Shot Gun Blast of Blogs

Sorry about the “mass-blog”.  I got a little busy last week and finally had time this morning to put stuff together.  Zuzu likes to sit with me while I type it all out on my iPhone outside, then e-mail it to myself for posting later!

 

Quality Time

Last week was so good! Jim finished working at Google the week before, so last week was spent at home, prepping for his final presentation, attending daily conference calls, and doing move prep.

Why is that good, you ask? Because each of those things lead to free time in between! So, not only was Daddy home, but I was home most if every day as well.

Zuzu got at least two good walks a day, plus playtime during conference calls, and training, and extra brushing, and lots of cuddles and love and feet to take naps near. And, like any baby, that made her happy! And a happy dog tends to be a good dog.

Two Things to be Cranky About

Noise and Food.

Zuzu does not want any noise or smell on the other side of the fence. With neighbors on both sides within about ten feet and a middle school athletic field and track at our back fence, she is finding it challenging to protect us. And I am finding it challenging to teach her that not every noise or smell is a threat. I would rather her ignore the sound of our neighbor putting trash in his bin and children playing in the back, but guard me from the stranger (gardener) that opens my fence and walks into the backyard with no warning carrying hedge trimmers. 

But no, she'll wag her tail at the giant, non-English speaking (and luckily, very sweet) men that descends upon our yard, but bark her head off at the PE teacher talking to her students!

With the food, one day she is fine and the next she will only eat the "good stuff". I don't blame her, but I can't afford to fill her belly with only lean meat, rice, and her veggies of choice! She is eating up to six cups of food a day. I would rather at least three or four of those be dry food. I'm not giving up though. Other than meat, eggs, and rice, her favorite is still the coconut oil on her dry. Maybe I'll just do more if that.

Zuzu’s First BBQ

Zuzu lived through her first barbecue on Saturday. I was hoping that we could leave the doors wide open and just let her and all of the kids wander the house and yard freely, but that didn't quite happen.

Strangely, there are almost no bugs here. I will never understand how that's possible and I will miss it terribly when I return to the East Coast where screens and bug spray are a way of life, but other than spiders, fuzzy bumble bees and fireflies that don't blink, there are no bugs.

The real problem with the open doors was that the high school kids wanted to lay in the grass and eat their food. (Again, only possible in a bug-free land.)  

In Zuzu's world, anything on the ground is there for her! The kids were OBVIOUSLY there to be wrestled with, licked, and nibbled on, and they had food on the ground to share with her. Food on tables is not for sharing. Food on the ground is fair game! So, there was lots if crying when she was brought inside while children were on the ground WITH food. We were the meanest doggy parents on the planet!

The middle schoolers were way more fun! They didn't just talk and hold hands; they played! Zuzu loved volleyball. She loved trying to steal the ball every time it hit the ground and even managed to pick it up in her giant mouth a couple of times. She loved that they would stop in the middle of the game and give her lots if scratches. And she loved that they would play soccer and tag with her!

The thing that I was worried about - the outside table and inside counter filled with food - were never an issue. Zuzu ignored them! That made me very happy. I think she was just more concerned about being a part of the action than about stealing food. She did get fed a very good dinner and she did manage to snag a few Cheez-it's when the box fell off the table, so it's possible that she was happy enough with that.

I even gave her some seedless watermelon for the first time, thinking she would love it. She took it in her mouth and spit it out! Blech!  Silly puppy.

Overall, the experience was a huge success.

First Babysitter

We did a morning whale watching trip on Memorial Day, then went out to lunch with friends that we hadn’t seen since NY last year, so Zuzu had her first babysitter.  Two kids that Darby routinely babysits came over with their mom to play.  Here is the picture and the text that I got from Jenny:

“Having fun with Zuzu!  She’s pretty mellow these days and so lovable.  Hope you had fun with the whales.”

I texted back - Mellow?  What Dog are you babysitting!  Tressa was jealous that she would lay still for the picture next to the kids.  

She was very excited to see us when we got home!

My Dog

I have the coolest dog. Ever. The cutest dog.  Ever. The best dog ever. My dog rocks!

She's crazy and sweet and insane and cuddly and stubborn and smart and beautiful and I love her so much!

That's all. :)

The New Collar

We should buy stock in a pet supply company.  We own more toys, leashes, brushes, collars, treats, etc., than any family in its right mind should.

The Martingale collar that Zuzu wears daily is by far our favorite for everything but training.  Up until yesterday, it was even our favorite for training.  Our new class required a choke chain, but she didn't really respond any better with it, and it was ripping her fur, so I hated it.  Next, we bought her a "comfort fit" choke chain.  It was prettier, but no more effective nor gentle.  Fur still flew with every "snap".

Yesterday, while we were out walking in Cuesta park, we came across a lady that we see all of the time walking her two Shar Peis.  I noticed that she had a very different collar on them than I had seen anywhere, so I stopped to ask her about it.  It was like a Martingale in that it had a loose chain that allowed the collar to shrink to a certain point to prevent backing out, but didn't choke.   But, it also had big links with metal prongs poking into the dogs' necks.  It looked incredibly cruel!  Her dogs are older rescue dogs and one of them is blind, and they are both amazingly sweet, so I really didn't understand the need for such drastic measures.

She laughed kindly and said the collars were very gentle, and not nearly as dangerous as a choke collar.  She said with soft tugs, never a snap, she could easily control her two dogs at any time.  She said before she decided to use the collars, she saw them demonstrated on children who thought a man was being mean to his dogs.  The gentleman took one of the collars off and let the children play with it and pull it around themselves to see that it wouldn't hurt.  I was unsure, but Zuzu was starting to be really "pully" and in order to control her on walks, I felt like Jim and I were tugging back way too hard with her normal collar.  There was one day when she wanted to get to another dog so badly, that I had to use nearly all of my weight to keep her with me as she would relax, then try to jump away at top speed!  So, we went shopping.  Again.

We brought Zuzu to a pet store and tried one on her.  Then Jim put it around his neck and happily announced that it didn't hurt.  I put it on my neck.  I didn't like it, but I have to admit that it didn't hurt.  So, we bought it.

We walked Zuzu around in Rengsdorf Park with her new collar before dog training that night, and she was a different dog!  She was so good!  She walked with the leash loose most of the time, but with a gentle pull when we stopped, she would sit.  There was no more tugging, just good walking and tail wagging, tongue-out, fun!  We had had a good day with lots of Zuzu playing time and training, so it might not have been 100% the collar, but I was at least convinced that she was not miserable and she was behaving, so we stuck with it for the class.

She was great!  New commands still confused her a little, and the long sit-stay and down-stays were just entirely too boring for her to tolerate, but the rest of the class was amazing!

Good Sit!

That's not really what I meant by down, but sure, you can have belly scratches.

Heel

Working Sit-Stays and Come, in a line

We trade off during training.

Figure Eights

Hey Mom, look!  A Guinea Pig!!

Time to sit while Charlie does figure eights.  Poor little Charlie shook every time he got near Zuzu!

Preparing for the long sit-stay.  She lasted about 30 seconds each time, before we had to set up again and sit-stay some more.

The long down-stay.  "Daddy!  I see you up there on the grass.  Can I please go with you?  This is sooooo boring!!"

We used the collar on our long walk this morning too, and she was so good!  We ran into the lady with her Sar Peis and she said we had the collar set right (the prongs just barely touch Zuzu's neck when it's as tight as it can go).  

Jim is convinced that her good behavior is the collar.  I'm just convinced that she's behaving and I'm not going to change anything right now.

Super Lazy Sunday night

Because I Don't WANT to!

So, does anyone else have, or have you ever had, a five and a half month old puppy who seems to be unlearning everything that he or she once knew?

I have one!

I have figured out that it's not that she has forgotten all of her commands... nope... that would be too simple. It's that she is now choosing not to obey them!

In the backyard when she's relatively bored, or enticed with treats, Zuzu is little Miss Perfect. But when we are out and about, even simple commands like sit are completely ignored. She'll just stand there. Sometimes she'll look at Jim and I and sometimes she'll look away, with this blank look like she's never heard the word before. If there are no other distractions and we pull out a treat, then magically the word sit is translated from Martian unto English, and she chooses to obey! That's so frustrating when a few weeks ago she was sitting on her own when we walked her and came to a halt, without even being asked.

Because of this, I did something that I haven’t done in a while:  I went to my books.  After reading some, I just decided that she’s more mature than most puppies her age.  :)

Here’s what I read:

“Puppy Puberty ( 6 to 9 months)”

“Puppies at this stage go through a major transformation called growing up.  You remember growing up, with all its hormones, rebellion, confusion, and curiosity.  Ah, puberty.  It’s never a pretty sight.  On top of these typical growing pains is the awakening of breed-specific instincts that tell herders to herd, hunters to hunt, guarders to guard, and pullers to pull.  This stage is utter canine chaos and all while they’re still cutting their baby teeth!  So here you have this puppy/dog who’s full of hormones, hight spirits, and anxiety.  It’s no wonder he may give you the puppy equivalent of a teenage eye roll when you give him a command.”

from Puppies for Dummies by Sarah Hodgson

So, that explains it!  I now have a doggy teenager in my house.  Too bad I can’t take away her cell phone.  :P

Deja Vu

I just read an amazing note from Kodi’s dad, Ron.  Kodi is one of Zuzu’s siblings.  I love how similar they are and how everything that Kodi does reminds me of something Zuzu has done.  And, if it doesn’t remind me of something, then I just take it as fair warning that it’s something Zuzu will soon do!

SIMILAR STORIES  

Barking at anything unusual  

Kodi - He has the whole neighborhood memorized and I swear he knows the exact number of deer in the woods. Anything unusual brings out the alert bark and growl – we’ve watched him closely and if it is movement in the woods or a strange smell it is bark,bark bark until the threat is gone, identified or I go out and tell him enough and to just watch. The deer must feel safe as they now bed down close to the house at night.

Zuzu - Oh. My. Goodness.  Tulips on the Counter!  Really, they had her in fits for two days.  The tulips did NOT belong and she wanted them GONE!  If I brought them down to the floor for her to sniff, she just ran away and barked louder.  It  makes me wonder how she’ll deal with the giant change of moving across the country this summer.

Flying through the air towards someone  

Kodi -  Latest trick – fly through the air and slam into you (or Keiko). I mean fly not jump – he takes off at least a yard away from you and careens into you at chest height. Working on trying to figure out how to break this one. It all started the other day when walking him, a pit bull mix flew out of the bushes and attacked us. Kodi was quick to the challenge (can’t believe a puppy would charge back like he did) and he backed the other dog down and stopped him without getting into a fight, thank God. All the while I was tangled up in his and Keiko’s leads. Don't know if was Keiko’s size or Kodi’s ferocious growl and response that sent the other dog packing but whatever it was it worked. Perhaps he is practicing knocking another dog down as he is doing it with Keiko also.

Zuzu - She’s not as bad as Kodi is...yet.  Again, I take it as fair warning.  But, when we play fetch, unless I am sitting down, she will not bring the object back to me because she would prefer to be chased.  Today, as we were having a fun game of fetch with a giant tennis ball, she discovered that if she runs at me really hard, doesn’t stop, and throws her front paws into my chest, I tip over.  That amused the crap out of her!  The rest of the game was played that way, but at least I was ready to dodge her and grab the ball after the first time or put my hands out to stop her.  If she ever does that to me while I’m standing up like Kodi does, I’ll be history!

Baby teeth gone and chewing everything  

Kodi - Finally lost all his baby teeth and is chewing on all his toys, sticks and Keiko.

Zuzu - Ditto.  (Hey, that’s her real name!  Hahahaha!)

More clumsy than before due to one end growing  

Kodi -  I weighed him yesterday at the vets and he weighed in at 72 lbs. He is growing in spurts, one end at a time. I swear he is more clumsy now than a month ago. He runs with abandon only to trip over his front feet as he looks back to see who is after him.

Zuzu - Her growing is weird.  The first time she grew, it made her legs look super short and her body look super long. Then her legs grew.  Then her body grew.  Then her back legs grew.  Honestly, just her back legs!  Then her front, then her back again.  She’s like a stretchy teeter-totter!  This makes for more clown-type antics than our cat ever demonstrated.  We have hard wood floors (hee hee hee!) that she cannot stay upright on!  And, she loves to jump all over the yard furniture, but she’ll completely miss her feet going up or down and actually face-plant!  Plus, she tries to pounce on balls like a cat, but never judges correctly when her feet will hit the ground.  One of these days I will get some of this on video.

Rainy Days require doggy Valium  

Kodi - Joan just came into the office wanting doggy valium. It is raining and he is in a wilding.

Zuzu - Rainy days are soooo challenging!  At least on rainy days I expect extra antics and I kind of feel sorry for her.  Still, valium would be nice!

DIFFERENCE

Meeting new people  

Kodi - He is getting groomed for the first time this Saturday. Lindsey our groomer is excited, I’m not as he really doesn’t like being handled by a stranger. Hopefully, he will look good for the dog show on Sunday. It is just the novice puppy class as they must be 6 months old to compete in the puppy class. Oh well another phase of socialization for him as he hasn’t been around a large crowd of dogs and people.

Zuzu -  She has no trouble with new people or being handled by them.  If she’s not distracted by something else like another dog or food, she is all about the love!  She will lean into any scratches and eventually roll over for belly rubs.  I’m not sure how that will effect her “guarding” of the house if we ever need her, but it makes parks and visitors more fun.  When it’s time to show her, we’ll have the most trouble with her trying to “meet” everyone when she’s supposed to behave!

Nice and Naughty

One of my girls was rotten yesterday.  I’ll give you a hint who....her name starts with Z and ends with uzu.

I’m exaggerating.  It’s just so funny how days change so quickly from one mood to another.

Last week we found Zuzu a house in Virginia.  At least that’s what my realtor said!  It has a decent backyard with a nice tall fence, a walkout basement (perfect for future puppies) and a great dog park less than a mile away.  And there’s even a veterinarian at the entrance to the neighborhood!

We got home after midnight Friday night and Zuzu was the only one in the house who woke up to say hello.  We hugged for two days!  Again, I exaggerate, but it was so nice to see her again and we really did have a lovely weekend.  Tons of cuddles and great walks and good training.  She is such a good dog!  Plus, I swear she grew while we were gone.  Jim weighed her on Sunday and said she is now 67 pounds.  And it looks like all of her big girl teeth grew in and they’re huge and white!

When we got up on Monday morning, I knew it was going to be interesting when she had put two of her “babies” in her mouth before she finished her breakfast and was trying to pick up her third.  (Her babies are the stuffed animals that she stole from PetSmart during her puppy Kindergarten.  We had to practice walking around the store, and each time she would grab something new from the toy aisle that we would end up buying for her.  She has Piggy and Lamby and Froggy.  I think PetSmart knew exactly what they were doing!  The last few weeks, we only walked her in the fish aisle.  Don’t worry - no fish were harmed!)  

Anyway, that many soft toys in her mouth at once means her teeth hurt.  Look out!  

If that was all that she did when she was uncomfortable, we all would have been okay, but does ANY puppy stop there?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Let’s see.... We had an amazing long walk, but her longest nap all day was about five minutes long and the rest of the day was spent stealing things.  Daddy’s sweater, Darby’s clean socks (that should have been put away after they were folded.....hmmmm....), Koshka’s toys, the garden house, another couple roses - and this was all while she was being supervised, but would escape quickly and was way more efficient than normal at her grab and go!  She was put in the crate several times, just so that I could get stuff done and so that she would calm down, but as soon as she was released, she was off and running again!

The worst capture was after dinner, when I looked under the dining room table and she was gnawing on a steak knife!  Luckily, the plastic end was way more interesting than the metal end, so only the knife suffered, not her mouth, but it frightened me.  I have no idea how she even managed to nab it, other than the rest of us were busily doing our after dinner chores and just didn’t even realize that a knife was missing from the dish stack.  

I locked her in the kitchen with me while I did dishes.  She was bored, of course, so the circling and barking began.  As I bent down to put some dishes into the dishwasher, she grabbed froggy and jumped up on my back with her front paws.  I chose to ignore her (which I am learning only SOMETIMES works) and she dropped her toy and bit my head!  Ow!  I’m just glad she’s been gifted with knowing exactly how hard to bite to be irritating, without braking skin or leaving any marks.  How do dogs know that stuff?  

And when they leave no marks, you get no sympathy from husbands either.  

“She BIT me!”  

“Let me see.”  

“There’s nothing to see.”  

“Then she didn’t really bite you, did she?” 

“But it hurt.”  

“Couldn’t have hurt that badly.  Why were you letting her jump on you anyway?  You know she’s not allowed to jump on people.”

Again, I exaggerate.  I didn’t actually say anything because I was guessing that was the response that I would have received.  And by the time I thought it all through, my head didn’t hurt anyway, so it was a mute point.

So, I stopped doing dishes and played tug of war instead.  What’s the old saying?  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

Playing at the Park

Back to the Beach

Back to Half Moon Bay, CA

She LOVES sand!

Not so much, the water.

AAaaa!  Cold Feet!!!

She prefers the walking to the water dipping.

Mommeee!!!!

Daddy said, "Jump!"  Zuzu said, "Suit yourself silly, I'll step down like a lady."

Crazy seaweed!

I'll get you yet, you snakeweed.

Wait.  Why'd it stop moving?

Do we have to go home?

Hey - how'd those dogs get so big, and why are there people on them?

Sick Days

When you're home in bed sick, a puppy who hasn't quite learned how to cuddle might not actually make you feel any better, but it can sure make you smile.

Zuzu jumped right into bed with me this morning after Jim took care of feeding her, walking her, making the girls' lunches, getting them to school, and getting himself to work. And my bed is a place where she is definitely not allowed! I was tired enough though, that had she just laid down next to me, I wouldn't have argued and she could have stayed.

Being the puppy that she is, she had no idea how to handle Mommy being sick. After she had walked all over me sniffing (maybe to make sure it was actually me), she pulled away the covers and tried to bath my face, hands, and arms. When I pushed her away, she began to chew on any body part that I moved - and if any of you have been chewed on, you'll understand how hard it is to not move!

Finally, I got her off the bed, and she started bringing me toys, jumping up on the bed to get them in my face. I tugged with her a little while, until she got bored with my lazy effort and went back to trying to gnaw on my fingers.

But, as quickly as she came in, she decided to leave, so I opened the door to the backyard and let her run out.

Yay. Sleep.