Vet Advice and Playtime

Well, Mom heard back from the Vet. He recommends that I stay away from the park and dogs I don’t know, since any further incidents could escalate and set me back further. He did recommend a couple dog day cares for socialization (since they can control the pack dynamics), one of them I have even been to; but we don’t have the money to spend on regular visits. So, as many of you suggested, we’re going to have to stick to play dates with just one or two of my close friends that never get aggressive.

Our membership for the park lasts until May, so we may go every once in a while and just stick to the small dog side if we can find a friend that doesn’t mind staying over there with us.

We’re both kind of bummed, since we really liked that community of familiar dogs and their owners. But Mom is more worried about my physical and mental health.

And let’s face it, I’m completely content to just stay home and play with Mom! I never bug her to go to the park. Anytime I have excess energy, I just run around the house, from room to room, at top speed. (Mom is hoping to catch this on video some time. But every time she brings out the camera, I stop whatever I’m doing.)

Here are a couple videos of me playing fetch with Mom. She is really happy I finally figured out to bring the ball back. Though, I don’t always want to give her the ball, so she always has another one on hand to throw. So then, I’ll drop the one in my mouth and go after the new one.

A Dilemma

Seems like coming home bloody from the dog park has become a regular occurrence. This time, mom said it was my fault, getting in the face of a small dog who wanted me to leave her alone. Mom says we both have “short man’s syndrome,” where we both think we’re the boss of all the dogs at the park. And while the other dog is somewhat scared of me, I kind of pushed her over the edge, and it got heated. And I got bit, little scratches all over my face.

While we both love going to the park, and having that fun community, Mom is wondering if she should keep taking me to the park when I get hurt so much. I have definitely become more aggressive towards strange dogs when we’re at PetSmart. And Mom is worried about that too.

Is socialization at a park necessary? Or is causing more harm than good?
Mom says she’s going to talk to my Vet.

Happy Halloween, and More Misadventures of Laney at Gizmo's Party

Happy Halloween everyone! I’ll be helping mom pass out candy to trick-or-treaters tonight, dressed in my costume! Are you all doing anything fun?

Well, last night was a big night for me, to say the least! First, we celebrated Gizmo’s birthday! He turned 1 year old today! Happy Birthday, Gizmo! Gizmo’s mom and dad got a yummy cake in the shape of a bone for him and the rest of us to share…



Gizmo is such a fun pup! He’s full of energy and will play well with any and every dog in the park. He’s not the least bit aggressive, ever. Which I love, of course. Gizmo’s my favorite guy to wrestle with! He even lets me steal his ball, stick, or whatever thing he’s playing with and doesn’t get mad. I can be pretty sneaky. Mom calls me a bully. But I just like claiming everything in the park as mine. That’s my favorite game.



I got a couple pieces and it was yummy!







Gizmo scored the most, since he’s the biggest dog and kept jumping up and stealing pieces, but that was only fair since he’s the Birthday Boy!



It wasn’t long before it was all gone. Then, we were all searching for crumbs!





Click here to view all the photos from Gizmo’s party!

And click here to see Gizmo’s blog about his party. He even scored a present!

His mom and dad even brought a cake for all the moms and dads to share! How nice is that?! Mom said it was yummy too.

Then, the not-so-fun stuff happened. Someone had passed out a treat for everybody, and I had a hard time chewing mine. So I carried it away to finish. But when my friend Fergie tried to take it, I got mad and snapped at her. Then she snapped back. And things escalated, so mom had to yell and pull us apart. Thankfully, we’re both little dogs and can’t do much damage. And we both trotted off as if nothing happened. Which was a first for me. In fact, this was the first time I won! Fergie acted a little sheepish and hung around her mom for a bit, till I made her get out and play again.

But even though I won the little tussle, mom found a little blood and teeth marks on my face again. I didn’t at all mind though. Fergie didn’t mean it, and I was back to chasing her around in no time. And mom recently bought invisible bandage spray for dogs, because of all the scrapes I’ve been getting in anyway. She says I’m the most accident prone dog ever.

Then, she proved herself right. 10 or 15 minutes later, she saw me limping along with my front paw up in the air. She about panicked when she thought I had hurt my paw. But I had just accidentally got my front dew claw caught in my rabies tag, hanging from my collar. My nail had gotten wedged and pinched in the tag. And it took two other people to help my mom get it off me, since it hurt when they tried to pull it out. I snapped at them and bit several times, squealing in pain Sorry Mom, Chloe’s mom, and Blake’s dad! But thanks for helping get me free of that! Thankfully, as mom has said before, I have a soft mouth and bite. I didn’t break the skin on mom’s hand. Hope I didn’t hurt Chloe’s mom or Blake’s dad’s hands!

There was no blood or anything. It just cut my dew claw a little bit. Mom will need to file it down later. My nails have all just overgrown so much from my last owner, that it’s taking a while to get the quick to recede enough to get my nails to a decently short length. But again, I was fine and ready to play after that. But mom’s nerves were shot. And it was cold and getting dark, so we left for home soon after.

Is there an award for the most accident prone dog? Because I would be a shoo-in!

Award and More Dog Park Fun

My friend Addie gave me this nice award!
Thanks Addie!
This is my proud face.



Last night, mom took me to the dog park to play with my buds. But some big dogs were there again that I'm kind of nervous about. So I stayed close to mom's heels. I played a little with the smaller dogs. And mom let me chase her for a while. Then a nice (not too big) chocolate colored pointer came up to me and wanted me to chase him. So I obliged him, much to my mom's delight.

Then, when all the dogs had left that I didn't know or wasn't sure about, I gladly romped about with my friends! Tonight, my friend Gizmo is celebrating his birthday at the park, so mom said she'd make sure we come back for that! Yippie! Doggie cake! I'll tell mom to take lots of pictures!

Stranded at the Park

Last night, I took Laney to the dog park. She played around only for about 20 minutes before some larger dogs showed up that she didn’t know. Then, she was nervous; and other than being at my feet, she would only go visit other people. No running or playing with other dogs. So, unlike most nights, I decided to wait it out, hoping that she’d either get used to the new dogs or that her best friend Sandy would show up to make her play. Instead, we ended up walking out with the last of the dogs, Laney finally playing with another small dog who likes to run. But somehow we were the last to make it to the gate. And Laney decided she didn’t want to leave. By then it was dusk. Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, Laney isn’t motivated by treats or food. So absolutely nothing worked to get her to come to me, or even just close enough for me to lasso her with the leash. Soon it got dark, and I kept trying everything from wearing her out by letting her run (this has worked before) by me following her, she chased me, getting down low in a submissive stance (though this only made her confused and had her barking and running in circles), and just waiting her out (where she only got bored and sat down, but never close enough for me to catch). I’m sure it didn’t help that it was so dark out. She seemed nervous on top of everything.

So finally, my brother-in-law, God bless him, had to borrow their neighbor’s dog to come rescue us. Once Nick the big Golden Retriever showed up, Laney went right to him to check him out. And my brother-in-law quickly snatched her up. We finally left that place at 9pm, after an hour and a half of being there by ourselves in the dark.

We will never be the last ones to leave again. And you can bet that we’re going to go back to more “come” training. Though, all dogs seem to ignore commands at the dog park. Laney’s just the most stubborn one when it comes to going home.

Anyone know any good Cesar Millan episodes? We don’t get the National Geographic Channel, but I’m thinking about getting the DVDs.

Ouch

Laney and I love going to the dog park to play with other dogs and visit with their owners. But this is the 3rd time Laney has come home a little beat up. After last night’s tangle with a seemingly harmless dog, I thought Laney was just scared because the larger dog barked and lunged at her. Laney cowered, with her tail down, and walked slowly back to me for protection. Since I had missed most of the altercation, except for the other dog barking loudly at Laney, I didn’t coddle Laney. But I was freezing, and we had already been there over an hour. So I decided it was time to go anyway.

It wasn’t till she was in the car seat next to me, closer to my eye level, that I saw the results of what really happened. A short, bloody scrape on Laney’s cheek. Not quite as bad as the photo above, from two weeks ago. But in nearly the same place. And of course, I got a bit angry this time. It would be one thing if she was a large or aggressive dog. Instead, she’s on the smaller side, playful. And while she tries to dominate, she’s never aggressive. And she has about the softest mouth; my old cat bit harder (with sharper teeth) than she does.

I guess I don’t have to worry about the same dogs attacking Laney, as she hides from the larger dogs that give her reason. But it’s frustrating that Laney gets the raw end of the deal here. I hope we don’t have to end up just playing in the small dog area, since everyone migrates to the larger area (small and big dogs alike).

Laney may be a SuperPup, but she sure isn’t indestructible!

Graduation

On September 19th, Laney graduated from her Intermediate Training Class from PetSmart! Our trainer Dennis was great with Laney, and helped us with several issues. By the end of our 8 week class, Laney can now do a long sit/down stay with distraction, heel/walk without pulling (unless she sees another dog), come, back up, and several other handy tricks. Best of all, Laney began warming up to other people and finally took treats from the trainer. She's the only Beagle mix I've heard of that's not food motivated!