I just want to jot these down in case I think of ever getting a dog within the next year. My memory is awful so if I don't write them down, I will forget. Looking back on Kip was hugely helpful to me in deciding what kind of dog not to get. ( Read more... )

Ray and I are both bummed. Ray is probably taking it more personally than I am. I am a bit mad at myself because we had criteria. We wanted a dog that was not huge and was a female. When we looked the first dog, she was also a hound mix, but smaller, polite, had her adult teeth and was well mannered for everyone. She was not going to be a big dog. She was a female. I wonder if she would have been a better fit for us. But we chose this BIG male dog. The opposite of what we chose. We're a little mad at ourselves because Rachael took it the hardest, she wanted a dog so badly and she cried a lot when we had to give him back. So I just feel bad because it is not fair to them. He went back to the rescue this morning. We took him for a final walk in our little tropical storm and he ran through the streams and got soaked, then Ray took him back to the rescue. ETA- he just got back. After watching him dominate a HUGE dog at the rescue, and having a couple people who work there comment on Willie being a definite alpha male type dog, we feel better about our decision. We probably will get a dog in the future... but we will foster first and we will find an older, submissive type, calmer dog.

It is so quiet here right now. And the dog is FINALLY FINALLY settling with *gasp* one of his own toys to chew on. Maybe I won't be getting up every five seconds to redirect. redirect. redirect. He has a rope bone, some dragon that squeaks and has crinkly wings and is nice and soft like one of the kids stuffed toys he loves to steal, a snake that is harder to chew and some soft fleece squeaky that has lost most of its stuffing that is his favourite toy. Oh, and a bird feather the kids found that he loves to chew on. But no.. he wants a book, a shoe, a boot, the chain on Ray's mountain bike, the BMX trick bar thing sticking out of Trevor's bike, the sofa, the kitchen chair, the trash in the bathroom, a game box from under the coffee table, the kitchen trash, the dog food in the back at the back of the pantry, the wires under the desk, a stick horse. Those are all things I have redirected him from in the past 30 minutes. Sometimes I think I might go insane. To his credit, he walks well on leash, he sits for people to pet him, he can successfully pass by dogs and people on the trail without too much trouble, and he doesn't have too many accidents in the house. It's mainly the "watch him like a hawk every waking moment he is not in his crate" that gets to me after a while.

The kids were fine at drop off. It was a madhouse. They were super excited until it was time to say goodbye and it was so hectic. I kissed them goodbye, no one cried and they went off to class. I managed to do all my crying and weeping and second guessing myself last night so I managed not to weep in front of them and managed not to cry at all this morning. Ariel and I distracted ourselves by going to Target and buying the everyone stuff. When Trevor had his first day at K, I bought him a little hot wheels thing. So Ariel and I picked a Bionicle out for Trev, a Littlest Pet Shop for Rachael and Ariel got these three little horses and a stable (horses in my pocket or something like that). Then we had a coffee/hot chocolate at the Starbucks in the Target, came home and walked the dog/went to the park with him. Met Ray for lunch and now I am back and Ariel is on Starfall while I pay some bills. As we were walking through Target Ariel kept wiping her eyes and saying 'My eyes keep watering mommy." :(

It is really quiet right now. Too quiet.

The little monster boy is officially ours. The guy did the home visit this morning and we passed. It really seemed like a formality. He spent more time playing with Willie (lol! But thankfully not HIS willie. lol) than checking our house. He looked at the backyard and where we kept the crate. That was about it. Then we had to PAY for our dog and he was ours! He's been good today. We had to implement a "NO BEING ON THE COUCH!" rule. He was starting to jump up and see the couch as his and he would get all play nippy with the kids and drive them off the couch. When he was doing it before, I would have them turn around, pull him off the couch and get back up on it. But I got tired of constantly coaching them and then it dawned on me: "Why is he even allowed up there at all when no one has invited him to come on up?" I mean, hello, he's basically chasing the kids off the couch. That's a big no-no in my book. So poor Willie is no longer allowed on the couch. I guess eventually he will be if we invite him up, but for now it's not at all. We also got the prong collar and he has been SO MUCH easier to walk on the way home. Tonight we took him for his walk and he watched us so well at a hell position. Then we got to the bridge where the kids like playing and we switched out his collar and put on the retractable lead and let him loose and he ran through the water and chewed sticks and ate dirt and had fun. Then he was back on the prong on the way home and, even though he was full of piss and vinegar, it was much easier to keep him at a heel. I've heard people say the prong collar isn't humane, but omg, anything is better than constantly jerking the life out of the lead when he is constantly pulling. THAT seemed inhumane, to me. The prong collar just starts to tug when he gets in front and I don't even need to jerk it... he's instantly reminded to come back to heel. He watches me the whole time. It's awesome. He's seems like a smart dog, though.

After taking him to the dog park this morning and letting the kids play at the park next to it, I went and FINALLY got my hair done. My poor hair has been growing out and looked awful. So it is cut and colored and she did a great job. Yay for younger looking hair! heh.

I find it highly amusing that the size small cat door we got to go into the storage room and keep the dog out of the litter box and cat food does not hold the dog back. CHAOS, our big 20 lb Maine Coon barely squeezes his bulk through the door. Rachael says as we're walking upstairs "Willie is trying to get in the cat door!" "Oh, don't worry," I naively respond, "He's too big to get through that teeny door." But, as I watch, he somehow contorts his leggy body and squishes his way in through the door. lol



*sigh*

The school orientation went great for Trevor and so-so for Rachael. She got the teacher that Mazie had been saying how wonderful she was. I was saying how shy Rachael was and she would have a tough time opening up and feeling comfortable in the big school environment. But, her teacher is apparently like the grandmother. She is older and sweet and has a big couch that she sits with with kids who are having a tough time that day. She seemed very nice.. however.. EVERYONE who goes to orientation seems to go with only their K kids. Because the room was PACKED with parents and kids and very overwhelming. So, while it was nice to see her classroom, we didn't really get a chance to do more than say Hi to the teacher and it was extrememly intimidating to Rachael due to way too many people being in the room. I assured her it would NOT be that crowded on the first day of school and we found some cool things in the classroom to look forward to.

Trevor's room was awesome. His teacher is also very wonderful (she got Daniel's approval. heh). There was like only one other person in his room so he got lots of time to talk to the teacher and she told him all the cool things they would be doing that year. He left the room THRILLED to be starting school. He is excited to learn about habitats this year, especially desert ones with tarantulas. His magnet with his name on it also has a wolf spider on it so he thought that was really cool. His class also isn't huge, which is nice. So besides me being a bit sad and weepy yesterday evening (part PMS, part sadness, part being burned out puppy watching constantly), I think it will go ok. Especially for Trevor.

On a puppy note, Willie is doing awesome. I am completely worn out at the end of the day redirecting his chewing, but he's been getting better due to my vigilance. It did annoy me a bit this morning. Ray has no clue how much work it is looking after a puppy. He was not showing me much sympathy when I vented to him at the end of the day yesterday. Then this morning, he's working from home and nonchalantly cooking himself breakfast, browing the internet, etc. I got up at least 20 times in between eating to not only get the kids water, make their breakfast, etc.. but to also bring the dog back upstairs (we finally have a babygate for the stairs!), take shoes from him, or kid's toys, or whatever and substitute his OWN toys. I was getting a little frustrated, I shouldn't have to ask Ray... he can hear just as well as I can when the kids yell "Willie has my toy!!" (his puppy teeth are too sharp and their hands to small to pry things out of his mouth) and Ray can perfectly well see Willie wandering downstairs. It just doesn't register to him. So finally this afternoon, Willie, a hound at heart, is pacing the house like he always does and sniffing everything. It's a little unnerving, his pacing. But I'm used to it and he settles down after he has sniffed every square inch of house, and Ray says "I just let him out. Why is he pacing?" I'm like 'You just now noticed that? Now, show me some sympathy. You have been oblivious all morning to everything he has been getting into. He does this ALL.THE.TIME." Thankfully, Ray got the hint and watched him for me for a while so I could actually study without having to chase Willie every 5 seconds.
But he has been awesome in every other way. He is walking wonderfully on leash, though I did get him a pront collar today to help me out. He is walking next to me with minimal correction during the first half off our walk. He mostly needs correction when the kids speed past him, or he sees other dogs. Our routine is that he MUST walk next to me and not pull while we are walking. If we stop somewhere, like to explore a stream, he has to stand patiently with me for a minute until I give him permission to explore. Then he can go to the full length of his leash and run around and through the streams. Then I call him and we walk nicely again. He does mostly good until we head back. Then he knows we're heading home and he is much more distractable and needs much more correction. I think the prong collar will help me because it hurts my hand to keep correcting. Now I just won't need to correct so hard. He is also working on sit and has been doing good with that. He will sit with a treat for definite, sometimes he needs a reminder of me pushing on his bum. We also make him sit before putting on a leash and he is very calm.
Chaos is getting along better, though I know now why Shadow's owners turned him into the shelter for "not getting along with the new dog". I always assumed the dog chased the cat. No, Shadow actively follows Willie around being intimidating. Willie is terrified of Shadow (but not Chaos anymore. He keeps trying to intice Chaos to play by play bowing all around him) and when Shadow comes into the room, Willie won't look at him and gives him wide berth.
Otherwise, things are running smoothly here. It is still raining, which is making for some cooped up weather. Ray is about to take Willie to get his license and go to the dog park to get out some energy. I am going to take Trevor to Webb's party and hang with the girls for a few hours.

I made a B on my psych test. Yea for not getting another C! I also made an A on the paper. 3 more chapters, 1 more paper and one more test and about 10 more days. I can do it.

It was crazy raining this morning. Like pouring buckets. I didn't have a rain jacket, the dog still needed a walk. So I put on a sweater with a hood and off we went. (the kids have rain coats). Willie was horrified. He did NOT want to walk in the rain, even though he will happily jump through water and puddles. he finally got used to the water, esp when he got to say hi to a couple greyhounds on hte trail walking in the rain, too. he and I were SOAKED by the time we got home, though. At least it wore him out. So we crated him and went to the library.

We have orientation today for school. The school called yesterday. Apparently, they hadn't registered the kids yet because they did not have physicals. OMG. When I took in the registration paperwork I EXPLAINED to them that Ray had started a new job and we wouldn't have insurance until late Sept. THEN I would take them in and bring the paperwork in. I have vaccine exemption forms. She tried to give me some slack about it and said at the time that she couldn't register kids without a physical. WTF. I pointed out that we have vax forms, I will be getting them their physicals. And, as an aside, I'm thinking to myself: don't you HAVE to enroll us? You legally can't actually deny school enrollment because they haven't seen a doctor, can you? So, after talking with her, she says the vax information is really what they want from the doctor but if I have exemption forms, I am fine and the kids will be registered. This was like over a week ago. Fast forward to yesterday morning. I'm telling Mazie how I haven't heard anything from the school and orientation is soon and I don't know what classes the kids will be in. Phone rings. It's Ray. Apparently, they have called him a couple minutes ago and told him they can't register the kids without physicals. WTF! I had already been through it with the woman weeks ago! So he explains the situation to her. She is short with him and gets off the phone ad then calls him right back about vaccines. Then, as she is starting to talk to him about that info, she trails off... "Oh, I have the forms right here. Nevermind." I covered thos bases. I remember Trevor getting kicked out for not having the chicken pox vax and so went ahead and got those exemptions turned in (for the record.. I am selective, delayed vax. Not no vax.) I'm thinking now... sheesh.. do I really want to get into this again? So I'm going today... this is the school's one chance. If I go and there are no classroom assignments for them and they are still not registered because of this, I'm homeschooling. Forget it. I'll officially call incompetance. Hopefully they will be registered and it won't be a problem and I can forget about it. I'm just not sure why they wouldn't register the kids after I had already explained the situation and she said it wouldn't be a problem. I didn't realize I would be fighting about a delay in the physical. I thought I would have more problems with Trevor being homeschooled that year. Let's hope their registered!

We were on our way back from Lake Fairfax and the kids were all talking in the back of the car. We all started discussing how people are related and how I am a wife and a mom, but not all people are a wife and a mom together, etc (they thought all married women had children). So, then we started talking about how their grandma is my mom. So it carried over that one day they would have kids and I would be a grandma, but I would still be their mom. Besides the cuteness of Rachael saying "So when I grow up will Trevor be my dad?" lol. She decided to name her children right then and there.

Rachael: Mommy, I am going to name my kids Duststorm, Gleam and (something else totally strange I forget).
Trevor : Those are dumb names for people Rachael. No one names people names like that, only pets.
Me, supporting Rachael: Well, some people *do* name their children unconventional names. Our names might be strange to people in another culture.
Trevor : I know! Rachael, you can have three kids and name them Trevor, Rachael and ARIEL!
Rachael, all thrilled : Yea! Trevor, Rachael, Ariel and Ribby-pie!!!
Trevor, sighing : Ribby-pie is NOT a name!

It was so funny listening to them! Then in the bath this evening.

Rachael : It stinks in here.
Trevor: I did not fart. It wasn't me.
Rachael: Well, I didn't fart.
Trevor : Hm, maybe it's these bubbles. (from the bubble bath)
Rachael: I went to the bathroom, but I flushed the toilet.
Trevor: Are you sure you flushed the toilet?
Rachael: Yes!

We just overhear the silliest stuff sometimes. Had a good day. Willie did great in his crate while we were gone. We had friends over and everyone had fun playing. We went to Lake Fairfax where Willie walked VERY well on leash in about ten minutes, then tore around the lake while the kids dug seaweed out of it. It was a good day.

He is worn OUT! He was worn out yesterday and spent all night in his crate sleeping. He did one houndy bay and some whines, which we ignored, and he promptly lay down and went to sleep. He didn't whine when Ariel came into our room around midnight. He didn't whine when she woke me up at 3am because her legs hurt (yes, she's still doing that about weekly) and I got up and found motrin and water for her. I was so scared he would wake and start whining to get out, etc. His foster must have crated him. he doesn't mind going in the crate at all.

This morning Ray went biking and the kids and I took him for a walk. He walked quite a ways. The KIDs walked quite a ways! About twice our normal walk. I had to carry Ariel about 1/4 way back home when she conked out. Once in the door, little Willie (lol) totally just passed out. He flopped all his paws and gangly legs on the floor and promptly fell asleep. He slept for a while, then proceeded to chew on like everything except his chew toys. Argh. It was a constant chase around the house to say "Drop it!" and trade his unsuitable "toy" (ie: the kids shoes, the couch, my matress, numerous socks and articles of clothing, stuffed animals, etc etc etc) for his much less interesting rope bone, squeaky thing or ball or the sock I finally let him have. It's no fun once he actually possesses it, the little beast. He wanted every OTHER sock. heh. I called Ray and he brought Willie a pig ear, which FINALLY satisfied that urge to chew.

After Ray got home, we met Brett at Lake Fairfax with his English Mastiff, Roxy. Roxy is about half the weight she will get and she makes Willie look like a chihuahua or something. She is HUGE, and was terrified of Willie at first. But she's a big sweetie and, except for a growl and bark over a stick Roxy decided was hers, they got along really good. They're working with Roxy because she is scared of other dogs. Willie got completely worn out at the park and had fun bounding around like a big pawed puppy. He has no problem getting in the water and wading around. We stopped at Petco and got him raw hide and compressed raw hide bones (irradiated! fun times! bleh) and a collapsible water bowl for when we are out with him. Then we came home and the kids played with him in the wading pool, then we bathed him. After dinner he got another walk (without Ray, who banged up his knee pretty bad on his mountain bike ride) and he's conked out in the hall right now. He only had one accident in the house today, but I think it might be because we were outside most of the day. He's been doing really well on that respect. He's smart, he does reasonably well on a leash. When I have walked him he tries to say hi to everyone he passes, but he doesn't bark. He's so quiet! He barked in the back yard at some people who passed close by the back fence. And that one bay in his crate. That's it. I hope he stays that way!

Tomorrow I have to get out to the grocery store. I think. I'm a little scared to crate him during the day, but maybe if we take him for a good long walk and give him a raw hide he should be fine. With his houndy bark, I don't want him disturbing the neighbours. They are most definitely NOT dog people and i am sure they are worried about the same thing. Shadow is doing much better and will sit in the same room with Willie without looking like he's moving in slow motion. I'm hoping to take him to Frying Pan Park tomorrow to see the farm animals and some new situations.