Pondering Dog is Pondering

Didn’t have time to blog, so here’s a doggy picture.

Doggy Ball Cannon

I wish I had though of this myself. Laika would love to have a toy like that.

Uh Oh

Apparently, dogs spontaneously reproduce by fission. Who knew?

Actually, Laika’s on the left; the dog on the right is her friend Java, a 4-year old Lab/Bouvier mix. Her folks couldn’t find a sitter for her on short notice, so we offered an exchange of services. Might come in handy later when we want to take some time off.

Doggy Position Light

Black dog plus nightfall plus no streetlight = trouble.

Black dog plus nightfall plus no streetlight plus cheapo red flashlight = no trouble.

Happy Dog!

Sunday Night Doggy Pic

Because it’s been a while:

A Matter of Perspective

We figured out this weekend what we were doing wrong with the dog. We knew, from the adoption papers, that she was a mix Labrador and German Shepherd, but since she had a Lab’s droppy ears and slick black coat we always assumed that she was a Labrador, and raised her that way.

Turns out we’re wrong. We finally realized that she’s actually a German Shepherd, with some Labrador.

In hindsight, it should have been obvious. Her behavior (protective, territorial, sometimes aggressive), ear shape, body type… She jumps like a GS, hunts like a GS, is bright like a GS (my wife can teach her new tricks effortlessly). And as she’s getting older, we’re seeing more and more gray and brown coming out of her fur, and she sheds like crazy (a typical GS feature).

So, we’re going to modify our training to take this into account. Life should become more pleasant, both for her and ourselves!

loldog

Not really anything to post tonight, so here’s a doggy pic inspired by I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

Monday Night Doggy Pic

I Want my Mamma!

I wonder if we can teach something like this to Layka…

(Stay until the end, the last one is the best.)

Happy Dog

Saturday Night Doggy Pic

A quick picture of the dog taken with my cellphone. She’s sitting quietly, hoping for a treat.

Come to think of it, except when playing or sleeping, she spends most of her time hoping for a treat.

No, we don’t starve her. Labrador, remember? Walking stomach.

Still Here

Just nothing much interesting to say, at least not in the time and energy available.

Therefore, time for a doggie picture.

What?

you know you want to

Playtime!

Hope springs eternal in the mind of the young dog with access to doggy toys.

scenes from the dog park

Cute images to hide the fact that I haven’t written anything interesting in the past few days. Between job and dog, I’m burned out.

(EDIT: Images after the fold to accelerate loading)

Kayla is a frequent visitor. She’s a big softy, though she will occasionally run after balls.

Maggie and Bandit are two cute little terrors. They’re fighting for a tennis ball here, not practicing their French kiss.

Back to mecha soon. Something about center of gravity and truster arrays.

an evening at the dog park

(She’s the dog rolling on the ground.)

Hot Days

The temperatures have climbed back up into the late 20s centigrades. It’s the first summer for Layka (she was born last September) and she can’t quite understand why it’s so hot.

that's not a happy dog

…no matter what grin she wears.

Spaying is a necessary evil for all responsible pet owners. Puppies are cute — having to put them down is not. Spend the money, it’s worth it.

She’s recuperating fast, thankfully. Like all teenagers, I bet she can’t wait to show her scar to all her friends at the dog park. One more week!

A dog's life

It’s a real tough life, alright. Not.

She snores, too.

Dog in a box

Saturday Dog Blogging

At last the temperatures are decent. We can put the dog outside, much to her delight.

(My, hasn’t she grown quite a bit in the last two months?)

The Jaws of Cruel and Unusual Maiming Death®

You thought I was kidding, right? (The white stick is a rawhide bone, one of the few things that keep her quiet.)

This is what we have to face daily, or at least until we manage to get it through her cute little skull that biting anything other than her toys is not conductive to her continued happiness. Whew!

(Anyone with dog training experience or anecdote, please share. Especially suggestions for activities or training that can be performed inside. She gets bored easily and we must change often.)

[sing]
I wil survive, oh yes…
[/sing]

Pretty Girl

I mean, how can you not love this little face?

(Yeah, slow weekend. Mostly chores and a family visit.)

Tabasco Dog

So Layka, at age five months, is starting to feel some hormonal surges. Either that, or I’m a particularly attractive member of the human race.

Yes, there was humping.

We tried a few things to distract her, to little avail. For a while just standing there was enough. But when she started biting as well, I looked for a better solution.

“Here, take this,” my wife said.
I looked at the small red bottle in her hand. “Tabasco sauce? You want me to eat the dog?”
“No, dummy. Put some on your hands, she’ll stop biting them.”

In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. I was wearing my dog training jeans (the ones with the teeth holes in them) anyway, so I just poured some sauce all over my pants. Feeling vaguely like an overgrown, walking barbecue, I offered myself to the beast.

She fell upon me with a look of lust in her eyes. (I assume it was lust and not hunger, since she had been fed in the previous hour.) She started merely humping away, me standing there… and then she realized that something was terribly, tragically wrong. She sniffed. She licked.

Oh boy.

One (express) trip to the water bowl later, she’s back, but with considerably less enthusiasm than before. She makes another half-hearted attempt, but I’m definitely not as sexy as before.

So the dog isn’t humping me anymore. On the other hand, I now smell like a Texas picnic.

Good trade, I guess.

Toothaches

We made an interesting discovery last night. The dog woke up and was really angsty, and when we tried to calm her, she bit us repeatedly. We tried some Baby Oragel on her gums and lo and behold, she calmed down right away.

Well, she started the biting again tonight. Out comes the stuff, and again she quieted down. So her teeth really are the problem.

Too bad we can’t keep her on the Oragel for the next six months.*

*Oragel numbs the gums and they turn sensible, so you’re limited to 4/day, for a week. Then you have to discontinue its use for a while.

Angel and Devil

Well, we’ve pretty much settled into the new routine of getting up early, taking the dog out, etc. Layka is doing well and growing fast.

Actually, the latter is causing some problems. Her teeth are coming out, which means she’s in pain. And since she cannot vocalise it, she bites. Doesn’t much matter what (including our hands), as long as it stops the pain for a while. She also likes to jump on people, a habit which we have to break before she gets much bigger.

Obedience school looms large in the future. Because I’m getting tired of being jumped and bitten.

Gym Program

Not for the dog, for me.

Seems that playing tug-of-war with an energetic 35-pound puppy and running up and down four flights of stairs every day (to get her to the bathroom) is very calorie-consuming. I could swear my love handles are slowly vanishing.

I like that. I just hope the general feeling of fatigue is going to go away at some point. I’m sleeping full nights now, after all (nose medication + exhaustion = 8 solid hours).

So Tired...

The equation is pretty simple:

14 hrs Jetlag + New Puppy = Massive Fatigue

We’re holding on, though our post-work life has been reduced to food, puppy play, and sleep. Thankfully Layka’s already house-broken and can stay alone throughout the day (though of course she hates it).

I’m told everything will settle down within the next six months or so, maybe less.

Here’s hoping.

Dogblogging

Don’t worry, this place isn’t going to turn into Dog Central. But you do have to expect some babbling about the new girl.

Layka is doing well. She’s bursting with energy, like all puppies, so we have to play with her a lot. On the plus side, she’s a very fast learner. She already knows that dropping a big pile in the middle of the kitchen is bad, and that she needs to hold it until outside.

She’s still testing the limits, trying out new behaviors every once in a while. So far it’s not so bad, but I’ll be happy once obedience school starts.

One thing is for sure, we need to get her under control before she’s fully grown… More later.