RIP Giselle

Throughout our puppy class experiences over the last 7 months we have seen a lot of familiar faces and made a few friends along the way.  We received the sad news that the sweet English Bulldog, Giselle, was the victim of a tragic accident and had passed away.

Giselle and Hunter completed their Intermediate & Advanced Training Classes together and were currently enrolled in a special advanced class with trainer Kate.  In the last few months we had done a lot more puppy-trading in class to familiarize our dogs with strangers and I always loved Giselle.  I am so sad for her mom, Rosalyn, who adopted Giselle from her vet after losing one of her two pugs to old age. Ros had told me how devastated she was at losing her dog last year and what a help it was to have Giselle brightening up the house.  In fact we had spoken last Sunday about getting together for a play-date so that Hunter and Giselle could rough-house and burn off a little energy.

I know Hunter has only been a part of our family for a little more than 7 months but I cannot imagine how I would cope with something happening to him.

REST IN PEACE GISELLE!

Rollover

Hunter's currently enrolled in a special Advanced Training class offered by our trainer, Kate, on a invite-only basis.  She is working on relaxation techniques and also therapy dog exam skills.  We have a couple of repeat offenders in class with us, Giselle, the French Bulldog from our Intermediate and Advanced classes, and Belle, the adorable mini-poodle from Intermediate class.  

At the beginning of class, 3 weeks ago, Kate told us all that we needed to teach our dogs a trick on our own.  Something that requires us to work with our dogs and communicate to them what we want them to do, and have them understand and obey.  So I chose to teach Hunter to rollover.  The past 4 weeks, Sam and I have been working with him, luring him to rollover while teaching him the command. 

Finally, this past weekend while Justin was playing with Hunter, he rolled over on command.  It was so rewarding!  Sam and I have been working on it, and sure enough, he kind of gets it after you lure him to do it once.  I am so freakin' proud of him!  We have two more weeks, and we'll have to keep working and working and working.  

Procrastination

I really didn't want to work this weekend.  I mean, I did mentally, but emotionally I was just not having any of it.  The whole marketing strategy I wanted to write up for work hardly even entered my mind.  Then there was my homework 3 chapters to re-read for a quiz, 2 assignments to write and submit, and a forum posting.  Oh joy.

Friday night, Sam was on-call overnight.  One would think that would have been a good time for me to buckle down and get after my school work.  Yes, yes it would have been.  Instead, Hunter and I watched Gladiator while I finished (finally) scrap-booking the second half of our epic Southeast Asia Vacation from May 2011.  It only took me a year to complete, but hey, at least it's done!  I didn't get to start on Sam's graduation photos because I ran out of rubber cement and I don't have any cute grad stickers to decorate the pages yet.

Saturday morning I meant to get up and hit the gym, then slept in until 10 AM istead.  Boy did that feel great.  I tried to talk myself into studying, but since Kevin was coming and possibly spending the night, I ended up cleaning the guest room so that it was ready for company after Ryan's stint as a 2 night a week roommate over the last month and a half.  Oops.  Then Hunter and I went to Puppy Class and rushed home to meet the Cable Guy... who was an hour late.  Luckily we did get to see Sam and Kevin while we waited for him to come and install our new cable.  And after that, we met up with some of Sam's fellow residents at a small BBQ- first time meeting them!  We came a little late to eat, and headed out to dinner after about an hour of socializing.  It was fun!

Today, I woke up at 8 and thought I should get a jump start on the homework I had put off.  Jackie was supposed to FaceTime me and catch me up on her wedding dress shopping adventures of Saturday.  Unfortunately, some mishaps occurred and she couldn't.  Really unfortunately, I got sucked into A Game of Thrones Season 2... there went 2 hours of my morning.  Then it was time to get to Hunter's private lesson with Kate, and when we were done I desperately needed to get my car washed- last weekend's crazy weather had made me postpone the chore, but it was LONG overdue and the rain only made things worse.  On our way home we had to stop at CVS and pick up a prescription, so what should have been an hour event (training) turned into a 3 hour journey.  Oops.  I was so happy to have TV that I turned on Harry Potter 7 as background entertainment while I read... except that I love that movie so much I kept getting distracted.  And then Kevin stopped by on his way out of town, and I ended up starting HP 8 to finish out the series.  By that point I had re-read the first two chapters and done one assignment and posted to the forum- yay!  I turned the channel to Ice Road Truckers, and managed to read the final chapter.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately the quiz was malfunctioning so I did my last assignment and decided to call it a night.   Please remind me not to procrastinate in the future- it really sucks.

Or so I thought.  I had been drinking iced tea (black chai) all afternoon to stay alert during my reading and now I am totally amped up.  Oops major.  I have done all of our laundry, reorganized Sam's t-shirt drawer which was overflowing until I hung up some of the shirts.  I decided to shower tonight rather than tomorrow morning, and I have now spent 25 minutes catching up on blogs I follow and writing this post.  Hunter has been dozing off and on since 8PM... he clearly wants to know what the heck we're doing up past 10 on a Sunday night.  Believe me, puppy, I am not happy about it either.

To make matters worse, it was REALLY hot in our bedroom and so I had to open the windows 100% and point the fan outside instead of letting it oscillate pointing inside.  The latter provides more white noise and (I am convinced) blocks out the sounds of the road and other dogs better, which helps Hunter sleep through the night.  Anyway, I better get off this thing and get to bed.

Last but not least: HAPPY 79th BIRTHDAY to PAPA SANTI!  I am incredibly blessed to have had two wonderful grandfathers, one of whom is still able to spoil me rotten.  Papa Santi is a wonderful man who would do anything to make his grandkids happy- Hunter and I made sure to give him a call and let him know we love him today.

Puppy Teeth

Tonight, I feel like the worst Mom ever.  We went to puppy class and Kate, our incredible trainer, mentioned that we should start practicing brushing Hunter's teeth.  So Sam and I purchased a tube of Dog Toothpaste and a Finger Tip Brush-to-Toothbrush converter.  

We got home, took Hunter to the bathroom, and after we brushed our own teeth, we sat down with Hunter and the Finger Tip Brush.  I put a little toothpaste on the end and held it up for him.  He did NOT want me to put it in his mouth, probably because we had been pulling up his lips to check out an incredibly loose tooth in the front of his mouth.  The little guy handled the brush going all the way to the back of his molars, and I figured I would just brush (in one stroke) back to the front.  Unfortunately, Sam and I had not anticipated that Hunter would have any loose molars.  The little guy yelped, I pulled my finger out, and a molar popped out of his mouth and onto our bathroom rug.  Hunter cried, I got teary eyed, and Sam spent a few minutes consoling the both of us.  Dear God.

Then Hunter ran into his crate, picture below, and refused to come back out.  Cue the tugging on my heart strings.

Puppy Class Week One

Hunter's first Puppy Class was last night... Sam's soccer game was cancelled so he was able to join us.  We learned how to train Hunter using positive reinforcement and a "clicker" which makes a clicking noise (duh) and helps him to understand what he is getting his treat for.  In one hour we learned "sit" and "watch me".  Sit is something we have worked on since we brought Hunter home, and Watch Me is used to get a dog's attention when necessary.  For example, if we're walking and I want Hunter to lay down, I would say "watch me" to get his attention and then tell him what to do once I have his attention.  Kind of neat actually.  

I was making dinner after we got home from class and looked over to see how Hunter was doing (he usually sits near the entrance to the kitchen and our entryway playing with his toys or sitting and watching me.  Last night, he looked completely exhausted.  

Mom, Puppy Class was tiring, I'm ready for bedtime! 

On another note, this morning was really fun.  Hunter and I went for our morning walk at 5:45 when Sam left for work.  Unbeknownst to us, Sam locked the door on his way out and we did NOT have keys.  Here I am, in my PJs and flip flops, locked out of the apartment and the office isn't going to open until 8am- the same time I had a meeting at the office.  So what did I do?  I walked to the front gate and waived down the next car to come by and asked to borrow a cell phone so that I could call Sam.  Thank God he answered his phone (since he's on Plastic Surgery and not Ortho) and he was able to be late to work and come home to let us in.  THANKS SAM!  Lesson learned: always bring a set of keys to walk the puppy!