This post is boring.

Apparently things have been busy lately as indicated by my unintentional month long hiatus. Nate has started into crunch time at work so he’s been working 12 hour days, 6 days a week. We are trying to save for a house, save for and plan a wedding, grocery shop on a semi normal basis, get the cars oil changed, make a home cooked meal at least once a week, walk the dog etc.

That being said, our schedule is a bit off, and it shows in Dalton. We have been putting him in daycare an extra day a week since our schedules have gotten so hectic, and there are days when he does not want to go, I have to physically push him into the building. Granted, when he gets there he’s running, playing and having a grand ol’ time but our hectic schedules and being out of our routine has definitely affected him. He’s mopey without Nate around (I’m Dalton’s silver medal) and not doing fun family things on the weekends like in this post has thrown us out of whack too.

All the craziness lately has not only made me value what an awesome dog that Dalton has become, but has made me realize how much consistency even the littlest of things, affects his behavior. For instance, a few months ago I started making D sit by the front door so I could put his leash on before we go outside. He’s generally very good with “sit” and does alright with “stay/wait” but sometimes I will turn around after throwing on my coat and boots to find him sitting, waiting patiently for me. My original intent in doing this was so I could get his leash on without him bouncing around, but slowly but surely making it a habit, as unintentional as it was has actually made him more manageable. It got me thinking back to all of those dog books we read that said consistency is key. Now at the time, consistency was few and far between because one minute our precious puppy was sleeping peacefully and the next he is biting us with his needle teeth. But I think at least having an idea in your head about certain do’s and do not’s (if there is more than one of you at home, be a united front otherwise nothing will work.) will help you find a way to curb bad behaviors and reward good ones in a way that suits you and the dog. While I respect Cesar, I don’t think that his methods will work for every person and every dog. And besides, it’s hard to stay calm and patient when you have been contemplating leaving your puppy on a corner to fend for itself because it chewed something yet again.

I’ve found that as time goes on and you get used to your dog’s quirks, you can figure out a system that works for everyone in the house. But like the books say, consistency is important even if it ends up being accidental. Just think about things that will make your life easier, and work it into your routine. The dog will pick up on it once we figure out how to communicate what we want.

That’s all for my random post!

Mush!

Nate, looking sexy as ever!

Well, we finally caved and bought a nice pulling set up. Dalton has a new pulling harness, a new rope with some spring in it, and a sled. We've gone up Millcreek Canyon a few times this week, and Dalton has been loving it! He knows "easy" when we need him to slow down, and "leave it" when we pass other dogs. This time we let Dalton run and play on the way up and Nate had the lovely task of pulling up the sled, and carrying his skis. They way down was worth it though! Dalton pulled me most of the way, and Nate skied down next to us.

Snow day

New harness, time to pull.

I think he's done now.... 

A little play time.

FOOTBALL!!!!!

Desert Dog Daycare is having a football pool! Football is really over my head, and if I have to I’ll watch it but I prefer to do just about anything else. (Unless it’s the Bengals, I love the Bengals! WOOOOO!) Anyway, Nate has been making picks every week, and last week he won the survivor pool! The staff at Desert Dog was amazing before, but as a prize Nate won a Bengals leash and collar. Not only that, but we received a wonderful bottle of wine, and a snack bag with delicious cheesy spread, crackers, dips, pretzels mustard and a salami we have yet to break into. It helps that one of the owners is an avid Bengals fan, and we happen to be the only other people that like that team, but we feel pretty spoiled!

I didn’t take a picture of the gift bag because I didn’t think about it, and it would be pointless to show you an empty bottle of wine, but I will be sure to get some pictures of D sporting his new leash and collar! Nate and I need to step up our game; Dalton has more Bengals gear than the two of us combined.

On another note, because it is a blustery, rainy day I leave you with this:

Rain sucks.

I pitty the fool

Why is my dog hiding in shame and wearing a shirt you ask? Apparently, between last Wednesday and Friday he hurt himself. He’s pretty clumsy, and when at daycare has been known to go and go and go all day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he scratched himself on, well anything really. It’s like when your kid hits his head on everything, and you just laugh because it looks like you beat him, when really, your kid is a klutz. The cut is really pretty small, but it’s in an area that I couldn’t wrap up unless I wrapped around his whole belly. And knowing him, it would last all of 5 seconds before he ripped it off. So I threw a t-shirt on him instead so he couldn’t bother with it.

I know that it’s hard to see, but I would like you to notice what shirt he’s wearing. Since most of my shirts would have been too small, I had to steal

 One from Nate that was old, and rarely worn. I hope you can tell that it’s a Mr. T shirt, and I hope that you can see it says “I pity the fool”. I felt that it was appropriate given that Dalton absolutely HATES wearing it. He arches his back, and runs around the house like a mad man. If he wasn’t so annoying while he did it, I’d probably think its funny or cute or something.

We took him to the vet Monday, and they said that it is healing nicely, and to keep Neosporin on it, and use the shirt to keep him from bothering with it. Hopefully he will be all healed up by next week

Get a Leash- A rant, and a terrible accident.

I am warning you now; this will be a bit of a rant.

Monday evening Nate and I were sitting on the couch being lazy. Nate heard a commotion outside and looked out the window to find that a dog had been hit by a car. We live next to a busy 4 lane road where people drive way too fast, and this is the second dog we know of that has been hit on this particular road, the first one fared much better.

There was a crowd of people standing around the injured dog, so we ran out to see if we could help. It was still able to hop around, but it was apparent that its back leg was severely injured. It was also bleeding, but I couldn’t tell from where. Naturally the dog was in quite a bit of shock, so it was lashing out at anyone that tried to get close to it, almost biting several people. Finally, between 6 or 7 of us, we were able to block traffic, and herd it out of the road and to the grass in front of our house.

I should mention now that the owners of the dog were not present. There were two girls, probably about the same age as Nate and I that were watching the dog for their friends. It appeared that they had been playing ball with the dog across the street in the grassy divider. I had seen this dog a few times, her name was Harley, and she and Dalton decided when we encountered them on walks that they would do the leash dance, and get tangled up because they wanted to play so bad. She was probably about 7-9 months old.

The people watching the dog apparently didn’t have a leash for her, so I ran inside to get that and a towel so we could cover her. We were finally able to get her to lie down, so we wrapped her head in the towel so she couldn’t bite, and slid another blanket under her so we could lift her in someone’s car and get her to the emergency vet. Nate as well as another person that was helping, who happened to be studying to be a vet, helped get the dog in the car,  and hold her steady on the drive to the vet. The two girls watching the dog, for obvious reasons were hysterical; one of them was crying and yelling the other was silent and frozen. I can’t imagine the pain that they are going through; having this happen under anyone’s watch would be an awful and traumatizing experience.

That being said, I am so mad that this happened, and I feel like it was preventable. First of all, there is an enclosed area not 1 block from where they were playing ball with this dog, which would have been safer than where they were. And second, why wasn’t this dog on a leash?! Seriously? They didn’t even have one to get the dog from the house to where they were playing? As a dog owner, and especially a husky owner, a leash is something that you cannot go without. Sometimes it is the only thing that keeps Dalton around, and I would never want to risk something as terrible as this, for the sake of letting my dog have a bit of “freedom.” We have put too much love, energy, and time into him to not take that extra step. And really, what is the big deal with people wanting their dogs to be “off leash.”  It takes 1 second for the dog to get distracted, and have something awful like this happen.

Nate called the animal hospital last night, and from what little information they could give us, the prognosis was not good. She was still alive, but it didn’t sound like she would recover. As I said before, I truly feel for the girls who were watching the dog, the owners, and the people that accidentally hit the dog, what a terrible burden to have on your shoulders. Honestly though, I think a little thought could have prevented this whole situation, whether it was playing ball in the park instead of next to the road, or having a leash, the situation was preventable.

I am done ranting now, but I seriously hope those that read this think twice before letting your dog roam without a leash. It really isn’t worth it.

Lately

It has been a very busy month and a half; hence my lack of posting. I don’t know what we have been doing, but whatever it was; it didn’t allow us to do anything else. Dalton is now going to daycare 3 times a week since Nate is getting close to crunch time. In a few months’ time, we’ll only see him in the mornings when I leave, and at bed time. I have a feeling it’s going to be rough on everyone.

This weekend, we actually went out and did something fun, and of course, we took Dalton along. Our friends Jord and Ry have a tailgating spot for the U of U football games, and Ry happens to be a phenomenal cook. We do our best to make sure they like us so we can continue to enjoy their company, and partake of his wonderful food.

The top photo is mine, but the rest are borrowed from my cool friend Dean. Don’t be mad, he takes better pictures than I do.



Our tailgating mascot





Andy and Dalton
Photo taken by Dean Chytraus

 

MMM
Photo taken by Dean Chytraus

Double MMMM
Photo taken by Dean Chytraus

Tripple MMMM
Photo taken by Dean Chytraus

Photo taken by Dean Chytraus