New Peanut Butter Tube

You'd think I'd be better at it by now, but such is not the case.  Michael is about as senile as I think possible.  This is more than the usual "I'm old so I can be naughty if I wanna" that so many elderly Dalmatians get (okay, all my elderly Dals get it).  He requires more monitoring than Gimme ever did.  If I leave the room for more than 2 minutes I have to either:

• take him with me
• crate him
• or put him outside

Otherwise by the time I get back he will be into something, destroying something, making a mess of something or peeing/pooping.  The latest victim to fall to his destructive tendencies was Gimme's peanut butter tube (the toothpaste tube I showed you in a much earlier blog entry).  Naturally my current tube of toothpaste isn't anywhere near ready to be re-purposed. 

So I went to Cabela's and checked out their Go Toob.  Its really kinda nice.  The smallest model fits in the palm of your hand.  The opening to refill it is a good size, though, of course, at just 1.25 ounces it'll need to be filled more often.  The toothpaste tube was great, but sometimes messy in my pocket and not as handy in size.  The Go Toob top screws off and the bottom puncture resistant part can be pulled out of the white base ring for easier cleaning.  It was just $7.99, plus tax.

Tonight we went down to Capitol Lake and walked the circuit, which is 1.5 miles.  Every time I saw someone with a dog, I stuck the tube in Gimme's face and let her suck on it while she watched them.  Overall she was much calmer about the presence of the dogs and about people.  About halfway through the walk she'd see a dog and turn toward me for peanut butter.  It worked with horses to get her over her fear, worked to teach her an automatic bicycle-recall behavior, so I'm hoping it will help her to be calmer when she sees other dogs.

What kills me is that it took ninety minutes to walk 1.5 miles.  So that was 30 minutes walking and 60 minutes answering questions about Gimme, liver spotted Dalmatians, dog training, clicker training, peanut butter tubes, etc.  Its a nice walk, but was pitch black by the time we got back to the car.  Hopefully I don't have too many mosquito bites.

Well, Michael just got up and went in the other room - I better go...

A Thing of Beauty

It occurs to me this blog entry could just as easily have been titled "Me And My Shadow".

In an on-going quest to set up successful interactions between the new puppy and my existing dogs, I've been taking Gimme and Meaggi to the Fort Lewis training areas for some light hiking (which actually means, puppy-speed roaming and snooping).  

Last Monday was the first time and it was a thing of beauty to behold.  Watching dogs interact naturally without interference by people, when both are socially appropriate - well its just cool to see.  Meaggi is clearly setting up the hierarchy and telling the stinker that she's got boss status.  Thus far Gimme is fine with that and showed due deference. 

It was really kinda cute watching her follow Meaggi around and copy what she did.  If Meaggi stopped and sniffed, Gimme sniffed too - about 6 feet away.  When Meaggi stopped to pee, Gimme would too. 

Today we did it again, with a longer "hike" and the interactions were great.  Everywhere Meaggi went, Gimme was pretty close behind, until Meaggi got outside the distance from me that Gimme is comfortable with.  Then she would stop and wait for her to return and then follow her some more, inside the comfort zone.

The sad thing is that I now have even more evidence that Meaggi's eyesight is getting bad.  For one thing, she doesn't travel as far from me as she used to when we hiked there.  She's always tended to stay where she could see me, and that is much closer than it used to me. 

Also, she was trotting toward me once and Gimme was in a bit of a play bow and pounced toward her from plain view - Meaggi yelped in surprise at something I would have thought would be hard not to see.  So it seems her clarity of vision has decreased.  It's sad when they get old...

Closing in on the Big Day

Just two days and a couple of hours until baby and me get to meet in person.  I'm so nervous, I can hardly sleep at night.  Naturally I'm coming down with a cold - can you spell massive doses of vitamin C and eating lots of protein.  Also in the last twenty-four hours have cracked my shin on a metal grate (dang that hurts) and have slammed a door shut on my thumb (the nail is turning a lovely shade of bluish-purplish-black).  Right now I'm trying to concentrate on taking my time and focusing on the task at hand (or shin, as the case may be).

Things are coming along.  I'm at that place in my 'puppy preparation to do' list where I'm down to just a million and twelve little tasks.  For me larger projects are easier to do and the little ones just annoy me, so I avoid them.  I don't know if that is part of the Adult ADD thing or what.  But clearly am down to the wire, so I'll have to bite the bullet and get them done anyway.

Meanwhile a tale about living with old dogs.  Recently Michael has been very snarky with sister Meaggi and mostly in situations where I thought it was inappropriate for him to behave that way.  Its been escalating as I've been trying to sort it out.  Then, quite by accident I discovered the cause - Meaggi's eyesight is becoming a problem for her in dim lighting. 

Since her hearing is less than normal, she can't really detect when he's giving verbal warning of impending snark and has to rely on being able to see him and read his face.  And he's just a real pain about not liking her to even bump him.  Think of a pair of 5 and 6 year olds in the back seat of the car, screaming, "Mom Timmy is looking at me", "But, she looked at me first," and you'll get the drift. 

I started by placing a divider in the under-the-computer-desk space, so they each have their own share of the space (which, c'mon, is really big enough for four dogs).  But Meaggi was very uncertain about going in there with that "thing" in there.  So I bought her a tap light and placed it within reach of my foot.  When I sit down to the computer, I tap the light on and when they settle in, I tap it off.  One problem solved.  Meanwhile I'm making a conscious effort to turn lights on and off in a sequence that doesn't leave her trying to move about and potentially bumping into you-know-who. 

Once again I'm learning the lesson of watching the old kids and making accommodations for their senior citizen problems as they crop up.  Usually it comes on so gradually, then one day you think, "Oh dear, how did I not notice before..."