Holy moly, is today mouth-fetish day or what? It’s both of them too, not just Zoe. I don’t even know where they’re finding half this stuff. Every time I take something out of Zoe’s mouth and clean up that little mess she finds something else to get into. And Zeeke, well he has this huge cardboard addiction… we can’t leave any cardboard boxes or anything laying around because he pulls chunks off and eats them. I feel like we need to empty the whole house out, leaving only the big furniture pieces behind… anything else gets chewed!

Around here, anything stuffed gets quickly de-stuffed and chewed to pieces. It’s just how things go. It’s expected. So imagine my surprize when it’s nearly the end of February and two of the stuffed toys I got them for christmas are still very much intact.

One is a large four-pronged fleece plushie. Each of the four ends has a squeaky in it. And all of them are still intact. This is one of Zeeke’s favorite fetch toys. I especially like to bonk him in the head with it.

The other is a different-looking stuffed chipmunk. It’s some special brand, I think it was supposed to be extra-tough or something. Good quality. Well apparently it is, because it’s still alive. It is one of Zoe’s favorite toys, she loves to carry it around, play fetch with it, and attack and shake it like it was evil. Late last night I was watching the olympics and she an I played fetch/tug for about half an hour. I never even had to move; she brought me the toy, I grabbed it, we played tug for a little bit. Then I’d throw it across the room, she’s run and grab it, bring it back. I think her favorite part is the tug, she really loves getting to bite and shake that thing.

And of course one of the favorites in this household is always the nylabones, of all shapes and sizes. But those, sturdy as they are, tend to get chewed pretty heavily. I need to replace them about once a month or so, depending on what’s in favor - theres this one nylabone teething ring that they’ve just destroyed. Not sure if I’ll buy them another, it didn’t stand up too well, but they sure loved it. And at this stage I love anything that saves our furniture and shoes from getting chewed!

Zoe has been extremely whiny yesterday and today. I sure hope she isn’t getting another UTI.

Zoe is just such a wonderful companion. She eagerly and happily goes along with whatever I am doing, whatever my mood is. When I run around she plays with me; when I sit and work she lays at my feet.

Tonight, middle of the night, I am unable to sleep and she of course couldn’t let me leave the bedroom without her. Zoe is now awake and eager to play with the cat (who is of course hyper). But then she wants back in the bedroom, where Zeeke is, so she stands at the bedroom door and whines. I call her to me, she comes. It is easy to get her to lay down on the blanket on the floor - she doesn’t know what “go lay down” means, but she follows my hand. Praise makes her happy. A bone to chew occupies her. She relaxes and pulls the bone across her paws to better chew it. She’s content, as am I.

She doesn’t stay that way for too long, however - the cat distracts her, enticing her to get up and try to play. She ends up going back to the bedroom door. I call her back and direct her back to the blanket. The third time she lays down on her own.

It is so easy to teach her. She is so willing and eager to please… and so joyful in everything she does. It’s hard not to feel that life is wonderful, around her.

The cat has been taunting her more today, biting at her neck as always. Just now I found him laying on his back, front paws splayed wide, batting at Zoe’s head above him. He just layed there, twisting around and swatting playfully. After a little while of that he lunged up and grabbed her neck, then ran off. I don’t think either of them know quite what to make of each other.

Saving this for reference.

(more…

Reason #3613 that I love my puppy-dog: when she’s chewing on anything, even a really great bone, I can go over and put my nose down beside hers and go “yum yum yum” and pretend to eat it. Her reaction? She wags her tail and licks my nose. Just like Oreo. (With Oreo too I could put my nose right down to whatever she was eating and she’d just stare at me and wait to see what I did.) I would not dare try that with Zeeke.

Today while I was watching TV I was also writing in a notepad, and was sitting cross-legged. Zoe traipsed across my lap and for some completely unknown reason, instead of curling up on the length of couch on my right side, she laid down on the pillow and armrest immediately to my left. It was so funny, and so cute, I couldn’t bear to move (my leg was part of the support, so if I moved it would disturb her). Unfortunately after a while my knees started aching and I had to stretch out and get up, but she was just so adorable, curled up against my leg like that, perched on the arm rest.

Later on in the evening I was looking for the remote control in the cushions of the couch and instead pulled out a dog bone that had apparently been lost to the depths some time ago. The dogs immediately treated it like a brand new bone. Zoe found it first and laid down on the blanket with it to chew. When Zeeke saw her and found out what she had, he decided he wanted it. He repeatedly tried edging in to take it, but Zoe really doesn’t take kindly to that. Zeeke was getting annoyed, he started just barking at her. A spoiled child, demanding what little sister has. Well bucko, guess you don’t always get what you want - you can’t just run over and grab it! Of course a little later, when Zoe moved on to something else, he got his turn with it. He was just mad he couldn’t have it right that second. I’m just glad that Zoe is not a total pushover, and that her bitchiness doesn’t start a major fight that I need to break up.

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch watching TV and Zeeke, as usual, was standing at the baby gate harassing the cat. Which was an option available to him, since apparently the cat was standing on just the other side of the gate, out of reach, taunting him. I told Zeeke to shush and turned back to the TV. Seconds later something comes flying over and jumps up on the couch behind me: Jojo. My eyes nearly popped out of my sockets. There’s Zeeke, standing right there - he’d followed the cat - and Jo decided to come out!! He layed down and tried to ignore the dog, but Zeeke of course just can’t let it go, kept shoving his nose at the cat sniffing him. Jo got more and more agitated and finally ran back into the kitchen. But it was out of annoyance, not fear or nervousness.

Then today I was in the kitchen getting something to eat, Zeeke’s at the baby gate as usual. Jo goes over to the gate. He’s been doing that lately - when he’s happy he’ll even rub up against Zeeke’s nose and paw playfully at him. Well today he jumps up onto the washer that’s right beside it, fully within reach of Zeeke! That’s totally awesome. Him voluntarily putting himself within reach of Zeeke is huge.

I’m totally encouraged. Maybe we will have a happy family that all gets along someday!

Today we got another dumping of snow. So I took both of the dogs out together, Zeeke on-leash (it’s not optional for him), and Zoe off-leash. We went around to the backyard and then I just stood there while the two of them beat each other up in the snow. Zoe had a blast, running back and forth and in and out. She’s like Oreo was at that age - she stays within our territory and follows where I go. And when it’s time to go inside a short “Inside” will get her running straight to the front door. It’s wonderful. The fence will do wonders for them both, though. When I brought them inside after that brief play session (I was freezing!) they both flopped out and napped.

Well, yesterday was eventful. Zoe had her last trip to the vet’s for her DA2PP (distemper/parvo) booster. Now she’s all up to date and ready for her obedience class. The vet’s trip was hard on her - she was shaking like a leaf in the truck. In the waiting room at the vet’s she was very anxious, whining and shaking, but she also really wanted to see around one of the walls where another dog was. That surprized me - she wanted to go closer to the big dog. That’s encouraging. But then the tech came and took her into the back for her booster. When they came out a while later she told me that Zoe had lost control of her bladder twice and had to be cleaned up. I put her in the truck while I paid so she could calm down a bit.

So today I sent an email to the trainer asking if there’s anything we need to do (or they need to do) for Zoe’s class. I worry that it’ll be a waste if all she does is freak out every time we go there. When she’s that upset she doesn’t give any attention to toys or treats, she just wants to hide behind me and run away. I hope the trainer has dealt with dogs like her before and knows how to deal with it. Because I don’t.

I’m really happy that I found a store online that sells nice martingale collars. Petco doesn’t have any in-store, which annoys the heck out of me, and online Petco and Petsmart have a very very limited selection (3 colors, yuck). Then I found Handcraft Collars. Very nice looking collars! I’m looking at the snap-around martingale collar in 3/4″ width for Zoe. I’m also going to get a matching 6′ leash. Problem is, I can’t decide on a color - I’m torn between Bolivia Blue and simple Burgandy. Burgandy is what color her current collar and leash is, and it looks really really good on her - but the Bolivia Blue pattern is really pretty. Either way I need to get the collar before she starts her obedience class, so I need to order it soon.