They finally did it. The Detroit Tigers have secured their 81st win of the season. The guarantees something that true Tiger fans have been long waiting for…a non-lossing season.
While some teams fans have been spoiled by the year after year of successful baseball; year after year of playoff appearances; and year after year of reasonably expecting a chance at a World Series appearance. While some fans have become spoiled, and unappreciative those of us who have worn the badge of Tiger Fan, sometimes painfully, have forgotten the fun and joy that comes with watching your team win more games than they lose.
The last time the Tigers accomplished this mark, that for many teams passes without note, was 1993. As a way of explaining just how painful the last 12 seasons have been let me offer these points of comparison.
Atlanta Braves fans have been able to cheer their team on to 1239 regular season victories. They have enjoyed 12 first place finishes in the National League East. They have witnessed 12 playoff appearances, which included 3 trips to the World Series and one Championship
New York Yankees fans have cheered their team on to 1219 regular season victories. They have been handed 10 1st place finished in the American League East and three 2nd place finishes. Their fans have watched 11 post season appearances including 6 trips to World Series resulting in 4 Championships.
Detroit Tigers fans, who are some of the most dies hard in all of sports, have cheered their fans on to 850 well earned victories. Since 1994 the Tigers have never finished above 3rd place, and never closer than 16 games behind.
I started think what was going on when the Tigers last won more games than they lost. After a short amount of research on Google I found some interesting news events from the year 1993.
President Bill Clinton introduces the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy in the military
The first World Trade Center bombing occurred.
The ATF and the Branch Dividians infamous standoff & battle occurred that year
Ruth Bader Ginsberg joined the Supreme Court
Schindler’s List was the big movie of that year
Three other events that changed the world happened hat year:
-Intel released the first Pentium processor
-Microsoft released Windows 3.1
-Mosaic WWW software was first released to the public
That's right. None of us had easy access to the internet then. In fact few of us had access to Windows then.
I’ll leave it there and let it sink in just how long Tigers fans have been waiting for this.
2006-08-24
2006-08-14
Still The Best
Much to Derek’s dismay the Tigers are still in first place and they still have the best record in baseball. Yes they got swept by the WhiteSox and they have a 3-9 record against the ChiSox this season. But it’ll be ok. I’m actually glad to see them struggling right now.
Even with the sweep, which puts their losing streak at 5, they are still sitting on the best record in the Majors. Their pitching staff is still one of the best in either league. Their march to the playoffs is still all but assured. As of Sunday, we currently have 76 wins. Which is more than all but two seasons in which Bobby Higginson endured in his dozen years as a Tiger.
The Tigers are on pace to win 105 games. That is one more than the 1984 team won on their march to the World Series. Now, even the most optimistic of Tiger fans (me included) don’t expect this pace to continue. Even if the team plays close to .500 ball (22-23) from here on out we’ll finish with 98 wins. That will likely be good enough for both a playoff spot and the division championship. It is starting to look like 100 wins isn’t too far out of reach. Having said that you’re not going to get me to make any October predictions, other than, if the Tigers make the playoffs, they are going to have to play very well to advance.
There seems to be a fair number in the media (Detroit included) saying ‘see they aren’t for real’. There is a lot of people looking for this surprising team to fall apart, and struggle to make the playoffs, if they do at all. Seriously, all they have to do is win 14 games from here on out and they will have won 90. While that doesn’t seem like it will get them into the post season, it will certainly keep them in the hunt. But falling to a barely-over-300 winning percentage is pretty unlikely given the season they are having.
I personally am glad that they are struggling right now. It won’t really bother me if they drop 2 of 3 to Boston this week. This team seems to believe they can beat anybody on any given night. If they don't win this series all that does is fuel the media and drama. If the Tigers end up facing the Red Sox, or the Yankees for that matter, in the playoffs, I have no question that we will give them a good series and make them earn every victory they get. And in the background you'll hear the media chirping about how they Tigers can't seem to beat the elite teams.
We have a pretty tough schedule for the rest of the month. We’ve got another series against Chicago, a series against the Yankees, and one against the Indians. The only possible rest is against the Rangers later this week. But the September schedule doesn’t look quite as tough.
The schedule has the potential to be an ally for the Tigers. They should right themselves sooner than later. At which time they’ll be in good position to be firing on all cylinders heading into the post season. It is much better to be struggling (which happens to even the greatest teams) in the middle of August, than in the middle of September.
Just remember, and I hope that every member of the Tigers remembers, as of today they still have the best record in baseball, and they still have a 5 ½ game lead over the White Sox for the lead in the AL Central.
Even with the sweep, which puts their losing streak at 5, they are still sitting on the best record in the Majors. Their pitching staff is still one of the best in either league. Their march to the playoffs is still all but assured. As of Sunday, we currently have 76 wins. Which is more than all but two seasons in which Bobby Higginson endured in his dozen years as a Tiger.
The Tigers are on pace to win 105 games. That is one more than the 1984 team won on their march to the World Series. Now, even the most optimistic of Tiger fans (me included) don’t expect this pace to continue. Even if the team plays close to .500 ball (22-23) from here on out we’ll finish with 98 wins. That will likely be good enough for both a playoff spot and the division championship. It is starting to look like 100 wins isn’t too far out of reach. Having said that you’re not going to get me to make any October predictions, other than, if the Tigers make the playoffs, they are going to have to play very well to advance.
There seems to be a fair number in the media (Detroit included) saying ‘see they aren’t for real’. There is a lot of people looking for this surprising team to fall apart, and struggle to make the playoffs, if they do at all. Seriously, all they have to do is win 14 games from here on out and they will have won 90. While that doesn’t seem like it will get them into the post season, it will certainly keep them in the hunt. But falling to a barely-over-300 winning percentage is pretty unlikely given the season they are having.
I personally am glad that they are struggling right now. It won’t really bother me if they drop 2 of 3 to Boston this week. This team seems to believe they can beat anybody on any given night. If they don't win this series all that does is fuel the media and drama. If the Tigers end up facing the Red Sox, or the Yankees for that matter, in the playoffs, I have no question that we will give them a good series and make them earn every victory they get. And in the background you'll hear the media chirping about how they Tigers can't seem to beat the elite teams.
We have a pretty tough schedule for the rest of the month. We’ve got another series against Chicago, a series against the Yankees, and one against the Indians. The only possible rest is against the Rangers later this week. But the September schedule doesn’t look quite as tough.
The schedule has the potential to be an ally for the Tigers. They should right themselves sooner than later. At which time they’ll be in good position to be firing on all cylinders heading into the post season. It is much better to be struggling (which happens to even the greatest teams) in the middle of August, than in the middle of September.
Just remember, and I hope that every member of the Tigers remembers, as of today they still have the best record in baseball, and they still have a 5 ½ game lead over the White Sox for the lead in the AL Central.
Mini Series Part Four - What, No More Choir?
Welcome to episode four of my blogging mini-series. In this episode I will be discussing the events of Sunday and my observation there in.
If you know me even a little, you probably know that I have been involved in choirs and music departments for much of my life. This part of my life goes back to at least the second grade. Yes Derek, that would be more than 25 years ago.
Last Christmas I found myself involved in too many things at my church and I was starting to feel at least a taste of the pressure that full time church workers feel. I was involved in choir. I was participating as a small group guide for the confirmation classes. I was the treasurer for the churches bowling league. I was also trying to put time into organizing, establish, and support our new (at that time) young adults ministry called FaithWorks. I was starting to fear burning out, so something had to go. I decided the thing that my participation would be missed the least would be choir (since there were 6 other tenors, and at least 3 of them were as good or better than me). So after the Christmas Concert I took a hiatus from the music department completely. This was a very difficult thing for me, and it took very little time before I started to miss it. I decided that things should be less crazy by fall, at which time I’d rejoin the choir. From the moment I made that decision I was really fired up to get going again.
I think it was late spring when the announcement came out that our director of ten years was taking a call to a new place. He was heading to a church near his family’s home in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This came as no surprise to those that knew him. It was no surprise, but that didn’t diminish the disappointment in loosing such a talented Minister of Music, and choir director. Even with the announcement I was still fired up about getting involved with the choir again come this fall.
Anytime someone leaves a church that position needs to be filled. Especially when it is a position as visible and critical to a church like mine, where the music ‘heritage’ is deeply engrained in that place. There has been a huge shift in recent years in how church music is presented, not only in my church but in many churches around the country. There is more attention paid to the non-traditional music. This change has also effected the type of person that they want to fill that role. Our senior pastor hand a meeting with the choir a couple weeks ago to discuss the plan, and future, with them. I had a prior commitment so I couldn't go. Therefore all my knowledge in this area, so far, is second hand and conclusions drawn from that second hand knowledge. But before I expound on that let me tell you about Ken’s (the director) last official day with us.
We sang all three services. So after being out late I had to be up and at church by 7:30, or at least I was supposed to be. I ended up being only a few minutes late. It went really well. We had a bunch of people that have sung with us in the past join us for Ken’s final services.
Immediately after the last service we had a luncheon thing for Ken. It was nice. The Senior Choir did a little skit and sang a couple songs. We ended with one of my top 5 favorite choir songs, ‘The Lord Bless You And Keep You’.
It appears that this may be one of the last chances I will have to sing with this group for quite a while. From what I have been told the church has decided not to seek an interim leader for the adult choirs. Which means that, maybe with the exception of special events, the choir is being put on ice for a while. So, I was all fired up about coming back to choir and now it looks like there is not going to be a choir to come back to.
Current speculation is that the call process to fill the vacancy could take at least a year just to place the call. After that only God knows how long it will be before the position is filled.
This is really sad, in my opinion, because of the music heritage of that church and how the music department is so engrained in the personality of the church. I heard one person say ‘without the music what else does this church have?’. Well, we still have God and the Gospel message. This is in no way going to kill our church, we’ve been through more difficult challenges. However, it will have an impact and it will make our services a little less special, at least to me.
My new issue relating to that is, where am I going to get my choir fix? I have to decide what I am going to do. I am involved in the music that we do for FaithWorks, and I am starting to take guitar lessons soon. We’ll see if that fills the void.
Thus ends episode four. Stay tuned for more.
If you know me even a little, you probably know that I have been involved in choirs and music departments for much of my life. This part of my life goes back to at least the second grade. Yes Derek, that would be more than 25 years ago.
Last Christmas I found myself involved in too many things at my church and I was starting to feel at least a taste of the pressure that full time church workers feel. I was involved in choir. I was participating as a small group guide for the confirmation classes. I was the treasurer for the churches bowling league. I was also trying to put time into organizing, establish, and support our new (at that time) young adults ministry called FaithWorks. I was starting to fear burning out, so something had to go. I decided the thing that my participation would be missed the least would be choir (since there were 6 other tenors, and at least 3 of them were as good or better than me). So after the Christmas Concert I took a hiatus from the music department completely. This was a very difficult thing for me, and it took very little time before I started to miss it. I decided that things should be less crazy by fall, at which time I’d rejoin the choir. From the moment I made that decision I was really fired up to get going again.
I think it was late spring when the announcement came out that our director of ten years was taking a call to a new place. He was heading to a church near his family’s home in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This came as no surprise to those that knew him. It was no surprise, but that didn’t diminish the disappointment in loosing such a talented Minister of Music, and choir director. Even with the announcement I was still fired up about getting involved with the choir again come this fall.
Anytime someone leaves a church that position needs to be filled. Especially when it is a position as visible and critical to a church like mine, where the music ‘heritage’ is deeply engrained in that place. There has been a huge shift in recent years in how church music is presented, not only in my church but in many churches around the country. There is more attention paid to the non-traditional music. This change has also effected the type of person that they want to fill that role. Our senior pastor hand a meeting with the choir a couple weeks ago to discuss the plan, and future, with them. I had a prior commitment so I couldn't go. Therefore all my knowledge in this area, so far, is second hand and conclusions drawn from that second hand knowledge. But before I expound on that let me tell you about Ken’s (the director) last official day with us.
We sang all three services. So after being out late I had to be up and at church by 7:30, or at least I was supposed to be. I ended up being only a few minutes late. It went really well. We had a bunch of people that have sung with us in the past join us for Ken’s final services.
Immediately after the last service we had a luncheon thing for Ken. It was nice. The Senior Choir did a little skit and sang a couple songs. We ended with one of my top 5 favorite choir songs, ‘The Lord Bless You And Keep You’.
It appears that this may be one of the last chances I will have to sing with this group for quite a while. From what I have been told the church has decided not to seek an interim leader for the adult choirs. Which means that, maybe with the exception of special events, the choir is being put on ice for a while. So, I was all fired up about coming back to choir and now it looks like there is not going to be a choir to come back to.
Current speculation is that the call process to fill the vacancy could take at least a year just to place the call. After that only God knows how long it will be before the position is filled.
This is really sad, in my opinion, because of the music heritage of that church and how the music department is so engrained in the personality of the church. I heard one person say ‘without the music what else does this church have?’. Well, we still have God and the Gospel message. This is in no way going to kill our church, we’ve been through more difficult challenges. However, it will have an impact and it will make our services a little less special, at least to me.
My new issue relating to that is, where am I going to get my choir fix? I have to decide what I am going to do. I am involved in the music that we do for FaithWorks, and I am starting to take guitar lessons soon. We’ll see if that fills the void.
Thus ends episode four. Stay tuned for more.
Mini Series Part Three - The Wedding and The Piano Bar
This is part three of my blogging mini-series. Thanks for sticking around. In this episode I will discuss the events and observations from a very busy Saturday.
The weather couldn’t have been better for this day. The humidity was low, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the temperature was comfortably warm all day. A virtually perfect day in that respect.
I started the day late, as I was out pretty late the night before. As I was washing the clothes that I had intended to wear to the wedding, I changed my mind. So I actually went clothes shopping. Now, I’m never going to be confused as someone who is a metro-sexual, or even someone with great fashion sense. But I think I did pretty well picking out what I wore. If I do say so myself, I looked pretty darn good.
Nearly my entire family was at the wedding, with the exception of my older brother and his family (but they are split between Kansas City and Iraq right now). The wedding was really nice. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a wedding at my church. It looked really good. The reception was nice too. The food was excellent, and the planning of the seating assignments was pretty good too.
It was great seeing people that I haven’t seen in many years. I was given the opportunity to have conversations with people that I really haven’t talked to much before. Its weird, but growing up in a church like mine you can go years knowing a family, or knowing of a person, but not actually having a conversation with that person. That was the case with two of the people at my table.
My brother and sister, and their respective spouses were sitting together at a separate table from me. I spent some time over there talking with them. Now, this shouldn’t be worthy of bringing up, let alone using an entire paragraph to discuss, but it is. I have a great relationship with my sister and her husband. I am so grateful for that. My relationship with my brother and his wife is returning to good after a long period of contentious and unfriendly exchanges. I really doubt they will read this, but I am very happy to have that thorn removed from my side, after nearly a full year. I am looking forward to being able to restore the relationship between us and more importantly to build and strengthen my relationship with their kids. It is going to take time, but the rewards will be worth it.
The only bad thing, or rather disappointing thing, that happened at the reception was my inability to get to talk with two of the brides sisters; Karol, my friend since childhood, and Kim, who I wanted to thank for the great advice while deciding on getting a dog. The only one of Kathy’s sisters that I was able to chat with is the one I know the least, Krystal, and that wasn’t until the next morning at church. There is a decent chance that Karol will read this. Sorry Karol, I really wanted to talk to you but I kept getting blocked out, and then I was getting pulled out the door by another commitment.
Although my reintroduction to Karol’s husband made me chuckle after the fact. He was doing his usher duties by the door into the sanctuary when he saw me walk up. ‘I know you, don’t I?’ he said as I approached. I spent a couple days staying at his house and he drove me and Derek around NYC, including a game at Yankee Stadium. But, in his defense that was what, four years ago?
In all seriousness though, it was wonderful to see everyone again, even those I didn’t get a chance to talk with. I was glad that I could participate in such an important day in a friends life.
After the reception I grudgingly went help entertain Mary’s out of town guests at a local drinking establishment called JD Key Club. This is a very popular dueling piano bar. The place was packed. There was very little room to move at all.
The basic concept of this place is this; you’ve got two guys playing piano facing each other. They interact with each other, trying to out do the other, but also feeding off each other to entertain the crowd. You can make requests for your favorite song (along with a tip of course), but then you can also pay to get them to stop playing a song.
Being a place that typically draws the college set I expected to be one of the older people there. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There were people there that made me feel quite young. But the vast majority of the people there were, predictably, under 25. Now maybe this is a sign of my age and my fading tolerance for that type of environment, but I thought the entertainment was a little raunchy at times. For the most part it was fun and entertaining. But there were more than a few moments when I was thinking ‘ok, was that really necessary?’
Afterward we went to Big Boy. Part of the group I was with was a couple college kids. One a senior (finance major) at Univ of Minn, the other is a recent graduate with an accounting degree from Univ of Minn. I found that I had a lot in common with them, and enjoyed talking to them. But it’s the weirdest feeling talking to a person that age about what they can expect in their career. It was kind of a surreal experience in a way, since I don’t really feel old enough or experienced enough to be doing such a thing. We were out until well after 1am. I haven’t done that in such a long time. I really paid for it though the next day (more on that in the next episode).
With that I am going wrap up this episode. Stay tuned for more.
The weather couldn’t have been better for this day. The humidity was low, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the temperature was comfortably warm all day. A virtually perfect day in that respect.
I started the day late, as I was out pretty late the night before. As I was washing the clothes that I had intended to wear to the wedding, I changed my mind. So I actually went clothes shopping. Now, I’m never going to be confused as someone who is a metro-sexual, or even someone with great fashion sense. But I think I did pretty well picking out what I wore. If I do say so myself, I looked pretty darn good.
Nearly my entire family was at the wedding, with the exception of my older brother and his family (but they are split between Kansas City and Iraq right now). The wedding was really nice. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a wedding at my church. It looked really good. The reception was nice too. The food was excellent, and the planning of the seating assignments was pretty good too.
It was great seeing people that I haven’t seen in many years. I was given the opportunity to have conversations with people that I really haven’t talked to much before. Its weird, but growing up in a church like mine you can go years knowing a family, or knowing of a person, but not actually having a conversation with that person. That was the case with two of the people at my table.
My brother and sister, and their respective spouses were sitting together at a separate table from me. I spent some time over there talking with them. Now, this shouldn’t be worthy of bringing up, let alone using an entire paragraph to discuss, but it is. I have a great relationship with my sister and her husband. I am so grateful for that. My relationship with my brother and his wife is returning to good after a long period of contentious and unfriendly exchanges. I really doubt they will read this, but I am very happy to have that thorn removed from my side, after nearly a full year. I am looking forward to being able to restore the relationship between us and more importantly to build and strengthen my relationship with their kids. It is going to take time, but the rewards will be worth it.
The only bad thing, or rather disappointing thing, that happened at the reception was my inability to get to talk with two of the brides sisters; Karol, my friend since childhood, and Kim, who I wanted to thank for the great advice while deciding on getting a dog. The only one of Kathy’s sisters that I was able to chat with is the one I know the least, Krystal, and that wasn’t until the next morning at church. There is a decent chance that Karol will read this. Sorry Karol, I really wanted to talk to you but I kept getting blocked out, and then I was getting pulled out the door by another commitment.
Although my reintroduction to Karol’s husband made me chuckle after the fact. He was doing his usher duties by the door into the sanctuary when he saw me walk up. ‘I know you, don’t I?’ he said as I approached. I spent a couple days staying at his house and he drove me and Derek around NYC, including a game at Yankee Stadium. But, in his defense that was what, four years ago?
In all seriousness though, it was wonderful to see everyone again, even those I didn’t get a chance to talk with. I was glad that I could participate in such an important day in a friends life.
After the reception I grudgingly went help entertain Mary’s out of town guests at a local drinking establishment called JD Key Club. This is a very popular dueling piano bar. The place was packed. There was very little room to move at all.
The basic concept of this place is this; you’ve got two guys playing piano facing each other. They interact with each other, trying to out do the other, but also feeding off each other to entertain the crowd. You can make requests for your favorite song (along with a tip of course), but then you can also pay to get them to stop playing a song.
Being a place that typically draws the college set I expected to be one of the older people there. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There were people there that made me feel quite young. But the vast majority of the people there were, predictably, under 25. Now maybe this is a sign of my age and my fading tolerance for that type of environment, but I thought the entertainment was a little raunchy at times. For the most part it was fun and entertaining. But there were more than a few moments when I was thinking ‘ok, was that really necessary?’
Afterward we went to Big Boy. Part of the group I was with was a couple college kids. One a senior (finance major) at Univ of Minn, the other is a recent graduate with an accounting degree from Univ of Minn. I found that I had a lot in common with them, and enjoyed talking to them. But it’s the weirdest feeling talking to a person that age about what they can expect in their career. It was kind of a surreal experience in a way, since I don’t really feel old enough or experienced enough to be doing such a thing. We were out until well after 1am. I haven’t done that in such a long time. I really paid for it though the next day (more on that in the next episode).
With that I am going wrap up this episode. Stay tuned for more.
Mini Series Part One - The Dog
I have a serious blogging problem.
I allow myself to go weeks without taking the time to update this thing. Then when I decide that I have the time and motivation I have so many things to cover I don’t do any of them justice. Such is the case today.
I have a potentially slow morning so I am taking the time to type up a new entry. I have no less than five topics to cover. Each of which probably deserve individual entries. I may split them up and post them periodically to make it look like I’m really actively updating.
The past month, since I have last posted, has been a busy one. But that is nothing new. I am going to focus this entry on observations and thoughts from this past week and weekend. Since, that will make it easier for me to remember everything.
Last week Sunday I made a decision to test my dog, Hank, to see if I could further loosen the tether that is his schedule, while encouraging his development. I decided to see if he could handle being left alone for an entire work day. Fortunately I work fairly close to home so that time isn’t much more than 8-9 hours.
Hank did great. He didn’t make any messes and went straight outside when I told him too. Now, being pent up all day in his crate meant that he had a great deal of energy to expend when I let him out. A couple of those days I would not have been surprised if his head spun around while he was doing a back flip. But he did great. I decided to test him a little more this week to see how it goes.
Now, I know I’m probably doing this a little bit too soon. Everything that I have read has told me that he shouldn’t be left alone for 8 hours before his first birthday, which isn’t until October 9. But everything that I have seen and been told (by his vet) that he should be pretty much done growing by the time he hits 9 months. At a couple of points this summer I unintentionally tested him, and he did fine. Maybe you dog people out there can tell me if I’m doing a bad thing or if my thinking is reasonable.
After talking to someone that arguably knows more about dogs development than anyone I know, I think I need to get Hank back into obedience training. I allowed him to become a puppy school drop out last spring. In the only formal class I have had him enrolled in was at a PetSmart, on Saturday mornings. The teacher was great and he and I actually did learn some things. But the biggest thing I learn about Hank during that class was that he needs Ritalin. There were far to many distractions going on at that store during that time. That class was 8 weeks long. He did fine through week 4. Week 5 he got sick in class and wouldn’t participate after that. Week 6 I had a conflict and we couldn’t make it. Week 7 I was sick and didn’t want to deal with it. Then I figured why bother going to the last week. But I got a good tip and I think I’m going to follow up on it. Apparently the Humane Society runs classes not to far from my house. I’m going to have to look into that and see what schedules and rates are.
He, and I, certainly need the training. He has calmed down so much over the past six months. However he still jumps up on me and visitors too much. I need to get him to listen to me when I give him basic commands. The only one he does respond to consistently is ‘sit’ and he loves to play fetch.
After he is calmed down and trained I have several things to repair or replace. He chewed up the trim around my back patio door. He has chewed the corners on my kitchen table and chairs. He has rendered my grill useless by eating the tubing that runs from the propane tank to the grills. Fortunately the tank was empty to she he was never in any danger. Otherwise, just typical stuff that a puppy gets into. But that will give me a good excuse to re-do my kitchen, which is needed.
Thus ends part one of this too-long-to-post-as-one entry.
I allow myself to go weeks without taking the time to update this thing. Then when I decide that I have the time and motivation I have so many things to cover I don’t do any of them justice. Such is the case today.
I have a potentially slow morning so I am taking the time to type up a new entry. I have no less than five topics to cover. Each of which probably deserve individual entries. I may split them up and post them periodically to make it look like I’m really actively updating.
The past month, since I have last posted, has been a busy one. But that is nothing new. I am going to focus this entry on observations and thoughts from this past week and weekend. Since, that will make it easier for me to remember everything.
Last week Sunday I made a decision to test my dog, Hank, to see if I could further loosen the tether that is his schedule, while encouraging his development. I decided to see if he could handle being left alone for an entire work day. Fortunately I work fairly close to home so that time isn’t much more than 8-9 hours.
Hank did great. He didn’t make any messes and went straight outside when I told him too. Now, being pent up all day in his crate meant that he had a great deal of energy to expend when I let him out. A couple of those days I would not have been surprised if his head spun around while he was doing a back flip. But he did great. I decided to test him a little more this week to see how it goes.
Now, I know I’m probably doing this a little bit too soon. Everything that I have read has told me that he shouldn’t be left alone for 8 hours before his first birthday, which isn’t until October 9. But everything that I have seen and been told (by his vet) that he should be pretty much done growing by the time he hits 9 months. At a couple of points this summer I unintentionally tested him, and he did fine. Maybe you dog people out there can tell me if I’m doing a bad thing or if my thinking is reasonable.
After talking to someone that arguably knows more about dogs development than anyone I know, I think I need to get Hank back into obedience training. I allowed him to become a puppy school drop out last spring. In the only formal class I have had him enrolled in was at a PetSmart, on Saturday mornings. The teacher was great and he and I actually did learn some things. But the biggest thing I learn about Hank during that class was that he needs Ritalin. There were far to many distractions going on at that store during that time. That class was 8 weeks long. He did fine through week 4. Week 5 he got sick in class and wouldn’t participate after that. Week 6 I had a conflict and we couldn’t make it. Week 7 I was sick and didn’t want to deal with it. Then I figured why bother going to the last week. But I got a good tip and I think I’m going to follow up on it. Apparently the Humane Society runs classes not to far from my house. I’m going to have to look into that and see what schedules and rates are.
He, and I, certainly need the training. He has calmed down so much over the past six months. However he still jumps up on me and visitors too much. I need to get him to listen to me when I give him basic commands. The only one he does respond to consistently is ‘sit’ and he loves to play fetch.
After he is calmed down and trained I have several things to repair or replace. He chewed up the trim around my back patio door. He has chewed the corners on my kitchen table and chairs. He has rendered my grill useless by eating the tubing that runs from the propane tank to the grills. Fortunately the tank was empty to she he was never in any danger. Otherwise, just typical stuff that a puppy gets into. But that will give me a good excuse to re-do my kitchen, which is needed.
Thus ends part one of this too-long-to-post-as-one entry.
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