Little Miss Bratty Teen has turned into quite the PITA for our friends at Camp Bow Wow. Even though she's the poster child for their homepage, she's taken to throwing obnoxious fits when pulled off the floor for her lunch/rest hour. Apparently she barks non-stop (shrill, eardrum exploding yips), rips all the stuff off the front of the cage & basically just throws a temper tantrum. We had a little talk on the way home today & she's going to work on her behavior.

"Mom is making all of that up...I don't know what she's talking about".

Scotty went to a friend's to watch football and we stayed home & watched a movie. Sherman & Penny got very snuggly on the couch (which is rare, but very cute!)

Oooo Boo...you're a bad, bad boy. (not really) We tag you, you tag us back. Hmmm. I see how you are...and we like it!

I've got three dogs...with 3 sets of Xmas wishes. So bear with us!


3 things Sherman would love to get for X’mas:

1. Food
2. Food
3. My purple treat machine...stuffed with food.


3 things he does not want to get:

1. another puppy (I'm still pissed about the White one)
2. a bath...unless we can skip right to the drying off part. I love that.
3. a walk w/ Penny...I much prefer to fly solo on my fun Flexi leash



3 things Penny would love to get for X’mas:

1. Pig Ears...duh
2. Mommy's Liver Brownies
3. To play with my new boyfriend Cowboy (talk about sexual frustration!)


3 things she does not want to get:
1. My ears cleaned
2. My feet sprinkled with that Tea Tree Stuff
3. My people watching football...too much yelling!



3 things Lola would love to get for X’mas:
1. Another Rooster!!!!!! Puh-lease????
2. More of Mommy's hair bands...with lots of hair to eat
3. Bully Sticks!!


3 things she does not want to get:
1. NO swimming
2. To have to watch other doggies & not be able to play with them (no fair!!)
3. Stop looking at my funny teeth!!!

We'll be tagging some unsuspecting bloggers tomorrow. But in the meantime:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE DOGS OF JACKMAN AVE!!!

The offical card

Lola & I graduated from Feisty Fidos class tonight. What a great experience! I'm so glad our friend Lilian squeezed us into this session. I learned a lot, Lola improved a lot & together, we'll get over the little bumps. I do believe Lola will grow out of her "feisty" stage.

My initial thought that Lola was frustrated rather than "feisty" was confirmed when treats just weren't working for one of the dogs in class. A braided rope tug toy was a much better reward for the little Scottie & the sight of him playing w/o her was too much for Lola. Self control, little girl. We'll keep working on it!

After all..."I'm a lover, not a fighter!"

Observations over the last 6 weeks:

Lola has great name recognition. I've never worked much on an attention word, but have always reinforced "checking in" (eye contact w/o prompting) and response to her name.

She also has a pretty darn good Leave It. I'll continue to use this on walks when she hears a dog bark 10 blocks away.

Walk Away is great!! I love this & so does Lola. Note to self to keep bringing treats on walks & practice, practice, practice.

We had a chance to work on a little bit of everything leaving class tonight. A volunteer was trying to get a beautiful, bold brindle Pitbull back into the building while all of us Feisty Fidos were leaving. We walked out the front door, the Pit rounded the corner and I said "Lola, Walk Away" and we made a quick left into the grass. One Woof! and she turned her attention to me. I talked to her the whole way to the car & she kept looking back & forth...him then me, him then me...but she managed to control herself and didn't bark again. Lots of dogs were in the parking lot and I did a big Find It (threw a handful of treats into the backseat) and we drove away w/o incident. Even after the treats were gone & we passes a yippee JRT...I said Leave It and she looked at me for a treat (which I surprisingly had!) and she didn't bark. I LOVE progress!!!

Sooo...what do the Dogs want for Xmas this year???

Sherman is begging for some more MooTubes (better contact Mindy...we're running low!)

Lola would love some marrow bones....

Or Chicken Feet...

Penny has pig ears on her list...but what she'd really love is to be able to enjoy a good chewie by herself!

My Top 5 Pet Peeves of Other Dog Owners

5. Owners who allow their dogs to jump all over people in public insisting "He's really friendly!". My dogs have to sit while people walk past them & can say hello if the stranger is interested in meeting them. A lot of people are afraid of dogs. Now when you come to my house...that's a whole other story! Enter at your own risk!

4. Owners who allow their kids to tease, taunt & otherwise abuse ("petting" aka smacking, pulling tails, ears, fur, throwing stuff at, trying to ride like a horse etc) the family dog then punish the dog when it growls at the kid. Punish the kid!

3. Owners who leave their dogs outside & allow them to bark, and bark, and bark...non-stop for hours on end. This is particuarly annoying when done at 6:30 am on a Saturday.

2. Owners who allow their dogs to run off leash & have no control over them. So when I say, "Call your dog, my dogs are NOT friendly"...typicallythe dog ignores the owner, runs right up to them, gets in their face and I have to try to keep my dogs from completely freaking out (Sherman & Penny have major personal space issues). I really hate that.

and my #1, with out a doubt, biggest Pet Peeve of Other Dog owners

1. People who do not clean up after their dogs!

This was all prompted by the large elephant-sized mound of doggie doo that someone left on the sidewalk in front of our house. What is wrong with people? It's unsanitary, it's gross & worst of all, it's inconsiderate. If I can manage to clean up after 3 dogs, why can't my neighbors clean up after their one? I take such issue with this and am constantly cleaning up after other people's dogs.

And for the life of me...I can't figure out why I'm so grossed out cleaning up other dogs poop, but have no problem cleaning up after my own dogs.

I came home from work tonight to a very yucky crate & a very sick Lola. She didn't eat anything out of the ordinary the day before so I don't know what messed up her belly. But she exploded all over the crate, the crate pad & her blankey. I got her all cleaned up with a quick bath and she spent the rest of the evening snuggling on the couch, looking very sad & needy.

Penny & I graduated from Marsha's Dynamic Dogs class. We had class at the shelter and did a couple fun contests. There were only 3 dog in class, but Cowboy (Penny's ACD boyfriend) and Penny are at about the same level in training. The 3rd was a ShepX from Lola's puppy class who was in class for some exposure. Cowboy won the Sit Stay contest and he & Penny tied the SitDownStand contest (both at 3 seconds). But Marsha raised the stakes and we had a show down with Sit Down Sit Down Stand. Penny won clocking in at 5 seconds!

We also did a 3 minute supervised separation and even though Penny loves Marsha, she was stressed when I left. I snuck around the room & watched from behind (there are big glass windows) and she was stiff as a board. When we came back in the room we had to call our dog to us and they had to run between the other 2 dogs practicing SitStays. When I said "Penny, Come", it was like her feet just skimmed the ground. I've never seen her do a Recall that fast. She actually slid into a Sit at my feet. It was very cute.

TAG! We're it!

Being relatively new to the Dog Blog world, there apparently is some pretty fun stuff that goes on. Our blogging buddy Pappy has tagged us & given us a challenge...we love a challenge. Name 6 weird things about the Dogs and/or me. Well, we know who the weird one is on Jackman Ave...and it ain't the dogs!

OK Pappy...we accept your challenge.

1. Penny - The weirdest thing she does is what we refer to as the Snarl & Snort. When she's happy to see us (when we come home, when we wake up in the morning) she starts the Penny wiggle dance where she kidney beans around us snorting & snarling with all of her teeth bared.

2. Sherman - My chubby boy loves to groan. It's somewhere between a growl and a moan and to someone who doesn't know Shermie, it would appear that he is vicious. When he's lounging (which is, um, pretty much all the time) and you approach him to give him some rubs, he lets out a very loud growl and rolls onto his back. Then I groan at him "Errr" and he groans back "ERRR" and I groan "Er" and he groans "EEEERRRRRRRRR!". This generally goes on for a while.

3. Lola - makes a sound like a wounded baboon when playing with Penny. It's totally primal.

4. Penny & Lola - when we come home from work, both of the girls pick up what ever toy/bone/kong is next to them and we play Show Me What You Have. They love this game. Scott & I act like we've never seen the grunting hedgehog and say "Penny, what do you have???" "Lola, what do you have???" and they dance around as if they've just caught dinner.

5. Sherman will share Penny's left overs with Lola. She sticks her big fat head right next to his when he's cleaning up her bowl & he never growls or tries to bite her. I think this is the only time she can be around him without him growling or trying to bite her.

6. Sherman's pooping habits. He has to push his butt up against something...a pole, a bush, the side of a building, or my personal favorite, a chain link fence. Lot's of fun to try to figure out how I'm gonna get inside the fence to retreive the present he squirted into the neighbor's yard.

And I'll add one weird thing about me.

I eat spaghetti for breakfast (or soup, or sandwiches, or pizza...any thing but cereal. Bleh!)

We're gonna tag our good buddies Boo, Lola & Beasley.


[The rules...Each player of this game starts with the "6 Weird Things about You"-- or your dogs. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their blog.]

Our new LR set up. Note: Plenty of room for the dogs (Penny is curled up at the end on the right. You can barely see her). Sherman prefers the floor.


More room to snuggle...

And get kisses...

We do this really fun thing at mealtime. The dogs hang out in their favorite spots while I prepare their feast. When I bang the spoon on the last bowl after mixing everything together, they all come running & sit in their designated spots. I ask them to Wait while I put all the bowls down and they all have to give me eye contact for however long I feel like making them wait...usually it's not very long. Then I tell them "OK!!!" and they all dig in.

"Fun? Does this look like fun to you? Two letters...O & K...just say 'em fer cryinoutloud!"





"We're looking at you already! What kinda power trip are you on Woman???"

I put these shots on the blog as proof that I do not starve them. Nor do I torture them by showing them their food & then eating it myself.

I swear...they eat very well!

Lola's Feisty Fido's class was cancelled b/c of the weather. We had our first snow of the season (about 1/2 inch) but there was a lot of freezing rain & the roads were pretty bad. So we built a fire & stayed home to watch the Steelers/Browns game. God bless those Stiller fans that brave the cold. I'd much rather watch from inside my house, on my big HDTV with a fire blazing. It was 20 degrees at kickoff! With a windchill temp of 5 degrees!!! I'm offically old.

Penny is a fire dog. She loves to park herself right in front of the screen & warm her skinny self. I've gotten down on the floor with her to snuggle in front of the fire & have to move w/in 10 seconds. It's HOT!!!

She stays there forever!

In the meantime, Lola managed to cut her face on something. She is definately MY dog! It was most likely from running around in the snow outside. It makes her crazy!

Scott & I bought new furniture this weekend & we had it delivered today. A new sectional couch, coffee table & sofa table. We had to move the old stuff out to get the new stuff in. The dogs were not happy about all of the commotion.

About 3 1/2 years ago, we bought a new loveseat & ottoman for Penny. I don't really think it was originally for meant Penny, but it is *her* spot. We moved it into the dining room to make room for the new stuff & she made it very clear that it was to remain in this house!

"Don't you touch my loveseat!!"

So, as ghetto as it may be, the loveseat may stay in the dining room. Actually, exactly where it is in that picture. It's not really in the way and it'll keep her off the new stuff. We may end up moving it to the bedroom. It would fit nicely in there and would keep her off our bed!

Sherman prefers the ottoman.

And Lola just bounces from one piece of furniture to another. She's like a little monkey!

The good people at Camp Bow Wow were doing Xmas photo shoots and I originally signed up thinking I'd take all 3 for a professional picture. I cancelled the shoot but they took Lola's picture anyway. I am now kicking myself for not keeping our appointment.

Lola has been going through a TP phase. She has figured out how to remove the TP from the holder (not hard, it just slides off) and delights in ripping it to shreds. I was making my lunch today when I couldn't hear her (bad sign) so I popped my head out of the kitchen & found this!

Busted!

Well the Xmas photo shoot didn't go very well. The dogs were all wound up and being really bad. None of them would stay and Scott was hanging lights outside & everytime there was a bang or clang outside, Guard Dog mode kicked in & they lost it. They won't sit in front of the fireplace b/c Penny is afraid of the grate.

This one's not bad...the babygate in the background is rather tacky.

This one's kinda cute...

The girls are SO serious!

Blurry!

Sherman is so darn cute!

Scott told me that I was getting very frustrated with them b/c they weren't co-operating and reminded me "Don't complain. Train!" (Actually he said "Remember what you always say...Don't yell at your dog, train your dog", but I know what he means & he's right).

We'll give it another go once the full moon passes!

I started messing around with the dogs & trying to take pics of them tonight in anticipation of the Big Xmas Photo Shoot on Sunday. It was Cookie Time and I figured "Let's put 'em to work"!

Tried to get them all to stand on the tile by the fireplace...no chance. The girls slide around too much. Divas sit on something soft.

OK...let's try a down. Ooops! Sherman says "Hey Mom...you dropped a cookie!"

Sherman absolutely loves laying on his "towel" (or in this case...a blanket). Towel=chewie (usually a raw marrow bone or turkey neck). He looks super cute in this picture.

I usually have to drag him off the stupid thing. Sunday should be fun.

Lola & I went to Feisty Fidos class again this week. She was a little wound up, not having a walk for two days. There was another Boxer beside us on the right & a GSD named Sherman on the left. The first thing we did was step outside of our cubes and work on Find It & Watch. Her Watch isn't very strong so I used Leave It if Lola starts to stare down another dog. She thinks Find It is great fun & immediately starts scanning the floor now. Cool!

We did some Walk Aways with another dog & she did pretty well. I had her on her regular collar when we first got there & she was pretty nervous so I put the GL on and noticed an immediate difference (that & the Chill Out I sprayed all over our Cube). This is a perfect example of listen to your DOG. I really didn't want to use the GL...for a lot of reasons...but the main one being how much worse Penny became after I started using it on her. I'm finally starting to trust myself as well, which is really hard for me.

All in all we had a good class.

So on the way out, we see two people sitting on the curb and Lola stiffens & I have no idea why so I say "Oh, stop it" and when we walk right next to them, I see a large black GSDx & it giving Lola a very hard stare. She puffs up & starts WOOOoooooooofffing at it and I start to panic and walk faster, dragging her with me. Duh! What the hell did I just spend the last hour doing???

!!LIGHT BULB!!

"Lola...Walk Away!!" and I start moving backward away from the dog. Hot Damn! She stops barking, looks at me and starts following! You've got to be kidding. This stuff actually works??? Apparently so. I had no treats on me (lesson for next week) so we just start running back to the car together and I whooped it up the whole way. There was a volunteer who was taking a JRT out for a potty break about 10 yards from us & it started barking so she started barking, but we hopped in the car and I fed her salmon treats until it went inside.

She slept the whole way home.

What a mug...

I've continued to take all 3 dogs on their own walks. For one, it gives me some much needed exercise (takes about 75-80 minutes to walk all three) and I get to spend some one on one time with them. Sherman, especially, really needs that.

The planets must have been in perfect allignment recently b/c we have been having some fantastic walks. Walking Sherman is always a joy, with the exception of his constant sniffing. We're working on that. Penny & I have been having a ball. I'm lucky to have lots of big parking lots around us (library, churches, VFW, banks, etc) and we've been playing follow the leader and doing lots of erratic heeling patterns. Her LLW is at about 90%. And we haven't had a single flip out in weeks, despite seeing lots of dogs. Lola has been doing really well too. Strange looking people are no longer an issue and we've had one incident w/ another dog (he started it!) where she was barking & lunging. Even though I'm still using the GL, she voluntarily walks by my side 80% of the time. She automatically sits at intersections and has been much calmer. The first 2 minutes of the walk usually stress her out (lots of whining and frantic movements), so we've been working on that. But we walked through Bellevue tonight & she did really well despite all of the commotion.

I got the whole house decorated for Xmas today...we just need our tree. Next weekend we're gonna attempt to get a family photo (well, just the dogs) for our Xmas picture. Should be interesting based on past attempts. This was from '04. Do they look miserable, or what???

This is last year's picture...at least Sherman looks kinda happy!

Scott & I decided to take advantage of the stellar weather & take S & P for a walk. We ran into a group of kids, around 10 yo and I recognized the little blond girl as the one who ran up to Sherman & threw her arms around his neck a couple of years ago. He promptly told her off that day (GGGGRRRRRRRowlllll)

As we approached the kids I said hello and the little girl said "I love dogs! Can I pet them?"...could I (and Sherman) possibly have made a dent in her little brain that day? I told them sure, just be gentle with the black one b/c he's old. They were all very calm and gave both dogs lots of rubs (which Penny loved) and I was very proud of Shermie for wagging his tail and taking advantage of the attention.

Pet Supplies Plus had 20% off everything in the store from 7 - 9 this morning. So I braved Black Friday & met Debby there right when they opened. They were already out of carts. But I eventually found one & bought 4 bags of dog food. Sherman eats Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken, so I got 2 bags of that & the girls rotate every bag, so I got a bag of Eagle Pack & Prairie.

Debby & I (along with Penny, Lola, Siri, Merlin & Kera) then went to Riverview and had a really nice hike.

Sherman had his annual vet visit later in the morning, so I walked him for about 30 minutes & stopped at the Vet on our way home. My boy has lost 2 lbs! He's now at a svelte 52.6#. He also had a lump on his back that I wanted to have checked & Dr. Nagle confirmed that it was just a fatty tumor. She also mentioned that it most likely had been there a while & I've just noticed it since he lost some weight. I'm to keep an eye on it and bring him back if it gets bigger.

We spent the remainder of the day resting.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!!

I just love Thanksgiving & really go all out. I took some pictures of as everything was just perfect.

Our Thanksgiving table...


My beautiful turkey with cornbread stuffing...


My favorite...green bean casserole with caramelized shallots...

Scott & I have lots to be thankful for...our families, our dogs, each other. Savor the day!

The Dogs...well, it was the perfect day to nap!

Sherman has never been big on sharing. That blue bed in the corner is HIS...that's where he lays every morning & hangs out with me while I get ready for work. He was not happy about Lola invading his turf.

"Um...excuse me...what is she doing in MY bed??? I demand you do something about this immediately".

Lola is all of a sudden into tennis balls...and plastic squeaky balls, & rubber Kong balls and giggle balls. I bought her some new jumbo tennis balls at Target & figured we'd roll with it.

(Get it...ROLL with it!! Man, am I funny!)

This morning while I was getting ready for work, I heared the familiar sound of Lola trying to dig up the carpet that has come loose on the landing of our stairs. Feeling lazy & being 1/2 undressed, I said "Lola...c'mere". She stopped digging but stayed put. About 10 seconds later, a light bulb went off in my head & I said "Lola, Come!" and she shot up the steps & into my room where she promptly planted her butt in a Sit.

It was a very good reminder to me that consistancy is key!

Lola spent the day catching up on ther reading. Then she took a nap.

Meanwhile, we watched the Steelers get their act together & beat Cleveland. What a game!!