February 04, 2003
My improvised dogcarrier, with dog!
7:51 a.m.
Dusty sleeps in her crate at night and she's really good about it by now - she doesn't cry or pout overly much before going to sleep. It's very rare that I'll let her come into bed with me.
Last night, I was out until midnight at a hockey game and pub night. I chose this morning to start my 'getting-up-earlier' initiative. The dog and I rose at 6:00 a.m. and I took Dusty out of her crate and outside to potty.
I wasn't feeling well, so I went back to bed to listen to Metro Morning and doze. The pup seemed sleepy as well, so I broke my usual rules and allowed her up on the bed and we dozed peacefully together for nearly an hour.
Then she barfed on my bed.
I'm actually not entirely upset that she did this where she did. First of all, it wasn't her fault and I certainly couldn't have anticipated it. It's much easier to throw my sheets in the wash than it would have been to clean up the carpet.
But now I'm concerned about her. Is she sick, or did she eat something she shouldn't have? (schnauzer's have notoriously sensitive digestive systems)
Lately, she's been doing her best to eat anything she can find on the ground when we've been outside - I'm thinking she must have snuck some dead foliage when I wasn't watching her, or maybe even some tainted snow.
9:00 p.m.
Every day with my puppy is a day of new lessons. I'm learning about everything from her individual moods to debates around dog food (more on this tomorrow). I feel like each 'dog hour' is a voyage of discovery.
Here's just one example of how my wise little pup turned out to be much smarter than I:
We've been learning how to do 'puppy pushups.' In this exercise, the puppy sits, then lies down, then sits, etc. Dusty learned how to sit right away, but I couldn't figure out how to teach her 'down.' I struggled with this for days, but each morning as we worked, her brown eyes were filled with confusion. She just didn't get it and I was frustrated trying to teach her.
Looking for some insight, I did some research on the internet - I was looking for guidance around the use of hand signals with dogs. Verbal commands are important, but for dogs the hand signals are key; they rely mostly on body language to read human beings (and other dogs).
When I finally found what I needed, it was clear that I had been using the wrong signal.
On the surface, this no big deal - any signal I devised would have been fine if I had been consistent, but my signals for 'sit' and 'down' were not different enough for Dusty to differentiate between them. No wonder she was confused!
Today, I used the new signals. She caught on right away and by evening, she was doing 'puppy pushups' for me. Her eyes were eager with understanding.
Smart dog!