Adolescent Ears

Posted on June 30, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

ive been rather lazy with my training lately and its showing. today while on his leash, liame pulled me around a like a sled this morning in an attempt to go play with jasper. additionally, his adolescent ears have been ignoring my “come” command. lately i havent been using the “nothing in life is free plan” where he has to earn his daily allotment of food just because it was kind of a hassle to carry a bait bag around with me all day. today i am switching back to the plan. i dont want adolescence to take control of my puppy.

Are You OK Mommy?

Posted on June 28, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Major Steps, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

today i took a tumble out into the middle of the street right infront of the path of a fire truck. even though i was disoriented, it was noisy and cars were going by while i was sitting down liame looked into my eyes and with his cute puppy face asked me, “are you ok mommy?” there is part of me that cant believe he didnt run away with his tail between his legs but i guess all that walking down 1st ave with semis going by 5 feet from us really paid off.

Positives and Negatives

Posted on June 27, 2008
Filed Under Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i cant believe that when i biked home on tuesday i saw 42 cyclists doing the same thing. its cool that seattle has an infrastructure that allows people to easily cycle to work. liame doesnt seem to be able to get comfortable during his time in the croozer. he moves around and repositions his weight several times during our ride. there is a large metal cross bar to support his weight but at this point since the floor bends and flexes under his weight, i would think it would feel like sleeping on a futon support. i should be able to come up with a solution to this problem but will probably have to end up building him a custom bottom.

i have been slowly transitioning jasper out of service. i was thinking i might retire him on july 3rd since i will be between projects and my stress level should be rather low, but now that i am experiencing a rather large set back, i am rethinking that date. lately, ive had to take him home several times due to the fact that there was another dog present in the building and he just cant control his desire to play. right now liame is like the golden child and i cant expose him to the inappropriate behavior that jasper is displaying while his vest is on. not having jasper here all the time has ended up being a bit of a blessing because it is forcing me to do without him and focus on training liame. additionally, the other dog is providing a great learning experience for liame on how to ignore other dogs while his vest is on.

A Younger, Less Experienced, Cheaper Model

Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under Jasper, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

today i feel like i am outsourcing, like somehow i am downgrading the level of service that i receive from jasper in exchange for a younger, less experienced, more energetic and cheaper model. i feel a bit like i am betraying him. i know, i know, it has to happen but it doest make it any easier.

i almost didnt go to work today. i feel like crap. im glad liame and jasper pushed me to finally get my but out of bed but i dont know how much longer i can keep fighting this episode. all i want to do right now is lock myself up in a closet and stare at the walls. i havent felt like this in a long time. im trying to push through this, hoping its just a temporary set back, that somehow if i just wait long enough and keep exercising and eating right that i can work my way out of it. my meds have been upped to their max and i dont want to be put on another medication just to experience its roller coaster ride. im going to ask my doctor if there are any nutritional supplements that i can take that wont interfere with my current medication load.

Mommy, Mommy!!! TODAY IS THE BEST DAY EVER!

Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Mitigating Symptoms, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i am still having difficulty getting out of bed in the morning due to the cycle i am in. because i sometimes sleep on the couch downstairs and dont have to lock liame in his crate all night i have been able to train liame to hop up on top of me and lick my face when the alarm clock goes off. but sleeping in my normal bed i have to lock liame up in his crate at night because there is no way to keep him inside our bedroom during the entire evening without preventing the kitty from having access to her litter box. i dont exactly know just yet how to work around this issue. i will post an answer when i figure it out. oh and as of saturday liame now thinks that when the phone rings, its the alarm clock going off and its time to hop on mommy and wake her up. although it wasnt cute when i was trying to get a nap on saturday, now that i think about it it might be a good thing to train for since we dont get a lot of telemarketer calls.

Ads On The Site

Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

any ad you see on this site are for products i have personally used and like for very specific reasons. i will never link you to crap just for the purpose of making a little extra cash.

Biking Into Work

Posted on June 21, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Mitigating Symptoms, Toys | Leave a Comment

yesterday liame and i biked into work in preparation for jaspers eventual retirement in a couple of weeks. i know in order to get through this depressive cycle i am in, i need to get more exercise. biking to work is part of the solution to my exercise needs.

last week i purchased a “croozer dog” bike trailer to pull liame in (see link above). i chose this trailer due to its ability to handle a 100lb dog, something none of the other trailers currently on the market can do. currently liame fits in it rather nicely (since he is only 50lbs and still only 6 months old).

he didnt seem to have any problem riding in it, infact when i checked in on him during our 30 minutes trip, he was lying down yawning. getting him into the trailer was a bit of a challenge though. inorder for him to hop into the thing i had to get out the great motivator - string cheese. i threw it into the trailer and zipped it up while he was munching on it. the only thing that i need to warn people about is the fact that with a dog moving around in the trailer, a kickstand isnt enough to keep the bike standing, you need to have some other method of supporting your bike while your dog is in the trailer. although when the bike did eventually fall over it didnt flip the trailer with liame in it - thank god.

with the high gas prices, the ability to reduce your carbon emissions and the need for regular exercise i would like to encourage all of you to bike to work during the summer months.

Should He Have Been A “Service Dog”?

Posted on June 19, 2008
Filed Under Class, Jasper | Leave a Comment

we started our canine good citizen class yesterday.  there were 5 dogs in the class, of the 5, 3 were dog aggressive and liame wasnt one of them.  the individuals with the dog aggressive pups want to have their dogs become therapy dogs.  i just shook my head in disbelief.  having had a service dog that doesnt pay attention to its owner while other dogs are around i know what they are going through.  i just dont know why they think that the dog will be safe in a therapy type of environment.  i hope they can work through their issues but from personal experience i know that its going to be a tough and almost impossible road. personally i dont think i should have been allowed to call jasper a service dog because he would not have passed the ignoring another dog part of the official test.  its not like jasper was aggressive, he just wants to go play and not pay attention to me.  i know i wouldnt be at the point that i am at without having had jasper serve me, i just know now after having liame, that its important for the service dog community to establish mandatory guidelines for what type of behavior is legally required for a service dog.  i know i will get a lot of flack for this blog but i really do think its important to have a 100% sound dog serving you.

Puppies Under My Desk

Posted on June 17, 2008
Filed Under Mitigating Symptoms, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

prior to today i had jasper’s bed to the right of me and liame’s to the left but liame kept hopping out of his bed to go lie on top of my feet.  in order for him to lay on my feet he would have to squeeze himself under a shelf under my desk and trample over some cords.  since i have been having a bad couple of weeks i decided that i needed a bit more physical contact with liame during the day but needed an easier way for him to access me.  i spent about half an hour this morning removing the industrial shelf under my desk that i used to put my feet on.  it gave me just enough room to put liames bed directly into my footspace.  so now he gets to lie comfortably in his bed, keep his feet out of the way of the rolling chair wheels and gets to put his head on my feet.  its already making me feel all nice and squishy inside.

Graduating - Top In Our Class

Posted on June 15, 2008
Filed Under Class, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

today liame graduated 1st in our class at the humane society’s supper puppy class.  i got a certificate and everything.  i was almost beat for first place by a puppy who was several months older than liame and who had already taken the class once before.  i was so proud even though our award was a frisbee.  i wonder when we can start winning ribbons and trophies?

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