Spring in the Alley

I took the camera out with me on the walk this afternoon. It is so beautiful outside right now. There is a brick path between two condo buildings that we use to turn back towards home. Mickey will perk up by this point in the walk because he realizes we're on our way home, or maybe its because its such a nice 50 feet of walking.

After sniffing some of the daffodils (and not eating them this time!) he noticed I was kneeling down to take the pictures and he trotted back over to sit by me.

Happy Spring everyone!

Turducken

The almost mythical Turducken. It is a Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. This follows the same line of thinking as bacon wrapped filet Mignon that more meat will equal tastier food.

This bayou classic allows dogs to get in touch with their southern senses. The delicious combination of Turkey, Duck and Chicken all cooked together in their wonderful juices makes even vegetarians reconsider their pledge. It's time that all of our dog friends had a taste of this Cajun Treat. The Merrick family says – “geaux for it!”

The lovely people at Merrick have turned this concept into a dog food. It contains turkey, duck, chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans, and granny smith apples. This is a very similar ingredient list to the Puppy Plate (difference is green beans vs peas & carrots). I have to admit, I was just excited to buy my dog some Turducken, I was sucked in!


The consistency is more similar to what you'd expect of a dog food, very thick. I don't think I'll be tempted to sample this one. Mickey is also wary. Since we've introduced the new mix-in to his food he is eating 1/2 bowl less a day. I will continue to keep an eye on this (we also had more treats this weekend than normal) to make sure he's still eating enough.

Upstairs

As you know, Mickey is slowly learning how to walk down stairs.


Just like a child, he learned to go up the stairs a while ago. At first, even though he was able to walk up the stairs in our home, he didn't have much curiosity to explore the upstairs. Well, that is starting to change. Some days he is content to spend all his time with me downstairs, but other days I guess I'm just not enough entertainment and he heads out on his own to explore the bedrooms.

When I track him down upstairs (after a few seconds of fear that I've somehow lost a dog in 1300 sq ft) he is quite pleased with himself and has usually found a dry cleaning slip or comforter tag to chew on.

I bring him back downstairs and put up our blockade. It consists of a box and a plastic garbage can lid. It just kinda leans against the first few stairs so humans can easily bypass it, but it thwarts Mickey easily.

When he sees the blockade is up he usually turns around and looks at me as if to say, "What is this all about?"

Daily Treasure - Mar 30 - Part 2

Mickey picked up this wood chip half way thru our walk and carried it all the way back home. He kept a good hold on it even as we sprinted in the home stretch.

He barely got a chance to make a dent in this before I took it away. I have learned my lesson...

Scary Walk

So Mickey and I were off on an early evening walk. There is a path we follow between two buildings that is lined with flowering trees and daffodils. Its such a lovely celebration of spring! This path is always empty, but today there were two ladies talking at the end. This threw little Mickey for a spin and he halted in his tracks and had to be coaxed to continue (by me and one of the ladies that wanted to meet him)

So we're making introductions when another dog comes up. Great! I always look forward to getting him to sniff out new dogs. Winston is some sort of Schnauzer and seems friendly enough at first.

His owner and I are chatting a bit about puppies when suddenly Winston turns on little Mickey and pins him down and is snarling and biting at him. Mickey is 'screaming' and yelping but can't get away because his leash has gotten tangled in Winston's collar.

We finally get enough space between the two dogs so Mickey is out of bite range and the other owner focuses on unlatching Mickey's leash while I check him out for injury.

The other owner apologized profusely and seems very embarrassed.
Mickey was fine, but his hair all along his spine was standing straight on edge and he wanted nothing more than to climb into my lap as I'm kneeling to check him over.

Dogs are dogs and I don't think Winston is dangerous (unlike Princess the nearby pit bull that foams at the mouth at the mere glimpse of Mickey and me) but I do feel guilty that Mickey had a bad experience with the dog. I hope he will be a brave little guy and keep trusting me on our walks and other adventures.

Daily Treasure - Mar 30 - Part 1

Our first treasure today was actually a dead dried earthworm. ewwwww

Luckily he dropped that on the stairs and I didn't let him near it to pick it back up. It was cold outside this morning so he didn't protest too much against going back inside.

"uuughghgarggg (homer simpson drool) sticks and leaves"

Here is the first treasure that made it into the house. Don't know if you can tell, but we are in a new spot to destroy this one. The bay window makes a very nice warm sunny spot that Mickey really enjoys for naps, but today he also decided to go there with his treasure.

I had always assumed he just pulled these things apart and wouldn't actually eat anything. I was getting some pings from work so I picked up some of the leaves but left him with the tiny stick and the few leafs still attached. After two minutes on my computer I went back to find no evidence of the treasure left.

...i think he ate it all...

This is tagged Learning Curve for me. I learned that he will eat anything...

Bug Hunt

Gross. We have a bug in the house. Luckily Mickey spotted it and kept track of it while I ran to get some tissue.

Mickey was bouncing all over the place. He couldn't decide if it was something to play with, something to eat, or something that would hurt him.

I hate killing bugs (for this one I just dumped it in the toilet and let the flushing finish him off) so I wouldn't mind if Mickey ended up being a bug hunter/eater like Snickers.

Also on the plus side, the bug excitement, even though it lasted all of three minutes, wore Mickey out.

RIP - Animal Soft Bone

After Froggy I decided to go with the most basic no-frills toy I could find. Hello leopard printed lump of a toy!

Jamal expressed concerns that it didn't look like any sort of prey, but it did have a squeaker in it so Mickey thought it was fine.

The toy was very stuffed and Mickey couldn't clamp down and close his mouth when carrying it. Mickey would try to carry this and his fleece rope tug toy at the same time, but wasn't able to make it work. It took Mickey a lot of effort to finally wear down the one corner and destroy the toy.

I did hope that he might be able to continue playing with the compromised toy, but as I sat there and watched him fill his mouth with stuffing I realized it was too dangerous. I pulled all those pieces of stuffing out of Mickey's mouth, so three strikes and the toy was out. One of those pieces is huge!

I wasn't as attached to this toy because it wasn't very cute. It will probably go in the trash instead of the toy cemetery.

Name Game

The first day of Puppy Basic was very fun and challenging for both of us. It became very obvious that Mickey is by far the smallest guy in the class by at least 15 lbs. Some dogs are just plain huge (like 70lbs for a 5month old!) So at the beginning of class they had 'play time'. Mickey was complimented on doing a good job of communicating that he did NOT want to play with these guys (growling and snapping). So we finally sat at the side to watch the play going on.

I attribute the lack of smaller dogs in our class to the fact that bad behavior in smaller dogs is easier to ignore. For example its not a huge deal if Mickey jumps up on us but when that large Lab mix jumps on the 7 year old things aren't as fun anymore (for the kid at least).

Our first lesson in class was 'pay attention to your owner'. So you just continuously feed the special treat (hot dogs in our case) so the dog only has eyes for you. Don't worry about sitting or laying down, just want their attention. Feed them treats as often as you need to in order to keep their attention, even if that is a treat a second.

After we had firmly established that the owner is awesome because they have a never ending supply of yummy stuff, we started the first 'trick'.

"The Name Game" - Allow the dog to get distracted. Then say their name once, in a happy voice. Wait until they turn towards you. As soon as they turn towards you mark the behavior with a click from the clicker. Then feed them a treat. You can have a bit of a lag between click and treat, the most important timing is that the mark/click occurs as soon as the dog's head turns to you. Only say the name once (you can make small clucking noises or something if they seem to have missed the cue).

Mickey is pretty good with the name game. Especially when he figures out we're playing it at home (for home work). There aren't as many distractions in the house, and he knows those treats are in your hand and he doesn't want to look away...

Daily Treasure - Mar 29

Today we've got a fierce action shot of a treasure from this weekend. It is the toughest stick he's found so far. He actually didn't splinter or break it apart after a couple minutes of trying. However, I couldn't continue to supervise so it was taken away and switched for a bone.

Belly Slide method

Mickey can now go up stairs quite well. Coming down is a little more tricky. So far he can only do two down stairs in a row (from the landing to the living room). Larger groups than that make him scared and he just hems and haws at the top until someone picks him up and carries him down.

On the plus side, I don't have to worry about him bolting out our front door. He would just get to the shared hallway before seeing two and a half flights of down stairs.

He has two methods for going down stairs. The 'handstand' (I will try to get a photo of this soon) and the belly slide.

You can see from the picture that the step process has been broken into two pieces. Front feet and back feet. Mickey just takes his sweet time with his feet on two different levels. His back legs spread out as if he's laying down. Once he realizes that he can't go backwards and pull himself back up a stair he kinda flops down.

Action shot!

It is this flopping, uncontrolled landing at the bottom of the stairs that has me worried about the concrete outdoor ones. So I will wait until he proves he can do the carpeted stair set before I stop carrying him down our outdoor ones.

Eenie meenie miny toy...

Got a better caption? Leave it in the comments!

Daily Treasure - Mar 27

I saw this leaf dancing along in the courtyard. At first Mickey was interested in a gum wrapper and tried to play around with that for a while. Then he tried to pull up some weeds (at least it was weeds this time and not our neighbor's pansies!) Finally, Mickey spotted the leaf rustling around on the sidewalk and before you knew it we had our treasure for the day!

He cooperated in not destroying the leaf too quickly so I could get a few shots.

However, leafs are fragile things, especially old brown ones. This was diminished to mush soon after I snapped this picture.

News Roundup

Here are the dog related news items I read this week:



-Dogs can be trained to sniff out cash and fake DVDs? I'll start working on training Mickey to smell for money next week...



-More pets are facing euthenasia or no treatment because their families purse strings are already tight with the current economy. I did the math for pet insurance, but it doesn't seem to be worth it since Mickey is still so young...



-We all have heard how owning a pet can be good for your health. Now for the bad news, pets cause 86,000 fall injuries a year in the USA. To be fair, this is 1% of all fall injuries and no one has died. (well, a cat did when its owner fell on it.) This is a really dumb article, it includes tips for not tripping on your pet and 'famous' people who have injured themselves (Dutch tennis star Kim Clijsters bruised her tailbone after falling over Diesel, her Great Dane, in 2006.) {ahem, how can you trip over a Great Dane? I hope it was laying down or Clijsters is ten feet tall}

Woofs

On Saturday mornings Mickey and I get up early and go to puppy play hour at 9am. We have been going there for the last four weeks. This will be one of our last weeks eligible (we will age out at 16 weeks). Mickey's confidence in playing with the larger dogs has increased each week. He is still one of the smallest, and at times seems more interested meeting all the other owners (and their laps) than checking out the dogs. It is really important to us that we have a very well socialized dog so I'm sure all these experiences are helping him. Plus puppy play hour completely wears Mickey out. He actually lays down and half-naps during the car ride home.

This Saturday, we start our Puppy Basic training class at the same location (WOOFS! Dog Training). Hopefully puppy play hour plus an hour of class won't be too overwhelming.

"Puppy Basic is for puppies up to 6 months old. Class focuses on basic obedience skills: name game, sit, down, stay, come, proper greetings, off and take it, and loose leash walking. Play time included."

I bought hot dogs for our training reward. They recommend something soft, quickly eaten and new to the dog. I never thought I'd buy hot dogs ... but they're in the freezer and fridge (he doesn't need all 16 right away). I will chop them up into small pieces and put them in a Ziploc bag for class.

Hopefully we'll have some tricks to show off before too long.

Please, no pictures, I'm napping here

Can you think of a better caption? Let me know in the comment section

Daily Treasure - Mar 26

Today's top treasure was a foot long stick. This time Mickey held it in the middle so he could navigate the stairs without much trouble. Here is the series of pictures to document how he dismantled the stick in his 'hideout'.


"Hmmm, yup, smells like a stick from end to end"

"Why are you bothering me with all this flash? I'm trying to destroy something here"

~*insert five minute break while Grace started boiling water for dinner*~

"arggg you are no match for me and my razor sharp puppy teeth"

After this picture I picked up the larger pieces and got out the vacuum. Luckily Mickey lets you take things away from him. I think I grabbed a toy for him to refocus his energies, but he doesn't bite or growl if you reach to take away his stick or fish out wood pulp from his mouth.

RIP - Froggy

Froggy seemed like a tough little guy. Who knew he was such a softie (har har har). Of our initial three toys Froggy lasted the longest. This is probably due to his low standing on the popularity list rather than his strength of materials. We did some unofficial testing, and Mickey would usually always drop Froggy as soon as the Teddy Bear was offered as an option.

There were some design flaws in Froggy. He used to have stitches to seperate his feet into toes, those were easily dispatched. (You can see some on the right foot above) As you can see, Froggy held up pretty well except that his eye was a focal point of chewing and finally gave way. I am trying to buy toys now that don't have loose stiches or easy target points of chewing. Those details are cute, but just invite too much focused chewing.

Rest in Peace Froggy, you lived a relatively long time, but you must also join your friends in the toy cemetery.

Froggy was a Puppy Buddies Dog Toy.

Rainy Day

It has been raining almost all day long. We had a little break in the afternoon, and luckily I took advantage of it to get Mickey on our walk route once.

Like every other non-duck animal, Mickey does not like wet or cold weather. Put them together and he looks downright miserable. The courtyard is swampy, so it takes a gentle but firm pull on his leash to get him in there. Then he looks up at me as if to say, "Why are my paws soooo wet?"

In times like these I'm glad I've been using the command "Go Potty" every single time he pees. It snaps him back to the 'task' at hand and he quickly will get into position, finish up, and make a beeline back up the stairs to where it is dry.

I am very grateful for the fact that this is rain and not snow. I also know that a high of 50degrees is not 'freezing' but it sure can feel like it! I know that rain is a part of spring, but can we get to the warm and sunny part already?

I ask for Mickey's sake, not my own.

Luckily the forecast for tomorrow calls for sun and a high of 63 degrees. That's what I'm talking about!

Walks

One reason I was looking forward to getting a dog was the excuse to get outside of our house and walk more. Working from home and having an exercise bike here meant I would go 3 or 4 days without leaving our front door (I'd even let Jamal get the mail and bring it in).


I thought that walking was something that just came naturally to dogs and pups. I was so wrong. I will put his harness and leash on and he will lay down on his side and refuse to budge from the living room.


Here is a map of our usual walking route. I have noticed that taking the same route every time we walk has increased his willingness to follow me. I have graduated the tints from Red, Yellow to Green for how willing he is during the walk. It is as if he has an internal compass and doesn't want to go away from our house.

I can't get the picture better, I'm sorry

I used to have to carry him the entire red route and then drag-stop-plead-pull down the yellow portion. Things have improved to the point where he puts the brakes on about 4 times during the red part and only twice during the yellow. When we turn the second corner he picks up and trots along beside me. Watch out when we turn that last corner! He sprints full out race speed to get home. I try to slow him up for the two steps along this path because he has mistimed the step and just plowed into it with his chest or chin.


I hear there is a dog park for small dogs in the city park adjacent to our neighborhood. One day we need to get our walk tolerance up to the level that he can handle the 1/2 mile stroll there and back. He needs his rabies vaccination first (per park rules), so we do have a few more weeks to 'train'.

RIP - Teddy Bear

Teddy, lets remember you how you were. You were the tiniest toy, fitting perfectly in Mickey's little mouth. You were covered in pee the first time I met you and Mickey, but since you were washable you were allowed to remain in play.

Your first squeaker broke in two days, but luckily Jamal had bought a replacement. It was easy to do the transplant, thanks to the Velcro opening in your back.

You were the first favorite fetch toy. Your size meant Mickey could pick you up and still navigate the step. You feature prominently in the fetch video.

This picture is from Feb 21st and Mickey looks soooo tiny

Unfortunately, Mickey's natural instincts soon took over and as the days progressed, so did his skills at dismantling small toys. Soon you weren't allowed to be in the crate with Mickey because you couldn't stand all that love and attention. Before long, we made the tough decision to let you retire for good.

Rest in Peace little teddy bear. You were the most life-like prey that Mickey has ever had. Since you completed a squeaker donation card before you met this unfortunate end, your voice may live on in a future toy.

Teddy was made by Kong.

Puppy Plate

It’s the first lick, the wobbly crawl, and the yawns full of puppy breath that make us all love our puppies. That’s why we created the Puppy Plate with plenty of high quality proteins to keep them healthy: Turkey, Duck and Chicken mixed with hearty whole grains, delicious vegetables and fruits. At Merrick we call it Puppyhood; don’t hurry too fast to grow up!

Mickey eats very well. His dry kibble is mixed with a spoonful of wet food for flavor and to help him eat and digest it. One can lasts about a week and a half, so its not a huge expense to indulge him with this fancy stuff.

The wet food actually doesn't look half bad. It has very large pieces of meat and has the appearance of a very thick cream of chicken soup. At my corporate training we made fun of a teammate for admitting he ate dog food on a dare... I think there are going to be times here at home when 'there is nothing to eat' that I might be tempted to take a bite!

So far he's been eating Puppy Plate. The label says "With Turkey, Duck, Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Granny Smith Apples" The duck pieces are a little processed (like spamified duck) but I usually have to break up the chunks of turkey and chicken because they are so big.

Merrick pet food states, "We use human grade ingredients along with fresh fruits, vegetables and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives." Now Jamal and I don't have to feel guilty about not feeding Mickey our food, because his is probably better!

Found Treasures

Mickey is very cute at the end of walks. He always tries to find something to bring back into the house with him.

After he does his business he starts busily sniffing around looking for the best leaf in the courtyard. If he forgets to grab something, then he'll stop at a bush by the lower landing to yank a stick off. Once he has his prize in his mouth he races up the stairs and is very antsy to get back inside. Then he tries to run away with his feet sliding in place on the linoleum (Loony Toons style) until I can unlatch his leash. Then he's free!

He runs to his hideout (the bottom of the stairs) and starts chomping away at his little treasure. I usually give him the time it takes to get my shoes and coat off before I confiscate the fun and throw it away. Usually I have to fish leaf pulp or stick pieces out of the carpet and his mouth.

There are times that this is annoying, but usually it leaves me laughing like a maniac outside. When he has something in his mouth he holds his head and ears high and he is so proud to be walking with it.

Today he picked up a stick 2 feet long. He had it sticking out of his mouth like a lance, charging his way home. It lasted until the first curb he had to jump up...stick hit the curb and flew out of his mouth and that was the end of it.

I leave you with a picture I took of one of his more ambitious treasures. I had to wait until we were back inside..I should bring a camera along on our walks...

It is a plastic flyer that is folded 'hot dog' style. He picked it up so that the folded piece was up right in front of his face. This meant he couldn't see a thing, but that didn't deter him! He felt his way up all three stories of steps by putting up one or two tentative paws, trying to guess where the next step was located. On the landings he went in the general direction of the next stair and usually ended up hitting it with his chest... but he made it to the top with no major falls or stumbles (he wisely took it very slowly). Once inside he paraded around with his treasure until he finally breached the plastic coating and it was taken away.

I apologize for the quality of this picture

RIP - Squid/Snugga

This is the first toy that Mickey destroyed. It was a good toss & fetch toy, but its size meant Mickey often had to drag it along the ground to get back to us. He enjoyed sleeping on it's soft covering. That same soft covering proved too irresistible for our little guy and his chompers. First he chewed away the embroidery 'Snugga' logo and then just kept going into the flesh...you can see some of the pink 'bouncy' ball inside showing. We decided to take this one away before the damage got worse.

It is made by Kong.

RIP Squid. May you find peace in the toy cemetery.

First Post

I've been curious about getting into blogging since I read quite a few of them. I decided that Mickey was as good an excuse as any to get started.

So far I can document his cuteness, the progress in housebreaking, and his ability to destroy every toy we get for him.

To start things out, here is the photo sent to us by Homeward Trails after we applied to adopt one of the puppies from his litter. He does such a good job posing! You can see his little milk chin and white tux shirt.

For a flashback, here is the description the foster mom wrote about Mickey (then known as Tipper)

Black Male - Tipper - for the white tip on his tail. He was the hardest to get to know. He is quite independent when with the other pups. At the same time though, he plays well with all of them. The other male and him constantly play tug of war. He loves to engage people then runs off to do his own thing. The thing I love about him is the way he looks at you. I hold him on my chest and he looks up at me with eyes that say "I love you". He keeps eye contact forever. So sweet. He is a pretty low maintenance baby. He chews a bit but just what you would expect from a pup. Most of the time he is easily distracted. He is the one that I laugh at with the Husky. When he is in the pen and she walks by, he pounces and barks and makes quite the stir. Brad picked him up and held him close to her and he cowered into his arms. Tough guy when there is a cage! He would make a great companion for just about anyone. He is so easy going.