Cleared for Carpet

Emme is still struggling with house breaking. Or rather I should say I am struggling with Emme's house breaking. Emme never messes in her crate even when she is in it many hours overnight. I thinks she has figured out the going outside to do her business routine, but she isn't always consistent. She sometimes will go a week without having an accident. Other times she will make a puddle on the rug more than once in a day. When we have taken her outside and told her to "hurry up" and she is successful, we say she is "Cleared for carpet." We know that we have an hour or two where we don't have to be worried that she will have an accident.

Often when she is outside for business, she is distractible. A squirrel runs through the yard; a jogger comes down the street; a car drives by and she is so fascinated with it that she forgets what she is outside to do. As the old saying goes: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it doodle." Or something like that.

She seems to have the most trouble in bad weather. She will sometimes go outside, sniff around, get distracted by the rain and will not do anything. Ten minutes after we come back into the house, she will make a puddle on the nice dry carpet.

I am a patient woman, and I am sure we are going to master this, but I want it to be right now.

Emme Meets Santa

Emme had her first visit with Santa who stopped at our house last night. Chris took the family out for the annual post-Christmas dinner at the Barn Restaurant and then we returned to our house for dessert. Shortly after we got home, Santa appeared in the family room. He apologized for missing dinner, but brought gifts with him. Emme took one look at the red suit, long white beard, and black boots and quickly decided that she had never seen anything like that before and it probably was something she wouldn't like. She shied away from Santa and barked periodically. Rudy had no such reservations. He brought a toy to share with Santa and followed him around to sniff all the gifts. Emme spent most of the visit safely on someone's lap and she barked whenever Santa got too close. She seemed relieved when he left. It was a shame that Mason missed Santa's visit, but I am sure that Cathy will tell him all about it.

It's All About Me

Emme and Rudy had a great Christmas. They both got presents: stuffed toys, quilts, and even a gift card from Petco. For Emme, the best present was PEOPLE. She had people to hold her, play with her, give her treats, take her outside, talk to her, take her picture, and entertain her. It doesn't get much better than that for a puppy. She loved the attention and I am sure that she thought that everyone was coming to the house only to see her. She loves to be the center of attention and Christmas allowed her that to the max. She was relatively well behaved and only ate the occasional tissue or piece of wax paper.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Emme, Rudy, Ken and Mary Lou.

Rudy's Birthday

Today is Rudy's fifth birthday. We bought him a ball and a tiny fleece squeaky bone for Emme. I figured that Rudy would love the bone too, so I bought another one just like it for him. When I brought the bag with the toys into the house on Wednesday, Rudy immediately knew that it came from the pet store. The items there must have some kind of distinctive smell that he recognizes. I put the bag on the counter in the laundry room and Rudy returned to that spot a hundred times before this morning to smell the bag.

This morning after breakfast, we gave Rudy the presents. He was lukewarm about the ball, but loved the fleecy bone. We gave the other bone to Emme, but invariably, she wanted the one that Rudy had in his mouth. At one time, Rudy was able to fit both fleece bones in his mouth at the same time and Emme was out of luck. I tried to find a tiny toy that Emme could squeak, but she hasn't figured out how to squeak the bone. It fits in her mouth, but she hasn't figured out how to make it squeak yet.

Chewies in Heaven

Emme spends a lot of time with me in my sewing room while I am sewing or using the computer. She has a number of bones and chewies that are too soft for Rudy so she is only given them in the sewing room. We know from experience that Rudy will bite these items into large pieces and bolt them down. We have given him sweet potato chews, Greenies, cornstarch dental bones and other similar items and they last only minutes and go down in big pieces. That cannot be good for his digestive system, so we refrain from giving him those kinds of chewies. Emme, however, will chew on something for hours and so we have decided to only give these to her when Rudy is in another room. So the sewing room has become puppy heaven where there are wonderful things to chew. When I say, "Let's go upstairs" she dashes ahead of me to the sewing room and stands expectantly at the table where I always put away the bones or chewies that are specifically for upstairs. I shut the door to both keep her in with me and to keep Rudy out. We aren't fooling Rudy, however, because when she comes downstairs, Rudy sniffs Emme's mouth to see what she has been chewing on. I don't know how to tell a Labrador retriever not to bolt his food so this has become the best solution. Rudy still gets marrow bones to chew but very few other chewies. Femur bones, balls, and lovies are his entertainment. Emme goes to the sewing room and chews on everything, including some items that are not on the approved list. She is getting better at "leave it" so it all working out.

Let's Play Ball

Ken is teaching Emme to play with a ball. After he and Rudy are done playing fetch out in the yard, Ken takes Emme out. He rolls a ball and Emme chases it. She has no idea that she is supposed to pick it up, much less return it. It is a game of "half fetch." Part of the problem is that all the balls we have are the size of tennis balls or larger: thank Rudy for that. So I purchased two little balls that look like tennis balls but are about the size of ping pong balls. She can get them in her mouth and carry then, so maybe a real game of fetch is in her future.

There's Always Room for Jello

Talk about routine. When I feed Emme, I tell Rudy to "down/stay" while she is eating. That is hard for him because food is one of his favorite things. Emme still is a slow eater and continues to often carry one kibble at a time to the rug to eat it. She usually chooses to carry it right next to Rudy to eat it and Rudy just stays where he is and lets her eat. When Emme is done, I give Rudy a "Good Boy" treat for staying out of the way. Emme, no matter how much she has eaten, also gets a "Good Girl" treat. Even if she is full of kibble and cannot eat another single kibble, she has room for the puppy biscuit. We say that is because "There is always room for jello." Yesterday when Emme ate lunch, Rudy was downstairs with Ken, but at the end of the meal she began to whine and went straight for the counter where we store the treats. I guess even when Rudy is not getting a treat for down/stay, Emme needs "jello" to finish her meal. I often wonder what runs through her little puppy mind. She definitely has a notion of how things are supposed to be.

Emme Visits the Groomer

Yesterday Emme went to the groomer for the second time. I was more specific about how I wanted her cut and I am much more pleased with the results. I told the groomer that I wanted about 1/2 inch of hair left on her body. The groomer said that she wouldn't cut much off the coat, but would trim her face, feet and bottom. When I picked her up, Emme still looked like Emme, but neater. She looks much better and will be ready for company at Christmas.

Emme discovered her reflection in the living room window this morning. She was sitting quietly in the dining room on Ken's lap before breakfast and she suddenly looked over to the living room window and started doing what we call the "rolling growl": rrr-rrr-rrr. This is one of her guard dog sounds. She spotted her reflection in the dark window and was sure that there was a little white dog ready to get into her house. She jumped down from Ken's lap and up on the sofa. She put her feet up on the back of the sofa and continued to growl and protect us from the little white dog she saw. She kept this up until she discovered the crack where the back of the sofa meets the seat cushions. Then she had to investigate that and forgot, temporarily, about the white dog. Later she returned to growling at her reflection until it became light and the reflection was no longer there. Then she discovered that she could climb up on the top of the back of the couch, balance there, and look easily out the window. No little white dogs so she got bored and left.

Cookie Day

Cookie Day has come and gone. Eric and Katherine were unable to come for the event so Grandma, Grandpa, Ken, Rudy, Emme and I went to the lake to make Christmas cookies. We made sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, amaretto oatmeal cookies, and peanut butter blossoms. We worked hard and made many cookies for Christmas, to give away, and for the after Christmas dinner at the Barn. The cookies are fine, but the best part of the day was watching Emme interact with the Grandparents. Chet who often has difficulty remembering the most basic information never forgets Emme's name and he laughs out loud when Emme jumps on his lap and licks his nose. Grandma who has trouble with strength and balance, picks up all eight pounds of Emme and puts her on her lap and bends over to rub her head. Grandpa and Grandma just come alive around that puppy and Emme loves them back.

Emme has an appointment with the groomer this afternoon. She really needs it and we hope she will look better for Christmas. We can barely see her eyes right now. Time for a spiff-up.

Guard Dog

Emme has decided that one of her roles in the household is guard dog. This week when the mail man came to pick up some Christmas presents, Emme caught sight of him driving into the driveway and she went ballistic. She jumped to the couch and put her feet up on the back of the couch and barked continually. We have been working on "Quiet" when we go out in the car. Often Ken will drive, Rudy will be in the back, and I will hold Emme. If Ken runs out of the car to go to Lowe's or to get us coffee, I will wait in the car with the dogs. Emme loves to bark at anything moving in the parking lot. We have been practicing "quiet" when someone is near. She is getting pretty good at it in the car, but she didn't think that the same command meant anything in her home. When the mailman came to the door, I could have been talking Mandarin for all the good it did for Emme. There is always something more to learn.

Half Bichon, Half Mountain Goat

Emme is beginning to jump up on things. Yesterday she was upstairs with me in my sewing room and I went into the green bedroom to organize some Christmas presents. Suddenly she jumped up on the bed, something she has never done before. I told her that beds were not for puppies and I put her back on the floor. She must not have believed me because she jumped up twice again before we left the room. At lunch, I was telling Ken about Emme's visit to the bed and quick as a wink, she jumped on top of her crate. She was as surprised as we were and fussed to get down. We decided to teach her a lesson and not help her down. After whining a little, she settled down and laid down on the top of her crate while we finished eating. This was good because the top of the crate is very close to the top of the counter in the kitchen. Emme on the counter could be a disaster. At the end of lunch, she decided that the crate was not that high and she jumped down. A few minutes later she jumped up and down again. I have read that Bichons are the cats of the dog world when it comes to high places. The highest she has been up to this time has been the sofa. Now she is raising the bar. This may be interesting.

Let's Chat

In the evening, we go upstairs to change clothes and to play "closet ball." Rudy brings a ball or other toy and we play fetch as we are changing. I go into the closet and Ken is in the bedroom and we throw the ball back and forth. Rudy and Emme compete to see who can get the toy first. After we have changed into our pajamas, I go into the bathroom to wash my face and Ken starts downstairs with the dogs. He has started sitting at the top of the steps with Emme to wait for me. While he is waiting, he chats with Emme and rubs her. Now she has decided that is the way one always goes downstairs. She drops down on the top of the steps to "chat" before going down the stairs. She loves to have you put your face right near hers and she sticks out her little tounge and licks at the air that comes out of your mouth as you talk to her. Wierd, but all part of the usual routine. I also discovered that if I chat and then realize that I have forgotten something and go back to the bedroom to get that item, I have to chat again before we go down the stairs. I hope we never have to go down the stairs fast in an emergency. We would be in big trouble.

Dog Toys-R-Us

It is hard to predict which toys will catch and hold the interest of the dogs. Rudy's all time favorites are always balls and his red football that he plays with outside is the best. He also likes "lovies" that he cuddles and has particularly taken to the octopus that he got for his anniversary. He favorite toys are small, fluffy, and noisy: he love the squeakers. One of his current favorites is a tiny pink dog that, of course, I picked out for Emme. She usually wants nothing to do with it and Rudy loves it.

Emme still likes the gorilla and usually plays with a tiny brown bear or the hedgehog. She has chewed both the eyes out of the hedgehog and it lost its squeaker long ago but she loves to race around the house to pounce on it, shake it and throw it up in the air. She likes the Air Kongs but only to chew the fuzz off of them. She gets her little puppy teeth hooked in the fuzz and pulls until there are stringy things handing off the toy. Then we need to take them away for a hair cut.

The only toy that has been absolute bust is a black rubber tire toy I bought for Rudy. It is about the size of a dinner plate and is fun to roll on the floor. I enjoy it, but Rudy has never played with it. I keep it in the garage with the less loved toys and recently I brought it out of the garage to let Emme play with it and her reaction was the same as Rudy's. The tire is a no go.

Both dogs love bones. In the Daniel Pinkwater book, he recommends no bones except cow femur bones. I go to the meat department at Buehlers and have them cut off the ends of the bones and cut the middles into 4 to 6 inch sections. Then according to Pinkwater's instructions, I boil them for 20 minutes. Then I wrap and freeze them and give them out every month or so. Rudy loves them when they are fresh and have marrow in the middle but both dogs continue to chew the bones after they are months or years old. Rudy has some bones from when he first came to live with us. I only throw them out if they are getting too small or if they crack in half, which seldom happens. Emme has never had a new bone so that treat is still yet to come. She likes the old dried out ones so I am sure that she will like a marrow-filled one. Maybe for Christmas.

Where's the Tooth Fairy?

Yesterday Emme lost another tooth. She was worrying her mouth all day, chewing air, and not eating well. I took her up to my sewing room in the afternoon and gave her a sweet potato chew to try to dislodge the loose tooth or help a new tooth break through the gum. I quilted and she chewed for 55 minutes with no change in her teeth. Later in the afternoon, as she was eating dinner, she lost a tooth and was playing with it on the floor. I picked it up from the kitchen floor and put it up on my desk. If the puppy tooth fairy doesn't make a visit, I am going to have this little lost tooth collection on my desk.

Emme has gotten "sit" quite well. She will sit nicely almost everytime she is asked. I have also begun having her sit before I give her the bowl of food. We have done this with Rudy and recently Ken has started telling Rudy to "Leave it" after Ken puts his food bowl on the floor. Rudy is a real champ. He just waits there until Ken tells him "Okay." Rudy does drool all over the floor all the time he is waiting, though.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning

Our morning routine has changed over the last few weeks. Ken and Rudy still get up first, usually about 6 AM, and Emme and I follow about a half hour later. After I have taken Emme outside, I go upstairs to use the bathroom. While I am gone, Emme still sits on the kitchen floor and gets her massage from "Hans" but she often cuts it short to run up the stairs to visit me as I am brushing my teeth. After she has had a chance to wake up and play for a short while, I give her breakfast. After she goes outside again, we are letting her stay up as we have breakfast. Until just a few weeks ago, we put her back in her crate until we were finished with breakfast. She is learning quickly the morning expectations: Ken and I drink a whole pot of coffee, read two newspapers, and do Suduko and Crossword puzzles. Retirement is wonderful. The entire time, Emme and Rudy lay quietly on the floor and usually sleep. After we have eaten breakfast, Emme has started asking to come up on Ken's lap for a cuddle. She sits by his chair and whines and then he picks her up and wraps her in his bathrobe or sweatshirt jacket. She falls back to sleep for 20 minutes or a half hour as we chat and plan the day.

She also comes upstairs with me while I shower and dress. I shut the bedroom door so I can keep an eye on her. When I get into the shower, she sits by the side of the tub and whines. I am not sure what that is about: Does she not like the sound of the shower water? Does she wonder where I am? Does she want to get in with me? Who knows. After I step out of the shower, she has decided that is her job to help me dry off. I use a towel for the top part of me and she licks me like mad from my toes to my knees. When I am done, I am clean on top and covered with puppy spit from the knees down. Before I had a puppy, I used to be such a fastidious person.

School's Out

Yesterday was an eventful day for Emme. Last night was her last night in puppy school. We worked on “Come.” Emme is a champion at coming to anyone with a piece of chicken hot dog in her hand. In real life she is not so reliable. At the last class, each puppy was given a soft latex squeaky toy as a graduation present. Emme was underwhelmed. She looked at it and left it alone. I thought that she might be more interested in it when we got home and there were no distractions. No, thanks; not interested in that toy. This morning we let Rudy play with the toy and he and the toy are inseparable. He is lying on the floor next to my computer squeaking that toy as I write this. He loves it. Emme has been more interested in it as Rudy plays with it, but Rudy is not letting it out of his mouth.

Yesterday Emme lost a puppy tooth. All day long she has been playing with her mouth, holding her head up high and chewing nothing as far as we could tell. I wondered if it was sore gums from getting a new tooth. In the afternoon, I was rubbing her gums to try to give her some relief and felt a wiggly tooth in the back of her mouth. She didn’t eat much at any of the meals, so she knew that something was not right in her mouth. At puppy class, she was chewing a piece of chicken hot dog and her tooth fell out on the floor. I picked it up and took it home with me. It is still on the desk in the kitchen. I guess there is no such thing as a puppy tooth fairy. Emme is much more comfortable today and did a much better job eating her breakfast this morning.

Yesterday I got out the glue and repaired the goose girl ornament that Emme “modified.” It is back hanging on the tree.

Over the River and Through the Woods

One evening every week, we go to Barberton to take Grandma and Grandpa out to dinner and to bring them groceries. We put Rudy in his crate in Wooster when we leave, about 4:45, and he is fine until we get home about 8:30. When we first got Emme, we knew that she wouldn't be able to stay in her crate that long without a break so we began taking her with us. So we started a new routine. We put Rudy in his crate, load Emme's crate and the groceries into Ken's car and Ken, Emme and I drive to Barberton. She looks out the window as we are driving around town, but as we hit Route 585, she snuggles up in my lap and sleeps the rest of the trip. Grandma and Grandpa really look forward to Emme's visit. When we come into their house, usually Grandpa meets us at the door. Then Emme has to lick his face to say hello. He calls her "Tidbit" and talks to her for a while as we unload groceries. By then, Grandma comes into the living room with her walker. Emme dashes up to her to get scratched and talked to. After the groceries are put away, we put Emme in her crate and the four of us go out to eat. Emme puts up no fuss being put in her crate in a strange house. She is quiet when we leave and is quiet when we get home. We always go to the same Italian restaurant, Angie's, and we always order the same things: three spaghettis with mushrooms for Ken, Grandma and me and one small pizza for Grandpa. We always have the same waitresses, either Gena or Bonnie. I guess Bichons are not the only ones that thrive on routine. Chet and Leota both love to see Emme each Wednesday night and Emme is delighted to see them. Riding to Barberton and back home again with a warm puppy sleeping in my lap is one of the highlights of my week.

Singing Christmas Carols

Last night during dinner, we were listening to a Canton radio station, WHBC, which was playing only Christmas music all month. When a station plays Christmas music exclusively, they play everything they have, which leads to some strange play lists. As we were eating, they played "Jingle Bells" by the Barking Dogs. You know the one: "Woof, woof, woof; woof, woof, woof; etc." Emme couldn't resist barking along and we didn't even know that she knew that song. It was too funny.

Emme has also devised a new technique to chew Christmas tree branches. She carries a toy right next to Christmas tree and lays down. She then leans over and chews on the end of a branch. She thinks she is fooling us, but we are pretty sharp. Or maybe by New Year's we may have a Christmas with bare bottom branches.

Emme, the "Leg Dog"

I read that Bichon Frise means “curly haired lap dog.” Emme has not read that. She doesn’t know that she is supposed to be a lap dog. She thinks she is a "leg dog." Her favorite position in the evenings is on our legs when we are in the Lazy Boy chairs. If we put our feet up and cover up with a quilt, it won’t be long before we have a fluffy white "leg dog" as a visitor. Emme will fall asleep there and stay until our legs fall asleep. Cute, but not lap. If she is really sleepy, I can pick her up and relocate her on my lap and she will stay there, but her first location of choice is legs. Go figure.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Yesterday we decorated the Christmas tree in the family room. Although I had all the other decorations up since right after Thanksgiving, I didn't decorate the tree until yesterday. Emme "helped." I probably said "Leave it" 50 times while I put up the first 20 ornaments. Then I realized that Emme wasn't playing with the ornaments, but the ends of the branches of the tree. She settled down and I continued to decorate. Then I noticed that she had left the room and was VERY quiet. A quiet puppy means trouble and I never like her out of my line of sight so I went in search of her. She was laying on her quilt in the living room chewing on a little plastic goose. Where did she get that? I took it away and checked the tree. There near the bottom was a little plastic ornament that used to look like the Hummel Goose Girl. Now it just looks like the girl. I need to buy some plastic glue and make a repair.

This morning Emme came down the stairs by herself after we woke up this morning. Up to this point, I have carried her down the stairs and out so she doesn't make a stop on the way to "hurry up" somewhere she shouldn't. She gets so excited to see Ken in the morning that as I start down the stairs, she begins to wiggle and whine. She is such a handful that I decided that it was time for her to do the stairs by herself before she propelled herself out of my arms halfway down the stairs. So this morning, after I got her out of her crate, she dashed down the stairs by herself, found Ken and then went quickly outside with me. Another milestone toward maturity.

Sleeping in the "Big Bed"

When we packed to go to the lake this weekend we forgot to put Emme’s crate in the car. She has slept in that crate every night since we got her so she is very used to the routine. She is absolutely housebroken in her crate, but I don’t know if the same would be true if she was just loose on the rug in our bedroom. So Ken brought in Rudy’s crate which was stored in the garage. Rudy has been sleeping loose in our room since the beginning of September and hasn’t used his crate at night at all. We put Emme’s “go blanket” in the crate and Emme thought that it was fun to run in and out of the crate all afternoon. We were not sure what she would do when we shut the door and she had to stay inside. We also didn’t know what Rudy would think of someone else spending the night in his crate. Not to worry. When it was time for bed, I put Emme in the crate; Rudy settled down on the rug and everyone went right to sleep. It was like a kid moving from the crib to the “big bed” but it was only for one night. Last night we were back in Wooster and she was back in her regular sleeping crate. It is nice to know that if we forget her crate again, we can just use Rudy’s.

Happy Anniversary

Today is Rudy’s second anniversary living with us. We are so blessed to have him and we planned a party to celebrate the occasion. Ken went to the pet store to buy toys and I got a bag of sweet potato chews. Rudy knew the pet shop bag as soon as it came into the house and wanted it right away. He had to wait until this morning at the lake house. He kept an eye on the bag all day yesterday on the cabinet in the garage and couldn’t wait to get to the toys this morning. Ken bought two toys so we would have peace in the house: a soft fuzzy octopus and an Air Kong shaped like a barbell. Rudy love both of them. Emme seems partial to the Air Kong. We had a party with tea and pumpkin bread for us and sweet potato chews for the dogs. Emme loved her chewie and chewed for a LONG time without making a lot of progress. Rudy loved his and is such a strong chewer that he shattered the chew into many little pieces and gulped them all down. I took Emme’s away from her after about a half hour and put it into the refrigerator. When we got back to Wooster this afternoon, I gave it to her in my sewing room. She chewed another half hour and finally ate the whole thing. I think they are better chews for Emme than for Rudy so I may put the bag in the closet in my sewing room. Emme is starting to come upstairs with me and staying in my sewing room with the door closed while I sew or work on the computer. This will keep the chewies away from Rudy and let her have one once in a while.

The "Go Blanket"

Emme has a “go blanket” that we use when she travels in the car. It is red fleece and even has an embroidery design on the corner. Donnie and Tonya’s baby was born about the time we were to pick up Emme and I wanted to send an embroidered blanket to him when he was born. I sewed out the baby design on the red fleece blanket as a test and then to use for Emme. The design is a little brown bear holding a ribbon that says “Just Arrived.” I don’t know why she needs a blanket to cuddle up in and stay warm for the car. When we go outside to hurry up, I put her down on the cold, wet ground and she gets along just fine. But she has the red blanket and we take it with her when we go for a ride. She loves the red blanket. We store it folded over her crate and periodically she pulls it down and wrestles with it. It must smell like us, coffee to go, Angies, Grandma (who wraps up in it when we return from Angies if it is cold). Anyway it is a favorite object.

Emme went back to puppy school last night. We worked on the beginning of walking on a loose leash. We were to walk two steps with the puppy on our left side and then stand still. When the puppy looked up at our face, we were to give a treat. Emme was great at it; however, she never looked away from my face because I had smelly chicken hot dogs in my hand. We also practiced never letting the puppy pull on the leash. If she pulled, we were to remain stationary and not move until the puppy let the leash go slack. Then she got a treat.

Emme was doing quite well in class: practicing the activity, sitting or laying on the floor then the trainer brought in a big brown dog to demonstrate not allowing the dog to pull on the leash. Emme went ballistic. She barked and was so excited. I think she thought it was a “Rudy dog” who would play with her. All the other dogs just sat there, but not Emme. She certainly got the bark award for the night. We had to keep saying Emme, “no, leave it” to quiet her down. Oh well, she can’t be the star all the time.