Blogging Dante

Neglected gear and equipment

2012-02-01T19:44:00.000-05:00

It's really odd, but I found myself thinking about the hodge podge of Dante-related gear and equipment that I have accumulated over the years.

It all started with me thinking to myself on our walk today, that given the really WARM winter we've had so far (and judging from various posts all over the world that I've been reading, we're not the only one griping/rejoicing about the whacky winter this year), I've only had to replace Dante's winter boots ONCE this year instead of twice last year -- ka-ching! Instant $50 savings! Actually, since Dante's second set of boots from last winter were so worn out that they only had a gasp of life left in them, I really consider only having to replace Dante's boots 0.25 times this year. With it now being February, I don't really foresee having to buy Dante another set of winter boots this year, especially since he's only had to wear his boots for about 4-5 times this year.

Somehow all this mulling led me to thinking about the rest of Dante's (or Dante-related) gear and equipment that haven't really been used for quite a while. Sadly, it wouldn't be too far off to say that some of them haven't seen the light of the day for a long time.

Just off the top of my head:

There's the 3-feet braided leather leash designated as Dante's "obedience leash" -- the leash that Dante is on when I'm moving amongst crowds and other dogs while at an obedience trial/match venue. It's silly, but it always gives me a secret thrill, walking around a hub-bub of dogs and people with a large, powerful-looking dog trotting alongside connected to me only by this thin short leash.

There's Dante's more utilitarian obedience leash. Narrower than his regular inch-wide leather leash but just as strong and more flexible and maneuverable for precision obedience work.

There's the wooden peg board leaning against a basement wall, used for teaching Dante articles.

There's the articles themselves of course, neatly stacked against each other and packed away in a box.

There's Dante's portable obedience jump sets that I purchased from the states and had it specially shipped over at a premium price; all also tightly packed away in a gigantic box, stowed away in a lonely corner in the basement.

There's Dante's gritty-looking plastic dumbbell, keeping the rest of his training tugs of a myriad of materials -- leather, jute, firehose -- company in a large fabric bag on a shelf.

There's my training vests, the dirty one for training and the "clean" one with a shiny Doberman pin attached to it that makes it appearance at formal trials and shows. They are both languishing at the end of the rack in the hallway closet amongst other coats and jackets that are making fun of them for being no longer in the popular crowd.

There's Dante's obedience metal slip collars, which seem to have lost much of their gleam and sparkle not having Dante's dark glistening coat as their backdrop.

There's Dante's mesh cooling coat that hasn't seen the heat of competition for far too long.

There's the "sunbrella" portable umbrella and the nifty tent-shade hybrid setup, both which I hate setting up at agility trials but love when they are finally set up and keeps us all cool and contained for day-long agility excursions.

There's that ill-fitting baseball cap which I whip out and plonk on top of my head (or attempt to anyways, given its ill-fitting nature and my tight-fisted reluctance to get a better-fitting one when this one hasn't completely disintegrated from use yet) on sunny obedience and agility days. Actually, I've forgotten how ill-fitting it is, simply because it's been I can't remember the last time it hung off my head and not a hook at the back of a door.

Since I'm not actually attempting to complete a comprehensive catalogue of sorts, I'll just stop here for now. I'm sure there's a whole bunch more of stuff that I've forgotten and left off the "list" above.

Reflecting on all this "neglected" gear and equipment really brings into sharp relief how much my (and by extension, Dante's) life has changed in terms of routine, regiment and priorities. Not that long ago, it seemed that I was living a completely different life. Some parts of that life I still yearn and ache for, and others ... well, let's just say I'm having second thoughts about.

We're now heading into the second month of the new year and I still have not come any closer to deciding or knowing whether all this "stuff" will soon to be dusted off and put into good use again, like they should be.

The thoughts are still churning in my head, emotions still reeling. I'm getting closer, but not quite there yet. Hopefully I'll be arriving at some kind of decision in the next little while.

Till then, I'm still happy about socking that $50 away instead of spending it on a second set of winter boots this year!

A dog by any other name ...

2012-01-30T21:06:00.003-05:00

It's been a few years and I know my memory's not that great even at the best of times, but I was pretty certain that I've blogged about Dante's various nicknames before. Ok, so I was pretty certain. After doing an extensive search on the blog for that elusive post, reality trumps flawed memory and I concede that such a post was never produced.

Something which I will now remedy.

Nicknames or pet names seem to be a staple in the human world, so it's not surprising that our pets -- which many of us consider among our closest companions -- are conferred an assortment of nicknames for various reasons.

When I was coming up with names for Dante and Atia, I racked my brains over sleepless nights to come up with names that, among a multitude of very personal, subjective conditions/criteria, would also be names that would not lend themselves easily to being shortened or "tongue-twisted" in any way to become some sort of cutesy pet name or nickname by known people and complete strangers, for example, Samuel or Samantha into Sammy or Joe or Joanne into Jojo or something silly. Ok, so those are human names, but I think you get the picture. If I ever have kids, I know I would go through the same thoroughly mind-numbing name selection process as well to avoid such a "problem". I didn't want other people to be lazy with my dogs' names or turn them into cutesy, silly-sounding monikers. My position was if I gave my dogs a certain name, then that's the name I want them to be known as, because I gave them a particular name for a reason.

Anyway, it turned out that I needn't have fretted or worried one bit, because as it is, I am the single biggest culprit when it comes to calling Dante by anything but his given name of Dante ... most of the time.

The main exceptions to me always using Dante's "proper name" are when we are in a training/obedience/competetive sport situtaion and times when Dante has gotten himself into trouble. Otherwise, I seem to have quite the fondness for calling Dante by a whole range of pet and nicknames. Most of them not even direct or indirect derivatives of his actual name, actually.

Not that Dante seems to mind ... amazingly, he responds to them all. :)

Probably the most "generic" and frequently used one is "Puppy". Yes, I still call my 90lb, almost 5 year old somewhat-fearsome looking Doberman "Puppy". At the risk of being overly cheesy: He'll always be a cute little puppy to me.

At some point "Puppy" evolved into "Pup-pup".

And then there's "Bub". I don't know how that came about, probably some sort of word play extension on "Pup". "Bub" just sounds more ... I don't know, like a more solid kind of "Pup", ha.

There's the silly "Dante Boy" and its twin "Puppy Boy", which turns into "Dante Dork" when I'm somewhat miffed at him, which then turns into simply "Dork" or "Knucklehead" when I'm really annoyed at him.

Hmmm, come to think of it, NONE of the nicknames I've used for Dante are any actual derivations from his given name. Guess I picked well, ha!

When The Fred came into the picture, Dante added a few more nicknames to his roster. Nicknames that I've come to adopt too. Among my top two favourites are: "Woofles" and "Lunk". I always feel like bowling over with chuckles when I say them -- How does the man come up with such gems???

As you can see, The Fred definitely tops me in the creativity department when it comes to nicknames.

If I actually spoke Cat, I would definitely seek out the list of nicknames that Pixie and Tinsel use among themselves for Dante. I suspect those would be even more colourful ...

Two is cosy ...

2012-01-28T10:53:00.005-05:00

Since we somehow seem to have fallen into the theme of beds, I thought I'd share another never-before-posted photo I stumbled across from rummaging through old photo files -- this time of both Dante and Atia "cuddling" (from Atia's perspective, that is; I think Dante saw it more as an invasion of his space ;) ) up on a fairly new bed (at the time). Sadly said bed didn't enjoy a long, healthy lifespan either, but the memories from it sure endure:

Yes, I seem to have lapse into some kind of sentimental, soppy mood this week. Times like this I really do this miss having Atia around ... Dante might have a different opinion though ...

Dante's first "donut bed"

2012-01-27T20:03:00.003-05:00

I stumbled across this photo in my files the other day, and got quite sentimental looking at it with a wry smile. Since I had written an entire post on the "history" of Dante's beds not too long ago, I thought I'd share this one (I don't believe I've ever posted it before) -- a 14 month old Dante snoozing away on his very first "donut bed", which had been, as you can see, patched up many times over and not too far away from its eventual "demise" at the time the photo was taken:

Ah memories ...

Food Escort

2012-01-26T11:01:00.001-05:00

Dante has always had this thing about the basement. He’snever had any sort of negative or frightening experience in the basement, but forwhatever reason, he’s not too fond of it.

Dante has never shown an inclination to go down wanderingin the basement on his own. He’ll reluctantly trundle downstairs if coaxed andcajoled enough, but he makes a point of not sticking around there for too long.

Dante’s raw food is stored down in the basement in alarge chest freezer, with portions incrementally thawed out in a small barfridge, also situated down in the basement. It’s been the same arrangement/systemfor both the previous house and the current house.

The only time Dante gets really excited about thebasement is when he hears his food bowl thunking down on the counter and mesubsequently lumbering down the basement stairs to retrieve his food. He standsat the top of the basement stairs, quivering all over in anticipation of beingfed and belting out a caterwauling rendition that would put even Pixie toshame. When I reach the top of the stairs balancing food containers on bothhands, I’m nearly always mugged for the food before it even reaches his bowl.

A few weeks ago, I set out Dante’s food bowl on thecounter and prepared to head down the basement. Right on cue, Dante trailed meto the top of the basement stairs, then planted himself there gettingincreasingly vocal about having food NOW while I made my way down the stairs.

On the way to the freezer, I passed by the Dryer with afull load of dried and tumbled clothes staring back at me through the glassopening. It then occurred to me that I had two full loads of laundry waiting tobe shoved into the Washer upstairs, and I really needed to stop procrastinatingclearing out and folding the previous load from the Dryer.

So, I thought I’d make a little “detour” and unloaded theDryer instead. Once the laundry basket was full and placed at the bottom of thestairs to the second floor, I would have no excuse for putting off tending toit. Once I was done with that I would come back down again for Dante’s food andget on with feeding him before he makes a dramatic theatrical show of croakingfrom starvation.

When I (unexpectedly, in Dante’s eyes) emerged from thebasement with not food, but a heavy laundry basket in my hands, the expressionon Dante’s face was akin to a little child who had been told that his goldfishhad died. He was confused. I thought I could even detect a slight hint of panicin his bewildered gaze: “Mum?! Where’s ... the food?!?!?!” The poor thing ... Ididn’t know whether to feel bad for him or chuckle out loud.

I placed the laundry basket at the foot of the stairs asplanned. Then I reassured Dante that I was going back down to get his food, andthat he hasn’t missed a meal on my watch yet!

This time though, Dante gingerly padded down the stairsbehind me. Oh dear, I thought to myself, the dog doesn’t trust that I’m notgoing to come up with another laundry basket instead of food again!

He located the freezer and fridge, and immediatelybounded towards it, alternating his gaze between the freezer/fridge and myself,as if trying to make it clear what I was supposed to be doing this time. Iopened the fridge door and started reaching in for his food. Dante stood to oneside, and from the corner of my eye, I caught him directing shifty, nervousglances all around himself towards the rest of the darkened basement.

When I finally had the food in my hands, Dante stuck tomy side, and escorted me (and his food) all the way up the stairs until wereached the kitchen counter and I started shovelling food into his bowl.

Yep, he made his point.

Since then, Dante has been accompanying on my trips downto the basement when it comes to his meal times. He seems to have somehowgotten into his head that Mum can’t be trusted with the food now so he’ll haveto act as an escort (for the food of course, not for Mum!) to make sure thatthe food makes it safely from the basement and into his bowl!

What I find funny is that it’s still evident that Dantedoes NOT like being down in the basement at all if he can avoid it. He’ll comedownstairs with me, potter around in a fidgety “Hurry up Mum hurry up hurry uphurry up ...” until I have the food in my hands, and then try to nudge me upthe stairs as fast as possible so he can get out of the basement. Sometimes he’llzip up ahead of me, but he makes sure to peer back at me a few times just toconfirm that I am indeed coming up with the food tout suite.

Now I no longer have to worry about being mugged when Ireached the top of the basement stairs, but I’ve narrowly escaped beingtrampled and sent tumbling down the stairs by 90lb Doberman over-eager tohigh-tail it out of the basement! I wonder how much longer Dante plans tocontinue in his new Food Escort role before he “trusts” me again ... !

Why I have been a blogging delinquent ...

2012-01-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

It's the end of a work day. The dog has been exercised and fed. Dinner has been made, gobbled up, and dishes washed and put away. The garbage and recyling are out for collection tomorrow. The dishwasher is humming away. Bills have been paid. Cats cuddled. Dog fussed over.

I sit down at the computer, flexing my fingers, getting ready to blog away.

Then The Fred says: "Ok, bed! Now! Movie! Now!"

Dante says: "Yeah Mum, get away from the puter and give me some attention!"

Pixie whines: "Why am I spread out all ALONE on the bed!"

Tinsel looks longingly at the bed too. We know what she wants.

The Fred wags a finger at me: "You said to give you 5 minutes, it's been more than 5 minutes now!"

My post ... what post? Didn't even get to catch up on reading through my blog list.

The Fred is wagging that finger again. Likely even an ear too.

Ah well, I just can't win tonight :) Or not for the past few nights either!

I'll try harder tomorrow. Really :)

Lull

2012-01-24T10:53:00.002-05:00

Life is busy. Life is good.

I’ve been running into the familiar challenge of “too much to do, too little time”. It’s a good kind of busy though, so even though I’m scrambling at times to line up everything that needs to be done and actually get it all DONE, it’s like running around like a headless chicken, but feeling fulfilled about it. Ok, so that analogy might be a tad bit weird ...

I spent the majority of the weekend on a half-crazed shopping crusade searching (alas, in vain) for that perfect cocktail dress and accompanying accessories for a formal dinner and dance that the Fred and I will be attending in a couple of weeks’ time. Half-crazed because I had (regretfully, in hindsight) left the task till the last minute, and it being a crusade because I was determined to be properly attired for the event as it’s been a while since I’ve been to something of this ilk.

I was trying to torpedo through all of that on top of all the regular household chores that needed to be done over the weekend as well as a growing list of fixing-up-the-house-tasks to complete. Sadly a couple of chores (like trimming Dante’s nails, oooops) still fell by the wayside and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it all. I thought shopping for girly stuff was supposed to be “fun”????

Another bi-monthly trip to Costco was made this past weekend and somehow, I ended up purchasing ANOTHER new dog bed for Dante. The Fred’s comment was: “Dante’s going to take one whiff at you when we get home, realize you’ve been to Costso and say ‘Where’s my new bed, Mum?’” Hmmm ... I think I may have a closet addiction to those dog beds :)

Work has been pretty hectic too in the past week. I’ve been sorting out a huge database at work and as a result, doing alot of squinting and staring at the computer screen scrutinizing thousands of rows and columns of busy data. So much so that my eyes have been feeling so dry and tired when I get home at the end of the day and hence, I’ve been trying to stay off the computer for as much as possible while I’m home apart from tasks like essential online banking and responding to important correspondences. Unfortunately daily blogging has become one of the casualties as well.

There’s been a couple of long, reflective posts brewing inside my head, arising from Atia’s recent visit and stay – one on Dante, and one on Atia. Those are somewhat “difficult” posts in some ways, so I haven’t quite churned them out of my head yet as I continue to ponder upon their content and how to word some of my thoughts. I’m going to be needing some catharsis from all this back and forth in my head soon though, so it’s on the verge of it all tumbling out in one long wordy diarrhea ...

Aside from the above, I know I’ve been kind of lazy with jotting down and publishing short quips on the blog as they occur to me. I’ve been happily humming along and caught up with the blissful contentment of running a full household with a dependable partner (such a refreshing change!). It’s a wonderful, fuzzy feeling. The “kids” are merrily coasting along with us – “home” and “family” never felt this full of comfort and a solid sense of belonging.

I’ll try to keep up with a daily blogging pace and catch up now with snippets and other tidbits from the last few days. But with how well things are going on so many fronts, an evolution of the blog in its various aspects might just be long overdue ...

Life is busy. Life is good :)

Driving in a snow storm should be like dog-walking ...

2012-01-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

There was an unexpected snow storm today; unexpected as in it wasn't in the morning forecast, so nobody was actually looking out for it until it actually struck.

It was a snow squall, to be more specific. The temperature wasn't very cold, but there was a steady snowfall and blustery winds of up to 60km/h. Thankfully, the worst part of it was during the middle of the day, and when it came time to make the drive home from work, it was on the verge of slowly petering out.

It took me DOUBLE the amount of time to get home than it usually takes. The drive home was excruciatingly SLOW. Now, I can certainly understand, and am all for, added caution on the road when driving in adverse winter conditions. However, I am constantly puzzled and frustrated by how many drivers seem to forget how to drive with every snowfall. Traffic was crawling and practically chaotic in places because, it appeared to me, most people were either trembling behind the wheel at the prospect of going more than 10km/h in what amounts to typical winter conditions, or it's just their approach to drive in the same careless, manic fashion all the time regardless of road conditions. Then there are those who straddle two or more lanes while their vehicles slip and swerve all over the place. For crying out loud: If you get so ridiculously nervous driving in winter weather or can't be bothered to make sure that your vehicle is winter road-worthy, then GET OFF THE ROAD and stay home and let the rest of us get on our way! Can you tell that this is one of my major pet peeves during winter?

You know what I do like about adverse winter weather conditions (or just adverse weather conditions in general) though? Whether it's rain or snow, some of my best walks and outdoor time spent with Dante is during days of not-so-pleasant weather going on outside. Why? Because during such days, all but the most dedicated dog owners will look out the window, groan and decide that they would rather stay home and be warm, cosy and comfy instead of braving whatever howling wind, pouring rain or blowing snow is out there to give their dog a walk.

One of the biggest downsides of suburban dog-walking is that for every responsible, wonderful dog owner there is at least 5 irresponsible, ignorant, dimwitted morons who allow their dogs to indulge in obnoxious, unruly behaviour in public and harass other dog owners/walkers and their dogs. Unfortunately, I run into at least 1-2 of these idjits on an almost daily basis whenever Dante and I are out on our walks on an average day.

Well, when the weather gets a little nasty, guess what -- yep, all the idjits are suddenly no where to be seen! Hence, adverse weather days are days that I actually often look forward to (barring a complete white-out of a blizzard or something equally catastrophic, of course) heading out to stretch my legs with Dante.

After a protracted, miserable drive home, being able to enjoy an idiot-free walk with Dante certainly went a long way towards putting me in a better mood for the rest of the evening. The wind had died down and the ground was carpeted in fluffy, soft fresh snow. We had a lovely brisk walk without running into even one boorish idjit or being ambushed by someone's dog wandering loose on their front yard. It was a great workout trudging through the snowladen pathways and a simple way to unwind from a long way at work. Fantabulous!

Now, if ignorant, irresponsible drivers would just hole themselves up indoors whenever the weather is a little less than postcard perfect, I would be perfectly happy to cross another pet peeve off my list ...

Fickle

2012-01-18T20:05:00.000-05:00

While I grapple with my own fickle and conflicting sentiments that arose out of Atia's brief visit and stay, I would like to ask Dante:

Dear Dante, why is it that when Atia was here, you pulled spectacularly long faces, acted the macho "I don't play with little girls" stoic big man role worthy of an Oscar, and just generally sulked and pouted around the house wondering when she was going away again; yet, now that she's gone, you wander the house with a heart-wrenching morose look on your face piteously whining and pining at her absence?

Looks like I'm not the only one in the house in a pickle with fickle emotions.

Atia: Day 2 & 3

2012-01-17T21:05:00.001-05:00

The next day, it was clear that Atia was feeling much better. For starters, no sooner had Dante vacated his bed at the crack of dawn, Atia commenced Operation Takeover Dante's Stuff:

"Uhm ... errr ... Mum? Why is Dante looking at me like that? What do you mean it's his FAVOURITE bed? Oh ..."

She was still carrying her "baby" everywhere with her (even when going out into the yard to pee!), but she was a little more inquisitive and less mopey. Of course, Operation Takeover meant she claimed all the prime sunny spots in the house as well:

Pixie is keeping the secret of the moving sunbeams to herself for now.

I had booked the day off work, but had to drop into the office for a couple hours first thing in the morning. According to The Fred, who had the day off as well, after I had left the house Atia wandered around looking for me for a while, then resignedly plonked herself down on the stairway landing where she could keep an eye on the front door for my reappearance and still keep an ear out for activitiy upstairs:

When I returned a couple of hours later, the whole house was abuzz with excitement because the dogs had gotten wind that we were going out HIKING.

It was a bit of mayhem getting two dogs ready to go after only having to fuss about Dante for a long while now, but we finally did end up out the door, with the two dogs giving each other hairy eyeballs in the backseat making sure that their respective halves of the seat were clearly staked out.

The weather wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but it wasn't too bad once we all started moving at a good brisk pace. Actually, it was pretty much like a route march for at least a solid hour, so that gave the dogs a great workout and they had a blast zipping past each other on varied terrain. I didn't get as many varied photos as I would have liked, as many parts of the trail was sheer ice and safety and commonsense dictated that I had to set the camera aside to ensure I had proper footing and grip as we moved along (especially when two Dobermans are zooming to and fro alongside at high speed!); but here are some from the hike:

"Let's go let's go LET'S GO!!!!"

Interesting smells abound ...

Dante showing off -- notice that all his four feet are off the ground!

Emergency braking!

Revving up again ...

"Dante!!! WAIT UP!!!!"

Homeward bound ...

Atia seemed to have worn herself out on the hike, so much so that she seemed to have gotten into a cranky spell for the rest of the evening holing herself up in her crate cuddling with her "baby". Dante on the other hand had just enough stamina to hang around mooching for handouts as bacon, sausages and eggs were put on the grill. The Fred and I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of our day off with two tired but happy puppies moseying up for the occasional pet and scratch every now and then.

Day 3 (today), Atia woke up quite the chirpy little girl. Dante on the other hand was starting to have the "Is she going home yet Mum???" look on his face. I was back at work for the day, while The Fred was lucky enough to be able to work from home and play the role of Puppy Nanny. I had to be content with getting updates throughout the day from The Fred on how Atia was much happier around the house, and starting to goad Dante (who would have none of it) into play. The cats were a little cranky that all their usual attention had literally gone to the dogs (yeah I bet you saw that pun coming a mile away!), but otherwise the dogs were voluntarily on their best behaviour and actually spent most of the day curled up in the home office with The Fred working away:

There were potty, snack and play breaks of course, and then the dogs trailed The Fred back into the office and switched beds every so often:

When I got home from work later in the day, it was time for a nice long walk. We were out for over an hour, and got caught in a flash downpour on our way back. Eau de Wet Dog was the scent for the night!

Dinner for the dogs and humans later, Atia's breeder showed up at the expected time, and ... Atia was gone. It's been a good 3 days having her around again, even if just for a short while.

Until next time Atia, whenever that may be ...

She's here!

2012-01-15T20:53:00.002-05:00

I was upstairs working away at the computer, and it was Dante's barking that tipped us off.

The Fred strolled over to the window, peeked out over the driveway, and then declared: "They're here!!"

Everyone made a noisy trundle down the stairs, the front door was pulled open and in burst in a black blur with a "Oh Jiminy Cricket it's FREEZING out there couldn't you have gotten to the door any sooner?!" look on her face -- it was Atia!!! The last time I saw Atia was sometime in mid-October when I met her breeder at a show. It was good to see Atia again. This time, she would be staying with us for a couple of nights, with her breeder coming to pick her up again sometime late Tuesday evening.

We exchanged pleasantries with Atia's breeder at the door, while Atia immediately started checking out her new surroundings -- this was the first time she was at my new place after all.

That was when Atia's breeder announced: "Ok, well, you should know that Miss Atia is really cranky ..."

Turns out that Atia was going through a false pregnancy and feeling very confused and moody. According to her breeder, she had been holing herself up in her crate for long periods of time in the past 3 days. Hopefully, her breeder quipped, staying with us for a few days will help to take her mind off it and cheer her up a bit.

Dante was happy and excited enough to be constantly trying to goad Atia into play, even though Atia was visibly not in the mood for any of that (I guess fretting about imaginary babies is kind of bewildering, the poor girl). However, once Atia's breeder left and the front door closed behind her, with Atia still on the inside of the house, Dante's expression immediately changed to one of: "What?! She's ... STAYING?! Nooooooooooo! Mum!!!!"

After that, it was a a string of funny moments whereby Atia started exploring the house, with Dante closely trailing behind her, as if showing her the place on one hand while trying to assert his position in the house and to clearly demarcate the ownership of his "stuff":

"Alright, Atia, this is the living room, and that's MY bed. Here's the kitchen, water bowls are there, oh, and that's MY Cuz toy. We go upstairs here, and that's MY bone. That's the bedroom of course, and hey, get your paws off MY bed! MUM!!!!!"

We then let them both out in the yard where they both took turns peeing. It was still way too cold for them to both want to be out long, but they both did a short romp round the yard:

Dante:"Come on Atia, I'll show you around ..." Grudgingly. Just because Mum said I had to be nice ... (mutter mutter mutter)

Dante: "That's right, you just follow along now and keep out of trouble ... and will ya stop walking into my back foot!"

I thought this was a neat shot, because it shows the size difference between Dante and Atia -- just a reminder: Dante is oversized, Atia is within the standard:

A good way to get reacquainted: a reunion romp!

I don't know how she does it, but she has a way of magically revving up to turbo speed and overtaking Dante even if he has (ok, had) a big lead over her:

The dogs made it clear that they wanted back in the warm house after that.

Atia was quite moody for a bit. She paced around the house, and it was clear that she wanted to be back "home" (with her breeder) in her own familiar crate. After much moping around, even though she had comfy blankets, beds and a crate specially set aside for her pointed out to her, she obstinately parked herself on the mat at the front door, because that was where her breeder was last seen:

Yep, I had forgotten how moody them girls can get!

After allowing her to just have some space and time to herself, we decided to take her and Dante out for a brisk walk. Both dogs were bundled up, and off we went. The walk actually perked Atia up quite a bit, and it wasn't long before she was engrossed in checking out all the different sights, smells and sounds of the neighbourhood. She seemed much happier when we got home, and was actually coming up for pets and ear scratchies.

Both dogs had "nap time" for a while, just to let them calm down from the initial excitement and have her relax more. A crate with a comfy duvet in it was set aside for Atia, and Dante was just happy that he didn't have to share his bed(s) with her. Although, whether Atia will lapse back into her old habit of taking over Dante's beds like she used to once she gets settled in, remains to be seen ;)

Atia appeared to be much more cheerful after her nap, and both dogs were competing to see who could put on the suckiest expressions to garner the most pets and belly rubs from The Fred, who literally had his hands full and his fingers working overtime to meet wet-nosed, probing demands.

With Atia having calmed down considerably, The Fred and I made a quick run to the nearby Walmart for a quick shopping trip. We had some essentials we needed to pick up, and I also bought a couple of toys for the dogs. Atia was not impressed with the selection of toys in Dante's toy basket. Not surprising, since most of the toys in there were of the rough and tough variety made from rubber or some equally durable material, as Dante simply destroys anything soft and fluffy. Well, again, I had forgotten Atia's more "girly" preferences, so I decided to pick up a couple of stuffy toys at Walmart to make up for my oversight.

The dogs were thrilled to get their new toys: Dante a squeaky soft turkey, and Atia a plush baby lamb stuffy -- and that was how she treated it: in that instant, it became her "baby". She carried it with her everywhere she went, making sure it was accorded a place of honour in her crate and on her blankies.

Both dogs were fed dinner, and Dante was gulping down his food a little faster than usual! Then Atia emptied the water bowl and I was reminded of how, compared to Dante, much messier she is when it comes to drinking -- there was quite the small flood around the bowls once she was done!

Dinner for the humans had the dogs competing to see who could squeeze out the cutest, biggest googly eyes at the humans for table scraps. They both did get some treats though, with Dante leaving trails of dribble on top of Atia's head because he literally towered over her, especially when he was craning his neck trying to score leftovers -- ah, the good old times!

After that, it was time for another potty break, and then the dogs appeared content to just unwind and curl up on their respective beds. Atia had started seeming moody again. She carried her "baby" upstairs, and simply made herself comfortable and ready to call it a day:

Tomorrow the temperatures are supposed to rise above zero again, so The Fred and I have taken the day off so that we can take Dante and Atia out for a hike. I hope to get some good photos of them running and playing with each other tomorrow, but it's ultimately going to depend on what the weather is like, since the forecast is calling for considerable rain/wet snow as well.

And yeah, I know, there are not enough photos for the post today! Oh well, we were too busy enjoying the dogs and the camera had a way of not being around when we wanted/needed it :)

In the meantime, I'm knackered, and ready for bed myself! Very happy that Atia will be here for another couple of days :) I hope she wakes up feeling a little peppier in the morning!

Tomorrow

2012-01-14T19:58:00.003-05:00

Atia. Is. Coming. For. A. Visit. And. A. Stay. TOMORROW.

TOMORROW!!!

That is all.

For now :)

I'll save all the impending chatter for when Atia is here! ;)

A history of beds

2012-01-13T22:42:00.002-05:00

Dante has always loved his beds. Still does. Although his beds would likely quibble about the part of them being "loved". Dante's demonstrations of love towards his beds are a tad bit, shall we say, "extreme".

Ok, I know this is going to sound really silly and ditzy, but when I first took on the mantle of dog ownership, one of the things that I got really excited about was that I would be able to stamp my personal sense of style and shopping preferences when it came to purchasing all sorts of dog-related accessories and items, like leashes, collars, bowls, and dog beds, oh yes dog beds, oh glee!

I had so much fun shopping for the new puppy that was Dante back then. Dante's first "real bed" -- that is, once he successfully graduated from crate training and house breaking and could leave the old-towels-and-sheets-in-case-of-ooooops phase behind -- was a round "donut bed" (I don't know why I call it a "donut bed", but it was basically just a round bed with a nice thick padded ridge all around it) that was a nice, rich plum colour in a luxuriously soft faux chenille material (yes, that's the girly part of me peeking out again).

Dante LOVED that bed. Back then when he was about 7 months old he was just about the size of a large Australian Shepphard. He used to curl himself up in such a tiny little ball (he still does actually) right in the middle of the "donut hole" and made me all feel all gooey inside ooohing and aaaahing over my cute little puppy. Sometimes he would try to sprawl out in the middle of it and ended up with his head flopping over the ridge on one side and his legs poking out from the other. Tres cute!

Well, he loved that bed so much it lasted roughly 3 months -- he ate it. I noticed him nibbling the ridge (ha, donut) occasionally, until occasionally became all the time and all the time became bye-bye bed. He had chewed/nibbled off chunks of the bed until one day, it looked more like a sorry pile of rags than a bed. So, heartbroken, I had to chuck it.

I then tried out a couple of functional beds (nothing very exciting) from the local petstore -- cheap but hopefully durable and comfortable enough for Dante. By then Dante had had gradually exploded in terms of size as he grew older, so the biggest challenge for me, I found, was finding a bed that was LARGE enough, comfortable enough and AFFORDABLE enough from the local pet stores. All criteria for style and such went out the window when it dawned upon me that there were plenty of cutesy, "stylish" looking beds in a wide range of fabrics and colour schemes for small to medium-sized dogs, but for a dog Dante's size? Apparently the great majority of dog bed manufacturers don't share the opinion that a fearsome looking Doberman deserves to lounge on designer beds like tiny yorkies with a pink bow on the top of their heads do.

(That was also before I discovered the joys and convenience of internet shopping, but that's another story)

So for a while the focus was on functionality and practicality where beds for Dante were concerned. My memory where this is concerned appears to be foggy. We went through 2-3 of them, I'm pretty sure, but I can't seem to remember what their fate was -- as in: loved to death by the Doberman or tossed out by the Doberman owner because they just so blah and terribly NOT durable? Likely the latter.

Anyways, my next big splurge on a bed for Dante was when I visited the annual "All About Pets" show for the first time. It was a great show for consumers and your average dog owner, as they had quite the wide variety of vendors selling everything from organic, artisan-baked dog biscuits to neon glow-in-the dark collars all under one big deafening roof (they always had a flyball competition and demo at the same premises, you see).

I had stopped by to browse at the Bowsers pet products booth, and instantly fell in love with the MOUNTAIN (yes, I kid you not) of dog beds of every imaginable size, colour and material piled skyhigh. The overwhelming possibility of selection and choice fired up my girly shopping urges. They were having a "show special" on beds -- 60% off any bed, regardless of the size, ranging from XS to XXXL. Beds were being carefully inspected and pawed at by a throng of ravenous shoppers struck by a compelling desire to spend ridiculous amounts of money on their pets (yes, I was one of them that day), and then being grabbed and tugged out of the mountain, which was quickly shrinking in size at an alarming rate.

After spending an obscene amount of time wavering over colour combinations and trim details (all very important features of a dog bed, don't you know), I finally settled upon a huge round bed that was regularly $280 but priced at a steal of $120 for the show that day. Sold.

I brought it home and -- did I mention that Dante loves his beds yet -- it became Dante's new best friend. Well, for the better part of 3 or 4 months anyway.

I have no idea how Dante can be so rough on his beds, but whatever he did to that bed, it was quickly demolished. This time, I felt the $120 slip through my hands and boy did it hurt. No more! I said to myself. No more fancy beds until Dante stops his savage love routine with them! Of course, at that point in time, when it came to weighing whether $120 was better spent on an expensive dog bed or two training sessions and a training hall rental ... well.

So then I went through quite a prolonged stage whereby I would scan the weekly store flyers like a hawk and then pounce on deals for cheap comforters for $10-$15 a pop. They were dirt cheap, somewhat coarser than the usual "luxury" versions that Dante was used to, but hey, stack 2-3 of them together and they made a pretty comfy, absolutely functional nest of a bed. The best part about them being dirt cheap was that since Dante was still on his "Me love you to death" approach in his relationship with his beds, I had no qualms throwing them out when they got too shabby or started a nomadic existence around the house in pieces. I'd just buy more of the same on sale the next time and Dabte would have his fun with them. It was a very workable cycle for a good long while.

Well, when The Fred came into my life, I discovered Costco beds.

Now, I've had dog owner friends who frequently raved about Costco beds. According to them, the beds they got from Costco were cheap, durable, and (the #1 praise from other large dog owners) they were of a generous size for a very reasonable price of $15-$20. Back then though, I never got motivated enough to buy myself a Costco membership just to pop in there to buy dog beds every now and then. Besides, the nearest Costco was a good 30 minutes minimum drive away.

Fast forward to the present again. The Fred had a Costco membership. I went along with him on a trip to Costco once, took a look at their dog beds for sale, and instantly found them very appealing.

They were HUGE. They looked like they were sturdily constructed, well padded and thus comfortable for a dog Dante's size, and more importantly, they were VERY reasonably priced at around $20 a bed. Ok, sold. I bought one that very same day.

And then found myself going back again, to buy another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And that is how I ended up with more dog beds than actual human furniture in my current new house (a situation which will hopefully change in the next few months).

I have to rave about the Costco beds. They are huge. They are sturdy. They are durable. They are comfy. And hey, they aren't exactly haute couture, but they are actually quite pleasant to look at with tasteful colours and nice materials (fleece, suede etc.). And of course, you can't beat the price. From now on, I am getting all my dog beds from Costco.

Now, as was with every other bed that Dante had ever loved (and lost) in his life, he adored these new beds in his usual uhm ... enthusiastic fashion. Actually, I've never seen him get so ... physical with a bed before. At times, I even think that there's an added "viciousness" to the way he roughs these new beds up. All the (3? 4? I've lost count, ha ...) large square beds I've bought for him since moving into this house has been repeatedly mauled and munched on by Dante. He rakes them with a manic fervour with his paws. He humps them until he falls over or they fall over on him. He drags them around the house like he's dragging a bedraggled cavewoman by the hair. He punctures them and shakes them in such a ferocious manner that all the stuffing falls out which he then gobbles up (ah, the mystery of the -- literally -- disappearing beds). And when I say that these beds are sturdy, well, they are really STURDY. All his beds by now look like they've been through 3 world wars, but they still function and are miraculously still in one piece. Oh yes, and The Fred's sewing skills certainly come in handy.

A little while ago, I was eyeing those (now) somewhat pitiful looking beds and thought that perhaps it would be a good time to invest in another new bed again, seeing that one or two of them looked like they were going to fall apart any moment if you just but exhaled a little too forcefully.

So, off to Costco we went, of course. To my surprise, they no longer had any stock of all the nice large square beds that I had previously purchased. Instead, they were offering ROUND ones, which looked suspiciously smaller than the ones before (but girls are never very accurate in their spatial estimation, The Fred noted, ahem), but seemed to be just as sturdy and comfy, and priced the same. So, I bought one.

Well, let me tell you, something has come over Dante, or perhaps he has just decided that he has finally met the bed that "was meant to be" for him. He has NOT savaged this bed like he has with the others before it. I merely place it on his sleeping spot, and he -- I almost fell over with shock, I tell ya -- steps right up to it, and then -- GASP -- lies down on it. And goes to sleep. Like he's supposed to. On a bed. No endless stream of humping, mouthing, pawing, flipping, kicking, trampling before he even THINKS about flopping down on it. No rough love. Just using it like how a bed is intended to be used.

It's now about a couple of months in and there's barely a dent in this new round bed -- an astonishing record by Dante's standards. You place the round one and a square one side by side, and Dante will pick the round one over the square one. He's certainly seems to be in no hurry to hasten its lifespan, as is his usual modus operandi where beds are concerned. I don't know what it is about this round bed, but Dante certainly has done a 360 degrees in terms of his relationship with his bed.

I can't wait to go back to Costco and get another round bed like this one (hopefully they still have them!), and then see if it's the roundness, or if it's just THIS particular one bed, for whatever reason, that "does it" for Dante.

You know how some people fondly reminiscence about the beloved dogs that they used to own, and then point at an ancient, ratty tatty looking (but still intact) heap in the corner and say, with tears in their eyes: "And that was Spot's bed, ever since he was a wee little puppy ..."? Well, now I'm finally daring to dream of a similar moment with Dante, where his beds are concerned ... there may be hope yet!!

That familiar buzz ...

2012-01-12T21:00:00.006-05:00

Last night, on a whim, I decided to run through some obedience exercises with Dante. I can't remember the last time we did an entire competition obedience routine, or dedicated a solid hour to practising and proofing ... yes, sadly, it's been that long.

We did some heeling. Pivots. About turns. Fronts and finishes. Retrieves. Dante was a little rusty in terms of precision, but I marvelled at how he remembered every single exercise and the mechanics of it.

Even more heartening though, was how HAPPY and energectic he was at carrying out the various commands and exercises. His heeling was spot on, the focus was astounding, and his eyes never left my face and he stayed in position close to my knee. The fronts and finishes were snappy and lovely. Even the pivots and about turns were spirited and full of pep. The Fred laughed at Dante going after the dumbell like it was a beefsteak on wheels and then promptly returning to me in a dead-center front, patiently waiting for me to remove the dumbbell from his mouth and direct him to a finish.

That short little session reminded me of how much I really ENJOY working together with Dante as a team. The giddy thrill of putting our training to the test and executing complex (and not so complex) strings of behaviours as perfectly as possible. That spark in Dante's eyes when he's praised and rewarded for a job well done. That undescribable BUZZ and tingle -- yes, you know what I'm talking about, all you crazy dog sport/obedience enthusiasts!

It's making me yearn to go back full tilt into a busy training regime and getting competitive again. After a long stretch of "dormancy", I'm starting to get that "itch" again ... oh oh oh, should I? Should I not? Would Dante enjoy it once more? Dare I set goals again? So many conflicting thoughts tugging at me from all angles ...

Add this to the list

2012-01-10T19:35:00.001-05:00

A couple of years ago, I compiled a list of various non-food items that Dante has eaten or attempted to eat. It's an interesting, but at the same time, sobering list, especially for a first-time, inexperienced dog owner that I was back then. Since that list was compiled, I am happy to report that the list hasn't gotten any longer -- which means that Dante hasn't managed to snarfle any other "prohibited" items that he hasn't already since then.

Well, until now. So the above statement is no longer true.

Remember, just a week ago, when I was lamenting about having to put up with Dante the Walking Fart Factory for an entire day and night because he had (it was strongly suspected) ingested something that he shouldn't?

During one of his more noxious spurts, The Fred took in a cringing whiff and exclaimed: "Hey, I KNOW that smell!", but, he couldn't quite put a finger on what it was specifically.

I merely shrugged that comment aside, as I was more concerned about dodging Dante's gaseous clumps at the time, until The Fred brought it up again a couple of days ago.

The Fred said: "Hey, remember when I said that I knew that stinky smell Dante was farting out? Well ..."

Boys and girls, we figured out what the illicit item was that Dante scarfed down that day during our absence.

Any guesses? No?

I would be really impressed if you guessed this: A MARKER PEN.

Really, Dante?? Of all things, a MARKER PEN???? Does a marker pen smell like food to a dog???

The Fred was rooting around his desk in the office, and noticed that one of his marker pens under the table was missing. He remembered that distinct uhm ... "scent" of Dante's fart, which smelled suspiciously similar to the unmistakable smell of a marker pen, and put two and two together ...

I have no idea why Dante would go poking around, pick out, and then settle to chow down a marker pen of all things. One of those inexplicable things that dogs do, I guess. I hope he won't repeat that again. The "stench" of a marker pen is bad enough when you have to put up with it while using it, but a marker-pen-scented fart? EEEEEEWWWWWW is all I can say.

Thankfully, no harm (that we can tell so far) came to Dante from gobbling down that marker pen, which is a really good thing, considering that there must be a bajillion toxic substances contained in a marker pen -- its ink in particular. I'm sending Pixie out on regular stray pen patrol from now on ...

So, yes, I guess we can add this one to the list!

"Sleep-barking"

2012-01-09T13:31:00.001-05:00

I’m sure most people have heard of the phenomenon of sleep-walking. It is classified as a sleep disorder that causes the afflicted to engage in various behaviours while still asleep. Sleepwalking episodes can last from 30 seconds to 30 minutes.

A quick search on Google reveals that the question of whether animals/dogs sleepwalk as well remains quite a debatable topic.

Well, we believe Dante sleep-walks. Or, to be more specific, he “sleep-barks”.

Interestingly enough, this is something that has started only fairly recently.

For the past 2-3 months, once or twice a week during the night, Dante will suddenly rouse himself from a deep sleep in his bed, run up to the window to fire off a few short, loud barks, and then immediately run back to his bed, circle and flop back down into a seemingly instant deep sleep again.

When this happens, there is a nuanced but noticeable (to people who know Dante well and have spent a lot of time in person with him, that is) difference in Dante’s body language and behaviour. His movements appear mechanical. His body is stiff. He does not respond to our calls or commands, it’s like he doesn’t even hear us. His usually very expressive face appears somewhat wooden and glazed-over.

So far, it has been always the same basic sequence of actions: Leap out of bed. Run to window. Bark a few times. Run back to bed. Plop back down on bed and resume sleeping.

The first few times that it happened we were really puzzled by the odd behaviour, especially when Dante appeared to be completely non-responsive. Besides, it’s quite unpleasant to be suddenly jolted awake by barking that sounds like an ear-splitting foghorn. Once we recognized that there was a pattern to it, we were still a little concerned but less likely to feel the urge to jump out of bed and scan the house for dangers.

Last night was a classic example of Dante “sleep-barking”. The Fred and I were snuggled up watching a movie. Suddenly, we heard that familiar rustling of Dante’s bed. Sure enough, mere seconds later we saw Dante run up to the window, let out a few quick, loud barks, and then immediately spin around and curl back up in bed again. This all transpired within about 30 seconds.

I’m not quite sure what triggered this sudden spate of regular “sleep-barking” behaviour. In fact, if I haven’t been witnessing it with my own eyes, then I would still be quite the skeptic in believing that animals/dogs actually do sleepwalk ... but, that seems to be the only logical explanation.

I’m wondering what would happen, if when Dante is in the middle of “sleep-barking”, I physically prevent him from going up to the window or get him to come to my side? Would wake up and get very confused? Or would he continue on carrying out some kind of deeply subconscious “pre-programmed” set of behaviours? Hmmm ...

Developments

2012-01-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

Apologies for my sudden absence in the last few days. I have been assisting the local Animal Services with an investigation. Things have been rather "interesting" in the past couple of days, shall we say. I may further write about the matter, or I may not, we'll have to see how things progress with the investigation.

Anyway, in other news, Atia will be boarding with us for three days next weekend! Certainly something to very much look forward to :) More details and photos, of course, to follow on Atia's visit!

In the meantime, I'll have to keep this quickie short for now and perhaps return to a longer post later today ... depending on how full my tummy is and how mobile I am at that time -- I'm heading out to Dim Sum with a friend shortly and expect to do a bit of pigging out ;)

Hope everyone's had an excellent weekend so far with their two- and four-legged companions!

Sparks are flying

2012-01-04T21:26:00.001-05:00

The household is under attack -- from nefarious surges of static electricity!

Over the last few days, I've been getting a shock -- an audible BZZZZT! sound with visible sparks of a light greenish/bluish tinge -- whenever I reach out to flip a switch in the house. At first, I thought it was some kind of malfunction with the switch or electricity somehow leaking out from the circuit and electrocuting me (hey, I never professed to be a scientist); but then The Fred, who actually studied electrical thingamajighoohaas and stuff in university, informed me that it was just static electricty surging upon contact.

Ah.

Now I know that often during the winter, when I'm touching metal door handles (especially on the outside of buildings) I often get a jolt of static electricity passing through me. Again, I'm no scientist, but I'm assuming that it's because of the really dry and cold winter air.

However, I've never been "shocked" inside my own home before. And never this many times.

Aside from every switch in the house, this evening I reached out for a metal pot handle to rearrange the pot on the counter and got a jolt with a spark -- a pot handle! What next? Will I be getting all charged up when I'm handling cutlery during meal times???

Metal objects in the house aren't the only source of these unpleasant jolts either. Last night, Pixie was wandering atop of The Fred's desk in the office and decided to nudge his hand which was hovering over the mouse with her nose to demand a pet and ...

... BZZZZT!!!!

It was a LOUD audible buzz and there were VISIBLE sparks. Yikes. Poor Pixie never knew what hit her.

Today when I got back home, Dante was circling around me in a sort-of mini zoomie, when at one point he lifted his head and tried to poke me in greeting like he usually does, when the tip of nose connected with my forearm and ...

(yep, you guessed it) ... BZZZZT!!!!

I yelped, and Dante was stunned into momentary stillness, slowly blinking his eyes in a bemused "Mum, what did you just go to me?????" look.

Later, after an invigorating walk and having forgotten about the earlier shock (yes, pun intended!) of being cattle-prodded by Dante's nose, of all things, I reached down to Dante to give him a sweeping "What a good boy!" stroke down the arch of his back and ...

... BZZZZT BZZZZT BZZZZT BZZZZT BZZZZT BZZZZT!!!!!!

That's right, I received a SERIES of static electricity bursts, and Dante ... he was just dumbfounded.

At this rate I'll be a walking electrical conducter of some sort by the end of the week.

As it is, I've resorted to flipping switches with my (sleeved) elbow, and regard all shiny, metallic looking things with wretched suspicion and wariness of being shocked. But then there are the definite non-metallic "things" like dog and cat noses (so far!) ... it seems that there's just no way of being completely "safe" ...

Time to look into a humidifier for the house, perhaps ...!

Wanted: Febreeze for farts

2012-01-03T20:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we headed out midday to run a couple of errands. Dante had been exercised and was mellow when we left the house. When we got home, he was his usual excited self, and his bed felt all warm and toasty so we surmised that he must have been happily napping away while we were out and about getting things done.

However, at some point during the time that we were away from the house, Dante must have scarfed down something that he was not supposed to.

For the rest of the day, he acted very subdued. His tummy made worrying gurgling sounds. He practically emptied bowls of water on the hour (raw fed dogs usually have minimal water intake since raw foods are typically so rich in moisture). He made odd whiny noises and fussed around more than usual. When I left home this morning he refused to do his #2 -- I was worried that I was going to come home to a big stinking pile of mess at the end of the work day.

Thankfully there was no mess when I arrived home from work. During our walk, Dante squeezed forth the squishiest, slimiest, yuckiest and STINKIEST mound of poop I've had the "joy" of dealing with for a long, long time now. I was grateful that it was not diarrhea, but it sure smelled like diarrhea on steroids. As we continued on our walk we were accompanied by its putrid stench wafting from the poop bag until I could get to a garbage can to toss it away. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

After that purge of "distinction", Dante appears to be in much better spirits now but so far for the rest of the evening he has been trotting around tooting the most noxious, toxic smelling gas clouds from his backdoor. Not only is whatever he's pumping out absolutely foul-smelling, it LINGERS, leaving a trail of sour faces and green-faced gagging in his wake.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is the forbidden item/substance he has ingested that is causing all this. Both cats are whole and present. I did a thorough and complete check and inventory of the house and cannot detect anything or its remnants that is missing, mutilated, half-eaten, puked-up, or otherwise unaccounted for ... or accounted for in a less than desirable form.

Hopefully whatever the culprit is, it's working itself out of his system and won't become a blockage issue.

In the meantime, I wish somebody had told me that having gas masks on hand come in real handy when owning a dog.

New year, new treats

2012-01-02T10:25:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are in 2012! Since a post at the beginning of the month has already been dedicated to a recounting of the past year, I won't embark on a repetitious customary "a year in review" post. On the other hand, I (regrettably) have yet to decide upon a comprehensive "game plan" for the year ahead where Dante and dog-related activities/ambitions are concerned, so we'll set aside the "goals for 2012" type of post for now.

So let's move on to matters of less gravity for the time being :)

On New Year's Eve, The Fred and I headed out to run some quick errands before the rowdier party-going crowds were out in full force. On our way home we stopped by the local pet store. I had a discount coupon that I wanted to use for buying Dante a new toy -- given Dante's propensity for obliterating new toys (especially fuzzy stuffed ones) within minutes of receipt, the last time I've bought him a new toy was likely ... well, a year ago I'd guess. So yes, a new pressie for Dante is long overdue.

I bought Dante a new funky-looking ball toy made of hard, durable rubber (those seem to be the only toys that don't get torn apart to shreds in the name of play by Dante). The Fred was feeling generous, and picked up a naturally shed antler chew for Dante.

I remember when the first antler chews came on the market about 2 years ago. As they were supposedly 100% natural, they were touted to be the ideal chew for dogs who were aggressive chewers and/or dogs who had a sensitive tummy. They allegedly left no mess, don't splinter, gave off no odious odor and practically last forever (ok, "a very long time", to be more accurate).

The above purported qualities made it a very appealing chew for me to get for Dante. I have regularly given Dante frozen raw meaty bones as an all-natural chew option. He loves them, but as the bones thaw out while being chewed bits of meat and soggy bone get sprayed everywhere, requiring a clean-up at the end of every chew session. To buy a Dante-sized antler chew at the time though would have cost upwards of $30-$40, for perhaps a 0.5-1lb piece. Compare this to 50 cents per pound for raw meaty bones. Given that Dante manages to utterly demolish frozen lamb flanks (a rare treat and meal susbtitute that he gets every now and then) that are almost 2 feet long and 3.5-4lbs in weight within 20 minutes or less without even taking a breath, I was naturally curious to put an antler chew to the "let's see how long this really lasts" test. Unfortunately, the price at the time put me off purchasing one, since I was cringing at the thought of spending $40 on something that wouldn't even last half the day, so I decided that I could put up with a little clean-up ever so often and held off on getting one for Dante.

The Fred decided to indulge our collective curiosities on how long it'll last, and as a token of his "appreciation" for Dante's nursemaid duties while he was ill in bed. So, Dante finally gets the antler chew I've been thinking of for him!

The Fred picked out the biggest one they had at the store: a "jumbo" size chew that cost around $30. It looked like a funny-coloured marrow bone piece to me, and was quite weighty to pick up with one hand.

We tried to get Dante to hold it in his jaws and pose for a photo for posterity when we got home and presented it to him:

Well ... it didn't quite work out that way. Although the "hold" command was given, Dante was soooooooo excited at this big chunk of ... "thing" being given to him he wasted no time in running away with it the minute the grip on the antler was released:

And the following, is just the pure, sheer joy of Dantey-styled agressive, vigorous chewing -- no captions needed:

"Best (gnaw gnaw grunt) New Year's (grunt gnaw gnaw) pressie (gnaw gnaw grunt gnaw) EVER, Mum!"

It was so good to watch Dante thoroughly enjoying himself; and, from the looks of it, the antler really did provide him with a brand new challenge: I believe the texture and taste is different from the bones he usually gets, and it did appear to be quite tough.

The "damage" to the antler after about an hour, on both ends:

At the rate Dante has been working through it, The Fred projects that it's going to take him roughly about 10 hours or so before he whittles it down to a choking hazard size and has to be thrown out. That's far from lasting "a very long time" (and no where close to forever) in my books, but we'll see! It's a treat after all so he doesn't get to have at it all the time but only for supervised periods of time every now and then. So far it hasn't splintered, but there are little flecks of "shavings" all over the place once Dante is done with his chewing session ... perhaps it's the way Dante files it down with his teeth. Oh, and maybe I have an ultra-sensitive olfactory system, but I didn't find it true as advertised that the antler gave off no odour: There was a sort of heavy musky smell wafting throughout the room as Dante chewed on it. It's not a particularly yucky smell, but I wouldn't say that it's pleasant either. So, the jury is still out on whether Dante is going to get another antler chew once he's done with this one. Let's see how long this one lasts first ...

As an ending note, I'm pleased to say that the kitties weren't left out on receiving a new treat for the new year either: they got a "double whammy" (sensational advertising, much?) catnip and honeysuckle fleece pillow. Tinsel loves catnip like your average cat, but Pixie only reacts to honeysuckle as the average cat would to catnip. So I figured a combo mixture was the best of both worlds.

Since Pixie is the poser in the family, I leave you with photos of her enjoying her new treat:

"Gimme gimme gimme!" (notice Dante chewing on his antler in the background)

Drugged-up kitty bliss:

Time marches on

2011-12-31T19:18:00.004-05:00

Lately, I've noticed that Dante is, well, getting old.

What really brought that fact home to me was noticing that teeny, weeny, slightest bit of greying on his muzzle. Very, very slight greying, noticeable only with a squint and at a certain angle of lighting, but it's definitely greying.

Then I noticed a few more errant grey hairs along his neck. Around the edges of his ears.

Dante will be 5 years old next Spring. The average age for a Doberman? 7 years. Unfortunately, it's not a breed with a whole lot of longevity. With Dante being oversized for his breed, that's another strike against his favour where lifespan is concerned. Granted, many Dobermans do indeed live a healthy long life exceeding the breed average number of years, and with Dante's active lifestyle and excellent diet, I'm certainly hoping that that tips the odds towards a longer, illness-free life for him. Still, no one can predict the future and with the myriad of health challenges and genetic conditions faced by this breed, how long Dante is going to live is practically a roll in the roulette wheel.

What's also undeniable, and especially noticeable in the last year, is that Dante is defintely slowing down.

These days he's happy with one walk a day. And sometimes it's one at an ambling, leisurely speed. After a 3 hour romp in the great outdoors, he's more inclined to curl up in his bed than gear right up again for another 3 hour romp. He puts himself to bed by 8pm every night. On the dot. Without fail. He's no longer tearing down the walls from boredom or an excess of energy if I don't wake up by 6am the latest in the mornings. He still acts like he only gets fed once a month at every mealtime, but he's sensibly tucking away his food these days through measured chews rather than simply inhaling it in one quick gulp. He still has awesome stamina and we've marched through long hikes and whole day trials without any issues, but he's certainly no longer a challenger to the Energizer Bunny for mascot status.

The other day, while I was working away at the computer at home, Dante moseyed up to me and rested his head on the desk right next to me so that I could reach over and give him the occasional pet on the head or ear scratch every now and then during a pause in my typing. About 5 minutes later, I heard a continuous low grumbling from him and it turned out that he had fallen asleep with his head right on the desk! I chuckled at the thought of my infatigueble, "always-on" puppy (yes, he will always be a "puppy" to me) nodding off in a standing position with his head resting on a hard desk surface, but deep inside was a wistfulness that I hadn't been able to quite shake off since.

Yes, some things do get better with age. He's grown into a well-trained, intelligent dog with a more sensible approach to life acquired through years of experience. He has a dignified and regal aura about him, something that comes with maturity and the mellowing of age. His diminished need for an insatiable amount of exercise, stimulation and engagement certainly makes organizing a life and other personal interests around him far easier and more convenient. The years spent seeing each other through life's ups and downs has me convinced that at times, Dante appears to have a telepathic link to my thoughts and intentions. I am joyful of these things that come, and are only earned, through the passage of time and the building of a relationship and bond.

Yet recently, what with the various upheavals in my life in the past year, I've come to contemplate more and more often on how my life will (mortality of all living things being an inevitable fact of life after all) change once Dante is no longer with me, and when that time would be. Suffice to say, such are no pleasant thoughts running through my mind.

It is also prompts me to reflect on various speculative matters. One among them being: Without the benefit of foresight and if Dante was only to live another 2 years in staying true to the "breed average", would I want to spend those two years in a more relaxed fashion as we enjoy each other's company through various more casual, and leisurely activities, or do I want to plunge right into competitive dog sports again at a more frenetic, busy pace? More importantly, what would DANTE want or prefer, if he could ponder upon his own mortality and if he had a choice in the matter?

And yet another "question" I find myself wondering, one which really has no relation to Dante is: When Dante is "gone", will I want to bring another dog, perchance another Doberman (or two), into my life again?

These, and many other questions that have been rolling around in my head lately, I have yet to settle upon answers too. They are questions that I'm going to be wrestling with in both the very near future and in the longer term ahead.

Of course, at present, Dante is far from geriatric. Looking at him some days I would even say that he's in the prime of his life right now in some ways. He's certainly in tip-top physical and mental shape and is certainly showing no inclination to willingly head into a "retirement" mindset. There's no reason to believe that he doesn't have many more healthy and active years ahead of him to go.

The only certainty, as is the case with all things in life, is that time soldiers on regardless of where you are in the grand scheme of things. As is with opportunities, if you don't hold on to and cherish the treasured moments in life, you might just find them slipping through your fingers in the blink of an eye.

At the end of yet another year, and after spending nearly an entire year mired in my own personal entanglements, I find myself musing upon Dante and his irreplacable role in my life, the place in my heart that is singularly occupied by him and him alone. As I become increasingly aware of the ticking timeline that is his life, I find myself facing new questions that I don't necessarily have the answers to, yet, or ever; questions that I don't necessarily want to face.

And I find myself ever even more in awe and appreciation of the richness, the joys and the meaningful moments that he brings to my life.

Whatever lies ahead, I just know that next year will be another wonderful year for Dante and myself: there simply hasn't been a year, a moment, with Dante, that hasn't been good and meaningful in many ways.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL -- you're never truly alone or wanting of love, affection and loyalty with a dog by your side.

2011, it's been great. 2012, ready or not, HERE WE COME!!!

Recovery chez Dante

2011-12-30T21:58:00.000-05:00

Falling sick, being ill and recovering from illness when there's a pet/dog/cat (or multiple ones, as the case may be here) in the equation can be a boon or nuisance, or both at the same time, depending on one's perspective.

Thanks to those of you who sent "get well soon" wishes -- I'm happy to report that although still unable to ingest more than a tea biscuit and copious amounts of warm sweet tea, The Fred is (literally) back on his feet and feeling much better today. He thought he'd share his thoughts on being on the mend in the last 24 hours:

Recuperating, ah yes, that most elusive of decadent pursuits, as known by anyone with pets agile or tall enough to reach the bed -- is a contact sport. In this house we're happily home to two cats (one with enough attitude for three) and of course Dante.

Lying in bed sick is therefore a clockwork scehdule of fending off a wet nose and licks from a concerned Dante every five to ten minutes, making sure one is still capable of scratching his ears and looking like recovering enough to go for a walk soon. Contributing to Dante's nursing efforts are being bounced on by Pixie during the day and Tinsel at night (they have the luxury of tag teaming through numbers) so that the trio can check that the patient remains alive enough for their needs (i.e. petting and treats). One can only assume that this is some kind of genetically programmed test that animals have as part of their sixth sense, kind of a survival of the fittest since it surely doesn't aid in catching up on any sleep!

That said, I have to make a special mention and express appreciation to Dante who forewent his comfy bed upstairs to join me downstairs at weird times of the night when I was making too much ruckus for his Mum to sleep.

Dante is a much happier boy today as well. As forecasted, the temperatures vaulted above zero today and he got not one but TWO brisk walks throughout the day. The Fred's much better so Dante had his wrestling partner back. Furthermore, Dante was greatly cheered up by The Fred and his Mum surprising him with a couple of goodies to usher in the New Year ... details to follow soon in upcoming posts!

The boys are glum

2011-12-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

What a day. The household woke up to -15C weather this morning with soft fuzzy flurries drifting down like powdered sugar. Peering out from the bedroom window, the roads still appear to be a hideous frozen mess.

The Fred was struck by a nasty stomach bug last night. After spending half the night heaving and hurling in the bathroom, the poor boy spent the day today in bed recuperating from chills and an assortment of aches and pains. We had a walk/hike planned with a good friend today, but The Fred was barely in any shape to pull on socks, let alone trek around briskly on snow and ice, so regrettably a fun day out had to be cancelled.

Meanwhile, the other boy in the house -- Dante, continued on with his campaign of sulks and pouts in protest at a second day of inhospitably cold weather. He had resorted to holding in pee and poop until he absolutely has to go (by choice), so strong was his dislike for traipsing around in the cold trying to do his business. Dante spent most of today migrating from bed to bed in the various rooms throughout the house, dragging along his almost comical mile-long sulk with him wherever he went.

Dante was, at the heart of it, conflicted: He wanted his usual daily walks and runs, but he hated tottering around in the cold outside dressed like Little Red Riding Hood's grandma.

So, he grumbles about it in his own pouty way.

"Oh ... Hi Mum. What? Go outside? Who? Me? Oh no no, you took me out hours ago, remember? No no, I don't need to go AGAIN ... no, really Mum, I'm quite comfortable in my little sunshine patch here, no need to go outside, nope nope ..."

Dante did in fact get a walk today, and he cheered up considerably while we were out even though he was breaking the speed limit trying to get to the front door of the house in record time as we approached home a block away. Back indoors, he seemed to have perked up a little, but signs of cabin fever are already beginning to show. Thankfully, the weather forecast is calling for temperatures above zero tomorrow -- it might be a slushy, mucky mess out there come the morning, but we'll be out gallomphing around for the sake of Dante's sanity!

As for me today, my hat is off to good books, entertaining movies, video games and a spot of writing thrown into the mix. Not a bad way to spend a quiet day at home indoors, actually. Hopefully the boys won't have cause to be as glum tommorow!

Say "COOKIE!"

2011-12-28T20:33:00.000-05:00

Today was the first truly COLD day of winter -- -18C with windchill. On top of that, as temperatures plummeted overnight there was a general flash freeze, rendering some parts of the ground outdoors a virtual skating rink as the roads and pathways iced over. Add a blustery, biting wind to the equation and what you end up with is a really unpleasantly cold day to be out and about.

Which led to a less than chipper Dante today. Not only was he outfitted in his entire winter ensemble -- coat, snood and boots -- today for his walks, he could barely take a step without slip-slidding all over the place. Dante wasn't very impressed with trying to balance on frozen paws to pee either. So, for a large part of Dante's time indoors today, he indulged in his annual customary it's-the-first-really-cold-day-of-winter-and-it-sucks mope.

Today also happened to be "Let's attempt to take a DIY family portrait!" day, and needless to say, Dante was none too thrilled about that either.

I decided that since this was the first year of "new beginnings" for me, that it would be nice to have a "family photo" taken of myself, The Fred, Dante and the two cats. For posterity, of course, and as a symbol of good times to come in the approaching new year. If things continue to motor along as wonderfully as they have been next year, then I would splurge for a professionally done portrait in a photo studio. For now though, I had a pretty neat DSLR and a tripod, how hard could it be ... right?

Of course, the two-legged subjects were no problem at all. I had anticipated that perhaps the cats might pose a bit of a challenge, with their tendency to get all squirmy and squirrelly when being led to do something that they didn't want to do, especially with Tinsel being her usual skittish self; but as it turned out, they were no trouble at all. Tinself was unceremoniously lifted out from her cat tree, into a lap, where she perched stonily with a bewildered and slightly nervous look on her face, and then returned to her cat tree again once the "photo shoot" was completed with nary a hiccup. Pixie, as was her nature, was already inquisitively rooting around and poking her nose into everything from the tripod feet to Dante's indignant nub, that she was simply scooped up when her presence was warranted and then plopped back down again when it was all over. No problem.

The real challenge was to convince mopey, pouty, sulky Dante that he WANTS to be part of this whole "production" and that it's "so much fun" to pose like a statue for this funny clickety flashing thingie. Compounding the problem was having the camera on remote self-timer: Dante didn't actually have anyone to look at while the shots were being taken, and he couldn't understand why we kept urging him to stare ahead at wallpaper and a funny looking box propped up on skinny legs. At one point we even tried placing a coveted cookie right under the camera in hopes that his gaze would stay trained on it long enough for the camera to snap a shot of all of us looking cheerily into the camera, but ... no dice. He couldn't understand why he was not allowed to turn his head around to us and have his ears scratched.

Anyway, after lots of cajoling, cookie crumbs and under-the breath muttering, we ended up with at least a couple of decent shots that were deemed "fit" to be sent to family and friends. Due to the anonymous nature of this blog and the desire to keep it that way, said photos will unfortunately not be publicly shared, but if you're family and close friends, expect a copy to be sent your way soon :)

I'm always ever so envious of anybody who manages to orchestrate a postcard perfect "family portrait", especially when unpredictable four-legged family members are involved. I for one can't claim such an accomplishment yet! Some photo studio is definitely going to get my business next year ...

In the meantime, here's the "blooper reel" version of some of the shots that were taken. Since this is Dante's blog after all, the "oooops" shots naturally center upon him:

At first, Dante figured he'd just "run away". "I'm having no part of this silly photo thing!"

At which point he had to be "persuaded" to get back into the frame several times. Let's just say that obedience commands were invoked. In one shot I was surreptitiously trying to hang on to him so earnestly that the shot came out with me looking like I was in a straightjacket ... not so surreptitious after all I guess. This is Dante pulling a long face at having to obey a "Sit-Stay" command ... notice the un-surreptitious hands trying to ensure that he stays put:

"Mum! SQUIRREL!!!"

"Mum! PAPER BOY!!!"

"Mum ... I ... AM ... BORED ... arewedonealreadycanIleavenowPixieispullingfunnyfacesatme ... ugh ..."

When all else fails, resort to bawling:

Never have I seen a dog happier to resume pouting in a corner!

Them confused bushy-tailed rodents ...

2011-12-27T17:34:00.002-05:00

... and one confuzzled puppy!

The weather this year has been really ... bipolar. All throughout Summer and Fall we would be alternating between really hot/dry and cold/wet weeks. A similar pattern seems to be carrying on this winter.

Case in point: Two weeks ago we welcomed the first snowfall for the winter. Two days after that first snowfall, temperatures started climbing again, to the point of when we reached Christmas Eve, the day time high was hovering around a very comfortable 2-3C. Christmas this year was WARM; so warm that starting Christmas day, hordes of squirrels (yes, HORDES, in this neighbourhood, I kid you not) stirred from their hibernation and was scampering around foraging all over the place.

Dante wasn't really sure what Mother Nature was up to either. After having to go on several walks already clad in his winter coat and snood, yesterday we went on a lively 10km brisk walk in sunny 4C weather. Everywhere we went along on our route there were swarms of squirrels busying about; or, in Dante's mind, waylaying him and taunting him in their oh-so-annoying nattering, chittering manner. At some point in time I guess Dante must have gotten the impression that he had been appointed the Squirrel Marshall, since everytime we came by one or families of those skittering little rodents he felt compelled to issue forth peals of ferocious loud barking and then attempt to drag one of us up a tree. Or over a fence. Across the road. Under a car. Into a bush. Yeah, you get the picture.

This morning while out on our walk there appeared to have been armies of squirrels out on some kind of mission. It was a nice balmy 3C with barely a breeze and lots of cloud cover. Dante practically bayed and howled for a good 1-2 blocks after we had stumbled upon a particularly large clan of squirrels apparently holding a town hall meeting on someone's lush and green lawn.

After our long morning walk, The Fred and I decided to head out for some post-Christmas/Boxing Day shopping as well as run some errands along the way for the rest of the afternoon. So, Dante snoozed the day away curled up on one of his many beds in the house.

When we left the house, the temperature was still a very comfortable 4-5C but it had begun to drizzle. As we made our way through town the rain started pouring down, until eventually the temperature had dipped low enough that it turned into ice pellets, and then fluffy snow. When we finally returned home the snow was falling down quite thick at times and there was already a good centimetre or so of it on the ground.

Dante went bounding out into the yard for his customary "Yay, Mum's home!" potty break, fully expecting the warm, mellow weather he had enjoyed for the past 2-3 days. Once his first step out the door left a warm, sticky pawprint on the fresh snow, bewilderment was written all over his face and body language: "AAGGHHHH!! Mum!!! What ...what is ... what is this?!?!?!"

The poor puppy shivered his way out onto the grass for a pee, and then shivered his way back into the house. The rest of the evening was spent curled up in a little ball on his bed with a woe-is-me pout on his face.

According to the weather forecast, we're in for a winter storm tonight with lots and lots more snow to come. The temperature will be dropping to about -8C tonight, and reach arounjd -18C with windchill by tomorrow. Brrrrrrrrr!

But guess what? The weather forecast is also predicting above zero temperatures again as we head into the weekend (a high of 5C for this coming Sunday!). Looks to me that we're in for more "yo-yo" weather on the horizon ...

Guess we won't be seeing any squirrels out and about tomorrow! I'll tell Dante to be ready for another wave of squirrel invasion as we approach the weekend though, if temperatures are indeed going to rise again in the span of a few days ...

An ineloquently merry Christmas

2011-12-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

Slept in for the morning.

Had exercise out of the house. With the dog.

Bellies got stuffed with yummy stuff.

Cats were cuddled.

Snuck in a nap for the afternoon.

Bellies got stuffed with more yummy stuff.

Cats were snuggled.

Had ... errr ... exercise in the house. Without the dog.

Dante got a second walk.

Long hot shower felt good.

Bellies definitely overstuffed with yummy stuff.

The good old Monopoly board got a dusting off and lots of paper money exchanged hands.

Laundry got done.

Sheets got changed.

Kitties are purring contentedly.

Dante's put himself to bed.

Brain ... no longer ... working.

The bed's beckoning.

Ahhh ... it's been a good Christmas day :)

I might just grow to like this Christmas thing after all ...

2011-12-24T15:23:00.000-05:00

Not being of an anglo-Christian background, I never grew up with Christmas as a significant day or occasion in my life. The first 20 years of my life were spent in my home country, and when I first came to Canada, I soon realized that Christmas was THE family event of the year for the great majority of people.

Since, technically speaking, I was without "family" for the first several years when I moved abroad, Christmas day and its buildup and subsequent winding down in the weeks preceding and following the actual day itself simply drifted by without me really batting an eye, so to speak. Sure, occasionally I visited with friends and their families for Christmas dinners and took part in their family traditions and celebrations, but more often than not I looked forward to Christmas because that meant extra time off work and an excuse to indulge in some really rich foods. Christmas was simply just another day to me.

Well, until I got married. Suddenly, I became part of a large extended family with deep-rooted Christmas traditions and rituals that had to be acted out like a play on a stage every year. I made a wholehearted effort to try to embrace it all, especially the spirit of it that focused on bringing the family together and sharing a meaningful special occasion.

I understood the principle of it, but somewhere along the way, the meaning of it all became lost to me. I couldn't understand or relate to the ways or forms these "values" were being expressed.

As I did not have any immediate or extended family of my own over here, Christmas naturally became Christmas with the in-laws. The Christmases of my married life in the past few years weren't exactly fond memories that I find myself reminiscing with a smile. Christmas was about scrambling to think of, and purchase, "thoughtful" gifts for people you don't keep in touch with, barely know, and pretend to love and gush about once a year. Buying and giving presents for the sake of buying and giving presents, simply because it was the "done thing". Christmas was about putting up an excess of seasonal decor and twinkly lights just because "that's what everyone does". Christmas was about day-long binge fests of food and drink, stiflingly warm houses full of bad jokes and awkward small talk at "family" gettogethers. Christmas was about the mountains of presents piled up in the living room on Christmas morning and then still having kids throwing tantrums and whiny fits because they didn't exactly get everything that was on their list to Santa this year. Christmas was about adults acting like their children, reveling in their own hissy fits and personal spats simply because the traditional strawberry rice pudding didn't have enough strawberry in it or because somebody was made to sit next to somebody else's boyfriend or girlfriend who made a snarky comment about them earlier in the evening.

And the pets ... oh the poor, poor pets. That was one of the things that bothered me the most. Pets being left home alone long days with forgotten mealtimes and without regular potty or exercise breaks because their FAMILY left them behind to indulge in merrymaking and gorging on rich food. Left behind because it was easier to squabble about sleeping arrangements than it was to accomodate a pet's daily routine and needs throughout the course of the day. Pets having their homes overrun by strange guests and snotty kids because of raucous parties and endless visits, and simply being treated as invisible and non-existent by their owners because it was inconvenient and "rude", don't you know, to maybe spend a few moments educating the guests and imparting simple tips on how to respect and be considerate to the four-legged inhabitants of the home. And then there were the pets who were dragged along to crowded, drama-filled "family" "festive" gatherings, who were then expected to behave like cuddly statues and tuck themselves away in the corner for hours and hours without meaningful interaction or appropriate ways to engage themselves.

I don't mean to criticize or demean anyone and their approach to celebrating Christmas, and I certainly have no intention of directly or indirectly offending anyone's beliefs or traditions. To each their own, is a motto that I have hoisted around with me and got along quite well with all my life. So may each and everyone else have and thoroughly enjoy THEIR version of Christmas. The Christmases that I have seen and experienced in the name of "family" though, thus far, certainly does not mesh with my understanding of what Christmas and family is suppose to be about. So, I will gladly and respectfully be no part of it, thank you very much. I was pretty much "turned off" Christmas.

Christmas last year was an absolute (sweet) dream compared to the past few Christmases before that. It was smack right in the middle of my pending divorce. It was blissfully peaceful, calm and quiet. There were many things that I did not miss last Christmas: The meaningless gifts. The excess of materialism. The gluttony. The drama. The stress. The children who were spoilt rotten. The obligatory and perfunctory visits and gatherings. A whole whack of what I can only describe as "festive frenzy".

Dante and I spent actual quality time with each other. We indulged ourselves, in moderation. We had no unrealistic expectations from each other in terms of gifts and demonstrative behaviour ... after all, every happy and fulfilling day with each other was a gift in itself, and I do believe Dante shared the same sentiment. On Christmas day, Dante and I had Christmas dinner at a good friend's place (yes, Dante was specifically invited along!) and Dante was part of the festivities and celebration. The Fred had just came into our lives then, and we spent our Christmas holiday dancing to our own tunes, partaking in activities that we ALL enjoyed, and simply relaxing and basking in each other's company.

THAT was what Christmas is about to me: Taking the time to take a breather, unwind, and spend MEANINGFUL time with FAMILY. Doing things together that build the bond and relationship between each other as family and significant figures in each other's lives, doing things that make sense and make life just a bit sweeter and richer, not because "it's the done thing" or "that's what everybody else does".

The best thing about having four-legged "kids"? They don't come with any presumptions, pre-established notions or opinions of entitlement about what Christmas should be like or how Christmas should be spent. Along with their TRULY unconditional love and devotion to what they perceive as their "family", is the ability to appreciate the good things that they have in life (as opposed to forever pining for the better things that they feel they deserve to have but don't have) and being able to express genuine happiness and contentment at simply having the time and good health to share quality moments with the humans they love. We could learn a thing or two from them on the true spirit of Christmas and the real meaning of being a family.

This year, I've actually found myself to be in a pleasant mood at the thought of Christmas. Christmas is just going to be like every other day, and because of that, it's special and extra-ordinary: We are celebrating it as a family, and in a way that MAKES SENSE for US as a family. We have all we need and want to get into the spirit of the season, as they say: good food, good company, and good cheer. Life is good. There's love and appreciation for each other. And all of that, makes me happy, and very "Christmasy" ... for a change :) If last year's and this year's Christmases are any augur of future Christmases, I just might grow to like Christmas after all ...

So here's wishing you and yours, two- and four-legged, a MERRY Christmas filled with love, joy and an appreciation for family and the good things in life. Spend time with loved ones, and BE a loved one, in every sense of the word.

And BAH HUMBUG ... just for good measure :)

The New and Improved Snood Alternative

2011-12-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

Back in 2008, after spending Dante's first winter being constantly worried about his thin, cropped ears getting frostbitten while we were out on longer walks and hikes, upon a spur of the moment idea I purchased a pair of leg warmers from Walmart and thus the Snood Alternative was born.

Since then, the simple leg-warmer-over-the-head idea has served really well, with a couple of minor tweaks to it. First of all, due to the leg warmer being elasticized, it would get a little too tight and uncomfortable for Dante after being worn for a while. So, i took a pair of scissors and snipped a little slit at one end of the leg warmer. Problem solved. Next, after a few chilly walks I noticed then when stretched out over Dante's head and neck, the leg warmer proved to be too thin to provide enough warmth for the ears. So, I ended up folding the leg warmer once over itself, effectively "double-layering" it for Dante. Sliding an extra leg warmer on top of another proved to be too much hassle and much too uncomfortable for Dante, without adding much value in terms of extra warmth, so I stuck with the single leg warmer folded double idea to serve as Dante's snood for the winter.

And for over 2 years that humble little $6 leg warmer served its purpose well. It kept Dante's ears sufficiently warmer to allow for longer walks in the winter, and it was fairly durable and easily kept clean by tossing into the washing machine every now and then.

Still, since it is actually a leg warmer after all, hijacking it from its original purpose meant that there were a few little "annoyances" with it being used as a snood. For one, since a leg warmer is shaped like a tube while Dante's head and neck varies in size with various little bumps and ridges, even though the fabric material of the leg warmer was elasticized, it would slide right off Dante's head if it wasn't put on in just the right way and positioned just at the right angle. I remember countless winter walks struggling to ensure that Dante's "snood" stayed put on a brisk walk, while Dante bucked and wiggled and tried his utmost to slide it off his head. Not very fond memories, those.

Another issue with the leg warmer was that since it clung really closely to Dante's neck, especially as it sloped and thickened (his neck, not the leg warmer) towards his shoulders, the end of the leg warmer often got caught and tangled with Dante's prong collar and/or other collars and sometimes leash buckles. Which exarcebated the slipping-off problem at times since once caught, the leg warmer was dragged downwards until it slipped off Dante's head. Again, that can be a very frustrating thing to deal with especially if it happened multiple times during a walk or outing.

Another thing that proved not so much annoyance but more of an inherent "shortcoming" when substituting an item for a purpose it was not originally meant to fulfill: Once folded up double, the "snood" just barely covered Dante's brows to the end tips of his ears; so if the "snood" wasn't put on "just so", then sometimes Dante's ears were partially exposed and unpleasant chilly drafts found its way under the "snood" and to the back of Dante's ears.

As the years went by I had my mind on seeking a much better alternative for a snood for Dante, and had kept my eyes and ears open for any good ideas that were just as functional AND affordable.

Well, what do you know, when I met The Fred this year, it was revealed to me that ...

... The Fred ...

... KNITS. And CROCHETS.

The Fred. A Boy. Who knits! And crochets!

And who happens to be pretty good at it too. The Fred has knitted/crochetted hats, scarves, liners, and even a balaclava for himself. So, I handed The Fred a challenge: Can he produce a snood for Dante?

2-3 days later, The Fred presented to a gleeful me, and much less gleeful Dante, the NEW and IMPROVED Snood Alternative:

Made from nice, thick wool, this new and improved version is literally tailor-made for Dante's dimensions ... thanks to Dante being a patient model trying the half-completed pieces with crochet hooks still dangling out of it. Good thing that dog will do anything for cookies! As it's not elasticized, a double-layered hem was stitched in place to keep it from sliding downwards and off from Dante's head. This also served to provide extra warmth at the base of his ears. Unlike the leg warmer, The Fred made the stitches nice and tight to keep the wind out as much as possible and to prevent excessive flexing when Dante is moving his head about. The new "snood" was made to an appropriate length, and as a nice feature it flairs towards the end that opens towards the base of Dante's neck. This accomplishes two things: One, it allows the "snood" to better stay in place since any movement of Dante's neck won't tug the snood downwards; and two, now that this end of the "snood" can go ABOVE any collars Dante has on, there's no more snagging of collars and leash buckles! Helps keep drafts out too!

Here's a comparison of the new and improved snood vs. the "old"/original snood:

Ok, ok, so you want to see it on the dog ... here we go:

Dante's not exactly thrilled to have to wear (gasp) clothing that ruins his svelte, macho and menacing Doberman lines, but once the temperatures drop further he'll be thankful that he can spend his winter walks outdoors enjoying himself instead of freezing his poor little ears off. Until then, I have resigned myself to putting up with sheepish, sulky glares from the poor puppy:

Nothing a few cookies won't fix!

So there you have it, the New and Improved Snood Alternative, ready for some serious "test-driving" as we start heading into winter!

It's a sign!

2011-12-21T20:28:00.001-05:00

I like how The Fred phrases it: "You've invoked the Chubby Fairies!"

A day after puzzling out loud about Dante's sudden mysterious inability to gain weight, upon Dante's daily scrutiny today (dare I even declare it for fear of jinxing the whole thing) it would appear that Dante has packed on some bulk: ribs are way less noticeable and hip bones ... what hip bones? Ah, rejoice, rejoice!

It seems almost magical, one day as opposed to the last couple of months or so of me frantically trying to plump Dante up ... hey, maybe I should complain, vent and rant more often about the various "Dante issues" that come along our way so that there are "magically" overnight improvements as well ...

Although, I do think that it would be a stretch if I start wishing out loud things like: "I've been trying for years with little success to teach Dante how to wash the dishes." or "I wonder what it would be like to lieve in a world where food and supplies for Dante don't cost a cent!"

But I digress. Hopefully Dante is finally on the path to healthy weight gain, whatever the reason behind it! Fingers and toes crossed!

And yes, I'm allowed to publish a lame-ish post like this today because IT'S MY FIRST DAY OF TWO WEEKS OFF WORK TODAY and that's how I'm "celebrating" it! ;-)

And if the Chubby Fairies don't mind, I'll pass on their magic on ME throughout this holiday season ... but work away on Dante!

Reactions

2011-12-20T14:58:00.001-05:00

I've been a proud Doberman owner for four and a half years now, and
one of the things you very quickly get used to being out and about in
public with a Doberman is the sheer amount of feedback and comments –
welcomed and unsolicited, positive and negative – tossed your way.
Especially from non-dog owners.

Whatever the reactions are, they range from the everyday, mundane
"Nice dog!" to some pretty whacky and outrageous ones like "Did you
have to chop his ears off yourself?". Let's just say that it's always
interesting for me wondering what's going to get sputtered out from
someone's mouth.

Having a geeky analytical side to me, I've always kind of kept an
informal "running tab" of the different comments directed at Dante and
myself. From reflecting upon this "collection" every now and then, I
have come to a very unspecialized, completely unprofessional, and
doubtlessly unqualified conclusion that there appears to be some
recurring patterns and themes to these reactions.

A selection of my observations are as follows, as they pertain to
non-dog owners (it's a whole other kettle of fish with regards to
other people owning dogs!):

"I like your dog!" typically originates from a young child (below 14
years of age if I must guesstimate) among a group of 2-3 boys and/or
girls, and more than half of the time from a girl rather than a boy.

"Wow, he's huge!" is almost always exclaimed by a younger male adult
(17 to mid- or late- 20s years of age), and more than 90% of the time
as one out of a group of 2-3 males.

Only mid- to late-middle aged men have asked me: "Hey, where did you
get your dog?" as just complete strangers on the street.

Mid- to late-middle aged men are also the usual culprits in
approaching and petting (or attempting to) Dante without first asking
whether I'm alright with it.

Interestingly enough, mid- to late-middle aged men who try to strike
up a conversation about Dante with me most often begin it with: "You
know, I used to have a Doberman/a dog like that ..."

"Is he friendly?" is usually the very first question out of a mother's
mouth when they are with a child or children.

The female half of an older (say, 50s-60s and beyond) couple will
usually cast a disdainful look at Dante while her male counterpart
stares on in fascination at the same time.

Younger girls (5-14 years old) are twice as likely to ask to pet Dante
than younger boys of the same age group. They are also usually the
ones who ask if Dante knows how to do any "tricks".

A lone tween/teen girl (8-17 years of age) will usually go out of
their way to avoid crossing paths with Dante, while a lone tween/teen
boy will usually put on a brave face while oozing nervousness as Dante
strolls on right beside them.

Little girls tend to ask about/comment on Dante's tail, while little
boys tend to ask about/comment on Dante's ears.

Older girls and young women (18-35) do a better job of nonchalantly
passing by Dante than their male counterparts, who tend to stare and
make Dante wonder whether he should "go check them out".

It's usually men who ask what Dante's name is. It's usually women who
actually remember it.

Men usually compliment Dante on his looks, while women typically gush
about his temperament/personality.

As a general rule, men are quicker to start petting and quicker to
stop petting. Women on the other hand, are slower to start petting but
slower to stop petting as well. Consequently, as an aside, all things
being equal, in greeting a mixed group of men and women, Dante will
typically "check out" the men first, and end up lingering among the
women.

The most common questions that I receive from non-dog owners across
the board about Dante are: "What kind of dog is that/Is that a
Doberman?", "Is he a boy or a girl?", "Is he friendly?" and "Where did
you get him?"

Makes me wonder if I should simply carry a laminated placard to flash
around with me whenever I'm out with Dante that states the following:

"Hi there, nice to meet you too. Yes, this is a Doberman, and he's a
boy. Don't worry, he's already been fed today so he won't be eyeing
you as a snack. Actually, if you scratch his ears just the right way
he'll be draping himself all over you like a new best friend. If you
are thinking about getting one of these knuckleheads then you and I
better have a very long, involved conversation regarding this breed."

With perhaps a little postscript at the bottom:

"Please note that your every interaction with my dog and reactions
towards him are being carefully observed, captured and analyzed.
Entertain me: Feel free to throw an interesting data anomaly my way!"

Where is it all going???

2011-12-19T19:37:00.003-05:00

I never thought I would be one to say something like this, but: How can I get my dog FAT????

Yes, you read that right. I want to FATTEN Dante up.

Dante is a dog, and as we all know, dogs are voracious eaters. They seem to be genetically programmed to to feel hungry ALL THE TIME, and will happily wolf down anything vaguely resembling food (according to canine standards and criteria of what constitutes food, mind you ... I have yet to meet another fellow human being who licks their lips at the prospect of scarfing down soiled diapers and gnarly branches). If Dante had a life motto it would probably be something along the lines of "Anytime is meal time!" The mere mention of the words "breakfast" and "dinner" causes him to quiver like jelly and howl like a firetruck.

No, the problem is not with Dante's appettite or food consumption. If anything he seems more and more ravenous everytime feeding time comes around. The "problem" is: Where is all this food going, once it's been vacuumed up from the bowl and into le chien???

In the last few months, after a brush with a perplexing obsessive-compulsive "disorder" (more on this in a future post) and a horrific phase with projectile diarrhea, I have been finding it quite a challenge to keep weight on Dante.

I've always strove to keep Dante on the leaner side due to him being actively involved in dog sports and also being oversized for a Doberman, as any unncessary, extra weight on him would only serve to put stress on his joints and potentially cause a multitude of health issues down the road. Still, I've never found it difficult to plump him up whenever I needed to, and getting slimming him back down was a simple matter of scaling backing his meal portions.

This has ceased to be the case in the last few months. Not that Dante is walking bag of bones these days, but his ribs and hip (pelvic?) bones are definitely showing more prominently than is usual for him, and his tuck-up has never been this pronounced. He doesn't look unhealthy -- he still has a gleaming coat, clear, bright eyes, muscular, toned limbs and neck and exudes an energectic, bouncy aura while trotting around in his smooth as silk gait, but he certainly looks SKINNY, like he hasn't been getting enough to eat.

I've been able to maintain him at an optimum weight for his age and fitness level on the raw diet at around 1lb of ground meat (excluding organs and other "extras" that get tossed into the bowl) per day for the longest time. In the past few months I have DOUBLED this amount for his daily meal portions, and yet it doesn't seem to be making a dent in adding that extra few pounds on him. Lately too, I've been considerably more liberal in allowing Dante to indulge in table scraps ... I've maintained a zero table scraps allowed policy for the longest time. Now when I say table scraps I mean remaining portions of whole meat and vegetables dunked in minimal food additives, not just any or every mish mash of whatever happens to be leftover on the plates and pots and pans. So (much to Dante's glee) Dante is actually getting his regular twice-daily (now souped-up) meals PLUS what could be considered several snacks scattered throughout the day. Hardly a starvation case, I don't think.

So, my question is then: where is all this food going?????? If I'm feeding my dog this much, why hasn't he BALLOONED in size?? It's not like his output of poop has dramatically increased either, so, the food must be going somewhere IN him ... but where????

This has been baffling me for a while and in truth, I'm starting to feel concerned. Dante hasn't been showing any noticeable or visible signs of any ill heath or illness though, so, I'm sort of at a loss at how or where to start at figuring out why he hasn't been steadily gaining weight like he should be given his current diet. It's almost like he's going through a second "teenage-puppyhood" stage when he was simply all gangly and had this mind-blowing metabolism rate that kept him thin and scraggly no matter how much food was shovelled into him.

Guess I'll just have to keep monitoring him for the next little while and see if Dante will start putting on some weight ...

Why I should clean out Dante's ears more often

2011-12-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

Pixie: "Come on Dante, 'fess up! Where did you stash those cat treats?! You've been eyeing them all week since Mum brought them back from the store ..."

Pixie: "Come on, come on, cough it up, that 'But, Mum I'm innocent!' look of yours don't work on me ..."

Pixie: "Hmmmph ... I know it's here somewhere ..."
Dante: "Oh geez not again ..."

Pixie: " ... Aha! Lookie here! I think I found something ..."
Dante: "?!?!"

Pixie: " And it's ... YOWZA! There's a ton of GUNK in here! Dante, your ear is FILTHY!!! Does Mum never clean out your ears?!?! Ugh, well I guess SOMEONE in this house has to do it ..."
Dante: " Ungh ... not ... again ..."

Pixie: (slurp slurp slurp slurp ...)
Dante: "Pixie ... are you ... about ... done ... yet ..."
Pixie: "Shush Dog! (slurp slurp slurp slurp) There's (slurp slurp slurp slurp) just too much (slurp slurp HACK slurp) FILTH (slurp slurp slurp HACK) in here ...

Many more uncountable slurps later ...

Pixie: "Just (slurp slurp slurp slurp slurp) about done (slurp slurp slurp) finishing up (slurp slurp slurp slurp) the edges (slurp slurp slurp slurp) ...
Dante: (ZZZzzzZZZzzZzzZZzzzZZZzzzz ...)

Reassurance

2011-12-16T19:31:00.000-05:00

Long-time readers of this blog will know that while Dante has many fantastic attributes and is a lovely, sociable and well-trained dog in many delightful ways, he has one main trait that I have been wrestling (and still am managing) for a good part of his life now: he is a reactive dog.

In short, without going into a lengthy dissertation on what constitutes reactiveness in a dog and its behavioural manifestations, Dante is easily triggered to "react" in certain situations or under certain conditions, and his reactions usually comprise of assuming a defensive position and loudly barking or posturing towards another dog. As many long-time and experienced dog-owners will tell you, it is a far more common problem in dogs than most realize.

The onset of Dante's reactiveness seemed to have occured when Dante displayed symptoms of, and was subsequently diagnosed with, hypothyroidism when he was close to 1.5 years of age. Prior to that, Dante was "rock solid" with both dogs and people alike: extremely sociable and rarely perturbed or distressed in any way, shape of form through his interactions with them except for when faced with extremely disturbing or unusual behaviour. Once Dante's hypothyroidism manifested itself, that all changed.

Dante CAN BE quite reactive with other dogs, especially where little fluffy dogs are concerned. His experience when as a puppy with being harassed by ill-mannered and aggressive little dogs seemed to have really coloured his reactiveness and has become the number one trigger for a reactive "outburst". Over time, I have come to realize that at the root of Dante's trigger lies a sense of insecurity and nervousness. If Dante feels that another dog (regardless of the size, breed or gender, but especially with little dogs) MAY potentially approach him and encroach upon his space and comfort level to harass him, he tends to adopt a "let's get it first before it gets me" attitude and try to ward off the potential "threat" by letting loose a loud volley of barking and assuming a very defensive posture. In the eyes of experienced "dog people" it is immediately and undoubtedly obvious that he is displaying typical fearful and nervous behaviour and their calming and assertive body language and approach towards him usually immediately calms and settles him right down. However, in the eyes of the average person unfamiliar with dogs, given Dante's breed, it can look quite menacing and intimidating and the label "aggressive" is often mistakenly and ignorantly applied.

Naturally, it was a constant source of stress and sadness for me, dealing with Dante's reactiveness, trying to "cure" him of it. I went through a phase of extreme self-blame and guilt, obsessively churning over and over in my head thoughts and analyses of where I went wrong in his upbringing, his socialization, his training; how had I knowingly or unknowingly contributed to his reactiveness, horrified at what and how other people would think of him whenever he had one of his "episodes". Throughout that phase I jumped on and tried ANY possible "remedy" that sounded promising. Interested readers can thumb through the blog's post archives and read about all my trials and tribulations, setbacks and successes, (and boy was there MANY) in dealing with Dante's reactiveness in various settings; so I won't rehash all of that here. Suffice to say, I tried a wide gamut of theories and methods from distraction to redirection, intense desensitization to outright avoidance, reward and punishment, diet and routine changes, passive and active management ... you name it, i've probably tried it out ... with a mixed bag of results.

Till today I never did stumble upon a complete, 100% effective "cure" or remedy -- actually, the word "cure" is misleading: with a reactive dog, the one thing that is certain is that "it" is something that will never "go away". The best you can hope for is that it is so effectively managed that it doesn't rear its ugly head for 99.999% of the time. I can claim one partial "success" though: Through training and repetitious reinforcement, Dante's reactive "incidents" in training and trialing situations has been reduced close to nil. I still get the occasional grumble and throaty worried growling when faced with certain dogs, but all in all, as long as I am consistent with my actions and body language towards Dante and mindful of our surroundings and other dogs, he has learnt that time during training and trialing constitutes a "safe" zone and space where he can sufficiently relax to focus on working with me, his handler, and having fun. I consider that an achievement and minor victory in our battle against his reactiveness and am glad that all the hard work we put into that regard has paid off handsomely.

Still, in general and casual social situations, reining in Dante's sometimes fairly explosive reactive "outbursts" continued to prove quite challenging. Not only that, my ongoing concern with it mentally and emotionally wrung me out so much so that for a time, being out and about with him in public and situations/environments that could not be completely controlled started becoming overly stressful and no longer enjoyable.

Until one day, I just ... relaxed.

And all of a sudden everything just seemed so ... simple.

It took me quite a while over a couple of years -- and of course, hindsight is always 20/20 as the saying goes -- before my observations and the running tab of "mental notes" I kept in my mind started to add up, make sense, and form a meaningful, coherent picture. When the fogginess surrounding it finally cleared, it was that lightbulb moment for me.

I came to realize that, perhaps because of his breed and innate genetic "programming" (my very non-professional theory/opinion), whenever Dante felt stressed, insecure or nervous about another dog, it appeared that he is suddenly possessed by this overwhelming NEED to DO something about it. In his case, alerting me by his loud barking and potentially warding off the perceived "threat". This formed the core of his reactive "outbursts". It seemed that the more that I frowned upon it, the more he would engage in it even more intensely, as if he was trying to make ME see "see the light", see things from his point of view. It didn't matter how much I discouraged this behaviour or tried to encourage its replacement with other behaviours, it just seemed to me like it was something he NEEDED to do, almost like breathing air when you are choking or drinking water when you are dying of thirst.

So, instead of continuing to "fight" this behaviour, I acknowledged it, and allowed him to engage in it.

This is what usually happens: Dante is unnerved by an approaching dog. He barks loudly at it and strains against the leash towards it. I purposely ALLOW it: not prolonged barking/posturing in a madcap fashion, but enough that Dante feels that he has "done" something about it, ie. "warned" me about an approaching "threat" ... and then it's time for ME to deal with it. Not him.

I keep a firm but relaxed grip on Dante's leash, and then I acknowledge that Dante is feeling stressed and nervous, usually verbally, by saying something like: "Yes, I see it. You are alright." in a quiet, calm tone of voice. If needed, I ask him to stop barking and stay close to me by saying "Quiet" or "Enough", both commands that he has been taught and expected to comply with.

Then I carry on whatever it is we are doing, usually continuing to walk on, or distance ourselves from the source of Dante's stress. The former to impress upon Dante that all is proceeding as "planned"/intended and nothing untoward is going to happen to him, and the latter to place as much physical distance between Dante and his source of stress as possible, which seems to really calm him.

Most notedly, Dante seems to respond very well to being "reassured", to me making a point to tell him that he's alright, and that I won't let anything happen to him. I also utilize confident and assertive body language to communicate to him that I'm in charge, I'm in control (even if it's not true in EVERY situation at any given point in time!), and that I will make sure he's alright no matter what happens.

As I adopted this "approach", I began to notice that Dante's reactive episodes, their durations and "recovery" time noticeably decreased. A new set of contextual behaviours began to form and be solidified: Dante spots a potential "threat". Dante reacts. I allow it, acknowledge it, and then expect Dante to "hand over the reins" and let me take care of it. Dante RELAXES, considers his "duty done", and reverts back to a non-reactive state. Every time this set of behaviour is repeated, the time from when Dante kicks into reactive mode and then reverts back into a non-reactive state dramatically SHORTENS.

Hallelujah!

Nowadays, my enjoyment in outings with Dante have returned and increased. I have more confidence that when we do come across his reactive triggers, I can allay his stress and counter his reactiveness by REASSURING him that I have everything under control, and expect him to swiftly recover and relax. It has come to the point (fingers crossed that i'm not jinxing myself here, ha) that "recovery" and relaxation comes in mere SECONDS compared to me huffing and puffing trying to wrestle a stressed out dog away from his trigger, and him being in a heightened state of reactiveness for miles and minutes even AFTER leaving/going away from the trigger. In fact, lately there have been many occasions when Dante would just STROLL by (what used to be) a major trigger (yes, think prancing, yapping, fluffy little dog), with just a half-hearted grumble or even nary a squeak at times. For me, this progress and improvement compared to what i've been struggling with the last couple of years is nothing short of AMAZING.

Could it be, that all this while, the missing "piece" of it was just for me to provide Dante with some "reassurance"? My skeptical side keeps chiming up and saying no, there has to be something more to it, but so far, it appears to be an elegantly simplistic "factor" that I just never seriously considered before.

Well, things are going well in terms of Dante becoming a happier, less reactive dog ever since I've embarked on this "approach", and, with luck, things will continue to improve as we go along and eventually I will reach the goal of having effectively "managed away" Dante's reactiveness for 99.999% of the time.

Until then, I will be crossing my fingers and toes, enjoying every moment that we spend together and hope for the best without having the spectre of reactiveness loom as heavily over us as before!

Under the mistletoe ...

2011-12-14T19:58:00.001-05:00

As part of getting into the spirit of the season, ahem, I thought I'd share this short video forwarded on to me by The Fred -- it's one that will definitely ... uhm, "strike a chord" with dog lovers ;) Enjoy:

How about two pointy ears and a nub?

2011-12-14T16:03:00.002-05:00

About a couple of years ago, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I started noticing cars being driven around with a round, red tuft of fabric planted on their front grille and a pair of fabric “antlers” attached to both the outside of the passenger- and driver-side front windows. It didn’t take long to figure out that it was essentially a three-piece “reindeer costume” for cars, inspired by the figure of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

I guess it’s a way for some to demonstrate a spirit of festivity. They do look kind of “cute” in a tacky, novelty-ish sort of way. I’ve always wondered whether those little red “noses” get blown off when the car is blasting about at high speed on the highway …

If you’ve never seen one before, here’s what I’m talking about:

In the past couple of years sighting a red-nosed, antlered car during this time of the year was more like catching a glimpse of some rare, oddly coloured bird or butterfly while out for a walk. This year though, especially as the weeks roll by closer to Christmas day, I’ve been seeing quite a few Rudolph-costumed cars zipping around, almost on a daily basis. It seems to have enjoyed quite a dramatic surge in popularity this Christmas.

Poking around online, I also discovered that there were variations to this costume, along the same lines of a three-piece attachment to the car. Depending on your preferences, you could dress up your car as an elf, candy cane, Christmas tree, snowman, hearts (Valentine theme) or a bat (Halloween theme).

Which got me thinking: I think it would be really neat if someone came up with a Doberman version, that is, two pointy ears and a gleaming bob of a tail nubby sticking out at the back! Pair that with a custom vanity plate alluding the word “Dobe”, “Doberman”, or some variation thereof, and you could certainly dub it a “Dobe-mobile”!

Now there’s an idea for some enterprising individual out there …

"Stair (Stare) Wars", or, "Dante the Tollbooth Collector"

2011-12-13T16:03:00.000-05:00

Since moving to the new house I’ve noticed that Dante and bothcats have modified some of their usual habits/behavioural patterns,as well as adopted some new idiosyncrasies in the course of dailylife. Such is to be expected (and applies to humans as well), Isuppose, when a major change in life occurs and alters familiarroutines and rituals.

One of the more “amusing” behaviours that Dante seems to havepicked up is his newfound penchant for playing the role of agatekeeper or tollbooth collector at the top of the stairs.

Let me explain. The new house is a two-storey detached structure.A flight of stairs connects the main floor to the second floor of thehouse. The stairs head up in one direction to arrive at a landing inthe middle of the stairs, and then continues upwards in the oppositedirection to terminate at the second floor hallway.

As I move around from room to room in the house going about mydaily chores and routine during the day, my little four-leggedcoterie tends to shadow me around the house. When they get bored ortired, each of them have their own little cosy corner or spot in thehouse to retreat to: Pixie usually curls up for long naps in thedownstairs Papasan couch while Tinsel burrows into the velvetyhammock of the cat tree in the office upstairs. Dante has his pick ofthe various dog beds scattered both downstairs and upstairs indifferent rooms. Eventually they all find their way to my side againafter their respective naps, snack breaks and other detours ordistractions.

Typically, while I’m busying away in the upstairs bedroom oroffice, Dante will come nosing around for pats, scratches and treats,and after being shooed away for being an overly clingy nuisance (trytyping on the keyboard with a 15lb Doberman head resting on the backof your hand, for example, or reading with the pages of your bookbeing wetted by a persistent tongue insisting that hidden cookiecrumbs are scattered between the pages), will slink off to lie downand mope away on the second floor hallway right outside the rooms –still within earshot if Mum calls for him, but far enough that Mumdoesn’t get overly miffed and slap down a banishment to the crate.

I habitually keep a close watch on Dante from the corner of myeye, just to make sure that he’s keeping himself out of trouble.Initially, Dante would emit the most piteous and sorry-sounding moansand grunts, lamenting my lack of affection towards him and protestinghis momentary “exile”.

So bored was Dante, that he devised a whole new game to amusehimself, one in which he co-opted the unwilling cats into.

I began to notice that Dante would position himself at the top ofthe stairs, his head and ears inclined forwards in his typical alert,“on guard” mode, at times with an intense look of concentrationand focus on his face.

I puzzled over what he was on watch for. Tracking a dust motethrough the air perhaps? Observing an imaginary friend? I soon foundout when I was tipped off by the very plaintive meowing of Tinsel.

There she was, perched on the stairway landing, tail twitchingwarily, head and eyes darting around as if attempting to peer overDante and to make a decision on her next move. The way that Dante andTinsel looked at each other made it very clear to me what was goingon: Tinsel was trying to make her way up to me, and Dante had somehowappointed himself as a tollbooth collector, barring Tinsel’s wayand continued progress until or unless … well, I don’t speak Cator Dog, but I had a cartoony scenario played out in my mind of Dantesaying: “You want to pass, Cat? Well, first you promise that everythird kibble of yours during mealtime goes to me!” and Tinselresponding with: “Muuuuuuuuuuuuum!!!”

Dante repeated this with Pixie too, to which I’m sure whateverdemands he made was met with a “Get lost, Dog!” sneer and snarl.

At first, I admitted I had a little chuckle to myself, because Ithought it was funny. After a few more times when the cats would tryto scoot past Dante and nearly got pawed (playfully, with no malice)by the big knucklehead, I started to get annoyed at Dante forbesieging the cats in such a way, and so would chide Dante, ask himto get out of the way or pick up the cats myself up and over Danteand send them on their way.

Whatever fun and amusement Dante is deriving out of thisgatekeeper game of his, it’s seemingly enough to keep him wantingto continue to “play”. It is thus, of course, not a long-termpractical solution for me to be running to the cats’ “rescue”everytime Dante decides to set up his “tollbooth” at the top ofthe stairs. For one, I know quite well and without a doubt that bothcats could easily strong-arm themselves through Dante’s barricadeand/or put him in his place if they wanted to (another post on thisparticular subject soon to come!), and besides, it gets somewhattedious and annoying having to constantly be ferrying cats up anddown the stairs while I’m in the middle of a task or chore.

I tend to cut Tinsel a little more slack when she cries out for“help”, since she’s the timid one in the family and usuallygives Dante’s rambunctious antics a wide berth. However, I’m lessindulgent of Pixie, because I know for a fact that all she has to dois to make a convincing show of baring her teeth and doling a few“stern words” to Dante, and Dante will be quickly convinced thatit’s in the benefit of his own longevity to give up thetollkeeper’s job. Essentially, instead of my ad hoc interventions,that would be what’s needed for Dante to give up this silly game ofhis, is for the cats to make out to him in no uncertain terms thatthey will not put up with it – something they are both fullycapable of doing. Interestingly enough, though irritated andfrustrated, the cats haven’t deemed it necessarily yet to make thatstatement known to Dante.

So, for the times when even I am fed up of the game and decide toleave it to “the kids” to sort it out amongst themselves, what dothey do?
They sit there and stare at each other.

Tinsel usually relents halfway through and lets loose a volley ofheartbreaking, hard-to-ignore meowing pleas; but Pixie, with her divapride and feline stubbornness, almost relishes the head-on challengeand engages Dante in a full-out staring contest with a “Game on,Dog!” look on her face.

Ever heard of the saying that you can’t outstare a cat? Well,Pixie is a perfect embodiment of that.

Except Dante is a boy, and a Doberman, which = an extremely soreloser. What he lacks in terms of an unblinking gape he more thanmakes up for it with his authentic rendition of a statue.

I’ve checked in on Dante and Pixie’s stare/stair wars, andoften intervened on behalf of one or the other (careful to dole outequal victories to both parties, of course, ahem) several times now,because, well, seeing them stare so stolidly at each other for aprolonged period of time simply just makes me uncomfortable.

Once though, I was occupied and cranky for one reason or another,and decided to just let them see their battle of wills to its naturalconclusion. I kept a close eye on both of them throughout.

Time went on. And on. And on. And on.

And on and on and on and on and on …

And then I got tied up for longer than expected, and when Ichecked back in on them again …

… both of them had fallen asleep on the other: Dante at the topof the stairs, and Pixie on the landing. Dante’s head rested on thecarpet at an odd angle, as if convincing himself that his eyes werestill wide open, and Pixie looked all coiled up and ready to spring,except that her eyes were tightly closed and her whiskers were risingup and down in rhythm to her sleep breathing.

I guess that would be considered a draw!

Well, until the cats grow tired of this staring game and makes itunambiguously known to the dog, I guess Dante will continue to playthe tollbooth collector … who knows, perhaps he has actuallymanaged to convincingly extract some “payment” his way … !

The sure-fire mood enhancer ...

2011-12-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

I have been going to the same veterinary office/clinic for Dante's health and medication needs since Dante was a wee 10-week old puppy. Although ever since the move it's now a 20-30 minute drive to get to the clinic, I've decided to stick with them since they have holistic-minded vets who are open to alternative approaches to maintaining Dante's health and well-being (being on a raw diet and not over-immunizing, for example) and also have reasonable prices on their services. Having being with them for close to 5 years now, everyone at the clinic knows Dante by sight (which is impressive, considering how many people who are not familiar with the breed can hardly tell one Doberman from another as a rule) and the staff are always happy to spare an ear scratchie or two whenever Dante drops by for a visit.

In my experience, all of the staff at the clinic put on a pleasant demeanour and are generally affable whenever dealing with their various two- and four-legged clients. They typically make an effort to give the impression (true or otherwise) that they love their job and take an active interest in you and your pet. Well, all except for one.

This particular staff member looks to be in her mid- to late-twenties. She usually works the counter and checks in patients or handles the billing when an appointment has concluded. Therefore, if you're there for a visit, you're definitely interacting with her.

I've always been a little wary of her. At every single visit to the clinic in the past, I've never once seen her smile. Her lips seem to be etched in a perpetual pinched line, and whenever she deigns to spare me an annoyed glance and notice that I'm standing patiently (and sometimes impatiently, depending on whether Dante is on the verge of expelling a jet propelled burst of diarrhea or not) at the counter to be checked in or to settle my bill for the day, it prompts me to wonder if I left the house with a funny mark on my face or if I had somehow unknowingly offended her with some word or gesture on my part. There were times when I would walk in with Dante who was looking visibly unwell (and I noticeably distressed), and I would be greeted by what looked suspiciously like a sneer with teeth. I've found myself wondering too whether she just happens to be someone who's, shall we say, not overly fond of the Doberman breed, and who views the owners with equal, unreserved disdain as well.

No matter, I've always thought to myself. I'm powerless to influence how others may view me/Dante and have no control over their moods at any given time, so I resign myself to be as neutral and civil as possible and hope that I get beckoned by another staff member whenever I'm standing in line at the counter.

This morning, I dropped by the vet clinic to pick up another 3-month supply of Dante's thyroid medication, and I wonder if I've stumbled across her angelic twin sister.

I entered the vet clinic. It appeared to be a busy day, with owners and their dogs and cats crowding the waiting room. There were two staff members seated at the counter as per usual, and she was seated on the right hand side of the counter. As I eased myself into the line, my eyes darted from one staff member to another, hoping that she would get tied up with another client and I would be funneled to the left and be served by her counterpart.

Alas it was not to be. The person before me got waved to the left of the counter, and started firing off a long list of questions, at which point the couple to the right of the counter picked up their cat carriers and promptly walked towards the exit. Here I go, I thought, hoping the roll of my eyes wasn't too pointed.

As I approached the counter and her behind it, she flashed me a broad, thousand-watt smile.

Yes, you read that right: a S-M-I-L-E.

As it was, the shock of the moment was so great that I almost stumbled incredulously and fell backwards. Any eye rolling, I was sure, had been replaced by a quick succession of wide-eyed blinking, as if I was blinded by a seemingly impossible, non-existent FRIENDLY show of teeth.

But it was true, it WAS a smile. I composed myself, and ... smiled back.

Which earned me a very pleasant: "Hi, how are you doing today?"

Upon further, surreptitious scrutiny, I noticed that she had a very obvious coating of make-up on her face today. Obvious, but still tasteful. Her brows were tidily drawn, her lashes hinted of mascara, and the blush and tint on her lips were definitely of a subtle, matching shade. There appeared to be a twinkle to her eyes, the corners of which weren't folded in her usual disapproving frown. Her hair was impeccably styled in place and there was a lightness to her that was never present to me before in our past encounters. Even though she was dressed in her clinic scrubs, she looked like someone who was ready to glide from a busy vet clinic to a swanky uptown restaurant with just a change of clothes and shoes.

Her beaming smile had turned contagious at this point, and I found myself cheerily informing her that I had come to pick up Dante's medications. I was impressed that this time, even the mention of Dante's name didn't elicit the customary wrinkling of her nose as if somebody just threw a stink bomb at her.

Our transaction was over in a few quick minutes as I paid for the medication and tucked it away in my purse. As I thanked her, she waved me off with a chirpy, almost sing-songy "Have a great day!"

I was still blinking when I walked out of the clinic and into my car.

I'm not quite sure what had effected the dramatic change in her mood and personality, but I certainly do hope that this "new", more pleasant disposition is here to stay.

I'll hazard a guess though: I think this shift is due to her having a new beau in her life, one that she's having a great time with and has been constantly on her mind -- in a good way. There's just no mistaking that new spring in the steps, added attention and fuss to appearance and posture, and an almost dizzying sense of the world and everything and everyone in it suddenly being "all good" and "alright".

Having that special someone in your life is definitely quite a potent way of enhancing mood and lifting the spirit -- just ask Dante: although he'll never admit it outright unless you catch him resting his head contentedly on The Fred's lap and batting doe eyes for affection!

Dante's housewarming/birthday gift

2011-12-10T13:06:00.001-05:00

When I first moved in to the new house, it came with a honking great above-ground pool in the backyard:

On the left hand side of the photo, you'll notice Dante looking like a cute little doll house figurine for an idea of how big the pool is. Now Dante is by no means a small dog -- he's almost 31" tall at the withers. That was a BIG pool in a not-so-big yard.

Now, I knew that the house came with a pool when I made the offer to purchase. The original plan was to have it stated in the purchase and sale agreement that the seller would remove it at their own expense. However, the seller balked at the prospect of the task, but counter-offered a slight reduction in the selling price instead. Given that I quite liked the house, I agreed and it was a sale.

I had no use for a pool. Apart from toying with the tantalizing but oh-so-not-practical idea of turning it into an exercise pool for Dante (that is, if I could ever get him over his intense dislike for getting wet, ha!), I was really not too thrilled at the notion of having practically 90% of my backyard taken up by a so-called "amenity" that can only feasibly be used/enjoyed for a maximum of 4-6 months per year in the Canadian climate, and would be incurring a whole bunch of additional expenses for maintenance every month. So, there was no question about it: the pool had to go.

I placed an ad in the local classifieds offering the pool and all its accessories/equipment for sale at a fire sale price, with one condition: the buyer would have to dismantle and cart away the pool and everything that went with it.

It didn't take long for me to start receiving offers, and in roughly about a week's time after the ad was posted, I had a willing buyer and a date and time set up for the pool removal.

I won't go through a detailed description of the entire pool removal process. Let's just say that it entailed quite a bit more effort and time than I had expected. The important thing though, was that the pool was removed and carted away, and I was left with a gaping big hole and other debris in the backyard:

It was a fairly wet early spring this year, and with the messy remnants of sand and gravel left behind from the pool removal, let's just say that the mop and floor cleaner got quite a workout for a good couple of weeks chasing away muddy footprints and clumps of wet sand and gravel all over the house. It didn't help that once Dante realized the "hole" wasn't some sinister dog-eating pit, he actually thought it was fun and funny to repeatedly leap off the deck and land right in the middle of the muddy area with some fancy skidding maneuver. Hahaha ... not.

Next, I hired a landscaping/yardwork company to remove the leftover debris and resod pretty much the entire backyard. I thought of simply reseeding the entire area and wait for the grass to just re-establish itself, but with Spring and Summer just around the corner and a having large exhuberant dog in the family, it just wouldn't do to not have a decent grassy yard/lawn in the backyard ... or wait months for it.

So, after some vetting of available contractors and their prices, I settled on the winning bidder and had them go to work immediately on the task. The debris was cleared, top soil was brought in, the ground was levelled and tamped and ready for laying down fresh sod:

Ta-da!

While all the rain we were getting at the time was the bane of gleaming, spotless kitchen floors, it was absolutely wonderful for allowing the thirsty new sod to establish itself and grow into the yard. A month and a half later, we had a proper, lush and green backyard:

The funny fuzzy splotches of colour you see in the photos above are from the reflections of the camera in the window as I was leaning forward snapping the photos from a second floor window. Either that or I'm actually a 20 feet tall giant humanoid with a very dirty camera lense ;)

The re-sodding of the lawn was, coincidentally, completed on Dante's birthday: May 10th. Now how's that for a grand gift? For his 4th birthday, Dante got himself a whole new lawn! Boy, am I ever going to have a really hard time outdoing myself when Dante turns 5 next Spring and I'm scrambling to come up with birthday gift ideas!

Same snow, different winter

2011-12-09T14:23:00.000-05:00

This morning our bleary-eyed household woke up to … SNOW!

Peering out the window, dainty little flurries were fluttering down from the sky, coating the backyard with a generous dusting of powdery white. The first snow of the season is always so pretty and evocative of that postcard perfect winter wonderland scene.

I remember that the first though that entered my mind as I hauled Dante out for his first potty break at the crack of dawn was: Oh gee, I hope the snow won’t have accumulated too deep that I’m going to have to rummage around for his poop to pick up later on when I get home from work …

Some things never change.

But some other things have changed. This year will be my first winter in the new place, and the first winter for a good few years that things will be different in many big and little ways … for the better.

For starters, daily winter commuting/motoring is going to be so much more pleasant than the previous years. It’s amazing what a difference being able to park and store the car in a garage makes for the winter! It’s great to be able to waltz out from the house, into the garage, and straight into a warm(ish) car without having to muck around in the snow, bust an arm scraping iced over windscreens and windows, and then shiver on icy leather seats while the car reluctantly tries to wake up from hours of slumbering in the freezing cold. When I get home, I simply roll into the dry, sheltered garage and waltz back indoors without having the need to battle with blowing snow, ice pellets, slush, ice and biting wind. And oh, an automatic garage door opener is the bee’s knees!

In the previous years, the Ex-Husband staked out the garage as his domain, with his car firmly ensconced in the garage all year round. Granted, we did not have a two-car garage, but The Ex was not open to any rotation for the shared use of the garage. He sure was happy and adamant for the shared assumption of all the bills though, ha!

This year, as I was sorting out the house and carrying minor repairs and renovations, I commented to The Fred on how it would be nice to have the garage fixed up in time for the winter and to finally be able to house my car in it. Et voila, after a good few days of tinkering and elbow grease, The Fred had the garage cleared, cleaned and organized, complete with an installed garage door opener ready for use!

A big difference for winter this year with regards to Dante is that we won’t be actively training and prepping for trial, which feels really weird! In past winters we trained all year round and actively participated in winter agility house league. This year I decided to take an extended break from training and trial prep to give Dante and I some breathing space as we recover from the stresses of the year and just enjoy each other at a leisurely pace for a change. I have to admit that even though at times I still feel kind of guilty for making that decision on behalf of Dante with the assumption that he would appreciate a break too, I certainly won’t be complaining about not having to deal with long winter drives in unpredictable winter weather!

That said, this doesn’t mean that Dante and I are going to be couch potatoes all winter long! Taking a break from structured and formal physical activity outdoors does not rule out engaging in more unstructured and casual activities outdoors. Already hikes and other trips are being lined up for the holiday season – when the majority of holidaygoers are out partying, scarfing down rich foods and making nice with relatives they see once a year, Dante and I will be hitting the trails and having some adventures out and about! I’ll let you in on a (not really secret) Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is one of the best days to go hiking out on the trails – everyone else is typically staying indoors for the traditional festivities and it’s just myself, the dog, and a great expanse of gorgeous wilderness in nature!

The best part about indulging in the great outdoors this winter? This winter I actually have a fit partner who is just as enthusiastic about being out and about and active all four seasons! There truly is no greater companion and “buddy” for all manner of outdoor activities and excursions than a loyal, energetic dog who’s always ecstatic to simply just be spending time being active with you no matter what you’re doing. That said, it’s a different kind of fun and rewarding being able to share all of this with a fellow two-legged companion. The added company aside, Dante is enjoying having a second “target” to try to run down at high speed, especially when we are hiking up or down some treacherously inclined and slippery slope ;)

Another thing that I’m looking forward to this winter is snuggling up to a blazing fireplace on a chilly winter’s evening. There’s a fireplace in this house on the main level, something I’ve never had before, not in the previous house nor from growing up in a tropical country. Unlike the silly (in my opinion) imitation electric ones, this is a real gas-powered fire place that had a delicious row of flames dancing around when I turned it on. Since I’ve never actually owned one before it was quite the fascinating contraption to me. Apparently Pixie shared my sentiments, as she almost got her whiskers singed off as a result of her inquisitively poking (yes, literally) her nose right into the flames!

All in all, winter is going to be so much warmer this year – let it snow! :)

It's definitely not two front teeth

2011-12-07T14:46:00.003-05:00

It’s been almost 9 months since I’ve moved into the new house, but if you ask the unexpected guests that turn up at the place over the last little while, they’d all probably say that it would seem like I had just moved in yesterday.

The main reason is that I haven’t exactly gone on a furnishing spree ever since I moved in. The mountain of necessary expenses tied to the purchase of a home and the big move made me daydream of printing my own money. So, I decided from the get go that I would stick with acquiring the basic, essential pieces of furniture to start with, and then slowly accumulate other non-essential items and furnishings as my bank account gradually gets replenished again over time.

Thus, the week before the big move, I went out and bought a dog bed.

Following that, I made sure I had a bed, and that the dining set and my office desk was coming along with me. So now I was all set for the essential functions of sleeping, eating and blogg- errr, working. Had some other odds and ends like a dresser, some chairs, side tables, drawers, shelves etc. that were moving with me as well, so I figured that I was all set for the short term until I was in the position to splurge again.

The house was sparsely furnished, but full of bubbly happiness and buoyant hope for the future. To me, it was a good start.

As time went on, I allowed myself to purchase additional furnishings in measured intervals, as planned, based upon a sliding scale of importance, in the sense of the value and utility that it would bring to the household.

A week after moving in, I bought another dog bed.

Thereafter, smaller pieces of furniture were purchased successively on a monthly basis: a hall table, shoe cabinet, recliners, a small pantry … along with other household tools and equipment such as a lawnmower, closet organizers, gardening tools, a garage door opener, light fixtures, kitchen appliances etc.

Since I was determined to stick to a pre-set budget, often I would find myself faced with making a choice between the utility, purpose and need of two items to purchase so as not to go over my “quota” for the month. For instance, do I go for a new office desk lamp or dog bed?

I bought the dog bed.

Fear not, it has been pointed out to me that while I have a dog bed in almost every room, a couch for the living room remains elusive … said deficiency has been duly noted, and hopefully rectified in the not too distant future.

Anyway, with Christmas around the corner, I thought I’d poll the household for suggestions on what item of furnishing to buy next for the house. I figured that, at the very least, the illusion of choice would probably help soften the blow of the absence of a sparkly lit Christmas tree and bundles of presents under it, as was in line with the family’s (ok, mine) long-standing Bah Humbug tradition.

The responses so far?

Pixie: A bed, Mum. No, the one in your bedroom does not count. I’m talking about MY own bed. In MY own room. And you might as well throw in an ensuite to go along with that.

Tinsel: A taser, please Mum? I can’t get the dog to leave me alone!

Dante: Is it dinner time yet? Is it dinner time yet??? IS IT DINNER TIME YET????

The Fred: What’s Christmas without a big screen TV?

Dante: Oh, and Mum, really, I don’t need another bed. You’ve already said I’m not allowed to eat beds. Speaking of eating, IS IT DINNER TIME YET????????

Dante's in love (and so am I!)

2011-12-06T14:59:00.000-05:00

Dante’s new object of affection? The Fred!

Interestingly enough, a Google search for “The Fred” reveals that it’s an actual venue – a building, actually: The Federick Brown Jr. Amphitheatre in the Metro Atlanta area in the States.

But yes, sorry, I’m digressing again :)

So, back to …The Fred. It isn’t some exotic new dog treat/toy or training implement that I’ve stumbled upon. It’s a Who. Yes, The Fred is a person. Someone whose name is not “Fred”. It’s a He. He is The Fred, but not Fred. Ok, that was a mouthful :)

So let’s do a little backtracking and speedy summary of events past …

The Fred and I met after the demise of my (now previous) marriage. To make a very long story short, we hit it off like a spectacular fireworks show. As we got to know each other better, we decided that we’d like to spend more time with each other. At the time, he was living and working in a different city so we would coordinate periods of times (from a few days up to a week at a time) every few weeks for him to come and visit me, Dante and the kitties.

I actually don’t really remember much of the first meeting between The Fred and Dante. The Fred had grown up with dogs all his life, loved dogs, but have had no prior meaningful experiences with a large breed that came attached with a supposedly menacing reputation like the Doberman.

Perhaps I’m odd this way, but I hold a high level of trust in Dante and the kitties’ “ability” in discerning trustworthy, decent people from questionable, unsavoury characters. I find animals to be very “honest” with their sentiments, and they seem to have a sixth sense of sorts when it comes to detecting ill intentions, false representations or other deceptive facades. In my experience, I have found them to be quite spot on where that is concerned too.

For example, the first time Atia’s breeder came to visit and walked into the house, Pixie sauntered up to her in her usual diva manner, then laid herself at Atia’s breeder’s feet, all four paws pointing upwards, purring for a belly rub. Dante practically became putty in her hands, trailing her every move with a look of complete adoration in his eyes. Lest you think this is the case with every visitor to the house or every stranger that we meet, Dante and especially Pixie is usually quite stand-offish to people they don’t know, to the point of being haughty sometimes. As I would learn, Atia’s breeder would turn out to be one of the most wonderful, awesome people I’ve ever had the privilege of getting to know.

Now, I wouldn’t say that Dante worshipped the ground that The Fred stood on upon meeting The Fred for the first time. I believe they briefly sized each other up like two boys in a playground, and then Dante broke into a deluge of nubby-wags and inquisitive sniffing, and the rest as they say, was history. The Fred wasn’t apprehensive or tensed in any way – he was quite fascinated when he learnt that I had a Doberman and was genuinely interested in getting to know Dante better. He just wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’d wager that after the ice was broken he secretly let out a sigh of relief that the first meeting concluded with exhuberant playbows on Dante’s part and not missing limbs on his ;)

Since then, well, to say that Dante is ENAMOURED with his new buddy The Fred does not really do justice to describe the heartening bond of mutual respect and fondness that has since formed between them. Dante practically REVELS in The Fred’s company and relishes their time spent together, whether it’s a rough and tumble wrestling match on the floor or a quiet evening of ear scratchies and reciprocating elbow licks. The Fred, in return, puts his heart into everything he does with Dante, from a simple hour-long walk around the neighbourhood, to monitoring an evening of upset-tummy-potty-trips into the late hours of the night. Dare I say it: The Fred has been like the “human dad” that Dante never had.

Dante aside, even Pixie, the grand Princess Diva of the household, breezily flops over for a tickle and rub on her tummy whenever The Fred is over, and often follows him around the house imperiously demanding cuddles. Timid little Tinsel wasn’t as liberal with her affections, but even she eventually staked out a permanent parking spot on The Fred’s chest for kitty-sized ear scratchies, all the while purring contentedly like an oversized diesel motor for hours.

Without a doubt, the “kids” were telling me that they wanted The Fred to be part of their lives.

The Fred had made a similarly heartfelt impression on me. Without gushing like a giddy schoolgirl, suffice to say I have found him to be a balanced package of brains, brawn, humour, spirit and soul who is, as a bonus, also very pleasing on the eyes ;)

We share common principles and values. Similar goals and outlooks in life. We have many shared interests but also independent hobbies at the same time. We understand the importance of integrity, of being dependable and trustworthy, and being true to ourselves and upfront with each other. We can talk about anything and everything. We share chores and take care of each other. In short, we “get” and value each other.

The Fred has accompanied me to Dante’s training sessions and matches. He packs my training bag, helps out on the agility field, and drives me to dog events in his usual good naturedly way. He walks the dog, runs the dog, EXERCISES the dog, often haunting miles of trails for hours of hiking. He respects the work I’ve put into Dante and follows my lead in treating and training Dante in a consistent manner. He willingly takes on pooper-scooper duty in the yard. He takes a fussy dog out to pee at the crack of dawn so I can sleep in a little longer. He scrubs kitty hairballs from the carpet. Yes, he cooks and cleans too! The “kids” are never far from his mind in the time we spend together and the plans we make. He offers unconditional support and assistance with my dreams and goals. When I had my surgery in June, he took two weeks off work to tend to and care for me while I was in recovery, and cheerfully took care of Dante and the kitties in the meticulous manner that I would do so myself.

He treats me right, and my “kids” absolutely adore him. What more can I ask for?

In October, The Fred relocated to my city for work, and we made a joint decision for him to move in with me. Dante was especially thrilled, and that cut down on a great deal of moping and sulking from him whenever one of The Fred’s visits would have to come to an end. Pixie has been shamelessly rifling through every scrap of The Fred’s belongings and possessions ever since he moved in, brazenly stamping her ownership on him and his “stuff”. Tinsel startles herself sometimes by forgetting that there’s now another two-legged beast in the house every now and then, but she definitely hasn’t relinquished her claim to her little piece of real estate on The Fred yet!

It’s been two months now since The Fred became part of Dante’s clan, and every single day of the two months have been like waking up to an unbelievably sweet dream. Granted, like every other couple we deal with little hiccups along the way, and although quite blissful we are a long way from any sort of perfection. Still, things appear to hold tremendous promise for the road that lies ahead, and it seems like the obvious answer to Dante’s “Mum, Mum, can we keep him? Can we keep him?? Please???” … is a resounding YES. :)

Oh, and as for why Mr. Name-Is-Not-Fred is being referred to as “The Fred”, well, it stems from a private joke between the two of us that had him “being Fred” (and we’ll just leave it at that), while nicely fulfilling the anonymity requirement of a public blog quite well, so … why not? ;)

And there you have it: Dante, the kitties and I are very happy to have The Fred as part of the family, and include him in Blogging Dante :)

Glove in hand!

2011-12-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

Part of ramping up for the winter is making sure that I have all the required winter clothing and gear in order for both dog and human. Since Dante and I strive to be active and out and about all four seasons, it's important that we're appropriately outfitted for the various seasonal conditions.
Every 2-3 years certain key pieces of winter clothing and gear will have come to the end of their natural "lifespan" and need to be replaced. Last year, it was mainly Dante's boots and hats/head coverings for me. This year, I had to splash out for a pair of suitable winter boots and gloves.

The boots didn't give me any grief, but I was having a tough time finding a pair of gloves that would serve my purposes. I hadn't been really too happy or satisfied with my past choices, and had a very specific pair of gloves in mind this time round.

My criteria were simple, or so I thought:
-- Must be adequately insulated and be comfortable up to at least -25C of windchill for extended periods of time
-- Must allow for a full range of dexterity where my fingers and opposable thumbs are concerned (picking up dog poop and tying up the poop bag in the dead of the winter ... 'nuff said)
-- Must be waterproof, ideally wind-proof as well
-- Must be durable and sturdy enough to last at least one season
-- Must have good grip features, for days of slushy snow and slippery leashes
And last, but definitely not least:
-- Must FIT

As mentioned, I had no idea how frustrating it would be to try to find said pair of gloves. The main challenge, as I quickly enough discovered to my dismay, was that the gloves I came across which did fit my criteria were all TOO LARGE. Ironically, most of them were for men, designed to be used in outdoors winter construction jobs or similar work. Ski gloves were too thick and puffy and would fail miserably where dexterity was concerned. The selection of women's gloves that came remotely close to what I found available for men was pathetic at best. Lots of pretty colours, frills and fuzzy accents, yes, but real FUNCTIONAL features? Forget it. That was really annoying: I mean, am I the only one who lives in a world where women would appreciate functional, practical gloves???

Now, that said, nowadays anything can be had ... for a price. There were "specialized" high-end gloves meeting all my listed criteria, but they cost upwards of $75 and above. I was feeling pressed, but not quite desperate enough to splurge that much on a pair of gloves. I wanted something decent for under $30, and I was determined to hold out hope for as long as I could ...

So the weeks rolled by as I muttered my way out of the numerous cold weather accessories departments of various stores.

Until this past weekend.

An outdoor superstore had just had its grand opening close by. They offered an impressive range of winter sports, camping, hiking, hunting and fishing equipment and accessories. I wandered over there with the original intention to just browse, but unexpectedly stumbled upon the pair of gloves I believe I've been looking for all this while.

In the hunting section, I found a pair of youth-sized (sized Medium, even) hunting gloves, specifically for rifle shooting. It had grip pads lining the palm of the gloves, and also at the tips of the forefinger and thumb. It was guaranteed wind- and water-proofed, and had 100g thinsulate for insulation. The glove was tailored from some sort of poly-fabric material and felt sturdy and well-stitched together, none of the fancy velvet, suede or fuzzy/fleecy polyester nonsense. Best of all, it fit me like a glove (pun fully intended!) and afforded me tons of dexturous movements!

For $24.99 and an additional 20% off? JACKPOT and SOLD!!!!

Well, it would have been perfect if it wasn't in an ugly camo(flauge) motif (they are hunting gloves after all!). But hey, all things considered, aesthetics were the least of my worries at this point!

Now I'm very much looking forward to the colder weather to give these new gloves a good test drive! If these work out nicely, well, I know where I'll be getting gloves for "dog purposes" from now on!

Snow, please!

2011-12-05T15:53:00.001-05:00

It’s been raining steadily since 9.30am YESTERDAY.

Dante has been feeling very conflicted with regards to what to attribute his pouting and sulking marathon to: is he miffed because all that rain severely curtails and limits his activity time outdoors, or is annoyed because he might as well be getting a dunking into a water barrel everytime he has to go outside for any reason whatsoever?

The cats have been sniggering from the window looking out at Dante tippy-toeing his way around the minefield of mucky puddles in the yard just to find a spot where he can plant a #2 without having his butt water-bombed. I can almost hear them chanting: “Vive le litterbox!”

My freshly mopped kitchen floor is a displaying a kaleidoscopic motif of muddy pawprints.

The forecast for the rest of the day? Rain, rain and MORE rain for another 24 hours. Then early tomorrow morning the temperature will plummet and we’ll be contending with wet snow for the rest of the morning. That means that I get to look forward to more spectacularly long faces from Dante for the rest of the day and the excitement of picking up soggy poop from the yard when the rain finally lets up. Picking up poop from the yard is not exactly the most gratifying of chores at the best of times, but SOGGY poop …

Never thought I’d be clamouring for it, but Winter, I would happily put up with some snow now …!

How to be invisible ... or not

2011-12-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

Lately, the cats have been trying to teach Dante some new tricks, including "How to yowl piteously for expedited dinner delivery" and "How to park yourself on Mum's lap for instant attention". The one trick that Dante thought was really neat and uber-cool though, was "How to be in the house and invisble at the same time by hiding under a pillow".

So once he thought he had learnt the ins and outs of it, he tried it out:

"Mum?! What ... who ... how?! But..but ... Tinsel said I'd be invisble once i was under the pillow!"

Isn't this what training is for?

2011-12-02T09:17:00.002-05:00

A couple of months ago, early one weekday morning, I was hustling after Dante with a limp tissue in my hand. Dante had taken one look at the menacing looking piece of paper product in my hand, and immediately shot off in the opposite direction, his little nubby telegraphing back at me in morse code: "You're going to have to catch me first before poking my eye out, Mum!"

You see, for some inexplicable reason (concluded upon several fruitless vet visits), Dante's eyes are obsessive about meeting their goop-producing quota every morning. So much so that it necessitates Dante being subjected to uncomfortable eye-poking with a piece of tissue being swished around at the end of my fingertip to remove the eye goop on a daily basis so that it doesn't become one sticky, goopy catchment area for dust and dirt and other nasty things. The vet assured me that as long as there was no infection present, all i need to do was to clean out the accumulation as needed and it doesn't hurt Dante in any way.

But i digress. Back to our merry morning chase. Having one's eye poked and diddled around with isn't exactly a pleasant experience, so i don't blame Dante for trying to avoid it whenever possible. But weekday mornings are notorious for their compressed schedule of must do chores before i have to skeedaddle off to work for the rest of the day, so after the 156th morning in a row as the cats are yowling for their breakfast and litter to be cleaned, my toast is waiting to be buttered and a sorry looking crinkly workshirt screaming out to be ironed, while i attempt to takedown Dante in a rugby tackle and grip him in a headlock so i can stick that piece of tissue where it needs to go ... well, let's just say that my patience was quickly wearing thin at that point.

Now if i was in a movie it would have been an exaggerated epiphanous moment whereby a loud string of "DING DING DING!!!!!!" gets sounded like a klaxon in the background. I don't know why it never occured to me before, but i planted my feet and skidded to a stop, and bellowed: "SIT."

Lo and behold, an expression of confusion crossed Dante's face for the briefest of moments, and then, as if like magic, his butt lowered itself and went PLOP onto the ground.

DING DING DING indeed. It then only occured to me: Ah, the joys of having a well-trained dog! With much glee, i ran over and commenced goop-removal with much gusto, while Dante seemingly wrinkled his nose at me in protest, as if thinking to himself: "DARN! She ... had ... to ... say ... the word!"

Ironically, i was so pleased with myself that my well-trained dog was ... well, actually well-trained! I guess so often, we associate "commands", even basic ones like "sit", with formal training and competition contexts, that we "forget" that they serve as practical tools for facilitating pleasant everyday living and interactions as well. Since we have expended so much time, energy and resources on training our dogs to a certain level of dependability to carry out what they understand and know, why not put it to good use to its fullest extent? But maybe it's just me that's a little slow on the uptake :)

This reminds me of a funny (ok, for any dog owner who has spent lots of time and money training their dog anyway!) anecdote related to me by a friend who was into the sport of Schutzund:

A group of members and their dogs from a Schutzund club was lodging at a hotel in a city that they had travelled to for a weekend trial. In the evening, the members took their dogs out in the hotel grounds for a stroll and potty breaks.

One member's dog in particular, a large, hulking brute of a German Shephard, was acting up. It didn't want to return to the hotel room after having stretched its legs and lifting them to kill a few shrubs along the way, so it strained and pulled at the leash, made a big fuss, and practically dragged its owner all over the place while making a heck of a ruckus.

The owner was struggling to bring her dog under control, and was slowly but surely losing the battle, when the club's training director stepped towards her from around the corner and barked out gruffly: "Hey, isn't that dog a trained SchIII (Schutzhund III, the highest level of achievement and titling in the Schutzund sport)??!"

The misbehaving dog's owner visibly coloured as she meekly replied: "Yes, he got his title last year."

The training director responded with: "Well, get him under control then!"

A light bulb went on in the woman's head, and she immediately issued a sharp "FUS!" command (that's German for "Heel") to her dog.

The dog snapped to attention with military efficiency, brought himself to heel by the woman's side, and was heeled back in an orderly fashion to the hotel room as the woman threw a sheepish grin back at the training director.

Don't worry, i haven't exactly come down on Dante like a training Nazi -- he still gets to think that he can get away with things, and hope that i don't remember the power of a simple word like "Sit" when i'm waving a little soft sheet of tissue at him. After all, it doesn't hurt me to have that little bit more of exercise in the morning ;)

Brave New World

2011-12-01T10:18:00.000-05:00

It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride of 14 months, but what do you know, Blogging Dante is BACK! :)

Dante and everyone in his household is hale and hearty, and most importantly , HAPPY.

Here’s the whirlwind, Sparks Notes version of the past 14 months:

The Ex-Husband and I “officially” separated in October last year. That was also when I made the decision to take a hiatus from this blog, anticipating lots of time, energy and resources to be plowed into the subsequent matters and issues that were sure to arise as a result of a divorce.

November and December flew by with having to deal with an assortment of legal matters tied to the divorce. December and January was a whirlwind of packing, purging, house hunting, and more legal documents to sort through and sign as I commenced my search for a new house. The divorce papers were filed in January.

In February I purchased a new house in a new (as in different, not brand new) neighbourhood. The remainder of February and March was a frenzy of activity with regards to tying up remaining legal loose ends, shopping for basic furnishings for the new house, and coordinating the big move on closing day.

In April, Dante, Pixie, Tinsel and I all moved into our new home. The Ex and I had decided that Nicky, Freya, Kai and Pippin would stay with him. Pippin stayed behind even though he and Tinsel were littermates, as Pippin had by then forged a closer bond with Kai and it would serve no purpose to separate them.

In April, during a routine medical checkup I was informed that a tumour had been discovered in my abdominal area. I was then scheduled for surgery in June to remove said tumour.

In May I received my divorce order from the court – I would be a free woman as of June!

In late June, I had surgery. Dante was sent off for a “summer vacation” with Atia’s breeder and spent 3 weeks romping around with Atia and her breeder’s menagerie in their country acre. I also took a good chunk of time off work to recover from the surgery. I had expected (and resolved) to be back on my feet in 4 weeks time, but it took closer to 6 weeks before I could resume my full range of normal activities at my normal fitness level.

July and August were spent mainly in recovery. Repairs and minor renovations to the house were also ongoing at this time. I also managed to survive intact through a wave of layoffs at work that concluded in late August.

In September, I wrestled with some weird behaviour and a couple of health issues on Dante’s part. I believe they manifested as an accumulation of the various stresses of the divorce, moving into a new place and my surgery. The poor puppy was really under the weather for a while, but thankfully (after much hair pulling on my end, ha) he’s now back to his usual top form.

Despite the various challenges at the time, September was really the month that I started feeling “at home” and settled in the new house, and feeling that I was finally getting back into the swing of things again and had regained a more bubbly outlook on life.

October marked a turning point in my (and Dante’s) life: we welcomed THE FRED into the household. Alright, before you start tossing the “Huh?????”s this way, further details on THE FRED will be happily divulged in upcoming posts. Till then, it doesn’t hurt to wonder ;)

November has been a wonderful month in many ways, and before I could even blink and take a deep breath … it’s December already! At this point in time, things are on the up and up, and looking mighty good :)

And there you have it, well, except for a couple of things:

Trialing was pretty much a complete wash for Dante and I in 2011. We did have trials lined up and were signed up for a few early in the season, but a combination of being emotionally drained from the entire separation-divorce-moving out process and a whole whack of burdensome but necessary expenses resulting from the divorce and the purchase and furnishing of a new house just rendered the extra costs of trialing and training prohibitive. Sadly, I had to forfeit quite a bit of $$$ in entries from withdrawing from trials that we had already entered in, but at the time it was that or be completely emotionally and financially overwhelmed. We continued regular classes in agility up till mid-June though, before I had to take time off for my surgery and recovery, so Dante wasn’t completely out of the loop. We resumed a few training sessions in August and September as well, but for the rest of the season I’ve made the decision to just take a break from formal training to let Dante and myself settle, unwind and enjoy the unfolding of our new life. Well, that and the fact that expenses both budgeted for and unforeseen are still cropping up with regards to repairs and minor renovations to the house. This doesn’t mean that Dante just gets to be stuck at home bored out of his wits – we’ve gone on several great private and group hikes as well as day trips to different places in the last little while. It’s just a slight tweak in our lifestyle for now, perhaps temporary, perhaps not ;) We’ll be re-evaluating our plans for trialing and training for the new year soon …

Right now, readers who are no stranger to Blogging Dante and who have been with us for a while must be wondering: Where’s Atia????

Yes, you would have noticed that Atia has not been mentioned thus far. Back in February, I made the very, very difficult decision to send Atia back to her breeder. At that point in time, there were a lot of unknowns and uncertainty in my life. On one hand, I had to put my sanity and wellbeing first, so that I was in the best shape and frame of mind to take care of my “kids”. On the other hand, I also had to keep the “kids”’s best interests in mind with regards to such a major change in our lives, and that didn’t necessarily translate into what I WANT, as opposed to what they NEEDED. Faced with the financial uncertainty brought on by the purchase of a new house on my own, a shaky climate at work and reverting to a single-income household, I was not confident that if, knock on wood, things were to spiral out of hand and Dante and Atia both had medical emergencies at the same time, that I would be able to ensure that they BOTH received the best care and resources that I could muster. I decided then that it would be best if Atia returned to her breeder where I knew that she would be excellently cared-for and well-loved. Atia’s breeder was wonderfully understanding, and extremely supportive throughout a very difficult time in my life. At present, Atia is back in her breeder’s household, but we did leave the door open for Atia’s return once I am back on more stable footing and if Atia’s breeder had not decided to rehome her. So, stay tuned, for the chapter on Atia has not been closed just yet! Atia is also potentially coming out to stay with Dante for a visit sometime in January, and I am very much looking forward to that …

My life has changed, undoubtedly for the better, but I am still the person that I am. Undeniably though, I have grown and matured not just on a personal level, but also as a dog owner and as a lover of the Doberman breed. I find that I have arrived at a level of comfort with regards to various aspects of dog ownership, and also come to comfortable terms with things like Dante’s reactivity. Throughout the various challenges in our last year together, the bond between Dante and I has grown even stronger, as well as our mutual level of respect, admiration and affection for each other. He is truly the best, constant and loyal companion that anyone could ever hope for, weathering the good times and the bad times with me in that unique unflappable spirit of his. He has stood by me unconditionally through it all, and I hope to do the same for him, and with him, for the rest of his days and our time together.

You will have noticed that I’ve made some minor tweaks and revamping to the blog. As Dante and my lives have changed, so would the nature of this blog. It’s not a major shift, but moving forward, readers can expect this blog to have a more “household-centric” focus in terms of posts and content, rather than the previous almost-exclusively Dante “slant”. Yes, this means that posts will take on a more “personal” angle, but it’s really hard to say which or what direction the blog will eventually settle into. The best way to find out, I say, is to just hop on the journey and see where it takes us :)

I am excited to be amongst Blogging Dante readers past, present and future, and Dante’s little online “family”, once again! Some of the upcoming posts will be necessarily reflecting on the last 14 months, most will be narratives of our present life, and the rest will definitely be forward-looking at what lies ahead.

Regular posting shall now resume. :)

The End ... For Now

2010-10-25T08:46:00.002-04:00

Dear Readers,

I want to express heartfelt appreciation at your support and camaraderie for the past three years. Little did I know then that starting up a “dog blog” would result in me connecting with so many fantastic individuals around the world :)

I apologize for my prolonged absence in the last month and more. It was not my intention to leave Blogging Dante “hanging” in limbo.

The Husband and I have made a mutual decision to separate and dissolve our marriage. Our separation has been made official. It is an amicable split and we will continue to remain on good terms with each other. There is much to discuss and sort out in the next few months as we prepare to file for divorce in the spring.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I must set Blogging Dante aside for now, so that I may tend to these affairs and also tend to my heart. I cannot say yet whether I will be returning to this blog in the near future; there is always that possibility. For now, I just need to let events unfold as they will. All things will be as they will be.

Again, my apologies and my gratitude for allowing me the privilege to share and revel in this little slice of my life with you.

Dante’s Mom

Atia in Kansas!

2010-10-05T19:33:00.002-04:00

As promised, here are some informal ringside photos of Atia strutting her stuff at the DPCA National in Kansas, in the Black Open Bitch class :)

All pictures courtesy of Sam's Mom – Sam is Atia's littermate redhead brother, a gorgeous, top conformation Doberman in Canada!

My little girl, all grown up ... she's looking good! Pity the handler is in the foreground, but she still looks good!

The judge going over her:

In motion:

Random headshot:

With Sam, her handsome brother:

I can't wait to see the official show photos when she gets back!!!

Time to bundle up

2010-10-04T12:08:00.001-04:00

Is it cold or is it COLD?!

Temperatures have really plummeted in the last few days. It’s now Fall, of course, but it kind of feels like a mini-winter except without all of the white fluffy stuff.

At our agility match this past weekend my ears almost felt like they were frostbitten. Of course, it didn’t help that the match location was right at the top of the hill and the wind was billowing all day. I had a déjà vu moment of running through the motions that day a mere couple of months ago: except that I was worrying about shedding layers and keeping Dante from overheating instead of trying to cover every inch of my exposed person!

I think in the last couple of early mornings the temperature was hovering just slightly above zero. Dante would dash out, do what I call a full body “wiggle shake” down to the blunt end of his little nub (presumably from the cold, I’m assuming), quickly zip around the yard to find a spot to do his “business” and then speedily rocket back into the house again. Guess he noticed the chillier conditions too, haha ;)

It’s making me wonder whether I should be bringing Dante’s winter coat along for our trial this coming weekend!

Oh and I just realized yesterday, when I went online to order Atia’s winter coat, that I can’t actually place the order, because I actually need her here in order to MEASURE her. Duh. Well, all that will have to be done when she gets back. Hopefully the vendor has adequate stock and we won’t have to wait 2-3 weeks for delivery of the coat.

Speaking of Atia, she arrived safely in Kansas this past Friday. Her breeder said she travels like a dream :) She is already busy bossing up her brother, who is showing at the Nationals along with her … that’s my girl! Ha! :) On Sunday Atia showed in the Open black bitch class and placed 3rd in her class! Her breeder thought that she could have done better, but according to her when the judge came over to examine Atia Atia spotted a fly on the mat (she’s ridiculously OBSESSED about chasing and catching flies) and got all anal about wanting to get at the fly … overall though her breeder was very pleased with her. Atia shows again this coming Friday.

I received some informal ringside photos of Atia showing, which I’ll upload and post later tonight.

Meanwhile, Dante is starting to notice her absence now, making funny little whines in the morning when they would usually wrestle and rough each other up while I’m getting ready to go to work. The cats have been taking turns cat napping inside Atia’s comfy crate – it’s really quite funny to come home each day to a different cat snoozing in there!

It’s Fall already and soon the snow will fall. The days are just going by way too fast …

Fingers crossed

2010-10-01T09:23:00.001-04:00

At the risk of jinxing myself, I think I’m going to be breathing a lot easier in the days ahead, literally speaking.

The “tightness” and “pressure” in my lungs have been steadily diminishing throughout the week. I’ve even managed to enjoy a few wheeze-free hours here and there in the past couple of days. I’ve reduced the dosage of my meds by half, and I’m glad to be rid of most of the yucky side effects. I’m still pretty lethargic and am not able to return to my usual (more) intense routine of physical activity yet, but at least I’m not feeling like I’m going to die after working the dogs for a bit. Hopefully, the outlook is on the up and up from this point onwards and my lungs are back to working like they should again.

In the past few days, I believe I have also come to the a decision regarding the future of this blog. There will be a post specifically addressing this matter in the next few days.

In the meantime, I’ll ramble on a few updates on the dogs before my brain goes kaput again ;)

Atia left on Wednesday for the American Nationals in Kansas. I’m still waiting to hear back from her breeder on whether they have arrived and are comfortably situated yet at the hotel. It should be interesting to see how Atia fares alongside the competition! I have no expectations of her, except that she enjoys her “adventure” down south and comes back having gained confidence from a new experience :)

Dante, I think, is enjoying not being pummeled and pawed on every single day by his bratty sister ;) I have to admit that I’m enjoying the additional “one on one” time with Dante as well – there’s just a different kind of pleasure and joy being with a mature dog that has mellowed and been well-trained. Puppies and younger dogs have their own lovable aspects, but when you’ve been wheezing and hacking away like me, I think you would prefer the settled, older dog as well, haha.

Agility training has been going FABULOUSLY. I think we are all just trying do as much as we can before the snow falls and outdoor facilities are no longer available.

Dante is at the top of his form again post-surgery – it is such a joy and pleasure to run this dog in agility!!! He has tons of drive, speed and an eagerness to work … in agility anyways, let’s not get started on his obedience shenanigans again, ha. I am also impressed by how well he’s reading my cues now, and how well and fast he responds as well, despite my typically klutzy coordination and lots of inexperienced “ooops” moments.

According to our instructor, we are at the next “level” of our training now: Now that Dante and I can work successfully as a team to tackle various course challenges, it is time to refine and enhance our performance. Meaning, for example, we can handle technical stuff like threadles, tight turns, serpentines etc fairly well, enough to qualify for a course, but now it’s time to step it up a notch. It’s not enough to just successfully take a line of jumps or negotiate a series of tricky obstacles, we have to run it in a way that it’s the tightest line, the least yardage and in the quickest time, among other “goals”. A big part of this is ME as the handler improving my handling skills. We have been doing a lot of theory and course analysis – very fascinating and lots to learn. For instance, at yesterday’s lesson I learned a rule to determine which side of a jump to cross on in particular circumstances: take into account which obstacle you’re coming from, which obstacle you’re going to, and the direction your dog is heading/jumping towards. It’s an eye-opener for sure to see how such theory actually has a very practical real world application when it comes to analyzing courses and deciding on how to run them! There’s also lots of discussion on lines and planes and such, how to wrap a jump properly, the various ways of shaping your dog’s line in various scenarios etc. So much to take in and so much to work on!

Doing agility has also made me realize how INTELLIGENT dogs are than we give them credit for. For example, at the level we are training at now, Dante is expected to be able to “layer” commands and cues that I’m giving him and he’s interpreting in order to successfully navigate a course and complete sometimes very technical and complex course sequences. For instance, when doing distance work I set up a line for Dante (and this is all done real time in motion at high speed, mind you!) and then fire off a series of commands for the order of the obstacles he’s supposed to take (eg. weave, over, tunnel!), and he’s expected to not only be able to understand what I’m telling him to do, but also remember the ORDER of what he’s supposed to do and then figure out on the fly how he’s supposed to successfully tackle that (eg. slow down or speed up, turn slightly one way or another, keep eye on Mom or just drive straight through 1, 2, or 3 of the obstacles) … I don’t know about you but even as a human I find this challenging at the best of times, to be making so many critical decisions in the blink of an eye as I’m running around the course, and I don’t even have to keep my eyes and ears out for someone else giving me verbal and physical cues while I’m running around on the course! Dante does this superbly – as long as I’m feeding him the right information at the right time of course!

Another example. If I stretch out my arm and hold a single finger out, it’s considered my “drive arm” and is telling Dante to drive on or complete an obstacle or a series of obstacles in the direction I’m pointing. If I stretch my arm out and hold out my spread-out hand of five fingers, it’s my “stop/hold/slow down” arm and could mean any of the aforementioned things depending on the circumstance. If I put up my drive arm and then switch to my hold arm, it means one thing. If I hold up my halt arm and then replace it with my drive arm, it means another thing. If I put up my drive or halt arm first and then hold them BOTH up together, it means a whole other thing altogether, depending on whether I had put up my drive or halt arm first. Dante is expected to KNOW what I want him to do and successfully execute it depending on when and how I use my drive and halt arms in ever changing combinations on an infinite variation of course sequences. And all of this is determined while IN MOTION AT HIGH SPEED. Tell me this is not “complex computing” and high intelligence at work!!!

I’ve also started teaching Dante directionals, so that I can direct him to go right or left from a distance when we are running a course.

Yes, can you tell, I’m pretty much in awe of what my dog can do :)

I am thoroughly enjoying going to the next level in our training with Dante!

Atia is coming along nicely too. She is jumping her full/required 26” height now for the jumps. Her current “challenges” that we are working on are pretty much similar to what Dante had gone/worked through when he was still training at her level where she is now: distractibility, maintain consistent 2o2o contacts, balancing drive and speed with control and finesse, learning how to work together as a team and successfully interpret cues … I guess after having gone through the “process” with one dog I am fretting less about going through it again with another!

At our ring rental practice this week Atia gave me very nice Teeters – more confident than how she’s been and not getting the urge to jump off! Hopefully she remembers that she has mastered this “fear” of hers once she returns from the Nationals in two weeks! Her weaves are still a work in progress. The instructor said that she just doesn’t have her “footwork” in place yet, but I believe she’s starting to understand what completing the weaves actually means (ie. no skipping poles). She tends to be a little sloppy with her 2o2o when she’s overly excited or if I’m not meticulous enough with her. Overall I do find that she’s catching on a lot quicker on things like holding her 2o2os till she’s released, threadles, serps etc. as compared to Dante … I suspect this has a lot to do with me being a more improved handler compared to when I was starting out with Dante! Once she has mastered the weaves and is solid on the teeter, then we can start attending some fun matches and hopefully sign up for some trials in the near future (but probably not till the spring).

I have to remember to send in the application form for Atia’s AAC number, so that we can register for AAC trials in the spring … this keeps slipping my mind for some reason! I also have to order her a proper winter coat for the coming winter and winter agility training, now that she’s fully grown I don’t have to worry about her outgrowing an expensive coat in weeks!

I’m not looking forward to winter and the cold, but I am looking forward to keeping active and busy through it all!

Still patching up …

2010-09-27T09:30:00.001-04:00

Sorry folks on such a long stretch with a lack of update posts. I’ve been wrestling with my asthma all week. Finally gave in early in the week and had meds prescribed. The good news? The meds seem to be working – though I don’t remember me being so drugged up in a long, looooooooooong time – and my uhm, “lung capacity” seems to be improving slowly but surely day by day. The bad news? I am suspecting the current course of meds I’m on is, for some reason, giving me constant headaches, as well as a surprisingly insatiable appetite ... yikes.

The past three days I don’t think I’ve been able to be upright for more than 3 hours at a time without having to lie down again for a good couple of hours. Actually the last few days I’ve been like my cats, sleeping for 18 hours a day and barely conscious for the rest, ha. Well, I do have some good “spurts”, a couple of hours here and there during the day whereby I catch up on chores and tending to the “kids”. It goes without saying then that online/computer time have been severely curtailed, since the last thing on my mind when I’m battling a constant thrumming in my head and the urge to just lie down and croak is to sit and stare at a glowing screen. Needless to say, I’ve put off all major decisions and plans (quite a bunch waiting for me, work-wise and personal stuff included) until I’m “properly functioning” again.

Against my better judgement I did go ahead with our usual weekly agility lesson, a private lesson and even a match – we had great fun and a good workout, the dogs and I (ALWAYS agility = fun), but boy, did I ever pay for it BIG TIME when I got home and collapsed comatose on the bed AFTER it all. Ok, that was not fun (and likely not very healthy either I’m guessing) so I’m NOT going to repeat that this week. Nuh-uh.

So, the dogs have been well-taken care of and are doing quite well. They’ve been to training and have had quite an eventful week, despite my current “condition”. They’ve been slightly shortchanged in terms of the usual frequency and duration of their walks/outings, but that shouldn’t hurt them. Besides (seriously), Dante and Atia both still need to put on some weight anyways, so perhaps that’s a good thing in a way.

Atia is leaving for her big trip down south this week. Dante will be staying home and prepping for his final(?) agility trial of the year/season The cats will all be expected to do double-cuddle-snuggle-duty for poor sick Mom and said Mom will endeavour to get through this coming week without prematurely offing herself.

And … Mother Nature you SUCK, more endless RAIN for 4 out of 5 days this week … come on, throw a ridiculously sick person a bone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a good/better week ahead, all.

Whine WHEEZE whine …

2010-09-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

Alright, I’ve been sooooooooooooooo good for the last little while, I feel like I’m about due for a RANT post. So, before reading any further, be forewarned.

START RANT:

The weather this year SUCKS. Spring was forgettable, but at least it wasn’t like a psycho overdosing on Prozac. Summer was BRUTAL, with days on end of weather literally MELTING you. And now, we are faced with a Fall that I swear is bi-polar and has multiple-personality syndrome. We’ve had a few absolutely GORGEOUS days here and there, but we’ve also had endless storming, wet and miserable days that just seemingly pop out of no where.

Perhaps what’s been more tempestuous than the weather all year is Atia’s perplexing “mood swings” – oi, don’t even get me started on that or I may just expire out of exasperation right now.

I’m feeling like I’m ready to throw in the towel where training is concerned. All Summer-long and now into Fall, it’s been a scheduling NIGHTMARE just to have some consistency where lessons and training sessions are concerned. 90% of the time when it’s “lesson day” during the week or when I have some time off to line up an extra training session or two – yes, you guessed it – THE WEATHER SUCKS … either inhumanly hot or so wet and windy that it’s be rash and stupid to train in conditions like that. Lady Luck and Mother Nature must have been in cahoots all year to try to screw up all my training plans as much as they can.

Yet, we soldiered on, as good-naturedly as possible. Took it all in stride. Was actually having fun as the trialing season got rolling, Dante was at the top of his form and I was just making the best of it all, and then, came the obstruction ordeal.

That completely dragged Dante out of the action for a good 5-6 weeks. Missed three trials in a row. Bye-bye agility goals. Bye-bye titles. The hardest part was the later stage of Dante’s recovery period, seeing him so eager to get back to work and getting depressed because he’s so used to doing SO MUCH, but had to contend with a cranky Mom INSISTING that he just … chill and do nothing. Sigh.

So now Dante’s back in shape and ready to get back in gear again – I have all sorts of plans lined up in glee, allowing myself to feel excited again, but wait, Lady Luck and Mother Nature have other ideas.

Mother Nature decides to serve up more storms and winds and all-day rain-fests for a good 4-5 DAYS IN A ROW. Bye-bye training plans. To top it all off, now I’m wheezing and choking and struggling to breathe. Heck, I couldn’t even turn the steering wheel this morning getting into the parking lot at work without getting all out of breath – it’s that ridiculous!!!!

So now, I guess even if the weather does clear up and we get nice clear skies and comfortable weather for running around in, I won’t be able to do much at all until my lungs decide they want to function like normal again. Who knows when that is.

Which all adds up to: the inability to plan ahead. And we all know how that grates on lil’ old obsessive-compulsive-anal-control-freak me.

The dogs aren’t exactly happy with the whole “No, I’m afraid we can’t go anything else today because it’s wet and freezing/Mommy can’t breathe!” situation either.

And then I am saddled with this irrational guilt that I’m not providing the dogs with enough engaging activities …

Yes, there’s more to Life than “dog stuff”, but as it turns out it’s actually one of the things that I really enjoy doing and just the way things have been going on that front of late just … sucks.

It’s bloody depressing.

END RANT.

I guess it’s my turn now

2010-09-20T09:39:00.001-04:00

Well, I did say update posts were going to be patchy while the majority of my “writing time” is being taken up by my other “project” … sorry :)

Things have been going very well on that front – I have been able to plonk down tons of words and ideas almost everyday; plot and character development have never been going better, and many aspects of the compendium entries are really starting to come together very nicely. In the next little while I just need to set aside some chunks of time to complete a few of the maps I’ve been incubating in my head for some time now … it’s a time consuming task simply because I’m not really a whiz at Photoshop, but it’s very doable, I just need the TIME (which we all know is the key to everything getting done!).

As for some updates on the “dog-front”:

-- I think we’re back in business with Dante! The last couple of weeks I’ve been slowly reintroducing him to our usual training regiment. We started off with very basic jumping work and no other equipment, and then gradually upping his activity level. As of last week, he’s been doing fantastic in our weekly lessons and also extra ring rental practice sessions. So far I haven’t noticed any signs of discomfort or awkwardness in him, so I think we’re good to go, which makes me very happy! This week I have an extra private lesson scheduled for the dogs, and am also thinking of signing up for a match. We’ll see.

-- Atia is coming along nicely too: she’s jumping her full 26” now, her contacts are really nice. Her weaves are starting to come together and we’ve tried her on the “big weaves” a couple of times. Still wrestling with Teeter issues, since, just like Dante, Atia’s really not a big fan of the Teeter. It’ll all come together in the end, just need time and practice to work on it! The main issue though is Atia’s mysterious “tantrums” (that’s what I’m calling it anyway, without going into further description about it). For no apparent reason she’ll get into a tizzy mid-lesson/session, decides she doesn’t want to work anymore, gives her whole bucking bronco act and then JUMPS THE GATE OF THE RING (which is definitely WAY MORE than 26” in height). Oy vey … I can’t have her jumping the ring gates if we are going to be trialing!!! So, suffice to say, I had thought entering her for a Jumpers round in an October trial, but in light of this I don’t feel comfortable trialing her until she has all her “ring manners” in place. Don’t want her picking up bad habits in the ring which I will then have to waste time and energy to retrain!

-- the dogs have FINALLY put on some extra weight. I have been doubling Dante and Atia’s meal portions for the past couple of weeks, for Atia to put on some show weight in time for the American National and for Dante to regain some of the weight he lost through the whole obstruction ordeal. For a while I’ve been wondering where all the food goes, because aside from an increase in poop frequency neither of them seem to be showing any of the extra food they have been happily chowing down. In the last couple of days though I think I’m finally seeing some “beefing up”. Dante has probably regained about 3 of the 5lbs he lost since the surgery and Atia is starting to look like a little chunky monkey – which should please her breeder when it’s time to leave for the states next week!

Which brings us to the title of the post. I actually had a few update posts scoped out in my mind for the last couple of days … even one with video, ha! On Saturday though, very unexpectedly, my asthma started bothering me again (seems like it’s been striking every 2-3 years). On Sunday all I wanted to do was to lie in bed. It was a challenge walking the dogs, getting excited about blogging, going shopping (which was on the agenda) and tinkering on the computer. Well, anything’s a challenge when you can’t breathe properly!

So, frankly, this unexpected “health issue” has me a little concerned now … and quite down. I’ve been planning to get back into a little obedience, since the weather is getting cooler now and we are going to have to move to limited indoor ring practice time pretty soon for agility. I’ve also been looking forward to revving up with Dante again starting this week, but not being able to breathe properly kind of puts quite a big wrench into the works. I suppose after Dante’s stint with obstruction it’s my turn now!!! Boo …

Best laid plans and all, eh? With everything going on right now I guess I’m just feeling kind of worn out. In light of the shift in my writing priorities as well, I’ve been pondering about the “future” of this blog … I’ll make a post on it once I’ve come to a decision, probably sometime this week if my asthma issues don’t get worse.

Anyways, I’m trying to take things easy this week, and to cheer myself up by looking forward to the last agility trial for the season/year in early October. That’s the goal i’m working towards right now.

I’ll leave some other thoughts unsaid for now.

Tasty Ears

2010-09-14T20:57:00.003-04:00

I have mentioned before that Atia seems to have quite the obsession with Dante's ears. Whenever she's standing or sitting by him, she can't resist embarking on an all-out lick-fest on those ears of his. Dante just puts up with it in his usual good-natured manner, of course, the silly boy.

Lately though, i've noticed that the cats (especially Pixie) have been licking Dante's ears as well whenever his head is hovering close to them. Unlike Atia who literally cleans out Dante's ears with her generous slurps, the cats take little dainty licks, tracing the fuzzy outlines of Dante's ear. It's really quite funny to watch. Dante must be thinking that some really weird bug is flitting around right on his ear when the cats get going, because he starts twitching his ear and at times even shakes his head once or twice when they REALLY get going.

So now i have to wonder: what if it's not Atia, with the whole licking business and all? What if it's really SOMETHING about Dante's ears????

Hmmmm ...

Maybe i'll place the rat next to his ear next and see what happens :p

About time, Fall!

2010-09-13T18:57:00.002-04:00

The temperature is cool and crisp.

The leaves are turning into a plethora of rich-hued colours.

It feels comfortable to soak in the sun, not like a piece of steak on a sizzling grill.

The humidity ... what humidity?

The dogs are wondering why the sun hasn't already peeked out by the time we're out for our early morning walks.

Training during the day no longer equals becoming a human greaseball of sunscreen.

Stinky bug spray is no longer a must-have item in the training bag for "working" in the evening.

No more being chased around by Mom with a spray bottle for "cooling off", Dante says.

It actually feels nice and cozy to be cuddling with the dogs on the bed during nap times, instead of feeling smothered by two gargantuan heat blankets melting onto you.

Fall, what took you so long?????

Ta-ta Summer, i'm definitely going to miss you ... NOT.

Photos ... YAY!

2010-09-09T21:18:00.006-04:00

My mood lately has been as grey as the weather: I've sorely missed running and competing with Dante in agility (Soon, soon, i tell myself!). Yes, i'm still training and working with Atia, but ... it's not the same. That's all i can say.

So, when i received a bunch of photos from a fellow handler of Dante and Atia doing agility last week, it was bittersweet: I always get excited seeing photos of Dante “at work”, but at the same time, i knew i didn't want to feel anymore depressed than i was already, seeing photos of him active before the surgery. Thus i sort of dilly-dallied and waited until a full week had passed by before taking a look at the photos.

These photos are from a couple of months ago, at the height of blistering summer, at one of our agility lessons. A fellow handler attending the lesson with us had her brother take photos of her and her dogs, and in the process there were a handful taken of Dante and Atia.

Of course i had to share – most of them just made me laugh ... i'm glad they didn't make me cry ;) Warning: Some of them with Dante's expressions are just plain hilarious ... you'll see what i mean (though you might have to click on the photos to see them closer up). My heart just bursts with pride and all the fuzzie-wuzzies when i see photos of them running happily with such joy and abandon – the main downside of running with the dogs is that i can't see them when they are actually running on the course!

So, i'll save the blabbing and just get on with the photos. Enjoy! Photo credit goes to Brad Vink ... thanks Brad for snapping these priceless shots!!!

Take off: Tell me that isn't a smile on his face!

Maybe it's just me, but it's just JAWDROPPING for me to see how much MORE SPACE he leaves when he clears the bar jumping ... how many extra inches is that from the bar?????

Completing the weaves:

“Almost done, almost done ...!”

“YES!!! I DID IT!!!!”

Annnnnnnnnd again!

“One ... last ... pole!”

“I'm da man!!!!”

Unfortunately, only three photos of Atia were sharp enough to be posted.

Atia taking off for a jump – she doesn't quite have the power Dante has yet, but that will come!

A very nice rear cross by Atia ... the tongue says she's having fun!

Atia blasting out of the tunnel – yep, the tongue says it all!

In comparison, Dante coming out of the tunnel – i'm always amazed by how SMALL he manages to compress himself for the tunnels!

Aaaaaand go!

I wish there were more photos, but i'll be happy with what i've got! So hard to get good shots of them working! :)

On a roll

2010-09-07T19:21:00.003-04:00

Yes, yes, i know. Update posts have been conspicuously absent. Bad Blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

Let me explain why: In the last few days, my creative juices have been flowing in a very liberal manner. It's like a dam has burst and now i'm besieged (in a good way!) with a myriad of ideas and "lightbulb moments". I've accomplished a TREMENDOUS amount of work on my novel "project". Part 1 of Book 1 is now complete, and i'm already two and a half chapters into Part 2. This is on top of the various new compendium entries and additions. I feel like i've got my mojo going and i haven't felt that way about writing in a long, long while.

So, i've been spending an inordinate amount of time on my "project" in the last few days. Doesn't help either that whenever i finish a sizable chunk of work i reward myself with 1-2 hours of game time on the computer ;) That and all the usual busying about with the dogs and chores and work has wrenched me away from blog updates.

So, i do apologize. Yet, i'm not lamenting the dearth of update posts. It's a GOOD thing that i'm making such good progress on a project near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately there's only so many hours in a day and i don't have remotely as much time as i would like on my hands to spend on ALL the things that i'm passionate about.

There's been nothing new and/or exciting with "the kids". The four-day long weekend was practically four days of endless rain shower after rain shower, so our outdoor activities were pretty curtailed. I did mourn my inability to participate in the various agility matches that were going on over the weekend, but the crappy weather made me feel a little better about it, haha.

Dante is still on the up and up and we've been slowly working up to his pre-surgery activity levels and duration. He's skinny as a rake though, since he lost 5lbs to the surgery, and i've been trying to get his weight back up. I have to say, i never imagine it would be so challenging to plump BOTH Atia and Dante up. I've doubled their meal portions, but it seems like the food just disappears down the hatch and magically dematerializes without even making a dent in their weight!

Anyways, i seem to be on some kind of streak and roll right now where my writing project is concerned, so i foresee that blog updates will be pretty patchy until the tap is somehow turned off. I won't lie: I'm hoping to sail on this momentum for a little while longer, so, maybe posts are going to be scarce for a while.

There's nothing more enjoyable and comforting to me right now than sitting at the computer typing out all the wonderful characters and plots in my head, while i'm surrounded by dozing and purring kitties all around/on me, and two gorgeous Dobermans lounging around snoozing happily. That's been the last four days. Ahhhhh.

Now he can pass through a metal detector

2010-09-03T21:03:00.003-04:00

Well, yesterday Dante had an appointment at the vet's and all the staples on his surgery incision site were removed -- it's a milestone in his recovery!

The vet said the site looked nice and clean and dry, and that it had healed up well. There was one minor unforeseen complication: The skin around the incision area had grown around/over three of the staples, so the vet had to dig around with some finesse and maneuvering in order to get the staples out! So that was what the slight tenderness and crusty pockets were that i had noticed a couple of days ago! The vet and vet techs praised Dante on how calm and pliable he was when they were having difficulty removing the staples -- not once did he wince or kick up a fuss. He sure charmed the ladies with the sorry-looking look of his soft brown eyes ;)

Apart from that, the vet said Dante was looking good. All the vet techs wanted to come out and pet Dante and give him a cookie. They all remembered him from the surgery and apparently he remembered them too, because he went up to each one in turn demanding his cookie ;)

It turned out that Dante did lose about 5lbs from the surgery. So, we'll have to get working on getting him back up to his optimum weight again. Shouldn't be too much of a chore for Dante, since he seems to have no issues chowing down stuff ;)

To mark this "milestone", i brought out Dante's treat ball and tug-a-jug toy (both are interactive treat dispensing toys) that he hadn's seen for a while, since i usually reserve treats for our numerous training sessions. He had great fun basically just batting the toys around and munching up treats ... when Atia wasn't hogging one or the other, that is, haha. Additionally, both Atia and Dante got old hollow marrow bones stuffed with peanut butter. Not a bad way to wrap up the day, in Dante's estimation ;)

Knock on wood, we won't have go through another obstruction ordeal with EITHER of them EVER AGAIN.

Nocturnal Cacophony

2010-09-02T10:17:00.003-04:00

I sometimes wonder if the Universe is against me getting a good, solid night’s sleep for one reason or another. The Husband complains that I OBSESSS about getting sleep. Hmmm ... I wonder why? (picture dripping sarcasm)

Let me tell you about my (yet another "failed") attempt at a good night’s snooze last night, due to … uhm, I’ll just call them “unforeseen auditory factors”.

When it came time to retire to bed last night, I was exhausted. I had gone for our weekly agility lesson with Atia (and it broke my heart to leave Dante at home – he cried and cried and cried as he saw me pick up the training bag, the training vest, the agility leash, Atia … and then left him behind :( ), and when I returned from agility I still had to take Dante out for a walk even though I was sticky and sweaty, it was already dark and getting pretty late and close to my usual bedtime, since Dante had to stay home for the evening.

By the time I had finally managed to shower, grab a snack and unwound a little, I was starting to doze off in my chair so off to bed we went.

Got into the bedroom to find that Dante had surreptitiously jumped up on the bed and curled up in a comfy ball. I felt bad for him having to miss agility, so I decided to let him sleep there beside me until The Husband came home later and would see him down to his own bed on the floor.

I fall asleep for … a little over an hour, probably. Then, Dante’s rustling beside me woke me up. I also heard The Husband pulling up in the driveway, the loud opening and closing of the garage door, and then sounds of The Husband entering the house and settling himself. Dante fussed for a while on the bed, and then, when the aroma of food started wafting into the bedroom as The Husband whipped up a quick snack before bed for himself (smelled like bacon), Dante trundled off the bed and made his way downstairs, no doubt to put his soft brown eyes to good use begging for food with his “Please feed me can’t you see I’m starving to death here” look.

Snippets of Human and Dog grousings accompanied the aroma of food into the bedroom:

“ (whine whine whine whine yowl) ”
“No Dante, you can’t have any. Your Mom is going to kill me if she knows I snuck you some.”
“ (whine whine whine whin BARK) ”
“NO. Leave me alone.”
“ (whine whine rumble-growl) ”
“NO.”
“ (silence) “
“ Ewwww! Stop drooling on me! ”
“ (whine whine whine whine yodel) ”
“GO LIE DOWN!”

At some point I drifted back to sleep again, only to be woken up a little while later by a similar “conversation”:

“(whine rumble-growl) ”
“No Dante, you can’t come up here. Go lie on your own bed.”
“ (pitiful whining) ”
“No. This is MY spot. You have your own bed. Go lie down!”
“ (whine whine groan moan) ”

After dishing out my own mutterings at The Husband and Dante’s rustling as they settled down to bed, I dozed off yet again …

… when suddenly, I was jolted out of sleep by this loud, panicked shriek of a bark. It was Atia.

I bolted out of bed: “Oh my goodness! What’s wrong Atia?!?!” I hurried over to her crate, and there she was lying down asleep as peacefully as could be; well, except for the frenetic twitching of her paws and whiskers and high pitched worried “whinnying” and half-growls.

The Husband had woken up too: “It’s just her dreaming! She’s fine!”

He was right. Atia is the only one of the two to actually have such vivid dreams with vocalizations and movements to match when she’s asleep. I was glad to realize that she was just fine, aside from battling dream monsters, but I was starting to get really grouchy by then with all the interruptions to my sleep.

I climbed back into bed again (Atia still happily snoozing and oblivious to the fright she had given me), and tumbled back into my own dreamland.

Until I was woken up yet again by what sounded like a herd of elephants stomping up and down the stairs. It was the cats.

When people find out that we have 6 cats, they often remark: “Gosh, 6 cats???? They must be all over the place!” My usual response to that is: “Oh we hardly ever notice them. They just come and go and have their own little secret nooks and crannies that they snooze and hang out in.” This is true, but I usually never get around to noting that it only applies to the DAYTIME.

Cats are nocturnal creatures after all, and without the dogs’ exhuberant romping around during the night, the kitties, I suppose, feel especially liberated to prowl and streak around the house at high speed, often in a frenzied version of “ultra cat zoomies”. And when that happens, they get unbelievably LOUD, chasing each other around the house at high speed, launching off/at various furniture pieces in the house and not shy about throwing in ear-piercing bouts of hissing and growling and mrowling (a combination of meowing and howling) when one gets the better of another.

Some nights are better than others. Last night though, it was like were out to tear the house apart. Up and down the stairs, all over the house, in and out of the bedroom. The worse is when amidst all the commotion, a cat or two suddenly flings itself up the bed and ON to your head or chest, and then proceed to WRESTLE and TUMBLE right ON you, paws, claws and fur flying in a blur. It’s a very unpleasant way to be suddenly woken up in the middle of the night, I can tell you. Although this has happened a few times, thankfully last night they decided NOT to use Mom as a trampoline.

I buried my head in my pillow and willed myself to go back to sleep.

I think I must have at least gotten at least a good couple of hours of sleep, but alas it was not to last. I started feeling myself being pulled out of slumber again, at first by low, throaty intermittent rumble that seemed to be coming from under the bed.

As the rumbling got louder, every burst of it was accompanied by a very loud and abrasive rattling HISS. All illusion of sleep had left me by then.

A cat growling and hissing for a prolonged period of time is a very disturbing and “uncomfortable” noise. It’s similar to a tom cat in heat yowling unceasingly throughout the night, except the amorous tom cat’s yowling is more mellifluous and sometimes melodic, even, but the cat engaging in a growling, hissing and spitting marathon sounds just like fingernails on a chalk board especially in the dead quiet of the night.

Usually, the reason for a cat (more than likely Nicky) growling and spitting under the bed is because one of the boys (Kai or Pippin, the mischievous devils) decided to pick on another cat, sometimes ganging up on them and cornering them. So the beleaguered cat gets all defensive and tries to ward them away without having to be forced to being chased around the house again and again.

After so many interruptions to my sleep I was Ms. Cranky Extraordinaire. I jumped out of bed and hollered to the guilty cats crowded around the bed: “OUT! OUT! GET OUT! Go beat yourselves up somewhere else!!!”

The culprits scattered, commencing another deafening stampede en masse down the stairs.

Back to bed.

I woke up in the morning to Pixie sprawled out on my chest, Freya tucked between the sheets licking at my elbow, Nicky bumping her nose at my face, Pippin, Kai and Tinself circling the bed on the floor yowling for breakfast, and Atia whining and rattling her crate door wanting to be let out to PLAY.

Dante was watching me in (silent) interest as I shuffled defeated out of bed.

Just another day ahead …

EDITED TO ADD:

You know what amazes me? Two things:

1) That The Husband can USUALLY sleep through all this ridiculous racket JUST FINE.

and

2) That Dante, sleeping on his bed on the FLOOR, is able to maintain a perfectly composed and calm demeanour at the sight of a whole nuthouse of kitties dashing about and all around him at high speed, often literally at whisker's-length ... without giving in to the urge to chime in the chase and fun and games himself, that is. My theory is that he's actually smart enough to realize that a scenario of SIX wound up cats with sharp claws and teeth all galloping after him in predatory mode is not one he would like to be caught in. What do you think? ;)

Surgery recovery update

2010-09-01T08:53:00.000-04:00

Now into Week 2, Mr. Dante continues to mend up nicely; although there has been a few “almost instant heart attack” moments, like how he cleared the 42” end of the couch in order to get ON the couch by propelling himself in there from completely stationary stand position right BESIDE the couch – The Husband and I had to blink over and over again and convince ourselves it really happened. I guess Dante must be really feeling strongly about all his new “forced rest” regiment – sometimes it seems like he’s either trying to off himself or shock us to death!

Heart-stopping moments aside, everything else seems to be well. Dante’s healthy appetite is back and he’s return to his usual whining like a fire truck siren whenever it’s meal time. For the first 3-4 days after he was allowed to be weaned off the bland Gastro vet diet, I only fed him single protein ground meats with bone, with no added organs nor his usual supplements; just to keep it simple and straightforward for his recovering digestive system. After that, I’ve been slowly increasing the portions of added organs to his meal until we’re now back to his usual meal ratios. Just yesterday, I’ve started tossing his usual supplements in too since he’s completed his full round of antibiotics. He’s been having regular, solid poops so looks like all is well with his “plumbing”.

His 6-8 inch surgery incision has been gradually becoming flesh coloured as it heals up. However, a couple of days ago I noticed a couple of small red fleshy bumps at one point in the incision line. It looked like it was swelling and tender. I’ve been keeping a close eye on it, since it was concerning me that maybe he tore or ruptured something. So far this morning it looks like the swelling and tenderness has gone away, and the red bumps replaced by little black bits of shriveled up tissue?????? Hopefully it’s a normal part of the recovery process and won’t be cause for alarm when the vet inspects it tomorrow.

Interestingly enough, Dante’s eye goop production has been gradually reduced and for the last two days, stopped. I’m also keeping an eye on the degree that his third eye lid is showing. It was, of course, sticking out more when he first came home from the surgery and has been gradually receding. I once read that whenever a dog’s third eye lid is prominently noticeable, it means something is “not right” health-wise. I guess I’m sort of using this third eye lid “presence” as a barometer to how Dante may be healing up INSIDE. It’s easy to monitor the external incision site and observe behaviour and all that, but unfortunately we don’t have x-ray eyes and can’t see through what’s truly going on in terms of his healing progress internally. Maybe when the third eye lid has fully receded and can no longer be seen then he’s fully recovered all around and ready to go?

On another front, I have a feeling Dante’s passive protest at his strict schedule of confinement and regular bed rest may just explode in a full blown rebellion soon. Last night, I was upstairs working on the computer for a good part of the night. When I finally stepped out of the office room, ready to put the dogs to bed, I came out to the stairway landing to find Dante sprawled out tiredly in the hallway, while his comforters and pillows (his “bed” is made up of stacking three old comforters and two pillows together) were littered at various points up and on the stairs. I exclaimed: “Dante, what is your bed doing here all over the place???”

The Husband, who had been downstairs watching his TV show, heard me and excitedly walked up to tell me: “Guess what Dante’s been doing for the last few minutes! He’s been rustling up his bed, gathering up his comforters and pillows and then running upstairs with them! He looked so funny carrying the comforters and pillows upstairs bulging out of his mouth!”

Oh Dante! Dang, I wish The Husband had alerted me at the time, I would have loved to have gotten a video of Dante “busying about” with that!

I guess he was trying to make a statement by dragging his bed upstairs himself. He must have stopped when he reached the top of the stairway – he’s a big dog but those comforters are quite heavy, especially to be dragging them up the stairs all by himself! His bed is usually up in the bedroom, but because the Expen’d area is downstairs on the main floor, I’ve moved it downstairs so that he can be confined comfortably during the day. I’ve been moving his bed upstairs at night and then downstairs again for the day, but maybe Dante is trying to tell me he does not want his bed downstairs PERIOD ;)

Tomorrow will be a full 14 days since Dante has the obstruction surgery. Tomorrow we are also heading to the vet to have the staples removed. Hopefully everything will be fine and the vet will say that Dante’s healing is on track. I’m going to ask for the vet’s opinion tomorrow in terms of when and how soon Dante can return to training and trialing. He’s doing really well and I’m extremely tempted to just go right back into the thick of things, but I have to be honest with myself: there are still so many little signs that Dante is not yet “100%”, it really would be best and safer to just wait and let some more time pass. Doesn’t mean I can’t feel depressed about it :(

Oh well, hope for the best!

Is it Monday already?

2010-08-30T10:54:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Atia has been away for a four-day show with her breeder. Since she left last Wednesday, it was actually a nice respite for me from the constant “crate and rotate” routine during Dante’s initial recovery stage from his obstruction surgery. Unfortunately, even that does not alleviate Dante’s determined pitiful sulk-and-pout at being kept on such a “couch potatoe” regiment for the time being. Oh well. Again, thank goodness for video games and good books, the last vestiges of protecting my sanity!

I did take the opportunity to head out for a nice dinner with some of The Husband’s friends on the Saturday night. A refreshing change of pace indulging in something I haven’t done in a while – leisurely dinner, good conversation, dressing up instead of being in “dog clothes” all the time, haha …

Actually went to the show on the last day that Atia was showing (Sunday) to watch her strut her stuff in the ring and pick her up for home at the same time. Atia ended up showing the whole four-days in a row as a Special. Although she was a little thin for the conformation ring (I like to keep her on the lean side for agility), her breeder was very pleased with her animated attitude and flashy showing in the ring. Two out of the four days Atia won Best of Opposites (which was nice because we had no expectations for her expect to go out and have a good time, getting her feet wet again before heading to the Nationals), winning over a more experienced and mature Bitch special from a very well-known, long-time Doberman breeder/kennel in the area.

On the Sunday that I was there with a good friend to watch Atia, I could tell straightaway that she was in her “cranky diva mood” the minute she was led out by her handler. I have to admit, right away I was feeling sorry for the poor handler who had to deal with her saucy antics that day – I’ve been on the other end of the leash, so to speak, a good many times now while working in obedience/agility when Atia was in “one of those moods” ;)

As it turned out she did give the handler a hard time in the ring, so, of course, no wins with her acting up like that! Her breeder didn’t seem to be too bothered though, and I figured that 1) this was her fourth day showing straight in a row so she’s very likely feeling either bored or a little more worn out than usual … hey, I’d be kind of cranky too; and 2) the handler showing her wasn’t, in my opinion, a very good match for her -- the handler was a little too stiff and “no-nonsense” for Atia, and I didn’t like the way how Atia was handled quite gruffly in the ring, even though I know how much of a pain-in-the-butt Atia can be at times!

At the end of the day, it wasn’t a big deal and Atia’s breeder was very excited about their upcoming trip to the Nationals in a few week’s time. The “homework” handed to me: start PLUMPING Atia up for her debut at the Nationals! I find it kind of sad that for a working breed, they like to see pretty much chunky (and often overweight) dogs in the conformation ring, but, oh well …

As suspected, Atia was completely POOPED. We stopped by Murphy’s Mom’s place, thinking that Atia would appreciate a little play session with Murphy before heading home (also to burn off any excess energy she might want to use for mobbing Dante up with, hahaha …), but Atia showed scant interest. When we eventually got home I was surprised that apart from some pushy nose-bumps at Dante (probably her way of saying: Yo, the boss is back in the house now!) she pretty much left him alone and curled up in various comfy spots throughout the house for naps instead.

Oh, and Atia also came home smelling like PRODUCT – you know, back in the days when you would go to the hairdresser for a new do and come home smelling like industrial hair spray and other chemical applications. They must have applied quite a few coats of show-shine on her or something like that.

I had to put up with another sulky Doberman after making clear to Atia that I intended to trim her nails (going clickety-clack on the tiled floor and driving me nuts!!!!) that very night and there was absolutely NO ESCAPE. After leaving Dante’s nails untrimmed for a good two weeks due to the surgery and initial recovery, I have my job cut out for me too to trim HIS monstrous looking talons … eegads, I’m so not looking forward to it today …

Thus concluded our relatively mellow and increasingly HOT weekend. By the end of Sunday the temperature and humidity had noticeably risen again (GO AWAY SUMMER!!!!!), and forecasts are calling for a hot and humid week ahead complete with heat advisories ALL WEEK. Just … lovely. Sigh.

Which brings us to: Is it Monday already?!

Or perhaps that’s a good thing, since the quicker the Mondays fly by, the sooner Dante can get back to being an ACTIVE, working dog!!!

Regular agility lessons are back on the schedule this week. Though, it’s going to feel awful having to leave Dante smoldering (in more ways than one I suppose! Pun fully intended) at home and just bring Atia :(

Passive resistance

2010-08-28T22:14:00.002-04:00

See Dante in his "prison". See his nicely made bed? See him NOT on his nicely made bed?

Dante has always been a big sucky for comfy spots -- the bed, the couch, comforters ... you name it. Yet, in the last week after having resigned himself to his "fate" of forced rest for the next little while, it appears that while he has decided that he cannot escape the Almighty Word of Mom in terms of being confined for multiple "nap times", he apparently can express his disagreement with it (apart from the constant sulking, pouting and whining, that is).

I know, it's just a boring photo of a dog lying in an Expen beside his bed. Yet, to me, it's like he's declaring: FINE. If i'm going to have to be stuck in here, then i'm going to put myself in the most UNCOMFORTABLE position that i can so that you can see it SUCKS to be ME and it's all YOUR fault, MOM!

Sigh.

I never knew …

2010-08-27T08:46:00.000-04:00

… that a dog could whine so much, in so many different ways, for so many different reasons.

“What’s this nonsense about taking the stairs ONE step at a time???? I’m an AGILITY dog, Mom! I can take four steps AND THEN SOME! Stop being such a pansy, Mom!”

“What? WHAT?! What do you mean I CAN’T get on the bed????? I’m always, ALWAYS on the bed in the mornings, while waiting for breakfast! Let me up let me up let me up let me up let me up let me up let me up let me up!!!!”

“Mom, I’m IN THE HOUSE. Why is there a LEASH on me???????”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! I don’t want NAP TIME. Not again! I JUST had nap time! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Get away from me!!!!”

“Mom, come on, play with me, let’s WRESTLE! Come on! Why are you being such a softie all of a sudden???? I want to plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

“Mom, have you forgotten some thing this week? When are we going TRAINING next? Why haven’t we gone to training? Mom, when’s training? Mom, I think it’s time to go train. Mom, when’s training? Mom? Mom?”

“Mom, the field’s right over there, why can’t we go RUN? Come on Mom, I want to RUN! What do you mean NO? What do you mean SLOW DOWN???? Mom!!!!”

“I … need … to … ROLL! Mom, the grass is CALLING OUT to me! Let me roll let me roll let me roll let me roll let me roll … Mom, the grass! The grass! Mom, let go of me already! Let go! Need to roll! NEED TO ROLL!”

“Mom, I think it’s time for my next meal now. What? What do you mean I only get two meals now because I’m better? So, if I’m better, why am I still getting nap times more than once a day????? I think you’ve mixed up my meal times with my nap times Mom!”

“Mom, why did you have to go and get Atia sent away???? Who am I supposed to wrestle with now???? Oh well, I guess it’s going to have to be YOU then, Mom. Come on Mom, let’s WRESTLE! Come on!!!! Will you stop nagging me to TAKE IT EASY already!!!!”

Here’s the kicker: I’m going to have to put up with this for 6 WEEKS?????

It’s anyone’s guess whether my sanity will still be intact by then …

A third dog would come in handy

2010-08-24T19:31:00.003-04:00

Well, Dante's unexpected "obstruction incident" has thrown the rest of our summer trialing plans/season into complete disarray.

I was very much looking forward to our next trial (which was actually this past weekend), and then two or possibly three more additional trials before wrapping up our agility trialing season for the year. Dante had been making FABULOUS progress, and it was a very real possibility that we could have earned our AAC Advanced Agility Dog title by the end of the season. We had a great momentum going, was thoroughly enjoying ourselves, and now ... all that has come to a sudden skidding halt. Sigh.

I know, i know -- the premature end of a trialing season is a small price to pay for Dante's health and well-being. Still, i'm not going to deny that i'm feeling pretty depressed about it all.

From what information and feedback i can gather, it's going to be about 6 weeks before Dante can return to training. That's going to take us right to the very end of the trialing season, not even sure if we can be ready for the very last trial of the year. He's mending so well that i'm tempted to think perhaps he can be ready sooner; but it's always wiser to play it safe. Actually, he's been driving me NUTS today. On his very short and controlled walk today, he decided he was feeling well enough to flop down on the ground and roll about energetically on the grass. For a split second i had horrific visions of his incision site bursting right open and his entrails spewing out at me. Then, all evening now, i swear he's been trying to provoke a wrestle or some play scuffle with Atia. He's been trying to wrestle with his bed as well ... quite the funny thing to watch.

But i digress.

This week, i'm going to have "no dog" to train/work. Atia's heading off to her breeder's for a long show weekend tomorrow, effectively missing agility lesson for the week; and of course, Dante's pretty much "indisposed".

For the next couple of months Atia is also returning to showing. She'll be heading to another show after this one this coming weekend, and then she's off with her breeder to the American National, going to be gone for a good chunk of time.

From a hectic (who's complaining?), full-up training and trialing schedule to the current sparsely populated line-up for the next couple of months, i feel like i've been hit by a sudden drought after enjoying such an active season of training and trialing. I feel really blue about it.

Yeah, a third dog would definitely come in handy right now.

The looooooooooooong road to recovery …

2010-08-23T11:18:00.001-04:00

I did a lot of shrieking this morning.

Ok, maybe not exactly the high-pitched, ear-shattering variety; more like heart-stopping gasps and horrified exclamations.

This morning Dante was slow and sluggish to extract himself out of bed – which, is a good thing, because I’ve been trying to keep his burgeoning rowdiness under wraps, now that he’s on the mend.

However, once he started “going”, he was GOING.

He tried to initiate a wrestle with me this morning, leaping at me. I was frantically trying to make sure all his four feet were on the ground – YOU JUST HAD MAJOR SURGERY NO JUMPING AND TWISTING IN THE AIR!

In a moment of cheekiness he tried to head-butt Atia, which would have set off an immediate retaliatory head-butt/ankle-swipe/neck-grab by Atia and an ensuing play scuffle between the two, had I not immediately roared at the both of them – YOU JUST HAD MAJOR SURGERY NO WRESTLING WITH YOUR SISTER!

Then, while I was downstairs putting away their food dishes, the little sneak had quietly made his way upstairs (at least he must have been going SLOW to not have alerted me with his usual heavy frenzied thudding up the steps), went into the bedroom and HOPPED onto our bed. Our bed is at least 2-3 feet off the ground, quite the jump for a dog that has just had major surgery with a 6-8 inch incision wound and a bajillion metal staples in it!!! I’ve been keeping the bedroom door closed whenever he’s upstairs or I’m not by him to supervise, since it is one of our morning rituals for him to lounge on the bed while I’m getting ready for work in the morning. The Husband must have left it open and forgotten to shut it back. Imagine my horror when I walked upstairs and saw him curled up in a ball on the bed! More uhm, exclamations – YOU JUST HAD MAJOR SURGERY WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUMPING ON THE BED!

I had no choice but to tell him to get off it – I didn’t want to leave him there and then have him try to and fail to get off later on when I was not home, just in case something happened. As expected, Dante got up in a very jolly manner and then LEAPT off the bed like he usually does – and sounded a loud CRY of pain as he hit the ground. Sigh.

I suppose he’s feeling much better, now 4 days post surgery. Oh, and I thought that I would mention that he produced his first well-formed, complete poop this morning, which is a good sign for me because it indicates that things (err, food) are going in one end and coming out the other end after being “processed” properly, the way it should be.

I’m happy to see that Dante is getting more “animated” and perky, yet at the same time I am well are of how stoic this breed is and more often than not they just don’t know their own limits in terms of pain and discomfort. So, it’s up to me to enforce his limits, which, he’s not a happy camper about.

Already he’s trying to play “catch me if you can” when it’s time for him to retire to his Ex-pen’d corner for rest breaks. Then when I finally do herd him in there, he’s been very liberal with dirty looks and pouty sulks.

It’s going to be a long, looooooooooooooooooong two weeks ahead … sigh.

DANTE'S HOME!!! (cont'd)

2010-08-21T09:42:00.002-04:00

All day yesterday, i was on pins and needles waiting for the vet to call with updates. If Dante's temperature returned to normal and he could keep down small meals of food and water without vomitting, then there was a good chance he could come home. At around 1.30pm, i got the call from the vet.

"Hi, it's Dr. XXX from XXX vet clinic, calling with an update about Dante. Just wanted to let you know that so far we've offered him food twice ..."

And he didn't take it??? Refused to eat????

"... and he just gobbled them up!"

AHHHHHH ... i have to stop alarming myself ... yippee!!!

"He's doing much better compared to this morning. I want to see if he can hold it down without throwing it back up. If there's not vomitting, then it's looking good that he can probably go home tonight. Call back at 6pm and we should know by then."

So, the waiting game started. I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Wondering, hoping, keeping my fingers and toes crossed. The hours ticked by sooooooooooooooooo slowly. Finally, it was 6pm, right to the dot. I called the vet office and ...

"I'm sorry Dr. XXX is with a patient right now. I'll ask him to call you back as soon as he can."

ARGH!!!!!

It was another 20 minutes later before they called back and said, YES, DANTE IS READY TO GO HOME (!!!!).

Of course, i headed over there right away. Settled the bill (bye-bye $$$$$ ... i'm still working up the nerve to total up the final amount, ha), asked a bazillion questions about after care instructions, and then, was ready to take Dante home.

Dante came bursting out in his usual uhm ... rowdy self. He looked frantic and wild-eyed: we soon discovered why. He tinkled a puddle right in the middle of the vet office's reception area -- he had to pee, REAL BAD. He look all shamedfaced and all i told him it was ok, it's not his fault. Since he was extremely dehydrated when he came out of surgery, they have been pumping him double the usual amount of fluids through IV. He did look bloated and i'm sure must have been full of water!

I rushed him out to a nearby tree and he just stood there for a long, long time, letting it all out. Then, with the help of a vet tech, we lifted Dante into the car (he looked ready to bounce for a mile or two but i didn't want to take the chance and have him jumping up and down too soon) -- we were going home!

On the way home Dante kept making a really weird whine, like nothing i've ever heard before. I got worried , and wondered if something was wrong, mentally willing the traffic to melt away so we could get home sooner. Finally we got home, and when lifting Dante out of the car again, discovered that he had peed in the car! That's what the whining was about! Poor baby. He must have been so FULL of water.

I had had Atia in her crate when we got home, since i didn't want to take the chance that she would jump all over him and tried to wrestle him to the ground, as she is often does. Took Dante straight to the yard and he went peeing and peeing and peeing and peeing and finally, done. Got into the house, Dante's first thing to do was to inspect the house and patrol the yard. Next, take inventory of his toy basket. After, nose around the cat bowls for loose crumbs on the floor (some things never change!). AFter the initial settling down where the cats swarmed Dante sniffing and poking around him (Dante must have smelled pretty weird), it was time to settle down.

Much to Dante's chagrin, he was shown to ...

... his new cosy corner for the next week or so:

I had moved the furniture around in our living area to make space to set up an Expen with Dante's bed inside. I didn't want Dante racing up and down the stairs without supervision for at least a week, and keeping him on the main floor seemed to be the best option, since it was close to the backyard door and the kitchen for meals. Plus, i know i won't be able to keep Dante and Atia separated for 100% of the time, so it seemed prudent to have an Expen set up so that Dante could rest and heal without Atia mobbing and mugging him in her usual rowdy manner.

Dante wasn't happy about being confined, so he made sure to milk the "Oh i'm such a pitiful boy" look as much as he could!

"Mom, all them other kids (errr ... dogs?) are gonna make fun of my IV patch!"

Naturally, Pixie was the very first cat to insist on giving Dante the once-over when he got back:
"Let me in!"

"Dante, you're back!"

Atia was puzzled by this new "setup":
"What ... is ... this?!"

"Dante, come out and PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

For the rest of the night Dante needed to go pee every couple of hours. I'd take him out to pee on leash, let him wander around the living area for a bit and then when he started tucking in his rear and looked a little unsteady on his feet, i would then insist on him getting back into his Expen and taking a rest/nap. I'm sure Dante is feeling much, much better, but he just doesn't know his limits so i had to enforce much of his quiet time.

I slept with the Dante downstairs for the rest of the night. I'd doze off to sleep, and a couple of hours later would hear Dante rattling the Expen with his nose, wanting to go out. I'd then shuffle him out into the yard, where he would let loose another long stream of pee. It was a looooooooooooooong night. But, i also wanted to make sure that he didn't lick and disturb his incision area, so needed to be right by him.

Dante woke up this morning in high spirits. He even tried to initiate a wrestle with me and even attempted to leap around a little. I was horrified and made sure he took it easy. I got him out for a very short walk, 5 minutes wandering around the front yard and then down and back our street once. I want him to heal as quickly and completely as possible and didn't want to take any chances on over-exerting him too much too soon. On the surface Dante looked like he was ready to go-go-go and run and jump around, but i knew better. Little signs like he would start to stretch, and then suddenly stop and recoil. He'd flopped down on the grass trying to do his usual roll-around on his back, but couldn't get past being on his side before going "Ungh". He'd be all bright-eyed, nubbins wagging furiously and wanting to get into everything, but then he'd wind down pretty fast too and looking a little run-down. So, most of the morning, again, consisted of enforced rest and nap times.

Dante this morning, sulking:

Pixie was quick to "invade and conquer" when Dante vacated his bed. She probably figured out that was Mom's center of attention for now and THE place to be.

Dante says: "Go lie down? But Pixie's in there ... i don't want to get beat up ..."

Pixie making sure to "mark" the "entry way": "Mine!"

Of course, she's never bashful about making herself comfortable:

The biggest challenge for the next week or two is to keep Dante calm and rested, and prevent him from over exerting himself. He's already raring to go and is very ADAMANT about NOT being made to lie down all the time ... sigh. He's going to be fed multiple small meals several times a day for the next couple of days, and then we'll have to slowly get back to his usual raw diet.

Hopefully Dante is well on the road to recovery and there are no hiccups along the way. Again, many, MANY THANKS to everyone for your support and well wishes, Dante says he wishes everyone lived in the same area, then we could have a big "Get Well bash/party"!!!

DANTE'S HOME!!!

2010-08-20T19:38:00.004-04:00

DANTE IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Full update with pics tomorrow ... right now, i just want to spend time with my baby boy!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU everyone for your good wishes and positive vibes!!!!!!!

One day at a time ...

2010-08-20T09:41:00.002-04:00

What a long night. Lots of tossing and turning. Got periodic updates from the emergency clinic. Turned out the vet on duty decided to switch Dante's pain meds, as he was really still out of it for a good part of the night. By the early morning Dante was finally up and about and was able to have a couple of pees.

When i went to pick him up in the morning i was so happy to see him trotting out -- he even PULLED a little at his leash when he saw me! Still, i could see that he was in plenty of discomfort, and he was still a little unsteady on his feet as well as glassy-eyed. They also informed me that he's still BELOW normal temperatures, so hopefully that was something else that would improve throughout the day today too. I took him out again before moving him into the car and he had a big, loooooooooooong pee. After making sure he was lying down safely and comfortable in the car, off we headed back to the regular vet's.

While waiting at the vet's, it was good to see Dante being his sucky-boy self. He was doing "the lean" big time on me. He wanted his head and ears stroked and scratched and tried to put all his weight on me through his head. After a few moments though he would start swaying as if he was going to fall over. I brought his bedding in for him so that he could lie down while he waited, and eventually he did, and then he didn't want to get up again after the examination and the vet led him back into the run for the day :(

The key thing for Dante today is to be able to eat and drink without vomiting. If he can do that for a few small meals and regains enough awareness, then he's ready to come home. If not, it's back to the emergency clinic for another night and possibly into the weekend for observation. I have no qualms paying extra for another night at the emergency clinic just so that he can have 24/7 monitoring, but if he can be safely taken off the IV and is eating and drinking fine, then i would rather have him home where he can be in familiar surroundings and i can make him comfortable in an ultra-low stress environment. I just don't like leaving him with complete strangers, no matter how qualified they may be ... he's probably wondering why Mom has been ferrying him back and forth to different places, but not back home :(

So, i should be getting an update from the vet shortly after noon to see if he eats and holds down his first meal after the surgery. Fingers crossed, i hope he gets to come home tonight and recuperate at home ... i guess we'll know by the end of the day ...

Hang in there Dante!

2010-08-19T20:45:00.004-04:00

Oh what a day. Dante came out of surgery ok. The surgeon found this "long, string-like" thing -- where in the world did Dante get string?!?!?!?!?!?! -- that was balled up in three different places throughout his intestinal tract. According to the vet, they had removed it just in time, as it was almost pushing through and cutting through the intestinal wall. Additionally, his bowel was purple when they first went in, but once the obstruction was removed it quickly returned to a healthy pink. So, no damaged tissues, thank heavens, just in the nick of time. I'm glad i didn't wait to make the decision to operate.

I went to visit Dante at the vet's a few hours after he woke. They had him on some heavy duty pain drugs, so he was totally zonked out. He was soooooooooooooooooo COLD. I cried when i held him and saw how he was. Hard to believe just a day ago we were out in the agility ring and he was running and leaping and zipping around, having so much fun. Now he just laid limp in my arms, ice cold, confused and dazed, and probably in a whole lot of pain and discomfort. My poor boy! The vet said they were a little concerned about his temperature as it was still pretty low hours after the surgery, and they were expecting him to be at least semi-ambulatory but he wasn't. They had a little heater going on right by him to try to warm him up more, and he was covered in a thick blanket. So, they would like him to be sent to the emergency clinic so that he could be monitored throughout the night and hopefully his temperature gets back to normal fairly soon. They said to come back again at closing time so they could help transport him into my vehicle and i would drive him to the emergency clinic. It was hard to leave Dante just lying there, but when i was leaving he wiggled and twitched his nose a little in my arms, which made me feel a little better, but really sad at the same time.

I returned later with a friend (what would i do without great, caring, reliable friends!!!) as i was just all over the place and didn't want to go with Dante to the emergency clinic by myself, just in case i needed help in anyway. So we got Dante into the car with some difficulty -- he was all confused, and tried to struggle, it just broke my heart. He still felt ice cold. I was so worried.

Got to the emergency clinic alright. Had Dante brought in. The staff there assured me that they would take good care of him, and that i could call anytime, as many times as i wanted throughout the night to check up on him -- an offer i plan to take them up on. It was hard to say goodbye again and to leave him there, so hard.

So, hopefully they manage to get his temperature up and he's at least up and trying to move around by the morning. If that's the case then the worse is probably over ... if not ...

It's going to be a looooooooooooooooooooooong, long night.

I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and kind thoughts from everyone. Thank you so, so, very much. When i was holding Dante i told him there were lots of people rooting for him, so please chin up and get better soon!!!

Hang in there Dante, Mommy loves you!!!

In for surgery

2010-08-19T12:13:00.002-04:00

Had X-rays done. The stomach is EXTREMELY enlarged. Lots of abnormal gas pockets. The X-rays slides were not pretty. The "good" news is, there's no torsion/bloat, and he's not running a temperature, so likely we caught it early and there's no tissues dying yet (i can't remember the medical for that ... necro-something). Can't say for certain but there's a very high possibility it's a blockage. Shortly after Dante had another large vomit. Everything came out. Started straining too. Was going downhill fast, so i made the call to get him into surgery right away. The blood tests came back normal except that his pancreas has been affected ... definitely worsening, didn't think we should wait any longer.

Just handed him off to the vet for surgery prep. It was so hard. He was so confused, but he was being such a good boy and so sweet to everyone.

THANK YOU everyone for your thoughts and support. I am very grateful and appreciative. I'm just going to take a moment now and have a cry.

Uh oh

2010-08-19T09:02:00.003-04:00

Dante vomited repeatedly throughout the day yesterday when i was at work. I came home to the aftermath. Throughout the evening, he vomited a few more times. He slept through the night so i thought all was good, but this morning he didn't want to get out of bed and when presented with his breakfast, did not want to eat -- immediate red flag, when a chowhound like him stops eating!!! Shortly after that he had another large bout of vomiting. Surprisingly when i showed him his bowl again he slowly ate up all his breakfast (my mistake, i shouldn't have!!!). But now, i'm highly suspecting an obstruction and am waiting to get into the vet office for an examination and likely x-ray.

Hopefully it's NOT an obstruction, or he's definitely heading for surgery. Even Atia and the queen brat Pixie knows something is wrong/not right with Dante, and they are pretty much treading delicately around him. Depending on what the vet's diagnosis is, i might be back with update posts or not for a little while.

If you can, spare a thought for Dante today. I'm getting all choked up thinking of anything happening to my "little boy".

I need a working crystal ball

2010-08-18T08:57:00.000-04:00

I swear, one day all this analyzing of the dogs’ training will send me plunging down the depths of insanity.

Yesterday evening, I had rented a ring for some agility practice with Dante. Since Atia is still in heat and there’s a trial in said ring this coming weekend, I figured it wouldn’t be nice to bring her along and leave her “girly scent” everywhere for the intact males during the trial. So, little Miss Atia stayed home while Dante enjoyed a trip to practice that was free of soggy ears.

My goal for our practice session was to set up the various parts of the courses from our trial this past weekend that were particularly challenging/trick and/or Dante messed up on and caused us our Q. Since I haven’t had a lesson since last weekend’s trial, I haven’t gotten advice and instruction on how to “tackle” these parts of the courses. I would handle the way I handled in the trial, and see if Dante performs differently – I wanted to see if it was my handling that somehow screwed Dante up, or if it really was Dante being overly rambunctious and not paying attention the way he has been and should have been.

I WANTED Dante to make mistakes, whether it was because he was confused, didn’t understand my cues or just plain wasn’t paying attention. That way, I can correct him and help him “be right”.

I threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, figuratively speaking. Set up very similar courses and mini-courses to the ones in our last trial. 180s, 270s on the jumps. Taking two jumps and then running through between them. Long lead outs, seeing if he would break. Weave entries at pretty acute angles. Taking a jump and then calling him for an immediate switch in the opposite direction. Setting him on a 4-5 obstacle line and then calling him off it to take another obstacle to the side instead. I had complicated serp sequences. I laid lots of traps for him, lots and lots of traps for obstacle discrimination, especially ones with nice fast lines leading to tunnels that he was not supposed to go to! Anything that I could think of that would trip him up, I had it set up and ran him through it.

What do you know, Dante brought his game on and handled LIKE A DREAM. He ran the way I EXPECTED him to run, based on our progress to date. He was fast, extremely responsive and paid close attention to my every verbal and physical cue. Of course, he wasn’t perfect and made some mistakes here and there, but I felt that 90% of those times it was because I wasn’t clear enough with my handling to give him the information he needed. A couple of times though he did fall for some of the “traps” I set for him, which was really good because I was able to remind him that he needs to take DIRECTION from ME on where to go instead of just assuming that he’s taking the next obstacle in line or the next obstacle closest to him.

It was a very productive session for an hour, and I had so much fun, so did Dante.

Which brings me to the $64,000,000 question: WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO DANTE IN LAST WEEKEND’S TRIAL AND IS HE GOING TO PULL THAT ON ME AGAIN THIS WEEKEND?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

It can’t be all me, can it??????

We have another lesson before our trial this weekend, so, let’s see if Dante “spazzes up” again.

In the meantime, I’m just going stop trying to figure it out … for now. I think between now and Sunday, quite a good collection of brain cells have died.

Banned from kisses

2010-08-17T11:01:00.001-04:00

Atia has been informed that she has been BANNED from showering Mom with kisses until further notice … or until she stops obsessively licking her girly parts.

Actually, her new nickname has been “Stinky” for the last few weeks.

I cannot adequately describe what “I’ve-been-licking-my-girly-parts-breath” smells like, but for the love of doG is it ever RANK.

Unfortunately, I don’t think all this incessant lick-slurping is going to stop until her heat is over and done with. We are now just a little over 2 weeks into heat, relief should be in sight soon, right????????

The Husband has this odd little habit of letting the dogs lick his head (go figure). I haven’t noticed him going “EEEWWWW!” yet. I hope he’s not walking around with a headful of “I’ve-been-licking-my-girly-parts-breath”.

Intact female – NEVER AGAIN!!!

Honeymoon’s over!

2010-08-16T08:49:00.001-04:00

Well, well, well. I’m thinking about the last few weeks where I’ve been GUSHING about Dante’s progress and performance in agility, how I felt so much like a team with him, how he’s been so great at reading me, following cues, waiting for directions, how I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get out and trial again so we could blaze some courses … well, I’m not gushing anymore.

Never had I felt such a strong urge to say: “WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!” as during yesterday’s agility trial.

The last few works have been pretty close to pure “agility bliss”. Training was going extremely well with Dante and he has been almost 100% consistent with the stellar performance he was giving me. Last Thursday, two days before our actual trial, I headed out to the trial location for a private lesson/ring rental time for Dante. I will write in more detail about the session/lesson in Training Update post, but bottomline was that Dante was just ROCKING. He was at the top of his game – responsive, fast and in great form. He got many compliments from the instructor, and I was feeling happy and confident that we would do really well at our trial in the weekend.

Fast forward to yesterday, Sunday, the day of our trial. It was a really HOT day, mainly due to the humidity. I am pretty sure it was very close to the 40C with Humidex as forecasted. The only consolation to the weather yesterday was that it was grey and overcast all day while we were there at the trial site, except for a brief 10 minutes when the sun peeked through (and the temperature rose at an alarmingly rate!), and a brief light sprinkle of rain in the middle of the day instead of the forecasted monster thunderstorms. So, we got the “best” out of the day, weatherwise, despite the ominous forecasts.

It was hot and uncomfortable, but it was unbearable. For me anyways. However, what really surprised me was that Dante was doing very, very well in the humidity. I was a little concerned that the humidity was just going to sap all his drive and energy, but whoa, was I ever wrong. I have never seen Dante with so much DRIVE. He was just so tightly wound up, so full pep and energy. It was interesting to watch because it seemed like when he was out of the car/crate, he was just bursting to GO with so much drive practically oozing out of him. Then, we he was back in the car/crate, it was like he went into “cool down/hibernate” mode and just goes completely inactive, as if conserving energy for when he next steps out again.

The courses were challenging, especially the Steeplechase course and the first Standard course. Still, it was possible to make it through clean. The second Standard course was pretty straightforward, which makes me feel even more mad that we did not run clean.

The problem was ... the dog. Dante was just … I don’t know how to describe it. It was like he was TURBO-CHARGED. He was acting like, well, like a crazed border collie – absolutely no pejorative implications made about border collies, they are one of the top breeds for agility, but I just was not used to handling a Doberman with a sudden over-the-top drive, border-collie style!!!

Dante was FAST. In fact, all three courses are a blur in my mind, because they just sort of blinked by. I had such a hard time keeping track of where Dante was and how fast Dante was bowling about on the course. Fast if ok, I like fast, and speed in agility is going to get you top honours. However, Dante was NOT paying attention to any of my cues or directions. I know my handling is far from perfect and not as smooth as it could/should be, but I truly believe I carried out some good moves with really good timing for some of the tight crosses and maneuvers in the courses – but Dante wasn’t paying attention and of course didn’t read or follow them!!!!! Not only that, he did not hold ANY, not a SINGLE one of his contacts (his 2o2os have been PERFECT for months now, MONTHS). He also cheated on/popped out of the weaves TWICE in a course (again, PERFECT weaves for MONTHS now). As mentioned, our third course was so straightforward (except for a tricky but very doable opening sequence AS LONG AS HE WAS PAYING ATTENTION) that I almost blew a gasket when Dante cost us our Q because he did NOT hold his contacts as expected, did sloppy weaves and blasted around the course running HIS own version of it. Oh I was so mad when we left for the day I could have out-thundered any thunderstorm that day.

The only thing he didn’t muck up was that he held all his start line waits/stays. However, when he was released, it was like he just kept going and going and going and going and going and just could not stop, not even to run the course properly, bah!!!!!! This sudden “explosion” of drive really took me by complete surprise, in addition to him being so inconsistent and so sloppy with EVERYTHING all of a sudden; when, just two days ago, he was doing exceptionally well.

So … what in the world happened to my dog?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I’m always the first to “blame” the handler, so to speak, for any mishaps, mistakes and mess-ups, but this time round, I really do feel that it’s not me, it’s the dog. We could have had such a stellar trial, but … sigh.

Well, to be fair I should at least note some of the “positives” of the day. First off, was of course that despite the really oppressive weather, Dante was “go-go-go” all day, till the very end. After our last course in which he blasted through like a madman/dog, he STILL wanted to have a long-drawn out tug-play session when I was all but ready to melt in some ice-filled tub. Secondly, drive is good, drive is good. I’d rather have that than a dog I have to drag around in the ring (*cough*obedience*cough* *sigh*). Just need to find a way to appropriate put the “control screws” on. Thirdly, Dante was doing so much better with his reactivity. He was attentive to me (OUTSIDE of the ring, so ironic) as we made our way around the trial site and was quick to refocus on me when he was feeling nervous, stressed or threatened/uncomfortable around other dogs. I have to give him credit for that, he’s just been doing so well with handling his reactiveness and impulse control.

Still, I’m kind of at a loss now at this sudden spanner in the works. I thought I could count on him being consistent the way he has been, but now …

And of course, we have another trial coming up this weekend! Oh dear dear …

The Comfort Turkey?

2010-08-14T18:22:00.005-04:00

Before i decided to a get a female dog, i tried to talk to as many owners who have had or currently have female dogs as possible. Just to try to get an idea of what i might be in for. As we all know the big thing with INTACT females is the heat or coming into season part. With regards to this subject i was regaled with many interesting anecdotes and snippets of opinions, advice and observations. Many of the people i spoke to talked about false pregnancies and nesting with toys due to the maternal instinct aroused in the female but having actually no puppies to mother over. I was mentally and emotionally prepared for Atia to display such behaviours, once her heat cycles got going, since being a show dog, it would definitely be more than a few heat cycles before she was spayed.

This has only been Atia's third heat, but so far i have to report that i have yet to come across any outwardly maternal behaviour exhibited by Atia. Not towards her toys, not towards the cats, and not towards Dante -- well, unless you count bossy nagging and haranguing, but i'd say that's just par for the course on a normal day, unfortunately for Dante.

For the last week or so, Dante has been carrying around this little turkey stuffie toy (pictured in the above photo ... and, if you're wondering, no, i didn't put or pose it there. Dante did.) around the house. It inadvertantly shows up wherever Dante happens to be. When Dante asks to go up on the couch, he brings his stuffie along and asks permission for couch privileges to be extended to Mr. Turkey as well. When he wants up the bed for a nap and cuddle, he neatly carries Mr. Turkey along and carefully places Mr. Turkey besides him on the pillow as he snoozes off. When it's time for bedtime, Dante brings Mr. Turkey along as well and i've woken up in the morning to find Mr. Turkey happily snoring right alongside Dante's head on his bed. In the last little while i've often teased Dante: "Where's your Turkey? Where did it go?" when i caught him without it in his mouth. That sends Dante off looking for Mr. Turkey (who's usually not far behind, lying around in a corner somewhere) and bounding happily back with Mr. Turkey moments later.

It seems to me that for some reason Dante has been dragging Mr. Turkey around as a kid would haul around a comfort blankie.

On the couch today i said to Dante: "Can Mommy have Mr. Turkey?"

To which Dante pleaded, protectively placing his head on Mr. Turkey: "No, don't take Mr. Turkey away!" Airplane ears and all.

Yes, Dante, despite being an absolute knucklehead at times, often acts in ways that are too cute for words ... to me anyways.

It's just interesting, since i would have though Atia would be the one dragging around and nesting with a "puppy", as she's the one in heat.

Since Mr. Turkey has been quite the focal point of this post, i figured i would grant him his own sort-of-portait:

Given that stuffies often don't last more than mere minutes in this household, and that Mr. Turkey was purchased at the local Walmart last month, it's pretty much a miracle that Mr. Turkey is still intact, except for one chewed-up wing, an almost detached toe and scratch on the belly. Mr. Turkey has been properly de-squeaked, of course; the dogs were quick to see to that.

I guess Mr. Turkey better make the most of and enjoy this royal treatment he's getting from Dante before he (or parts of him anyway) ends up in the bellies of one of them!

I guess there's a reason why they call them "bitches" ...

2010-08-13T11:07:00.005-04:00

(If you're offended by the title and the use of the "b" word, then you're reading the wrong blog ... this is a dog blog after all :p If you're perceptive you'll understand the reason for the title once you read the following post ... *sigh*)

These days, i'm not liking Atia too much.

In the last few weeks, she has been the most obstinate, headstrong, bratty, moody and unruly little pain-in-the-behind she's ever been ... EVER.

Atia is what you would call a SOFT and stubborn dog, unlike Dante, who's 110% a HARD and stubborn dog. The difference between soft and hard in this context, is that a hard dog is able to bounce back from corrections and reprimands quickly and not stress about it. You can deal out harder corrections on a hard dog (always when warranted and in the proper way!), and not be afraid of the dog "shutting down" or getting so stressed out that it won't take food and refuse to interact anymore. Thank goodness Dante is as hard as he's stubborn -- sometimes, it just boils down to a battle of wills when he's in a flip-the-finger mood ;)

Atia is a whole different matter. While she's stubborn, and ridiculously headstrong in the way that only females can be, she's also pretty soft and doesn't take too well to corrections or even verbal reprimands with the slightest raised tone of voice. Meaning, if and when i get a little too frustrated during training, a common scenario that i'll be facing is Atia simply shutting down in her own way and deciding that she is no longer interested in working or engaging.

Now, my training approach utilizes a boatload of motivational methods with plenty of rewards, praises and positive reinforcement. However, the odd time or so i DO apply physical and verbal corrections when the situation calls for it, as i believe it serves a purpose in a trainer's well-rounded toolbox. With Dante, for example, at the point where we are right now, while working with him it's 99% motivational and positive reinforcement, but once in a while i'll find that a well-timed and well-placed correction gets us much further ahead.

Back to Atia. The bottomline is, i'm having a very, very hard time figuring out and reading her real "personality". I know that she is a pretty soft dog, and that's as much as i am confident in the knowledge in.

She has been all kinds of nutty lately that i'm starting to wonder if she's bi-polar in anyway.

Or perhaps it's just a female thing.

Maybe it is just a matter of her pushing the envelope and being as bratty and opportunistic as she can get away with.

Another likely consideration, is that it is her hormones wreaking havoc on her emotional and mental state of mind, seeing that she comes in heat every 5 months, right on the dot with amazing timeliness. After three heats, i've noticed with some consistency, that 2-3 weeks before her heat, she acts differently and seems to take on a different personality. During her heat, she acts differently yet again and seemingly has a whole new set of character traits. 2-3 weeks AFTER her heat she's like a different dog again. So, it would seem that for 3 months, she's all kind of whacky due to hormones or some other mysterious reason, which i guess theoratically leaves me only about 2 months where i'm faced with her real/true personality that's not "tainted" by hormones. But then, you have to take into account things like mood swings due to the weather, an upset tummy maybe, happenings around her at that time, and you're left with ... what, optimistically, maybe only a month where i can truly, really deal with her "real self" and train with any sort of effectiveness and efficacy???????

Now if i wasn't such a training nut, with lofty goals and ambitions for my goals, it wouldn't bother me so much. I mean, psyho-neurotic bouts aside (this said with much affection hahah), Atia really is a lovely dog. I could just enjoy her as a well-loved family companion/member ... but i CAN'T. I want to enjoy training with her, i want to see progress, i want to TRIAL AND COMPETE with her -- yet, how am i suppose to do all that with any success if i can't even evaluate what's going on with our training regiment and how she's taking all of it up accurately??????!!!!!!

In the last couple of months, even though we've had moments of "WOW that was brilliant!" and noticeable progress, i've been feeling that everytime i train with Atia, i can never tell what i'm up against.

And this is not just a "one day versus another day" case, lately, it's become a case of Jekyll and Hyde even within the span of one single lesson/session -- 10 minutes she's the star performer of the class, 10 minutes later she's an absolutely monster breaking every rule you can think of and being as obnoxious about it as she can about it!

Take the last few agility lessons, for example. The following would (unfortunately) be a typical lesson for Atia:

Atia gets out of her crate and into her ring. Atia gets set up, ready for a course. Within seconds of me taking the leash off, Atia breaks her wait/stay command and runs her own thing. Atia refuses to come when call. Atia eventually gets chased down and have the leash put on her. Atia bucks (and i mean, BUCKS) like a wild bronco at the end of the leash, refusing to have anything to do with Mom, immune to all forms of cajoling, bribing and threats. Eventually Atia gets dragged back to her crate, and refuses to get into her crate.

Round 2. Atia has been put away for a time out. After a while Atia gets taken out of the crate again. Completely ignoring the rule of "No rushing out of the crate until released", Atia zooms out of the crate and has to be ordered back into the crate again. After a good few minutes of reinforcing that rule, Atia is taken out. This time, Atia sets up like an angel, and is attentive and focusing fully on Mom. We take off and run the course. Atia is like a superstar, responding like a dream and reading crosses and turns with ease. Then, halfway through the course, Atia has a change of and veers off, abandoning Mom and the course to ... run to the corner of the ring, lie down, and have a rolling fit on the grass. Then Atia comes when called, giving the illusion of just a normal case of "zoomies". Nope. Atia proceeds to miss everyone of her contacts (never mind she's been doing it perfectly for a couple of lessons prior), ignore cues from Mom, and then slip off by the gate to go galloping in the fields!

After much consternation, under-the-breath-cursing and forced cheery facades, Atia is retrieved and given another time out.

Round 3. Atia comes out of crate politely and under control. Atia is set up. Atia holds her wait/stay. Good. Mom gives the release cue and Atia is ... gone. Atia has run to the gate, and decided to remain there. No amount of hollering or cheering gets her back into the ring. Mom walks to the gate, puts Atia on leash and walks Atia back into the ring. Atia happily comes along. Mom sets Atia up again, lets Atia off leash, and ... Atia is GONE. AGAIN. Back at the gate. Just hanging around there so non-chalantly. Tail up, ears forward, happy as can be.

Mom goes back to Atia, decides to put her away again, dreading Round 4 ...

I think you get the picture. Granted, the above "anecdote" is actually a compilation of her antics during SEVERAL lessons/sessions, but that's how she's been.

Even the instructor is puzzled. She thinks perhaps Atia is stressed for some reason (to be investigated by us and discovered and then remedied accordingly through training, of course), as different dogs show their stress differently: some shut down completely, some become really unruly, some get totally hyped up and indulge in the zoomies, etc. Yet, there have been so many moments when her behaviour and "acting up" is so inexplicable and arbitrary, that we have to wonder and resist the temptation to anthropormophize that she's being bratty and pissy out of spite or cunning or rebellion. At this point, i am just completely flabbergasted and wringing my hands in the air.

Training aside, there's also the many little things in everyday life that her recent behaviour has been grating on me: EG. racing around the house at top speed knocking things over, pummeling on and bashing away at Dante in her every waking moment, conveniently igoring or "forgetting" commands to wait or stay or potty or minding her own business, pulling and trying to trip me over with her erratic strides on walks ... aaaaaaaaand i'll stop here.

The problem with not being able to figure her out and the root cause of her erractic behaviour of late (hormones? me being too strict/heavy handed? not enough rewards? not the right type of rewards? her too stressed out? me being too soft/easy on her? me not getting the message across? she just choosing to ignore? et al et al) is that i am then unable to formulate the appropriate response/remedy to it, very likely even doing the opposite of what i'm supposed to be doing too, at times; which concerns me because once you "train" or reinforce a behaviour the wrong way or for the wrong reason resulting in an undesirable outcome, it's mighty, mighty hard to UNTRAIN or RETRAIN it.

I ... pray ... it's ... just ... a ... phase.

SIGH.

A different kind of “attention”

2010-08-11T10:09:00.003-04:00

When out and about with Dante and/or Atia, I’ve gotten used to receiving all sorts of comments that run the gamut from heartfelt and humorous to odd and puzzling, from adults and kids alike. Especially with Dante being such an attention-grabber just by virtue of his size and impressive breed profile, it’s the odd day that we don't collect a comment/remark or two on our route!

That said, the last couple of days have been … uhm … pretty “interesting” with regards to “comments”.

The day before, I was out walking Dante, and we were making our way on the sidewalk right beside a busy main street. Suddenly, a car zoomed past us – the driver had his window open and his hand sticking out (doing a wave or something?), and he shouted: “I’d take that home any day!”

I’ll be honest: I had no idea what to think at the time. After blinking my eyes rapidly for a moment, Dante and I carried on with our walk.

Yesterday, I was out walking Atia. We were turning the corner at an intersection on the sidewalk, and an approaching truck was making a turn towards us down the street too. It looked like the driver had his window open as well. As we made our turn and passed by the truck, I heard a REALLY LOUD, high-pitched wolf whistle (you know, the type that you see guys whistling out in movies when it’s a bikini-babes-on-the-beach sort of scene) coming from the driver.

That stopped me for a moment. I turned around to do a double-take, as if questioning what I just heard and what just happened, but the truck was already rumbling down the road and away.

There was no one else walking on the sidewalk in the immediate vicinity at the time, and no one that I could spot hanging out on their front porches or yards, so, I guess the whistle was directed at me/Atia???

Now, although I’m tempted to flatter myself, I have to say that I have to seriously question whether that whistle was actually directed at me. It was a hot and humid day and I was dressed in a plain T-shirt and athletic shorts, nothing spectacular. Plus, I’m not what you would call “gorgeous” by any means, at least not in the way that would garner you wolf whistles haha. So, that leaves … wolf whistling at a dog?

Like I said, frankly, I don’t really know what to make about these uhm, anomalous “comment”s/reactions. They are one of the most interesting ones that I’ve come across so far, that’s for sure! Goes to show there’s just not a dull day around here, ha ;)

Half-time at the dog show

2010-08-10T18:24:00.003-04:00

Someone posted this in the breed forum, i just had to share the chuckle:

Ewwwwwwwwwww

2010-08-10T08:38:00.002-04:00

Living with dogs, especially dogs that like to lick and “give kisses”, you get used to all sorts of stinky.. uhm, interesting smelling “breaths” that they so lovingly proffer to you in all their affection.

There’s kibble breath.

There’s fish breath.

There’s how-in-the-world-did-you-get-into-the-cat-food breath.

There’s destroyed stuffie breath.

There’s grass-and-dirt breath.

There’s tripe cookies breath.

There’s have-you-been-licking-the-cat’s-butt-again breath.

And then there’s “GOOD-MORNING-MOM-I’ve-been-licking-my-girly-parts-all-night-and-I-want-to-give-you-BIG-KISSES-now!” breath.

EWWWWWWWWW.

The Blame Game

2010-08-09T09:12:00.001-04:00

So, this morning I thought I would play a little bout of the Blame Game.

For slacking/lacking in blog updates/posts in the last few days, I blame:

-- The Game (pun intended, ha!). The Game as in, I finally cracked and bought a copy of Dragon Age: Origins (those of you who don’t play video games will have no idea what I’m talking about) for a really good price. Loaded it up this weekend and have been HOOKED since (still one year too late, but, oh well, ha). This is easily one of the BEST RPG titles for the PC in recent years!!! I used to be quite the avid gamer, but in the last few years work, the dogs and other commitments have eaten into my available time for gaming. Recently I’ve been trying to better balance work and “dog stuff” with other interests of mine, so it seems like gaming might make a resurgence after all!

-- My deliberate efforts to stay away from any “heavy duty” dog-related activities this weekend. After two consecutive weeks of double agility sessions, I wanted to take a real break and have a chance to relax before our back-to-back agility trials in the next two weeks. I also didn’t want to run the risk of “burning out” Dante in anyway by just having too much on his plate. So, I cleared my weekend schedule of all formal training activities including ring rentals and matches. It was HARD to stay away especially when I know that there are interesting fun matches going on all weekend. To “help” myself from giving in to temptation, I filled up the weekend with non-dog-related activities and busied myself with those instead. Hence, I’ve been feeling a little more “distant” from the blog than usual.

-- Record writing output. I’m on a roll this week, work on my personal writing/world building project has been pretty consistent, with lots of creative “aha” moments. It’s been a long time coming that I’ve been dedicating this much time and effort to it: I don’t want it to play second fiddle to anything else in my life anymore (no, not even the dogs!)! I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, as anyone who’s ever done creative writing knows that there’s always the inevitable peaks and valleys, and once in a while, the dreaded “block”. So, although I feel bad that the blog is getting the short end of the stick when I’m in “turbo creative writing” mode, I feel a little better knowing that all that creative output is not lost or wasted, just being transferred to a different “project” ;)

-- The weather. Well, this is Canada after all, so you can always blame the weather for something, right? Actually, on Saturday I almost cried: it was a nice, bright, DRY day, hardly any humidity with a constant cool breeze throughout the day – perfect day for dog training, but of course, I was determined NOT to. On Sunday the weather was wet and sticky all day, dark clouds with intermittent pouring rain, so, Sunday would have been a write-off anyway for outdoor training!

-- Atia’s heat. Ok, this is a lame excuse, but since I get to put up with it I might as well get to whine about it :p Atia is now in “full bloom”, so the nightly “lick-lick-slurp-slurp” sessions have commenced. If you want to have a hard time getting sleep at night, get a bitch in heat that will keep you up all night with various “sound effects” … sigh.

Well, in the week ahead, we have our weekly agility session scheduled, as well as a ring rental slash private lesson session at a different location with a different instructor, just to mix things up a little and because I wanted to have a chance to let Dante do some work at the trial location before the actual trial this weekend. We also have our first agility trial of August coming up this weekend, I’m praying and hoping that it will be good weather and smooth sailing!

I have a couple of posts fermenting in my head, and I do want to make an effort to drag out the camera again, so, we’ll see what lies in store for the blog this week!

Training Update #75

2010-08-05T18:11:00.002-04:00

This will be the first Training Update to only be discussing agility and not obedience as well ... sigh. Oh well!

Dante is coming along soooooooooooooooooooooo nicely! Makes me all excited to get on with his next trial ... until he goofs up with some minor silly training issue that i overlooked, that is, i guess hahaha.

His contacts have been super-steady. He's no longer "bird watching" on the A-frame and Dogwalk. His Table is very, very nice now. Haven't broken a wait-stay yet for a while!

We have started doing more work on distance and layering. I am pleased by how well that is going. Dante isn't too firm on the "get out" command yet, but he seems to be getting the general idea and only hesitates about 4 out of 10 times now. It's a work in progress.

Yesterday we ran a course straight from the European Open Championships. I will say right off the bat that without guidance and instruction from our instructor, we (ok, more specifically, ME, since i am the handler after all, ha) would have made a royal mess of it, but since it's a lesson after all we got a run through of the course, tips and advice, and we managed it pretty well! Some of the tougher parts we goofed up, but overall we did complete it fairly smoothly and it was lots of fun! Unfortunately i don't have a video of us doing it, but i do have a link to the course run by the 1st place Winner in this year's EO championship, so you can see what the course was like. Keep in mind though that this team makes it look sooooooooooooo easy and effortless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHVXzYFGU24

Today we did various variations of the FCI courses that we did last night, just to work on some of the more challenging aspects and have a little more time to work on/fine tune my handling skills and approach. All i can say is that it's not easy being coordinated, especially since i was always playing hooky from phys ed classes in school, ha!

Today one of the more challenging mini courses that we did was one where there were TONS of traps/obstacles for discrimination. We did a standard opening of jump-tunnel-dogwalk-jump-tunnel in a twisty turny kind of way, and then it was a jump to the next jump which was located in a straight line straight ahead but quite a distance away. From between those two jumps at both ends there were various other obstacles/equipment (dogwalk, other jumps and tunnels, a table etc.) that were positioned in such a way that if the dog's line shifted because of an ill-timed cue or mistaken "twitch" from me, it would be an instant off course as the dog fell for the "trap". It was quite the test of Dante's focus on me and my skills as a handler -- position your body too far one way and you nudge your dog to the wrong obstacle; stick out your arm for the signal too late and your dog goes to the wrong obstacle; fail to run ahead at just the right speed and your dog takes the wrong jump ... wow that was tough! We repeated it quite a few times before we could actually do a completely smooth, one-time run through. It felt really, really good when we were finally able to complete it!

I have a looooooooooooooong way to go before i can claim to be somewhat proficient in my handling, but i'm having great fun getting there!

At this point in time, i couldn't be happier with Dante's progress and his work ethic, i hope this continues!!!

Now, on to dear little Miss Atia. Oh where do i begin ...

(At this point in time, i had written long paragraphs about Atia, and then decided that it was a matter that i wasn't proper justice to, that what i had to say/discuss/mull over/think aloud about warranted its very own post and fulsome write-up. So, i deleted them and will save its contents for another separate post. Which leaves us with kind of an awkwardly truncated Training Update, so, sorry ...)

Icky, sticky ... whoopee!

2010-08-04T21:40:00.004-04:00

Just came home from a 2 hour agility lesson with both dogs, and let me tell ya: Running 2 hours of agility in this hot, humid (31C, 39C with Humidex today) weather with swarms of skeeters trying to suck you dry is just YUCK, YUCK, and YUCK.

So, i guess it's a good thing that the dogs and i are agility ADDICTS through and through, ha!

Our instructor must be in a "FCI craze" phase at the moment. For Dante we did a couple of FCI courses -- really challenging but mucho fun! Also did two successful Gamblers, plus some other shorter courses thrown in. Worked on layering and more advanced distance work, which Dante really pleasantly surprised me with how well he did! Dante was such a good, GOOD BOY the whole 2 hours. He was so ON and totally focused on me and "doing his job" on the agility course. Not a single break, ran his little heart out and was quick and snappy with all the cues i gave him. His threadles and serps are coming really nicely. Even between courses, when we were having "downtime" going from crate to car, car to crate, crate to course, or just plain waiting for our turn, he was constantly looking to me with a "Ok, ok, what are we doing next Mom?? Let's go let's go!" Even when i told him to go pee or that he could relax and sniff around, he was just all gung-ho and ready to go. Man, I LOVE THIS BOY!!!!!!!!

Also, i learnt something really interesting about Atia today, in relation to one of the "major" "issues" i've been having with her of late.

That aside, her Teeter and weaves are coming along really nicely. Still doing channel weaves and also 6 at the moment, but we have the weaves in really close and tight together now and chaining them up with other obstacles to teach her to gain the proper entry on her own. We have her jumping 24" now, 2" from her required height.

Anyways, we have a private lesson first thing tomorrow morning, can't wait!!! Also, a full Training Update tomorrow!

Now, time to cool down and unwind ...

Return of the Goop

2010-08-03T18:31:00.003-04:00

Eye Goop, more specifically.

In the last two weeks Dante has been waking up with thick gobs of ... uhm, what do you call it? Eye wax? He's been waking up with goopy eyes every single day. Now the goop is greyish or sometimes clear, and not green or yellow, so it's definitely not the result of a nasty eye infection.

Still, the last time Dante had "Eye Goop issues" was way back when when he was still on a kibble diet. Ever since i had Dante switched to a raw diet, his eye goop and a whole host of other issues (coat, digestive tract, pottying etc.) magically just "went away".

Which makes me wonder what could be causing this sudden excessive "goop production". I had assumed that it was all diet-related, but Dante is still on a raw diet, and not much has changed in terms of the composition of his meals. It's really puzzling.

I'm not overly concerned, and although annoying, wiping it away every morning is certainly not a big deal. Still, it is sort of a symptom indicating the general condition of his health, so i just hate to be puzzling over why this "issue" has resurfaced now.

Hmmmmmm.

On another note, never in a day ever since i've had Atia has she EVER had goop in her eyes. NEVER. I'm not kidding. Perhaps it's because she's been on a raw diet from the very beginning, or maybe she's just better bred. It's still kind of weird though, that she has never had eye wax in her eye before. I mean, even i wake up with the occasional goopy eyes in the morning ...

Hmmmmm indeed!

It's here ... again ...

2010-08-02T22:05:00.002-04:00

It's the first week of August.

It's 5 months from the last time, on the dot.

Those little "petals" have started to noticeably "bloom" (ok, so maybe being poetic about this doesn't really work).

Round #3. For 3 more weeks.

Atia is ...

... COMING INTO HEAT.

AGAIN.

NoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo ... !!!

It must be Little Fluffy White Dog season

2010-07-31T16:59:00.002-04:00

This past week, everyday that i've been out with Dante for his daily walks, we've somehow come across at least one little fluffy white dog on our routes.

Now, if you've been following this blog for a while you'll know that Dante has some reactivity issues, and that little fluffy white (or white-ish) dogs, for some reason, are one of his biggest triggers.

Usually, when we come across one i tend to go out of my way to put as much distance as possible between Dante and said dog. Not because Dante is going to "do anything", but he reacts quite dramatically and just his deep, menacing bark alone is enough to unsettle most people; plus, i get tired of getting that "AHH GET THAT DOG AWAY HE'S GOING TO EAT ME" look from the ignorant. Besides, the sad but true fact is that 8 out of ten little dogs (and of course this include white fluffy ones) that we meet are horrendously unruly, obnoxious, and often exhibiting dog-aggressive or aggressive-like behaviour. The more the other dog postures and vocalizes, the more Dante reacts. So, i usually adopt a "prevention/avoidance is better than cure" approach.

This past week though, our little fluffy white dog encounters have totally blown me away. Not because Dante has been horribly reactive, but quite the opposite: he has been demonstrating spectacular self-control and keeping his impulses in check.

We've had the little dogs snarl at us, straining at their leashes, barking, scrabbling on the ground to get at us, jumping around, staring ... and Dante took it all in stride. He would bristle slightly, and then get that familiar darting wild-eyed look (which is definitely one of WORRY and NERVOUSNESS, now that i've been working on his reactiveness for a while and can read him pretty well), staring back at the dog and stiffening up considerably. On a bad day, this leads to him starting to bark defensively at said dog and posture on his part too, depending on what the other dog is doing. Not a pretty sight. However, this past week he kept himself in tow, and TOOK THE INITIATIVE to CHECK IN with me instead of acting out. On a couple of more "intense encounters", i had to help him by giving him a soft and even-toned reminder of "leave it" and "come", but each time he responded almost immediately and came backto check in with me instead of fixating on the other dog. Of course, he was showered with praise and rewards each time he CHOSE to "do the right thing".

Yesterday, while walking down the sidewalk fronting a busy main through street, we were approaching a corner when suddenly, this woman came jogging up to us with her little fluffy white dog in tow. It completely caught me by surprise, and the road was zipping busily with cars in both directions, so there was no time for me to cross the road. Hoping for the best, i maneuvered Dante as far away as possible from the sidewalk, put him in a sit, and opted to wait till the woman and her dog passed by us before continuing on.

Seeing this little fluffy white dog running past, straining at the leash and snarling and barking at him, Dante started stiffening up and bristling. I held tight on his leash the best i could without applying any noticeable pressure, hoping i didn't have to restrain him in anyway. What do you know, he demonstrated incredible (for him, in this situation!) restraint as the dog bounced about a mere 2-3 feet away from him, his body language still very defensive, but he didn't make a peep nor act up. As the woman and her dog passed us by and gradually disappeared from sight, Dante turned around and checked in with me, and was praised and rewarded big time.

I am so proud of him and so happy that slowly, but surely, his reactiveness is defintely getting under control and being managed appropriately. This is our best "streak" of "non-reactiveness" so far, especially it being a week of him facing one of his biggest triggers everyday. I hope this keeps up!!!

This is why they are called “Canine Athletes”!

2010-07-30T08:57:00.002-04:00

Our agility instructor sent me this video link, among others, and I couldn’t help not sharing. It’s a compilation of snippets of runs from the 2010 European Open Agility Championships, with lots of interjecting slow motion moments of the “action”. The dogs and handlers are in superb for, and some of their moves are just absolutely breathtaking to watch. There are some “bloopers” in there too and you can’t help but to gasp and feel your heart leaping out at times. The slow motion portions also really brings to home the amount of stress the sport puts on a dog’s physical form and fitness level – there is a reason why we call them “Canine Athletes”!!!!

Here’s the link, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BlahGolfIV#p/u/5/QkaSkqDenRc

For me, viewing this and other similar videos is very, very inspirational. The phenomenal level of teamwork between the handler and dog teams are pure poetry in motion, not to mention what a thrill you get from just admiring the raw speed and power of the dogs!

I wonder if there are kids nowadays who say: "I want to be an expert agility handler when i grow up", haha ;)