Petsmart Dog Obedience Class

Well it turns out that Chloe and I aren't seeing eye to eye on important issues such as sit, stay, and the dreaded come. So I signed us up for dog obedience class at Petsmart in Longmont, Colorado. Everyone I talked to raved about the classes. This particular class is focused on "loading the marker", which is basically, command, click on success, treat. Sounds simple enough. Unfortunately; Miss Chloe is not having any of it. She refuses the treats! I couldn't believe it. I have never seen her turn down a treat. I had brought her favorites, Zukes All Natural Salmon. What could be better? I watched dogs that I would consider semi wild go through their paces. Not Chloe. So I asked the trainer to give it a shot. She also got nowhere and she had yummy liver treats. Oh boy! Now what? This was our second class. I had taken her to the store a half an hour early to walk the aisles and get used to the noises and smells. We had a great time. She went up and sniffed every dog and was petted by every person willing to bend over for her. We went into the enclosure and she went hyper vigilant as her classmates arrived. She started panting and her eyes just ran with tears. I wasn't able to get her to look at me or focus. At the end of class most of the dogs had left and I was sitting there thinking about what plan B was going to be if this training didn't work.

Still in the enclosure was a beautiful Burmese Mountain dog named Cobert. This dog will dwarf a St. Bernard. Chloe went up to him, gave a once over sniff, and decided he was going to be fun. She played and played with him, crawling on him, launching herself at him, licking his paws and generally bugging him. He was so gentle, he would take one of those giant paws and in very slow motion gently swat her. She loved it. Kept going back for more. Cobert licked her head which meant she was going to need a bath. Cobert rolled her on her back and she just loved it. She tried to roll him over, it took awhile for him to notice and he accommodated her by rolling on his back. She got up on him and looked him in the eye.

So the good news is, Chloe is not a yappy, nipping, and uncivilized dog. She loves people, when we go to the dog park she stops to be petted by everyone there. She loves to play with big dogs at the dog park. But, she doesn't really care about all of this training business.

There will be a lot of work ahead, mostly for me, but we'll get there sooner or later.

My Son Graduates

Well, it has been a really busy week. I took Chloe to the groomer to get her spiffed up for the holidays. She had been rubbing her ears on the carpet for several days and I was worried she had an ear infection. Turns out she had enough hair growing in her ears to make a wig.

My son Ed, graduated from the Masters program at Colorado School of Mines this morning. He now has a BS in Computer Science and his Masters in Computer Science. So I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up. He has decided he loves theoretical mathematics and wants to do research and teach. Right now he will be hitting the job market inorder to pay down some school loans and develop a nest egg for his Phd work. Not sure which university he will appy to.

Today is a great day for this mom!

I have hope

I now have hope for my country for the first time in 8 years. 'nuff said.

And Why Exactly Did I Take Chloe to the Groomer?

Chloe, my shih tzu got spayed on Oct. 1st. I delayed taking her to the groomer because she needed to heal up. By the time I took her to Rennet, of Topknot and Tails, she was a total stinky matted up mess. When I picked her up four hours later she smelled great, totally relaxed, clean with a nice short cut. Wow, didn't even look like the same puppy. Two days later I left her in the backyard for about 15 minutes while I ran over to the neighbors. When I got back, I let her in. Later she came and sat in my lap for some me time. As I was petting her I noticed lumps all over her. OMG I immediately thought of wasps. Turns out she was covered in miniature burrs. Well I got about 18 to 20 of them out of her hair. Still have 5 to go on her ears. Decided to wait until tomorrow, she was freaking out and couldn't hold still any longer. Reminds me of when the kids were toddlers. I would give them a bath, shampoo their hair, attempt to clean their teeth, get nice fresh jamas on, put them to bed and then they'd poop themselves. So tomorrow, I need to get the rest of the burrs out, find and kill the plant she got into.

Chloe got spayed on Oct. 1st

Chloe is 8 months old and overdue to be spayed. I went ahead and called my vet to set it up. The cost was 245.oo. About 200.00 more than I could afford. I went online and found a rural vet, Every Creature Counts in Fort Lupton. The total cost was 45.oo which included a plastic Elizabethan collar in case Chloe tried to chew on the incision and 3 Rimadyl, one a day for pain. I dropped her off at 7:30am, and picked her up at 4:00pm the same day. Usually Chloe wears a little chest harness which attaches to the seat belt when she goes for a ride. Since she had surgery I brought her crate in the car. She cried all the way home. The ride took about 30 minutes. I was totally freaked out! The vet said not to give her a pain pill on the day of surgery because she was already sedated. I decided to call my sister Nan Greenly, she breeds Olde English Bulldogges, and see what she suggested. By the time I got home she was howling nonstop. I opened up her crate and let her out. Total silence. Apparently; the crate not the surgery was the insult. I kept her quiet. She slept most of the day and night. The next morning I wasn't able to get her to eat or drink. I tried coaxing water and treats, she wasn't having any of it. By the evening on the day after surgery I was getting quite worried. I started giving her water with a large plastic eyedropper. She seemed ok with that. I don't think I got a lot of water in her. I made tacos that night and set aside some cooked plain hamburger for her. She got up and ate it right up. Ok, good, she's on the mend. Next day, still not eating her puppy chow or drinking water on her own. I kept up with the eyedropper and gave her some moist ham, which she again ate right up, hoping the salt would encourage her thirst. No go. I called Nan and she suggested Chloe's throat might be sore from the tube during anesthesia. Made sense. I gave her a rimadyl and about an hour later she got up and headed for her water bowl. Nan suggested Pedialyte, non citrus flavored to replace some of the electrolytes she lost. On Saturday evening she started drinking a lot of water, still only taking soft foods. I gave her a Rimadyl on Saturday as well. She went out for a poop too. By Sunday afternoon we had turned the corner. She started eating normally and going outside to potty. Downside of all of this is she really likes people food more than puppy chow! Now when I eat she watches me closely, waiting for a treat. Once she is all healed up, I won't be babying her anymore. I took her for a short walk on Tuesday, she loved getting out of the house. I am glad we only have to put our puppy's through this once.

Chloe and the Cricket

Chloe, my 8 month old Shih Tzu needed to get outside to potty. From the way she was acting this was an emergency. I ran to the door and let her out right away. The first thing she spotted was a cricket on the patio. It was night time and I like to get out and back in quickly. She followed that cricket all over the patio. She would get up close and wait for it to hop and then run to it, again and again. No matter how many times I reminded her to potty, she never took her eyes off the cricket. Its kind of tough when the hunting instinct kicks in at night. Finally I grabbed her and brought her inside. You guessed it, out again in 10 minutes to potty.

Puppy Kindergarten

Last night Chloe and I went to our second session of puppy kindergarten. At the first session she was terrified of the other puppies. At the class we work on dog socialization and one command. When we got to the Assisted Living Home, where they hold the class, Chloe went up to each of the residents to say "howdy do" and yes you may pet me. I thought we were off to a good start. They introduce the puppies to each other one on one. Well, Miss Chloe was terrified of a 3 pound Shih Tzu named Gina. Gina chased her and chased her. So basically, Chloe flunked the first day of Puppy Kindergarten.
On the second day a new dog came to class, a three month old Akita, (beautiful and very large dog). Made friends immediately and played with her. Yahooo. She is gaining confidence! Turns out she is still terrified of the Australian Shepard, the mini Australian Shepard, the Boxer/Shepard mix and of course little tiny Gina.
The trainer also referred to Chloe as Snarky when she is upset. Whoaaa! Anyway, learning the commands is going really well. So, we are going to practice leash walking whenever the winds die down. Jean in Colorado