Parade

Today was The Sound of Music Festival Parade. We took Guinness, and he was amazingly good! He found many who wanted to pet him, and many who complimented his handsome looks and jovial behavior. Only one man was annoyed by the slimy lick on his hand as he walked past.

The Relaxed Retriever

Every week we see improvement in Guinness’s behavior. We can leave him to wander the house without checking on him every second he is away from us. Tonight he had been away from us for 15 minutes or more before we went looking for him. He was lying on the sofa downstairs in the dark, relaxing. Just last week, he would not allow this blanket to remain on the sofa. He had pushed the small decorative cushions on the floor, so I stuffed them behind the couch and pulled out this old blanket we purchased for Hershey to rest on when we were out of the house (he never got on this sofa when we were home). Guinness pulled it off the sofa; I tucked it in on three sides; he pulled it off; I tucked it in on four sides; he struggled and tugged to get it off. Now, one week later, he leaves it alone.

The Posey Pooch

He looked so pretty among the peonies that I grabbed my camera.

















Forcing him to stay among the peonies for photos was too tempting. He took a lick, bit off a bloom, then began the pursuit game. My niece says that *I* am the retriever!

Pruning help

This morning, I was pruning shrubs while Guinness was wandering through the garden. I noted that the deciduous bushes I planted are now so big and full that Guinness cannot be seen when he is wandering through them. As I continued, I noted that had bitten off a major branch of the forsythia! I was not happy that he was helping me prune. Then I saw that he had also bitten off a smaller branch tool. I finally realized that he was caught! His leash was wrapped around the bush twice and he couldn’t move! He was eating his way to freedom! Poor baby…

Learning

I told the teacher last week that Hershey’s Petsmart classes in San Diego included an exercise of being on a sit/stay or down/stay at the front door of the store as customers and their dogs passed through the doors. She liked that idea, so we tried it tonight. Training amidst extreme distractions is paying off! McCann’s sterile atmosphere is not conducive to learning to behave in the real world. Snorts is on the left and Baxter on the right.

Poison

This morning, Guinness found the irises in bloom and ate one or two. This afternoon, he began vomiting which lasted intermittently for over two weeks. :(

The Chase Game has gone too far

This pathos plant was in this antique dust bin in front of the fireplace for years. Until Guinness, it was a very healthy plant and had to be cut back regularly. Guinness took over the pruning responsibilities and carried it to extreme until there was barely a stalk left. Tonight, I heard a noise in the living room that I did not recognize. When I checked to see what he was up to, he had the pathos pot in his mouth. The remaining plant parts were strewn on the floor. Once he saw me, the chase game began with him spilling wet dirt from the pot all over the living room and dining room carpets, finally dumping the whole pot in the dining room, yet still carrying the pot in his mouth.

The Guard Dog

After class, Grant was watching TV in the bedroom, and Guinness sacked out on our bed. Grant phoned telling me to come up to take Guin's picture as he was so cute. I snuck quietly upstairs to not disturb him. But I surprised him! He went into defensive mode, barked, and charged me. Yay! We have a guard dog! The photographic moment was lost.

Back to School

Tonight Guinness began Intermediate classes at PetSmart. Unlike our last school, this one allows the dogs to play together before class. Guinness’s classmates are Marley, a goldydoodle (Golden/poodle mix), and Snorts, a pug/Jack Russell mix. Guinness always loves everyone, but Marley does not like Guinness, though Guin is very submissive. Snorts thought Guinness was OK, but Snorts’ parents were worried about giant Guinness’s boisterous play with small Snorts, plus he wanted to sit on Snorts. I told the owners that sitting on him was a sign of affection, as he used to sit on Hershey and roll over him as if he were a jungle gym. Since Guinness has learned most of the exercises, he served as an example. He was so attentive that he responded when the other dog’s handlers called, “Come.” When I left him on a sit stay, walked away 20 feet, and called him, the teacher complimented him on his focused, cute bouncy run. His classmates know “shake your paw” from their previous PetSmart training, and now they all need to learn “roll over.” There are a couple of red flags about his new class: their system of training uses only treats, NO corrections! Oh, my… This dog needs correction or we will never survive, let alone learn anything. Also the teacher is ambidextrous about heeling: you can teach your dog to walk on either side of you. I think that obedience training should be an exact science, but I will hold my reservations on that issue until I see how everything pans out.

The Ball Juggler

Today was yard maintenance day. They mowed and aerated the lawn. While the aerator was running (you can hear it in the background), the other guy juggled Guinness’s balls! Too funny!

The Chase Game

The Chase Game is so much fun for Guinness. He has not chewed anything up of any consequence yet. He likes taking something he knows he is not to have to make us chase him. Our breeder told me recently to grab his favorite toy and sit in the middle of the floor playing with it until he comes to get it. There isn’t a toy that he likes enough to come for, but he does like treats. So… would you believe…. we TREAT him for playing the Chase Game! But it works! He drops the forbidden object for a tiny bone, small treat, or an ice cube! Now is that all bad? We try to keep his favorite Chase Game items out of reach. I now keep my outdoor doggie shoes on top of the curio cabinet in the living room! Makes a lovely decoration. Today he grabbed this take-out food container off the kitchen counter. He didn’t really want to play with it; he just knew it was a forbidden thing which would start a Chase Game.

The Baby Bunny

This is not our baby bunny, but similar.

This evening, Guinness was going with me to run some errands. As usual, when we are getting into the car, I let him go into the garage without a leash. But he saw something on the driveway and chased it to the fence behind our driveway. I thought it was a mouse or chipmunk. By the time I got to him, I saw it was a darling baby bunny! He easily could have caught the bunny, but he did not; he only wanted to play! He is just like Hershey! He loves all creatures great and small. Once I held Guinness, the bunny was able to find a hole under the fence and run away. When we returned home, Guinness jumped out of the car and ran straight to the fence to look for his little friend.

An Intruder

Tonight when Guinness went out for his last potty run, he suddenly raced across the yard to the part of our garden above the driveway. A opossum was there, and Guinness chased him out of our yard catching him a few feet away behind our driveway. The opossum turned and hissed at Guinness with this exact stance (taken from the Internet). Guinness jumped around him, not quite daring to touch him though intensely intrigued with this creature. I think he wanted to play and didn’t understand why the opossum was not cordial. Fortunately, the opossum didn’t run away or Guinness would have followed him. Finally Guinness obeyed my call and came to me. Meanwhile, the opossum stayed where he was until Grant chased him away by throwing rocks. After researching the opossum, we learned that they are a beneficial wild animal, docile, rarely attack unless attacked, and almost never have rabies.

The Birthday Boy

Daddy bought him a marrow bone to celebrate his big day. He is playing prince and enjoying his treat on our bed.

He chose to be on our bed, because, for the past two weeks, we have been allowing him to roam the house rather than be barricaded into the room where we are. The experiment went exceptionally well initially, but his self-control is deteriorating. In recent days, he:
- Plucked a plastic envelope containing my alphabet stickers. Fortunately, the stickers fell out, but the envelope is in a thousand pieces.
- Uprooted most of the plant in the living room.
- Grabbed my sweater off the sofa, but I realized he was into mischief before any damage was done.
- Took objects from wastepaper baskets and demolished them.
- Swiped a topical med bottle.
- Found my new toothbrush from my recent dentist appointment and opened the package.
That is enough shenanigans to warrant lose of freedom.

Time to see the Vet

It also was our date for a heartworm test. Again, he was a total goofball at the vet’s office. Everyone had to leave the room so that I could make him settle on the scale. He weighs 75.2 pounds. Dr. Coultes, who dubbed him Terrorist on his first visit, called him several appropriate names and adjectives – Goofball, Giselle, Nutty, Kooky. In spite of having blood taken, he was thrilled to have Dr. C. pet him. Dr. C. tries to insinuate that dogs don’t like him. Yet Hershey and Guinness couldn’t have been happier to see him. Both of them loved/love everyone at the vet office and found/find it a fascinating place to visit.

Almost One Year Old

Today was a sunny day, so we took Guinness’s one year old photos a day early.

Daddy calls Guinness – God’s Gift. He is pretty special in spite of his craziness. We know he will outgrow it eventually. He does try really hard to be a good boy.

The Snoop

Guinness is more interested in watching what is happening in the outside world than Hershey was. Daily he spends time sitting, looking out the den windows or the kitchen windows – the two rooms where he spends the most time. This morning, while I was putting on my make up, he wandered into our bedroom. The bedroom windows are too high for him to look out with four paws on the floor. I heard a noise I did not recognize, then he started barking. He was looking out the window with his hind paws on the treadmill (walking on the treadmill was the unusual noise), and his front paws on the window sill! He must have seen some squirrels, birds, and/or vehicles that deserved some scolding.

Freedom

Since allowing him to roam the house today, he is NOT happy about entering the den. This evening, as he walks with me towards the den, he stops at the piano. When I encourage him to come with me, he lies down! Ha! He thinks he is ready for more freedom. We’ll see…

Housecleaning day

Usually when I clean house, Guinness stays with Daddy in the den or in his crate. Daddy was away all day, so I decided that Guinness should try helping me.







I would declare the experiment quite successful, with a couple of hiccups. He managed to steal a leaf from the pathos plant in the living room, and then, when I was passing the powder room to put the vacuum away, I noted an earring on the floor. Upon inspection, I found the glass chest filled with some of Elsie’s jewelry, which sits on the back of the toilet, had mysteriously fallen onto the toilet seat with the jewelry spilling out. Plus the lid was missing. I wonder how that could have happened? The lid was located in the living room. Nothing was broken, but the suspected culprit was banished to his crate for a time out. What can I say? The Flower Dog loves pretty things!

New Friend!

Today, I attached Guinness to a tree in the side yard so that I could clean the garage in peace. We have used this tie-out many times, and, recently, I have begun to leave him outside alone. In fact, today we bought more new toys – some for the purpose of leaving him to play outside by himself. Right after clipping him, a yellow lab walked by on the sidewalk. Guinness was so excited that he broke his tether! The two were excitedly jumping at opposite sides of the fence. In conversing with the owners, we discovered that Guinness is only 7 days older than Oakley! I invited them to come to our side yard to play, and they accepted. The two dogs went crazy – running in circles around the yard chasing each other. They were fast friends at first sight! Guinness has not had so much fun with any other dog! They were just a riot together! Once they began to tire and started rolling on the ground, Guinness treated Oakley like he did Hershey – used him for a jungle gym! We exchanged email addresses and promised to have playtime again.

Bad Game

Guinness began traveling everywhere with me and Hershey last fall. Two weeks after Hershey’s demise, the poinsettia incident occurred (see Dec. 1, 2005). Now I do not leave him in the car for more than two seconds with any purchases within his grasp. However, all this time, my anti-sciatica wedge seat cushion has been in the driver’s seat. I have been uneasy about it, but they were vain worries. The center console of my car houses buttons which lock/unlock the vehicle and turn the flashers on/off. The car is usually flashing as I return to it. When Grant drives my vehicle, he uses my seat cushion to cover the buttons. Even though the cushion has been placed in front of the nose of a gluttonous dog, he has not touched it.

Advice to new puppy owners always includes: never allow the puppy to do things which you will not want him doing when grown, even though these actions are cute in the puppy stage. After raising four puppies, we are slow learners.

Guinness loves grabbing something he knows he is not to have and playing Catch-Me-If-You-Can. The game went to extremes today as he careened downstairs repeatedly, found a rag in the laundry room, ran around the coffee table keeping me at bay, all the while begging me to chase him using his intense, mischievous puppy eyes. Each time I laughed hysterically (except the one time my Brighton purse was in his mouth!) and playfully made attempts to catch him while he eluded my grasp at each round. Sometimes he was running in a circle around the coffee table and me! It was quite funny when the object in danger was insignificant.

Tonight while I was shopping, he decided that playing with the cushion might make a fun game. Maybe it was fun for him, but I was not there to join in the game. Now the cushion is no more.

Welcome home

This morning, Daddy brought Guinness home from Holly’s Pride before Mommy was up. I had been away for 10 days, so he was crazy to see me for a few seconds, then he went into his steal-something-forbidden-catch-me-if-you-can routine. First he grabbed the two stacked Tim Horton’s paper coffee cups waiting to have their rims rolled up (to see if we had won a prize – and we did! A donut!). After chasing him around the coffee table, I took him and the cups to the kitchen. As soon as my back was turned, he snatched the dish cloth from where it was hanging on the faucet and ran to the hallway. I heard him, and knew he was into some kind of trouble, so called, “Come” cheerily. He started to come, then froze when he saw me, though allowing me pry the dish cloth from his mouth. Two seconds later, he spied the Tim Horton’s cups on the counter and ran off with them again. He had not been home five minutes, and I was out of breath!

Typically, he returns home from the pet hotel totally worn out, probably exhausted from all the barking noise. He slept most of the day. This evening, Grant went to bed early. Eventually I realized that Guinness was not with me, so I assumed he took Guinness to bed with him. That was a first! I was hoping that Grant was not asleep while Guinness was chewing on a towel from the pile I placed on the floor today to be washed. When I finally went up to see what was happening, Grant had wisely thrown the stack of laundry into the hallway and had shut the door. Guinness was calmly lying on my side of the bed beside his master, until he saw me. Then we had our potty run, and I settled back at my computer to begin this blog. After a minute or so, I realized that he was playing with something. Grant’s brandnew $180 shoe! It was slobbered over, but no teeth marks… yet. I sat back down at the computer. I heard Guinness go into the bathroom. Shortly he returned to the den with a towel in his mouth! I went in to see where he had found the towel. He had pulled it OFF the rack! That was a first! And we thought he was improving. I tried to continue typing, but he insisted on being petted. I finally put him to bed in his crate so that I could complete this.

Who let the dogs out?

During Hershey’s 11 years, we rarely met a vicious dog. The worst experience we ever encountered was with a Borzoi at Doggie Park on the ocean cliffs in San Diego. He lived around the block from us. Even though their yard had a high solid wood fence, the two dogs were aware of each other’s presence on opposite sides of the fence. Hershey was so frightened that he refused to walk on the sidewalk and pulled me out into the street everytime we passed that house. Then one day the Borzoi came to Doggie Park. He prevented Hershey from playing fetch or from running with Hershey’s friends. The owner told me that the Borzoi breed was bred to kill wolves. I think this one thought Hershey was a wolf! We did not stay to play while the Borzoi was there.

Besides having two unfriendly German Shepherds in Grade 2, Guinness has encountered three dangerous dogs in the past month! Since the dog park incident on Feb. 12, we passed a black lab mix on the bike path that seemingly wished to eat both of us alive! I was frightened, and we found another way home when I saw that dog and owner coming in our direction again. Today, we ventured out to dog park hoping to have some free run time. Only one dog and owner were there – a pretty white dog with brown spots. I commented to the owner, “He has a bulldog or boxer face, but his body is neither. What is he?” “He is an American Bulldog.” This breed is known for "large head and powerful jaws... may be agressive with other dogs!" Within 60 seconds, he was growling at Guinness who was very submissive. The dog continued to growl at Guinness’s throat while the owner cooed in a sing-song voice, “Oh, don’t do that Freddy! Be nice!” When I said, “That’s enough,” he pulled his dog back, I snapped on Guinness’s leash and we headed for the gate. The owner pled, “Don’t go. I’ll keep his leash on and they can play.” “I don’t want to chance it, but thanks for being a good dog owner.” We left there and headed for a lakeside park where we had a fun walk though Guinness could not run off leash.

From Hotel to Home

This morning we picked up Guinness from the pet hotel. He had a wonderful time playing their games, having Yappy Hour each evening, and hangin’ out. He was delighted to see us (understatement) and had fun chewing a new pressed rawhide bone on the way home. As I unpacked my suitcase, he found my beach shoes to be most interesting.

Growl

I have no idea what the problem was, but he sat at the window for a long time this morning uttering a low growl. Once in a while he would bark too. I couldn’t see anything unusual out there. Not even a squirrel. But he saw/sensed something that intrigued him!

http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=11817

The Face of Innocence

My funny Valentine.

The Flower Dog Strikes Again

With that title, you already know what happened. Daddy came home from a business breakfast with a long white box tied with a beautiful red ribbon. Guinness LOVED the ribbon! Then he LOVED the box top! I arranged the gorgeous red roses in a vase and set them in the den near my desk. While my back was turned, I heard a SPLASH! At least, the vase didn’t break!

Not only did he dump my roses, he chewed on Grant’s Valentine from me, and was into constant trouble all day long! He grabbed scotch tape out of my hand, he snatched socks out of the dryer, tried to eat a book I bought as a gift yesterday, ripped apart a Kleenex box (no Kleenex inside), and pulled a shrub out of the ground – roots and all!

Guin loves Daddy

He climbed up on Daddy! Before I got the camera out, he was sitting on Grant's feet!

Dog Park

This morning, we went for a quick walk on the bike path. We met a friendly dog there, and the two played off leash for a bit! I had to call “Come” about four times before he came bounding, but he did come!

This afternoon was a beautiful sunny day, so I decided to try the nearby doggie park. I rarely took Hershey there, because it usually is a muddy mess. Today I expected it would be frozen. We never experienced more than a dozen dogs there at one time. Apparently, I had never been there on a Sunday. There were at least thirty dogs there – 95% of them large breeds including a Great Dane. Rottweilers, German Shepherds, and the Dane came to greet Guinness as soon as we arrived. They all were friendly. Guinness was excited, submissive, and somewhat overwhelmed exposing his tummy to them in a muddy area. Guinness ran and ran with a Rottweiler and a Bernese Mountain Dog. After about thirty minutes, a new dog arrived – smaller than Guinness with fluffy hair something like a husky. They sniffed each other upon entry, then about a minute later, he attacked Guinness. That was the end of our playtime. Guinness wasn’t hurt, and the other owner expressed concern about Guinness’s well being. Daddy said we should never go to doggie park again.

A Polar Dip

Guinness really needs the opportunity of running free to use up some of his boundless energy. I took him to the little-used, small park in the ravine behind our condo development. He had a wonderful time running, but kept going to the edge of the creek. Each time, I screamed “Come” repeatedly until he finally decided to obey. Eventually the lure of water won out over Mom. He was shocked to discover the water was deep! He had a crazed look in his eyes, so I had to get down on my hands and knees and pull him out of the water and up the one foot creek edge. The dripping water instantly froze into icicles on his fur. He rolled on the ground probably to “clean” himself, but snagged leaves and muck which caked into his pinch collar. I called Grant on our walk home to ask him to have towels, shampoo, and the back door unlocked ready for us.

Gaining control

We couldn’t capture Hershey’s attention when he was a puppy and had to resort to a pinch collar. Last weekend we needed to go to the pet store. Guinness is so excited in such a situation that he is uncontrollable, so we tried using Hershey’s pinch collar. As we got out of the car, we snapped on the collar, then he lunged forward in his normal insuppressible exuberance to race into the store. He immediately stopped, sat, wined, had a very confused look on his little face, and refused to move. If running was going to be painful, he was not eager to run. The trial around the store worked very well! Here's hoping that learned that he is in control of the collar hurting or not.

Yesterday and today, I tried taking him for a walk on the bike path near us using the pinch collar with pretty good success! I put him on a Sit/Stay while a woman and small dog walked past us. He broke his Stay. I did the same thing again when a jogger came along. Same result. Today he was delirious with exuberance when a dog-friendly man came along who wanted to pet him. Sit? You've got to be kidding! Thank heavens, everyone was understanding that he is an energetic, friendly pup.

The only other time Guinness has been on that bike path was with Hershey several months ago. Hershey was not well enough since we have had Guinness to go for many walks, so it only happened once that I took them together. I allowed Guinness be off leash with Hersh on the path. He followed Hersh wherever he went and came running to me when I called him. If only we still had Hersh, Guinness would grow up to be perfect with much less aggravation than the process is going to take without Hersh.

He has a new relationship with me. He LOVES me for talking him on walks! He has been much better in the house this week too. We can see the day coming when he will not have to be confined in the same room with us, but can have some freedom. After writing that, he wandered downstairs by himself. I heard a strange noise. He had taken the top off the box of thirty year old slides and was playing with it! What if he had played with the slides??? :-0 He also grabbed the cardboard tube encasing Grant's Director's College Diploma. The diploma is OK, but he won't win his freedom as soon as I had hoped.

Grade 2 completed

Tonight Guinness was the final class for Grade 2. He performed like a pro!

Here is his Serpentine Walk
http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=10595

His “Down” on command
http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=10596

And jumping
http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=10599

Learning to walk among distractions

Guinness is a B student at school. He does better than many dogs and worse than others. Here he is doing a “Let’s Go” exercise of walking among the distractions of his classmates on “Down Stay’s.”

http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=9519

Straw Yard

The precipitation this winter is rain, not snow. The temperatures are warm, but not warm enough to evaporate our water soaked lawn. I have spread two bales of straw over the mushy and muddy areas to prevent dirty pawprints from entering our house. Yesterday, I ran out with Guinness in the rain, skidded on the soggy grass, and slid to a resupine position in the muck. I had to strip at the washing machine right down to my undies!


Guinness has discovered, in his adolescence, that he has choices to make when given a command. He is making the wrong decisions forcing us to keep him on leash. That is annoying for both handler and dog, plus he cannot run and play. I pulled out our cable, which was useful last summer before he learned the boundaries of our yard, and tethered it to a tree. Our longest leather leash is too skinny to be a satisfactory training leash, but it is perfect to usher him outside and attach as an extension to the cable. We can even play games of fetch!

The Goofball

Guinness is 40 weeks old and growing into a strong, strapping fella.

We were curious to know how much he weighs, so I made an appointment to have his nails trimmed. He is soooo excited to see people that he is uncontrollable. He knows the vet’s office when we arrive, and is wild to enter the building. I strung him up on his leash a couple of times while approaching the building to try to gain control. No effect. Inside, he was bonkers. One of the technicians joined us in the exam room with the scale. He was doggedly intent to play with her and be petted. It was impossible to obtain a scale reading with him bouncing. Two more staff members came in to help, escalating the fracas. It was hopeless. I said, “If you three leave, he will settle for me.” Within seconds, I called out to them, “He weighs 67.2 pounds!” While he was having his pedicure, one of them suggested obedience school. Ha! A vet stuck her head out and said, “He is in Grade 2?!” LOL

What were we thinking?

Having an adult dog is a wonderful thing. They know how to behave; they are companions who ask for nothing except food, bathroom time, exercise, and love. You can leave them at home alone for hours with no worry. They are happy to remain in the car for long stretches, as long as the weather is temperate. But having a puppy is a nightmare! Actually it is worse! You awaken from a bad dream, realize that the world is still turning, and life goes on. A puppy nightmare does not end for months, maybe years. The training process seems to be neverending. Once you think they have conquered a command, they prove that they have minds of their own and disobey. The excitement of running in the house and grabbing whatever tickles their fancy is sure to grate on an owner’s calm demeanor. The only reprieve is crate time. Common sense tells you that a dog will never be trained to behave if confined to a crate permanently. Crates are for humans, allowing us to collect our senses.

Currently, Guinness is learning to remain on a Down/Stay during our dinnertime. Our teachers suggest that we reward good behavior by saying “Good Stay” and treating the dog periodically. We place a dish of treats on our dining table to have readily available to reinforce good behavior. A couple of days ago, Guinness thought he was being very good and that I was being slow in delivering the expected compliment. He jumped up and bit my forearm. That landed him in his crate sans treat faster then he knew his mother could move. Today the bruise is probably looking its worst, so I photographed it to obtain sympathy.


My day is consumed with the puppy. I have to rise in time to serve him his breakfast at the expected hour. When not in his crate, he has to be in the same room as I am. That means, even when concentrating, I must still pay attention to whether he might be chewing on a chair leg, licking a piece or furniture ruining the finish, pawing at the carpet to pull up a thread, getting into the trash or something else which is supposed to be off-limits to him. We are grateful that he does tell us when it is potty time, though a 65 pound dog persistently jumping on you when you are talking on the phone is not always convenient.

Thus, the question: What were we thinking? When he was a tiny puppy in the summer, it was fun and relaxing to play with him outside multiple times per day. Otherwise, he was in his crate. Practicing our obedience school homework was not a problem in good weather. Now that it is wintertime and he is too large to spend long stretches of time in his crate (we do not have room for a larger crate), we must endure his antics inside. Our little home is not large enough for most homework exercises, thus we probably are wasting our education funds by registering for winter classes.

When this cute little beastie comes to you with big brown eyes, nuzzles against your leg wanting TLC and melts your heart, then you know why you have a puppy.

Hershey, who was the worst puppy on the face of this earth, magically became the perfect dog at 10 months when we moved to San Diego. Guinness has one month to become transformed. Stay tuned…

Guinness loves Kevin

Karin insisted that we watch the Christmas video she had taken when everyone was at our house, or she would never bother to make a DVD for us again. We turned it on and were enjoying Kevin’s antics when Guinness walked up to the television, placed his front paws on the furniture holding the TV, and put his face into Kevin’s! I didn’t grab my camera fast enough, but a few minutes later, he did the same thing! This time I captured the act!

Guinness loved Kevin when he was here, but he was overly excited. We did not dare to let go of him, as we feared he would trample Kevin and possibly scratch him (or worse) in his excitement to play with this darling child.

Get ready, Kevin! Guinness wants to play!

Guard Dog

A couple of weeks ago, Guinness noted that he could see out the windows! He began taking great interest in watching what was happening outside. Now he sits and stares out the window at woods, squirrels, birds, and the highway for long stretches a few times every day. This morning, he saw a man walking down the highway ramp and began barking. Then he started jumping on me which means he wants to go outside. I suspected that it was not potty time, but that he wanted to check out that man. I was right. He ran to the front fence and diligently searched for the man who was not to be seen. Then he turned and looked at the back fence, over which he had spotted the man from inside, obviously wondering where he had gone. It is good to know that he is protecting our property.

Grocery Trip

Guinness enjoys sticking his nose in the kitchen trash when the opportunity arises. Usually, he is immediately banned with no opportunity of retrieving some tidbit. A couple of times, he has pulled out an appealing banana peel or tempting paper towel.

Guinness has earned the privilege of running errands with me. He is very good alone in the car except he, unlike Hershey, loudly whines as I leave him. Then he jumps into the front while I am away and stands on the center console, thus turning on the four-way flashers. Today we made a grocery run. Like Hershey, when the bags are placed in the back of the vehicle, he has to sniff them, yet, like Hershey, leaves them alone. As I walked around the to the driver’s door, I glanced at him through the window to discover that he had a bunch of bananas in his mouth. With no regard to the people around who might hear me, I screamed while running to the back, “Guinness! Drop it! Drop It!” Of course, he didn’t. I opened the rear, removed the bananas from his mouth, placed them in the bag and took it with me to the front seat. As I turned my head to the right to switch off the flashers, I noted that the two women parked beside me were in stitiches. I rolled down my window to relate, “It’s just a good thing he’s cute!”

Foiled

There are no Christmas stuffed animals on the staircase for Guinness to steal, ensuing a game “You Can’t Catch Me.” To replace that fun sport, he swipes one of my boots at the deck door and hightails it to the dining room where he cannot be cornered as he runs back and forth on the opposite side of the table from me. It reminds me of playing Checkers when one player moves to the two-space corner, moving back and forth without consequence and no end to the game in sight. With Grant assisting, we might be able to block him, though he usually is too swift and too strong to be caught. He knows it is easier to run through my blockade than Grant’s. The normal ending to the game is for Guinness to make a misstep and corner himself. Today I had no patience to wait for his gaffe. He is too smart to obey the commands of “Come” or “Drop it” when in play mode. His aim is to entice me to “Come” to him, and he certainly has no intention of relinquishing it. I finally used my noggin. This dog is attending obedience school. Duh… “Settle!” Little response. “Sit.” He sat! “Drop it.” Voila! He won excessive praise and treats!

Caught Red-Handed

When we started letting Guinness wander the den, that included having access to the bathroom where his food and water are. Since there are interesting items to be found in a bathroom, particularly the toilet brush, I place such things in the tub to keep them out of his reach. Recently, he has proven that he can grasp items near the side of the tub, so I moved them to the far side. This morning, I heard strange sounds from the bathroom. He was IN the tub with a soap dish in his mouth. He had a taste of the soap long ago. We have never had a dog jump into a bathtub, but, after he was in and out of it several times today, I realized why. He is learning to jump barricades in school! The side of the tub is an easy barricade to surmount. Now when I find him in the tub, I only need to give the command “Jump” and he jumps. Too bad husbands aren’t trained that well.