Bear’s Mom

Ok no, not really his mom but the resemblance between Bear and this American Bulldog, Athena, is remarkable.  Athena is a local resident as well and visits the dog park.  We were happy that she showed up on this day as Bear was the only one there for some time.  They play similarly, pretty aggressively and loud but had so much fun.

Matching spots:  Bear = White + Brown Merle / Athena = White + Brindle

She let him win, but only sometimes.  She is after all over 20 pound heavier than Bear is.

So happy!

When dogs fly.

An act of submission toward a dominant dog is licking.  Bear knows he’s a bottom with her.  He is starting to bite her here again though, ready for another round of play!

Toward the end of the hour Bear pooped out and was content with just chewing a ball.  Athena barked quite a bit to try to get him to play some more, Bear ignored her so she started nipping at him and a German Shepard starting in on the picking.  The three started to get a little grumpy, you know how quickly dog aggression can escalate.  It was our cue to go home.  But looking forward to seeing Athena again soon!

Protection One

Bear is really getting into gear with developing his protective instinct.  Unfortunately it decided to really release itself at 11:45pm, for about 45 minutes.

Bear went out to the balcony to potty and the pitch of the sprinklers decided to set him off.  We could not get him out of his alert mode (and completely forgot to try to put him on his side!).  In the house, he would run down the stairs and stare at the door, upon taking him outside to assess the area, he would only bark from the safety of the carport.

Inside the house, he ran from room to room to make sure there was nothing out of place, as soon as he saw they were empty he would try to run back to the balcony or door to ‘guard’.

In consideration of our property’s quiet hours I didn’t let him out, even though he never quite “finished” when we were out the first time.  I also didn’t accept his communication that he needed to “go” outside since it would accompany a growl which made me think he would go into a barking fit.

I turned off the lights to try to get him sleepy (I know, he’s not a bird).  And then I heard it.

He pooped.  In the house.  On my watch.   Sigh. 

That was only the 2^nd time he’s done that in the house and the other was not under my car (thanks DH).

Bear Learns to Speak

Smarter than the average Bear…

I haven’t been keeping up with new training sessions, on a whim I decided to try to tech Bear to ‘speak’ – he learned in less than 10 minutes! 

Bear is very food motivated, if you withhold for long enough he will whimper.  Eventually with some barking of my own coaxing¸ Bear would bark and receive his positive reinforcement.  He now knows a new command and is ‘finding his voice’.  Part of me thinks it may be a mistake since he’s now trying to command us with it more often.

The next command… “shhhhhhhh”.

Cancelling Vacation # 2!

We were supposed to take a drive to Mammoth to go snowboarding for the weekend.  A big make-up for missing out on my trip to Idaho.  Well, we had to cancel the trip because Bear has the runs. =(  I am getting pretty tired of not being able to go snowboarding, Grrr.  Here’s the view that I am missing (courtesy of my friend rubbing it in).

 

Bear has had diarrhea since Sunday.  I had been sleeping on the couch waking up between two to three times a night taking him outside to use the bathroom, so messy in fact that I had to take half an hour to clean up sometimes.  It also made me for one very grouchy Wife.  When he is boarding at day care they are crated for nearly 12 hours without supervision.  Which is fine when he is healthy but he needed to go out three times Wednesday night (not a pleasant experience for either of us), and not in a state to be boarded.

My gut tells me it’s because he drank dirty creek water after our hike, since that is how it started. I took him to the vet – and $229 later I had some medication for the possible parasite, Giardia as well as a probiotic.  Somehow he finds one of little pills mixed in with his food and doesn’t eat it.  Smart little cookie.  So, I have to wrap it up in a sausage.

I started a bland food diet for him yesterday to try to rest his GI tract and providing him various mixtures of:

-          White Rice

-          Boiled Egg

-          Boiled Chicken

-          Minimal Kibble

-          Boiled Potatoes

I think it’s working, we had a ‘solid’ success this morning, although I’m not sure how the rest of the day went as I took him to day care.  But I was able to get a straight 4 hours without his whimpering last night which I also consider a success!

Weighing In…

Monday 2/28 was Bear’s 5 month birthday!  He’s now 50 pounds and no longer considered a ‘puppy’ at day care.  He also uses a ‘large’ size seat belt harness now.  They grow so fast…

My next dog…

Will be named LV.

No, not for Louis Vuitton, for Elvis.  I’m Elivs’ newest fan after seeing Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis show at Aria.  My music of choice is showtunes, I also have programmed as a favorite satellite radio’s channel 4, the 40’s station.  Elvis is pretty up my alley actually.  Minus the last few years of crazy and the strange blingy bellbottomy outfits.  But chop me some bangs, dye my hair black, ink me some more tats and I’m all about rockabilly.

Meet my new lunchbox.  Cute huh?  I’m the coolest kid in school at work.

Driving Bear

Bear is officially tall enough to be able to see out of the car window!  He doesn’t do it often, I think it’s just hard to keep your balance back there when your driver is formula one crazy but here he is peering out at the world around him.

I’m lucky he is behaved enough to sleep most of the time back there…when he isn’t wanting another pig ear.

Kitty Litter for Dogs

It was a good idea in theory, having to pick up wee and not firm poopies getting very tiring. I’ve never had a cat before so I never really knew how messy kitty litter would be.  I was hoping it wouldn’t continue raining, apparently the litter I selected was made of clay that clumps when wet.

In his curiosity, Bear took to it as thought it was a sandbox, multiple times.  He “used” it, the way I originally intended, all of twice then realized he hated it and just peed on the balcony thereafter.

What. A. Mess. 

I went back to the turf the very next day.  It is cheaper to buy a new turf every few months than to have to deal with this mess.  Not to mention the littler gets stuck in his paws and gets trekked into the house.  I mopped three times in one day!

Dogs Decoded: Nova

I HIGHLY recommend the movie Dogs Decoded: Nova. 

I, luckily have Netflix and this is one of the selected shows that we can stream on demand.  This film offers so much information on the history / origins of dogs as well as their capacity for intelligence as well as communication that this species has evolved.  I will definitely look at dogs, especially Bear differently after this movie.

I have also read though that pigs are actually smarter than dogs.  But I cannot bear to relinquish bacon for life.  Sigh.

Bathroom Doorbell “Poochie-Bells”

My day care sells fun random little things, my latest buy – hopefully this works.  A bell for Bear to signal that he needs us to open the door to use the bathroom.  Called the Poochie-Bell. I’m very tired of keeping the door open so that Bear has free reign to use the bathroom, keeping my living room cold and letting in the flies and wee stink.

Can’t wait to train him!  Hopefully he doesn’t try to chew it and think it’s a toy.  I opted for the brown leather.  Pretty cute.