Filing Help

Yesterday Ken and I were at the kitchen table, sorting some financial papers of his parents. Ken had carried the stack of papers home in a green box that he dropped by his side as we worked. In the middle of the job, Ken looked down and saw that Emme had chosen the empty box as a little nest. She nestled down in the box and periodically licked the cardboard in the corners, making them wet with dog spit. Ken said with resignation, "Well, there goes my file box." After we were done, Emme got out of the box; the dog spit in the corners dried, and the papers went back into the box. You never know how helpful a puppy can be. She can even help with the filing.

She Knows the Routine

For months, Emme has known our morning routine. Ken and Rudy get up first, about 6:00. After they are done in the bathroom, they both go downstairs to let Rudy out and for Ken to start coffee. Emme stays quiet in her crate and never fusses or makes a sound until I wake up about 6:30. Then I turn on the bedroom light, get up and let Emme out of her crate. I thought that was so smart of Emme to understand the schedule and wait patiently to get up.

Now she knows the going to bed routine as well. Each evening, after we take the dogs outside for one last time, Ken goes to the cabinet and gets his night time medicine, goes to another cabinet to get a biscuit for Rudy and to a container on the counter for an Emme biscuit. Emme knows what he is going to do before he does it. She goes to the first cabinet and points her face up to the spot where Ken gets his pill container. As soon as he has done this, Emme rushes over to the cabinet with Rudy's biscuits. As Ken is picking up the biscuit, Emme is dashing over to point her face to the container with her biscuits in it. She knows the routine and goes to each place before Ken gets there. What a smart puppy!

Emme's New Quilt

I made Emme a little quilt this weekend for riding in the car. When we first got Emme, I made a red polar fleece blanket to wrap her up in the cold car. We used that over the winter, but as spring arrived, it was just too hot in my lap. I rode a few times with nothing on my lap, but Emme's little toe nails are too sharp for that to be comfortable while I was wearing shorts. We get near something interesting and she is up, looking around and digging her little nails into the tops of my legs. I replaced the red blanket with one of Emme's white towels but I figured I could do better than that. In straightening up my sewing room recently, I came across a "cheater" wall panel and decided to use that as a car quilt. I layered, quilted, and bound it this weekend and it is Emme approved. It is more comfortable than the polar fleece, better looking than a white towel and just Emme sized.

Sibling Rivalry

Whatever Rudy has, Emme wants. Whatever Emme has, Rudy wants. Each is so concerned that the other doesn't get anything he/she doesn't get also. So when one dog gets petted, both dogs get petted. When one dog goes outside, both dogs go outside. When one dog gets a toy, both dogs try to get the same toy. When one dog gets played with, both dogs get played with.

When one dog gets a treat, both dogs get a treat. It has gotten so that when one dog gets medicine: a pill hidden in a piece of cheese, the other dog gets a piece of "sympathy cheese" so it won't feel left out. This is just like raising two children.

White Tornado

Emme loves to dash around the house at breakneck speed, like a white tornado. She runs from room to room, occasionally stopping to pounce on a stuffie or Rudy. She will run through the family room, back out again, through the kitchen, to the front hall, and then repeat this until she is panting. Another route is through the living room, kitchen, and front hall. This must be something specific to the breed, because I have heard this referred to as the "Bichon Blitz." Sometimes she runs to celebrate just coming in from outside after finishing her business. Sometimes she runs because she needs to go outside and take care of business. Sometimes she runs for the sheer joy of running. After a few minutes of frantic running, she lies down panting. After a good run, she needs a good nap. What a character!

Another Night at Dog School

Last night was session five of Emme's dog school. We worked on duration, distance, and distractions. For duration, the trainer said to put your dog in a down position and wait to click and treat for three seconds. Then extend the time to five seconds, then ten, and then work up to a whole minute. Emme does stay in a down position when I am cooking in the kitchen. I am sure she stays a minute or longer at a time. Next distance: we are to stand in front of the dog in a down position and then take one step back, return and click and treat. Then try two steps, three steps, up to ten steps. I think Emme also does this because when I am preparing food, I am all over the kitchen, not just directly in front of Emme.

The last D was distractions. We are to try all the commands with distractions such as training outside. Emme does NOT do this. When she is outside, I could be talking Chinese for all the good the commands do. She is so busy smelling the pachysandra, watching someone mowing a lawn, listening to outside sounds, that I could be invisible. When she accidentally does something right and I click to tell her "Good job." She is so distracted; she doesn't even hear the clicker. Emme has no resistance to distractions. Inside, she works like a champ. Outside, she reverts to no discipline, no training, and no skills. We have a lot of work to do.

Hold Me; Love Me

An important part of our morning routine is Emme asking for Ken to hold her and love her. After we get up and the dogs have taken care of business and eaten breakfast, Ken and I go into the dining room to drink coffee, read newspapers, work on Sudoku and crossword puzzles, and eat breakfast. We are usually there a while. While we are at the table, Emme and Rudy play for a while and then settle down for morning naps. After we are finished eating, Emme comes up to Ken and whines. That is the signal for him to pick her up and love her. At first, Emme has to play shy and back away when Ken leans down to pick her up. Very shortly she succumbs and lets him pick her up. He picks her up and the first thing Emme needs to do is stretch up to lick his ears and face. Then she settles down in his arms to lick. She licks his fingers and wrist, I guess to see if he has handled any T bone steaks or pork chops as part of his breakfast. After a good long lick, she settles down to nap. She lies there many minutes until Ken is so hot he needs to let her down. He says it is like holding a hot, furry, white brick. That completes the morning routine and then it is on to washing dishes, washing the puppy, and straightening the kitchen. Mornings cannot start the right way until Emme has had her morning loving.

Resting with Big Momma Gorilla

Emme loves to rest with her head on Big Momma Gorilla. Big Momma Gorilla was a child's toy from Kohl's that came with a Baby Gorilla attached. I clipped the cord to the baby and Emme seldom want to play with that. It is Big Momma Gorilla she wants. Sometimes she wants to wrestle with her, but most often she naps with Big Momma Gorilla as a pillow. Emme grabs the toy, clamps her mouth over it, and wraps her front paws around it. Then she is absolutely still. She closes her eyes and either naps or just rests there for minutes at a time. Life is good resting with Big Momma Gorilla.

Big Trouble

Yesterday, Emme got in BIG trouble. Ken and I took the dogs to the lake house where we were going to paint the garage floor. You can see where this story is heading already, can't you? I put the dogs in the kitchen and we went out to the garage to work. Ken rolled grey epoxy paint on the garage floor and while it was still wet, I sprinkled blue and white vinyl chips on top. It really does make a nice looking, durable floor. I checked on the dogs twice while we were working and they were lying on the floor in front of the sink, waiting.

When we were done, both dogs needed to go outside. There is a landing just outside the kitchen door with a door leading outside. Since both dogs needed to go outside, I didn't want to put the leash on only one, because I was afraid the other would push out the door instead of waiting. Then it would be just a few steps to disaster for a dog without a leash. Turn left, take two steps and the dog would be on the wet floor. So I put collars and leashes on both dogs at the same time, stepped out on the landing, opened the door, and got them outside to the deck. With some difficulty, I got both dogs and me down the steps to the grass and they both took care of business. So far, so good.

Then we came back inside the garage. Just before I got the kitchen door open, Emme jumped under the railing down to the wet floor. Then she immediately jumped back on the landing. Her paws were covered with grey paint and she made little puppy paw prints on the dark brown landing. They looked just like they were made with rubber stamps. I swooped Emme up into my arms and immediately got grey paint all over my blouse. I wasn't sure what epoxy paint would do to her paws, so I got a kitchen towel and tried to rub the paint off. I got grey paint all over the towel but I couldn't get all the paint off. Then Ken yelled into the kitchen that the paint could be cleaned up with soap and water. I got a soapy dish cloth and washed her paws. Grey paint on the dish cloth but still more on her paws. I decided that I would give her a bath but I couldn't figure out where to put her down that she wouldn't walk paint all over the floors. So with Emme still in my arms, I went downstairs and got the puppy shampoo and towels. I came back upstairs, ran a sink full of water and gave Emme a bath. I finally got all the grey paint off of her. Meanwhile, Ken scrubbed the puppy paw prints off the landing with a wet rag. I stripped off my now wet clothes and filled the washer with them and the dish towel, dish cloth, and puppy bath towels.

A little while later, the puppy was dry, the wash was done and the crisis was behind us. We got paint out of every thing but my aqua blouse which still has little grey paint smears on the front. This is going to be a story that we laugh about in a few weeks. Yesterday it was not funny.

Kongs are for Licking

Kong toys are heavily advertised as a tough chew toy for dogs. Emme and Rudy have never read those advertisements. The never chew on a Kong toy. They lick.

When we have bagels for breakfast, Ken puts some peanut butter in the Kongs for the dogs. When we eat, Emme and Rudy enjoy many minutes of licking the peanut butter out of the center of the Kongs. Rudy has a large red Kong, pictured above with Emme, and Emme has a tiny pink one. Each dog could put their mouth around the Kong and chew, but neither does. Ever. They never chew on them. They only lick.

More Tear Stain Progress

We have been using the antibiotic, Tylan, for three weeks now to get rid of the red tear stains under Emme's eyes. I can see a further reduction in the red stains at this point. She is now on an eighth of a teaspoon every other day. I mix the powdered antibiotic in about a half-teaspoon of peanut butter and spread that on an eighth piece of wheat bread. Emme loves it because of the peanut butter taste and I love it for clearing up her eyes.

One Ear Back

Emme often goes around with one ear flipped back. It kind of makes her head look unbalanced. Ken thinks this is her punk look.She comes over to him and he flips her ear to the front. Maybe her ears should have little weights glued to the ends so they always fall in the correct position. Or maybe we should just enjoy her cute look.

Just Like Cooties

Every child in elementary school knows about "cooties." No body ever teaches them about cooties, but every second grader knows that "EEWW, Boys have cooties" or "EEWW, Girls have cooties." Take your pick. Just like knowing about cooties, dogs know the game "Under the Couch." No one ever teaches them about it. They just know.

Rudy loves to shove a ball under the couch and then bark and whine to make Ken get down on the floor and retrieve the ball for him. Emme knows the same game. She pushes her little tennis ball under the couch and then lies there, with her head under the skirt of the couch and whines. She is small enough that she can squeeze under the couch. But that isn't the game. The game is to whine and then wait for me to lie down on the rug, reach under the couch, and get the ball for her. As soon as it is out, the game starts again. Push the ball under, whine, wait for Mary Lou to pull it out. Over and over again.

No Hats

Emme doesn't like men in hats. We noticed this last weekend at the reunion. During the day, she would be perfectly fine around various men. Then they would put on a ball cap to go out on a boat ride and Emme would bark furiously at them. It was like she never saw them before, even though she had spent hours around them. We noticed the behavior and experimented: hat on, Emme barked. Hat off, she stopped. How odd.

Today Ken was mowing the lawn. He put on a straw hat to keep the sun off his head. I walked Emme around to the front yard on the leash to talk to Ken. As soon as she saw him, wearing a hat, she began barking. He took off the hat and she stopped. She just doesn't like men in hats.

Another Night at Dog School

Last night was night three of dog school. Emme's classmates (dogmates?) included an Irish Setter, a Puggle, and a Papillion. We continued to work on sit, stand, touch, walk on a loose leash, and other commands.

Using the clicker in a room full of dogs seems workable. Each dog seems to listen for their owner's clicker in a room full of noise and other clickers. We each had to make a version of "doggy trail mix." This is a combination of dry food used as treats. Emme's mix includes Cheerios, Cheetos air balls, and left over Cinnamon Toast cereal from Dylan's visit. She seems to like all that fine. When I throw in a couple pieces of kibble into the mix she acts like she is being cheated. She sits; I click, and give her a piece of dry kibble. She sniffs it and then looks up like "What's this? Where are the Cheerios?"

Emme loves to play clicker so she is excited to go to dog school. She is fascinated by the other dogs and this often proves to be a distraction. She is better at home than in class, but I guess that is to be expected. Both she and I, however, are learning a lot.

Making Progress

I think that we are making progress on the tear stains under Emme's eyes. We have been using the livestock antibiotic for a little over two weeks. Emme has some dark stains under her eyes, but the stains look more brown than red and I don't think they are getting larger. When I wash up Emme in the morning, I often trim the hair around her eyes. As I trim away some of the brown hairs, there seems to be less and less stained hair. We are only at the beginning of the protocol and I think this might do the trick. I will be very happy if that is so.

Being a Puppy is Exhausting

Emme has spent an exhausting week. She has been the entertainment all last week for our grandson. Then on Thursday, our son and daughter-in-law came for the weekend from Washington, DC. Emme had her role of hostess to uphold, so she had to lick and play with everyone. Then as a culmination, yesterday we had a family reunion at the lake house. With 14 people attending, Emme was a busy puppy: being cute, licking, showing off her clicker training, being held, petted and cuddled. By the end of the day she was exhausted. Eric and Katherine left last night to drive home. Dylan flew home this morning. Today it is just the four of us, Ken, Rudy, Emme and me. Emme is taking the opportunity to rest up. Which is a good thing, because tonight my brother-in-law and sister-in-law from Texas are coming to spend the week with us. Emme will have to go back to work. A puppy's work is never done.

A Visit from the Grandson

We are having a visit from our eleven year old grandson, Dylan, from Boulder, Colorado. He will be with us for nine days and we are having a grand time. Emme fell in love with him from the start and she is his alarm clock. Dylan is still on Colorado time, two hours earlier than Ohio. So when we get up, it is still WAY early by his body clock. So after he has slept in for a few hours, we send Emme in to wake him up. She jumps on his bed and heads straight for his head. It is impossible to continue sleeping with a puppy licking your face and ears.

Yesterday in the car Dylan asked how much Emme cost. I asked him why he wanted to know and he told me that he just loves Emme and would like to buy a puppy just like her. I think the feeling is mutual.