Trippin’ to Virginia

So it’s been a hella long weekend – considering it started on Wednesday. Chaka and I made our way down to Virginia for my friend’s graduation from University of Mary Washington. There she learned not to pull while getting walked on a leash thanks to choker collar and ‘turn-the-other-way’ training techniques. Thanks to some random chick, she also got untrained from her name…but I have been working all day to correct that problem. I have learned since that she is overwhelmed by a large amount of people, and also that she plays rough – and doesn’t fully realize bite inhibition yet.

Last night we arrived home and Lucky’s reunion with her went fairly well. They got into a tiff this morning, but nothing serious. I think it was more my dad starting some trouble due to lack of understanding of dog’s hierarchy (and that Lucky is not necessary the top dog). So far its back to peace in the land of the Gurevich house.

Me and my dad are beginning to re-train her jumping now though, aka she will be ignored when we enter the room to show she’s not the alpha here and that she can’t jump when she wants to on who she wants. It’s from an interesting dog training book I am reading at the moment. When I have more time, I will go into greater detail. Right now just trying to sum up all my over-loaded thoughts from this weekend and this morning before I head down to Long Island for a day or two with the devil-bitch.

She is really a fucking hand-ful at times too. I was exhausted yesterday but felt bad keeping her in her crate, but I was literally crying from being too tired to deal with shit. It gets hard at times. My heart goes out to housewives everywhere.

Anyways, despite my dads protests of my dog lacking protective instincts, being a punk, being tiny, and other strange complaints – I think he likes her deep inside. The protest “why does she lick me…I only gave her 2 treats” does not seem like one from a man who actually dislikes the beast.

Anyways that is all I have time for, will return later to chronicle the chronicles.

PS…what is it about an 11 year old male dog that makes him hump a 6 month old bitch’s face?

Training the Fuzz

Well, snuggle time was up this morning for the newest member of our family. Not that she was ready for it to be over. Little miss princess stayed in bed for an extra half hour after I had gotten up. She snuggles at night right up against me – so cute!

Anyways we got up and Lucky and her were getting along better. I had taken her out after my dentist appointment to train her a little around my block. I could hear my dog outside barking his head off all the way down the block when it stopped. Chaka and I headed back up the hill and guess who was there: Lucky! He had escaped from the backyard to come and meet us on our walk. I have since fixed this problem – but what a munchkin. It was funny to see the both of them walking side by side, sitting at my command. They get along much better when busy with commands. I’ve been abusing this for sure.

I took her to the park and used the trainer’s tips to get her to learn her name and come to me. I would call her name and get her to come, and then shove a cookie in her face and let her enjoy. Then off she goes. We did this many times – and it worked all but two times when she ran too far to hear…or at least I will give her the benefit of the doubt. She even started sprinting my direction. It’s really cute.

Anyways, Lucky is so exhausted he can hardly stand. The little brat is mouthing on everything around her that she can find. I think she’s a tad younger than 6 months actually but we don’t know. I have decided for sure that she is a Basenji mixed with a Staffordshire pit bull terrier – I have seen pictures online of other dogs, and descriptions – and she matches them perfectly! Anyways, I’m completely exhausted and going to go chill on the couch and watch some TVs.

NEW FUZZ!

Oh wow, am I excited or what! Umm…actually closer to exhausted. So the final name was chosen by the dog. It was narrowed down to Chaka and Simka. The dog only responded to Chaka – so that worked out pretty good! Claudia helped me out all day. We went and picked her up and got to meet Benni’s other two dogs which are also adorable. Then we got Chaka and all her paperwork and heartguard and Frontline and all. We went to Petco and she got her crate, bed, bowls, toys, food, treats, collar, leash, choker, toothpaste, toothbrush, long leash…I think that’s all but I could be wrong. Then we took her down to the dog park to exhaust her. I tried to keep her on a leash since she doesn’t have a name or anything yet – and I didn’t think she associated me with her ‘owner’. After half hour of her running to the end of her leash and snapping backwards and upside and rough housing with other dogs, I was convinced by a fellow guy that if she didn’t return all of them would help me catch her. I figured with ten people there, we could catch her so I let her go. She plays rough! No ‘back down’ in this girl! She stood up to dogs three times her size without a problem.

There was another Pit mix at the park (probably with a lab) named Callie. Those two were going at it non-stop. Callie was just taking Chaka’s head in her mouth (not biting of course) and they were running and tumbling for a good while. When another lab came over and the game got too rough, Chaka was all about it. I had to pull her off to keep the play from becoming a fight. When it was just her and one other dog though, she was good. She just runs and jumps smack into other dogs. And if the other dog doesn’t like it they really let her know. She seems to be a bit too persistent about her rough playing – but a couple warnings seem to put her in line for now. Little dogs don’t seem to like her and let her know – she finds them interesting.

There was a moment when the dogs were kind of chasing her hard and I crouched down and yelled at her to come over. And she came to me! She was kind of hiding in my hug to keep from the other dogs to take a break. I’m glad she associated me with safety. There was another point in the hour and a half romp where she was following a golden retriever and was wondering kind of far. I called out  ‘Chaka’ and she stopped and turned around. Then I yelled ‘Come here’ and she came to me! The guy talking to me at that moment was a trainer and he was really impressed with her quick skillz. I was really proud.

Everyone was just fawning over her. ‘She’s adorable’ ’she’s so smart’ ’she’s so cute’ ‘where’d you get her’. Quite the show stopper this one. Because of her weird bark, the trainer kind of agreed with me that she might be crossed with a Basenji (they don’t bark). I also think she might have some Boston Terrier in her cause she kind of looks like one from the back – she also lays down and has back legs like a toy dog. Those bow legs, with that funny sprawled out back legs rest. The trainer disagrees, but I don’t know…

Anyway, the trainer was commenting on how she was one of those dogs that handled pain very well. I asked if it was a good thing and he just said that meant she wouldn’t back down easily. Hmm…from her rough house play, I am for sure going to have to keep an eye on her socializing. And get her to know commands very well to stop her if she’s playing too rough, or another dog that’s not playing but being aggressive. Perhaps going to a trainer isn’t a bad idea.

So then after exhausting her, I took her home. We took her and Lucky for a walk around the street. Earlier that day I had taken him for a quick walk and brushed him out well. My front yard is covered in fuzz. WE went to my backyard and she seemed good with him – in fact by the end of meeting in our backyard he was trying to get it on with her! Anyways, we let her off the leash in my backyard and she was running around once again. We have a pool in the backyard covered by a tarp thing, but it’s old and worn out and bound to break from too much stress. She ran straight out to the middle of it and seemed scared. I called her back to me and she came and I pet her. Another time she was racing across the backyard and decided to cut across the pool again – and she ran across the tarp that was sinking down from her weight – and she ran smack into the side of the pool. I called her off the pool again and she stayed away for the rest of the time. I am going to have to watch her though, or put up a temporarily fence or something.

Anyways we came inside and they seem to be good except for an occasional spat. I fed them separately, locking her in her crate until Lucky was done. He woofed his food down quicker than I have ever seen before! Then me, Claudia, and Preston chilled on my couch and watched House. I LOVE HOUSE! The dogs have been settling in more and more, they fight much less when I just act like I don’t favor one or the other and don’t care about their order. The training books were very right to say that if you just are top boss, they settle in easier and don’t care as much. The two are passed out behind me for now. Lucky sprawled on the floor exhausted, not having had such a hectic day in years. She’s passed out on the couch hugging a blanket.

The only thing that concerns me is that she has a couple red rash looking places in her armpits, and on the inside of her back legs. They feel a little warm and I am thinking that they might be hot spots. I think I’m going to book an appointment with the vet to take a look at them. Plus I want to fill out her paperwork so that she’s put down as a terrier mix instead of a pitbull. It will make it easier with the house insurance, apartments after vet school, and stuff like that. The trainer said she’s still gonna grow, and Preston agrees. She’s gonna get taller, and wider – I’m kind of sad cause she’s adorable at her size. But I can live with it. I got her a bigger crate, so that’s good.

She really didn’t like being in her crate alone. She was whining and trying to bark…although after a while she got better at barking. I ignored her until she shut up and then let her out (and when Lucky was finished). Lucky walked into my room where her crate is. She was whining and barking and it stressed him out. He started whining too, getting all antsy. It was kind of cute.

Anyways, so that’s the story of Chaka’s very first day. So far so good. I am so glad I got her. She’s adorable, smart, and the biggest snuggler ever! And she loves me. Everywhere I go, even when Claudia was here, she had to follow. And Lucky would follow right behind her. I felt like I had two stalkers who weren’t good about being discrete. It was adorable.