Doc has been going for walks this week. He's not very good at the whole leash thing yet -- lots of bolting ahead, lots of stopping and planting himself when dogs bark at him from houses or yards. But he loves going for walks, and the best part is it really wears him out.

He won't go with just me or with just Jeremy, though. He'll only go if we're both there. This ought to be fun when Jeremy goes out of town for a week at a time on business.

Right now Doc has Sally cornered alongside my bed. She can get away, and she doesn't look terrified or anything (she just has that superior cat expression, the one that clearly means "dogs are morons") so I'm not going to intervene.

Colleen, how is your baby doing?

-- Anonymous, July 18, 1999

Answers

We've found ways to wear out our fourteen-week-old puppy -- trips to the dog park on hot days, lots of walks, and, last night, visiting another house with strange people, some of whom were little. Very exhausting. But then the next day, e.g. this morning, Otto is full of it, and needs to be worn out all over again. Our other dog is getting tired of this, but she likes the company. She likes to play/fight with Otto on her back, which is less tiring for her and gives him an advantage.

Beth, you don't know me from Adam, but Happy Birthday. I did thirty eleven months ago -- it's not been that bad.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 1999

When we really need to wear out the puppy, we take her to Petsmart or Petco or whatever nearby pet store welcomes pets.

One of the cats *loves* to play and wrestle with the puppy. We thought he'd get over it once she got bigger than him, but he doesn't care. They'll wrestle until I'm fed up and yell at them both and throw the cat out of the room.

I heard that while I was out of town this week, she did a dive-and-roll through the biggest dog's fresh offering in the back yard.

Puppies, gotta love 'em!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 1999

I don't have a puppy (or a dog for that matter) so can I tell a cat story instead? No objections? Okay then.

This morning I was sleeping on my stomach with my head resting on my arms, I'm usually on my side or back, when the cat woke me up. He wakes me up most mornings, but he usually lays on my chest or headbutts my face. This morning he was sticking his paw between my head and arms to swat me on nose. I'm sure he was thinking, "Hey you! It's like 2pm and you haven't pet me yet! Who do you think you are? Well, I'm just going to sit here and keep you awake until you pay some attention to me. Jerk!!" It was so cute that I rolled over and cuddled with him. Am I sucker or what?

Nicole "yeah that's my real e-mail" Hollowood

-- Anonymous, July 19, 1999

Hiya Beth - Happy Birthday! My puppy, Gonzo, is 5 1/2 months old, and the ONLY thing that wears him out is his best friend, Shilo. Shilo lives down the street and is a big huge 35lb dog with LOTS of hair and teeth and slobber. My sweet holy terror is a tiny 6.8lb Miniature Pinscher. Wanna guess who wins when they "fight"? It's really cute to watch - here's this big huge dog tearing through my friends house with a little black bullet yapping at his heels. I love it when Gonzo visits Shilo's house for a day or a few hours. When I get back from wherever I am and I take him home, he just goes and crawls into his blankie and sleeps the sleep of the dead. I love to touch him when he's sleeping like that. He's all warm and "boneless". I can pet him and move him and he doesn't even notice. I love my doggy. I'm going out of town this week, and I know that when I come back, Gonzo's going to sleep for about 3 days. I'm going to miss my little man.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 1999

Hey Beth - So how well does walking Doc tire him out?

As I recall, Shasta as a pup would get nice and tired from going on a walk, the problem was that she would recharge very fast and need another walk like 20 minutes after getting back from the first walk. The funny thing about puppies is how they can play play play and then completly crash -then they're ready to play again after a 10 minute rest.

Now I find that the only way to tire out Shasta is about 30 minutes of frisbee time at the park -that'll put her out for the whole night -of course she's a little older now, about 216 weeks (4 yrs 2 mo), but still is a pup at heart.

Here's Shasta in Beth's Garden -Don't those drip trays make nice frisbees?

Of course, she prefers water , but for some reason, that never makes her tired. Saturday I took her to the lake and she got in about a solid hour of swimming. When we got home she demanded more fetching!

Hopefully Shasta and Doc will become friends soon so we can just let the two of them wear each other out!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 1999

Actually, walking tires Doc out more than just about anything. He does recharge briefly after we get home, but then he tends to crash for a long, long time. Since we started taking him for walks at least twice a day, he goes to sleep earlier at night and is much more mellow during the day.

He's been a little psychopath today, though, so I'm going to have to take him for another walk, obviously!

As for him and Shasta, I think he's going to have to tone it down about 900 notches before she'll be able to stand the sight of him. He's made friends with all the dogs on the block, though.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 1999

Oh, my little baby. She had me up at 3, 4 and 5 AM last night and the night before. She's got a bit of diarrhea and needs to go out very often. I'm glad she's waking me to go out, but I could really use some sleep right now. I'm feeding her some rice to try and help the situation.

I'm lucky with her and the leash though -- she doesn't need one. She'll walk right near by, and will come when called. She's more than happy to come running for us. I think she learned that quick from the other dogs.

I let the other dogs tire her out, and one of them is always willing to play with her when she recharges quickly. We have a big yard, so I can just let them chase each other around for a while. If they aren't in the mood for chasing I throw a frisbee for Mack and the others chase him.

That Shasta is a *beautiful* dog. I really like Goldens.

And the baby has been accident free for a few days, so that makes me happy. Especially since we got new carpet this weekend.

Happy Birthday Beth! I'm pushing up on 29, which I call the "Last Exit Before Toll".

Colleen

-- Anonymous, July 20, 1999

Doc had an exciting day yesterday -- he got attacked by a Chihuahua! If that dog had been a Doberman, Doc would be dead by now. (Or the Doberman would have gotten maced. Or probably both.)

I've just started letting him play outside without supervision, as long as I'm home. It's helped a lot with getting things done. He amuses himself by digging around in the palm fronds or chewing on sticks in the ivy, and it gives the cats some peace and quiet. I can watch from my computer desk. And since I don't leave him out there long enough to get bored, my vegetable garden is surviving just fine.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 1999

I can't wait till we get some fence up so that I can put them out to play like that. Right now I can put them on the deck and block off the stairs and they can play and I can get something done.

This weekend we found that Ginger had chewed up one of the deck posts and we are going to have to replace it.

Such is the life, of a puppy mom.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

What is REALLY pissing me off today is the puppy. He's been an absolute monster since last night. We were doing really well with the biting -- my forearms had completely healed! But he was worse than ever last night. I had a class and didn't get to take him for an evening walk, and he was just a little hellbeast. He even made me miss Buffy. Lucky for him we're in summer reruns, or I'd have dumped his little butt in the crate.

A girl has to have priorities.

I have a terrible time getting him to go for a walk without Jeremy. He plants himself and won't budge, not even for treats. Because I *have* to give him some exercise so I can live with him, I've taken to picking him up and carrying him two or three blocks until he can't see the house anymore. He hates to be carried so it's not a reward or anything. Then he's usually fine -- today he even willingly went on new streets where we'd never been before. He likes meeting people and especially other dogs, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

He just likes Jeremy best, that's all. *Sniff*

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

My puppy is a hellion too. How the hell does she know it's exactly 5:30 AM and wake me up? She's worse than the alarm clock. Can't she wait just ONE more hour till when I have to get up anyway?

We seem to have gotten her biting under control by holding her mouth shut tight when she does it and telling her NO. By holding her mouth shut tight I mean doing it till she wimpers a bit and gets the hit. She still does try to bite some, but she hasn't hurt me like you describe.

I can't believe he won't go for a walk without Jeremy! Ginger prefers me and if Dave is going to take her out she keeps running to me and trying to get me to go. If I'm not around she'll go with him, but if I'm there she wants me. She must know I'm the one losing all the sleep.

Both the girl dogs prefer me, the boy prefers Dave. Mack still loves me a lot and I think it's because he remembers me taking him from the shelter. Often the only person he will listen to is Dave.

I also noticed that male dogs calm down a lot after being fixed. Are you planning to get him snipped? I didn't notice a difference with Brandy and we're getting Ginger fixed just because we know we don't want to breed her or end up with a million puppies -- there are a lot of dogs in our neighborhood.

Hang in there! I'm suffering too!

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999

Oh, yes, we're definitely getting him fixed. As soon as they've, you know, dropped.

We had a GREAT walk last night. I took him the other direction, and I did have to carry him around the corner, but after that he was fine. We walked two blocks further south than we usually do, and he was great. He got to meet a four month old puppy -- she was twice his size and a little bit aggressive or something. It was a little weird -- I would have expected two young puppies (he's three months) to be less suspicious than they were. There was no growling, but she definitely came on stronger than he did, and kind of stared him down. Maybe because she was a Rottweiler/Akita mix -- those are both pretty strong-willed dogs.

Then we came back and ran around the yard for a while, which was fun. Jeremy does that with him a lot, but it always seems to end with me getting bitten. Last night I outran him, and when he DID get a nip at my heels, I gave him a scruff shake, told him no, and went in the house. The rule is, nipping ends the play session immediately. He was pretty good for the rest of the night, at least until I kicked him in the head.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999

I think it's six months old when you can get them fixed. Ginger's going to be in there on her birthday. She gets her rabies shot in two weeks.

Right now I'm trying to figure out who is going to watch my three dogs while we go away for the weekend next month. I'm going to try and fin d a pet sitter that can stay over and take Ginger out 10 times a day. Wonder what that will cost me?

I like to take the dogs on walks and explore new parts of the neighborhood. There are lots of dogs in our neighborhood and therefore lots of dog lovers. Everyone loves little Ginger because she's semi-little and cute. She'll be 4 months old next week. And she seems to get along with other dogs, probably due to living with two others.

My friend is coming up next weekend and she's bringing her new puppy, also named Ginger, who is less than 2 months old. That ought to be amusing.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999