The Dog Diaries: again, dog????

The Dog Diaries: 

Its been months since I posted about Chevy.  I continue to love that stupid dog (yes, again with the "stupid" word) and he continues to respond by chewing up my house.  Mostly Cade gets the worst of this relationship. There is a larger porportion of Cade's things able to be chewed that are laying on the floor...legos, cars, truck, stuffed animals... than anyone elses.  I've been fairly accepting of this problem.  After all, it isn't my stuff that is getting chewed to bits. 

Except today, when he chewed up my favorite flats.  That ticked me off.  Admittedly, I've had these flats for years.  I loved them when I bought them.  I even blogged about them when I bought them.  Just this side of Crazy blog "Gotta go with the mood that strikes ya"  It was Friday, August 14th 2009.  Now I can put an end date to my tombstone of my shoes 9/2009 to 5/2012.  Sigh. 

Taking care of Chevy has gotten easier.  There are many possible reasons for this:

1. a couple of weeks ago I had three dogs (I was pet sitting for my sister) and now one dog seems pretty easy in comparison
2. I've really lowered my expectations
3. I've finally bought most of the gear that I needed and so now I have enough options to care for my pooch
4. He snuggles with me on the sofa most evenings, which makes up for a multitude of sins during the day
5. I've stopped feeling guilty if I need to leave him in his crate for 4 hours.  I still feel guilty about more than that.

I still really need a fence in the backyard.  It will be really nice if I can send him out to play occasionally, especially when other people come over.  We are still not sure about a traditional fence or an invisible fence.  We've ruled out the other wireless fence that we were hoping for...apparently those don't work on sloped property. 

Well, I should probably go downstairs and clean up the chewed bits of my shoes all over the carpet.  I bought a new vacuum cleaner attachment to pick up all the dog hair on my upholstery.  Maybe I'll try that out.  Oh yeah...that's one more thing you can put on the "Chevy's an expensive dog" tab!

The Dog Diaries: Chevy gets a home "outside" of home for when we need to be gone for longer than a few hours.

First let me say that it is hard to type with a 60 lb dog on your lap.  For a few minutes there, I was doing more backspacing than I was typing.  But he has wandered away...probably to go eat something he isn't supposed to. 

Given my reluctance to crate Chevy for hours and hours, it became quickly apparent that I need an outside solution.  I was trying to never be gone for more than a few hours at a time but that just wasn't working.  We often have back to back activities and it was really limiting us to have to run home in between to play with the dog and let him out for a bathroom break.  Limiting, and fairly expensive in gas costs! 

So today I went to Costco and picked up a dog house they had for sale.  Check it out!

Scott had 2 helpers putting it together:  Cade and Chevy!

While I was busy picking up the doghouse, Scott found and procured a dog run on Craigslist.com.  What would we do without Craigslist?  It would have been $750 to buy a comparable dog run new and we spent $150 on Craigslist and the seller was here in our hometown.  I love it when things like that work out. 

For now, the dog run is on our back patio.  It will keep Chevy from being able to dig under the dog run (unless the dog has nails that can cut concrete) and it is shaded by the deck above (you know, for all the sun we've been having).  Eventually, I think we'll move it to the front of the house next to the garage, but  we'll need to pour a concrete pad for that. 

Now I have to figure out how to make it more of a home for the pooch.  Do you think Chevy needs any posters on the walls?  I wish I knew of how to give it a bathroom.  I assume that if he needs to "go", he'll probably do it as far away from his doghouse as possible...but it still seems quite unwelcoming to have to potty in the corner of a concrete patio.  Perhaps a few magazines?  He could read them, tear them to bits, and then poop on them.  Perhaps I should put down a mat or a rug? 

I'll keep thinking about that...

The Dog Diaries: Can I get paid for this?

I shall harness the power of my pen (or in this case my MSi S6000 laptop) to give a shout-out to StarMark for their awesome training collar.

Walking Chevy has been a painful experience.  He is just so exuberant!  We've tried a number of things to keep him from pulling us around when we go on walks.  First we tried just yanking his leash and stopping whenever he started to pull, but his response to that was to ignore us (and keep pulling) or bite through the leash.  Then, at the advice of our dog trainer, we worked on positive reinforcement by giving him treats and positive praise whenever he stayed with us.  That works for as long as you have treats in your hand or until he sees a dog/cat/squirrel/deer...whichever comes first. 

We tried retractable leashes, which he has a hard time biting through.  But that didn't stop the pulling either.  I was getting pretty frustrated because I wanted to take that blasted dog on a walk for both of our sakes, but I wasn't looking forward to the chiropractic adjustment I would need afterwards. 

I considered a pronged collar, but I just didn't like the image of my pooch having that metal chain and prongs around his neck.  I know when I look at a dog on a pronged metal collar, I think the dog looks agressive and I get a little nervous.  I don't want other people to think that way about my Chevy.  Then a friend told me about the StarMark collar.  It is great because it has a solid plastic outside band that hides the fact that it is pronged.  No one would look at Chevy and guess that he has a pronged collar on.  The prongs seem a little more gentle to me as well.

Our walks have been sooooooo much better with this collar on.  Chevy stays with me during 95% of the walk.  If something catches his attention, he might dart away but the collar "reminds" him to not pull before he's had the chance to disconnect my rotator cuff.  And I know he doesn't really mind wearing it because he is eager for our walks and he doesn't complain when I put it on him. 

I'm a believer!  I got my collar on Amazon.com for about 10 bucks!

The Dog Diaries: Cage or Crate?

Everyone says I need to get past the notion that putting Chevy in his crate is the same thing as putting him in a cage.  Everyone except that little voice in my head.  And, of course, that voice talks to me far more than the average person.

That voice says that Chevy is a dog made for hunting, a dog yearning to travel long distances looking for a tasty mallard.  That voice says that Chevy barely gets enough exercise between our walks and throwing the ball around the yard and because of that, confining him into a small space can't be pleasant for him....even if that is just for a few hours at a time. 

The other day I decided to undergo a trial run of leaving Chevy alone in the house without putting him into his crate.  I wouldn't feel as bad leaving the dog if he didn't have to be stuck in that little crate (cage).  I was gone for an hour and a half.  The trial was certainly unsuccessful.  I came home to broken dishes on the floor, chewed up Star Wars legos, Sydney's lunchbox licked clean, and the remains of boxes strewn about. 

So the next day, it was back to the crate for Chevy.  I put Chevy in the crate and left to work at Cade's preschool.  When I got home after preschool, Scott was home and Chevy was running around.  Scott said to me, "if you are going to leave Chevy out of his crate, you ought to make sure there is no food on the counter".  "Well", I said, "I didn't leave the dog out of his crate."  Apparently Chevy let himself out of the crate...again!  That makes 3 times that he has unlatched the top latch of his crate and squeezed himself through the opening. 

The next day, Scott put a bungie cord around the crate when we needed to head out.  Our hope was that even after Chevy unlatched the crate door, he wouldn't be able to open it. When we got back, Chevy was out.  He ate through the bungie cord and let himself out again.  The dog is smart and destructive...a fairly lethal combination!

Today I tried a good old twist tie around the latch on his crate.  Apparently all the dog's smarts can't make up for the fact that he hasn't fingers to untwist a twist tie.  Chevy was still in his crate when I returned home.  So for now, it is still the crate for Chevy, accompanied by a twist tie.  I still yearn for the day when he can be in the house alone without needing to be in a crate.  However, given the constant destruction of the dog of everything he can get his teeth on, he'll be in the crate for some time to come. 

The Dog Diaries: Bad Dog

Well, it's been 4 weeks now and I have less and less to blog about.  Chevy has either stopped misbehaving as much or we are learning how to care for him better.  We've gotten into the habit of being gone for an hour or two during the day and Chevy goes into his crate.  He goes in there willingly (which is a major improvement from when we first got him) and we think he spends the time in his crate fairly quietly...without barking or whining.  Of course, we're not home to know if that is really the case, but we think he is good. 

Today the kids are home in honor of President's Day, so I put Chevy in the crate about noon and took them to the mall for some ice cream and errands.  When we returned at 2:30pm, Chevy met us at the front door.  How does he do that?  He opened the top latch of the crate again and squeezed himself through.  It cannot be comfortable to squeeze yourself through the half-unlatched door of a wire dog crate. Immediately I started looking around to see what mischief he got into while I was gone.  This is what I found:

In case you can't tell what that is, it is the remains of a box of Girl Scout Samoa cookies.  The dang dog found the cookies that I need to deliver and helped himself to a box.  Grrr.  It would have been better if I had ordered myself a box that I could use to replace it, but I blew all my girl scout money on Thin Mints.  So now I'll have to order a new box of Samoas to deliver.  Add $4 to the cost of the dog. 

Of course, Chevy knows he's been bad, so he stays glued to my side for the next 15 minutes as I try to clean up his mess and move the rest of the cookies to higher ground.  I don't know about you but when my kids are bad, I wouldn't recommend that they hang out underfoot for the next 15 minutes.  It is like he is waiting for me to pat his head and say "good dog".  Well., he can just keep waiting.  Why can't he go hide in a corner until I'm ready to forgive him? 

Another little "bad dog" issue that we are dealing with is that the dog doesn't seem to have good bladder control.  He's excellently house broken.  He has NEVER peed or poo'd in the house on purpose, but he gets so excited when we come home that he almost always leaves a piddle trail on the floor as he leaps out of the crate to say hello.   We can't seem to get him out of the house fast enough to keep it from happening.  And he is able to hold his pee for much longer than 2.5 hours when he isn't excited.  All you experienced dog people out there, any thoughts on that one? 

The Dog Diaries: Chevy, the budget buster

Before we got a dog, I did a fair amount of asking around about how much a dog would cost me.  I asked several friends with dogs the question "What is the annual cost of owning a dog?".  The answers ranged from "not much" to "just food and occasional vet bills" to the classic blank stare (as if the question of a total yearly dog expenditure amount divided by 12 for the montly budget was a weird question to ask).  I decided those answers added up to about $1200 a year, or $100 a month.  That assessment might have had something to do with the fact that I had a monthly bill of $107 that was ending soon and I could easily repurpose that money to a dog category.   But whatever the reason, that was the amount that I decided to plan for. 

I am here to tell anyone who will listen that owning a dog is more expensive than that.  Take a gander at the first 21 days of dog expenses:

• $13.00 pet shampoo and deoderant spray (oatmeal based, for his dry skin)
• $31.50 King County License
• $77.00 first 6 months of flea medication
• $200 first trip to PetSmart.  Dog crate, dog bowls, dog food, tennis ball, treats, dog toy, etc.
• $250 cost of rescuing Chevy from the Humane Society. Includes a 6 week training class.
• $15.00 lint tape, for getting dog hair off my clothes
• $13.00 dental chews, because the vet says he's got tartar/plaque
• $11.00 bitter green apple spray, so he'll quit chewing through his leashes
• $14.00 Nylon bone, to give him something he is allowed to chew on
• $176.02  Cost of lab workups and meds for Chevy's first vet visit.  Vet waived the labor cost of the first vet visit for rescuing the pup from the Humane Society. 
• $76.00 cost of medication after we learned that Chevy had a parasite
• $20.00 dog bed from Costco (total waste of money. He prefers to sleep with the kids)
• $30.00 barrier for keeping Chevy in the back of the Honda (Chevy destroyed it in minutes)
• $300.00 cost of replacing the seatbelts in my Honda Pilot
• $20.00 2nd leash, retractable

That comes to about $1300.00.  Yep, thats a big number for the joy of falling in love with a dog.  Good thing hubby wasn't that expensive in the first 21 days!!!

Chevy's expenses aren't over yet. The big expense that we still have looming is a dog kennel and fence solution. Or maybe that is an either/or scenario. Costco has a dog kennel right now that is around $300 (or was it $400?) that looks really nice. 6 ft high fences all around (important since we've got a jumper) and a 10 ft by 10 ft. area for him to hang out in. I found one that looks the same on Costco.com, but its price says $750 so it must not be the same one, but you get the idea!

We have a difficult yard to fence, so we are looking into non-physical fencing solutions.  There is the Invisible Fence option that we've considered, and another option that is basically a wireless version of that.  I'm leaning toward the wireless version. It is called PetSafe Wireless Instant Fence.  You basically install a transmitter on your house and put a collar on the dog.  The dog gets a shock if he goes outside of the radius allowed by the transmitter. One of the benefits is that the wireless version is portable enough that we could take it with us when we go to the cabin.  Another benefit is that we can install a 2nd transmitter on dad's house and Chevy would be able to run through both the yards.  I bet the 2 transmitter solution with collar will run us another $750.  So...basically $2500 for the dog, just to get everything set up for him.  Sure, ongoing costs won't be as much.  Yearly vet bills, yearly flea medication, daily food and some toys.  I'm still hoping those numbers will come in under $100 per month.  Unless you count the bigger vehicle that I'll need to haul him around!  =)

The Dog Diaries: Week 3

This week has been full of fun surprises as I learn about my dog.  My first suprise came on Friday as we enjoyed the fabulous weather.  Chevy had already been out for a morning walk, but it was afternoon and I wanted him to be able to enjoy the sunshine.  I decided to open the door to my enclosed deck so he could hang out in the fresh air.  Chevy loved to go out alright, but he didn't care much about the "enclosed" part.  That dog sailed right over the deck railing on his way to freedom.  I don't even think he was on the deck for 4.5 seconds before he had grass between his toes.  He trotted right around to the front of the house to be let in...presumably so he could do it again. 

My house has a daylight basement and my deck is on the main floor, so there is about a 13 foot span from the top of the deck railing to the grass below.  So now I know:  Chevy is a good jumper.  Who would have thought???

Another fun tidbit that I learned about my dog is that he pees a little when he is afraid of getting in trouble.  I can already recognize the look on his face when he's been into something and he doesn't want me to know.  He usually hears me coming to check on him and he'll run to meet me in the other room so I cannot see the carnage (like the knocked over kitchen garbage or Sydney's chewed up boot).  Last night I was lying in bed and I heard something being knocked off the kitchen countertop.  I got up and headed downstairs to figure out what he was up to.  He met me on the stairs as I descend.  "Chevy!" I scolded "what are you up to?".  His response was to duck his head and come pee on my feet. 

Really dog?  You have to pee on my feet?  I wasn't going to hit you...I just wanted to tell you "no!".  Now I have to spot clean the carpet, wash my toes, and then clean up whatever you were into downstairs. 

Sheesh...good thing I already love that boy!