Dog wrangling

Auf dein platz hund!

So many exciting things have happened dear readers! Oh wait, I don't have any dear readers yet. You know, a long time ago I used to do another blog entirely and it had a great following and I got a little punch drunk form the concept. Nowadays I'm not really concerning myself with that. Life is too full and busy. So, if you are one reader hello and I thank you. But if not, meh. At least I have a record of my puppies first year.

A year which will probably be full of crazy dog stunts. At the big pet chain a few weeks ago we saw a behemoth of a pitbull. He was muscular and huge and proud looking and of course my psycho Buster wanted to jump all over him. I restrained him with all of the training techniques we'd learned. Wait, Leave it. Stay! Heel! Down. Off. Relax. Look at me! Our trainer says he's brilliant and way ahead in self control compared to most 4 month old puppies. Of course, I pay my trainer's salary so he would probably say that no matter what. The owner of the pitbull was a petite woman smiling an enigmatic inward sort of smile that I could have mistaken for smug if I didn't decide to pretend it was indulgent instead. Our dogs magnetically were pulled towards one another and we were going to have to converse. My plan was to get the behemoth's weight class out of her because I wanted to know how huge my mixed breed pup would be someday. Some one reputable once told me Buster K. looked like he would reach 125 lbs. I had no mental image of what that would be like. So I asked her how heavy hers was. "My dog is 90 lbs." she told me. My heart quivered a little but stopped shortly in its tracks when she turned to him and said firmly "PLATZ!"

Oh, he spoke German. Yes, he was classically trained by a police trainer. Geesh, and he sure plunked his butt down quick when she told him to. Maybe this whole positive reinforcement 'we're all buddies, here have another treat' method was just bunko. Maybe what my future heavyweight needed was a K-9 police officer to train him to have some respect. Using giant puffy body suits? Tossing billy clubs? The only police dog training I'd ever seen was for police dogs to attack when commanded. So I'm not sure that is what we're aiming for. But I promise myself to research in the near future just to see what the techniques are and to stay open minded. But I can't get over the fact that no other American will ever be able to get her dog to sit unless they know the secret word. I want my dog to speak the language of his country you know?

Prevent animal cruelty

I had to wait a few days to post here because I was too furious to collect my thoughts. The other night we went to a puppy class at one of the big chain pet stores. But shortly after we arrived a young couple came in to the store with a puppy they had just rescued from an abusive owner right on the street. The little guy couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 weeks old and this man was dragging her down the sidewalk, yanking on the leash and kicking her when she wouldn't keep up. Her paws were all bloody and she was bloated from worms and shaking from the cold. She looked mentally terrified of the world already. The people who brought her in were in tears and looking for a vet.

The people who worked there took charge of the situation and helped the rescuers to get help but meanwhile the rest of us were stunned in to tears and curses. It is ridiculous to treat any dog that badly but how can someone look in to the eyes of a tiny puppy and think that brute force will do anything but damage the dog? It was heartbreaking. Please help stop dog fighting and animal abuse by educating yourself and other dog owners about it. Get training for your dog and yourself. Donate time to the dog owners community and money to the shelters to rehabilitate these dogs. Most importantly, don't let neighbors get away with this kind of horror. The people who brought that puppy in yelled at the man who was abusing the dog and he tossed it aside and told them they could have it. I am not advocating putting yourself in danger, but please call animal control if you see someone mistreating their dog that way.

Hot dog impulses

We had an intensive 15 minutes of hotdog training. I said encouraging things and made strange gestures while offering hotdog slices. Buster K was willing to work with me. This sure beat his normal kibble rewards. He spent much of the time making a big production of offering his hand for a shake or lying down in hopes that that was what I was about to command him to do anyway. We were working on impulse control as well as the tricks. Maybe that is because yesterday he flew across the room and lept on to the couch I was reclining on while snatching a piece of pizza out of my hand just as I was taking a bite. I know what you're thinking. What kind of slob sits on the couch and eats pizza anyway? But I was exhausted... we had just emptied the house of about 40 people from a party and I had some leftover nervous energy stimulating my appetite.  He probably did too come to think of it. It was his first party and dozens of people adoring you and cringing away from your affectionate jumps simultaneously can get confusing and exhausting.Nevertheless, I modeled enough impulse control not to eat his hotdogs while getting the good tricks out of him.
So far he can sit,lay down, shake,off, leave it, drop it, fetch,come, stay, wait and speak. We're working on beg and roll over. Not bad for a 4 month old dog right? All praise the mighty hotdog.

the masters

Having a puppy in the city is kind of like having a big neon sign over your head that says APPROACH ME AND SPEAK OF YOUR CRAZY IDEAS WHILE EXPOSING YOUR STRANGE CHARACTER FLAWS. And that goes double when you enter a pet care establishment.

We found this out the first time we set foot in a giant pet care place. We came to purchase more chewy things to distract Buster K with. Plus, since we had adopted him at such a place and recalled how lavished with human affection he was as we strolled out with him, we thought it would be a good place to socialize him a bit. Or just to beam proudly as he was admired for cuteness. Anything to distract us for half an hour from the constant pee mop ups and the relentless adage "No bites" as he persistently needled our hands like chew toys.

There we were, coddling him like a precious purse dog (so he wouldn't get weirdo diseases from the contaminated floors) when up strolled our first crazy idea sharing couple. They held their own lapdog with pride and proffered him to us. He was a trembling,fluffy white-haired creature who snarled as Buster K craned his neck desperately to lick him or either of his masters.

The masters obliged and lavished the praise as we had hoped and imagined it would be. Oh how cute. How sweet he is. How old? But then came the advice and it all took a turn for the weirder. "If he nibbles on you with his little puppy teeth that is okay because he is teething but he has to learn not to so just bite his ear. That's what his mother would do and its the only way he'll learn." The barrage went on for a while, covering many topics but ended most notably with a little soothsaying. "If the roof of your dog's mouth is black it is very intelligent. Our Teeny's mouth is black so she is very smart, right Teeny? Let's see..." the prying open of Buster K's mouth by the couple revealed a pinkish color and some surreptitious eye contact between them. Two folks can't have been married for 25 years without picking up a few skills such as psychically conveying a message with eye beamings: 'white lie, quick, save face.' they beamed each other.
"Oh yes, I saw some black in there. He's going to be very smart." the lady said. And the man master nodded vigorously and said 'smart' 2 or 3 times while stroking my puppies' noggin.

birds in the bush and tunnels

One thing I have noticed about city dog life is that you have to take your pleasures when they come, sometimes in very small doses. For example, at dinner time tonight Clara took Buster K. for his walk. They planned to pick up my husband from his train stop as a surprise. When they returned I heard the highlights.

1. They ran in to Buster K's mysterious 'girlfriend' who I have yet to meet. A QT of the same age and similar mixed heritage.
2. They played in that snowhill with the tunnel some kids made by the church. What dog can resist a tunnel? Maybe a scaredy one?
3. They walked by the little thorn bush full of tiny birds again. And again the puppy snuck up on them with his heart full of joy. Again they flew off in mild disbelief and making cute peeping sounds. Clara and I both like the way his face looks when he is anticipating a pleasure. Very concentrated and hopeful.

Coming to 4evah home

<

This blog is to chronicle the first year, and possibly beyond, of Buster K, a puppy of some mixed breed my family adopted from a jam packed shelter this fall. He was 8 weeks old and heartbreakingly cute when we first saw him. He was also exhausted from being mauled by people all day at an adoption clinic and so he gave off misleading mellow vibes as he climbed in to my lap and passed out. Since then we've gone through some wild times. Long adventures in the woods, crazy escapades all over town meeting other people and dogs, marathon training sessions, 15 rolls of paper towels, two 25 pound bags of puppy kibble, a few tears, many hilarious laughs,way too much money, several dozen poop bags and two collar sizes.

Quite a few dog bloggers will attempt to speak in the well imagined voice of their pups in order to amuse. I have decided not to do this because I have been exposed often enough now to my dog's imaginary voice which my son seems to channel very well while on long car trips. This dog has a tragic speech impediment and some real grammar issues. Sometimes his foreign accent is very distinct. Especially when he's worked up about something. Besides, the first time he came across my laptop he tore off the M with his puppy fangs. So he can't be trust near a computer yet.

That said, his life is full of adventure and excitement for a city pup. You might want to visit just to know what life as a city pup is like. Say you're a country pup. You just returned from stalking a rabbit in the snow and have hunkered down in front of the woodstove for a long winter's nap. Then you can dream the dream of Buster K's life. Or maybe you'd like to come visit him for the weekend, take in a showing of Blue man Group, pick up some Crispy Creams and visit the museum before heading back to simple country pleasures. Well, we don't blame you. To be honest, I'm pretty sure Buster K would like to try a 3-day weekend at your place. He wouldn't mind finding rare truffles in the woods and falling in to an icy stream while trying to sneak up on a duck. Maybe there is a dog exchange in our futures? If not, hopefully you blog about your dog's fabulous country life too so we can get a whiff.