Dog Bed

Since Lana has been an indoor dog most of the time when Squiggy passed a few weeks ago, we have been looking into getting her a doggy bed so that she can have a place all her own to sleep without being locked in the crate at night.

We looked at Ollies, a discount store, and found the beds for $19.99, and they weren’t quite big enough for our moose of a puppy.  We have kept an eye open on Freecycle for one as well as any store we go to.

I was driving to work one day last week and I noticed that someone down the street from us was putting their garbage out early.  There was a dog bed on the top and it seemed to be in decent condition.  I stopped to look at it and the guy came out with more stuff for the trash pile.  I was a little embarrassed, asking him if he minded if I took the dog bed.  He said it was wet.  So I said thank you and went on my way to work.  I called Todd and asked him to go take a look at it (he was off that day) more closely.  He did so, and he thought it was in good enough condition for us to try it out.  He said that just a little section was wet.  He immediately went to the laundry mat down the street (the bed is too big for our washer) and pumped in $3.50 for the large washing machine with some detergent, bleach and fabric softener.  He then put $1.00 worth of quarters into the dryer to get some of the dog hair off of the bed and then put it in front of our fireplace to dry the rest of the way.

We ended up getting a $30+ dog bed for $4.50.  The thing is, even if we bought a dog bed at the store, we’d still probably take it to the laundry mat to clean a couple times a year.  Todd doesn’t see that as an expense for the dog bed – I do.

Jackpot!

Holy Terror

I was reading up about when puppies grow out of their puppy stage, and one article notes that if you don’t train them while they are puppies, they can grow up to be “holy terrors” as adult dogs.  That is what Lana is going through right now.  She is 7 ½ months old, and “holy terror” is definitely how I would describe her.  It is to the point that I’m at wits end! 

Last week, Lana about knocked me out.  I was in their house, picking up Squiggy’s food dish.  As I was bending down, she decided to run under me and jump up.  I can honestly say that I saw stars.  Her thick block-head hit my jaw at an angle, and I think it did something to my jaw, because I’ve had horrible headaches since.  Not to mention, the bone is still bruised and hurts to the touch.   At that moment, I thought I could have really hurt her.  I was in so much pain and so angry.  But she is a puppy.  As much as I wanted to tan her hide, I just screamed really loud in pain.  It scared her quite a bit, and she was submissive for a few minutes until I got over it.

This weekend, she was able to slip through the fence.  Todd mended the fence, and within 24 hours, she figured out that she could jump OVER the fence.

Todd and I are at a loss.  What the heck are we going to do?  We got Lana to keep Squiggy busy.  She is barely even with Squiggy other than to sleep with at night and to antagonize him.  What were we thinking to get a puppy?!?

I think that part of the problem is that she has WAY too much energy.  We had been going on walks in the morning (over a mile) and then at night, I’d kick a ball around the back yard until it was dark.  That does not happen anymore.   It is dark by the time I leave work at 5:30, and when I get home at 6:30, it is pitch black. She has all of this pent up energy and no way to release it.  We tried this weekend to put her on the treadmill.  It didn’t work too well, but we are going to try again tonight.  And I will do it again tomorrow morning, and then tomorrow night again.  She has to get used to the treadmill.  We need her to get her exercise.  It is too dangerous to take her for walks on our roads right now (too icy, and not wide enough for a car and a pedestrian.)  So…if I have to wake up an hour early and try to get Lana on the treadmill (as I try to work out too,) sobeit.  It has to be done.

I also have to show her who’s boss.  I spoil and baby her.  Todd is definitely the disciplinarian.  Well, she doesn’t jump at Todd at all.  As soon as she sees me, she jumps 6 feet in the air.  I need to learn to be more firm with her and let her know that I am the alpha-dog in the house. 

Squiggy used to be the alpha, and Todd hated that because Squiggy would chase him around the yard (charging him.)  Now, Squiggy is completely submissive since Lana came along.  Lana has beat Squiggy into submission.  I am a little thankful for that, but now she needs to be put in her place.

So…I will be taking out any movies I can on dog training and learn to train a dog to do what I want it to do.  It will be a rough road, but we’ll get there, eventually.

Meet Lana

I would like to preface this by saying that we wanted a friend for Squiggy.  I felt bad for leaving him home alone while we were at work, and I felt like we weren’t spending enough time together before he fell asleep at night.  So, we talked about getting a friend for him.  We loosely looked around at pounds, but we knew we wanted a puppy – something that was young enough not to attack him, and something that would be big enough that it could hold its own toward him.

Lana (pronounced lawn-a) May (because Todd and I were married in May) was found while Todd and I were at a flea market on July 16th.  Yes, a flea market. I don’t necessarily agree with people selling animals at flea markets because I fear for the type of homes these animals may go to.  However, we walked by and she was with her little sister in a pen.  She was adorable with those puppy eyes.  Todd and I saw the price ($50) and we said we’d have to think about it.  Even the pound wanted over $100 total for a dog after all the fees and such. We walked around for another hour and talked about it while looking through the flea market.  This was mid-way through our counseling, and it showed that we were doing MUCH better at communicating about important things like this.  I was proud of us. 

After an hour, we decided that we wanted her.  So we went and bought her a harness and leash for $1, and then bought the puppy.  She was 7 weeks old when we got her.  8 lbs 13 oz. at her first vet visit a few weeks later.  About 3 weeks after that, she was 16 lbs 8 oz.  And upon today’s vet visit (September 15^th), she is 26 lbs 8 oz.  Mind you, she is 3 weeks shy of her 4 month birthday.  We knew she would be a decent sized dog, but if she keeps growing at this rate, we are going to have a moose!

The first month together was not a pleasant one between Lana & Squiggy (and me too: very stressful!)   Now that Lana is almost as tall as Squiggy, she can hold her own.  Plus, he doesn’t hurt her when he throws her down.  She is still very much a puppy with a lot of energy.  Squiggy…not so much.  His main goal in life is food (just like me!).  Hers is play! This is a video of the two of them playing around in the yard two weekends ago.  Please excuse the laundry on the line.  

  

Some have mentioned that it looks cruel that Lana is doing that to Squiggy, but that is Squiggy playing.  He likes to chase things around. He does that to us in the yard even before we got Lana.  I think Lana is keeping him young, that’s for sure!  He has to stay on his toes to keep up with that little ball of energy.

To be honest, it hasn’t been until recently that I have felt a bond with Lana.  Lana loves Todd.  Respects Todd. Adores Todd.  Me, she misbehaves and is unruly.  Todd says it’s because I don’t discipline her, but who knows.  At any rate, I am finally feeling a bond with her as she calms down and is starting to listen to my commands.  I am enjoying our walks in the mornings and playing with her and Squiggy in the back yard in the evenings. 

If children are more work than these animals, I’m not sure I can handle it!