Carnival with Friends

Sammy is ready for the puppy swap, NOW!

Dixie needs a new bed. And I won't have quite so many eggs this spring.

You know, they say if you tie a dead chicken to the dog's neck and leave it for a few days, he'll never go after your chickens again. I'm using "the dead hen in the basket following you around" technique. Sammy seems to be getting the idea. Well, at least the idea that mommy is a little upset and maybe dangerous today.

Thursday, March 12, 2009
I sort of have to convince Sammy to wear his vest, but once we get it on him he is working fine. We went to Target last night and had no difficulties at all. I circled the store several times because I could not find the gadget I was looking for, and he seemed to enjoy himself. He even scrounged some popcorn. For Sammy, that’s pretty relaxed and carefree.
Yesterday, he was enjoying some cooler weather and forgot to put on the breaks at the back porch. He slammed into the back door and knocked himself coo coo for a few minutes. He limped around and staggered into the house for first aid. I gave him some Arnica on his tongue and he snapped out of his stupor. He had to pull himself together to get the unwelcome little pellets off his tongue. All better now. It’s been raining for two days and the school is full of sick children. I’ve not had time to take Sammy out for exercise and he is amazingly calm. He just took a spin around the rye grass yard and he seems to be satisfied. We are going to enjoy a quiet evening in front of the fire.

Sammy is huge. Sorry I have not blogged in so long. My life is just too full of Sammy. He is huge. It’s fun to take him out and guess what is going to spook him next. He still has little panic attacks about new places and will avoid the vest by running away from me. However, once he has been to a particular place two or three times, he loves going there. His favorite places include Pet stores, the vet, any park and he loves walks in our own neighborhood. He was a perfect puppy at Casino Night. Was a little scared of downtown noises at first, but quickly became accustomed to the walk out to the grassy area for breaks. He was really good at finding our room each time we came off the elevator. Only once did he stop at the wrong door, where he quickly sorted out his mistake and continued on to the correct room. I remember Toby stopping at every room every time. Some how, Toby never could find the correct door.
Sammy has been neutered. He was really going after his stitches, so he had to wear the plastic cone for a week. When it was time to take the stitches out, he just had one left, so I snipped it myself. He busted his first two cones running into trees and doorframes. He never could get the width of the cone…never slowed him down a bit. He just busted past the tension. Seemed to work for him.
I spent an hour with Sammy in Whole Earth Provisions sorting out a stuffed toy, 4 ft Giraffe wearing a cowboy hat. He kept trying to bolt and escape from the store. He eventually ate all the treats under the giraffe, but was quite distressed by the experience. He was so funny and entertaining to all that passed. Then we found the dog toy department and now he loves that store. He destroyed the rubber Kong-like bone that we bought there. It took him about 30 minutes to rip it to shreds. I had pushed treats down into the hole, so he was quite motivated. He is improving so fast, he changes every day.
Tonight I screamed when a rat ran over my foot in the chicken coop. Toby used to freak out and run to the house. Sammy actually waited for me to emerge from the scary coop and walked back to the house with me. Maybe he’s not such a weenie after all. Who wouldn’t be afraid of a giraffe in a cowboy hat?Sammy is a handsome charmer. The employees in Whole Earth love him. People can’t keep their hands off of him because he ducks under their hand as he passes so they are forced to pet him.

Yeah! Progress!

Sammy is coming along. He is finding his courage during our walks. He hit a rocky patch last week and tried to get Michelle to send him back to Tulsa. He has a funny way of checking out the environment when we arrive somewhere for a walk. If he hears traffic, he tries to get away from me by jumping over into the driver's seat. If he sees grass and people, he happily jumps out of the truck.I've decided to make every walk as fun as possible for him. The expectations for "heal" and "sit" are very relaxed right now. I've decided to not introduce "stay" in public. We only use that for whistle feeding. He gets anxious about loud noises. If he senses any danger, he will abandon me in a heartbeat and run for his life. He is very good at "finding the door" to the outside and to my truck when he is ready to leave the scary store. We are installing a new septic system, so he is getting lots of exposure to heavy machinery. He needs that. He also attended a drum circle. He is afraid of drums, but getting better.I think we are just about ready for Cabella’s and live music.Here are some fun photos of us working. He had a nice nap in Casa de Luz restaurant, and then we went to Home Depot.

Sammy is not digging the box stores. I had to put him in the shopping cart at Cosco's. He's 40 pounds now, so no walk-carries for him. At home depot, he tried to latch on to any person that was headed for an exit. Our second trip to Home Depot went much better, but he is pretty darn stressed out about shopping. He went into the post office with me a few days ago, but got scared of something and refused to move. I just scooped him up and walked out. Fortunately, I did not have any other packages to carry. He is more than an arm full.There's lots of good news in Sammy's training. He is a natural at jogging. He's got the straight line most of the time and is quickly getting the hang of "leave it" when we pass dogs in the neighborhood. He has overcome his fear of turned over trashcans too. He doesn't get carsick anymore and sleeps through the night. He had his rabies shot and is cleared for internal parasites.Sammy loves his days with the kids and is getting a little better about not going after the chickens. We had a surprise addition to our hen house yesterday when a hen that has been missing and presumed dead returned to Greenwood with 16 peeps. This is going to really limit the time that the dogs are out in the yard off leash. The baby chicks can slip through the fence and walk right out into the yard with the kids and dogs. Toby and Dixie killed 6 pullets last April. I hope we don't get a repeat disaster with Sammy.
Sammy joined me for a full-moon bon fire Wednesday night. He investigated the fire and chased a few sparks. I did some drumming, knowing that he was terrified of my djembe. Being outside with some much space helped him get used to it. I played for about an hour and he eventually relaxed and took a little nap nearby. He still leaves the room any time I start playing in indoors. I’ll probably enroll in a class at Drumz and take him once I can trust him to break on command.
We are taking Sammy to Tomball with us tomorrow. It'll be his first “meet the family” trip with a 3-hour car ride. My mom's dogs will teach him a few bad habits I'm sure. I worry about the barking. Sammy needs little reason to sound the alarm. He barks any time he is unsure of a situation. He got some practice with Dakota last week when the Lord family did some puppy sitting for me. Sounds like he and Ducky got along just fine. Now that Toby's gone, we will have to plan some play dates.

Oh, I almost forgot. We went to the dog park at Town Lake and he did much better than last time. He would follow people off, so I had to watch him closely. He would prefer a park full of people than one full of dogs, but he's getting used to the idea.

doggy park and Ruta Maya

Greenwood had a beautiful fall festival on Saturday. To avoid the harsh neglect that my dogs suffer at festival time, Sammy was invited on a field trip with Sharon and Phil and their puppy Phantom to go to the training day at Guide Dogs of Texas in San Antonio. He got a little car sick, but otherwise had a great time meeting all the other pups. He was a little afraid of Phantom at first, but that's understandable to anyone that has met "potato puppy."
Greenwood was closed Monday for a festival recovery day, to make up for the festival neglect, I took Sammy and Toby to the dog park on Riverside Dr. It was a welcome sniff fest for Toby, but Sammy mostly sat under my chair and kept an eye on things from there. Just before we left, I saw some nice little dogs playing in the small-dog area. I took Sammy in there and he actually played happily with a pug, a dachshund and a min pin. Toby was a little embarrassed for the Sammy.
After the dog park, we headed over to the coffee shop, Ruta Maya for a latte'. Sammy acted like a old yellow dog and slept soundly under the table by Toby.
Sammy ate all his breakfast this morning. That is a first. He usually passes on breakfast. I hope his appetite picks up because he is on the thin side.
Toby and Sammy have a nice bond. It will be sad to see the break up when Toby graduates in November.