Now Hiring - Patient Puppy Sitter.

Mokey finally outgrew her puppy collar. Now she has a waterproof one!

This past weekend the family went out of town to see Grandma. Usually Mokey would go with us, but since Gram just got new carpet, Mokey's not perfectly potty trained yet & there were a bunch of perfectly tasty Christmas decorations lying around Mokey stayed home and was boarded at the kennel instead. I'll be honest and admit I didn't really want to leave her - not because I was worried about the quality of care she would receive, just that I would miss having her fluffy head wandering around. I've gotten quite used to her you know. Mokey got an excellent report card at check out! While she might have played shy at first, all of the treats won them her favor - Mokey always picks her stomach over her fear. It was good for her to be taken care of by relative strangers who would take their time and be gentle with her.On another note, I worked a long day this week and my little sister babysat Mokey for me. When I walked in, Mokey was figuratively thrust back into my arms with a 'here's your child' kind of air. Apparently, watching someone else chase after an active puppy and trying to take care of that puppy yourself are two very different things. Mokey wasn't bad while I was gone, she's just an active puppy who finds everything in her world interesting and worthy of a good chew. She also tends to run hard and then crash for a couple of hours - sometimes her nap time doesn't seem near long enough and sometimes she doesn't bother with the nap at all. But it is true that no matter what you're doing, it takes twice as long with Mokey around. I'm thinking I may have to find a new babysitter :)

Comforts of Life

This week Mokey discovered the couch - a couch she now loves dearly. In fact, her new favorite thing to do is to grab her puppy, climb onto the soft furniture and enjoy mouthing her toy. It's really quite cute. She's not allowed up when anyone has food, but when it's late and we're lazing around she finds herself a cushion, and she does take up an entire cushion.

Mokey's taking all of our Christmas activities in stride. The large polar bear decoration was mildly disturbing, but after it refrained from moving during its examination Mokey decided her initial drama was a tad unwarranted. Since she gets to tag along on some of our shopping trips and earns copious amounts of treats by doing so, she's agreed that that aspect of the holidays isn't so bad either. Not to mention she's an avid tree lover. If the object in question originated from her favorite plant then she's happy to have it around. Of course, this means that the Christmas tree we recently put up in the living room has to be barricaded off; which slightly defeats the purpose of having a decorated, meant to be admired, paid good money for a dying tree, tree. Because the tree has been relegated to isolation, the wrapping paper is perhaps the more frequent victim of Mokeys admiration. She's made several attempts so far and delighted in demolishing a sheet of neglected packing paper. If anyone brings up the puncture holes in their gift boxes I think I'll just have to explain that Mokey has to tie the bow somehow and a huge paw isn't very useful when attempting to curl ribbon.

Leah & Mokey play outside - 39lbs

Yay Mokey!

This week was a week full of Puppy Accomplishments. Mokey got her last set of puppy shots and did beautifully at the vet. She had her temperature checked for the first time and though her eyes about bugged out of her head she withstood the indignity like a champ.

She also graduated Puppy Class! Yay! She has a long way to go but hey, it's an accomplishment. Next week we go on to Puppy Continuing - bet you can't guess what that class is about. I'm looking forward to the day when I can sign us up for Carting or Agility. Mokey seemed to really enjoy checking out the equipment they had at graduation class.

32 lbs

Also this week, first snow! Mokey went outside and promptly realized that it was just water very conveniently frozen and pleasantly shaved for her eating pleasure - Leonbergers seem to be very natural snow lovers. I'm looking forward to a more sizable snowfall :)

It's Getting Chilly!

30 lbs

This past week Mokey and I started our daily walk routine - a routine which wouldn't be possible without my mothers very fine knitting skills. Brrr. Mokey's what I would call a sensitive puppy and she tends towards the shy and fearful side so we've been trying to see the world a little everyday. Somehow I think that dragging myself out of our warm house to walk a puppy in the cold is only going to get harder as winter draws near. Mokey doesn't seem too worried about it.

Mokey also went to see Santa on Saturday. Yes, you read that right. The dog went to see Santa. Why not, I say! It was a brilliant opportunity for her to meet more people and other polite doggies and while Santa may have freaked her out and forced me to sit next to her for the experience, she did eventually make up with the fabled man. As a side note, Mokey and Chase can expect to find a special treat in their stockings this Christmas. Mother bought them each a big treat, one of which says "Naughty" and the other "Nice" - I'll bet you can guess which bone was intended for Mokey ;)

I just couldn't resist when Dad got the lights out, and Mo was a very good sport about it ;)

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Mokey loved scrabble; and by that I mean loved trying to eat it.

Mokey and Thanksgiving went very well together. This could partly be because we had thanksgiving dinner at our relatives house but I'm not going to ruin my proud owner moment by considering that. We did have family stay over with us however, another new experience for Mokey, and while she put on her shy act for a little while she did eventually go back to her goofy self. It was especially good for her to be around my two cousins, who while not little, are still younger than the rest of us :)

Also this past week, we made our 100 people mark! Yay! Of course the socialization doesn't magically stop now, but it was a goal and we made it. I'll take it. And in other news, Mokey figured out how to obtain ice cubes from the refrigerator. . . yay. . .

The height of decadence.

27 lbs

Swagger

26 lbs

If it's possible for a dog to have a cute swagger, then I'll admit to laughing over Mokeys. She trots around and acts like she's hot stuff every second she's awake. Of course, the effect is ruined as soon as she trips over the rug and face plants. Sometimes I'm a bit embarrassed when we go out in public and she trots around as if she's the best thing since sliced bread or, even better than sliced bread. Luckily shes got that cute face and lambs wool fur, so people are willing to overlook her ego in order to pet her.

This week Mokey finally learned to ascend and descend the stairs. I separated the two activities because going up and coming down were two very different challenges for Mokey. Going up? Peace of cake! What were you so worried about, you silly owner? Going down . . . Are you insane?? It took Mokey several days and lots of coaxing for her to even attempt the simplest of descending motions. When at last her feet touched the step below her she wrinkled her brow in terror and cried for her mommy. It took her two more days before we had complete success. I say complete success rather lightly since the entire way down she bemoaned her existence with loud cries. Woe is me! Woe is me!

Mokey also went to work with me for the first time this past week. She was a little overwhelmed by all the new smells and sounds, but did very well. On the way home from work one day she was so tired that when she slid off the passenger seat and onto my coat/floor, she opted to stay where she landed: (and for you safety conscious drivers, yes, I was parked when I took this picture)

Yogurt, Anyone?

Every week I've been trying to let Mokey meet 25 new people, which means by the time she's 3 months old she'll have met 100 people. That's the big goal anyway. We've been doing well so far, mostly due to a weekly frozen yogurt stop. Oh the things we're willing to do for our dogs . . . ok, if you bought that I'll just let you continue with it... Every time we go I'm always surprised by how many people will stop and talk to you when you have a puppy tagging along. Especially a puppy who looks as soft and cuddly as Mokey does. Mokey's doing pretty well with the people. She gets nervous now and then and she doesn't like to be pet for very long, but she's willing to give a greeting and a tail wag.

mokeys favorite resting place, the fireplace
22 pounds

This week Mokey amused the family by repeatedly play-bowing the bunnies. I guess they could look a little like potential playmates. She might think they're just like Oreo - a little shih tzu puppy in her training class - something funny and unexpected that could be fun to play with if only she could figure out how. I'll take play-bowing over stalking any day.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween with Mokey was pretty laid back. Of course, she instantly adored everything pumpkin and didn't seem to mind all of the extra treats. She even tolerated my sisters gorilla mask - we let her sniff it before hand and her inquisitive look as my sister put it on seemed to say: Why is she covering her head with that smelly black thing? Its fur isn't even as soft as mine!

Mokey sat outside with us for part of the trick-or-treating festivities, far enough back so that she could observe the sights and sounds without being mobbed by small squealing things. For some reason a 6 month old Leonberger doesn't inspire swarming of small children but a 9 week old one does. Go figure. Which brings up the fact that most children really don't know how to greet a dog - to them, I suppose a dog is no different than a stuffed animal. Even better, a moving stuffed animal. But you won't find many dogs naturally tolerating the dragging and hugging that goes along with that role. No wonder most dog bites involve kids. Oh well, Mokey did just fine; though I felt really mean telling acouple kids that no, they could not touch her. :( She did get to say hello to a couple trusted children who didn't try to grab and smother her and therefore scar her for life ;) Ah puppy-hood, such a tender phase. What really cracks me up is when people give me the 'are you serious?' look when I tell them why I don't just let every child on the planet grab Mokey and give her a hug. Somehow, people just think puppies are thrown into the world ready to go, when in reality socializing them takes effort and requires lots of good experiences - not screaming, grabbing ones. lol.

This week we had one day of such warm weather that I got Mokey's swimming pool out and filled it up for her - not completely full, since it's a rather large kiddy pool and I a) lack the upper body strength required to empty it and b) didn't want her to drown if she fell over (which was highly likely). While Chase observed from a safe, dry distance Mokey had fun charging the pool and catching her float toy. She's the first dog I've had that actually pounces things. As in, Nala from the Lion King quality pouncing. Chase has gotten rather used to her surprise attacks but it still cracks me up to see her try it on inanimate objects - like pumpkins, pools, her treats, leaves. . . she's a very goofy pup - just part of her appeal.

Mokey

8 weeks - 15 lbs

Never before have I appreciated how truly different two puppies of the same breed and age can be. Last weekend, with some trepidation and copious amounts of hope I picked up Mokey, an 8 week old leonberger. While I looked forward to sharing my life with a dog once again, I fought off the nervousness that comes after dealing with & owning a dog whose problems were as serious as Kilos. Mokey is her own dog however. She's gentle and happy, with a wide silly streak and tons of energy. Of course she's a puppy, she mouths and chews and gets me up to go potty every morning at 4am. But she lacks Kilo's temper tantrums and so far has given me no reason to worry about any anger issues. That's not to say I don't worry, because I do - I find myself trying to fight off worried owner syndrome. But in spite of that or perhaps partly because of it, everyday we get up and explore another part of the world. Mokey has many of Kilo's good qualities - she handles car rides beautifully, is very curious and smart, has tons of personality & her own ideas about what she should be allowed to do (which usually involves digging in her water bowl).

Chase & Mokey playing.

This week Mokey and I have been to the vet, a couple pet stores and her first puppy class. Just like Kilo she has a wonderful brain - she already knows how to perform sit, down & stand and has practically enslaved us with her ability to ring the potty bells.

I've come to realize that as conscientious owners we strive to do what we think is best, with the knowledge we have available at the time and while none of us is perfect or infallible, we try and we slowly improve. Kilo was a learning experience for practically everyone who met him and he taught me even more empathy for others who live with or have had dogs with similar issues.

This afternoon I found myself sitting outside a local shop with my mom, enjoying a cup of frozen yogurt in 44 degree weather with a wide eyed puppy calmly examining the world at my feet. It's time to start another adventure and Mokey is rather unsurprisingly, ready to go.

Dichotomy

Recently I’ve started working at another job in the mornings before I go to the kennel in the evening. The dichotomy of my two jobs is rather amusing. I go to work in the morning and get paid quite well to sit and organize materials to be placed in training kits. A sixth grader could do what I do (maybe even someone younger, but for the sake of my own pride I’m raising the bar to a 12 year old). Then I go to work at the kennel. At the kennel I sit for maybe 15 minutes out of my entire shift and the rest of the time I spend running around. I use knowledge gained by hands on experience & college courses, I create the newsletter that goes out to our customers and make sure my fellow employees are doing their own jobs. I take the inventory, handle temperamental dogs and help with any training dogs that come in. Any problems that occur are sent my way and I’m ultimately responsible for what goes on with the dogs and customers while I work. That being said, I get paid noticeably less working with the dogs than what I earn at my cushy, disassemble/reassemble job. I find this both sad and amusing. Most dog people don’t work with dogs for the money, in a lot of cases we scrimp by. But still, I can’t help but smile when a customer comes in and complains to me about their dogs boarding bill. They don’t really realize what it takes to watch over their furry friend, or what I agreed to get paid for doing so. The most common critique is “This costs more than my hotel bill.” In some cases, it probably does. But I’m usually tempted to ask them one or two of the following questions: “Does your maid hold your hand and take you to the potty 3+ times a day? Does she politely clean up after you and make sure you receive your daily exercise? Does she put up with your loud barking and your overly affectionate nature? How about that embarrassingly wet nose? (we won’t even mention the drool). Does she tolerate the bruises your bony head and elbows cause when you give your daily greeting? Or how your constant pulling makes her arm and back muscles sore? Does she listen to your whining and inspect you every day for good health? I’m also pretty sure that she doesn’t nurse you through your fear of storms or talk sweetly to you when you nervously growl or snap in her direction. If your hotel maid does all that, I can guarantee your hotel bill will be a lot more than your dogs boarding bill (and if she does do all that, where on earth are you staying?). ;) I’m not really complaining, I enjoy working with dogs (there’s obviously no other reason to do the job) but I went to work the other day and could only laugh a little at how dissimilar the two jobs requirements & rewards were. Of course, the whole reason I got another job is to help with upcoming puppy expenses. Yes, I know I’m insane. Admittance is the first step, but don’t expect me to move on to step two anytime soon.

Bunny Madness

I miss Kilo. Such a simple understatement. I've found myself using it to convey a jumbled array of emotions. For awhile I could hardly contemplate replacing him. Did I want another dog, let alone another Leonberger? I wasn't sure. Now, after having spent hours finishing up the big dogs scrap book, after sifting through pictures and stories and attempting to make sense of what happened with him I can say that yes, I'd like to have another Leonberger. Excluding his mental instability, I loved everything about Kilo. He was smart, curious, loving, happy, stubborn and a convenient height for petting. No dog will ever be able to replace Kilo. He was my first big dog, a dog I had waited years to have. My dream dog you could say, and even though he wasn't perfect or what the breed is known for being, even though we didn't accomplish half of what I wanted us to, he was mine.

Miko searching for pellets:

I got off subject for this blog. This blog was supposed to be about our bunnies. Miko, our gray bunny, we rescued at an adoption facility a couple years ago. This past spring we adopted Felli (tan bunny). Felli was a cast off from the Easter bunny rush. We found her hopping around the bushes near the building we attend church at one weekend. She and her siblings were attempting to live under the bushes. Why the person didn't simple give them to a rescue, we don't know. The vet guessed her age to be around 3 months - she's ridiculously cute and super friendly. Our one problem was housing. Miko has always been a 'people' bunny. She'd never had any kind of companions outside of us and she didn't exactly take to Felli. In an effort to give them enough space to move and explore, I built them a couple of bunny 'homes'. Eventually I hope Miko will get over her territorial instincts and accept Felli, so that they can live together and be pals, but until then their new homes will sit side by side.

Bunny Houses
Each house has different levels

Felli explores her new house!

Kilo

When I lost my sheltie last year I knew why she died. For the last five of Lady’s thirteen years we’d waged a losing war against arthritis. In the end the medicine stopped working, our shield had rusted. Kilo’s situation was not so straightforward. No one can tell me for certain what was wrong with him. Veterinarians, behaviorists, trainers, breeders . . . somewhere, somehow, something was just wrong. A screw had wiggled loose.

Kilo went to sleep today. The only way I or anyone else was going to be able to keep him was with drugs and a lifelong behaviorist. My big bear was already acting uncomfortable; I couldn’t imagine drugging him up for the rest of his life. But he was no longer safe to be around either. He’d become unpredictable, moody and aggressive. Still, at times, he’d look at me with those huge brown eyes and I’d see the goofy puppy in him. It was not a decision any of us wanted to make, and yet, realistically there was no other option.

The mule was such an individual. His personality was impossible to ignore and at times it could quite literally smother you. I have never met a dog with so much stubborn persistence. But he could make me laugh, and he knew how to enjoy life. Blunder first, wonder later. Even amongst all of the heartache, there are so many cute stories. Tomorrow I’m sure that I’ll get up missing his rise-and-shine nose bump and the image of his head hanging out the car window, chin resting on the ledge, ears flapping in the wind . . .

For awhile at least, this blog will be empty. The big dog is gone. His adventures have ended.

Kilo: 3/25/2010 – 4/27/2011

Tick Tock . . .

For all of you who have been listening to my worries concerning the big bear and been worrying along with me . . . thank you :) We're still waiting on his thyroid results. No news yet. He does seem to have good and bad days. Some days he's very moody and angry, he'll lie around the house, refuse to be pet, and generally look rather pathetic. But even on his good days he doesn't like to be rubbed on - he'll let you scratch him (he's always itchy) but the moment you start petting/rubbing he's out of there. He still hasn't been able to be around Chase or strangers, even on his 'good' days - he's just too testy to trust him with it. Fingers crossed for the thyroid test. We'll be talking to the vet either way I suppose. Somethings just not right.

Nope, Still Not Done.

Kilo’s birthday was last week, on the 25^th. One year old and still alive. However, I didn’t host a ‘we made it party’; we definitely have not ‘made it’. Kilo’s proven me wrong again. The mule has been ‘off’ lately; as in, behaving in a fashion that is beyond his normal bullheadedness. Wednesday night he convinced me something was wrong by suddenly attacking his best friend. Luckily I saw the problem before Kilo made contact but the whole ordeal was incredibly startling and scary. Chase and he have been disgustingly close, yet now every time Kilo even looks at Chase he becomes disgruntled and angry. The problem has become even more concerning since Kilo’s anger is not solely directed at other dogs, he’s begun having problems with other people. His transformation was so sudden and concerning that yesterday I drug mom, Kilo and I to the vet, wondering about a thyroid imbalance or some other illness. The vet took one look at us, pooh-poohed us and sent us home with a helpful ‘you need to train your dog.’ Mother called a local behaviorist who sent us back to the vet, asking for a thyroid panel. *Sigh* Today we once more journeyed to the vet’s office, had an entirely unpleasant experience, and then came home. Now, we wait a week until the results come in. And we worry. If this isn’t a hormonal imbalance or symptom of a disease then I have one very angry, unsociable dog on my hands. The worst part is that he isn’t predictable. I can’t tell why he suddenly got so angry at Chase. But things that used to bother or stress him out a little bit, are suddenly sending him over the edge. I’m not sure what I’ll do if this turns out to be behavioral, so as cruel as it might sound, I’m hoping to hear that he’s sick. If anybody knows anything about these kinds of problems please feel free to put a word in. I’ve listed Kilo’s ‘symptoms’ below, most are probably not related (or issues he’s had his whole life), but with everything that’s been going on I’ve been trying to think of anything I could that might give us a hint.

Problems: always itchy, ear problems, sometimes seems sore, temperamental (easily freaked out), digestive issues (gas, occasional diarrhea), lost 5 lbs.

And now we wait . . .

Are We Done Yet?

Another week of torture has passed. The doggy theater that is Kilo's brain featured 'Grumbling' this week, starring the always famous 'Mouthing', but my personal favorite was the encore performance of 'Mauling' that aired Tuesday night. Ah yes, how I love a good mauling . . . Kilo and I have seen the entire neighborhood this week. We've been up and down it, back and forth, pulling and stopping, sitting and waiting. I'm not sure who's been more exhausted this week. Making a nuisance of himself uses up a lot of the big dogs energy, but reeling him in and demanding some semblance of order uses up a lot of mine. Since today was the first day in a week we've gone without hearing any grumbling from the big bear I'm going to be optimistic and say I may be overcoming.
Kilo did so well on his walk this morning that I let him out in the backyard knowing full well he was going to make a mess of himself playing in the mud. But I kind of figured he'd earned it. Oh, and in case you're a super observant person, that stick is the same giant stick from his pictures several months ago. He's whittled it down to two feet. o.OMy sister is home and practiced her trombone for the first time today. We definitely will not be taking Kilo to any musical concerts. It turns out he's not a big fan of brass instruments. Though I can't really blame him. If I had his hearing I'd probably bemoan its existence too. The below photograph is how he looked after she stopped playing. Kilo went into the room to 'investigate' and you can see from his stance just how tense and nervous he was. I stood back and wished I had a remote control for it. I mean, it would be pretty funny to suddenly blast a note or two out - ridiculously mean and possibly life scarring - but funny nonetheless . . . Please don't judge, it's been a long week . . . and I'd never actually do that. The thought was just rather amusing. ;)
Today Kilo and I are giving a big cyber shout out to the Ugly. Mom, I know you're reading this so you can pass it along ;) 'Little pretty unicorns'. Pat Fred's head for me and tell him he did a good job.