Better Than Television

I know I haven’t posted many updates lately, but I have two reasons for that:

1.       Between the craziness at my full-time job and how busy I’ve been with my photography business lately, I simply haven’t had time.

2.       Unfortunately (and, perhaps, fortunately), there hasn’t been a whole lot for me to report.

I’m rather frustrated with the dog trainer at Petco, who was supposed call me weeks ago to tell me when Margot’s obedience classes start.  Claire called me twice at the beginning of the month to gather information about Margot (size, breed, age, etc.) so that she could place her in the appropriate class.  Then, I never heard from her again.  I called a couple days ago to check, and I was told by one of the Petco employees that “Claire has been sick.”  Okay, that explains why I haven’t heard from her.  That’s totally fine and I understand.  However, I left my name and number and asked them to have Claire call me to let me know when the obedience classes will begin, and I still have yet to hear back from her.  Grrrrr!!!

I’m very anxious to begin Margot’s obedience training because, now that the weather has finally gotten nicer, we’ve been going to the dog park a lot and trying to go for walks.  However, Margot is still pulling like crazy whenever I walk her, and I’ve been noticing a little bit more aggressive behavior from her at the dog park, as well.   On a few occasions, Justin and I have seen Margot growl and show her teeth to another dog who was showing interest in her stick or ball.  It’s been rare, but I don’t like it.  I’ve heard that a dog’s personality can sometimes change right around the time they turn 1 year-old, which will be in June for Margot.  She’s just always been such a pleasant, friendly, little social butterfly at the dog park, and I would HATE for that to turn sour in any way, shape, or form.   

I’ve also been noticing some herding behavior from Luke at the dog park, which I also do not particularly like.  Whenever another dog takes off running, Luke tends to give chase while nipping at the other dog’s hindquarters and giving a low growl.  For anyone who doesn’t know Luke’s sweet personality or recognize this as herding behavior, it looks as though he’s just being aggressive towards the other dog and trying to bite it.  As soon as he gets the other dog to stop, though, all Luke usually does is sniff the other dog’s butt, then go on about his business.  Still, I just hate the thought of anyone thinking that Luke is trying to chase down and possibly attack their dog.   I plan to research herding behavior and how to correct it, and hopefully I can break him of it.  (Anyone have any experience with this?  Feel free to share some advice!)

Sam is still doing well, although my heart breaks for her a little bit every time I look at her.  I try not to think like that, I really do, but I simply can’t ignore those big lumps on her side.  She’s still getting around well, though, and the lumps don’t seem to be affecting her or causing her any pain.  She still eats, drinks, and goes to the bathroom normally, and she routinely climbs the stairs to go jump in our bed every morning. 

One thing Sam hasn’t been too happy about lately, though, is all the puppy-sitting we’ve been doing for Zach and Kristy’s dog, Frank (the puppy I found abandoned in the building where I work).  Every time they bring Frank over, Sam starts barking at him.  It’s exactly the same way she behaved towards Margot for about the first month after we brought Margot home.  I guess Sam is just annoyed by the presence of little puppies.  Perhaps it’s because they’re so rambunctious and she’s “too old for that sh*t.”  In Luke’s case, he was kind of an older pup when we brought him home from the pound, and he was much more interested in playing with Margot than playing with Sam, which would explain why Sam didn’t seem as annoyed by him.  She barked at him a little bit for the first couple of days, mostly whenever he and Margot would play rough, but she’s been totally fine with Luke ever since. 

As for little Frank, he’s getting so big!  He has definitely started to resemble a Pit Bull more lately, too.  His body is kind of stout and muscular, and the bone structure of his face looks more like a Pit Bull than any other breed, I think.  He’s also been developing more of a Pit Bull-like personality.  He discovered his bark last week and doesn’t hesitate to use it.  He’s also gotten braver at playing with Margot and Luke.  He used to cower a little bit whenever they’d start wrestling near him, but now he tries to jump right in there with them!  He also likes to growl and bark at them to prove what a big, tough dog he is.  Haha!  It’s pretty cute, I’m not gonna lie.  I also love how gentle Margot is with Frank.  She always lies down so that they’re more eye-level, and she lets Frank bite all over her face and ears.   If he starts to get too rough, she’ll either stand up to remind him that she’s the bigger dog, or she’ll use her paw or chin to pin him down for a few seconds.  Luke has also dished out a little discipline to Frank on one or two occasions.  If he thinks Frank needs to settle down, Luke will give him a gentle “bite” on his hind end or his neck.  I find it all very fascinating, and I swear I could watch Frank, Margot, and Luke play for hours.  Who needs Bravo TV when I’ve got the drama of “The Real Canines of Cabell County” happening right in my own living room? 

They Can't Have Puppies, But They Can Have a Cousin!



My boys.  :)



Well, Luke was neutered this past Wednesday and is doing fine; however, he will NOT stop messing with his stitches!  I even put Margot’s Medical Pet Shirt on him, hoping that would block him, but Luke has actually managed to eat a hole right through the crotch of the onesie!  I’m just hoping and praying that he doesn’t bust any of the stitches.   I just feel so sorry for him because, obviously, they are itching him to death. 



Poor, bored Margot



I also feel sorry for Margot because, with her playmate out of commission, she’s been SO BORED!!!!   Luke has played with her a little bit here and there, but he mostly just wants to sit on the couch with me or Justin.  It seems like every time he gets up to walk around, it makes his stitches itch.  So, I think he prefers to just lie in one spot.  He played with Margot a little bit last night, but not nearly as much as they’re used to playing.

In other news, yesterday was my day to close up the office, so I had to work until 6:30 p.m.  Closing actually involves having to lock up a bunch of different things in two different offices on our floor, the business office and the office where we see patients.  As I was walking back and forth between the two offices last night, I thought I heard the sound of a dog or puppy whining coming from the stairwell.  Since there are also apartments in the building where I work, I didn’t think much of it, other than, “I didn’t know the tenants here were allowed to have dogs.”

I always take the stairs when I leave the office, as we are only three floors up.  As soon as I opened the door to the second floor, the first thing I saw was a little pile of poop, undoubtedly from that whining dog I heard just a few moments ago.  There are no apartments on the second floor, though, only a vacant office building and one other office.  So, I figured one of the tenants had probably brought their dog down the stairwell to take it outside, allowed it to poop on the carpet, and didn’t bother cleaning it up.  As I walked over to the staircase to descend the final flight of stairs, I half-hoped that the owner with the dog would be in the lobby so I could get a look at this irresponsible person. 

At that moment, I thought I heard another little whine, and I glanced up in time to see a tiny, little, black and white puppy come running over to the staircase banister.   He must have been hiding in the corner behind me when I came through the stairwell door, and I must have walked right by him on my way to the staircase.  I quickly looked around the empty second floor again to see if perhaps this puppy’s owner was also crouched in a corner or something (granted, that would have been weird), but it was obvious that this puppy was alone and very scared.  The poor little guy was trembling and wanted so badly for me to pick him up.  As soon as I did, he calmed down.

Well, I knew right away that I couldn’t just leave him there, but I also had no intentions of keeping him myself.  I mean, I love puppies, but I’ve already reached my quota for this year.  So, I took him upstairs to see if perhaps my co-worker, Barb, would volunteer to take him home with her.  She didn’t, so I knew it was up to me to either find this little guy’s owner or find him a new home.  Barb suggested that maybe the puppy belonged to one of the tenants upstairs and he just accidentally got out somehow.   So, I wrote a sign that said, “Found puppy:  On 2^nd Floor, b&w male, approximately 6 weeks old,” and I left my phone number.  I taped the sign beside the elevator in the lobby, but my gut told me that this puppy did not belong to anyone in our building.  If he had gotten out of one of the apartments, the ONLY way he could have ended up on the 2^nd Floor would have been if he not only climbed down a LOT of stairs in the stairwell, but he also would have had to have opened that heavy stairwell door.  I also find it hard to believe that such a young, tiny puppy could have climbed up to the 2^nd Floor from the lobby staircase.  It seems much more likely that someone probably took the puppy up to the 2^nd Floor and just dropped him off.   



Meet Franklin!



Well, long story short, no one called to claim the puppy last night, but I’m happy to announce that my brother, Zach, and his fiancé, Kristy, have decided to adopt him!  So, Sam, Margot, and Luke now have a new, baby cousin, who has been officially named Franklin!  Zach and Kristy have actually been talking about getting a dog for a very long time, but they could never make up their mind about what type of breed they wanted or whether or not they wanted to adopt a dog from the shelter.  In fact, Kristy told me recently that she didn’t think they would ever get a dog because they would probably never agree on those things.   So, it was actually an ideal situation for them to just be told, “Here.  This puppy needs a home.  Please take him!” 

In fact, in a lot of ways, this whole situation really feels like it was meant to be.  I’m guessing that the puppy was abandoned sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 yesterday evening because a lot of my co-workers, who also take the stairs, left at 5:30, and no one reported an abandoned puppy at that time.   So, what are the chances that someone just happened to put this puppy right in my path on a day when I just happened to be working late, which I rarely ever do?  Also, what are the chances that this puppy would be found by someone who not only had a house full of dog toys and dog food, but who is also related to someone who just happens to want a puppy?  Yes, I would definitely say that it was meant to be that little Franklin came into our lives last night.

On Second Thought...

After last night’s walk with Margot, Luke, and Sam, I am once again debating whether I should take Luke or Margot to have the formal obedience training with the classes at Petco.   Originally, I thought it would be better to take Luke since he and I haven’t yet established as strong of a “connection” as Margot and I have.   For that same reason, I also thought it would probably be easier for me to take what I learn in the obedience classes with Luke and just train Margot at home.  After all, I trained her to sit and lie down when she was around 8 weeks-old. 

However, two nights ago, I decided to take Luke upstairs by himself to see if I could also train him to lie down,  and, to my amazement, he got it within just five to ten minutes!  It was very simple, straight-forward training, too.  I simply rewarded him with a treat for sitting a few times so that he’d realize that obeying commands is rewarded with treats.  Then, after telling him to sit, I said, “Lie down,” and then pulled his paws forward to make him lie down.  As soon as he did, even though I was the one who put him in that position, I said, “Lie down!  Good boy!  Lie down!” and rewarded him with a treat.  We did this a couple of times before I started giving him the “lie down” command without helping him into the position.  At first, he just stared at me, and he even tried to take the treat from my hand a few times, but I remained calm and patient until finally he laid down by himself!  I was SO happy!   Now, whenever I’m giving the dogs treats in the kitchen, I make Luke lie down in order to receive his.  He’ll do it, but so far it takes me giving him the command a few times before he gets it.  We’re going to keep working on it, though, because I know that you’re not supposed to give a command more than once.  Otherwise, you’re just training the dog to sit or lie down after you say it 500 times, rather than just once. 

So, it probably wouldn’t be difficult for me to train Luke at home after all, but the main reason why I’m considering taking Margot to the obedience classes instead of him is because of our walk last night.  I decided to use the “no pull” harness again, but I also put the cheap, nylon leash in my coat pocket, just in case, and Justin walked Luke and Sam.   The walk started out okay.  Margot was pulling, but not too badly; however, the more we walked, the harder she began to pull.  The whole time, I tried to remain calm and not become frustrated, but I can’t tell you how difficult that is for me.  It’s not that Margot is making me angry when she pulls, it’s that she’s disappointing me.  I hold extremely high standards for her, especially since we’ve been raising her since she was only 6 weeks-old, and I feel like she should respect me and view me as her pack leader, but her pulling behavior and the fact that she wants to walk ahead of everyone during our walks tells me that she doesn’t.  She believes that she’s the pack leader, and that’s what disappoints me so much. 

During yesterday’s walk, there was also some tension between me and Justin as a result of Margot’s pulling.  Justin knows how frustrated I become when I’m trying to walk Margot, and he responds by becoming very quiet, so as not to upset me more; however, this actually makes me feel even more frustrated because I don’t want Justin to treat me like I’m some sort of ticking time bomb during those moments of frustration.   Not only that, but yesterday I noticed that he was letting Sam and Luke walk way ahead of him with tension in both of their leashes.  So, I reminded him that he’s supposed to keep the dogs right by his side, to which he replied, “But dogs don’t really want to walk right by a person’s side.  Besides, I don’t see anything wrong with letting them walk this way.  They’re not pulling; they just want to be up there with you and Margot.”  

At that moment, as frustrated as I already was, I could have easily gone off on Justin for basically un-doing all the training I’ve been trying to accomplish with our dogs, but instead of yelling, I decided to simply prove him wrong about thinking dogs do not want to walk right beside people, and I asked him to trade me Margot for Luke and Sam.  As soon as I started walking with Sam on my right and Luke on my left, neither of them tried to walk ahead of me.  My arms were completely relaxed at my sides with zero tension on their leashes.   If either of them started to walk a little bit in front of me, all it took was a gentle tug on their leash, and they fell right back beside of me.   It. Was. Heaven!  Meanwhile, behind us, Justin was struggling with both hands to try to keep Margot from pulling him. 

After only about a minute of this, I told Justin that I would trade him back, but I said that I wanted to take Margot off in a different direction by herself.  I wanted the opportunity to try to focus her attention on me because I felt like she was always too busy and distracted by trying to act like our pack leader.  So, after Justin gave Margot back to me and he took Sam and Luke off in another direction, I took out the nylon leash and positioned it up high around Margot’s neck.  There was an immediate difference, as she didn’t try to pull me once we started walking again.  However, as I mentioned in my last blog entry, I still don’t understand how to keep the leash in that high position on her neck without also putting tension on the leash, because whenever I relax my arm, the leash falls down around where her collar sits.   It’s also quite awkward trying to walk a dog using both a harness and a nylon leash around her neck, but I managed to do it the best that I could. 

Overall, she definitely pulled a LOT less than she had previously when I wasn’t using the leash; however, I didn’t feel like the rest of that walk was enjoyable for either of us.  It just felt like a big power struggle the whole time, and I even felt like I was being kind of mean to her by not allowing her to sniff the ground and constantly giving her tugs on the leash as corrections.   In fact, it got to the point where, as soon as I’d give her leash a tug, she’d pin her ears down, turn slightly sideways, and look up at me anxiously in an almost defensive response, as if she was afraid of me, which of course bothered me deeply.  This is NOT how I want mine and Margot’s relationship to be, especially during an activity that we should be enjoying together.   I don’t want my dog to fear me, but I also will not tolerate being walked by my dog instead of the other way around.   I was hoping that the answer was simply finding a leash or harness that could stop Margot from pulling, but I no longer believe that that type of device exists for us.  Not only that, but after yesterday’s walk, I now believe that the real problem is the fact that Margot doesn’t respect or view me as her pack leader.  If she did, she wouldn’t try to walk in front of me.  It’s as simple as that. 

In fact, I think I just made up my mind.  I think I will be taking Margot to Petco for the formal obedience training instead of Luke because Luke has already proven that he respects me as his pack leader.   I don’t blame Margot, though.  I regret not working with her more and training her beyond “sit” and “lie down” when she was younger, but I kept thinking that I was getting ready to sign her up for obedience classes.  Then, it became, “Well, I’ll sign her up after she’s spayed,” and then we got Luke and I thought that maybe I should pay for him to have formal training instead of her.   In the meantime, I wasn’t really doing anything with Margot in terms of obedience to make her view me as her leader, other than telling her to sit before giving her a treat.  *rolling my eyes*  As a result, I now have an adolescent, rebellious puppy who thinks she’s running the show, and I have no one to blame but myself. 

In mine and Margot’s defense, though, I would just like to add that Margot is NOT a bad girl, especially at home.   She’s actually very well-behaved for a 9 month-old puppy.  She never jumps and always sits if she wants someone’s attention.   There have been very few instances of her chewing on anything in the house that wasn’t a chew toy, and she’s also good about letting us know if she needs to go outside.  She basically just plays all day with Luke, and then cuddles on the couch with me, Justin, or Sam whenever she gets tired.  The ONLY time I ever disapprove of her behavior is when we try to walk her, but again, she’s just trying to behave like our pack leader, and I’m the one who has allowed her to think that that’s her job.   

So, hopefully she’ll learn to respect and obey me better through some formal obedience training.  I also like the idea of being able to show a professional dog trainer how Margot pulls during walks and receiving hands-on training for that, as well.  I really do feel like the pulling/leadership issue is a much bigger problem than training Luke to stop jumping, so I feel pretty confident that I’m making the right decision by taking Margot to obedience classes instead of Luke.   I guess I just needed to “talk it out.”  Thanks for listening.  :)

Some Progress (For All of Us)

I’m happy to say that a lot of progress has been made since the last time I blogged, although more so with Luke than with Margot.  Margot is still pulling on her leash when we go for walks.  We have now tried two different “no pull” harnesses - one that goes underneath her legs and clips on her back so that when she pulls, it pulls up under her legs, and a different one that also runs underneath her front legs, but the leash clips in the front, which is supposed to make it more difficult for her to pull. 

Well, the first “no pull” harness seemed to have little to no effect on her pulling.  I had very high hopes for the second harness because I had watched several YouTube videos about it and the fact that the leash clips on the front of the harness, rather than on top of her back, seemed to be the key to making the dogs on the video stop pulling.  Well, with Margot, it just made her walk funny and I could tell she was extremely uncomfortable.  In my research about this particular harness, I read several negative reviews from people who said that their dog’s armpits were rubbed raw when they used it, and that is definitely where I could tell Margot was feeing uncomfortable.  We didn’t even make it to the end of the block before I decided to take her back home and take it off of her. 

I remembered that I still had Lexie’s old metal choke chain, which she really just wore because my late husband thought it made her look tough, so I decided to give that a try with Margot.  Mind you, I hate the idea of choke chains (even saying the name “choke chain” makes me cringe), but I thought it would be worth a shot since none of the three harnesses Margot had tried had worked.  In addition to the choke chain, I also grabbed the cheap nylon leash that they gave us when we brought Luke home from the pound, because I’ve seen Cesar Millan use those on his show when teaching people how to adjust the collar up high, right under the dog’s ears. 

Well, Margot did not like having that leash up under her ears like that and managed to shake it off once, but I could tell that it did have a positive effect on her ability to pull while walking.  The problem is that, in order to keep the leash up in that high position under her ears, I have to physically hold the other end of the leash up high over her head, or else it just falls down around her neck where her collar sits.  Not only does that feel awkward and look silly to walk her with my hand held up over her head like that, but that also creates constant tension on the leash, which is the exact opposite of the goal we’re trying to achieve.  So, I gave up on the nylon lead and tried walking her using the choke chain, but again, if I relaxed my arm during the walk, the chain slid down lower on her neck, and then it literally choked her when she pulled.  I couldn’t stand listening to her choking herself, and I also didn’t want to walk her with my arm up over her head, as though I was walking a marionette puppet dog, so I took her back home again and just decided to use the “no pull” harness that clips on top of her back.  Even though it doesn’t stop her from pulling, it seemed to be the best option given everything else we had tried. 

I returned the front-clip harness to Petco that afternoon and bought another collar that fits around her neck, but it is designed to distribute pressure evenly if the dog pulls.  I decided to try this collar because I do believe that leading Margot by her head rather than from her back is more effective.  However, the collar I bought isn’t designed to stop or discourage pulling, but I just figured I might as well give it a shot since I’ve pretty much tried everything else.   Cesar Millan also makes a collar that is designed to sit up high underneath the dog’s ears, but it is around $45, and the reviews I read on Amazon were mixed enough that I don’t feel comfortable spending that much money just yet. 

As I was exchanging the front-clip harness for the new collar at Petco, the lady at the register said, “Did this harness not work out for you?”  I told her that, unfortunately, it did not and that I was almost at my wit’s end trying to find a solution to Margot’s pulling problem.  The lady then gave me a few quick suggestions, and I could immediately tell that her training methods were right in line with the type of Cesar-like training methods that I prefer.  So, I then asked if she had any advice about how to stop Luke from jumping up to greet people, just to see what she’d say.  Admittedly, I was kind of testing her to see if she’d suggest Cesar’s method of turning my back and ignoring Luke when he jumps, or the other methods that I’m against, which include anything that involves making verbal or physical contact with the dog while he’s performing the bad behavior.   So, I was very pleased when the first advice she gave was to turn my back if Luke jumps, and then she said that instead of raising a knee to block the dog whenever he rears up, she prefers to just give a little bump with her hip as she’s turning away from the dog.  

Since this nice lady passed my little test with flying colors, I asked about signing Luke up for her obedience classes.  She’s going to begin obedience classes at Petco starting March 21, and Justin and I are planning to take Luke!  We debated briefly about whether we should take Luke or Margot to the class, as they both have behaviors that require some correcting, but ultimately we decided that the best option is probably to give Luke the formal training, and then we can just apply what we learn in class to Margot’s training at home.   My reason for this decision is mainly because I feel like I’ve already established a good line of communication with Margot, as we’ve had her since she was 6 weeks old and she knows my body language very well.  I can just give her a look, and she knows immediately that I want her to sit and/or stop doing whatever she’s doing at that moment.  Luke, on the other hand, has been with us for less than a month, and even though I’m very pleased with how far he’s come already, I feel like we’re still trying to figure out how to communicate with each other.  He doesn’t always pick up on my “looks” the way that Margot does, but overall I’ve come to realize that Luke just learns differently than Margot, or even Lexie, Jocie, and Sam. 

With my girls, they have always responded well to commands and negative sounds, like the “Anh!” sound that I tend to make when I don’t like a behavior and want them to stop.  Luke, on the other hand, seems to respond better to more nonverbal communication.  For example, when we first noticed the problem he had with wanting to dart out the door every time we tried to leave, my first instinct was to yell, “No!  Back!” and even push him away from the door.  With my girls, that would have been enough because they understand that those commands and that push mean that I do not want them to continue advancing towards the door.  However, I realized very quickly that, for Luke, yelling, “No! Back!” may as well have been like yelling, “Yay!  Fun!” and pushing him away from the door was like initiating a game of “You Push Me Away, and Then I Come Back!”  

So, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I decided to take a completely different approach with Luke and finally put all of those hours of watching “The Dog Whisperer” to the test.  I decided to try communicating to Luke what behavior I wanted from him through my body language and the energy I was projecting towards him.  I know that may sound a little “new age” for some people, but I can tell you from this experience that it is totally legit.  The main thing I had to get across to Luke was that, whenever I’m at the front door and getting ready to leave, that is MY space, and he is not allowed to invade my space unless I invite him to do so.  So, I pretended like I was getting ready to walk out the front door, and as soon as Luke ran towards me, I turned around, snapped my fingers, and made the “Anh!” sound.  I stood my ground, looking him right in the eye, and then I took a small step forward, forcing him to take a small step back.  If he tried to move around me, I simply stepped to that side to block his advancement towards the door, and I continued to stand my ground.   I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when Luke finally sat and I realized that Cesar’s methods were actually working!  I didn’t stop there, though.  I knew that Luke was supposed to reach a fully calm-submissive state before I could try to walk out the door again, so I continued to be patient and wait.   It took a while, but Luke finally laid down at my feet; however, his tail was still wagging, which told me that he was still in an excited state and not yet calm-submissive.  So, again, I simply stood there and waited, until finally his tail stopped wagging and his overall body language told me that he had given up wanting to dart for the front door.   At that point, I turned and opened the front door, still half-expecting Luke to jump up, but to my shock and amazement, he simply laid there and watched me walk out the door! 

What is truly shocking is the fact that, after that ONE training session with Luke, he has never tried to dart out the front door since then.  He’s like a completely different dog!  Not only am I extremely proud of him and even myself for being so patient during that exercise, but it showed me that Luke isn’t “slow” at all.  As I said before, that experience made me realize that Luke simply learns differently than what I’m used to.   His training may require more patience on my part, but I’m confident now that Luke is more than capable of being trained.

Now, with that said, we’re still trying to figure out how to make Luke understand that we do not want him to jump up to greet people.  I was getting really frustrated with this about a week ago because nothing seemed to be working.  Since I previously learned that the worst thing we can do is make verbal and physical contact with Luke while he’s misbehaving, I’ve decided the best training method is to give him the exact opposite of what he wants whenever he jumps, which is to ignore him and turn away from him.  While I have seen some progress, it still takes several times of turning your back to Luke before he finally gets it and sits down.  The frustrating part, though, is that after he sits and I’m finally able to praise him, as soon as I stand up, he jumps right back up on me.  I always immediately turn my back on him again and repeat that whole process, but it just doesn’t stop.  After I praise him for sitting, he jumps right back up! 

For a while, I was beginning to think that this method may not be effective after all, but we’ve just started noticing in the last couple of days that Luke isn’t jumping up as much to greet strangers or our friends as much.  In fact, yesterday we took him over to our friend, Mandee’s, house where a bunch of our friends were hanging out, and I actually saw Luke sit to greet my friend, Shane!  I couldn’t believe it!  I was so happy and proud of Luke at that moment, I could have burst!   Of course, with that said, I also saw him jump on a couple of people, too, so obviously there is still work to be done, but at least I have more hope now that he will eventually stop jumping.

Speaking of yesterday, can I just say that I had the BEST weekend?!?!  The weather was GORGEOUS, and Luke and Margot got to go to the dog park on both Saturday and Sunday!  I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how either of them would do at the dog park.  For one, Margot has grown up a LOT since the last time she was there, and I wondered if she would still be as friendly towards all the other dogs as she was before she hit puberty.  Secondly, I wondered how Luke would do since he’s a male and he had also never been to the dog park before.  I didn’t know if he would be aggressive and/or try to dominate any of the other dogs.

Well, to my great relief, both Margot and Luke were perfect angels, and there weren’t any problems at all with any of the other dogs.  In fact, Margot was the same little social butterfly that she was last fall, and Luke was also really good at making new friends, both human and canine.   As for Miss Sam, we still plan to take her out on our pack walks, but after four very unsuccessful trips to the dog park with her in the past, we’ve learned that the dog park just isn’t Sam’s thing. 

Anyway, like I said, we all had a fantastic weekend, and I’m very pleased with the progress that Luke has been making.  Even though Margot hasn’t made as much progress yet on her pulling issue, I’m certainly not going to give up.  I think she’s just going to require a little one-on-one attention for a while, taking her out on walks by herself and really focusing on training, not just correcting. 

The most important thing I’m learning from raising not one, but now TWO puppies is that patience and consistency are both extremely important.   It’s so easy to become frustrated, especially when I’m walking Margot and she’s pulling me non-stop, despite the fact that she’s wearing a $30 “no-pull” harness that I’ve seen work for all kind of other dogs on the Internet, but I’m learning that my frustration is actually counterproductive because dogs really do respond to the type of energy that you project.   So, in other words, Margot and Luke aren’t the only ones in training right now.  Apparently, Mama’s got some work to do, too. 

Speed Bumps and Learning Curves

Well, not only did the shelter initially get Luke’s sex wrong, but their prediction that he was approximately 3 years-old turned out to be way off, too.  According to Dr. Ellis at Animal Care Clinic, Luke is actually only around 11 months-old!  Yes, ladies and gentleman, it appears that Justin and I have ourselves another puppy (not that we’re complaining).  The vet said that he’s very healthy, and he’s scheduled to receive more vaccinations, as well as be neutered, in about three weeks. 

While Luke’s lack of appetite worried me for the first few days, we’re learning that he just doesn’t like to inhale his entire bowl of food in one sitting like his sisters.  He prefers to eat his food a little bit at a time, although we do have to make sure that Margot doesn’t sneak and finish off his bowl of food in between sittings.   I’m just happy that he is finally eating better, and I’m sure he’s going to fatten up a little in no time. 

Overall, Luke is a very good boy, although there are a couple of issues that we’re trying to address with him.  The first issue is the fact that he jumps up to greet people.  Chad, who is a vet tech at the Animal Care Clinic and also teaches obedience training there, told us during Luke’s check-up that the best thing to do for that is raise our knee and hold up our hands whenever Luke jumps, and of course reward him if he sits instead of jumping.  We’ve been doing that, but our little Luke just doesn’t seem to be getting it.  He is definitely a smart dog, but he does seem to be a little bit slower to pick up on things than we’re used to.  So, Justin and I are just going to have to be a little more patient when trying to train him, that’s all.

In fact, his inability to “get it” is the other issue we’re having with Luke.  No many how many times I give him a quick touch to try to correct him, he immediately comes right back and repeats his bad behavior again.  The worst is when he tries to run out onto the porch as soon as we open the front door.  Despite his short stature, Luke is a pretty powerful little dog and will just keep trying to barrel through our attempts to keep him back and away from the door.  He will even lower himself all the way to the floor and stick a paw or his nose in the doorway so that we can’t shut it.  I know that sounds kind of funny, and I do at least have enough of a sense of humor to appreciate Luke’s sneaky tactics, but it’s also very dangerous for Luke and quite annoying for us when we’re trying to leave. 

This morning, I decided to practice more of Cesar Millan’s methods by trying to wait until Luke achieved a fully calm-submissive state before I even opened the front door.  Unfortunately, I can tell that it will take quite a long time for Luke to achieve that state of mind, and I only had a few minutes before I had to be at work.  Regardless, instead of just opening the door and fighting Luke off so that I could shut it behind me, I first walked to the front door and just put my hand on the doorknob.  As soon as Luke came into my space, I turned around, gave him a quick touch, and told him, “No.”  When he immediately moved forward again, I repeated the correction.  After I did this several times, he did finally stop moving forward.  So, I took a step toward him to further claim my space around the front door.  He looked me right in the eyes and backed up a step, which was good.  Then, I stood there and waited, and Luke finally sat.  However, his attention was still clearly focused on the door.  If I had had more time this morning, I would have continued standing there and claiming my space (not allowing him to move closer to the front door) until he finally laid down and relaxed.  Then, it would have been okay for me to walk out the front door. 

However, due to lack of time, after Luke sat and I stood there for a moment, I decided to go ahead and reach back for the door knob.  As soon as I did, Luke lunged forward towards the door again.  I was able to correct him enough so that I was able to get out the front door, but in order to shut the door I had to physically push Luke away with my foot, which made me feel awful.   So, I’m definitely going to work on this problem with Luke more when I have plenty of time to practice patience with him, as well.

While I’m on the subject of behaviors that need correcting, Miss Margot has developed a new behavior that is very disappointing.  She’s begun pulling on her leash during walks, which she never used to do before, and this has only developed over this past winter.  (Luke is a dream to walk on his leash, by the way.  He stays right by your side, and if he starts to pull even a little bit, he corrects himself.)  I’ve tried correcting Margot by giving her leash a quick jerk and making the “anh!” sound, but all she does is spin around for a brief second, and then continue to pull.  I’ve also tried stopping dead in my tracks as soon as she pulls and making her stand there with me for a few seconds before walking again.  The problem is that, even though we’ve stopped walking, she is still in a very high-alert state of mind.  Justin and I have both attempted to snap her out of it by trying to get Margot to look us in the eye and even sit during these pauses on our walks, but she absolutely will not pay attention to us.  In fact, she acts like we’re just in her way if we try to look her in the eye, and she’ll keep moving her head around to see what’s behind us.  I’ve also tried doing that thing that Cesar does, where he kind of taps the dog on their hindquarters with his foot while they’re walking to surprise the dog and snap her out of their anxious state of mind, but when I do this with Margot, it just ends up looking like I’m kicking my dog, and it doesn’t even work anyway.   So, now I’m considering buying one of those leashes that Cesar recommends that fits right up under the dog’s chin.   Something has got to work because it’s getting to the point where I don’t even want to walk Margot, even though I know I have to.  So, it’s starting to feel more like a chore to take her for a walk rather than an enjoyable experience for both of us, and I don’t want that.

Justin and I decided to take all three dogs out for a couple of walks this past weekend, which went fairly well.  The first walk was better than the second walk, though, and I cut the second walk short out of frustration.  During their first walk together, I started out walking both Sam and Margot and let Justin walk Luke because Sam and Margot are the two “pullers,” and I feel like they respect me as an authority figure more than they do Justin (no offense to Justin, but he’s just too tender-hearted and gentle to really demand their respect the way that I do).  However, Sam was actually being very well behaved and not pulling on her leash at all, and because Margot was turning into quite the handful, Justin offered to walk Sam with Luke.  That turned out to be a much better arrangement, because Luke and Sam were excellent walkers together.

So, yesterday, when we decided to walk all three of them again, Justin took Sam and Luke and I took Margot.  I want to preface this by adding that I had just come back from a four-hour photo shoot, which was fun, but a bit nerve-racking for various reasons.  So, my nerves were already a bit frazzled when we decided to go for a walk, which probably didn’t help make Sam and Margot feel any more relaxed.   However, the main problem was that there were a lot more people and dogs out at the park yesterday, so Margot and Sam were both at higher states of excitement and energy than the day before.  (Notice I’m not mentioning Luke because he remained a calm, happy dog during both pack walks.)   I tried to pause several times during the walk, taking deep breaths each time to try to release my own anxious energy, but as soon as we’d start walking again, it would come right back.   

Sam’s energy was more of a nervous/scared/anxious energy, which is very typical for her, whereas Margot seemed to have more of a high level of alertness and excitement in general, as in, “What’s that?  Who’s that over there?  Where is he going?  Why is she running?  What are those people doing?”  Whenever Sam and Margot would come close to another dog, however, they would both lunge and pull to get to the dog, but for different very reasons.  I believe that Margot is truly just very excited and simply wants to meet the other dog to see if he/she is friendly and wants to play, but Sam barks out of fear and actually wants to make the dog go away.   So, the owners of the dog in question don’t really know what to think or how to react to our dogs, and the whole time Justin and I are trying to yell over all the barking to explain to the other owners that Margot really is just trying to be friendly, and Sam really isn’t being aggressive towards their dog; she’s just nervous and barking because she’s scared.   In other words, every time Sam and Margot encounter an unfamiliar dog, it always ends up being just this huge, loud, chaotic, embarrassing mess, and it always ends with Justin and me having to pull Sam and Margot away from the other dog in order to restore the peace.  It really bothers me because not only is it physically exhausting and embarrassing, but I feel like it makes Sam and Margot look like they’re both aggressive towards other dogs, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

The thing is, Justin and I both feel that if Sam and Margot were to encounter an unfamiliar dog by themselves, without her sister there, those two encounters would be much different.  Margot would still get excited and want to meet the other dog, but without Sam constantly barking behind her and making the other dog nervous and unsure about what’s going on, that other dog would probably just let Margot sniff him/her and reciprocate.  In turn, if Sam were to encounter another dog without Margot there being all excited and anxious to meet the other dog, Sam would probably just keep her mouth shut and go out of her way to avoid the dog all together.   

So, unfortunately, it seems like the solution is pretty clear:  Margot and Sam shouldn’t go on walks together; at least, not in heavily dog-populated areas, like the park.   However, if we decide to walk Sam and Margot at separate times, I do think that it might be a good idea to still include Luke on both of those walks because I think he sets a good example for both girls.  Luke’s main focus during walks is following me and/or Justin.  He truly sees us as his leaders, and he behaves accordingly.  As I said before, he walks right by our sides, and we’re able to keep his leash loose and relaxed the whole time.  Occasionally, Luke will walk ahead a little bit, especially if he’s trying to keep up with his sisters, but as soon as he feels tension on his leash, he automatically slows his pace and/or returns to our side.  Justin and I both suspect that Luke would probably be able to walk with us without a leash, but it’s definitely too soon to test that theory.  I wouldn’t want to try walking him without a leash until he’s undergone some formal training and I feel confident that he’ll come when he’s called.

Anyway, despite everything that I just mentioned above, which are all correctable behaviors, Justin and I are really happy that we decided to adopt Luke.  Not only do he and Margot get along very well, but Sam has finally relaxed around him and doesn’t get as upset anymore whenever Luke and Margot start rough-housing.  Also, just as I had hoped, Margot now prefers to pick on Luke instead of Sam because she knows that Luke will be happy to play with her.  Besides wrestling, Luke and Margot’s favorite games are Keep-Away and Tug-O-War. 

My favorite is when they start chasing each other around the living room, kitchen, and dining room, which are all open and connected rooms, so it’s kind of like they’re running around a track.  They’ll run in that circle a few times, and then one of them will stop and wait for the other one to catch up.  However, if Luke hears Margot stop, for example, then he’ll stop, too, and then they will both slowly sneak around and peek into the next room, hoping to catch the other by surprise.  When one of them finally does surprise the other, then they get all excited and start chasing each other again.  It’s really fun and heartwarming to watch, because that’s the type of high-energy playing that I know Sam just can’t (and doesn’t want to) do anymore. 

So, overall, I believe that everyone is much happier now that Luke has joined the family.  Sure, we’ve got a few wrinkles to iron out, but that was to be expected, and honestly, it could have been a lot worse!

Surprise! It's a Boy!

Well, ladies and gentleman, it looks like the girl who SWORE she’d never own a male dog is now the proud owner of a very happy, loving, and incredibly sweet boy.  Yes, it turns out that the pretty “girl” dog that Justin and I fell in love with at the shelter actually has boy parts, which are difficult to see because of the long fur on his belly.   The employees at the shelter even thought he was a girl!  We didn’t realize it until we took him outside to meet Sam and Margot last night at the shelter, and he immediately hiked his leg to pee on a sign. 

For a brief moment, I actually thought, “Well, crap!  I really kind of wanted to adopt this dog,” but then that thought was immediately replaced with, “But how can I say no to that face?!?!?”  He was so happy to see me and Justin.  He kept looking up at us with his big, goofy grin, wagging his tail like crazy, and he also kept hopping up and wanting us to cuddle him (which is a behavior that I immediately began discouraging, although I did think it was very sweet). 

So, I went ahead and got Sam and Margot out of the car to introduce them, just to see how it would go.  Both dogs basically ignored him, although Sam did let him sniff her butt, and he immediately acted like he wanted to play with Margot, which were both good signs in my book. 

After we put Sam and Margot back in the car, Justin and I took a few minutes to talk it over.  Finally, after weighing all the pros and cons of adopting this boy dog, I just looked at him and said, “I really don’t know whom I think I’m trying to kid by pretending like I can actually leave this dog here.” 

And, with that, Luke became the newest member of our little family.  I asked Justin to name him because I’ve named all the other dogs in my life, and because I also kind of wanted our next dog to be more of “Justin’s dog.”  (Actually, one of the biggest “pros” I took into consideration while briefly trying to decide if we should adopt Luke was the fact that he seemed to prefer Justin a little bit more than me, which melted my heart.)  Justin was having a hard time coming up with a name for the new dog on his own, though, so I started throwing out some suggestions.  Finally, since Justin is such a Star Wars fan, I suggested Luke, and Justin immediately approved.     

Sam and Margot continued to pretty much ignore Luke during the ride home, but as soon as we walked inside the house, Sam started barking.  I guess she felt the need to let Luke know that this is HER house and HER family.  Margot, of course, didn’t feel like she needed Sam’s protection from Luke at all.  As soon as I let them out into the back yard, after some preliminary butt-sniffing and territory-marking on Luke’s part, Margot and Luke took off chasing each other around the yard.  That’s when Justin and I could really see the Border Collie in Luke because he’s so fast and agile!  We can’t wait until we can let him loose in the dog park to really see him run.  I’ll bet it’s amazing. 

Anyway, I hate that Sam seemed so uncomfortable with Luke last night, but it was really no different from when we first brought Margot home.  If you’ll recall, Sam seemed so upset by Margot’s presence that we actually considered letting Sam live with Justin’s parents.  Thankfully, Sam eventually did warm up to Margot, and now they are the biggest cuddle buddies.  I’m just hoping it doesn’t take Sam quite as long to warm up to Luke.   Hopefully, once she realizes that Margot isn’t bugging her half as much because now she has Luke to play with, Sam will finally just relax and enjoy her lazy time alone on the couch.

As for Mr. Luke, he’s only been with us for less than 24 hours at this point, but so far so good.  He hasn’t had any accidents in the house, and we left him and Margot out last night without any problems.  My only concerns right now are clearing up his kennel cough and the fact that he didn’t really seem to want to eat this morning.  He ate just a little bit last night, but we weren’t concerned about it because we figured he probably ate at the shelter.  This morning, though, when I put food in all three dog bowls, he was more interested in loving on me than he was in devouring his food like his hungry sisters.  A little bit later, after Sam and Margot had both eaten and Luke and Margot had played for a while, I put the food bowl back in front of him and encouraged him to eat.  He only took a couple of nibbles, though, and that was it.  I’m hoping that he was just excited about waking up in his new house with his new family this morning, but I asked Justin to crate Margot this morning when he left for work and leave the food bowl out for Luke.  I’m hoping that when Justin goes home at lunch, Luke will have eaten his food. 

I’ve already made Luke his first vet appointment for Saturday morning, and I plan to have him neutered as soon as possible (the costs for both of these services were included in his adoption fee).  So, I’m sure Dr. Ellis will help get his kennel cough cleared up, and if Luke still isn’t eating very much by then, I will definitely discuss that with her, as well.  While I’m there, I may go ahead and sign Margot up for obedience training.  I wonder if Luke should take the classes with her, or if that will just be too difficult?  I’ve already started working with him because of his bad habit of jumping up on people, and I also started teaching him “sit” this morning, although only very briefly.   I guess I’ll just ask the trainer at the vet on Saturday if it would be a good idea for Luke and Margot to take obedience classes together.  In a way, that seems like it might be a good bonding experience for them.  :)