I do my best to resist posting photos of my dogs on facebook and my blog every day, but sometimes I can’t help it. Without over-sentimentalizing anything, I think I learn a lot from my dogs–and not just how they force me to learn patience. They show us how to be loving and devoted, and how to be excited by small joys in life. (We’ve also learned how to clean red clay out of everything, how to dispose of dead rats, and how to fit 2 adults and 2-40 pound dogs in a queen size bed.) When we first got both of them they would startle fairly easily, but they’ve become less fearful and more trusting the longer they’ve been with us.
Last night, I looked over at Oliver sitting in one of our chairs and saw this: (we actually see this pose quite often, here’s O’Malley doing it too)
That’s such expectant hope. He knew if he waited long enough someone would come along and rub his belly. He was also prepared–legs up in the air and his big turkey-like chest sticking out–so when someone did notice him and walked by, he’d be ready.
What if we took that own posture? Figuratively of course, although I’ve had days where literally seems like a good idea too. Expecting good things. Being prepared for good things to come our way. Trusting that we are safe. Knowing that we are loved.
Dog-Like Faith October 13, 2009
Oliver’s Big Day October 1, 2009
Today, October 1st, marks the 1 year anniversary of our dog Oliver coming home to live with us. When O’Malley had been with us a year, last March 1st, I made a little blog post in his honor. So to be fair, I should also commemorate in a small way Oliver’s time with us so far.
Here’s a photo I took of Oliver this morning making himself nice and warm in our bed:
Even though Oliver looks a lot like O’Malley, he has a very different personality, and in the last two months especially we’ve noticed he finally seems at ease and at home with us. Just this week he laid down in PL’s lap in bed, something we don’t think he’s done before. He’s a very timid soul, prone to being a little jumpy with noises or fast movement, but he’s also incredibly sweet. I can’t imagine how either or our dogs ever ended up as strays and can’t imagine them ever being in a place where they weren’t adored since they both want so much attention. Even as we brought Oliver home we weren’t sure if it was a smart decision to get a second dog, but we just went with our gut, so to speak, and got him anyway.
He’s such a great dog-so laid back, so lazy, and so sweet. He has sad eyes, so tends to get whatever he wants. He’s not as quick to learn as O’Malley but he’s also calmer so he doesn’t need to sit or do down quite as well since he’s so mellow. His new favorite thing to to (thanks Keira and Aggie!) is to pull the filling out of his soft toys. He doesn’t eat it at all, just sits there and pulls it out and spits it to the side and goes in for more. He’s also a surprisingly fast runner for a dog that’s so lazy most of the time, and loves to chase and be chased. And while he’s learned he does like to snuggle in bed and lounge on furniture, he’s definitely a country dog–jumping into lakes and rivers with no hesitation. Oliver definitely found a good place in our family, and we tell him all the time that we’re happy we found him.
And here’s Oliver lounging in a river, with his happy face:
Happy 1st Year of the Good Life O’Malley March 6, 2009
So in the busy week of snow and work and school, we forgot that on March 1st last year, O’Malley came to live with us.
So one year ago: We wanted a fluffy small dog. We wanted a girl dog. In like 3 months. When we would have time to get a fence. Clearly, things happened a bit differently than that. I think I’ve already posted about PL visiting the shelter just to check out the dogs, seeing a fluffy calm girl dog who wasn’t a girl dog and was only calm from being neutered that day. I was an instant goner as well though.
Here’s O’Malley (with a lot of hair!) making himself at home right after we got him:
I think we’ve done remarkably well as dog parents this year–O’Malley is ridiculously cute and goofy and smart–I mean, the dog’s favorite way to sit is with his legs behind him like a frog. I somehow turned out to be way more of a pushover parent than PL which surprised both of us I think. He’s also hopelessly devoted to PL, which–since she doesn’t really read my blog often–actually makes me smile even though I act like I’m jealous.
Here’s one of my favorite photos of O’Malley having fun on vacation:
Ok, that’s all I’m going to say about O’Malley. He rocks and he makes us happy, but we try not to be those dog people that think their dogs are children–although arguably those people are better off with dogs since dogs don’t usually need as much therapy as any actual children they have would.
Snow Day in Atlanta March 1, 2009
Since Thursday I had been hearing it was going to snow in Atlanta on Sunday. PL was heading out of town for a conference in Athens, GA this weekend and asked me to check the weather. I said, “Friday and Saturday will be a lot like today and Sunday it’s going to snow.” She thought I just made that up to see if she was paying attention. I continued to doubt the forecast of snow, especially when it was 62 degrees yesterday. Since I was avoiding a work project, I decided to do our weekly Sunday meal planning and grocery shopping on Saturday, but the chance of snow was the furthest thing from my mind when I made that decision. 
As proof that procrastination and not fear of snow was my motive, I also organized our messy stack of hand and bath towels and put them into color coordinated neat stacks, made bread, made crock pot soup and cleaned out the refrigerator. Oh, and made a pie for PL’s return.
But sure enough, at a little before 11am as we were wrapping up Sunday school class, we all noticed at the same time it was snowing. After Sunday school we were hanging out in the toddler nursery at church, bathing a stuffed lion named Al, bowling with a beach ball and cooking imaginary food while eating real cheese Chex mix, we decided to bundle up the the kids and take them outside in the snow. I suspect that the 3 grown ups were the ones who really wanted to go out in the snow, but the kids went along with it. After going outside and seeing the snow, the kids exclaimed in unison, “Merry Christmas!”
After a slow but safe drive home, we let our dogs out to play in the snow. Oliver took the pounce and lay on the ground approach and O’Malley decided to eat the snow. This is the most snow I remember in Atlanta, and it snowed in big clumps of flakes until 6pm or so. While living through 3 winters in DC, I started to really hate the snow. It was always pretty coming down but then nothing got canceled and the roads were gross and you had to go out anyway. Since I pretty much have to finish my work project tonight whether work is closed tomorrow or not, it’s less exciting that I might get to stay home tomorrow. In the meantime, it was a fun snow day in Atlanta.
Not Newsworthy at All February 25, 2009
I’ve been working too hard today to read the Times yet, but did see this tibit of information on Nerve.com when I got home. There is, it seems, designer cologne for dogs. It’s called Sexy Beast and it combines essential oils of bergamot, patchouli, mandarin, and nutmeg to create a unisex scent for your stinky pup. The best part? It’s called Sexy Beast.
Unisex cologne for dogs is strange and funny enough I suppose, but in our circle of friends (some Agnes Scott girls plus 2 Georgia Tech geeks), the phrases sexy beast, you’re a beast, and grrrr date back some years. Sole credit for this invention dates back to the Agnes Scott swim team circa 2001 or 2002. They would yell that to each other while swimming for motivation. It soon found new uses and new users. Now the circle is drawn wider yet again with a more literal interpretation and including actual beasts.
Day 8: 10-Year-Old Spaniel Completes Comeback (Subtitle: Dog Shows = Not a Sport) February 11, 2009
I firmly believe that blogging is ultimately an exercise in Solipsism, so what better way to practice this great art than by picking an article about something seemingly newsworthy, and turning it to a post about what I think. Awesome. In the Sports section, of today’s Times is an article about the winner of the Westminster Dog Show.
Dog Shows = Not a Sport.
I started a brief but similar discussion via a recent Facebook status message chain and suggested that spelling bees, golf, chess and bowling are not sports either. Some friends were helpful enough to add that poker and car racing and billards are also not sports. I agree on all counts. Why aren’t these fine activities sports, you might be wondering? I need to develop a set of rules I suppose, except for the fact that I might disqualify things that I actually do think are sports in order to prove my point. So, no rules. They aren’t sports because I said so, that’s why. It also has to do with sweat and effort probably, bowlers sweat because they are wearing polyester, among other reasons, not because bowling is hard (full disclosure: I hate bowling. Mostly because I suck at it. Like really suck.)
I love dogs. Especially spaniels. They are devoted and loving (i.e. clingy) and it’s great. Exactly 50% of my spaniels can give high fives and spin and lays on the ground with frog legs. The other 50% of my spaniels can sit and look at you with sad eyes and a stupid look on his face–and knows that my alarm clock sound means it’s time for him to get in bed and snuggle and get his belly rubbed. I’ve even watched dog shows before (not on ESPN since I’m morally opposed to dog shows on ESPN), and I love that this little winner’s name is Stump. But, the fact remains. Dog Shows = Not a Sport.
One can hope… January 4, 2009
…that as the economy tanks, there will be less of a market for stuff like this. I “borrowed” this ad from the in- flight magazine on a recent trip, just for you dear reader.
Teaching a Dog It’s Name October 9, 2008
As I’ve already shared with a few people offline, Oliver is a great dog, but maybe not all that smart. It may just be that he’s still a little confused and overwhelmed by all the changes in his life recently, or maybe he really is kind of a dummy. No judgment. O’Malley is plenty smart and it gets him in trouble, so a dog that just sits there with a blissed-out look on his face is kind of nice. He just goes with the flow, and as long as he gets food and attention, he’s a happy fellow.
I do have to confess that he does things that make you judge his mental capacity. Our family room is pretty small, and all people and dogs need be on the back side of the couch in order to get out the door to the deck because of the way it swings and blocks the path. Oliver just can’t figure this out, and ends up behind the door when it’s open and can’t get outside. He gets a sad look on his face and sometimes whimpers a little, and I have to close the door, let him walk around, and then open the door again so he can go out. He’s also fairly tall but he struggles to get on the bed (which is very low). He’s been good about sleeping on his dog bed but does like to snuggle sometimes–we let him because it’s kind of cold in the house and 80 pounds of dog is actually quite warm and cozy. Rather than just taking a small hop, he stretches his paws really far across the bed, putting his entire upper body on it, and then flails his legs trying to pull himself up. His total height reaches above the bed, so it would really just be a small hop. Oh well. At least he’s cute.
It took from Sunday until Wednesday to teach Oliver that the sound of the clicker means he gets a reward. I’m still not totally convinced he knows it, but when PL tested him when she got home, it got his attention and he wanted a treat. Meanwhile, O’Malley is learning to touch his nose to my hand, a command called touch (duh). You can do a lot with this after they learn it, including teaching them to point at different objects and moving up to frisbee catching. He still is acting like an excited and totally out of control goofball a lot of the time, so I think we need to try taking him around more people to practice and have friends work with him too instead of just us.
Now that Oliver knows what the clicker means, the next thing he’ll learn is his name. We’ve been using his name a lot when we’re just sitting and playing with him, and we finally have the hang of not yelling the dogs’ names when they are in trouble (most of the time anyway). That was probably the hardest thing for me to learn because my instinct is to yell their name, but you want their name to be a good association for them and never used as a punishment. Teaching the dog it’s name is one of the first things to do because it’s how you get their attention, and you have to get your dog’s attention to teach them anything else.
Here’s how Oliver will, probably, hopefully, learn his name in a few days. With the treats and the clicker, you say your dog’s name. When they look at you, you click and give them the treat. You can also practice holding their attention for longer and longer periods of time too. This will be repeated up to 20 times in each session, with maybe 2 sessions a day. That’s really less than 10 minutes a day of commitment on your part, and the ideal amount of time for the dog according to the things I’ve read.
Doing this even for 5 minutes a day is a lot of treats, and even if they are little pieces, that’s still a lot of food. Oliver needs to put on weight so I’m not too worried about him for now, but I may cut back on the size of O’Malley’s meals a little if he’s getting lots of the treats.
Making My Dog Act Like a Gentleman, Part I October 7, 2008
Oliver has lived with us for a couple of days now, and it’s time for him to start learning the rules of the house. He’s had some time to relax, get lots of attention and get what he wants when he wants it. It’s 5am Oliver, you want to go outside? Ok, let me get up and take you. (Actually, the way it really went down was that PL got up to let him out at 5am, while I stole all of the covers and went back to sleep.) He’s very laid back but a little shy, and I think training will make him less nervous when something new happens.
Oliver is very eager to please and already very devoted to us (like any good spaniel) so I think he will learn quickly. If he’s confused he backs away and gets scared, so we’ll have to be extra patient with him. O’Malley always finds a way to be included in everything, so while we’re training Oliver, he will get a much needed refresher course in his manners as well. We went through an 8-week Beginner Dog Obedience class last Spring with O’Malley. We left the class with a graduation certificate that proudly hangs on our refrigerator (and an embarrassing picture of PL holding O’Malley with a graduation cap on his head).
I also left the class with my own philosophy of dog training:
1. Your dog’s bad behavior is your fault and not theirs.
2. Dogs are happier when they are trained (it goes without saying that their people are happier too). Shy dogs gain confidence, and hyper dogs gain purpose and direction.
3. Dog training is more about dedication and practice than about being an expert.
4. Dogs learn quickly, but consistency takes a lot longer.
That’s not really groundbreaking stuff, but O’Malley made big improvements and became easier to live with after dog class, so I’m going to pretend I’m an expert now. Both dogs were magically house trained, so I’m taking credit for that too. Since PL the law student knows all about dog bite court cases and liability now (I finally learned what a Tort is), this is the part where I say I’m not a professional and I’m just sharing my experiences, not offering counsel.
Here is what O’Malley knows how to do after beginner dog class: sit, down, stay, release, spin and give high fives. He’s consistent with these things most of the time, but needs to practice doing them anytime, everywhere, for anyone, even with distractions. He’s ok at coming when called, but needs to learn to do it even when what he’s doing is fun (like playing in the litter box or running down the street to poop in the neighbors yard when he escapes from the house). Lately he’s become worse about putting his paws on the counter and searching for food (he’s a carb-a-holic) so we’ll be working on that too. The fact that he does this is our fault since there have been times where he jumped up and found things there, thus rewarding his behavior with yummy carbs. We left the house for a quick bike ride last week and came home to find a freshly baked loaf of bread resting in the grass. We dusted it off and put it in a clean bag and ate it anyway. (Disclaimer: he never opened the bag, just licked the outside, and anything we serve to guests is guaranteed 100% slobber free, not that we would tell you if it wasn’t). Needless to say, they really let anyone graduate from dog class.
Yesterday I started the first part of Oliver’s training by doing something called “loading the clicker.” We were taught the clicker method of dog training in our class and the sound of the clicker is used to mark and reinforce good behavior. I admit that I always thought a clicker for dogs was stupid, but I learned that you just use it for teaching something new and it’s not like a dog remote control at all (you don’t have to carry it around all the time and look like an idiot clicking it to make your dog behave). Once a behavior is learned, you do not need the clicker and the treat to reward the behavior. Often the behavior is reinforced by a real life reward. For example, O’Malley is trained to sit at the gate and stay (even once the gate is opened) until we say release. When he does this, his reward is getting going out of the fence to take a walk.
The basic methodology of clicker training is that when the dog does a certain behavior, they hear the click and associate what they just did with something that earns a reward (usually a treat but also attention or play). You can think of the clicker like a camera, and the click is a snapshot of the behavior you want at the moment it happens. The sound it makes (a two-toned popping noise) is the same pitch every time, unlike your voice which can say the same word in different ways giving it different meanings to the dog. Over time, the dog learns what the behavior is, attaches a command to it, and learns to do it on cue.
Before you do any training with a clicker though, you have to teach the dog to associate the sound of the clicker with a reward–this is called loading the clicker. It takes 2-3 days of practice in a few short (5 minutes or so) sessions each day. In fact, all training is most effective in sessions of about 5 minutes repeated a few times a day rather that in one longer block of time. Loading the clicker is a great game for your dog because they don’t have to do anything at all and they still get lots of treats. You begin with a handful of very small treats, or larger ones broken up into small pieces. You click and then give them a treat. Over and over. To test that they know it after a couple of days, simply make a click when they aren’t looking at you, and if it gets their attention and they expect a treat, you are done with loading the clicker.
Dog Tired October 4, 2008
Today was a busy Saturday. We picked up our new dog from DeKalb Animal Control this morning. They opened at 10 and I think we were there just a few minues after that since I didn’t want him to be there any longer than he had to. He was happy to see us (I had played with him twice before so I’d like to think he remembered me) and actually walked on a leash instead of laying on the ground and having to be picked up or pulled along on the floor.
After bringing the filthy mutt home, we let him play in the yard with O’Malley and brushed him a little before he came in the house. He desperately needs a bath and a haircut, but since he was just neutered he can’t get the stiches wet yet so we did the best we could with the brush, scissors and wipes. We were down to two final name choices–Berkeley and Oliver. After playing for a few minutes and trying out both names, we decided he’s definitely an Oliver.
When you get an animal from Animal Control you give up knowing about their background and personality, but he seems really good natured and easy to handle. His favorite thing to do so far is come stand in front of you to let you pat his head. He just stands there and looks at you–never jumping or lunging, just patiently waiting. He’s been pretty restless all day and can’t seem to find a good spot to nap. He seems to prefer the deck to the house and curled up in a ball next to the house to sleep, so I’m guessing he spent most of his life outdoors. He’s still skittish, but O’Malley was too at first and he settled in after a couple of weeks. Oliver ate his first raw meal like a champ, and took a walk and didn’t pull on the leash at all. He did swerve all over the road and stop every time we saw a car, so we have some practice to do.
After we played with the dogs for a couple of hours, I rode my bike to the library and back (Google told me is was 2.4 miles round trip) and I was there and back in 30 minutes, which included biking, getting my books checked out, and drinking some water. I felt quite proud of myself and wasn’t too tired at all. I do need a different bag to carry on the bike. I have an Old Navy over the shoulder messenger bag, and it kept sliding off and flopping to one side. I tightened the strap but it didn’t help. I have a backpack with 1.5 straps (O’Malley ate the other .5) and that might work a little better.
We’re having PL’s law school study group over for dinner Sunday night and the house was a wreck, so the next few hours were spent cleaning. We needed to do more serious cleaning too and we changed the AC/heat filter, dusted the ceiling fans, swept the deck, and picked up a few sticks in the yard. The fun part was putting out some Fall decorations. Then I went to the Toco Hills Kroger for chicken since one of the study group members is Jewish and keeps kosher. I love going to that Kroger since everyone who works there is so nice and they have a Rabbi on staff who he helps unload your cart when he has free time (although not today since it’s Saturday). I stopped by the Farmer’s Market (at 4pm on a Saturday, and lived to tell about it) on the way home to get our produce. I also got lots of cute decorative pumpkins and lined them up in a row on a shelf when I got home. I realized later that the chicken was kosher, but the chicken broth for another part of the recipe isn’t so I have to figure that out tomorrow. It’s Organic, Low Sodium, Non-Fat chicken broth, so I seriously think they could have just called in a rabbi after they went to all that trouble. 
We took both dogs on a run/walk. 10 minute warm up. 10 minutes jogging. 3 minutes walking. 10 minutes jogging. And then another 5-10 back to the house for cool down. Oliver was just neutered so he needs to take it easy, but he made really sad eyes at us and stuck his head through the gate when we left with O’Malley, so we brought him too. He seemed to have fun and the boys are so cute when they walk side by side.
Then I made tacos for dinner, and wondered why we don’t eat tacos more often. I cleaned up the kitchen and tried to convince Oliver he doesn’t have to sleep on the deck. I’m fully prepared to wake up many times during the night while he’s being restless and nervous in a new place. He has a great dog bed and tons of toys and just doesn’t know how lucky he is yet. Now I’m totally wiped out, but happy and having a great weekend.
