My job does something really important for me.
It is something that no other job in the whole entire world could ever do.

It makes me appreciate the firm consistency, natural coloured, small quantity of my dogs' poops.

Orange diarrhea at work today people! Orange! What are these people feeding their dogs?
It was orange!

.

I can't wait any longer

I had to start my plants.
I know it's early, but I can't wait any longer. I started with the indoor plants, to try and stave off the need to start the outdoor ones.

I re-potted the ivy and the... possible ficus? Then, because the possible ficus was too top heavy and growing funny I cut it back, braided the stems together to make a nice centered base, and not it's looking pretty neat and tidy, able to support it's own weight.

Then I started my seeds. They'll have to live inside for awhile yet, I know, because we aren't out of frost season, but I just had to get them in some dirt.

Badger ate a lot of dirt in the process.

Speaking of Badger's eating habbits, he's almost outgrown his 14" collar, I've bought him a 16" inch, and hopefully that will do him for the rest of his days.

Later I will take pictures of my planting exploits, and maybe I'll snap a few shots of the dogs, perhaps get them in a photo together? Rare as that is, it will be my best record of Badger's growth.

Rare moments

Badger and Kodi are asleep beside each other on the couch.
Any attempt on my part to move and record this image will result in
A) throwing Kodi in to a sulk
B) waking up Badger and returning my home to a state of chaos that only lapses when he's sleeping

So you'll all just have to take my word for it.

.

Things I do like about Badger

-his 'dirty foot'
-the dairy cow colours on the roof of his mouth
-when he falls asleep with his legs pushed up against my thigh
-the noise he makes when I don't put his food dish in his 'usual spot'
-his ear tattoo PID 1OW which I call "pidlow"
-his snores, which are really loud, but equally hilarious
-that he growls when he plays tug
-how floppy he is, especially when he's sleepy
-how nicely he rides in the car
-how he crawls into to Kodi's kennel with him every night in an attempt at a sleep over (maybe someday?)
-how proud he looks when he finds a stick

not enough love to go around

I found this old post today! It's June 21, 2012 and I guess I better update it!
Ha! Wow!

I'd like to happily report that NONE of it applies any more.
Badger and Kodi are such good buddies that I'm worried what will happen to poor Badger when Kodi grows old and passes away. They play every day, share all their toys, beds, AND my affections. I love my Badger boy to bits and would never give him up.

Puppies are hard. Badger was harder than most because he was quite disinterested in forming a bond with me and he had some oddities that I might even go so far as to call abnormalities in his development. I can't say that now (well, except for the odd part) and though it took over a year for us to 'click' he's now my little shadow and I miss him when he's not around.

I know that I'm not the first person who has had these difficulties with a puppy. After I got through my experience and found the love for my boy and from him, I started to hear about other people, many of them trainers or people who have competed in high levels at dog sports or other things. I heard about people sitting outside ex-pens in tears as they look at the dog that they so desperately wanted to connect with, people being shut down by their breeders or fans of their breeders for daring to suggest that the dogs weren't all they were trumped up to be (my breeder was great, btw) and I know that a handful or them were re-homed, some just shy of a year, some at over two years. I also know that for some of these people they were able to hang on long enough to find that sudden and magical 'click' like I found with Badger the day he learned to stay. For some people it took only a couple months longer than they thought, for me and Badger it took over a year and half (though by six months I'd decided he was mine no matter what he decided he wanted to do) and for some it took years.

I have to say, the 'click' is amazing. I'm sure I had that moment with Kodi too, and I'm sure that everyone who's never experienced a dreadfully delayed 'click' has had them with all their other dogs. But those click happen so fast and so soon that they go unnoticed. I suspect my 'click' with Kodi occurred the moment I stepped out of the breeders house with him in my arms. Badger's was more special, more memorable, and I still get a happy little flutter in my stomach when I see him waiting in the window for me when I get home from work, so happy to see me. And I'm so happy I get to see him, every day. My life wouldn't be right without this dog and I'll never doubt another in the future, I'll just look forward to that 'click'.

I thought about deleting this post, because I come off so beat down and harsh. I was beat down, and I was harsh, and I'm keeping this here so that when the next new puppy comes along I can read back on this one, smile to myself and go "oh yeah, Badger was worse, and look how great he turned out"

Thanks to the worst puppy ever! Love you Badger boy!

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I find myself more and more often looking at my dogs and feeling bad. The problem arises simply from the appearance of the plural now when I refer to my pets. I look at Badger and I feel sorry for him and on the odd occasion I wonder if I made a mistake.
I don't think I will ever love this puppy the way I love Kodi, and that makes me feel terrible.

It isn't Badger's fault that he didn't come first, that he missed out on the last eight years of ups and downs during which Kodi had the opportunity to comfort and console. It's certainly not his fault that he pees on the floor, bites, chews things he shouldn't, whines, barks, makes me get up early. Yet, he's the one I get annoyed at, push away when he makes Kodi snarl, and he's the reason that my favourite times of the day work around his naps.

I wonder if it would help if Kodi liked him. If Kodi loved the puppy then maybe I would feel like I could love him too because he makes one of the most important things in my life happy. Instead, Badger does the opposite.

I will continue to remind myself that the days are still early, Kodi has already come a long way and maybe someday they'll be the best of friends. I remind myself that badger won't pee inside forever, the biting is because he is teething, as is the chewing, and someday he will learn like Kodi did, about sleeping in on Saturdays.

We made one step today. I was too inconvenienced to put the crate in the car so I decided to try badger without a crate. He lays on the back seat even more quietly than Kodi does. It's a glimmer of hope in the world of constant bathroom breaks and puppy bites.

Gah!

Ultimate!

So I bought an 'ultimate pepperoni pizza' to make in the oven, but when I opened the package it only had 12 slices of pepperoni total on it. That is 1.5 slices of pepperoni per slice of pizza.
What kind of ultimate peperoni is this?

Badger's first command

I fully intended to teach obedience before I taught silly tricks, but it was a case of, I had to teach was came easy, and this is what came easy. Who knows, he might outgrow this vocal stage and I'd have missed my window.
Anyway, March 13, Badger at about 12 weeks, practicing his 'speak' for the second time. The leap into the air is all him.

why you can't get a hold of me

I'm really busy at work. So if I don't know you want to get in touch with me then I can't be sure to guess and get in touch with you back.

EMAIL me!

Remind me that you want my attention, had a question, wanted to meet up, whatever. I know I've been getting a lot of "are you ignoring me?" and "why aren't you talking to me?" messages lately. I'm not ignoring, and I'm not avoiding, just give me a shout! I'll make sure I don't have appointments and I'll put puppy in his crate and we can chat.

For those of you who don't already know

the hellion's name is Badger

Time for some gratitude

I complain a lot. Though, in my honest opinion, my complaints are valid. Things just don't seem to want to go my way lately and while the last few weeks have been the worst, the past few months have been pretty rough.

I can't, however, complain about my friends, the ones that have stuck with me and have listened to my complaints and not only provided a friendly ear, but helped me find solutions. My friends have done a lot for me these past several weeks, so it is time for some sincere thanks.

Thank you Pat, for helping me to look for a place to live and sending me all the news paper ads. Thank you for the offer of a new couch. Thank you for finding me a new tv before even 24 hours had gone by since the old one broke.

Thank you Mona, for driving all the way to Grenfell Saskatchewan to look at puppies with me, for helping me pick out Badger, for lending me the crate he is currently sleeping in (you will have it back for Lloyd, don't worry), and for finding out for me that he was showing symptoms of mange when I had no idea what I was looking at. Thank you also for coordinating the delivery of the tv that Pat found for me. (And thanks for grabbing Kodi when he decided he was going to impede the delivery)

Thank you Kurt and Pat's brother in law for carrying said tv. And thanks Kurt for the tips on training badger on the tug at practice last night.

Thanks Pat's sister and brother in law for the tv. There was even batteries already in the remote (heaven)

Thank you Christina for helping me get a job. Thank you Amanda for being such a great co-worker. Thank you Galen for papillon leonberger :B crosses (don't worry everyone else, it was a joke).

And thank you everyone else, because I'm sure I owe you all a thanks for too many things you have done for me to list here, and I hope I always remember to thank each one of you in the future when you do me a kindness and that I can always do some kindness in return.

Oh, and thank you mum and dad for not kicking me and the chewy puppy out of the house on Friday, hope your plants are ok.

Some funny stuff

Last night, while I was fighting with my tv hoping to save my beloved vhs tape (I haven't found this movie on dvd yet :( ) and while Badger was jumping up and down on the couch (literally, it's a good thing I don't have a trampoline I'd never get him off it) Kodi decided the world had gone a little too insane. When the world gets weird for Kodi he likes to retreat to his crate. Unfortunately for him I have a baby gate up preventing the pup from getting downstairs, but it also prevents Kodi, and that is where his crate is. So, he crawled inside Badger's crate.

Badger's crate, the one we are borrowing for a little while, is a medium sized crate. Kodi lives in a large sized crate. He is both taller and longer than a medium sized crate. He crawled in there while my back was turned, so I am not entirely sure how he accomplished it. But in the little crate he was, curled up in a ball so he could fit while the puppy bounced on the new couch springs and I ripped my television to shreds.

Anybody know a good deal on a tv?

So, I've finally reached that point where I sit down and ask 'why me?'

My slumlord of a landlady in Victoria steals my money, Kodi suddenly needs $2000 dental surgery, my new apartment came complete with bedbugs, my new puppy came complete with mange, my new job is proving to be almost more trouble than the pay check is worth, and tonight, as I sat down to watch my favourite tape (yes, a vhs) my tv broke.

I pushed the tape in, went to the kitchen for a glass of milk and returned to find my screen had gone blank, so I hit play. Nothing happened. I hit rewind, the built in vcr of my little 13 inch tv whirred to life, made a horribly sound, and the tv turned off. I turned the tv back on, and hit the stop button. The vcr continued to make that terrible sound and the tv snapped off again. I turned it on to try to eject the tape, just the same sound and off went the tv.

I tried to manually force the tape from the machine. Then, when nothing else worked, I opened the tv up and removed the vcr from it, extricating my beloved tape. But now the tv won't turn on. And so, I am left without one of the few luxuries in my life.
Goodbye Judge Judy, until we meet again.



fml

So far so good

First group class was tonight. It seems to be a good group of dogs and handlers. Everyone decided to pay their money by the end anyway. There is also a little boy who I look forward to working with. He really wants to learn to train his dog and likes to ask all kinds of relevant questions.

Teaching the class is challenging, but I think I lucked out with a good group of people. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves at least.

Darn you UPS

My gallon of magic bug killing goodness has been delayed. UPS decided they couldn't deliver it. It is now being sent USPS. I hope it gets here soon. If it works like it should, then my life can go back to some semblance of normal.