Emme and Big Mama Gorilla, the First Video

This is my first attempt to add video to Emme's blog. It is, of course, of Emme and her best toy, Big Mama Gorilla. I used my new Nikon Coolpix S560 camera to take the video. I pulled it into Picassa and was able to edit the start and end point with that program. I also tried to use Windows Movie Maker and did not understand at all what I was doing. I will try this again tomorrow to see if I can figure it out. I wish I had a ten year old living with me to teach me all this technology.

How Many Words Does She Know?

Yesterday Ken and I were sitting in the living room and I offered to get a banana and yogurt for each of us for an afternoon snack. The minute I uttered the word "banana" Emme jumped up and ran for the kitchen. She must know that word. I know she knows the sound of me tearing one banana off of the bunch. If I go to the kitchen to make a breakfast of eggs and toast, she could care less. She stays in the dining room or living room and just lets me work. If I make oatmeal, however, and pull off a banana to cut up on top, Emme runs to the kitchen so she can have a slice. She loves bananas and I was not surprised that she figured out the sound of a banana being part of a meal preparation, but I didn't know she knew the word, banana.

Emme is sometimes so smart, it is scary. I know that she understands many words: ride, bed, walk, snack, eat, come (sometimes), sit, down, get Big Mama Gorilla, nap. I wonder how many words she actually knows.

"Come" Sometimes

Emme has decided that the command "Come" only applies sometimes. If I am preparing a meal and call "Emme, Come" she dashes to the kitchen. If I am in the closet and call her from the bedroom, she runs to me as fast as she can. So I know that she knows what the command means and is perfectly able to do it. When she wants.

On the other hand, if she is playing "You'll Never Find Me," she hides somewhere in the house and gleefully waits silently as I call "Emme, Come" and search the house to locate her. I thought that was the only time that "Come" didn't count.

Recently she has decided that "Come" doesn't apply to her if I want her to go outside for a hurry up and it isn't her idea. Three or four times in the last few weeks, I have called her to come and her behavior is exactly the same. She turns her head away from me ("If I can't see you, I can't hear you.") and she walks slowly away in the other direction. She doesn't run; she just meanders like she is taking a stroll, so I won't get the idea that she is running away, just that she hasn't heard me. I only have to say "Emme, no" very quietly to call her on it. I don't have to yell. I just have to let her know that I know she has heard me and she can't ignore me.

What is this about? Come means come all the time. Except when it doesn't.

Big Mama Gorilla is a Multi-tasker

Big Mama Gorilla is Emme's favorite toy. Rudy, on the other hand, has many favorites. Usually by the time we have finished breakfast, Rudy has gotten out three or four different stuffies and has spent some time loving each one of them. He spends a few minutes with each lovie and then moves on to the next one. Not Emme. It is Big Mama Gorilla or nothing.

Big Mama Gorilla is Emme's nap buddy. After lunch, if a nap is on the schedule, all I need to say to Emme is "Get your lovie for a nap" and she dashes around the house to see where she has left Big Mama Gorilla. She grabs hold of her and runs for the couch on the porch or the family room. Sometimes she needs a boost to get both of them up on the pillows or the arm of the couch and then she is ready to settle in for some quiet time.

Big Mama Gorilla is also useful for a game of tug-of-war. Emme loves to grab some part of Big Mama Gorilla and pull while Ken or I tug on the other end. Some how this is a great game.

Big Mama Gorilla is also Emme's solace. If Emme is reprimanded for anything, such as making a racket, barking at someone on the street, Emme has to rush to Big Mama Gorilla for comfort. This must make her feel better because she always does this if she is scolded or shot with the plant mister.

Another task for Big Mama Gorilla is just being there when Emme wants some quiet loving. Emme with lie down and grab Big Mama Gorilla with her mouth. She mouths the stuffie almost like she is nursing and pushes her feet alternately against the side of Big Mama Gorilla and begins to fall asleep.

I don't know what Emme would do without Big Mama Gorilla.

Who Eats First?

There has been a change in mealtimes with Emme and Rudy. In the beginning and for a long time, Rudy ate first and often Emme would lie down on the waiting rug and watch until Rudy was finished eating. This never surprised us because we know how food-driven Rudy was and how Emme was a good eater, but not too enthusiastic. We were also told that often the "alpha dog" ate first and then the other dogs ate. Rudy was definitely older and much bigger, so we weren't surprised that he was the alpha dog of the pair.

Then we went through a period when they would eat simultaneously. Neither waited for the other to finish. We would put the kibble on the floor and both would eat. This went on for months.

Recently however the tables have been turned. Rudy will not eat his breakfast until Emme has completed her breakfast. He seems interested in his meal and even drools as he is waiting but he often lies down by Ken's side and waits for Emme to finish her breakfast. Only after she finished, does he begin his meal. This is much more pronounced at breakfast. Often at the dinner meal, he will begin to eat almost as soon as Emme does. But at breakfast, he waits. Have they decided that Emme is now the alpha dog and should eat first or is something else going on at the first meal of the day. I wish I know. I want that "Up collar." Now!

Pill Pockets

Rudy takes a few pills each day and it is usually not a problem. We give him thyroid medicine twice a day by stuffing it inside a dice-sized cube of cheese. He eats it down with no problem. We use cheese for any small hard pill with great success. Rudy also takes Cyclosporine daily and it comes in a large capsule. We have been giving it to him wrapped inside a quarter of a piece of white bread spread with about a teaspoon of peanut butter. This has worked for a year or more. Until now.

Rudy is refusing to eat the peanut butter/white bread/ capsule. If we put it in his mouth, he either spits it out immediately or holds it in his mouth for a few minutes and then spits it out. He is absolutely refusing to take the capsule but is not objecting to his other pills in the cheese cube. The capsule is too large to insert into cheese so we went to the pet store and bought "Pill Pockets" made by Greenies. They cost about nine dollars for 30 pockets. They are made out of some sort of doughy product and you put the capsule inside and then mold the pill pocket up and around the capsule. So far these work. Rudy eats down the hidden capsule. We plan to use the pockets for a month, until we use up the package and we plan to go back to the peanut butter and white bread method. Maybe by then, Rudy won't object. Who knows?

Same Dogs, New Camera

I went to the camera store yesterday to buy a new battery and photo storage card for my digital camera. It was taking too long to recharge the flash after I took a picture and I wanted the camera to be in top condition for the upcoming family reunion. When I showed them the camera, they told me that they did not stock batteries for that camera any more. They could order one but it would cost between 59 and 79 dollars. They can't get another storage card because the technology has changed and they no longer make the card that fits my camera. The camera was too old! I said that it was only four or five years old and they said "How old is that in dog years? It is the same for digital cameras." Manufacturers come out with new versions of cameras every nine to 12 months and my camera was eight or more versions back.

I asked to see new camera similar to my current camera and was told that they sold nothing like it. They said the new ones had ten times the features and capacity of my old camera and cost half of what I had paid for mine. So I bought a new camera. It is a little point and shoot camera made by Nikon. The model is called "Coolpix" and it is pink to my husband's chagrin. After charging the battery last night, I have been playing with the camera during breakfast. It is really nice and does have many features that I am sure I will use. It is easy to turn the flash off or turn it on all the time to use as a fill flash. It goes into macro mode for close ups with no problem. I can play back one picture or set the screen to show up to 16 thumbnail photos. It is easy to erase one or all the pictures. It has a five way zoom, both shorter and longer than my old camera. I really like this new camera and am eager to take more pictures with it.

Nap Buddies

Today is one of those almost perfect summer days, extremely unusual in Ohio. The temperature is 75 degrees. The humidity is low. There is a gentle breeze and the sky is an incredible blue. Unbelievable! After puttering around all morning: making a crock-pot dish for tonight's quilt guild picnic, watering my house plants, finishing the last 20 pages of a novel, and preparing lunch it was time for an after lunch nap. Ken and I finished lunch, did the dishes and while we were busy with those tasks, the dogs got their lovies and dragged them out to the porch in case it was going to be nap time. They watch everything we do and try to anticipate our next activity. They want to be ready so they don't miss any opportunity.

In this case, they were spot on. The porch doors were opened wide and I had a new book to begin. It was cool enough for me to spread out a quilt and settle down for a nap. Rudy only stayed for a few minutes before he relocated into the living room to be with Ken. Emme stayed. After loving Big Mama Gorilla for a while, she jumped down on top of my legs to lie down as I read. Naps are good. Beautiful summer weather is better. Having two nap buddies is best.

I Want That "Up" Collar

If you have seen the Pixar film "Up" you remember the collars that allow the dogs to talk. I want one of those.

Emme and Rudy are sometimes so strange and do such unusual things that Ken and I have always wanted to have a way to talk to them and just ask each of them "Why do you do that?" We have wished that we could have 15 minutes with each of them to ask about strange behaviors that we have seen. I am sure that 15 minutes would not be enough time to get the answers we want, so I want to switch to an "Up" collar. I could put one on Emme and Rudy and when they did something weird, I could ask why in the world they were doing that. And they could tell me. Maybe I will put an "Up" collar on my Christmas list.

More Than an "Power Chewer"

For Emme's recent birthday, I purchased a chew toy labeled "for your power chewer" as a birthday present for her. Although Emme is very gentle with her stuffed toys, she is a powerful chewer. Because she loves to chew on marrow bones, I knew she would enjoy a chew toy of some kind for her birthday.

She has a Kong, but she never chews on that. She will lick peanut butter from the inside of it or figure how to get out little bits of kibble stuffed inside but she does not chew the Kong itself. She is so excited when she gets the Kong but as soon as it is empty, it could be invisible. She wants nothing more to do with it. I hesitate to give her rawhide to chew because I am just not sure about that. She does get sweet potato chews but they are consumed and gone. I wanted a toy she could chew when she wanted.

I read every label in the pet department of Target and selected two toys for Emme: a small pink stuffed rabbit and a blue chew toy labeled "for your power chewer." I also purchased a fetch stick for Rudy because I couldn't get a birthday present for Emme and leave Rudy out. After Emme played with the rabbit for a few minutes, she left it to pick up the chew toy. Rudy immediately picked up the little pink rabbit and has had it since. Emme didn't mind because she immediately started chewing on the blue chew toy. She chewed on it for only a few minutes before she chewed a chunk of the plastic right off. You can see the bitten off chunk in the upper right corner of the photo. If that toy was made for a "power chewer" Emme must be more than a "power chewer." She must be a "super power chewer."

So I took the chew toy away from Emme and will return it to the store. I will probably exchange it for another pink rabbit so she can have some time with it while Rudy monopolizes the first one. The blue chew toy she had is just too dangerous for her. She easily could chew off another chunk and swallow it. I wish I could find a good, non-lethal chew toy for Emme.

Happy Birthday, Emme

Yesterday was Emme's third birthday. Although we did celebrate her first birthday, last year when she was two, we were preoccupied with health concerns and it passed us by. So Emme's third birthday was a "do-over." We wanted to give her a special treat for her birthday but were stymied in choosing something appropriate. We are very careful about what we give to both Emme and Rudy because many things upset their digestion. For Christmas one year, I purchased a doggie ice cream as a treat. Rudy handled it well, but it was too much for Emme. It gave her very loose stools and I don't want to repeat that.

Emme loves both yogurt and canned tuna and has eaten both of those items in the past with no difficulty. So we chose tuna as her treat. When we got up, I sang "Happy Birthday" to Emme and she was underwhelmed. When Ken got out her kibble, I opened a can of tuna. That caught Emme's attention. So both Emme and Rudy got spoonful of tuna and the water it comes in on top of their kibble. This was a real celebration. No songs, just tuna.