Watch Me

Weigh in - 47.8 lbs from 45 lbs one week ago.  

Today we learned how to get your dog to look at you for a treat by making them sit and saying "Watch Me".  Well, there's a little more to it than that, but since the word treat was involved, Sailor picked that up right away.  Now if only come was as easy.  

Our friend, Lisa Rose came by class and we're sure she was amazed by how smart he was :).  After class we all met at Olive Garden for lunch since I had a gift card that Todd's mom, Fran gave me for my birthday.  

Quarantined

Sailor has a dog cold (yes they get them) and apparently it's contagious (we feel bad) as our neighbor's dog Duke (pictured with our dog, Osa (who is taking a pee) has caught it. Sailor was making a weird noise like he had something in his throat and had some green stuff in his nose. He is on antibiotics.

Duke has the same symptons, but Osa seems fine so far. The Vet told Nic to keep Duke from playing with Sailor for 3 (yikes) months until his puppy immunity gets built up. His last shot is on Jan 26th.

Towering over the Competition

Sailor playing in his puppy class. As you can see he is by far the biggest but also is a gentle giant. Strangly he likes the little dogs.

Keeping a puppy from playing.

How do you keep a puppy from playing? Well, you don't. Since he got fixed last Monday, he is supposed to be kept "quiet" until his incision heals. Well, whoever came up with that, obviously never had a puppy at home. This is Todd's attempt to keep him from rough-housing by laying on the couch with him. This lasted all of 2 minutes. Yes, he really is only 3 and 1/2 months old - The next weigh in is tomorrow morning at puppy pre-school.

I thought I saw a Pooty Tat. . .

The cat, Mia fascinates Sailor. He wants so desperately to play with her which I can tell that's what he wants by his stance, but she sees it in whole different way - that he wants to eat her. She is pretty adept at keeping out of his clutches by staying on tables and chairs and bouncing from one thing to another, somehow without managing to touch the floor. She's no wimp either - she'll let him get a little close to tease him, then wham's him with her paw. Last night I watched him bark like a banshee at her while she calmly watched him from her perch on the kitchen table. He barked so much he started to yawn whcih means he worked himself into a frenzy and wasn't breathing right. Winner - cat. I am holding out hope that they will get along some day. Osa still hates him.

Not quite potty trained

Todd found a turd on the floor last night. Just sitting there all alone. It wasn't his, mine, Osa's or the cat's. So guess who. We're just wondering if there's more where that came from and we just haven't found them yet.

Too cold = no exercise

Nic came over to see Sailor earlier today and said it's so brutally cold out. She's so awesome. . we both feel sorry for all the other little critters and creatures out there that don't have shelter like we and our pets do. Of course it's way too cold to walk the dogs - 12 below according to my car at lunch today. No exercise for Sailor or Osa tonight other than chasing me (and my pants) around the house. Some of my PJ bottoms look like they have cigarette burns cause they have little holes from his teeth in them. Perfect.


Sailor has yet to meet our neighbor's dog, Jada (pictured here on the right with her owner, Roman and our dog, Osa), so maybe this weekend he can make a a visit if the weather breaks a little.

Chasing Tail

The discovery of one's tail is a joyous one! Until you bite too hard that is. Sailor has discovered his and he's not quite sure what to make of it ("Wow, there's something back there that I have to get to") and just like a cartoon dog, goes around in a circle on the hunt. Pretty humorous!

Books, Steps and Walks

Sailor made a new discovery: Library books! I always keep my books in the bottom section of my nightstand. The good thing is that it's easy access for reading material, the bad - it's open and accessible to puppy teeth. After he chewed the corners of two books (I naively thought he would leave them alone), I had to take them all out and now store them on the dresser across the room which is super attractive!

I am already out the cost of my reading light which won't work after he got a hold of the cord. The books weren't too badly chewed, so I turned them in and hope that I don't have to pay for cost of replacing them.

He is still trying to learn how to navigate steps. When he does manage to take on a few, he looks so funny as he slinks over them like a Caterpillar. Osa is still getting a reprieve from him by running down in the basement, so the longer it takes him to learn this, the better.

We've been taking him on short walks to get him used to being on a leash and going potty on the leash. He only made it to the neighbors the first few times, and the last time by following Osa, he could go and go but he still looks nerdy with those big feet and floppy ears.

Yesterday was only the second time he was in his kennel for a lot of the day, although Nic and Randall let him out, so he was full of pee and vinegar last night. He looked like a Raptor going after prey with his jaws going and running in that funny way and couldn't keep his mouth off anything. It was too cold out (below zero) so no walk last night to get that energy out.

We need a bigger house

The AKC dog show was in town recently so we deicded to go early on Sunday before my home playoff game as the Newfoundlands were showing that morning. We put Sailor in his kennel and headed for River Center in St Paul around 8:30 am. There are a lot of quirky people at the dog show! We walked around adn finally found a few Newfies. When I saw this guy, I looked at Todd and told him "we need a bigger house". He was a monster. but sweet as can be. His name is Levi and he weighs 148 lbs.

To the right is Monte, and look how gorgeous he looks. That's with lots of brushing for the show. Get the feeling that Sailor will hardly ever look like this.

All the Newfies at the show in the ring.

After the show, I had to get to the Metrodome for the Vikings game within a couple of hours, so we ran home to let Sailor out of his kennel. As soon as we walked in the house, we smelled it. He had pooed in his kennel, but it was diarreah, so we couldn't really fault him. I traced it back to the 20 or so chicken jerkey treats I had given him the night before. . . Racing off to the dome and now in a traffic jam. Made it just in time. Whew!