New Toy and Reading Progress

            I’ve come to the realization that I have to throw out two of Grace’s Nylabone toys. Both have had good, three month long lives of hard chewing. Grace reduced one to pretty much stubs and the other she chewed to the point where the two halves crunch together whenever she moves her jaw. While she could probably get a couple more weeks out of them, I think it’s best to get rid of them now. Chew toys aren’t forever.

            So I decided last week to head out to PetSmart with Grace for training and possibly to get her a new chew toy. We practiced her down in the dog food aisles while I checked out grain-free options other than Blue Buffalo Basics. She didn’t bark or ignore me completely when we walked past another dog, and she even made me proud because she behaved better than the other dog.

            Then I put her in a down as I checked out the store’s Nylabone options. The same s-shaped toy I wanted to replace hung on the rack, and I’m sure she would have enjoyed having that toy again. But I wanted to get her something different.

            I spotted a large, tan bone in one of the baskets at the bottom of the shelves. The toy looked solid, like Grace would need to work on chewing a dent in it. Plus the toy’s size made me happy; it was bigger than her front leg and would probably stand up to several months of chewing. The twenty dollars I’d spend on it would be well worth it.

            When we got home and I’d gotten the toy out of its packaging, Grace eagerly grabbed it between her teeth and trotted across the living room with it in her mouth. She looked a bit absurd as the toy was bigger than her head. But her eyes lit up and she got to chewing right away. She still loves the toy a week later, and who knows, maybe Santa will put another Nylabone under the tree on Christmas Eve.

            While Grace has been chewing on her new Nylabone, I’ve been working on thereading goal I wrote about last time. I finished the last book I was reading yesterday, and I’m going to start the next one today. I prefer to just sit and read for a few hours at a time. So the challenge is finding those hours amidst working and getting other things done plus making sure Grace doesn’t get into trouble. But I’m up for it, especially becauseI love seeing the pages and hours fly by.

Book of the Week: The Game by Laurie R. King

Next Week’s Book: Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

CGC Class and a Reading Goal

            So after putting Grace and myself through obedience lessons, I decided to enroll her in a class to prepare her to take the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen test. The Canine Good Citizen certification, simply put, proves that a dog is well-behaved according to the A.K.C.

            While being a great accomplishment for a dog, the CGC certification is also a bonus for renters because it shows landlords their dog is well-behaved. I figured having Grace take the test would be a good for when I eventually move out and have to rent a place.

            We went to the first class on Wednesday night. I figured that there would be a variety of breeds in the class, but I was wrong. Of the six dogs there, Grace was the only non-German Shepherd Dog. She was also the smallest dog. I think the next biggest one weighed at least twice what she does.

            I learned a lot during the class. I learned that Grace is capable of more than I thought. She sat next to me while I shook the hands of other owners whose dogs were by their side. She walked passed German Shepherds without turning her nose to sniff them. She even willingly laid butt-to-butt with the biggest Shepherd in the class. She showed me that she can pass the CGC test so long as I put the work into it with her.

            I also realized how much I love German Shepherds. They’re such big, beautiful dogs that have an amazing grace and presence about them. And I loved watching how the dogs would look up at their owners with such attention and intelligence. Grace looks at me like that, yes, but I miss having a big dog.

            Grace and I have three more classes between now and the test at the beginning of December. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I’m taking her to soccer games tomorrow morning, and I may brave the mayhem that is Luddam’s Ford on Sunday mornings when there are plenty of dogs off-leash. I have to keep reminding myself that challenges are good: if Grace didn’t make mistakes, I wouldn’t have the opportunities to teach her.

            Now to change topics, I’ve noticed that I haven’t read nearly as many books as I’d have liked to since I graduated. I always promised myself that I’d read a ton after graduation, but, like with writing, I always seem to find something else to do.

            This is a bit of an issue since I bought a signed copy of the newest book in one of my favorite series in August, and I promised myself I’d read it once I reread the series. Two months later, and I haven’t gotten through half the series. I’ve actually been working on one book for a month. I’m tired of seeing that brand new book sitting on my shelf, unread.

            I have therefore decided on a reading goal: one book a week. I’m sure I could read more than one a week, but I figure reaching an easier goal is better than missing the mark completely. So I’ll start with one book a week, and I’ll go from there.

Book of the Week: O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King

Next Week’s Book: Justice Hall by Laurie R. King

Three Things about Living with a Puppy

                There’s something to be said about living with a puppy. Actually, there are many things to be said, and anyone who has ever raised one undoubtedly has plenty of stories to tell. So here are a few of the things I've noticed about living with and raising my nine month old puppy, Grace.

1. Troublemakers

                Puppies, unaware of human rules, tend to get into things that we’d define as trouble. They chew on anything they can get their mouths on, they steal things that don’t belong to them, and they excitedly jump all over people.

                Grace’s middle name should be trouble. When I first got her, she stole steal the fuzzy brown bathmat off the bathroom floor. She’d pounce on it and then drag it down the hallway to the living room. She’d be so proud of herself that she managed to catch the dead animal. Training has broken her of that habit, but I’ve got a lot more work and training ahead of me to subdue the sock monster once and for all.

                Dad and I have nicknamed Grace the sock monster because she loves to attack socks. She doesn’t go after them when they’re on my feet, though she will go after Mom’s. Usually she just goes after socks when they’re lying about on the floor. She’ll pick them up, shake them to kill them, and she’ll chew holes in them.

                I outsmarted her once. I didn’t trust her not to go after my socks when I left the room, so I tucked them deep inside my shoes while I went to the bathroom. I thought they’d be safe because Grace looked nearly asleep in her bed in front of the fireplace. I could usually leave her alone during one of her naps because she’d sleep through whatever I was doing.

                Not this time. I came back into the living room to find Grace still in her bed and my shoes strewn across the carpet. I distinctly remembered leaving my shoes against the couch. On top of that, Grace gave me this look that said she knew she’d done something she shouldn’t have.

                I did laugh then, and I laughed every time Grace brought the bathmat out into the living room. I know I shouldn’t laugh because these are bad behaviors that shouldn’t be encouraged. I should be the good, firm owner who doesn’t put up with her puppy’s troublemaking. And I do try to be that owner as I stifle my laughter.

                I’m sure I’ll figure out how not to laugh while I’m correcting her eventually. Either that or I’ll get good at laughing when she’s not in the room. Or maybe she’ll grow out of this faze before I can master not laughing. But I doubt that.

2. Learning the Quirks

                One of the joys of raising a puppy is getting to know his or her personality. A puppy may be a cuddler or a clown or a people dog. These traits and the idiosyncrasies will become life with the dog when he or she is grown. Puppyhood is a time to discover such things and to see them for the first time.

                Grace has quirks that make me wonder about her and others which make me laugh. One I noticed, one that makes me wonder about her, is her tendency to chew on her back feet. She will stick her whole back paw into her mouth and then chomp on it. I figure she must be scratching an itch that she otherwise can’t scratch.

                I’ve also seen her fearfulness of simple things that I take for granted. The first time she meets something new, she tends to be cautious. I’ll always remember the first day she saw a five pound bag of potatoes I brought home from the supermarket.

                Grace crouched low as she approached the bag in the kitchen. Her nose led the way, cautiously sniffing the offending bag.  She stood a foot and a half from it and wouldn’t move any closer. She even barked at it a couple times. She might have been trying to get the bag to move; I finally had to drag her over to it so she could realize there was nothing to fear.

                Another part of Grace’s personality that I’ve come to both love and find incredibly annoying is her nosiness. She wants to be a part of everything that is going on in the world around her. This can sometimes get her into trouble, but that’s not what I love about this trait.

                Whenever I put Grace in a sit or a down after she’s gotten a bit too rambunctious, she’ll watch me as I move around her. Even if that means she has to tip her head backward until the bottom of her chin is parallel with the ceiling. Her ears are always what get me. They’re flat ears that speak to Labrador Retriever in her pedigree at one point, and those ears open up as she tilts her head back. They look too big for her head: large triangles pointing down to the ground.

3.  Dogs Grow Overnight

                Literally, they do of course. Puppies are always growing and maturing even as they sleep. Out of nowhere, a mischievous puppy will suddenly be able to eat a sandwich right off the counter. Or a once always bouncing puppy will settle down to chew a toy all on his own.

                Grace isn’t tall enough to get at anything on the kitchen counter, though I’ve had to stop her from licking crumbs off the kitchen table once. I’ve also noticed her default activity now tends to be lying in the middle of the living room and chewing one of her Nylabones when just a couple months ago she’d be galloping up and down the hall. She still has her crazy puppy moments, but they’re becoming fewer and less frequent.

                Most of all, though, is that I’ve suddenly been struck by how big my puppy has gotten in the past three months.  

                She was 27.8lbs when I adopted her back in July. At her last weigh-in a few weeks ago, she was in the neighborhood of 35lbs. She’s not only grown. She’s filled out. Those extra pounds are all muscle, giving her a lean and athletic build that makes me think she could be an agility dog. Her legs have also gotten longer, to the point where I sometimes think she’s nearly all leg. She uses them like springs to bounce over the little jumps I point her toward or across the room when she’s having a puppy moment.

                  I could go on. Her head has become more chiseled. She’s outgrown one notch on her pink collar. She’s nearly outgrown her training collar. I have more, but I won’t bore you.

                The point is that I’ve had three months and four days with my puppy so far. I can’t imagine how each day has managed to slip by me and how I’ve missed Grace growing. I feel like she’s changed every time I look at her. The puppy lying on her bed next to me now isn’t the puppy I adopted back in July. She bears a resemblance, but she’s not the same.

                I guess that’s just part of raising a puppy. They change so quickly and grow up within a few years. That’s why it’s important to live in the moment with the puppy: to rub the soft fur on her tummy, to throw a toy for her to chase, and to enjoy her racing to the back door for our morning walk.

Grace at 6 months old

Grace just shy of her 9 month birthday