The couch is a losing battle

David and I made a lot of decisions before Zeldie arrived in our household. We had a plan and we were confident and we were sticking to it. Part of that plan was a dog-free couch. We started losing ground when she finally got big enough to jump up onto the couch. David and I were so stunned we both just stood there in shock. Our momentary hesitation before we pulled her off might as well have been permission as far as Zeldie was concerned.

Then, one day, I was trying to take a nap on the couch and she jumped up there with me and cuddled right into the crook of my arm. She just settled herself right in. I didn't even resist or restrain her. David did, however, and he started to call me a softie. I didn't mind being a softie. Then Zeldie got smart, she started to jump up on the couch when we were sitting down to dinner. Even David didn't want to get up from dinner to pull her off the couch. Needless to say, the couch is a losing battle.

But, while perhaps we have been more lenient than we planned on this, she is coming along in other ways. Tonight, she was picked to model a skill at puppy training class. David and I were very proud. She has never been picked before and we never thought she would get picked. Terriers kind of do their own thing. They are not people pleasers like the labs and golden doodles so they can be somewhat unpredictable. Not good material for demonstrations. She also was the only puppy to charge towards her handler on the recall. David said the rest of the puppies kind of hopped or walked. But she came running in her flappy way that gives her name the meaning of happiness.

So the couch may be a losing battle, but I suppose, that may be one I am willing to let her win.

Katie Rako...um Schaffner

Two weekends ago I went out to Indianapolis for my former Biloxi roommate (Coach Rakowski)'s wedding. I apologize to Katie for not including her very wonderful husband Josh in the picture at the right. He is definitely a Miss-Ace-Ippian now. Josh--I hope you and Katie have shared lots of late nights with John Denver (Ohhhh lay me down in Forest Lawn...)



I think this is the first wedding I have been to since Anne and I got married, and it brought back a whole lot of good memories of our own wedding. We had so much fun for the whirlwind that that weekend was, and we've only heard positive comments on it the past two years. About the only disappointment from the wedding was that the cake didn't quite come out how we thought it would, although it did taste really good. For the limited amount of people that we could invite and could attend, we do love hearing about it and reminiscing.

The wedding also reminded me just why I married Anne. For among thousands of reasons, the one thing that kept coming to my mind was that Anne is special because she makes all of the things that I thought were weaknesses she actually sees as my strengths. We complement each other in so many ways that make us both better and happier. We hope and trust that Katie and Josh are like that as well and wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Chompers

Zeldie's losing her puppy teeth and replacing them with her permanent ones, as seen in the photo here. While this means she is growing up even more, it also means that she is chewing on lots and lots of things, but not quite as bad as some people tried to lead us to believe. All of the sudden we'll see some small blood spots on her bone or wherever, and we know that she has just or is just about to lose another tooth.

Adventures of a Single Mommy

Zeldie and Mommy (taken by Mommy)

David went to a wedding this weekend in Indianapolis and I was left to take care of Zeldie all by myself. This meant on Friday, I had to get myself up, get the dog up, walk her, feed her, take the garbage out, get ready for work, make my lunch and still get out of the house on time. I was doubtful all this would happen. But, well, wonders will never cease because I did indeed make it to work on time, early in fact. When I got home, I got a very nice note from the dogwalker saying they had a nice walk and Zeldie had been pleasant. I was relieved to hear this because Zeldie had not spent the whole day in the crate since the first week we had her when we had to leave her with Tiffani and go out of town. I was glad though, that Tiffani reminded me of that week otherwise I would probably have been a bit more distracted at work on Friday, if she had not.

Saturday went relatively smoothly, although she cried more than usual when I put her in the crate. When evening came, which is generally her most active time, she was even more riled than usual and I began to think she was showing her first signs of anxiety at David's absence. I was also beginning to realize that either David has taken the role of the alpha dog or I am a big softie because it began to seem like I could not get Zeldie to listen to a single command I gave. I had trouble keeping her off the counters while I was cooking. I had trouble keeping her off the table while I was eating. I had trouble keeping her off the couch while I was watching TV. I spent the entire evening standing in front of the TV trying to distract her from jumping on the couch by throwing her toy and playing tug. It was a long couple of hours.

The next morning, I woke up with a headache. Zeldie was ready to go. This is when I believe what I think was her anxiety kicked into high gear. She was nearly impossible to keep off the couch. She was nearly impossible to keep quiet. After one particularly long barking fit, I heard a pounding on the ceiling, which I am convinced was my neighbor pounding on her floor to signal me to keep the dog quiet. As the pain in my head escalated to a migraine, I felt like a failure. I felt like I had failed at taking care of Zeldie. I felt like I had failed at being a good neighbor. I felt like I had failed at taking care of myself and getting my paper done. I was worn out and it was at least 10 hours until David was going to be home. I didn't think I was going to make it. I did the only thing that seemed logical to me at the moment, I called him and cried.

David told me to take my migraine medication and put the dog in the crate so I could get some rest. I cried harder. David told me to take my migraine medication and put the dog in the crate so that I could get some rest and work on my paper. I cried and cried some more. David told me to take my migraine medication and put the dog in the crate so that I could get some rest, work on my paper and take care of the dog later. She would be fine in the crate, he assured me.

Sure enough, David was right. And now I know that when you have to take care of a little dog all by yourself, you can't be so frivolous with yourself and wait until the migraine kicks in and you are in pain to take your medicine. You have to take care of yourself and take it right away. And I think maybe, that is just a good thing to learn to do whether you have a little dog to take care of or not.

Losing Her Head

Zeldie lost her Kong (if you're looking for gifts, Kong stuffers are always good!) underneath our buffett, and I took this picture.

Today was the first day that I truly thought that she is looking like a dog, not just a puppy. Her snout is definitely fully grown, and her ears have now taken their more natural position. All of the show dogs have their ears glued forward, but we don't want that so they pretty much fall to the side. It looks like she's always in a gust of wind. We like how distinctive the ears are. She's also about to get spayed next Thursday, so our little girl's really growing up. She'll have a collar on for at least a week, and we're pretty sure that she's going to hate every second of it. The vet says we need to keep her calm for that week....I would love a suggestion of how to do that. She can almost get things off of the top of the bar in our kitchen when she jumps, and we're supposed to keep her calm? Hmmm...

Exploring Upwards

We are both so impressed at how big Zeldie is getting and how much she is able to do now. She is getting to the point where she can really start exploring our house vertically, not just horizontally. Her front paws and mouth can now definitely reach the table top (she almost brought a plate of food down on top of her head yesterday) or the countertops, which have a lot of apparently good smelling things. Of course, this increases our anxiety anytime that she is out of her crate, but she also seems to have the (not) peeing in the house down pretty good. As long as we're taking her on pretty regular walks, she seems good. She has even started to sit by the door sometimes when she needs to go outside, which is great.