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.

Our Handsome Boy

Now that the kids are gone, the snow has returned. It was the perfect photo op to take decent pictures of a chocolate lab.

After everyone left on the 29th, Guinness was again allowed freedom. Instead of only one room at a time, we are giving him limited opportunity to have access through four rooms: den, living room, dining room, and kitchen. He is doing fairly well. The only obstacles are a pathos plant in the living room (he thinks that he must remove one leaf every time he passes), a bell on a low branch of the Christmas tree, and, of course, any shoes that may be sitting inside the deck door. He also knows that, if he rams the gate blocking the hallway, he can push it aside and race either upstairs or downstairs. If he chooses to go upstairs, he will grab one, two, or three of the Christmas stuffed animals on the stairs. Downstairs, he heads for the waste paper can. Life is improving.

Guinness's Christmas

Since Guinness was doing so well at being loose in a room with us, I expected that, once he settled down from the excitement of meeting his little nephew Kevin, he would be fine. Our previous dogs sensed the fragility of a young child or older person. Guinness does not seem to recognize that he must be gentler with such people. Once company arrived, he was too filled with Christmas joy for us to tolerate his exuberant behavior. Thus, Guinness spent most of Christmas week in his crate. We never dared to let him loose with Kevin. He was so ecstatic to meet this wonderful little fella that he would have tramped him with no intent to harm. When we were outside playing in the snow, I kept Guinness tethered to my waist.

Brandy and Jeremy are used to crazy dogs and had fun playing with him. He did his “slain in the Spirit” backwards flop for them to have his tummy rubbed.

Santa brought Guinness a rubber hamburger, and Kevin’s cats brought him a fuzzy gingerbread boy. He was thrilled with his gifts. The hamburger quickly had a big bite out of it and the gingerbread boy was losing his stuffing within hours. While we were opening our presents, I presumed that we could leave him free in the den with the French doors closed allowing him to visually be a part of our celebration. As we continued our gift opening, the thought struck me that my present from Grant, a beautiful sweater wrap, was hanging on my desk chair. With a gasp, I flew into the den to find that Guinness had already torn a sleeve apart. Thankfully, the store had another one.

Canine-ality Traits

Selecting Hershey, Dec. 20, 1995
(Greg's coat was NOT pink!)



















Bringing Guinness home, June 21, 2005


Eleven years ago today, Greg selected Hershey to be our new puppy, and Karin held him all the way home. We have dubbed Guinness “H2,” because he looks like Hershey and is similar in many ways. Yet there are traits which are specific to each dog. I do not recall Hershey ever running away from me. He always stuck close by. If he ran ahead on a trail, he would come back looking for me. It is unfortunate that Hershey did not have the opportunity to teach Guinness to be a good boy on a hike and not run away. Distractions can cause Guinness to forget that he should stay with me.

Guinness has his own inimitable mannerisms. One of the funniest is that, when he wants to be petted, he will fall straight backwards onto his back. It is as if he is “slain in the Spirit” to be tummy fondled. When he was a tiny puppy, it wasn’t much of a fall. Now that he is over 60 pounds, you would think that it hurts to flop especially when he is falling onto an object such as the edge of a concrete wall, a toy, or a furniture leg. We try to grasp a finger into his collar to ease his fall.