Saturday, January 28, 2012


Teething

As you can see in the picture, Walter is teething - on everything.  Do you see his toy on the rug behind him?  There's a hole where Walter chewed it, eventually getting the ball free from the toy.  He chewed off two legs from the toy.  He chewed holes in his bed, and stuffing is strewn all over the floor.  One of my slippers fell on the floor, and of course, he chewed on that, too.  He tries to chew on your hand, if you let him...
Walter's First Day At School


Can you imagine this grinning fellow in class?  It was an easy class because he was the only dog in the puppy training class today.  We learned "sit," "stay," and "down."
He is so smart.  Don't I sound like every obnoxious parent you ever met who tells you how smart their kid is?  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's me.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Walking Like Frankenstein

Had knee surgery yesterday for a torn meniscus.  My knee is wrapped up with a bulky dressing, and I can't bend my knee, so I'm walking like Frankenstein.  My husband took the day off to "wait on me hand and foot," but he's trying to do everything I've been doing pre-surgery, and he's already worn out.  Um-hmmm...


Saturday, January 21, 2012

Goodbye, Slippers!

I was stepping over the baby gate, and one of my slippers fell off.  When I went back to get it, I couldn't find it.  Then I saw Walter chewing on it.  Oh well, those slippers were old, and it was time to replace them....

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Raise Your Hand If This Has Ever Happened To You

I slipped in cat throw up tonight, and I hit my head on the door frame.  I fell flat on my back, and all I could do was say, "Oh my God!"

I got up eventually, stumbled to the freezer to put an ice pack on the side of my head, and lay down on the bed and cried.  Oy vey!  When I finally got up, I saw that there was blood on the ice pack, and then I saw blood on the light switch.  Then I looked at my face in the mirror.  Double oy vey!  There was a cut about an inch long just above my left eyebrow.  I guess I will need stitches....
Make That One Day

I spoke too soon.  We've only had one day without an accident in the house.....

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Walter, the Escape Artist

Walter escaped!  My husband and I had replaced all the missing boards in our backyard fence the day before we went to the SPCA to pick up Walter.  We thought we did good.  Well, the second day we had our precious pooch, our neighbors across the street told us Walter had escaped.  It's only been a week that we've had Walter, and today he escaped by digging another hole under the fence.  We filled and blocked the first hole, and now there's another one.  Oy vey!  We're going to have to put chicken wire all around the bottom of the fence.  No more unsupervised backyard time for Walter until we do that.

The good news is that he's had two whole days without accidents in the house.  I think he's getting the hang of it, or I'm just bringing him outside more so that he doesn't relieve himself on the kitchen floor.  I've already thrown away two rugs, one by the kitchen sink and one by the back door.  Oh well, I guess I was tired of them anyway, right?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Dog Tired

No, the dog is not tired.  I am.  I am exhausted.  Having a puppy is physically demanding, and this is only the third day we've had Walter.  I pop up out of bed and roll straight toward the dog's crate, snap on his leash, and bring him outside so he can pee.  I don't even care that I'm in my robe and my hair is unbrushed.  The goal here is to get outside before Walter pees on the floor.  He peed three times on the kitchen floor yesterday.

Once he pees on the lawn, we go back inside and I get him his cup and a half of Science Diet for puppies.  Then I have half an hour, or so I've been told, before I need to take him outside so he can poop.  That gives me time to get dressed,  drink a cup of coffee, and eat my cereal.  My husband tells me to let Walter go outside in the backyard so we don't have to worry about his having an accident on the floor again.  OK - that will buy me some more time.  I'm catching up on e-mail when we hear a knock on the door.  It's early in the morning, so a knock on the door cannot be good news.  It's our neighbors telling us that Walter is running around in the front yard.  My husband calls Walter's name, and Walter races in through the front door.  He dug a hole under the gate!  And we thought we had made the backyard secure.  Oy vey!  Walter is a digger.  My husband puts bricks in the hole to block the space.  No more unsupervised backyard time.

Then we're out the door again for our serious walk.  Inevitably, I forget to stuff my pockets with the plastic grocery bags, because you can't just leave the poop on the ground.  Back in the house for the bags, and now we set off on our walk.  I'm trying to get him to heel so he doesn't think he's the lead dog.  There's a whole new psychology of the dog that I'm having to learn.  He's not supposed to be out the door first either.  And I'm not supposed to let him jump on me.  It's a lot for this old dog (me) to learn.

After I've worn us both out from the walk, then there's time to read the paper.  But he's not too tired, because he chews his leash in half.  He's already torn off a leg of one of his toys.  I caught him chewing on the curtains.  I think the corner of his bed has a hole in it. No, he's not tired enough yet.

Next comes the introduction of each cat to the dog.  The dog is on one side of the baby gate, and I sit with one cat at a time on the other side of the gate.  There is hissing and growling and whining, and claws are out.  I'm not expecting miracles any time soon.  It would just be nice for them to regard each other with the attitude of peaceful co-existence.

After that, I go to the Animal Hospital to give them Walter's microchip barcode, go to the library to check out Cesar Millan's books on dog training, go to the drugstore, bring a friend to the airport, come back from the airport, eat lunch, and take Walter out for another walk.  Oops, forgot the bags, go back inside, get two of them, stuff them in my pocket, say hello to more neighbors and introduce them to Walter, then down to serious walking.

We come back from the walk, and Walter knocks out on the Persian rug.  I think I tired him out.  He's dog tired now, too....

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Meet Walter!

Is he a cute dog or what?  I've been looking for a dog for a long time.  I've visited so many sites online and looked at pictures of dogs (and cats, rabbits, and chinchillas), but when I saw this picture, just his expression caught me.  He's a mixture of German wire-haired pointer and terrier, at least that's what was written under his picture, and he's about six months old.  This particular time, it was about 3 a.m., and I was on the SPCA adoptable dogs site.  I heard my husband get up to use the bathroom, and I kind of ambushed him.  "Come see this dog!"  He stumbled into the computer room, barely awake, and when he saw Walter's picture, he laughed.  I took that as a good sign.

We adopted Walter today, or actually, since it's 2 a.m. right now, we adopted him yesterday.  It's been a long day, and I think we are all worn out - me, my husband, Walter, and our four cats.

As soon as we left the SPCA, we went to PetSmart, where we spent $347!  We got him a bed, a crate with a mat, dog shampoo, dog food, treats, toys, bones, collars, and bowls.  Then we drove home, and I took Walter for a walk.  I didn't even bring him into the house yet - I wanted to wear him out a bit before introducing him to the cats.

We went straight into the bathroom after returning from our walk, and I used the dog shampoo we'd just bought to give Walter a bath.  He did pretty well, and he even tolerated the blow dryer.

How to describe Walter?  Exuberant! Yes, that's Walter.  Everything seems exciting to him, and he makes me laugh with his delight in all that he encounters.

Now, about the cats.... When we were at the SPCA, we asked how he got along with cats, and we were able to bring Walter into the the cats' enclosure.  He didn't even seem interested in the little kitten that one of the SPCA workers was holding.  So far, so good.

After Walter's bath, I let him run around the house to explore.  When he saw the cats, he ran after them.  They ran under the bed, except for Harry, the resident "King of the Neighborhood," who sat up on the windowsill, hissing and making deep guttural sounds, voicing his extreme displeasure.  Harry eventually ran under the bed to join Henry, Violet, and Zoe.  They stayed there for several hours.  The females cats were braver than Harry and Henry - they came out to inspect the newcomer.  Zoe even sat on the dog bed.

You know, it's funny because my husband and I both read all the SPCA literature on what you're supposed to do when you bring a  puppy home.  We had all of that information stored in our brains, but as soon as we got him, it just flew right out.  Walter's already jumped on everyone he met when we went for our walk.  We tried making him walk at our sides instead of pulling.  Yeah, you can already see him wrapping me twice with his leash.  We "babyproofed" the house, but of course, we forgot to put up the shoes and the cat toys.  He's chewed three of the cats' little furry mice.  You're not supposed to give him all of his toys at once.  I started to give him all of them when I heard the voice, "Don't give all of his toys at the same time."  At least that piece of information stayed with me.  He only has two toys in his crate with him right now.

My sister-in-law called to ask "Am I an aunt?"  I told her "yes, we got Walter."  I told her we were signed up for obedience/training classes, but the ones for this month were full, so we had to wait six weeks.  She said, "You better find some other classes, because you guys are going to suck at being parents, I can already tell."  What could I tell her?  I had to agree.  I'm indulgent, and my husband is strict.

Then she said, "Do me a favor, and don't leave Walter to me in your will."  I said, "Oh, I forgot, we have to add Walter to our will in case anything happens to us."  I've already informed my brother and my sister-in-law that they were getting our animals in case we die.  Now we need to decide who Walter's godparents will be.

It's peaceful in the house right now.  I think all the cats have come out from under the bed, eaten, and used the litter box.  I've seen Henry skulk around close to Walter's cage, but he hasn't formally introduced himself yet.

There will be time for that later....