Under Seige

I was taking Ender on his morning walk and as we rounded the corner, I noticed a woman training two small dogs on the opposite corner. I rounded the corner quickly to minize the amount of time Ender had to obsess and thought we were well on our way when I hear a jingle jingle. When I look up, I see one of the small dogs running across the street at us. It was a classic fight or flight moment. Or more like sit or flight moment. Do I put Ender in a site and hope that he doesn't lose his shit when the dog comes near? Or should I walk away and risk getting chased?

I choose the former and put Ender in a sit and kind of brace for impact. All the while, the woman is yelling something from across the street, somewhat resembling a "don't worry he's frieeeennndddllyyy." She calls the dog's name, which makes the dog stop IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. Eventually the dog runs back to her and Ender and I continue on our merry way. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her continue her walk up the street with the dog which still has NO LEASH on.

WHAAAAAT??

Product Review: Pooch Planet Dog Bed

We've gone through several dog beds in our short time of pet ownership. One of Ender's favorite has been this random on sale dog bed from Pet Food Express. He has gone through two of them. He slowly eviscerates them by chewing the zipper off first and then eating the stuffing.

However, my all time favorite dog bed is a Pooch Planet dog bed. The bf's sister gave Ender one as a Christmas present last year and I cannot begin to express my love for it. The cover consists of two different materials. One side is this microsuede-esque material and the other side is poly. And it's this special kind of comfort meets durability that you only dream about. In addition, there is easy disassembly for washing. So obviously Ender ate the zipper off of his first pooch planet dog bed and there began my hunt for a replacement.

I managed to find the manufacturer's website http://www.worldwise.com/poochplanet.html and this is what their online retailer list looks like:

www.amazon.com
www.petco.com
www.petfoodexpress.com
www.petsmart.com
www.samsclub.com
www.target.com
www.walmart.com

I can tell you right now that not one of those websites sell the Pooch Planet dog beds. I even emailed Worldwise to ask them to send me an updated list (um, which I have yet to receive a reply to, thankyouverymuch). I sporadically kept my eye out for this object of desire whenever I was at Target or Pet Food Express but luck was never on my side.

At this point, my desperation hit some sort of peak and we went to Walmart. And behold, there was the bed.



Ender I am a happy camper now.

Regurgitation versus Vomitting

So apparently there's a difference. I didn't know that. Until Ender ralphed yesterday. That was preceded by a poo in the hallway. I swear, those dogs are falling apart. Again, the culprit here is unknown. It could either be the transition to new dog food or too many Zuke's training treats. Either way, I had the pleasure of seeing the contents of his stomach three times yesterday. The things I learned about Ender are:

1. He can fit a lot of crap in his stomach
2. He does not chew his food thoroughly
3. He might eat too quick for his own good

And on a random note, does size matter? Ender's old kibble was HUGE. Theoretically, the larger kibble would encourage Ender to eat slower and chew. After seeing the contents of his stomach last night, this does not seem to be the case. So if he doesn't chew, would smaller kibble be better?

Sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time thinking about things like this. Way too much time.

sniff sniff

Some people wake up to the smell of coffee. I wake up to the smell of poo. Admittedly I totally brought this onto myself. I've been trying to figure out what to stuff Barksdale's Kong with and I don't think I'm having any success. Last time the bf went out of town, I stuffed her Kong with all kinds of goodness including peanut butter, natural balance lamb roll pieces, banana, sweet potato, and uh...steak. That set off some epic pooing that has scarred the bf for life. I attributed the epic to chicken apple sausage and vowed that she would never taste chicken again.

Thinking I had learned my lesson, I whittled my Kong stuffing list down to three ingredients:

1. Peanut Butter (I wasn't going to take any chances so I've been using Trader Joe's no sugar no salt peanut butter)
2. Her kibble
3. Chunk of Natural Balance Lamb Roll

But she still poo'd!

So now I'm not sure if it's too much peanut butter (I've limited this to half a spoonful) or the Lamb (sizable chunk but nothing too crazy). But if it's both, what am I going to stuff her Kong with? I need answers internet! Answers!

Dear Pug Owner

When I'm walking across the street and make my dog sit down because I can see your dog pulling insanely on the leash toward me, please do not let your dog pull you towards us and please do not let your pug sniff my dog in the face because your pug will get rocked.

Thanks.

Product Review: Nature's Miracle Stain & Odor Remover

The best piece of advice my friend Anna has given me thus far - BUY THIS. The miracle is that it really neutralizes the smell of pee. Once we ran out of Nature's Miracle and had to use regular household cleaner. Following that unfortunate incident, we made the decision to upgrade from this:



to this:

whyyyyyyyyyyyy

8:00 a.m. Cleaning pee from the elevator floor while being intercepted by two neighbors. whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

The Dirty Little Secret

Somtimes, it just feels good to know that other people are going through the same thing you are: http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/what-have-you-done-to-keep-your-pet/

Mama said there'll be days like this...

...There'll be days like this Mama said.

Weeks like this make me wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever get a dog. Barksdale has been pooping in her crate for the past two days and peeing in the hallway. Ender has been acting a fool, trying to run across the street to play with off leash dogs on our walks and not greeting people nicely.

Sigh.

Toy Review: Everlasting Treat Ball

In theory, this should be just as exciting as the Kong. It was for a while, until we left Ender alone with the Everlasting Bento Ball for the afternoon and he ate the WHOLE thing. And then proceeded to hurl everywhere. Everlasting my ass.

Before:

After:

Because we didn't want to clean up green barf every weekend, we hid that toy safely in the back of the drawer. However, his dog walker did recommend another product called the Everlasting Fun Ball. We use it to feed him his meals, as the dog walker says it might help him with his ADHD. We've used it for about two weeks now and it is still intact. However, the dirt factor is very high with this one as kibble bits are now strewn all over our hallway.

Everlasting Fun Ball:

A little bit Anal. A little bit Retentive.

I was surfing the interwebz and came across this post about a dog attack by an ex-police dog in training who was newly adopted by a police officer and left in the backyard with the officer's toddler in the backyard unsupervised.

I was reading the blogger's commentary regarding the attack and it wasn't until we read this paragraph that I realized how anal retentive we were:

"A new dog placed in a new environment with people he is unfamiliar with and left alone with a child. This has nothing to do with his 'rejected' status as a police dog and everything to do with responsible and safe care of a dog. When a small, physically sensitive, inquisitive toddler is around a brand-new dog, you have to go above and beyond 'safe' and into 'anal retentive'. A toddler is no match for a dog."

You can read the rest of the entry here: http://for-the-pits.blogspot.com/2010/06/strange-title-for-dog-attack-article.html

Before Ender or Barksdale, I would have completely been fine leaving a dog outside roaming free with children. I mean, why wouldn't it be okay, it happens all the time on television. Oh, wait, you mean television is sometimes misleading and I can't have that giant backyard where the toddlers and doggies are frolicking around outside while I sit inside and drink my iced tea?

But really, I hardly even leave Ender and Barksdale alone together, even if they are just hanging out in the living room and I'm using the computer in the bedroom. (Yes, granted I'm just looking out for my third baby - my 32 inch flat screen tv, you can never be too careful.) I think becoming a real dog owner means coming to terms with the fact that you can never be NOT paying attention. (In my opinion, this is the second crappiest part about being a dog owner, after all the pee and poo clean up.)

Not paying attention leads to complete and utter anarchy. Throw a few kids in the mix and the world might just implode.

Another thing I thought about when reading this article was how hard it must be to have a police dog seamlessly transition between being in a police setting versus a home setting. In a police setting, the intensity level is higher and the dog is on constant alert. Those two characteristics, if used to describe a normal dog, would mean that the dog is completely crazy.

However, the dog in that situation is provided a job and a handler, who is probably also on constant alert and giving constant direction. Those two things can create a highly effective working dog by directing the so-called craziness into something productive.

The issue is, when happens when a police dog comes into a home? I am willing to bet that the same kind of vigilance and alertness given to a police dog at work is not provided at home. And because of this, the control a handler has over the dog is probably less inside a home versus at work. In addition, the amount of exercise a police dog gets "on the job" probably is way more than they would get in a home. Those two things combined means that the "craziness" is uncurbed at home, leading to exponential crazy.

Would you leave your kid with exponential crazy?

Doggy Dining: The Albatross

So technically it's not dining, but hey, sometimes all you need is a drink. The Albatross in Berkeley is awesome for a number of reasons:

1. Board Games
2. Free Popcorn
3. You can bring your own food
4. Dogs allowed before 8 p.m.

All the women who are independent - throw your hands up at me

Okay, so it'd be Ender throwing his paw up at me right now.

Ender is what we would call "independent." As the dog walker gently broke to us, we might as well be a tree based on the attention he pays to us. Wait, on second thought, the tree in front of our place probably gets more action from Ender than we do.

Ender does not like to cuddle. He does, however, like to lay on the couch and in the bed. So he will tolerate you being on it at the same time. But when he comes up, rest assured that he will be picking the spot farthest away from you. Except on the bed. When he's on the bed, he's cursing the bf for only having a full sized bed.

The quickest way to get him off the couch or bed is to snuggle with him until he absolutely cannot stand it anymore. Then he just slinks off to his own bed for some peace. As any good doggy parent would do, we occasionally force what we call "family time" on him. I don't think he's gotten the memo yet, but if he's going to be part of this family, then he better get use to having someone all up in his biz-naz.

Barksdale on the other hand is a cuddling machine.

OMGOMGOMG

The bf has to keep me away from doggies with big ears, cuz, um, that's how we ended up with Ender. For your viewing pleasure:

E is for Endurance (and Ender!)

Here is what our exercise schedule looks like:

Monday through Friday:
20 minute walk in the morning
1 hour walk in the evening

Tuesday and Thursday:
2 to 3 hour excursion with dogwalker

Saturday and Sunday:
1 hour walk in the morning
1 hour walk in the evening

Two weeks ago, we met with Ender's dogwalker who said that Ender might not be getting enough exercise. My initial response was, wtf, we need to ship him off to a farm immediately. Apparently Ender's the special kind of pitbull where, after a four hour hike, he still has enough energy to bounce off the walls.

Anyone who's adopted a pitbull knows that an insane amount of physical activity comes with them. The bad news is, if you're not up for it, your pitbull is going to be effing crazy. The good news is, if you're willing, your pitbull is going whoop your ass into shape.

My ass has been adequately whooped by Ender. (However, this mysterious tire around my waist doesn't seem to be disappearing. I shake my fist at you post 25-yr-old metabolism!) It hasn't been whooped this good since my 7th grade P.E. teacher Ms. Stanley looked us in the eye and informed us that we would be running three miles non-stop by the end of the school year. Like running, as in not walking.

Endurance is also good for situations like these:
"Sit"
"No"
"Sit"
"No"
"Sit"
"No"
"Sit"
"No"
"SIT"
"Good Boy"

Doggy Dining: DOPO

I will reveal my bias upfront - DOPO is my favorite restaurant of all time. It is the only place I have found that can make parpadelle taste like it was made by a grandma in Florence. Their thin crust pizza is magic and DOPO staff is awesome.

On some random Thursday, the bf and I were being ambitious and decided to take Barksdale to the Mountain View Cemetery aka Piedmont Cemetery for her evening walk. (I know, sounds morbid but hey they have walking paths so you don't have to walk over any dead bodies.) I, being both lazy and fanatical, suggested stopping by DOPO for dinner on the way home. We sat at one of the tables in front of the restaurant and got treated with the same awesome service we get every time.

The thing to note is that there really isn't anywhere to tie your dog. Therefore, I recommend you master eating bread with one hand or bring your dog only if they are calm and have no problem laying by your feet as you eat.

Toy Review: Kong by Kong Co.

The guy who invented the Kong should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in bringing peace to dog households across the world.

The pros:
1. Makes minimal noise (I'm looking at you squeaker toy!)
2. Makes minimal mess (Food is inside, holes are fairly small ensuring food mostly stays inside the kong.)

The cons:
1. None that I know of

When we got Ender, we bought him the Extreme Kong (black color) in Extra Large since he was already 40 pounds at four months. However, when we got Barksdale, we bought her the Classic Kong (red color). Yes, even though she was two months, we wisely skipped the Puppy Kong. Conclusion? Skip the Classic Kong.

Why you may ask? First off, she ended up nibbling at the rubber around hole to try to get the treat out, unaware that she was supposed to be using her tongue, or as in Ender's case, putting the entire Kong in your month and chomping on it until the treat inside crumbles. The Classic Kong does not withstand pit bull nibbling, even if it's by a two month old pit. Secondly, your bigger pit will inevitably steal it and try to get at whatever's inside, resulting in Classic Kong destruction.

Kong also makes treats that fit perfectly inside the Kong. As of late, we've been using peanut butter which is a cheaper alternative. At night, I mix peanut butter with some lamb, stuff the kongs, and throw it in the freezer so the next morning, they are treated with a Kong with difficulty level of high.

We currently have three Extreme Kongs in our house right now. Don't judge.

Doggy Dining: Lake Chalet

The bf tried to meet up with me at the Lake Chalet with Barksdale for some drinks and lounging by the dock. We were quickly kicked out. Anyone with high hopes of hanging out on the dock with the doggies, let them be dashed now. Lake Chalet is not a dog friendly dining establishment.

However, it was for the best since we probably saved ourselves from some pretty horrible customer service. I remember during the first month of them being open, we were on the dock trying to order and for a second, the waiter was actually going to decline taking our order. (Oh what? You don't want my money? Oooo-kaaay.) Fast forward eight months to a happy hour on the dock and you will find us waiting 45 minutes for a drink from the surliest waitress you will ever meet. (Oh what? You just opened? Wasn't that eight months ago?)

My advice, skip the Lake Chalet.

S is for Stubborn

Sometimes it blows my mind that we haven't returned Ender. He is the most high-energy, spastic, and awkward creature I know.

As a young puppy, he would jump at everything that would dare pass us, including people, dogs, and random newspaper pages flying by. He would try to eat everything off the ground including broken glass.

Between months 5 to 8, he would try to maul the bf at least once a week. (Okay, so maybe maul is a bit overly dramatic, but when a 60 pound puppy is lunging towards your face being nippy, the first thing that comes to mind isn't "oh, fun!")

He was the delinquent dog in his obedience training class, where the trainer diagnosed his problem as being "psychotically friendly." He has been referred to as "rude and pushy" by a dog walker.

He has peeded on almost every absorbent thing we have in the house. He has chewed up three perfectly good dog beds. He has flooded the basement of a home that was not ours.

But alas, here we are, surpassing our one year anniversary.

Without a doubt, we've come this far only due to sheer stubbornness. Stubbornness, determination, perseverance, whatever you want to call it - it is the most valuable tool you can have as a dog handler and it is what you owe your dog once you sign those papers.

It is the thing that will allow you to say, okay one more time, after the millionth time, and it is the thing that will say, when faced with the idea of giving up your dog, there's no way in hell that stinkin' dog is going to get the best of me.

As the internet as my witness, there is no way in hell that stinkin' dog is going to get the best of me.

Good Morning!

You wake up with the best of intentions until someone pees at the doorway. Then you're just awake at 7:00 a.m with an arm full of pee pads (great for cleaning up messes), paper towels, and a bottle of Nature's Miracle.

Free Adoptions!

This just in from Oakland Animal Services:

Free Fur All Adoptathon!

Adopt an animal for free on June 12 or 13 and make $500 for the shelter

Join us for a real “Free Fur All” when Oakland Animal Services hosts the Maddie’s Fund event “Maddie’s Matchmaker Adoptathon” on Saturday, June 12, and Sunday, June 13. That weekend, Maddie’s Fund will cover all adoption costs for both dogs and cats. Better yet, for each successful OAS adoption at the event, Maddie’s Fund will donate $500 to OAS!

Special extended hours for the “Free Fur All” will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 13.

“We’re preparing a large group of staff and volunteers for the two days to help as many people as possible find a dog or cat companion,” OAS Director Megan Webb explained. There will be a wide variety of cats and dogs available to adopt, including kittens, puppies, and small dogs.

“This is such an exciting opportunity—people not only get a wonderful animal companion for free but also make it possible for OAS to get $500 when they adopt,” Webb stated. “And then we’ll use these donations to improve the quality of life of animals at the shelter.”

Webb pointed out that the regular OAS adoption guidelines will apply that weekend. And, although animals cannot be adopted free in advance of the event—and no animals can be put on “hold”—OAS encourages potential adopters to visit the shelter beforehand for prescreening, to ensure they qualify for an adoption.

“Maddie’s Matchmaker Adoptathon” is the inspiration of Maddie’s Fund, a foundation funded by Workday and PeopleSoft, founder, Dave Duffield, and his wife, Cheryl. As stated on the website, the goal of the foundation, named in memory of the Duffield family’s miniature Schnauzer, Maddie, is to create a “no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed loving homes.” With the weekend’s event, Maddie’s Fund also hopes to spotlight the many groups whose efforts save countless dogs and cats each year.

Paging Dr. 90210

Walking a puppy around the neighborhood means that a lot of people stop us to chat or pet Barksdale. The thing that surprises me is a lot of people ask us what type of dog Barksdale is.

Before we got Barksdale, we had spoken to a volunteer at Oakland Animal Services who was fostering Moxie, a blue pitbull like Barksdale. She told us of several encounters she had while walking Moxie, one in particular where someone actually said "Nice murder weapon." So when we got Barksdale, I was ready for all the judgmental and snarky comments. However, they never came.

I came to realize that this is because people don't see Barksdale as a pitbull, which is why so many people ask what type of dog Barksdale is. To me, she looks like a pitbull, but the most common guess from strangers regarding her breed is Weinheimer. This brings up a larger question - what are pitbulls supposed to look like?

Are they supposed to look like this?

Or this?

What if they look like this?

Pitbulls come in all different forms, they vary in color, size, and shape. But I do know that there are certain features that people have come to associate with pitbulls - cropped ears and docked tales. These two things have become the "identifying" features of pitbulls, even though they are not natural pitbull features. To me, this demonstrates a big disconnect between what a pitbull really is versus what people think they are.

To me, cropped ears and docked tails purely for cosmetics are what I would consider unnecessary surgery. I am not against it, but my personal belief is, if it ain't broke, why fix it? The biggest problem is with dog owners who don't realize the amount of money and time it entails to achieve this look.

Moxie was a victim of a crop job gone bad. Someone had taken a pair of scissors to her ears and just snipped them off. Her ears got infected and as a result of the infection, she became deaf. She is only one example of the casualties of the pitbull stereotype.

Moxie, the nice "Murder Weapon"

How's that for Multi-Tasking?

Pee Monster Strikes Again

11:00pm. Regularly scheduled pee time. Waiting by the elevator to go downstairs. Barksdale pees in hallway. There's only one word that can sum up this situation - Arg.

When your dog is being an A-hole

Below is a list of pee incidents that just make me shake my head as to this day I still don't believe in the absurdity of it all.

1. Ender wanders over to the couch. Looks at me. Lifts his leg and starts peeing ON THE COUCH.

2. Ender goes into the bedroom. Gets invited onto the bed. Looks at the boyfriend. Starts peeing ON THE BED.

3. Ender sleeping in the bedroom. Wakes up in the middle of the night. Proceeds to pee while RUNNING AROUND THE BEDROOM.

4. Barksdale being carried outside. Stop to lock the front door. Starts peeing DOWN MY LEG.

5. Repeat of number 4.

6. Barksdale playing in the living room. Pees on dog bed number 1. Half hour later, pees on dog bed number 2.

And for the ultimate random pee incident, I give you number 7:

7. Standing in dog park. Random dog runs up behind boyfriend. Lifts leg. Starts peeing ON THE BOYFRIEND.

House Training

House training is what I refer to as the worst part of owning a pet. Many of you may have lucked out by adopting a dog that is slightly older or have already been house trained. We, on the other hand, adopted puppies and therefore doomed ourselves to be knee deep in pee and poo for the better half of a year.

The advantages of having a big dog is having a dog with a big bladder. Ender, who was forty pounds at four months, had a bladder the size of Texas. The down side of having a dog with a bladder the size of Texas is that when there's an accident, it's like Niagara Falls.

With Ender, we had absolutely no plan. We picked up a few pee pads, laid them near the doors and just kind of left it at that. The pee pads turned out to be good for only one thing - cleaning up after he's peed in the corner somewhere.

After reading up on this, I believe we were using a combination of the "constant supervision" and "crate training" method to help house train him. We had him on a strict pee schedule and crated him when we weren't supervising him. We absolutely lucked out with Ender as he only had a handful of accidents during training, even when we left him crated all day when we went to work.

Barksdale, on the other hand, literally leaves me dumbfounded. When people say having a puppy is "hard work", THIS is the part they are referring too. She literally had to pee every three hours. And she would pee inside her crate, ALL the time. Hence the dumbfoundedness. And this is everyday for about two months. Although she is better at holding it, we still have to wake up at 6:30am to take her out to potty. And I have lost count of accidents she's had inside the house.

Going through house training, there were times when I lost the will to live because I didn't want to clean up more pee and poo, there were times when I considered giving her back to the shelter, there were times when I considered just letting her sit in her own pee because I didn't want to get out of bed, and there were times that I cursed the heavens above for being responsible for this beast. My advice? Just accept what may come your way because when they gotta go, they just gotta go.

Next up - When your dog is peeing just to be an A-hole.

Toy Review: Dura Chrew Bone by Nylabone

One of the biggest problems we have encountered as pit owners is finding toys that will last longer than 5 minutes. Hundreds of dollars later, we have a few winners (and losers) that have withstood the test. One of the longest lasting toys we have is the chicken flavored Dura Chew Bone by Nylabone. Basically we have two of these laying around the house and the doggies gnaw on it whenever they feel like. In addition, the messiness factor is limited as the byproduct is doggy drool and little pieces of bone that are gnawed off.


Picture Source: Nylabone