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.