DIY Dog Training

We were planning to do an obedience course with Oscar, but now I’m thinking we’ll just continue training him on our own for the time being. We’ve taught him sit, down, shake, roll over, and up (stand up on hind legs), and he’s a quick study and seems to enjoy learning. Or maybe he just enjoys the treats he gets when we’re training. In any case, we’re now down to one income, and $150 for obedience school doesn’t seem the wisest use of money at the moment.

We’ll start working on “stay” and “come” next. I bet there are plenty of YouTube videos on dog training. Maybe even some DVDs at the library. “Free” is definitely the keyword of the moment.

That reminds me – recently we aquired an animal hair trimmer (for free from a friend who repairs and rebuilds trimmers, as luck would have it), so we’re going to try grooming Oscar ourselves. Should be very interesting, seeing as how neither of us has any dog-trimming experience. If we can manage do it, that’s another 35 bucks a month saved.

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Little Jack-o-Lantern

Oscar is missing 3 baby teeth all of a sudden! Good thing they’re starting to fall out – the vet said he’d have to have baby teeth pulled at 6 mos when he gets fixed, if they don’t come out on their own.

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Rainy Day Doo

Spent a half hour picking up dog turds in the rain. Then made D take an oath with me: We will never let more than 2 days pass without going out on Poo Patrol.

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10 Days, No Pee on Floor

I feel a little superstitious about even typing this, but it’s been 10 days since Oscar the Puppy last peed on the floor. Yeay! waving fists triumphantly Now, if he could figure out how to bathe himself, we’d really be in business.

Unfortunately, though, he’s regurgitated his breakfast the past 2 mornings. Upon visual examination, I concluded that he really should try chewing the food before swallowing it. I hear that’s good for digestion.

Tomorrow he goes to the groomer for his first full-body trim. I’m very excited about his shearing because although he’s adorably fluffy with long fur, he’s like a wiggling strip of velcro, tracking dirt, wood chips, and even whole leaves into the house. I’ll have to put up some before and  after grooming pics – I have a feeling he’s going to look about half his current size when he loses all that fur.

If ever you need to keep a dog occupied for an hour or 2, I highly recommend these Bully Sticks. I just noticed the site says they’re made from bull penises (tee hee). The lady at the store told me they were made from bull tendons. Eh, potato, potahto. And now D and I can make jokes about Oscar’s intense love of bull weiner.

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Proud Puppy Parent

I’ve been a new puppy mom for 2 weeks now, and good god, I question whether I would have it in me to bear and raise a human child. The funny thing is, the new pooch – Oscar – is a really, really good dog. He’s good-tempered, friendly but not wild, very calm as puppies go, sleeps through most nights without a peep, seems quite intelligent, and doesn’t try to destroy things he shouldn’t.

But still, as a friend said, puppyhood is hard.

There was the evening he peed on the carpet four times. FOUR TIMES. The door to the back yard is THREE FEET away and I’d been losing my mind all day taking him out (LITERALLY) ever 10 to 15 minutes. Try getting anything at all accomplished when you’re interrupted every 10 minutes. And those two nights in a row when he had us up with his crying. Bathing his rear end after bouts of the squirts. The times when he just won’t freaking chill out and stay in the same room so I can continue a train of thought for more than two seconds.

But we’re figuring out how to take care of him and keep our sanity. I’m learning that when he stands outside my office door and stares at me silently, it means he wants food. When he barks and jumps around spastically for no apparent reason, he’s telling me he needs to go out to take a dump RIGHT NOW. After nearly two weeks without a solid poo in sight, a grain-free, chicken-free dog food has things much improved.

We’re learning, and so is he.

And in any case he is a-freakin-dorable.

Oscar

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