Walking and walking and walking some more

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

I remember a few years ago, my best friend told me that her husband one night, totally frustrated with the behavior of their puppy – who was about 11 months old and full of energy, announced that he was taking the dog for a walk to hopefully work off some of that energy before bed. She had already taken the dog for a walk that day, but decided that it was best to just let him go around the block and walk off his own frustrations.

Off they went, around their development, maybe a mile walk. When they got home, Zeke – the puppy – settled down and napped awhile, and was calm the rest of the evening. They were amazed at how little it took to make such a big difference, and nightly walks commenced along with the morning walks.

Yesterday was not a great day. Maverick and I have been walking on my road for the past week, about a mile – which leaves him happily tired from all the sniffing and gives me an hour or so of peace. But Wednesdays are my long days – I leave home at noon and don’t get back till around 5. I’m normally a bit frazzled from student demands and trying to get stuff done on campus when I’m only there two days each week. When I got home, I fixed his food, and was planning to go for our walk once he ate.

And he wouldn’t eat. Frustration abounded – on my part and I’m sure on his. I didn’t want to train or walk until he ate. He wanted to paw at me and go out to the field every 15 minutes and bark at me and generally be a twit. He refused food until almost 8, by then I was beyond annoyed and wasn’t going to go for a walk in the fast approaching dark.

I realized later that this is what he does every Wednesday. I’m not sure if it’s anxiety from me being away so long, or if he’s pissed off that I was away for so long. It doesn’t really matter, the realization gave me the tools to work with this.

Today we went for a walk before noon. He napped till 2, then I had to leave for about 1/2 hour. When I got back, I got the “treatment” which was cured by intense attention for the next 1/2 hour. I think he got sick of me. 🙂 At 4, I fed him and he cleaned his bowl. Food has been an ongoing battle of wills – so if he cleans his bowl the first time, it’s a major victory. A half hour of training, and back we went for our second walk.

The nap was awesome. The peace and quiet was wonderful.

The happy puppy was the best part. He was so excited to be out THERE, to be sniffing and seeing and sniffing some more! He was so happy, and so content when he got back home.

I love to walk. If we need to go three times a day, then walk three times we shall. When he’s bored with our route, we’ll go further and go down the road THAT way instead of the other way.

One of my goals was to have him walk with me, nicely, for a good couple miles, by September. I had almost given up hope of that happening. Maybe I shouldn’t give up just yet.

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Looking back and looking forward

Posted on April 15, 2019 by

A year ago, I was sleeping on the sofa, sleeping on the floor beside Max, barely sleeping, listening to him breathe, praying for one more week, one more day, one more ride in the car, one more Golden smile, one more of everything. A year ago, my friends came to see him, to say goodbye to the beautiful boy who brought us together, who made our lives so much brighter, who spread love with every wag of his tail and joy, so much joy. He drove me crazy at times, and I drove him just as crazy – “Just let me out so I can come back in, geesh!” – and through all the days, the bond we shared would never be broken.

I miss him, every day, every minute. He was gone in a moment. I fought for months and then …………..he was gone. My heart shattered. A million pieces, that will never be completely healed.

Two months of crushing sadness gave way to Maverick. Laughter filled the house again, most of the time. Sadness filled the corners. The whirlwind began – the Tiny Terror took over, all my time has been filled with him, worry over Max replaced by worry over this little one – memories of Max always there, seeing Max in Maverick, forgetting the bad days and remembering the good ones, trying to be the mom to Maverick that I tried to be, and often failed, with Max.

I tell Maverick every night, “I will love you forever.” And I whisper to Max, “I will love you forever, too. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Always and forever.”

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Struggling

Posted on April 4, 2019 by

It’s been almost a year, and every minute that brings me closer to that anniversary is a minute filled with shards of glass in my heart. I knew, from the moment I heard that horrible word, “hemangiosarcoma,” that my life would never be the same, that sadness would creep into the best moments, and darkness would be more often my companion than light. I thought I knew how much it would hurt. I was wrong. It hurts as much today as it did a year ago.

And then there’s the Little One. He’s ruled the house since the day he came home. And as I’ve often preached to others, and failed to preach to myself, what is cute at 10 lbs is not so cute at 70 lbs. I have bruises on top of bruises, and if I were to go to the ER tonight, Bear would surely be accused of abuse.

After a second training class, which consisted of yet another hour of me wrestling with Maverick to get him to stay on his mat, focus on me, stop trying to get to the other dogs, please just freakin look at me! I decided that enough is enough. Tough love commenced on Tuesday. Pray for me, he’s too damned cute and too damned smart and it’s just way too easy to give in.

What keeps me strong is knowing that he can be as great a dog as Max, if I can manage to bring it out of him. It would be a disservice to both of them if I don’t.

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Treats and training and real food would be nice

Posted on March 29, 2019 by

Here’s my problem – Maverick would rather eat treats any day than his regular food. He’s a stubborn little shit, and will hold out all day, sniff the bowl, maybe take a bite, then walk away.

The “experts” say to pick up the bowl after 15 minutes or less, and let him wait awhile. The “experts” have never met Maverick. He totally could not care if that bowl of food is on the floor or in the fridge, he is NOT about to eat if he doesn’t want to.

The “experts” also say not to worry about it, he’ll eat eventually. Here’s my problem with that. I’m trying hard, every single day, to teach this puppy stuff, to bring out the great dog. He’s so smart – so smart that he knows full well that if he does a certain behavior, he will be treated with something delicious. At least I’ve succeeded in training that. He will NOT do much of anything unless there’s a treat involved.

The “experts” say to use his food as treats. HA! He will sniff it and walk away, with a toss of the head and if he could talk, I know he’d be saying, “fuck that shit.” (Apologies for the language, he’s a teenager, he has a bad attitude.” I know this, because I’ve tried it.

So I’m sitting here with a puppy who won’t eat his food, and won’t work with me unless I give a treat. If I give treats, he won’t eat his food. If I don’t give treats, he won’t work with me. I’d be okay with that, except then he gets bored and gets into stuff and starts destroying things.

The “experts” would probably tell me to call in a behaviorist. They’ve never met my husband, who would first laugh himself stupid at the mere suggestion, and then ask me if I’d lost my mind.

And thus ends my whine for the day. If I physically survive his puppyhood, it will be a surprise to both of us.

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I should be doing stuff

Posted on March 18, 2019 by

Like reading Ulysses because I signed up for this Greek and Roman mythology course and I’m behind on the reading already. But I don’t feel like it right now, so I’ll complain later that I didn’t do it and be all frazzled and try to get it done before the end of the week.. I will get it done, I just like to moan and groan a bit.

Today we went to the library and worked on “get out of the car without taking Mommah’s arm out of the socket.” I read a lot of books about dog training. This is not to say that I ever put a lot of what i read into practice, but I can carry on a conversation and sound really intelligent about it! However, one of the things every book says is that you need to break behaviors down into small pieces. I live five minutes from the library, so I spent the drive thinking about the steps involved in getting out of the car without taking Mommah’s arm out of the socket.

My right pocket was full of treats, the clicker was attached by a bungee cord to my left wrist, I was ready. I even remembered to use the leash that has the sort of bouncy sections that are supposed to minimize the yanking effect. Damn, I’m good. So we got to the library, pulled into the parking lot, I got out and slowly opened the car door. Many many many treats later, as the door slowly opened, and the clicking and waiting was progressing, he got out of the car. And yanked me across the parking lot. Well, the getting out was good!

I got him back in the car, and we went through this again. By the third time, he was doing much better and I was out of treats, so we came home and had a little celebration. There may be hope for us yet.

Now if he would just take a nap!

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pondering pet rocks

Posted on March 16, 2019 by

As y’all know if you’ve read anything I write, I have this wonderful, crazy, active, and very smart Golden Retriever puppy. I adore the little shit, but there are times when he stretches my nerves to the snapping point, and then stands on them and spins around.

Few seem to understand the stresses that come with this kind of puppy. He is a ball of energy who won’t settle until there’s no alternative, he just sort of falls asleep all of a sudden and wakes up an hour later, just as full of piss and vinegar as ever.

When people ask about him, my stock answer is, “He’s a handful but he’s a joy!” This is all true, and it avoids me saying, “he had me in tears today because when we got out of the car at Petsmart, he almost took me to the ground, I managed to get him back in the car while a couple of people looked on disapprovingly – they, of course, were not trying to wrestle 70 lbs of puppy into a vehicle when he was bound and bloody determined to go OVER THERE RIGHT NOW!” I don’t say that I cried all the way home because my over active imagination is saying that I will never be able to take him anywhere and that the class we’re about to start is a waste of time and money because I probably won’t be able to get him into the facily or control him once we’re in there, if we DO manage to get inside.

I don’t say a lot because the advice I get is either laughable or just plain stupid, or I tried that and it won’t work. Don’t tell me to “ditch the food bowl.” He could give a shit about the food bowl and would probably go days without eating if I didn’t keep shoving it at him.

And don’t tell me it’s something I have to learn to live with. Do you honestly think that I don’t know that this is who he is, and that he will always be smart and will always test me? It’s part of why I love him – but I learned long ago that you can love someone or some dog and not like everything they do. I don’t like some of his behaviors and we will work on training those away.

There are few places I feel safe saying anything about how difficult it is some days. One of them was apparently less safe than I thought. I should know by now not to trust people. Or maybe I should have adopted a pet rock.

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Progress

Posted on March 13, 2019 by

Today I went to the dentist for the seemingly umptee-twelfth time (that was my mother’s expression, by the way) and he ground off a bit of the troublesome tooth, then ground off a bit more and a bit more. I asked if this would hurt and he said, “it shouldn’t.” I told him if it did, I would scream. He nodded sagely and said, “I know.” He’s a very young man, so when he tries to look all professional and stuff, it makes me giggle quietly. I said, “and then I’ll punch you.” He said, “I KNOW!” and that made everyone laugh.

I didn’t have to scream or punch him. I’m very happy about that because he really is a very nice guy, and not bad to look at, either. That’s not a bad thing when someone is rooting around in your mouth and causing pain, by the way.

The tooth – “the tooth which shall be ripped from my mouth should it give me any more grief” – seems to be better. Apparently the bite was a bit whacked. That will make a person cranky. I have to baby it awhile, which means even more scrambled eggs for lunch and soup for supper. Or spaghetti, which is nicely soft and tasty as well.

Maverick – is beginning to show signs of maturing. I found myself thinking tonight that it’s been ages since he tried to eat the cord to the toaster oven, the one my husband likes to let dangle off the counter. He doesn’t fight me to go in his crate at bedtime anymore. We’ve established a bit of a routine – we play, then we train, then we play a little and he’ll nap for a bit. Then more training, and more play and a longer nap. So far, so good. We’re working on impulse control and focus – and he’s so smart – we’re using the “if he does 5 in a row, make it harder” rule. And we start classes next week. I may survive this puppy stuff after all.

Missing Max – it’s been almost a year. I can’t help it, when I look into the woods, I still see him lying there the night he pulled Mark into the trees and wouldn’t get up. I knew then he wanted to die. I see him in the field – running free and having absolutely no recall so it was always a frantic run to the car for me to chase him down before he got to the road. (This is why Maverick is still on leash!) I miss him every minute. I think I will miss him every minute until the day I see him again. I talk to him – I tell him about Maverick. He reminds me that he, too, was hell on wheels for a few years.

And tonight I told Maverick the story of Maverick and Mommah, and how he came into our lives, and I almost didn’t cry. Progress.

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Snow in March

Posted on March 4, 2019 by

A year ago, it snowed in March. It snowed today, more than it did last year Maverick loves it. Max loved it, too.

I hate snow. I see little beauty in it, it takes a minute to become all brown and ugly, it brings out the worst drivers in the world, and it makes my face hurt.

But Max loved it. I remember standing outside last year, as the snow fell, and he rolled down the bank with that smile – that Golden smile – that always made me laugh – and thinking, “much as I hate snow, I’m happy you got one more” It was to be his last. He ran and played and we forgot that day that he was sick, that time was short.

It was a day of smiles and tears. Today was another day of smiles and tears. Smiles at the Little One running in the snow, getting the zooms, being so happy puppy that all seemed right with the world. Tears of sadness – I will miss you till the day I join you again, my Beautiful Boy.

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root canal part three

Posted on February 27, 2019 by

Off to the dentist I went today. More x-rays reveal that there’s nothing wrong with the tooth, or the teeth around it. My dentist, who is a very nice guy and wouldn’t lie to me, says there’s still infection there and gave me a scrip for more antibiotics. Apparently the pains I’m feeling are normal.

I don’t deal well with pain.

Maverick and I had a moment before I left – he thinks that tug of war with his leash is way fun – I don’t agree. He won’t go in his crate for me any time but bedtime, so I was already stressed, hurting, and not in the mood. I left his leash on when we came back from our “haul Mommah around, try to pull her down, yank on the leash, and generally be a little shit” potty break, and just pulled him into his crate.

I went to pick up my scrip and was feeling guilty because he looked so sad when I left, so I bought him a new ball.

That was the BEST BALL EVER!!!!!!!!!!! He is currently sleeping with it. And I’m signing us up for training classes.

Two doses of antibiotics in, 28 more to go. This better work because I’m tired of hurting.

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root canal part two

Posted on February 25, 2019 by

I am seriously frustrated right now. I guess my expectations were too high, I thought that the root canal would take care of the random jabbing pains in my tooth. I was wrong.

I called on Thursday because it was still very sore. I know I’m a drama queen and I have little tolerance for pain, but I thought once the nerve was removed, the pain would stop. They explained that the area around the tooth had been traumatized from the whole process, and would most likely be sore for a bit. Okay, I can deal with that, even though I was pretty annoyed because – see above – I thought it was OVER.

So it did get better, slowly, till I could actually bite something yesterday without it screaming at me. And then I decided to have some spaghetti for lunch today. Three bites in, which aren’t even bites because it’s spaghetti, you roll it up and stick it in your mouth, I got two sharp jabs in that tooth.

What the actual flock is this crap? I called the dentist, I’m going in tomorrow and praying this gets fixed and finished.

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