More "Puppy Progress"

Everybody seems to have advice on how to handle "The Beastie" Well I gotta do this the way I think best. I have had many dogs over my lifetime and have trained them all to whatever extent they are capable of being trained. I have had the "super dog" type that you just have to tell them something once and they learn it and I have had stubborn dogs with a mind of their own and they are just going to do what they want. Hannibal is just Hannibal. I have just about come to the conclusion that he really wasn't mistreated at all he is just one of the stubborn little guys that wants his way. And his way is he doesn't want to have me put the harness over his head and he really doesn't want to wear it. Fact of the matter is he has to wear something because in this community he MUST be on a leash. Besides I have a feeling if he was turned loose he would run off. I think that is how he became a stray. He was well fed and didn't have the fear of a mistreated dog. But back to the harness. It does not hurt him in any manner at all. It is not binding or tight. One piece of advice was to switch to a mesh harness and use a little cloth muzzle. I saw a dog with one of those mesh harnesses today and it looks like it would have to go on over the head just like this one so we would have the same problem. No sense in switching. I don't want to go the muzzle route. What is that going to teach him? He has to learn the house rules here and adapt to them. He is really doing ever so much better. I am listening to all the advice but in the end I am going to train him my way. I am the one who has to take care of him. I am the one he had to depend on for a good bit of his love and care so he's gotta learn I have feelings too and he's gotta abide by them. Today we took the harness off and put it on 2 times without too much trouble. He is learning.
Lee and I decided to start him off on few short road trips to see how he is going to travel. We want to spend some time and see how he is going to adapt in another environment with other doggie friends. He has his following here. His best buddy is Nola a very large standard poodle mixed with something else but can't remember what. Then he has Pudgie who is just what he sounds like. Again I think I misjudged him on the aggressive thing. I think all along he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to jump on the other dogs and get to know them.

Hannible the Horrible - Good News and Bad News

THE GOOD NEWS is that although walking Hannibal in this heat is a problem it must be done. It is actually building me back up. I had some big problems with arthritis in my ankle. I had been to the point that I was walking with a walker for a while and then a cane. I could just barely get from one end of this house to the other. When I got to where I could walk at all I decided I had to build myself back up so I started walking around the block. I could only walk just about to the end of my block before I was gasping for air and really short of breath. Now with Hannibal making me walk every morning I am now up to about a mile and he gets tired before I do.

THE BAD NEWS: We had a really really bad time Saturday evening with Hannibal. We gave him a bath. He did really well with the bath but while putting his harness back on. He bit and scratched us both up so badly that Lee was just beside himself. All I could do was sit with a towel wrapped around my arms until the bleeding stopped. I am on Coumadin so the least little scratch will bleed and bleed. Lee was so upset he was shaking. He said he thinks we have made a mistake taking such an aggressive little dog. Lee has had only had one dog in his life and she was a “One of a Kind Dog.” I warned him that he couldn't expect the same behavior from Hannibal as his LayDee had. He has put Hannibal on two week probation. In two weeks he must have calmed down or we ask the Vet to give him some sort of medication that will calm him down. We are just not physically able to handle this doggie as he is. I don't know what will happen but Lee is more important to me than Hannibal so we will just have to see what will happen. As Lee gets more and more treatments he will become weaker. And I just don't' know if I am up to doing all the care for this little guy. One thing I am going to try is to get a pair of heavy duty garden gloves and wear a long sleeve shirt whenever we have to take off and put on his harness. He acts like someone must have mistreated him around his head or on a leash. I think if I sit down on the floor, sooth him let him see the harness is not going to hurt him he may let me put it on without this major struggle we had to go though. Once the harness is on he is fine with it. It is just the putting on.

MORE GOOD NEWS: His potty training is progressing nicely. He lets us know when he has to go out. The only problem is when it is after dark the mosquitoes here are horrible and he is a very picky little dog about where he does his poops. It takes him just forever and in the mean time we are eaten alive by the mosquitoes. Can’t wait for cold weather! Other good news is he is eating a little better. He is up to about ½ cup a day of his dry food and all the chicken strip snacks I will allow him. Usually one per day and one Pigs Ear chew. He also gets milk bone when he does his business outside. Hummm. Nobody gives me a chocolate candy when I am good.

Later in the Day: Oh Ho! We may have Hannibal the Horrible licked! I did indeed go to Wal-Mart and picked up two pair of heavy duty yard gloves. I put on a denim long sleeved shirt and sat on the floor with the “beast.” I took off the harness let him play with it a bit. Petted him with the gloves to show him they are not going to hurt him then we began the work. I looped the neck part over without “too much” trouble then the struggle to get the front leg through where it belongs and fit the belly piece around him. He struggled, bit and snapped. I swatted him on his snout and we finely got him harnessed up. Then I played with him and petted him. I think he will learn that it won't hurt him.

Making Progress

We are making progress. Yesterday when we walked Hannibal was very aggressive with the other animals. Also he didn’t poop outside but waited to get in to do his business. Other bad habits are of course his chewing. He chews on his blanket, his towel that we put in his kennel and everything he can lay his little teeth into. Well let me amend that statement. So far, and I repeat SO FAR he hasn’t gotten our shoes and my slippers when I am sitting in my recliner are usually kicked off and on the floor. He is leaving them alone “so far.” We paid the veterinarian a visit yesterday. Boy that was like the national debt. Guess we will have to set aside a little “Hannibal goes to the Vet” kitty to pay for this. Today on our walk Hannibal Pooped once then peed 327 times. “Good Boy” you get a treat. Came home had ¼ cup of food. I put down ½ cup but he only ate half of that. Dr Bob said give him 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening. Then walk him in about ½ hour after that. So after he had his breakfast we waited a bit. He told me he had to go out so out we went. He got real excited to meet one of the neighbors and forgot about business. We walked around a bit. NOTHING! Back in the house in the bedroom (of course on the carpet) he pooped again. Hummmmm. This is going to take some work. He is still learning to sit. And he is learning not to chew up his bed. I’ll say this. He wears me out. He is like taking care of 3 four year olds.

Boy Oh Boy - Adapting to New Home

Well we picked up Hannibal today. He is a very loving friendly little dog. But boy oh boy is he ever going to take some training.

1. He is very antisocial around other dogs. Wants to really bark at them. We will have to just let him be around some dogs and reinforce that is a NO. Maybe he will learn that he can't do this sort of thing.
2. He seems to learn well. He is already starting to learn SIT but apparently whoever had him before played rather rough with him and he wants to bite at us when we pat his head and try to put on his harness. All this will come with repeated NO NO's. As to the bites. When He started biting at me I put him back on the floor and ignored him.
3. He has gone outside to pee however we found two little deposits that he left for us. That is Lee's job. He put his little nose right in it and took him right outside.

So Looks like we are in for a lot of patience and a lot of positive reinforcement. He has already learned where the milk bones are. Doesn't want his food but when I put some leftovers out on the counter to heat for supper, he was right there begging. Looks like whoever had him gave him some really bad habits we will have to break. NO PEOPLE FOOD FOR YOU HANNIBAL. Sorry but they really aren't good for you. So this will be a learning experience for us all. Lee, me and Hannibal. But we will get through it. I think he will be fun to travel with. He really like his car ride home. At least after the AC cooled off the car. At first he was very hot and panting but once he got past that he loved the ride. Tomorrow he will go visit his new Veterinarian. So another car ride. This is going to be fun. Yeah Jeannie it really is. :)

Hannibal is Ours!!!!

It is official. I just called the pound. Hannibal is scheduled for surgery and they will call us in a couple of days to pick him up. We found the bed we wanted for him and bought a kennel. Only for when we travel or have to leave him for a time. Every thing is ready for him to come home.

An Eventful Week

We have had an eventful week. One big change for us is we decided we wanted to adopt a dog. Seems like almost everyone in the family has dogs so we decided to join the ranks. I haven’t had a dog for a good number of years. The last pet I had was my old orange cat that my youngest daughter brought home when she was still in high school. When she got married somehow the cat stayed with me. We never could come to terms on what to name him. I wanted Garfield. She said no! Almost everyone who had an orange tabby named them Garfield. So I said Morris. She said NO! The rest of them name them Morris. So we just simply called him cat. I decided to spiff it up a bit and spelled it Katt. Katt was forever doing what he wanted and not always what I wanted him to do so I would many times yell at him Katt dammit. So he thought that was his name. Katt Dammit he became and remained so until we sadly had to put him to sleep at the age of 18 ½. Actually I was on a cruise when he was put down. My third daughter was the one who took him to the Vet when he became sick and burst into tears when they asked what his name was and she said just cat. She thought it was sad that we had the cat so many years and never named him. I assured her he was indeed named. His name was Katt Dammit. But I digress. The last dog I had was Major a boxer who, like Katt Dammit, pretty much had a mind of his own. But they both had terrific personalities.
Anyway Thursday we went to the local Animal Control (pound) and looked at dogs. We liked several of them and decided on a little Chihuahua mix. He is just a cute as can be and is just the right size for us. Neither of us is capable of handling a large dog. Hannibal (my choice of names and not Lecter, Hannibal the Conqueror) is still incarcerated at this time. We have to wait to see if his former owner will claim him. We can only hope they don’t. At that time he will be neutered, a micro chip will be placed in him and he will get all his shots. We should know something by Wednesday or Thursday. If he gets claimed we will try again. Upon leaving the pound we went “pet supply shopping” and depleted the inventory of Creature Castle by a good bit. Still haven’t found the bed we want for him but will keep looking.
Dog business aside we spent most of the weekend at my two middle daughter’s property (Carol & Linda.) They have this big party every year. Oldest daughter (Mary) and her husband were here from Tennessee, Youngest one (Ann) and her husband was there. In fact most of the family, some we only see once or twice a year were there. Lots of good barbecue and lots of good food! Some of the Grandkids were not able to come due to being in the military or not being able to take off work etc. But we enjoyed those who were there. Weekend over now we are both worn out and plan on spending most of the week just chilling out and reading. Rainy days are good for curling up with a good book.

Blogging is "Such Fun"

First off happy day before the 4th to all my friends out there. We are celebrating today with a huge family party that two of my daughters host every year at the old family home which they now own.

Well guys this blogging is sure fun but boy oh boy (like anything to do with a computer) it is fraught with potential problems. Rather than retype all this correspondence I have copied and am pasting in here. Following is a series of email conversations between me and my friend and computer/blog guru. This is how my day started out.

Chris to Jeannie: Your blog is looking better and better as you add to and tweak. Nice that you added the explanation on your map so that people know there is more to it. I wouldn't have known about the little guy had you not mentioned it. Loved your video. Perfect!

Jeannie to Chris: Thank You Chris.
Something funny (or not so funny) happened to it thought. I was messing around with different templates trying out different things when all of a sudden I noticed the whole bottom of the blog was a different color and I have no clue how it happened or how to fix it. Any Ideas??? I even had to go in and change the explanation text cause it was the wrong color and didn't show up.

Chris to Jeannie: I've had lots of strange things happen on blogger and have had to just play around. I don't have your particular design and can't get into the dashboard of yours w/o your password, so I'd have to make an educated guess. Go into DESIGN and then TEMPLATE DESIGNER. Check the Advanced settings (one by one) and Layout too. If you can't find any way to change it there, then go back to DESIGN and see if you can view it at the bottom and drag it back down. Good luck!

Jeannie to Chris:
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!
I found your post about 7:00 am this morning. I immediately went to the blog and started fooling around. Bingo I got it back to a lighter color but for some unknown reason the map and the text seems to be in the footnote area. Tried moving around to no avail so then adjusted the color for the footer to be the same as the body of the Template. Well in the edit template mode the color codes are the same but on the blog they are slightly different. OK I can live with that bit of minutia but then the text dropped waaaaay down below the map. Every time I would go in and try to pull it back up my puter would freeze. I tried to edit in AOL and since AOL can be a bit of a pain sometimes I went to Internet Explore. Same thing would happen. Finely I was running out of time. I had 10 lbs of potatoes boiled, 18 eggs boiled both ready to peel and cut up, and all the stuff to put in the potato salad ready to be mixed in. (BIG family party every 4th of July) So I had to get this done. That done I came back to face the same old &%@$. Well I finely was able to delete the whole element and recreate it. The good news is Potato salad is done and blog is fixed (I think) Thanks for the help

WOW. what a catastrophe.