Back from Denver but Sick

Heather had Larry from Thursday through yesterday. He did pretty well for her except for one incident with chewing the blinds in the kitchen.

Anyhow, since I've been back I've been sick and somewhat exhausted. Larry's doing pretty well, but I haven't had the energy to train him at all.

In other news, Heather may have found a trainer. She'll come to the apartment and charges twenty-five bucks an hour. Cheaper than the other one on one training we were looking at. I'm thinking this is likely.

Larry Plays Destructo-Dog

I get home from work and what do I see? My spider plant that was raised from a baby, pulled out of its pot with its dirt scattered all over the kitchen. LarDog!!! I decided the best bet was to just to take him for his walk and clean it later. Good plan until we came back in. I left the gate open, not thinking he'd head back to the kitchen since he was in there all day. Wrong-o. He ran in, grabbed the plant and carried it into the living room, dragging soil with him all the way. Heather arrived a few minutes later and we got it all cleaned up. She thinks she can salvage the spider plant. I hope so. I kind of like it for some reason.

Larry had very little breakfast and possibly less dinner. Oh well, he'll just have to eat tomorrow.

He did well with training tonight. His stays were near perfect. Heather was greatly impressed.

I head out for Pittsburgh tomorrow and then on to Denver. I'm hoping he behaves for Heather over the long weekend.

The LarDog is Awesome

No particular reason why I say the LarDog is awesome, he just is. Yeah, he's got his faults, but that doesn't make him any less awesome. He might just have the best waggity tail in the world.

Oh yeah, I think he knows CPR. He got up on his roost on top of the couch last night and dropped his ball on me. Against my better judgment, I just decided to throw it. When he jumped off to get it, he somehow figured a way to fall just enough before kicking off of my breastbone to launch himself a quarter of the way across the room. I probably should have been irritated, but since it didn't hurt, I just laughed. Maybe he'll star in a doggie remake of Baywatch.

He's still a bum for not eating though. He ate a lot last night while I was at work because Heather hand fed him. I'm not averse to hand feeding a few handfuls now and again, but I guarantee you I'm not going to hand feed him a whole meal. This morning, he ate about 6 pieces of kibble that I dropped in front of him. He didn't go to his bowl at all to eat. He's going to be one hungry puppy at 6 tonight.

Super Steelers

Heather was nice enough to buy Larry a Steelers jersey for the game. He let her put it on, but it didn't stay on long. Only a couple minutes before he was able to tug his front legs out from it.

He did well last night and didn't bother me too much during the game. I felt a bit bad that I scared him a few times with a loud cheer or clapping, but he went right back to doing what he was doing (which was mostly keeping an intense focus on his rawhide).

He's still not eating as much as I'd like. He seems to have soured a bit on the Purina One turkey that he liked so much when we started it. I've read that you don't have to vary food for dogs, just find one he/she likes and stick with it. However, I think he goes after new food with greater gusto. Not that he eats that much anyhow. I'm tempted to take him over to the vet just to let me see if I can use their scale. I want to be sure he isn't losing any weight.

Catching up

Larry's been awesome and awful over the last few days. The awful is that he got in the garbage and at a bunch of cheese and pepperoni off of a pizza. Didn't get sick though. He also peed in the kitchen that same day while I was at work. He got in the garbage again yesterday while Heather and I went out to dinner. This time he went in after the styrofoam container that had Friday's ground beef.

He's still doing the climbing up behind your head deal which is annoying.

But he's been reasonable settled over the weekend. Reasonably. I'm happy with it. He played well and calmed down pretty well (seen the climbing part for the not pretty well). He also let me take a long nap yesterday...which was awesome.

The deep freeze we've been in (minus 7 anyone?) has limited his exercise. Also I think now it might not be the salt that's hurting his paws. The extreme cold starts making him pull up a paw quickly. Needless to say, we've just been going outside to get business done.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Well, maybe not the early to bed part.

Man, he bugged me to death last night. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd just been wanting attention. But he wanted attention and to be annoying. For example, I was sitting in the recliner and it wasn't enough that he was in my lap staring at me. Nope, he had to pretend that he was a little dog and climb up my shoulder and onto the back of the recliner. Then I had to twist and turn to bring him down so he didn't break his neck. Combine that with barking at any noise from the hallway and I got a little frayed.

However, he did go to bed just fine. But, as the title of this post mentions, he wanted to go potty at 4:20 AM. So off we went into the frigid early morning. He let me go back to sleep until 5:45. Ugh. I tried to catch a few Z's on the couch, but that only made him revert to his ear licking madness.

Good news: He ate pretty well with the Purina One again. We might have a winner; we'll see how dinner goes.

I started looking for obedience training options today. Right now, it's looking like I go for the cheaper 8 weeks, 8 sessions at Petco, or get very expensive private training at the one local kennel.

The Good, The Bad, and the Larry

Lawrence and I had a pretty good evening. Lots of ball rolling and fetching around the apartment. The Kong ball and the "regular" Kong seem to be his favorites. The regular Kong is good because it doesn't roll regularly; it takes some odd bounces which makes him move around more.

Bedtime was no problem. Right into the crate. The problem came at 3:30 when he wanted to go out. A) I didn't want to get out of bed then, B) it's around 10 degrees out, and C) did I mention that it was 3:30 in the morning? So I threw my jeans, coat, and boots on and took him out. And he did have to go. He didn't want to get back in the crate though. Luckily, he's light enough that I just picked him up and put him in. He went right back to sleep. But at 5:45, a full half hour before the alarm goes off, he state in no uncertain terms that it was time to get up. I let him out and tried to lay back down, but no luck. He just came up and kept licking and nosing at my ear. Pretty gross.

I switched up to the Purina One dog food for breakfast (it was a mix of the three this morning). Judging from breakfast and dinner, he's a big fan of the Purina One Turkey as opposed to the Science Diet and Natural Balance Lamb.

Also, I meant to mention that I'm sure it's the salt that was hurting his paws. In the cold and massive snow we had over last weekend, he didn't complain at all. Monday the landlord salted the steps and sure enough, he did a little whimper and was having a problem with his right rear paw. They're not salting now since the temp is low, so we don't have to worry about that right now.

He did really well working on sit and stay tonight. Good with look at me.

Currently, he's bugging the crap out of me to get off the computer, so I'm signing off.

The Substitute Dinner Provider

Since I'm back to working the evening shift on Monday, Heather was nice enough to agree to walk and feed him after she got done with work. According to her report, everything went just fine.

Before bed, I literally tried to walk the crap out of him, but to no avail. After a half hour of steady walking and sniffing around, I figured he wasn't going to go.

He crated last night with no problem. Woke up at 5:30 for a business trip outside and back in the crate (with a touch of an argument) at 5:45.

Once again, he doesn't eat much breakfast. I know he doesn't like the Science Diet now, but it's still mixed with the old stuff that he does like.

Getting him in the kitchen this morning wasn't much of a problem. I just kept him on the leash for the pre-work walk, gave him a few treats and gated him him and took off for work.

Boring post, but getting him to be partially boring is part of the goal!

The Episode Where Larry Pees the Bed

So, things were moving around pretty well on Sunday. He got an early morning potty run, a morning walk, and a noon-ish walk. He didn't eat much at all for breakfast.

Around 2:30, Heather and I are standing in the bedroom talking and we hear Larry jump on the bed...no big deal. About 3 seconds later (or less), I hear him go tearing off the bed in what I call Super Psycho Running Dog mode. I look and sure enough, there's about 4 circular stains on the comforter with small lines connecting them to make a square. Heather says, "Did he puke?" To which I said, "I have no idea, he couldn't have done anything that fast." After a quick dab with a kleenex, sure enough, he peed. Lifted the comforter, and it had gone through to the top sheet. Lifted the top sheet and it had gone to the fitted sheet. Lifted the fitted sheet and it had gone to the mattress. I'm pretty sure that if I kept lifting things, there would be a hole all the way to the molten core of the earth. Remember, all this soaking happened in less than 90 seconds. So the linens all got bagged up and sent to Heather's house for laundering. The mattress was cleaned with the enzymatic cleaner. After thinking about it later, it had to be pee, because I never heard a dog puke quietly. How he did that much soaking after completely voiding his bladder just a few hours before is beyond me. Hope it doesn't happen again.

Finally worked with the Gentle Leader. Basically just got it fitted and let him walk around with it for a while. He's not a fan. It took quite a while to get it on and off just a few times. Definitely have to go the reward route with this one to keep him calm while it's being put on. Even that hasn't been working all that well. A little more practice with that and then I'll walk him around the apartment (I did a little already), and then we'll be ready for prime time.

He had no problems going into his crate last night. He was basically passed out on "his" chair already, so I think he was ready for bed. I put him in with just a little lure, and for once he didn't make any noise to be let out. I was surprised he caught on this quickly. All I heard was some digging on the bed inside the crate. Not even so much as a paw hitting the crate. He woke me up at 5 to go potty and he did fuss a little about going back in. I was pretty dazed, but I'd say it was less than a minute.

When I was leaving for work, he knew something was up. He didn't want to go to the kitchen at all. He wouldn't come in no matter how much I called him or lured him to the kitchen. He got closer, but didn't want to go in. Finally, I got the leash on him and just walked him in with some treats.

Of course, I then got stuck in the snow pulling out of my parking space...but that's another story.

A Rebound

Yesterday ended up being pretty good. We took Larry to meet Heather's parents (driving across town in a continuation of the snowstorm). He did really well except for a piddling accident in the basement. But really, no problem. I was weird though because it was nowhere near time for him to go potty.

Other than that, Heather did a little training with him and he did fine. He really starts to pull on the leash when he sees other dogs when we're out. I really need to start him on the Gentle Leader that I bought a few weeks ago.

I moved the crate into the bedroom. When we went to bed, he went right in. I gave him a few treats, and then when the light went out, he only whined for like three or four minutes. After the 6:15 potty trip, he didn't fuss *too* much about going back in the crate.

A Bad Night

The end of our first full week back at work arrived. Larry was fine in the kitchen as he was for the rest of the week. Got him outside and walked him in the tall snow (probably 11 inches or so). He loved it! He also had no problems with being picky about where to poo. We stayed out until Heather came over but before we went in, we showed her how much he likes to bound about in the snow and do a little tunneling.

We came upstairs, cleaned off the snowballs from his legs and chest and went in the apartment. I served him dinner, and we relaxed for a while. We needed to go to the grocery store and a quick stop at Petco. So reluctantly, Larry went into the kitchen. When we came back, he had ripped up a yellow pages, nearly knocked the mini-blinds off the back door, and I can't remember what else. So no biggie though, no real damage. I took him out for a long walk in the snow (probably the longest walk we've ever taken) and then came back in.

Heather had already eaten dinner and I was just starting mine after the walk and sure enough, he nipped her. Nobody was amused. Later I was walking around the apartment and sure enough, he nips me on the top of the foot (not just mouthing, but a real nip). I'm getting p.o.ed and concerned. I decide to go to bed. I've been letting him sleep in bed with me and he's slept with Heather and I before. Well I go into the bedroom, he decides to be in bed with me while Heather is still in the living room. That would be fine. But then as I pull the covers up, he bites me on the forearm. I direct him off the bed, and stand up. Then I went back into the bed. Sure enough, he bites me on the forearm again. I know I'm not supposed to get mad, but he's on my last nerve. So I yell at him but good. At this point Heather thinks it's a good idea to intervene. We take him out to the living room and then we try to calm things down. Then we all go to bed. And he promptly bites Heather's hand. So I've had enough and decide he's going to spend his first night in the crate.

I'm not sure how long he whined (I'm guessing 20 minutes) and he offered a few plaintive barks. But then I think he finally figured out that he was supposed to sleep (thank heaven). I heard him whining at 5:15 and I knew that was a bathroom call so I took him out and let him do his business. He didn't fool around too much in the cold, so we got back in. I didn't want to bother Heather, so I didn't put him in his crate; we stayed in the living room, where he occasionally came up and licked my face until I put him off the chair. Largely he just laid on my legs on the recliner (which is fine by me) or went to his chair.

I need a nap!

Who's a Good Boy? Larry Is!

Larry let me sleep until the alarm went off at 6:15 this morning. I have to say I was surprised and delighted. He was certainly surprised, but not all that delighted. He had no idea what the noise was. It was actually a pretty good and funny way to immediately start the day, especially since I'm not a morning person at all.

We did wade out into about 4 or 5 inches of new snow, but luckily, he loves the snow. Good thing for an Erie dog. He doesn't like when the little snow balls accrete on the fur on his legs and undercarriage, but he doesn't worry about that until we're back inside the apartment stairwell. I can help him pick it off then.

But back to last night. The only minor damage he did in the kitchen was he knocked a paper off of the refrigerator and shredded it a bit. Not little pieces, but shredded. Oddly, it was the housebreaking sheet that Helen gave me! I don't know what that means about his opinion of it, but I sure liked it. Luckily I have a copy saved and I've pretty much memorized the sheet anyhow.

We went out for a decently long walk in the snow right after work and he made an enemy. Well, he didn't do it, but the other dog didn't like him. We met a Boston Terrier at the dumpsters (the throwing away poo gathering place of the apartment complex). The owner of the Boston was a really nice guy, but his dog didn't like Larry at all. Actually might have clipped him on the nose. So that was a bummer. But then right after, Larry met a new girlfriend...Clementine. She's a black standard poodle who's a giant compared to him. But they really liked each other. They were even playing in the snow (on leash) together. Clementine is a well-trained dog. She immediately listened to her owner's commands, though Larry made her break from sit a lot. No shame there. Clementine's owner thought Sir Lawrence was about the cutest dog in the world. And of course, around strangers, he's on his absolute best behavior. No jumping or anything. I was well pleased.

We did two training sessions where I mostly concentrated on getting him to do "down" just by voice. He's having some problems with it, but he'll get there. Mainly, I'm just tired of bending.

Now the bad news was that on our pre-bedtime walk, I fell. This was inevitable. They don't salt, cinder, or dirt the parking lot where the dumpsters are, so the snow turns into an icy hardpack. Luckily, we had already disposed of the poo, but sure enough, I did a slo-mo tumble. Right foot went back and kept on going back. Knee down and then hand down. Luckily, the leash was in my left hand, so I never lost control of him. The good news is that there was only a slight nick on my knee and no soreness today at all. Could have been a lot worse. I just hope that I'm this lucky when the inevitable next tumble happens.

In Which Larry Drives Me a Little Crazy

It sucked walking him on that ice and slush Tuesday night, but oh well, that's the life of a dog owner. You know it's bad when Larry's slipping. However, in good news, I did bungee the little garbage can that Heather bought me to the back stairs landing, so if I don't want to go to the dumpster right then, I can use that. I can't imagine using it in the summer. Good idea getting the snap on lid.

Anyhow, he wakes me up at 4:50 Wednesday morning by pawing at the back of my head. Good in a way, because he had to pee. Bad, cause he didn't poo. So I go back to bed (after it took him forever to settle down) and slept til 6:30. At least I think I slept. So I figured I'd take him out after he ate. Well, he wouldn't let me rest my eyes and listen to the news, so I tried to feed him. He wasn't interested in eating. So I ate my Cheerios. While I'm halfway through the second bowl, I see him take two sniffs while walking in the living room and I know exactly what's going to happen. Sure enough, he hunches up to crap and I'm yelling at him and I'm trying to push his back to a straight position, but to no avail. Crapped right on the floor. So I flushed it, thoroughly washed my hands, and finished my breakfast. Then he ate just fine. I showered and then we took a nice short walk in the freezing drizzle walking through the slush. Good times! So that was my morning. Not fun and I'm a little irritated from sleepiness and poo. I guess it's not that he drove me crazy, but it was just one of those moments. You'd think if he was going to poo in the house, he'd have the decency to wait until I finished my Cheerios!

At any rate, he's doing a good job so far of not going to the bathroom during my workday. Three days, no problems. But boy is he ready to get outside when I get home.

I still think he might not be eating enough. He's eating and happy when he is, but when he's done, he's done for good. However, he's not getting near the cup to cup and a half that the food bag recommends. He's probably getting 8/10ths of a cup a day. The vet had mentioned that he just might not be a big eater (and he seemed happy about that because the dog won't have weight problems then).

As far as training goes, I've been a little lax since I've been back at work. But we did work Monday and last evening. Wow does he love those Bil-Jac treats. He's got sit perfect. He'll even do it when he's hyper and distracted. He's doing down very well, but has problems if he's distracted. Not big problems at all, just sometimes not responsive. He'll get there. Like I mentioned before, it's not your classic down, he more puts his head down and then flops on his right hip. Works for me. Stay is not going so well. So I'm trying to increase the length of his sits, hoping that he'll let me back away. He's doing well with come. Problematically for all of these commands though is that he's much more responsive to the hand gestures than the voice command. Not to say that he won't do it by voice, but he seems much more cued to the visual rather than the aural. Don't know if that means anything or not, but just thought I should make a note of it.

Back to Work Blues (Clues?)

Alas, the holiday break came to an end for me yesterday. This means Larry got to spend the second of many lonely days at the apartment while I'm at work. We tried to get to bed early, but I couldn't sleep (he did just fine in that regard) so it was 1 AM before I fell asleep. Let me tell you, 6:15 arrived a lot sooner than expected. I threw on some clothes, took him outside where he was quite happy to not fool around and just get down to both orders of business, and then back up to the apartment. We relaxed for a while watching the local news, then I ate breakfast (eating breakfast at home is going to help the budget, that's for sure). Then he got his chow. Then I showered and got ready for work, watched a little of the national news, then took him for a 15 minute walk. Then the tricky part: he knew what was coming. Puppy Prison!

I put his blanket and some toys in the kitchen next to his crate. He stopped right at the gated doorway to the kitchen and sat and looked at me. I called his name and he just happily thumped his tail on the floor. I pulled out a big gun: I waved the plush toy shark. No dice. So I had to resort to bribery. I broke off a piece of a Beggin Strip and held it out for him. No dice. I walked over to him and put the treat in front of his nose. Like a tectonic shift, he slowly lifted his butt off the ground. Then he followed me into the middle of the kitchen where he was duly rewarded with his treat. I then was able to gate him in the kitchen and leave for work.

I was a bit worried that he'd destroy the kitchen, but he only thing he did was figure out how to pop the lid on the garbage can (I think he smelled the sloppy joe remains). Luckily, the can wasn't full and I was smart enough to locate it in such a way that it's nearly impossible for a dog to knock it over. Note that I said nearly...he didn't do it yet, but he's got time on his paws.

When I got home, he was super excited to see me and to tend to business. So we went outside, took a brief walk and then hyper-dog wanted to play fetch for 700 hours. I had to call it off when his tongue was really hanging out and his chest was heaving. He was still ready to go though. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful.

In all, if this becomes the usual routine, I don't think I'll have any complaints.

Larry's New Year

Larry's off to a good start for the New Year. Housebreaking continues to go very well, no accidents in the apartment. Last problem with that was at mom's house at Christmas.

He's getting good with "down" (lay down), even though he does it in a non-traditional way. Instead of going straight down, he bows his head and his front paws and then sort of flops onto his side. He did it today for no treat, just to get the leash on. (Though he gets super-hyper and a little mouthy when he sees the leash come out.

He did get into the spider plant while I was out of the house the other day. Actually, I think he just knocked it over and it scared him. Really not a problem. It wasn't like he was digging in it.

The problem I don't know how to avoid now is that his paws are hurting during potty trips outside. Not all the time and not for long, but he's definitely hurting. I think it's gotta be the salt the landlord puts down, but with no real other options, I don't know how to help him. I'm going to start taking him directly to the courtyard and see if that helps. It might, it might not. It might just be cold. We'll have to see.

Oh, and my girlfriend Heather gave him a bath today. He looked at me like "take me back to the pound please." But he didn't hate it that much. Much fluffier now.