Hello!

Six year old Curly Joe, pouting because his bed cover isn't dry yet.  WOOF!

The Terrible Two's

Happy Belated New Year to one and all. I apologize for the lack of updates. You know how life gets.

Today's update is special because it is Curly Joe's second birthday! Or so it said on his adoption papers. I admit, I'd forgotten about it until I got an e-mail from Dogster wishing Curly happy birthday.

At obedience class last year, the trainer said that dogs are still pretty much puppies well into their second year. Well ... crap. I guess we'll have to put up with this a while longer. And by "this" I mean CURLY JOE. There's no end to his energy levels, and nothing ever gets him down. The rest of us are exhausted, but Curly Joe still wants to go go go. I'm grateful for this, of course. He's still a sick little dog in regards to his liver shunt, but he is maintaining very well on his supplements and special food. We ran his labs at my work and his bile acids came in at the high end of normal, so the vet suggested I put him on Denamarin, in addition to the Hepato Support and l/d food. In less than a week, there was a marked improvement in his health. I had thought he'd been looking a little "off" for a few weeks, and that confirmed it. The supplements are expensive, but if he needs them, he's going to get them.

I don't really have anything to report in regards to our little friend, and really, that's the best news. In December, our friend Aed and her two dogs moved in with us for a few weeks, and Curly Joe had a great time playing with them. Not that he doesn't enjoy Tank and Jackson's company, but Tankerbelle is old and arthritic and Jackson has bad knees, so neither of them are viable options for roughhousing. Aed's dogs were perfect for that. Video (and pardon the audio -- we were figuring out what to get from Pita Pocket):

And here he is, frolicking in our (thankfully) only snow this winter:


Last video, me trying to get Freddie to beat up Curly Joe. She loves it.


That's basically all I've got. Want some pictures? Here you go.

Tuckered out while the humans play Cranium:

I took this one when I got home from work this morning. As you can see, he still hates having his picture taken. But it was the best I could do for an impromptu birthday pic!

So that's about it. Curly Joe is doing well and running us all ragged. He is having some dominance issues which I'm trying to clear up. It might just be the new pecking order amongst the dogs, but he does tend to get protective of the strangest things (litter boxes, a pile of laundry, the couch, etc). There were a few recent incidences where Curly Joe and Tank got into a fight while I was at work. Nothing serious, but I still can't accept that kind of behavior from a dog. We'll have to work on it.

We took the dogs to Sauvie Island last summer. This year, I want to take them to the coast. As far as we know, only Tank has seen the ocean, and though we know none of them like to swim, it would at least be nice to get out and enjoy Oregon with the boys.

I hope you are all doing well. Curly Joe sends his love. Or rather, he would send his love if he weren't busy chewing on his Nylabone.

Dog Days of Summer

Update!

Hi, everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. We're all fine here, don't worry. In May, Curly Joe's auntie LaShea (former foster mom) came out for a visit and he was so happy to see her! He totally flipped out. She got to see how big he got and what a bastard he's turned into. I'm just kidding. She already knew he was a bastard.

Still kidding! Here they are, saying goodbye. It's ok, though. She and her partner and their dogs are moving to Portland next year! We'll all be one big happy, demented family!

It's August, which means it's almost our Curlyversary! I'll have to bake him a little doggy cake or something. He's come so far in 12 months!

I haven't signed him up for Intermediate obedience classes yet, but I will. He's gotten rather unruly since May, and I take full responsibility for that. Still, he does remember what we learned. My sister just bought him a little doggy back pack so that we can put stuff in it on our walks. The idea is that it'll wear him out faster. He's just got so much energy!

I found another solution to that problem, too. I'm still working nights at the lab and feel like I never get to see/spend quality time with the dogs, so I've started walking them as soon as I get home in the morning. Lately, the puppy that lives on the corner has started joining us. It pissed me off at first because he was disrupting our Together Time, but I quickly came to enjoy his presence. I feel bad that he just sits outside that house all day (they don't let him indoors, he's not neutered and he doesn't wear a collar). I figure since Jackson and Tank are too rickety to roughhouse, this puppy (who I call Horace) is perfect for him. They both get to play and have fun for a little while.

Horace tries to eat Curly's brain, then decides it's not worth the effort. Too small a payoff.


Curly Joe thinks he's got the upper hand...

Think again, Curly Joe. I actually laughed so hard when this happened, my glasses flew off my face and landed in the ditch.

When we got home, I fed the minions and then hopped on the computer and all three dogs are passed out on the floor. SUCCESS!

So that is pretty much what's been going on. Jackson has settled into our family quite nicely. Curly Joe tries to play with him all the time, but Jackson doesn't have the knees for it. Getting a fourth dog is definitely within the realm of possibilities. We need a younger, "take charge" girl dog to keep Curly Joe's butt in line.

Oh, I forgot! We took the dogs to Sauvie Island a couple of weeks ago. It was Curly and Jackson's first trip and we were sad to find they both HATE water. We coaxed them in (Tank was the only one who swam, which is ironic because he's hated water since he was a puppy) but Curly just clung to me the entire time.

Aren't they handsome?

When a friend of mine saw the pictures of the dogs at the beach, she asked how I get them to just lay there. "I tell them to lie down and stay." And that's it.

Big brother.

Curly Joe has a new brother. Yesterday, my sister adopted a dog. His name is Jackson, and he is a 5 year old Mastiff/Shep mix. He had surgery in January and will probably need another in a couple of years, but he is a very sweet, mild-mannered dog. Tank and Curly loved him immediately, but it took him a few minutes to get used to them, Curly Joe in particular. This morning, they were all playing in the yard together, so we have hope that it won't be long before they're all BFFs. The best part is, Tank is happier than I've seen him in almost three years, since before Luke died. I know he likes having Curly Joe around, but I think it must be that he feels better the more dogs he has around him. Also, Curly Joe is intimidated by large dogs. Jackson looked at him for a split second, and Curly fell over and exposed his belly to him.

If I can get them all to stand still long enough, I'll take a picture of all three boys lined up by height. We have stackable dogs, almost!

Obedience Classes - Weeks Five and Six

We missed last week's class. Don't judge me.

Obediently, I called Quinn right away to set up a time to make up last week's class, and Curly Joe and I arrived a half hour early to class this afternoon. Quinn said that Week Five is the easiest class to make up, so that made me feel better. We worked more on the on-leash "come" command out in the store, except this time, after Curly Joe had obeyed the command (and I marked the good behavior with an enthusiastic "yes!"), I had to make him sit before I put his lead on and then give him a treat. No problem. Curly Joe is happy to do anything and everything if there's something delicious on the other end of it.

Next, we went to the small animal section and worked on Curly Joe staying in the "stay" position while I tried to distract him by talking to rats and hamsters. He did well with that, too. And that was pretty much the gist of it. At 4:30, Ava (the boston) and Nina (the GSD) showed up and we got down to brass tacks.

This week, we learned two things (well, ok. More than two, but I'parallel get to that later.): how to act appropriately around people and other dogs. Quinn told us to take the dogs out into the store, and if we came upon a customer (or an employee) who wanted to pet our dogs, we were to put them in the sit/stay position and have them sit calmly while the person pet them. If the person wasn't interested in petting our dogs, we were to reward the dogs anyway with a pat on the head. Figures, there wasn't anyone in the store. Well, there was one woman pushing her kid around in a shopping cart but she looked like she'd rather slam her hand in a car door than pet one of our dogs. Which is kind of weird because she was in a pet store. But I digress. I found some employees to sic Curly one (haha) and he did ok. He gets overexcited when you give him attention. Totally fine to come and sit on command, but once you lean over to pet him, he loses his shit. A couple of times I had to walk him in a circle and try again.

For the dogs, we were to put our pooches in a sit/stay and have them wait until we told them to "go play" or "say hello." Then they were allowed to go over and sniff or play with the other dog. After a few seconds, we were to say "Let's go" and walk away, even if the dogs were still playing. We ran into Nina and her mom a couple of times, which made me happy. I miss my Lukenstein, so I have a soft spot for Nina the GSD.

After that, we all went back to the "rink" and Quinn talked to us about nutrition and dog food and also which bones were the best to give our dogs. (She recommends Nylabones and marrow bones, if anyone's interested. Rawhide = no no.)

That was pretty much the class for the day, and Quinn ended it on a fun note (as always): the shake command. She loves to teach tricks, which is something I was never into except that Tank picked up on the "paw" thing really quick and we made a little game out of it. He'll keep giving you one paw then the other, then the other again, then the other until the world ends. One of the techs at my vet's office saw him doing that and said, "Are you shitting me? He's river dancing!"

Where was I? Oh, right. So Curly doesn'the know that one. Quinn showed me how to teach him to do it by having him sit and then holding a treat out for him to nibble while she used her other hand to kind of poke at the back of his leg. When he lifted it to get away from her, she said, "yes!" and fed him the treat. She did this one or two more times and then had me try it.

The pointy-eared bastard refused to give me his paw. He nibbled at the treat but when I poked at his leg, he glanced down at my hand like he was two seconds away from biting it off. I badgered him into obeying once, but after that he was done with it. I wasn'the going to bother, but now I'm going to keep practicing this trick just to spite him.

Lessons were over, then came the fun part: PLAY TIME! This time, Quinn had us put the dogs all in a sit/stay and then we told them to go play. And boy, did they play. The really great thing for me over these last few weeks has been to see Nina open up and enjoy being a dog. Her "owner" only got her about a month ago, and at first (at class), she was hesitant and unsure of herself. When we let the dogs play, she didn'the really know how to react and was very twitchy and nervous. This afternoon was the first time I'd seen her flat-out enjoy herself. She played with Curly Joe and Ava and even managed to pin Curly Joe once or twice. Curly will bash the hell out of tiny little Ava, but with Nina, he's all, "OH MY GOD PLEASE DON'T EAT ME."
Rolls over onto his back and stops just short of pissing himself. But Nina just played and played. It kind of made me feel bad, though. At home, Curly Joe doesn't have anyone to rough house with, as Tank is almost 12 and just wants to hang out with me and chew on a bone. So Curly has no one to play with (most of the time - Tank does tussle with him), and Tank doesn't get a moment's peace. Then we get to class, and he has so much fun tumbling with these two other dogs.

Anyway. Ava's mom said Curly Joe had the cutest face she's ever seen on a dog. If I had a dime for every time someone told me that, I'd be rich.

After class, I told Quinn that I was interested in training Curly Joe to be a therapy dog, and wondered what/if there was anything I should be doing in addition to this class to prepare him for it. She asked what sort of therapy I was interested in and I told her I wanted to take him into nursing homes. She said that I should really work with Curly Joe on calm behavior, not jumping and staying on a sit/stay position. She also said to get him used to being around wheelchairs and elderly people. I told her my mom was disabled and Curly Joe was used to being around her and her chair, and she said that was perfect and to work with him on sitting politely next to my mom while she pets him. This will be tricky because my mom (even though I tell her repeatedly when we come over to ignore the dogs until they calm down and NOT to let them jump on her) let's the dogs go nuts when they see her.

Quinn also said that she focuses a lot on the CGC in the intermediate class (which I'd already planned on signing Curly Joe up for), and that I can check the calendar and come take Quinn also said that she focuses a lot on the CGC in the intermediate class (which I'd already planned on signing Curly Joe up for), and that I can check the calendar and come take the test with Curly. It's ten bucks and even if he doesn't pass, I'll still get an idea of what we'll need to work on. Basically, Curly Joe would get the same test as the other dogs, except that since I want to take him into nursing homes, they would throw in a person on crutches or in a wheelchair for when Curly has to walk through (and obey me in) a crowd. with Curly. It's ten bucks and even if he doesn't pass, I'll still get an idea of what we'll need to work on. Basically, Curly Joe would get the same test as the other dogs, except that since I want to take him into nursing homes, they would throw in a person on crutches or in a wheelchair for when Curly has to walk through (and obey me in) a crowd.

And that's pretty much it. Two more weeks left, can you believe it? I can't. I don't want it to end.

I realized something in class today: Every week I agonize over how much Curly Joe still has to learn, but I realized from something Quinn said that it's not like he has to learn EVERYTHING we go over by the next class. I've been so busy thinking I have to get him 100% on everything every week that I get overwhelmed and frustrated. And that's no fun for Curly Joe.

On the way home, he passed out in the back seat. I'd taken him and Tank out into the big yard before class and played fetch with him for 15 minutes. That, plus play-time with Big and Small (Nina and Ava), really wore him out. SUCCESS!

LaShea (Curly Joe's auntie and former foster mother) is coming to Portland for a visit in a couple of weeks. I put in for vacation time (what a luxury! I love my job!!!!) so we'll all have plenty of time for fun. I just really hope I will have worked with Curly Joe well enough to not shame myself when she gets here...

See you next week!

Obedience Classes - Week Three

That's right. We missed Week Two. It's okay, though. We're going to make it up next week after Week Four. Confused? Good.

Last Wednesday (which would have been Week Two), I was sick and we missed class. I left a message for Quinn and she got back to me today, saying we could make up the class at 4:00. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up until 3:30, so that was out. When we got to class, there was a third dog in our group: a little boston terrier named Ava. Mia the shepherd was there, and then there was Curly Joe. There was another girl there, who I think works for Petsmart but was just observing the class? She said Curly Joe had the cutest face she's ever seen on a dog. Quinn said Curly Joe looked like he'd gotten a little bigger. I'm not sure if she meant fat-big or just big-big, but I have been feeding Curly less these days. He's pushing 40 pounds now and getting a bit ... flub. It's all my fault, feeling sorry for him and his messed up liver. I'm like my mom: FIX EVERYTHING WITH FOOD! I'm really good about scraps, though. Curly Joe only gets his l/d. The only time he gets treats is when we're at class.

Anyway. Today we did some loose leash exercises. We took the dogs out into the store and walked with them. When Curly Joe pulled on the leash, I stopped. When he turned back, I would say "let's go" and start walking again. It's really hard for me to do these exercises because I get so nervous in public. My whole life I've tried to blend in with the background. I don't like to be noticed or called attention to. So these classes are as much a challenge for me as they are for Curly Joe. Scratch that. The classes aren't a challenge for him - they're fun. So I'm trying to learn from him and relax and focus on the task at hand, but it's hard. I have such a fear of failure that I often screw up before I even begin.

Curly Joe did okay on the loose leash exercise, though I admit I got flustered and probably didn't do it well enough. Last week's class touched on "sit" and basic behavioral problems. Curly Joe knows sit well enough, so it wasn't anything crucial to moving on to Week Three. Our next exercise today was the "down" position. We didn't say anything, just held the treat up until our dogs sat down and then moved the treat (palm down) slowly to the floor until the dogs lay down. It took Curly Joe a few tries to catch on because he's completely obsessed with Ava.

That's another thing: I will never take Curly to class again without exercising him first. He was so obnoxious, I was embarassed. So next week we're going for a long walk and having a rousing game of fetch before class. Worn Out Curly is much more attentive than Wide Awake Curly.

Next we worked on take it and leave it. Curly Joe caught on pretty quick, though I kind of flubbed the exercise. I blame the ADD. I think I'll be better able to focus on everything when I'm at home and not so self-conscious. I'll go over everything with my sister, too, so that we're all on the same boat in regards to how to deal with Curly and his "indisrections."

Eventually, we're going to get to a point where Curly Joe will heel and walk with his collar lined up with the seam of my pants. Somehow...I can't imagine that ever happening, but that's stinkin' thinkin'. I shouldn't be projecting my own insecurities onto my poor dog. Okay, so he's a bit of a shit, but he's still young enough where we can work on it and get him behaving properly. Dogs love to have something to do; Curly Joe is up for anything. Our goal is not only to have a well-behaved dog, but to have a well-behaved dog capable of passing the canine good citizen test (with the intention of then becoming a therapy dog).

Huh! I just looked for information on the CGC and it turns out Quinn, Curly Joe's (and my) trainer, is an evaluator! I'll have to mention the whole therapy dog thing next week.

After "take it/leave it," Quinn let the dogs play, on-leash at first. I was worried Curly Joe would smash Ava, but her "parents" assured me she could take it. Well, all right then. Quinn let us unleash them and they played well together. Curly Joe got a little too jumpy, but Quinn supervised everything and got into the mix when things got too rambunctious. I felt bad for Mia (the shep) because Curly was so focused on little Ava. I love dogs, but I've never quite gotten the little dog "thing." I like a dog you can wrestle with, not carry around in your purse. Which isn't to say I wouldn't love a dachshund or a pug! Working as a tech, I just saw far too many people with little dogs who treated them like babies, and it really annoyed the hell out of me, especially when the dogs turned into 8-balls because of it.

But I digress.

Week Four next week! Ava's parents and I decided to tack Week Two on right after next week's class. I'll get home around 6 p.m. with plenty of time to feed the animals and get ready for work.

I feel bad leaving the house without Tank, but I'm going to put peanut butter in his Goodie Ship and freeze it so he'll have a nice treat ALL TO HIMSELF while we're out learning how to Be Good. Plus, Auntie Grubby hangs out with him and keeps him happy.

So that concludes Week Three. We've got a lot to learn, but I've got my binder and Quinn's phone number if I have any questions. I'm just proud of myself for following through with this and proud of Curly Joe for being so eager to learn. Tank has been owner protective his entire life, and I was too stupid back then to realize the damage my social anxiety did to my dog. It's a new thing to me to have a dog I can take out in public without worrying about him barking at everyone who stares at him. I wish there was something I could do to help Tank get over that because being scared is a bad thing, and I hate seeing him upset. He's the only joy of my life and I feel like I let him down.

Obedience Classes - Week One

Week One of obedience class was so much fun. Call it fate, but it was only me and another girl in the class, and she has a big old german shepherd. A ten month old female named Nina, I think. She got her a week ago from someone on Craigslist who couldn't be bothered trying to train a gorgeous, fun-loving dog. DIE IN A FIRE, but I digress. Quinn is our trainer, and she asked if (since nobody else showed up) we minded a small class. Neither of us did. I think it would be good for Curly to have lots of stimulation and exposure to other dogs, but considering my ADD, I think it's probably a good thing that it's just the two (well, five) of us. (Six if you count Quinn's dog, who either slept in her bed or stared at Quinn the entire time.)

Quinn started out the class by having us introduce ourselves and talk about issues we want to address in the next eight weeks. I said that I wanted to curb Curly Joe's OMGCHASETHECATS issue, and basically just teach him manners and obedience.

Quinn said that she wasn't here to train our dogs, she was here to train us. Amen to that.

I should mention that, before we left for class, Sis and I had been out in the big yard with the dogs, and Curly Joe pretty much wore himself out tearing around in the leaves. When we got to Petsmart, Curly transformed from Demon to Waif, and when we got into the rink --- what I call the training area because it's basically a teeny tiny ice rink without the ice. Boards. Glass. The works. All that's missing is a zamboni --- and I sat down on a stool, Curly Joe crawled under it and stayed there the entire time. He also slept a lot. SCORE!

His classmate, Nina, kept whining and barking and Quinn would squirt her (or near her) with her water bottle. Curly did some whining himself and was rewarded with some spritzes. He looked at me like, "Holy crap! I can't believe that just happened to me! Did you see that?"

Quinn gave us clickers, but she said we didn't have to use them in class. Thank gad. I hate those things. We did do some exercises with them, and Curly Joe responded well.

Our homework this week is to work on the "watch me" command. Or the beginnings of it, anyway. She wants us to build on having our dogs maintain eye contact with us so that we can get them trained to watch us. Remember how I said Curly Joe won't take food from my hand? Now he will. I did basically the SAME DAMN THING I do at home. Quinn had us take some treats, put one between our first and second fingers. Hold the treat down for the dog to sniff, then bring our fingers up to our face next to our eye. When the dog maintains eye contact for a second or two, we look away, say "Yes!" (or a positive word of our choosing) and give them the treat. Curly gobbled those treats like they were going out of style. We did some clicker exercises, too, but just to see how they did with them. When we got home, I clicked the clicker when it was in my pocket and Curly Joe immediately sat down and started at Sis (who was making her lunch). Whooda thunk the little shit could be trained? I kid because I love.

So Quinn is all about hand signals, which I love. If you're in a crowded or hectic place and you want your dog to listen to you, he's not always going to respond to verbal commands. If he's trained to keep an eye out for hand signals, you can guarantee he'll always be mindful and paying attention to where you are.

I'm looking forward to learning more as the weeks progress. We got our own binders and every week Quinn is going to give us a worksheet and a coupon for treats. After class, I walked Curly around the store, bought some cat litter and used the coupon to buy a bag of treats. I'm going to get a couple of bags of treats to so that Curly doesn't get bored with them. I'm also going to use Luke's his tennis ball as a non-food reward. I'll only take it out when we work at home, that way he knows it's his special reward for doing well.

We got binders and homework, did I mention? Homework this week is to work on the "Watch Me" command and potty training. Curly Joe is house trained (except if I have to leave him home for a few hours; he'll usually pee in the laundry room), so we'll just be working on the "watch me." I figure we'll take the dogs for a long walk and then I'll work with Squirrely afterward. That worked out really well at class this afternoon, because Curly Joe passed out under my chair almost the entire time. Quinn says our training sessions should only be a few minutes long. Maybe a few minutes before we go to work and a few minutes when we get home. Surely I can manage that. I'll be sharing everything I learn with my sister so that she can keep up with the training while I'm at work.

I'm just really excited and glad to finally be doing this. I put it off for far too long.

I had a lot more to say, but I've got to make my lunch and do some stuff before work.

Tune in next week!

Countdown to obedience

In two days, Curly Joe and I start obedience classes. I haven't taken a dog to obedience classes in ... over 20 years. This ought to be fun. I dosed Curly with Frontline last night and trimmed his nails the night before last. That was a surprise; normally he kicks up a big fuss, but he was lying on the frontroom floor, basking in the warmth of the pellet fire, and I figured I'd play with his paws. He protested a little at first, but once he realized I was trimming his nails whether he liked it or not, he just lay back down. LaShea and Chad did a great job of desensitizing him when he was a puppy, but now that his health is better and he's found his place in the house (i.e. Dennis the Menace), it's a toss-up whether or not he'll let me cut his nails.

I'm interested to see how he'll do in a class setting. The last time I took him to Petco (the classes are at Petsmart), he was really intimidated. I think the smells overwhelmed him because when we all met up in Colorado last August, he did just fine when we all went inside the Stanley Hotel.

I'm interested to see how I do, too. I'm pretty shy and being out in public usually freaks me out. I'm not good at small talk and never know what to say to people, so I'm really hoping Curly Joe doesn't pick up on any of my anxiety.

Class starts at 4:30, so I want to be up in time to take him for a walk or at least play with him out in the yard before we go. You know, to burn off some of that extra energy so he'll pay attention in class.

The vet wants to see Curly in soon to recheck his bloodwork. Thankfully, I get free labwork through my job, so I can pretty much get any tests I want and not have to worry about breaking the bank. Hopefully he's doing ok. Or as ok as a dog with a messed up liver can be. He's still a little porky, so I need to really step up on the walks. I've lost ten pounds in the last month, so I'm really motivated now to keep us all up and moving. Especially now that our nails are all short and pretty.

Recent pictures (as always, click to enlarge):

I slept on the couch a couple nights (days, whatever) last week because I wanted the warmth and comfort of the pellet fire. The boys fell asleep as soon as they settled down in their bed.

Last week, we got a package from LaShea and Chad and in it (amongst other things) was a DVD Chad had made from when they were fostering Curly Joe. We finally got to see his curly ears!!!! I haven't had time to watch the whole thing, but what I've seen so far is both adorable and hysterical. It's really sad because Curly Joe lived outdoors for so long, he didn't know it was okay to come in the house. He'd follow their dogs (Samus and Sheba) to the door and then sit down. Gahhh. Of course, he doesn't have that problem anymore. He runs everywhere and usually doesn't stop until he hits something.

The other night, I swear to god, he said "Murphy."

March Pupdate

(Since Curly Joe turned a year old last month, I guess I can't call them "pupdates" anymore. Sad!)

Hey everybody!

Quick little update: Curly Joe is still alive and well. And ... fat. Yeah, he's fat. I MADE HIM FAT. I have officially turned into my mother.

Because he's sick (inwardly, anway), I find myself feeding him more than I should. It'd be fine if I walked him enough to compensate, but I don't. Since I am apparently pretty badly vitamin D deficient (thanks, night shift), I need to really get the dogs out after I wake up in the afternoon. The exercise is good for us all, and I'll get all the sun I need. In the meantime, I am taking a supplement. The days are getting longer, which means more daylight, so that will help.

The Big News is, I finally signed Curly up for obedience classes! I went through Petsmart because Petco does clicker training and I kind of hate clickers. Petsmart has a clicker class, but it's nothing to do with the regular ones. Thank gad.

It took a few minutes, talking to one of the employees on the phone, to dig up a class that would fit my schedule, but we found one that starts on the 18th that will probably do just fine. I picked that one because the class meets on Wednesdays at 4:30. I have every other Wednesday off, so that works out well. I could have done Saturday (which I also have every other one off), but the classes started too early. I get home between five and six in the morning and the classes meet at ten. I'm usually in bed by 7:30, so ... no. Not going to work.

In the meantime, I'm going to work on hand feeding Curly Joe. Every now and then he shows a bit of toy aggression, and I plan to nip that in the bud. My dog Luke was toy/food aggressive when we rescued him, and I hand fed him, one kibble at a time, for two weeks, then one handful at a time for another two weeks and never had a problem after that. I've attempted this with Curly a few times over the last week and the boy flat out refuses to take food from my hand. My sister said maybe it's a sign of submission, but I don't think so. I feed the animals after I eat, and when I attempt to hand feed Curly, I hold the food up by my eyes so he sees me and knows that the food is coming from me (because I say so), I hand him the kibble and he doesn't eat it. So we're going to work on that. I also need to get a bin for the dogs' toys.

So that's what we've been up to. I'm pretty sure Curly Joe weighs more than 30 pounds now. Bit of pudge around the middle, yes. Happens to us all.

The other day, I let the dogs out, completely forgetting I'd left the front gate open to bring a couple bags of wood pellets in for the fire. A few minutes later, I opened the door to call the dogs in. Tank trotted over, but I had to call Curly a few times. I could hear his tags jingling, so I figured he'd squeezed through a hole in the small fence and was out "playing" with the geese in the big yard. (He calls it playing, they call it "DIE, PUPPY, DIE.") Nope. The little bastard comes running down the ROAD, just as happy as can be. I probably should have freaked out, but mainly I was pleased that he came when I called him, especially considering he had probably been playing with the two corgis down the street.

See? (Click on the photos to embiggen.)


Oh, what the heck. More pictures, anyone?

Stormtroopers don't have puppies or Santa Claus. Isn't that sad?




Driving up to see my mom. I'm happy at least one of my dogs doesn't get carsick.


Bedtime!

I actually feel really bad about my schedule, in regards to the dogs. Tank doesn't mind since he's old and sleeps more, but Curly Joe is a young'un. The dogs sleep while I'm at work, then I come home, feed them and we go to bed. So they pretty much just sleep all the time. That's why I need to make more of an effort to walk them every day. Bored puppies are destructive, ANNOYING puppies.

Curly Joe's foster mom, designerd, is going to be in Portland for a visit in a couple of months. This little dog is probably going to explode when he's reunited with her. He'll be so happy! Hopefully she won't laugh at how fat he is or make fun of his wattle.

Well, that's about it. Wish us luck with the classes! It'll be good for both of us, I'm sure, and just think: this is the first step toward eventually getting Curly Joe trained as a therapy dog.

Happy Birthday, Curly Joe!

Update.

Curly Joe is alive and well. Hyper as ever. I'm ashamed to say I still haven't signed him up for puppy classes; my excuse is that it's hard to find the time now that I work night shift. He needs it, though, and I'm going to do my best to get him straightened out.

Still no word from the doctor about finding someone who can fix his shunt, but I'm choosing to remain hopeful. In the meantime, he seems to be hanging in there with his special food, Hepato Support and lots of TLC. Last week, I let him out to go potty and heard all this noise on the front porch. I opened the door and saw Curly, jumping and darting around. All three geese had their heads stretched through the slats in the porch railing and Curly Joe was playing with them as they snapped at him. Now, they wanted to kill him, but to a puppy, it's a Fantastic New Game. He was having the time of his life.

Guess what? Curly Joe turns a year old in a week (Feb 2nd).

2009

Curly Joe (and Tank) wanted me to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I had to get a jump on it because I'll actually be at work when the clock strikes midnight. Thanks for tuning in to this blog and for all the love and support. It's hard to believe Curly Joe has only been here for four months, especially since his birthday is in February. He's been urinating a lot, and I'm pretty sure it's because of his liver issues. I may take him to the vet on Friday, just to check things out. He's not acting any differently, just drinking and peeing a lot, like when we first got him.

Anyway, here's to Good Things in the year to come. We wish you all the best.

For the rest of us

Happy Festivus, everybody!

Curly Joe wasn't feeling well last night. He vomited (food) three or four times and was really restless. I've only had him for four months, so I'm still learning how to read him. My other dogs I had for 12 years or more and I knew them better than the back of my own hand. When they weren't feeling well, I usually knew why and what to do for them. Curly Joe has a serious liver problem, and it's something I've never encountered before. I can't tell when it's just a bad puppy day and when it's a bad liver day, so when he isn't feeling well, I have to work hard not to freak out.

My main concern last night was cleaning up the puke before Curly Joe inhaled it again (gagggg), but his gums were nice and pink, he wasn't dehydrated and he didn't react when I palpated his abdomen. I know for a fact he's peeing and pooping okay, so that wasn't the problem. It looked like there were bits of paper towel in his vomit, so I figured it was just regular old garbage gut. He didn't eat dinner and he didn't eat breakfast this morning, and that was fine. One thing I learned working as a vet tech, when an animal vomits, you put them on NPO for 24 hours. When I fed the inmates this evening, Curly Joe ran upstairs and sat by his bowl, so I knew he was feeling better. Not wanting to push things, I gave him about a quarter of what he normally eats. He ate slowly, but finished it all, so I think he'll be ok.

I was really nervous because with all this snow we've gotten, I'm pretty sure we couldn't have made it out to the vet if it had been serious.

This afternoon we had some fun out in the big yard. Since we got him, I've been nervous about letting Curly out into the big yard because the fence on the south side of the property is old and our neighbors' dog is always getting through somehow. I was worried Curly would find the hole and escape. However, I keep forgetting that dogs need a pack, and that wherever Tank goes, Curly follows. Tank has never run away once in his life (except for the time he jumped out my window -the day after he was neutered- ran to the front of the house and sat by the door to wait for me); he's only interested in sniffing, so I know that he'll stay in the yard and hopefully so will the puppy.

At any rate, Sis and I were out in the yard trying to fix a busted pipe. The dogs busted out of the yard and ran around in the snow. They were having so much fun, I didn't have the heart to make them go back into the little yard. And really, Curly Joe isn't going to learn anything if I don't let him get out and explore.

We haven't had any water here for a week and we ran out of wood pellets the other day. With all the snow/ice/more snow we've had, we haven't been able to get to the store. This afternoon, a guy from the plant nursery across the road helped dig us out of the driveway and put our snow chains on, and my sister was able to drive to the little store a couple miles down the road. She bought pellets and a few provisions, so tonight we and the animals were nice and toasty warm. I think it was a combination of good, strong heat and an afternoon frolicking in the snow that made Curly Joe sleep so much. He's been quiet all night, but still frisky and lovable when you say hello to him. For my part, I was so unbelievably relaxed (and, more importantly, warm), I dozed off in the middle of the Bruins/Devils game.

I'm sad that I won't be able to make a special First Christmas for Curly Joe, but the important thing is that he's even here for his first Christmas. Honestly, animals don't give a shit about holidays. It's just nice to include them in our celebrations, and I know my mom was really looking forward to us coming up to her house for Christmas. I was going to buy the dogs some new toys (since Curly Joe hoards them), too. I guess I'll just have to tell them Santa caught an updraft and won't be able to stop by until the weekend.

Pictures? Okay!

My car is under there. Somewhere.




It's like he fell asleep mid-scratch.

I have a ton more, but snow is snow. I spent 26 years buried under the stuff every winter, and when I moved out to Portland, I thumbed my nose at the thought of buying a snow shovel. Boy do I wish I had a snow shovel right now. Portland doesn't have very many plows (it hasn't snowed like this since the 60's), and they don't use salt for environmental reasons. They put down some sort of de-icing chemical, the purpose of which seems to be to make the roads five times slicker than actual ice, so when it does snow, the whole city shuts down. Growing up in Chicago, in all the years I was in school, we never once got a snow day. When we started attending the local community college, my sister and I went to class when it was 80 below (with the wind chill). We went home for lunch between classes, got stuck in the driveway, a neighbor dug us out and we went back for the rest of our classes. We had to scrape ice off the inside of my car before we left. There was a giant hole in the driver's side floor, over which I put a piece of wood, but slush splashed up into the car anyway. Never once owned a pair of snow chains. Since they refuse to salt the roads in Portland, if you don't have chains or an SUV, you're pretty much screwed until the bad weather passes.

Normally I wouldn't mind, but when I have to miss work or when one of the animals gets sick and I can't get him or her to the vet, well. I take issue with that. Global warming, people. It's not going to get any better. Salt the fecking roads. One week a year isn't going to do much damage.

For all that I bitch about the snow, at least Curly Joe is having a blast. I don't have to work until Saturday, which means I get to spend lots of quality time with my dogs. There's a six pack of Svengoolie (courtesy of my friend, Adoresixtyfour) waiting for me up at my mom's, and it's KILLING me that I can't go up and get it. And, you know, see my ma. Needless to say, old Sven would have been lovely to have around this week. Sven, the dogs, a lapful of cats, a bottle of IBC root beer and a roaring pellet fire. I guess I'll have to stick with hockey, something I haven't been able to watch since I started working the night shift. The Winter Classic is coming up in a little over a week; at least I have that to look forward to. I was born in Michigan (45 minutes south of Detroit) but grew up in Chicago. Though I am a Red Wings fan, I'm still a little conflicted as to who I should be rooting for.

At any rate, Curly Joe hopes you all have a merry Christmas and a kick ass new year. So do I. Thank you to everyone who has supported Curly Joe and to everyone who reads this. Here's to hoping I'll be updating this blog for many years to come.

Curly Snoe

He was born in the south but may as well have been born in the Midwest because Curly Joe is currently enjoying the hell out of all this snow.

I took this a little before 6:00 this morning.

December 15th - it was his first encounter with snow. He had such an adverse reaction to the rainy season starting up, I assumed he would hate snow. Boy, was I wrong. He ran around in it like it was caffeinated or something. Here he is enjoying a new hobby: apple pouncing.

Yes, he did run into me. Full speed.


Another one from this morning. That's me!
The bush next to us is covered in ice.


Size comparison. This is Curly Joe in September:


Three months later (same dog bed).
I think he has doubled in size:


And video! This was before the snow froze over.

As you can see, the boy is doing quite well. My sister is teaching him how to speak; he's pretty damn smart. When I let him out now, he hops around the snow into the spots that he's already created so that he won't have to crash through anymore ice.

One of these days, I'll get him to puppy classes, though he's probably too old now. It's hard finding the time for it; I get off work at 4:30 a.m. and go to bed at 7:00. I need to get on the ball because he WILL be a therapy dog. I have decreed it.

Curly, Tank and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. It's a little bittersweet this year, as it is the first Christmas we've had in 14 years that didn't include at least one of the original Chicago dogs. (Tank doesn't really count because he's from New York.) Still, I'm glad that Tank has a friend to share presents with and that he won't be alone. It has been wonderful to see their friendship progress over the last four months. For myself, I never thought I'd be happy getting another dog after all of this, but I think that it helps that I see so much of Luke, Meathead, Lady and Bernie in Curly Joe. I know it sounds like I'm projecting, but it really is strange how he seems to have a little bit of each of them in his personality, voice and mannerisms. Hell, he even sounds like Chester when he smacks his lips.

With him around, it seems easier to keep the old dogs and their memory closer to the surface.