I think those awards are nice, but what I'm really interested in is dogs!

My huge puppy Ginger does that same thing with sticks that you said Doc does. I caught her outside the other day trying to pick up this branch of weeping willing tree that was at least three times her size. She couldn't do it, but she did break off a piece and proudly brought it to me.

She's so damn cute when she's being bad. Now, if she'd just stop peeing in her damn crate I'd be thrilled.

She's now 7.5 months old, well over 60 pounds, and at least as tall and long as my biggest dog, Mack.

So tell me dog stories!

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

Answers

Okay, status report. Doc is almost 7 months old, and he's growing very slowly now. I think he probably weighs 60 pounds, but maybe not. He stopped between 50-55 for a long time.

He is, however, very very strong. He carries around startlingly enormous tree branches, and has learned that he can drag me if he wishes to do so. (Fortunately, he usually doesn't, because I'll squirt him right in the face with the water gun if the leash and collar don't work.) He keeps trying to make friends with Benny by tapping him gently on the head, only big Doc paws really aren't meant for gentle tapping. Doc has a broad ripply chest and a sweet face and a growing cat-chasing habit.

He is completely house-broken now and stays out of his crate all day, although I still come home at noon to let him out. He can appparently go six hours without peeing, though, so I may be able to phase out the lunch visit eventually, especially if Jeremy and I stagger our work schedules.

We've been letting him sleep with us, sort of. He goes to bed with me at night, but Jeremy puts him in his crate when he goes to bed. It's cute because Doc apparently sleep walks -- he stumbles off the bed when Jeremy wakes him up, and either toddles into his crate and falls back to sleep immediately, or mechanically walks to the back door to go out and pee. Once he's gone, the cats get the bed back, and they sleep with me all night. In the morning, I let Doc out of his crate, and he goes in to sleep with Jeremy for a few hours while I write my journal entry.

All in all, it works pretty well. I predict that Doc will be sleeping all night with Jeremy by December.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

Oh, man, You are so Lucky that Doc is housebroken. I think the key is you going home at lunch to let him out. On 99% of the occassions Ginger can also hold it about 6 or 7 hours, but my day is always longer than than. Since it's 1.5 hours round trip to my house it's just not possible to get home to her.

But she's only had one accident in the house (besides the crate) in over a month and it was right after we got home from vacation and she came home from the kennel. I caught her doing it, told her "BAD DOG", took her outside and made her do it there. She got the point.

The good things she does are, "COME" when I call her, and pees when I say, "GO POTTY". Doing these things on demand when I'm cold are very good things.

She's not at the point where I can leave her in the house or in the kitchen alone when I'm not home. She still finds things to get into trouble with, like newspaper off the table.

And she loves to jump on the other dogs, especially Mack. I'm sure she'd be a cat chaser too if we had any.

She's also growing much slower. When she got back from the kennel I thought she looked a bit too thin, as I could clearly see her ribs when she stood. So we started feeding her a bit more in the evening and now she looks much better. She's creeped up to Macks' size, but the growth isn't as dramatic as it was in the first few months.

I also thought Doc had a cute face from the pictures you posted. Ginger is also growing very strong. She still has thick legs and huge paws. I adore the cute looks she gives me.

The water gun works on my dogs too. All I have to do is pick it up and Mack steps into line. I'm starting to use it again when the three of them get too rough and will not listen.

I do not let her sleep with us, mostly because if one gets on the bed all three want to be on the bed and then there isn't room for Dave or me. She's still a bit too figity to lay still.

She's getting much better and I no longer refer to her as "Puppy from Hell." But I must admit that Brandy is still my favorite. I love them all, but I love Brandy the most. Is that wrong?

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

On the dogs-pulling-at-the-leash bit:

one of the black belts at my dojo claims to be a dog trainer. Her method of keeping dogs from pulling is to drop into a deep stance and become like a rock. Unfortunately, she's training sled dogs, whose response is usually something along the lines of, "Oh boy! Time to pull the sled!"

Breeding and a lower center of gravity wins and she gets yanked right off her feet.

My wife, who actually did train dogs for a while, has to leave the room whenever Husky trainer starts talking about dogs. It's disrespectful to laugh at the black belts.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 1999

I'm behind in my journal reading because........my dog had puppies!!! (and I thought this would be the place to announce it......) She had 2, a boy and a girl (small litter for a Rottweiler) and they are both fat and sassy and the entire family is doing well... Just wanted to tell *everyone*! :-)

-- Anonymous, November 14, 1999