Well Zoe had another trip to the vet’s today. Thankfully it was just for her Lyme booster (Lyme was not given to her as a pup at all, but it’s needed in this area), not the DA2PP (parvo/distemper), which she’s already gotten. They of course want her to come back for the parvo/distemper booster, which I’m not going to do.

I’m going to have to find a limited-slip collar for her, because she again slipped her collar when I was trying to get her in the truck. (I can’t find a limited-slip in any of the local stores, they only have buckle, prongs, or chains.) Of course being the lovable brat she is she just stood in the middle of the front yard (refusing to go near the truck), then happily trotted up to the front door. I believe what she was saying was, “NOT going there again, let me inside!” So the second time I carried her to the truck. (And tightened her collar!)

She really doesn’t like being in strange places, and the vet’s qualifies. Vehicles sometimes driving by, strange sounds and sights. But she still followed me inside when I coaxed. Inside we went and sat down. She’s the only dog there that jumps up on a seat next to her owner. All the other dogs are sitting or laying on the floor, and there’s Zoe, sitting primly beside me. I let her because she feels more secure when she’s next to me. Though she jumps down periodically to try to walk away (ie, escape) - then jumps back up when that fails. I’ve noticed that she’s very good with other dogs - she’ll walk over and sniff them, then walk off. She is much more concerned about everything else going on. The dogs (and cats) she takes for granted. She would freak at a dominant dog, I think, but even when they approach her she’s very good.

People are another matter, though. She’s very skittish around strange people, though she will let them pet her sometimes before moving out of reach. Because we only had a tech appointment today the tech said they’d just take her into the back for a minute to give her her shot and bring her back to me. I handed the leash over, but there was no way she was going to follow that lady back there, all four in reverse. So I said she’d have to be carried. The tech asked if she nipped - which is a completely fair question, since many dogs when nervous (especially as scared as Zoe was!) will nip. But I answered quite truthfully, “No.” I have no doubt about that now - Zoe would never bite someone except in a very extreme situation. Oreo would get bitchy when cornered, and wouldn’t hesitate to nip someone threatening her (except the vets, she never displayed any aggression towards them in the slightest, for some reason). Zoe just turns to mush. Granted that may change, as she is still young, but she’s 8 months old and hasn’t changed her reactions in 4 months. I was very proud of her.

Oh yes, and her weight today, a day after her 8 month birthday: 29.4 pounds. I sure could tell she’s been getting heavier to carry around! She might hit 35 or even closer 40 pounds when she fills out, if she keeps this up.

I’m not quite sure what Jo is doing with Zoe. He comes out and walks around fine with her around. They do this cat-and-mouse game. It’s really funny to watch. Jo hunches down and watches her for a few minutes, then he’ll leap up and wrap his paws around her neck and then bite her. She just stands there wagging her tail - obviously he isn’t hurting her in the slightest. Then he jumps back and glares at her with his ears back. She thinks he’s playing, so she starts play-bowing and pawing at him, which makes him jump and circle her. This volley will go back and forth a few times before Jo gets bored and walks off. Thing is, he has his ears halfway back the entire time, his tail twitching. His body language could be taken as hostility or one of his quirky playful-vicious moods (he plays rough). I’m not really sure which it is. She definitely still puts him on his guard. But when he does smack her it’s very lightly and not at all how he claws Zeeke. He barely pats her nose with his paw. So I just let them do whatever they’re doing. Zoe at least seems to enjoy it. She thinks he’s some cute, moving toy. I couldn’t be happier with how she reacts to the cat, she is so excellent - she doesn’t pester him, she doesn’t bark, she isn’t scared. She’s willing to play if he is, respectful, but otherwise ignores him when he wants to be left alone.

I feel bad for Jo, though. Whenever I come out here at night he follows me around like a puppy dog, purring on my desk, winding around my ankles. I feel so bad that I can’t spend more time with him. But at the same time, he does seem to be very happy with his life here. He loves spending time with me when Zeeke’s not out, he loves sleeping in his cupboard, and he comes out to greet us (and wheedle treats from Den) whenever we’re in the kitchen. He has a nice catnip-covered scratching post, a cat-bed, a cat-tunnel… I guess he isn’t too deprived. It’s not like we lock him up!

I hadn’t previously tried to teach Zoe “off” - Zeeke knows it, and he’s the main issue. But the past week I’ve been trying to straighten the bed covers (to keep dog fur from getting IN the bed), and she kind of lays there chewing on her bone, ignoring the fact that I’m tugging and tugging. She’s gotten a little too heavy to just move with it. So I started teaching her off. “Off,” and nudge her so she jumped off the bed. She’d jump right back up. Repeat until the bedcovers were straight.

So today I walk in there and try to straighten the bedcovers. She’s in the way, as usual. I said, “Off,” and she jumped down, sat, and waited. When I was done I said, “Okay, up!” and she hopped back up and went straight back to chewing on her bone. Good girl!!

Zeeke doesn’t always finish his dinner. Now my rule is if he doesn’t finish I take it away, but hubby tends to just leave it there. Unfortunately with Zoe in the house you can’t leave food laying around like that. So when Zeeke was done, he closed the crate behind him - just the top latch (which is all we use unless we’re going out), but so Zoe couldn’t eat his food. So later when we let Zeeke in his crate, he finishes his dinner.

Well the other day a few hours after their dinner I hear banging on the crates. It continues for a few minutes, so I get up to check. And Zeeke is standing in his crate, eating. I ask Den, “Did you close the crate earlier?” He says yes.

The next day I heard banging on the crate I peeked around the corner. And I see Zeeke nosing the latch and pulling it with his teeth. A few seconds of that and it opens and he goes in and eats.

So every day now when Zeeke’s done we just close the latch and walk away. If he’s hungry, he opens it up and eats!

Once in a while there will be complete silence in the house, and that makes me very nervous. I’ll go to check on them and will find them both laying side-by-side in their respective crates; Zoe in hers, Zeeke in his. It is absolutely adorable. Zoe never used to go into her old crate except when told to, to recieve meals. But this one… well, it’s larger, it’s wire (so not closed in), and it’s just like Zeeke’s. I have a feeling that the last point is the big one - she learned right from the beginning that Zeeke loves his crate and that it’s a good place to be. And I think she was pretty excited when she got her own. Zeeke has finally stopped stuffing himself into it.

:: ::

We usually keep a water dish in the living room and one in the bedroom. Yesterday I guess Den filled the one from the bedroom and put it in the living room… so there’s two out there and none in here. This evening I’m in bed on the laptop, so of course Zoe is beside me. She’s gnawing on one of the many bones that are laying around the house. A few minutes ago she abruptly left off chewing, jumped off the bed, and went trotting down the hall. I watched her to see where she was going - in case she headed to the front door. But no, she turned right at the end of the hall and went straight to the water bowl. There were noises as she drank her fill, then she trotted back in here, jumped back up on the bed, and went right back to chewing. It was just so cute.

:: ::

Earlier today Den was sitting in his computer chair with his feet up on his desk. I was at my own computer. All of a sudden Den laughed, and I turned to find Zoe standing on his lap - apparently she’d just jumped right up there. She’s definitely my little mountain goat.

I want to talk a little about Zeeke here. He doesn’t get a lot of the limelight in my eyes, since I’m all about Zoe (but trust me, he’s the love of Den’s life!). But he has some very funny personality quirks.

Mornings are always amusing. He’s a very grumpy boy in the morning. Over the past year he got used to Den’s early morning schedule, and he knows he doesn’t get to go out until right before Den leaves. So he doesn’t bother getting up until Den is done with his shower, and then he only moves to his dog bed in the office and falls back asleep. The problem with this now is that Zoe wakes up in the morning full of energy and wants to play. Now generally, after attacking Den and me in bed, she’ll just grab a toy and chew on it. However she does it while laying right up against Zeeke on the dog bed. So the whole time she’s happily chewing and leaning back against him (she uses him as a pillow sometimes), and he’s laying there moaning and grumping at her. He doesn’t often do anything about it, just moans and bitches. Mrrrrrrr. Grumph. Grummmm mrrrrrrr. And so on.

I love the fact that Zoe never gets perturbed by this. She very happily ignores him until he gets fed up and smacks her. And then she snaps back, and goes back to chewing her bone. It’s a very neat interplay between the two dogs - I find it completely fascinating. Den mentioned today how Zoe goes from cute to vicious, to cute to vicious. When she’s playing with Zeeke (or peeved at him and getting snarky) she snarls and just looks mean. Two seconds later they both stop and pant a little and she has a big happy smile on her face. Then blink your eyes and it’s back to attacking each other again.

Den had a problem with the front door today after taking Zeeke out - it wouldn’t close because of snow stuck in the doorframe. He had to chisel/scrape the snow out, and then the storm door wouldn’t close. The whole time both doors are wide open. Both dogs just stood in the living room and watched. I was right there beside Zeeke, but he didn’t even twitch towards that door. I’m very proud of him. Zoe too, but he had such problems with door bolting last year. It’s really great to see him behaving so well.

You know when you see a toddler being bratty and refusing to move or go with their parents? You know, when they go all limp and the parents have to basically lift/drag them? Yeah, that’s what Zeeke just did. Den was trying to pet him, and told him to come over to his other side, and Zeeke didn’t move. So Den held his collar to guide him over there, and Zeeke did the toddler thing, putting his feet out and refusing to move. Den finally had to drag him over by the scruff. It was a whole two feet. You could practically hear Zeeke saying, “Noooo, I don’t waaaaannaaaa!” But then of course when he got moved he was immediately fine again, like nothing happened. Lordie, what kids they are.

I was just thinking about how I found my two dogs.

Zoe I found online, from just a picture and short description. But I knew she was the dog, I knew she was meant to be my puppy. I waited nearly a month to hear if I could even have her, but I wouldn’t have wanted any other dog.

Oreo I first saw when she was 2 days old, and I picked her out of the litter then. I don’t really know why, other than she had nice coloring that I liked. I wanted that particular puppy. She turned out to be the only girl.

And both dogs became my heart and soul. I couldn’t have asked for two better dogs for me if I had ordered them myself. I am so incredibly lucky to have had Oreo in my life during my teenage years, to have her with me all through college. She kept me sane, gave me a purpose. I got up in the mornings just to go to the park with her. And I am just as lucky to have Zoe now.

I think it’s telling that if I move to a different room, Zoe always comes with me. Doesn’t matter if Zeeke’s still laying beside daddy, Zoe comes with me. I can get up to fill my water glass, she comes with me. (Sometimes if she’s sleeping I’ll try to sneak off to pee without waking her - but I always come out of the bathroom to find her sitting in the hallway, blinking sleepily at me.)

In fact, most of the time Zeeke comes too. Sometimes, if he can’t find a good place to sleepwhere, he’ll go back to where Den is, but a lot of the time he prefers to be with me and Zoe.

Zoe’s second trip to the vet today. Her urine test came back negative for any UTI, which I figured since the constant peeing stopped shortly after we started the antibiotics. She also got a distemper/parvo and lyme vaccination - apparently when they went through all her medical records they found out she’d only gotten her first round of shots, no follow-up. However, after we got home, I looked through my records and found she DID have both sets of shots. I or they (when we were in last time) lost the sheet of paper that showed it, though. I can’t find it anywhere, and I don’t how how they could have gotten lost here, they were all filed away together.

I really do like that vet’s office, though, it has a really great atmosphere and the vets are good with Zoe. The girls were all fawning over Zoe, they think she’s adorable. But eek is it expensive!

Her weight today (7 and a half months old): 27.8 lbs.