Archive for the ‘Our Dogs’ Category

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Wrinkled Feet

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

When Carter was born, he hated baths.  I dreaded each night that I’d have to give him a bath, and I would try my best to keep him as clean as possible so that I wouldn’t have to give him frequent baths.  As he got older, he got a little better about them, but still didn’t enjoy them.  He would spend just enough time sitting down to allow me to get his hair and body washed, then immediately wanted out – and sometimes sooner than I could get him all washed up.  But for the past couple of weeks, he’s been different.  Every time I start filling up the tub, he’s eagarly waiting to get undressed and hop in.  Once in the tub, he plays with his toys for much longer than he ever has before and I have to coax him out of the tub.  So, bathtime is finally enjoyable for me, and I’m also loving his cute wrinkled feet.  :)

Carter’s sign language has really picked up within the last week too.  He has learned how to shake his head when he wants to say ‘no’ and has increased his usage of the signs for ‘dog’, ‘all done’, ‘more’, and ‘bye-bye’.  I was surprised the first day he volunarily waved bye-bye to me at daycare (yesterday).  Prior to yesterday, every time I’d leave, he’d cry and scream when I closed the door, so yesterday was a very pleasant surprise to me and helped me to be happy to go to work (which I usually would feel horrible about).  I hope he continues that trend…he’s gone in and out of the separation anxiety spurts for the last 4-6 months.

Within the last week we’ve spent lots of time enjoying the outdoors and plan to continue spending time outside as we don’t like spending time in the apartment.  It helps to have the bike trail right behind the apartment complex that allows me to walk with Carter frequently, and in one direction it leads to a great park for Carter to play, so we’ve been there a couple of times.  And since we only have one dog now, I usually take Ace with us on our walks.  Last night as we were passing the dog park, a pit bull escaped by pushing through the bottom of the fence and attacked Ace.  Luckily, the dog’s owner was able to call the dog to him, but not fast enough for me who was in a total panic once the pit bull bit down on the back of Ace’s neck.  Ace wasn’t visibly hurt, so I calmed down fairly quick, but I think I’ll take the short cut through the grass to the bike path next time…where I won’t have to walk by the dog park.  We got word today that the apartment complex’s swimming pool will be opening up on Thursday, so we’re looking forward to taking Carter there this weekend and will probably spend plenty of time there this summer (I hope).

Since I didn’t have a decent internet connection to upload pictures until now, here are some photos we’ve taken in the last few weeks -

Helping Daddy take the couch apart during the move.

Finding a use for one of the many empty boxes.

Taking a break in his very own chair...he LOVES this chair!

Playing with Daddy and his new hunting blind.

Being silly by getting into the dog crate. Carter gets very upset when we lock the door to the crate to keep him out.

Hanging out with Ace and wondering why he's lying on the diaper changing pad when his bed is right behind him. Silly dog...

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Sassy

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Three years ago, I decided that I’d like to have a dog of my own. Growing up, we had a dog (Tank, may he rest in peace), but it never really felt like he was “my” dog. After mulling over the amount of effort a dog really takes, I decided I was up for the task and started watching dogs at our local humane society since I really wanted to rescue a dog, rather than get a puppy. The advantage to this was that I would get a dog who was trained already. No house training and possibly no command training would be necessary.

After a few months of watching the website for the humane society, I finally stumbled across a dog I thought was perfect. A chocolate lab (I loved Matt’s dog Ace which is a chocolate lab) who was trained. She was very sweet, knew how to “kennel”, “come” and “sit”. I adopted her and brought her home to be “my” dog and for a companionship that would last her remaining lifetime. Once at home I fell in love with her. She would follow me around the yard, wouldn’t run off when not fenced in or leashed, and was always at my side. And over the years she developed some behaviors that I didn’t care for, but felt they were behaviors I could live with.

It’s been 3 years since I adopted Sassy, and although she is a wonderful dog when confined to a home or a yard, she attacked a dog last night at the dog park in the apartment complex. As she was attacking, I felt completely helpless and as if I had no control over her. Fortunately the other dog wasn’t badly hurt (at least not that I could see), but I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t control her, and I was so frustrated that I can’t trust her with other dogs. After the attack, thoughts of her other bad habits as well as thoughts of another attack she had last summer on my brother-in-law’s dog got me to realize that sometimes it’s best for dogs to be moved to a new home. My stress and frustrations with her were more than I could handle and by 6:30 last night I loaded her into the car and took her back to the humane society.

I feel horrible now…as if I’ve failed as a dog owner. I feel guilty for putting her back into a place I deep down believed she’d never have to return to. But at the same time, I feel relief from losing the burden of a dog that I can’t control. No longer do I have to worry about a dog who might attack another dog, or who might even attack a baby/child (I seriously don’t know what she’s capable of). And spending yesterday evening with just one dog (Ace) was a relief…a nice break from the usual chaos that evenings have become. I couldn’t help but think that this is what was meant to be…just one family dog for us at a time. I realize it’s selfish of me to take her back, and that’s why I feel the guilt. I can only hope that they’ll put her back up for adoption and she’ll be adopted by a family that has all the time in the world to work with her and make a better dog. I know I couldn’t do that for her. And I imagine all of our dogs from now on will be brought into the family as puppies where we can train them ourselves and ensure they are socialized with other dogs.

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One Week Down

Monday, May 17th, 2010

…nineteen to go.

On the 8th we moved from our house to an apartment that’s far from what I would choose if I had a choice. On first inspection of our new digs, I nearly cried. But after settling in, burning a candle (to try to cover the odor), and doing some basic cleaning, my outlook is improving. It helps me to know that we will only live here for four months and I think four months of summer will pass faster than four months of winter would.

Lucky for us, my parents, uncle, and grandpa came to our rescue and helped us move a great majority of our things that Saturday morning and afternoon. I don’t think I can thank them enough for their help, but once again, I want to thank all of them for lending a hand. We really couldn’t have done it without you.

Matt and I spent time moving more things from the house that Saturday night, Sunday morning, and again on Monday afternoon. And Matt spent time each evening last week at the house moving items from the garage and yard to the storage garages we are renting. It was definitely a much longer process than we thought it would be and we’ve realized that we have a lot more crap than we thought we did! I have a feeling we are going to have one huge Goodwill donation after we move into the next house. I hate to hoard things and I will probably be very willing to toss anything that doesn’t fit into our new home.

We also met with the architect (and our builder, Brandon) on Tuesday of last week to discuss final details for our floor plan and we received our final floor plan on Friday – yay! Brandon says the first thing he’ll need from us is a decision on siding, brick, and shingles, so those are our first decisions to tackle. I imagine we’ll spend some time in the coming weeks looking at color schemes on current homes both in and outside of our future neighborhood. I don’t want our house to match the neighbors’ homes, but I also don’t want it to stand out, so I think it could be a tricky decision.

On Wednesday we signed the closing papers for the house so we wouldn’t have to worry about it later in the week. That evening I went back to the house to make sure we had rounded up everything we wanted to take with us, and to do one last walk through of my own. It was so hard to think that all of our hard work is now going to be enjoyed (or destroyed) by someone else, but I dropped my keys and my garage door opener on the counter and left the house for the last time. When Matt came home with our big check on Friday evening (the new owner closed Friday afternoon) I totally didn’t care anymore…ha!

On a positive note, Carter has adjusted well to the apartment so far and has adjusted his schedule to wake up earlier in order for me to get to work earlier (so I can leave earlier). He’s like a monkey these days, crawling all over the couch and his mini-recliner, so we’ve been busy trying to teach him that we sit in chairs, not stand. His favorite thing to do independently right now is “read” books. But he also loves it when we take the time to play with him on the floor. He gets upset when he can’t go outside when the dogs do, but once the weather starts improving, the number of times he can’t go out with them will decrease.

Carter had a funny moment with Ace this weekend.  Ace was lying on the floor and Carter was toddling around like he normally does when he stopped to pet Ace.  He was pretty gentle, so we just stayed back, but then Ace started to roll on to his back to scratch his back and before we knew it, Carter got a paw in the chest which knocked him down (and ticked me off, of course because our dogs aren’t very cautious around him).  Carter didn’t cry, but he seemed startled.  We then told Ace to lie down on his bed, which he did.  And when Carter gained his composure, he walked right up to Ace on his bed, gave him a smack on the head with his little hand and walked away.  Of course, it didn’t hurt Ace at all, but I found it hilarious that he “got him back” for knocking him down.  I realize we’ll have to stop that habit once Carter’s swings become more forceful, but all I could do this weekend was laugh.

I’m sorry for the lack of photos…I actually have some I wanted to post this week. We currently have no internet connection at the apartment (except for our cell phone internet…so I have to post this from work), but we’ll be getting it set up this Friday afternoon.  I’ll definitely post some pictures this coming weekend. Oh, and our new address is – -

830 Rutland Dr #620,  Lincoln, NE 68512

Just pencil it in…it will change soon!  :)

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