Too bad there is no picture!

When Grant got into the car after work today, we leaned towards each other for a hello kiss. Guinness was in the back seat and simultaneously licked my cheek! What a lover.

One year, 6 mos., and 4 days

My handsome boy! But he isn't smiling in these pix. He would rather be chasing bunnies than posing.

Shocking!

Tonight, one of our exercises was to have our dog heel beside us while the teacher held a long lead. I told Guinness, “Let’s go,” and took off, reminding him “side” a few times as we walked down an aisle. He heeled perfectly – even better than when I have a leash on him!

One of our weekly exercises is to put the dog on a sit/stay with a treat in front of him, then call the dog to come and "leave it." This is futile with Guinness, so the teacher kneels on the floor and covers the treat with her hand at the last second. This week, instead of making a beeline to me, he walked around behind the teacher, making a circuitous route to me. I think he thought – “If I trick her, I can grab the treat.” The humans went into hysterics.

What we don't do for our dog!

We had to leave Guinness at the pet hotel this weekend while we partied with our family at a great niece’s wedding. He turned 1.5 years on Saturday, so we ordered an extra Yappy Hour Treat for him on that day.

If he stays in one of the regular kennel accommodations, he barks at all the other dogs and comes home hoarse. So we pay the extra bucks for him to lounge in a villa where he has 4 walls, decorations, a 4-poster bed, and a TV tuned to Animal Planet from 7 AM to 7 PM. On his last visit, he ate the mattress, so they said that he either cannot stay in villa or we have to pay $40 if he ruins another mattress. They refused to move the bed out of the villa for his stay, so I asked if they would remove the mattress and I would bring a substitute mattress. They agreed to that plan. From a glass store, I bought a thick Plexiglas sheet cut to the exact dimensions, for $100. They said it worked perfectly! Since it barely takes any space, they found a place to keep it until his next visit.

Class Clown

Tonight was our second Advanced class. Again, Guinness was the clown of the class. From across the room, we were to tell our dog to “sit,” “down,” and “stay.” Scooby was first. With coaxing, he got through the routine while Guinness was following the commands immediately as given by Scooby’s master. Guinness was next. He was eager to please and win his treat. He was a bit overeager, but he did what he was supposed to do. Last was Snorts. She sat as was ordered, then stood again instead of lying down. Guinness did “sit” and “down” as Snorts’ master dictated. In this picture, you can see the hand of Snorts’ master begging her lie down, and you can see that Guinness is intently paying attention and already had obeyed Snorts' master perfectly.

Cesar's Way

This morning, when we dropped Daddy off at his office at the Garden, Guinness and I took a stroll through the rose garden area. Guinness was ecstatic! He had a wonderful time sniffing new things in new places. As we approached the main building to exit to the parking lot, he jumped over the wall into the fountain. Apparently, he was very thirsty. We had to enter the foyer dripping wet.

He stayed in his crate while I went to my hair appointment. As I sat all morning, I read more of Cesar Milan’s book. I have not totally bought into his method yet. I know that some things he says are accurate, but I don’t think I have the personality or will to be the “calm assertive” master he advocates that dog owners must be to have “balanced” pets. He says that dogs do not have the capacity to love. What?! I disagree! One of my favorite dog books is Moussaieff’s Dogs Never Lie About Love. Then I read the indicators that your dog is the dominate member of your family pack: 1 – he jumps on you when you come home from work; 2 – he dashes through doorways before you; 3 – he awakens you at 6 AM to go potty. Reading that was very disheartening. If this is true, we will never be the leader of Guinness’s pack. In fact, we have never been the leader of any of our dog's pack. When I take Guinness for walks in a park, such as the Garden today, I put him on a 20 foot lead so that he can have fun smelling delights, have a bit of freedom, and do some running to gain more exercise than if he were to walk at my pace. But I read that that is the wrong thing to do! That allows him to dictate where we roam, placing him as leader of the pack.

My contentment with my dog was damaged. As we ran errands this afternoon, I decided that I needed to make him be on a down/stay each time I left the car to prevent him from trying to jump out with me and to impress upon him that I am the boss. For about 15 minutes, I knelt on the driver’s seat forcing him on a down/stay in the back seat over and over again. Every time I let go of the leash, he reacted like a jack-in-the-box! My left arm became tired from yanking on his leash, and my voice turned raspy. If anyone noticed us, I would hate to know what they were thinking! Finally, I pretended I didn’t notice that he jumped up, and went in the store. At Home Depot, I allowed him to go shopping with me. He was soooo excited. It took all of my reserve strength to lure him to walk with me without charging ahead at top speed. Even when I thought I had him under control, twice as we passed a shopper, he managed to lunge at them for a kiss -- startling for them and embarrassing for me! I expected to be kicked out at any moment.

Senior Student

Tonight Guinness began Petsmart’s Advanced Class. On the way, he jumped around the car refusing to stay in the back since he knew we were going to school. At the front door, we tried to do a “Wait,” but that lasted only a few seconds before he joyously charged. He greeted his teacher with frenzied delight and was more than thrilled to meet a new class member, ScoobyDoo, a darling 1 year old black cockapoo. ScoobyDoo was shy, and not especially pleased to meet a wild and crazy dog. Guinness was attracted to the open trash basket with a coffee cup inside. While trying to retrieve that, he tipped over the water bowl and soaked his teacher’s pantleg.

Then the third and final class member arrived: Snorts, a pug and fellow Intermetiate Level classmate. Guinness was beside himself with excitement. Once class finally began, he eagerly completed each routine with relative ease – better than his classmates, as if he were showing off. First, we were to put our dogs on a down/stay with a treat one foot in front of them; the owner was to command, “Leave it,” walk away with back to the dog, and the dog was to remain in a stay position until released. Guinness was the first to do this exercise. He stayed for a while, then grabbed the treat after the wait was too long. The other dogs had to be coaxed to be on a down/stay, but, as Guinness watched each one, he shifted from “sit” to “down” perfectly as the other masters commanded, all the while with his eyes intently on the other dog’s treat. Scooby didn’t care about his treat and never did eat it. Guinness was obsessed by that uneaten treat on the floor. He finally seized an opportunity to grab it while the teacher was talking about the next exercise. There were numerous times during the hour when Guinness had the class in stitches with his antics. We did an “obstacle” course around the store, stopping at stations to obey the printed commands: Leave it; Sit/Down/Stay/Sit; Stand/Stay; walk fast and slow; turn left and right, then repeat the circle. Guinness was very eager to please, but also found it necessary to sniff under all the shelves as we passed by. At one point, he nearly knocked over an end stand to retrieve a green object on the floor behind it. The prized object was a cat ball – too tiny to be safe in his mouth. Scooby and Snorts both needed cajoling to perform, while Guinness and I raced through the course. Once he was down, Scooby didn’t want to get up, and his master pulled him across the smooth floor still in a down position. While doing the side-by-side “loose leash” exercise, Guinness ignored his classmate beside him, as he was supposed to, but was seaching elsewhere for some fun. He spied a boxer down one aisle and was determined to meet the new friend. He was running so fast that his paws spun madly in place on the slippery floor as I held his leash.

How he can be the most unruly dog in the class, yet be the most obedient during the lessons? What a character!

Annoying Nose

I remember when Hershey was 1 yr. and 5 mos. We lived in San Diego, and I wore Bermuda shorts most days. Hershey followed me everywhere and craved touching me. As I worked in the kitchen, he squeezed himself between the kitchen cabinets and me whenever possible. I remember the sensation of his nose touching my skin and tickling me.

Guinness is 1 yr. and 5 mos. old now. He also wants to be close enough to touch. It isn’t often that he wedges himself between me and kitchen cabinets, although, this morning, he plopped himself on the floor in front of the cabinets where I was working. I managed to step on his tail and again on his paw before he decided it would be safer to move. However, his nose… His nose drives me nuts! It is not pleasurable. He has a nose fixation! We had to clean windows occasionally from Hershey’s nose prints, but not daily. Guinness seems to think his nose must touch everything! And it is cold and wet. He leaves nose prints on the car windows, in particular. They are always a mess. While traveling in the car, he finds it necessary to walk back and forth across the back seat. At each turn, he must bang his nose into the back of heads. When I am wearing shorts, his nose is touching my skin whether I am walking around the house or sitting at my computer. There is no titillating tingle. It is downright irritating! I know that sight and hearing are the principle senses for humans, and smell is the prime sense for a canine. Smelling is one thing, but nose touching is something else… If only there were some way to cap his nose.

Nightmare

Guinness and I were visiting my sister-in-law. She lives one block from the center of town which is denoted by the one stop light. Guinness was off leash and behaving as if he were Hershey. Suddenly, he bolted across the main street to a little plaza parking lot. Fortunately, no cars were coming. I ran after him calling his name and “Come!” frantically. When I also reached the parking lot, he took off towards the street again and started running down the road which no longer was empty of cars. My voice was now hoarse from screaming and my body was weak from running. I knew he was going to be killed. He was out of my sight … I awoke.

Two minutes later, I heard him racing up the stairs to jump on me, asking for his morning song. I leaped out of bed before he had a chance to slime me. Happily, I crooned “Good morning, good morning, good morning, I hope you’re feeling fine…”

Redux

This evening, Guinness managed to get in my closet and grab one of the new, dressy shoes I had worn today. I heard him prancing, so went to see what he had. I chased him around the dining room table, back up the stairs, and stood in the center of the bedroom as he ran around me, up on the bed and off again, sometimes audaciously brushing against me. When he is lying on the bed, if I move quickly, of course, he runs faster than I can move. But if I move slowly, I can occasionally trick him by playing “Creepy Mouse.” He is mesmerized as I casually walk two fingers across the bed to him, up his leg, until I can grasp the shoe. That doesn’t always work, but it did tonight on the third try.

I told Grant, “His Catch-Me-If-You-Can game is really annoying sometimes, but he is so cute about it. He just loves taunting me. He is not trying to be naughty; he is just having fun. I will be glad when he is old enough to stop stealing things, yet I will miss those fun times.”

Fetch

Guinness made me play Fetch a few times today. It no longer is a daily activity since his most desirable items to steal are no longer available. But today, he found Karin’s teddy bear which has been in hiding, a toothpaste container still in its bag from the store, and Daddy left his closet open, so he swiped a slipper.

Guinness is usually not interested in playing Fetch; just the opposite of Hershey who lived for Fetch. Hershey would play until he dropped. Guinness might retrieve a few throws, but that’s it. The most he has ever retrieved was eight. Tonight, in the dark, he ran and ran after his rubber Frisbee – thirteen times! He does not relinquish the Frisbee easily. “Drop it” means nothing unless I have a treat in my hand. He wants to play tug, but I refuse that game and pry the Frisbee out of his mouth. It would be so wonderful if we could wear him out by playing Fetch.

Canine GPS System

I have always marveled at how dogs know where we are going and perceive when we are close to the destination.

Blackberry did not ride with us in the car all the time like our labs have, but there were places that she did go with us. She would know by the direction we took, where we were heading. Just before reaching our destination, she would be on full alert. The time when her directional sense was most remarkable was the day I picked her up from being groomed. Instead of heading South for home, we turned East to pick up Karin from her orchestra rehearsal. Blackberry had never traveled to orchestra from that direction before and was very upset that I did not seem to know the way home! Once she realized we were picking up Karin, she settled down.

Andy did not have the opportunity to travel in the car regularly, but he did know the difference between going to the vet and heading for the pet store. He loved traveling in the car. In fact, when he got loose (as he did many times since we did not have a fence for 3 of his 5 years), one of the best ways to catch him, if he was within sight of the road, was to pull the Jeep out of the garage or drive down the road near him, open up the back and ask him if he wanted to go for a ride. He was always ready for a drive – anywhere! Except one time. We were moving. In his mind, his world was totally changing, and he didn’t like it. Actually, he and I shared the same sentiment. Neither of us wanted to move! Everything was emptied out of our house. The three boys (Daddy, Greg, and Andy) were beginning our 16 hour drive in the Jeep Wagoneer. The three girls (Mommy, Karin, and Blackberry) were driving the Peugeot wagon. Our St. Louis house had a section of yard behind the house with a picket fence where the dogs were waiting for us to prepare for our final departure from our beloved home. Beside the fence was the rear-entry driveway and entrance to the garage. We could open a vehicle door, then the fence gate and be guaranteed that Andy would jump in. Not this time. He bolted! He ran into the woods behind our house and was gone. Neighbors joined the search. We combed the woods for two hours when Grant finally decided that he, Greg, and Blackberry needed to leave in order to be at our new home in time for the moving van to arrive. Karin and I were going to stay at our house, which was yet not sold, for as long as it took, until we found Andy. They had just left, when Andy was found by friends deep in woods on the other side of our house.

Once we moved to California where Hershey magically became the perfect dog, he was privileged to accompany us on nearly every excursion. We even bought a Jeep Cherokee to be his Hershey Mobile. His most remarkable GPS sense was exhibited when we drove 8 hours to Greg’s house, or 3 hours to Mark’s house, or 3 hours to Janet’s house. Once we were within 5 miles of those destinations, he would become excited and pace in the back of the SUV.

We had an experience where Hershey was much smarter about directions than I. If only I had heeded his lead! Hershey and I went to visit our daughter and her husband as soon as they moved into their new home in NC. Behind their backyard is a stand of woods. Hershey and I love woods, so we went for an early morning walk. We discovered that the woods were not very deep directly behind their house and opened into a huge meadow with a pond at the far end. We walked all the way to the pond and around the edge of the meadow. We had had a pleasant walk for both of us – seeing bunnies and butterflies, flowers, and song birds. We were ready to go home, but I couldn’t remember where the path was back to the house. I could see housetops in the distance beyond the woods and walked in that direction. We came upon a “No Trespassing” sign hanging on a chain between two posts. Hershey ran way ahead, and I called him to come back. I was sure we had not come on posted land nor had I seen that sign before. I started searching for the path along the edge of the unposted woods. It had vanished! I told Hershey, “You must know the way home. Take Mommy home!” The sun was shining brightly, and I knew their house was to the East. I took off into the woods, headed into the sun thinking that I would eventually come out behind one of their neighbor’s homes or out to the street leading into their subdivision. We walked quite a way until the woods were becoming deeper and thicker with more bugs torturing us. The ground was becoming very uneven making it more difficult to maneuver and remain unscathed while wearing slip-on sneakers, shorts and sleeveless top. Stupidly, I had not brought my cellphone. Fear was beginning to grip me, so I decided that I should backtrack to the meadow, return to the “No Trespassing” sign, and head for those houses I could see from there, even though it was posted land. We had not gone far on the forbidden land when the path appeared. Once back, my major worry was to make sure that Hershey and I had no ticks and that we totally scrubbed to get any poison ivy off us as there had been plenty of it in the woods. My son-in-law showed me a map of the area. I was in very deep woods and could have walked for miles before finding civilization as this section of the city had not been developed yet. If only Hershey could have talked. He did know the way home!

Guinness has learned that, when we go to the Toronto Airport, Daddy is there waiting. He knew from the time we left home this morning that we were going to pick up Daddy. The whole trip he was so excited that he demanded placing his fore paws on the front center console to have a better view. I would expect this direction-savvy dog to detect that we were close to the airport once we turned off the 401, but he started jumping all around a few hundred yards before the airport roadway veered to the left. What a smart boy! If he could talk, he could have told me where to turn! After Daddy joined us in the car, he curled up on the backseat and slept all the way home.

Bedtime

Daddy is complaining that we need a bigger bed now that Guinness has joined us. Hershey began the night in his bed, on the floor beside us. But, when we awoke in the morning, he mysteriously was on our bed. Hershey never disturbed our sleep. Guinness is not Hershey! Settling three of us takes some maneuvering. I read that, if you add up the number of feet in a bed and divide that sum into 100, you know what percentage each foot is apportioned of the bed. So with 8 feet, each foot is allowed 12.5%. That means that Daddy gets 25% of the bed; Mommy gets 25% of the bed; and Guinness gets 50%. Does that seem fair? But those are the “rules.”

I was expecting that 3 nights without Daddy would mean that I would have at least 50% of the bed. Not! Guinness snuggled right up to me. I awoke in the middle of the night to find that I was being pushed off the bed. Easy fix. I got up and walked around to Daddy’s side of the bed. It took all of 60 seconds for Guinness to realize I had moved, to shift his position and curl up close to me again, taking at least 75% of the bed. Shouldn’t I have had 33.3% of the bed and he 66.9%? It didn’t work that way! Yawn….

Yummy Trash Treat

Plop! What was that noise? Oh, yeah…. I left a bag of kitchen waste on the counter. I found him scampering around with a cantaloupe skin in his mouth. When I was eating cantaloupe a couple of days ago, I accidentally dropped a spoonful which Guinness gobbled. Yesterday, he licked the edge of my cantaloupe when I turned my head. Yuck! Apparently, he really liked his one bite of melon. He looked so funny with a quarter slice hanging out of his mouth, that, instead of removing it, I ran for my camera. By the time I returned, a small piece was on the carpet but nothing was sticking out of his mouth anymore.

Remember the butter tart incident? This past week we brought home two magnificent butter tarts from a restaurant. When I got them out to serve, his nose remembered that delicious smell! He definitely thought they were for him.

Play Time

This morning we were invited to play in Cadence’s new, fenced yard. I shouldn’t have told Guinness that we were going to play with a friend, because he went bonkers! He was SO excited! He danced to the car, then jumped continually all the way there. I did not bring his pinch collar, so he dragged me, literally, to Cadence’s house. They ran and ran in the back yard. True bliss. Cadence wanted to play stick, and Guinness chased her but did not take her stick. She eventually put it down on the ground so that Guinness would pick it up as she wanted to play tug. But he refused. Dumb dog! He loves playing tug, and I refuse to play that game. He waited for her to pick it up again then chased her some more. In human terms, he was being polite. In dog terms, he probably was ceding dominance. When they were too tired to run, they had a huge drink together. Again Guinness was either polite or letting Cadence be the leader of the pack. I am pleased whichever it is -- pleased that he is either mannered or not an alpha dog. Once recovered, the wrestling match began. Eventually, they were both too pooped to play.

Pillowmate

Normally, Grant is in bed first, then I climb in, and Guinness jumps up last trying to settle himself on me or near my face. Grant rescues me by manhandling him to the bottom of the bed. Tonight, Grant is away. I got into bed, Guinness jumped up, I reached over to turn out the light, and, when I went to lie down, Guinness was sideways on my pillow coving the entire thing. Would he move? It was a struggle, but I finally was able to retrieve my pillow for myself. Good grief! He could have had Grant’s. Why did he want mine?

Jumping Jack

Guinness is rather hysterical about having the sunroof open. He places his front paws on the console between the front seats and bounces to reach his head out the roof. He makes quite the funny scene and brings laughter from all who see him as we drive down the road. Last Saturday, we were sitting at the border waiting our turn at customs as he carried on his jumping exercise. Several cars around us found him to be very amusing. It is rather difficult to catch a picture of this behavior when I am sitting in the car, so, today, I left him inside parked behind our garage, grabbed my camera, and pleaded with him to pop out the top.

I Spoke None too Soon

The bloom hanging over the front of the fence is gone. Guinness grabbed it today before I had a chance to yell at him. Oh well. It is only one bloom gone with several still to harvest.

I am so Sneaky

As the blooms were beginning to develop on my hydrangea bush mid-summer, I used leftover pieces of the plastic chicken wire fencing to create a shield around the bush. It worked! Guinness did not eat the blooms! The blossoms have matured, and are turning gorgeous shades of color. They are almost ready to be picked for drying and use in decorations.

On the Loose

This morning we stopped at the “On the Go” gas station/Tim Hortons Coffee. Grant was pumping gas, and I jumped out to buy us coffees. This is the second time Guinness captured an opportunity to follow me out of the car. With no warning, he was out and running between the gas pumps. I yelled to him to “Come!” He paused, then decided that it would be more fun not to obey. He ran around the gas islands, between cars, with a good Samaritan and me trying to catch him. He ran past the door to the station. I knew he would want to go in, so I put my hand on the door handle and called him. He came running to go inside, but he never saw the interior of the store. Back to the car…