The SPIT Command

I just gotta tell the story about how my dog cannot hold the ball in his mouth and sit at the same time when waiting at the door to go out.

Sunny is ball crazy but not completely obsessed so I don't have to hide the balls when we aren't playing. Therefore, there might be half a dozen tennis balls laying around the living room floor at any given time.

Sometimes when it is time to go out for a walk (or a "quick pee" depending on the weather), he decides he wants it to be an outside ball game, so he grabs up a ball and gets a little hyper.

Our normal winter routine at the door consists of me putting on a coat, shoes, gloves and sunglasses, and then asking him to get his leash. If he doesn't have ball on the brain, he will pick up his leash and hand it to me, and then sit for me to clip it to his collar.

If he does have ball on the brain, forget the leash trick. I have to bend over and pick up the leash. Then I have to ask him to sit, at which point the ball comes flying out of his mouth. He chases it around, accidentally kicks it a few times, but eventually returns to the doorway with it in his mouth.

"Sunny, Sit". Butt goes down, ball goes flying out of the mouth. And around and around we go. I suddenly realized today that he was executing the "spit" command right on cue!

Eventually I get him to leave the ball where it lands and sit for the leashing up, but he keeps his eye on the ball, fuzzy forehead all wrinkled up with intense focus.

As soon as the door is open and the "Let's go" command is given, he pops off his butt and, almost in one motion, picks up the ball and runs out the door. I will have to see if I can capture this on a short video clip on my new cellular communication and recording device (CCRD).

Funny Smart Boy

Sitting at my table working yesterday, I heard a ruckus behind me. The dog was folding his bed in half so he could have a pillow! Now how did he learn how to do that.

And in the car today driving to the vet he was sitting in the back seat and decided he wanted to come up front. He got his front half over the center console and onto the passenger seat, but with his back legs all the way on the floor of the rear seat, he couldn't get them over. So he hung out half and half for the last mile of our trip.

Then when he realized he would have to get back to the back in order to get out (he wouldn't have bothered if he'd known what was coming up at the vet appointment) he didn't just spin around and tangle himself all up in a knot like a dog might have done. Nooooo. This smart cookie got his front feet on the center console and then reached up with his left "arm" (he used it so much like an arm I have to go with that word) and placed it on the top of the driver's seat so he could push himself up with it, just like a person would do. Then he very deliberately stepped backwards with his rear legs, one at a time, to get them up on the back seat. From there it was an easy maneuver to bring the front half along onto the back seat where everything belonged. I watched the whole process in awe of how he figured out how to do that.

And he knows how to send e-mails too! When I was gone last week, I received this nice message from him:

Hey Mom

Aunt Deb helped me to write an email to let you know how I'm doing.

I'm having a lot of fun! I love being around Blue and Bree. Blue and I share the bone, and we always play nice.

I have been staying with Jim at night, cause he needs the company. He misses his dog Taylor, I like to spend time curled up next to him and lay my head on his leg. I think that makes him feel better. It helps me too, because I miss you. Deb comes and gives me hugs when she sees me staring out the door, cause she knows that I'm looking for you. She told me that you will be coming back really soon, which always makes me feel better, so then I know I can go play with Blue. I don't understand why they won't let me play with the ball! That isn't any fun at all. I did get to see the monkey that Blue got for Christmas tonight, but the monkey had to go away when we got too wild with him.

Anyway, I have to go and curl up to sleep. I can't wait to see you!!

Love you mom,

Sunny

Crying over Missing the Picture of Spilled Milk

It was such complete destruction. T'would have made an excellent 1/1/10 blog posting. T'would have read something like this:

The morning of 01/01/10, 8 hours into the new year, new decade. Haven't even eaten my breakfast yet. Working in the kitchen, I hear a ruckus, followed too quickly by the crash to have stopped it in time. Quick glance into the other room. Sigh - this is not going to be a good year.

This is the before picture

Use your imagination to construct the after picture.

I'll help you get started. The table is flipped on its side. The plant is upside down. The large pot (my favorite) is shattered. The dirt is all over the carpet.

And there's a confused dog sitting nearby. (Don't worry - no animals were harmed in making this episode.)

A pessimist would say this is a bad omen, it's gonna be a bad year. An optimist would say the year can only get better from here.

I'll choose to be the optimist.

And now it is time to stop kicking myself for not taking the picture before cleaning up the mess and slicing my finger on a sharp edge. Time to get on with the new year, new decade. At least I have gotten my annual vacuuming chore out of the way - once a year, if it needs it or not!

Sacred Monkey

Sacred Monkey?

Sacrificial Lamb?

Kinda weak for an end of the year post, but it's all I got. Just an interesting observation on amusing dog behavior.

You may recall one of the first posts about Sunny, entitled Sunny's Monkey. Shortly after choosing his monkey, Sunny picked out a stuffed and squeaker-embedded little yellow ducky. The yellow ducky quickly became a shell of its former self, appendages hanging on by a thread, as the stuffing and squeaker were immediately and roughly extracted.

Next came the fox. This one didn't have stuffing or squeaker. Instead, the poor little fox had a regular old recycled 8 oz plastic water bottle, which I shouldn't really admit, living as close to Boulder as I do. The fox also came equipped with a handy velcro opening in a rather nasty place, so when the bottle got flatted and not so fun to munch on and make crackly noises with, you could pull out the old one and shove a new one up there. (I know, I know. I'm ending my phrases illegally with prepositions, but considering how the sentence ends, that should be the least of your concerns. Besides, I rocked on my GMAT verbal and writing tests 23 days ago, so obviously I know how to write right when I want to.)

While shopping for dog food a few days before Christmas, Sunny picked out his Christmas present. Shown above, it's a sheepskin covered stuffed ball in alternating light and dark shades of sheep. After unwrapping it on Christmas, reports are (I only got the report later, as I was laying on a beach in Mexico at the time) that he quickly started shearing that sheep! So it was taken away and put in a safe place so that I could deal with the destruction upon my return. And now he is systematically destroying it, fluffy piece by fluffy piece. But he is making it last - we're at the 4 day mark right now and it's still more furry than bald.

The whole point of this ridiculous post should be obvious from the picture captions above. The monkey that he loved so much in October, while now largely ignored, has survived completely undamaged. It has squeakies in every appendage and a goose honker in its belly and lots of fluffy stuffing. By all means, the monkey should look like the little yellow ducky by now. But for some reason we'll never understand, the monkey is somehow sacred to Sunny. Or maybe we do know - just go back and look at the pictures and read the story.

http://lab-reports.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunnys-monkey.html

And have a Happy New Year!

Buster Cube

A "Sunny Seizure" is a bad way to start the day. These aren't full on eyes rolling back, tongue hanging out kinds of seizures, but I'm sure they are no less scary to my little guy, when the pain in his bionic knee is so bad that he lays down shaking, limbs rigid and eyes dilated. I think the most I can do for him now is just sit with him and help him ride it through. It's only a few minutes before he is back to normal.

(ed 1/1/25 - odd that I ever thought it was related to his knee. They were never normal seizures but phenobarbital got them under control, even though the dose was so low it should not helped, but stopping once to test out the theory proved that he did indeed need the med)

This had been coming on for a couple days, possibly the result of a long walk and his rough play (limited though I keep it, he only has one play level - super intense), colder weather, and maybe even the crazy scratching he does with those rear legs. The cause of increased itching? Possibly colder weather leading to more heat/drier air in the apartment. Maybe food related, as we try to find a food that helps his itchies without using carcinogenic preservatives.

This was the third "Sunny Seizure". I wasn't there for the first, but his other foster family described it well, so when he had his second one, I didn't totally panic, but I did call the vet and take him in for a visit. This time I was not surprised at all; his first walk down the hall when we got out of bed this morning looked very uncomfortable, and he succumbed almost immediately.

Since I had been observing increased discomfort in that leg over the past couple days, our ball play was on hold, necessitating other forms of recreation. Our trainer had been promoting puzzles for dogs, so we headed out to shop. We settled on the Buster Cube. Knowing that each new non-tennis-ball toy only holds his fascination for a short time, I worried about the value of this purchase, but so far it is working. However, I am concerned about the safety of the plant on the wobbly table in one corner of the room, and the DVD player on an overturned dog food box in the other.

The Buster Cube, if ya don't know, is a cube with one exterior hole, and some interior magic. I pour a handful of treats in, shake it up to get them into the magic, and put it on the ground. Sunny then has three maneuvers which he applies to the cube to get the treats back out. First he pushes it around with his nose, eventually getting it to roll over. Sometimes he kicks it with his foot, quite energetically as you might imagine. He also pulls on it with his foot, to make it roll back the other way. Sometimes he also tries to pick it up with his mouth, but that doesn't really do much except hyperextend his jaw.

Proceeding this way, he chases the ball around the room, getting extra work when he has to pull it out of a corner. He also periodically leaves the ball to retrace his steps and make sure no treats got left along the way.

Watching the adventure this morning reminded me of Harvey Wallbanger, my childhood pet hamster Harvey who, when put in the plastic ball designed for the purpose, rolled around the house banging into walls. My mother must have loved that noise.

Snow Ball Tournament

As previously noted, we are now on Day 3. Two days of nonstop snow have left us with a winter wonderland on All Hallow's Eve Eve. And Sunny has discovered, well, we both have discovered, that Snow Ball beats Apartment Ball hands and paws down.

This episode will be more visual and less verbal as Sunny tells the story in his own words and pictures.

"Woof woof. Woof woof."

Translation: First Mom tosses the tennis ball into the snow.

Then I stare at it intently to intimidate it.

"Woof!"

Translation: "Attack!"

"Woof woof woof."

Translation: Repeat the sequence as long as Mom will allow.

"Wooooof, woof, woof, woof, woof. Woof woof woof woof woof."

Translation: I'm afraid that if I give the ball back to Mom,

she'll declare Game Over and drag me back inside.

So I devised a new strategy.

After I dig the ball out, I place it back on top of the snow,

then pounce on it and bury it again.

Then I get to play all by myself.

Mom can just go inside and leave me out here all alone.

Mom: "Nice try Mister. Not on your life."

"Woofity woof woof woof!"

Translation: This is so much fun!

"Woof?"

Translation: Huh? Aw, Mom, please don't make me come inside.

"WOOF WOOF!"

Translation: The End!

Sunny's Snow Day

If you have dogs and don't live where there is snow, your pup is missing out on one of the great joys of dog life. I should know - Net and I lived 12 years without snow, and exhibiting puppy-like enthusiasm after his first snowfall when he was 13 was out of the question for my big guy.

This winter things are going to be much different because my new pup is young enough to let it all out on a snow day, and boy did he!

The calendar says winter will start in about two months, but the weather doesn't pay attention to the calendar. We had two feet of the white stuff in two days of nonstop weather activity here in Colorado in the last week of October 2009. And Sunny learned that chasing a tennis ball in the snow triples the excitement and enjoyment of the sport.

I didn't think about bringing the ball out on the first day. I didn't think much at all - I just bundled up and headed out because certain biological needs needed to be met. After taking care of business, Sunny had a blast leaping, bounding around, and didn't seem to mind the cold. Brrr.

By the second day, the sidewalks had been plowed, creating a channel with sides about as tall as Sunny, and that made the perfect dog track for running in. Two of his buddies happened along that morning as well, and the chase ensued. A chocolate, a golden and a Sunny - romping in the snow and racing in the track.

We tried the ball a little that morning, but lost it in the deep snow on the second toss.

On day 3, the snow had finally stopped falling, the sun was starting to shine, and we were able to stay out a little longer. Near a clean patch of deep snow I started tossing snow balls for him. Oh, that's a mean trick. He saw exactly where they landed but sniffed and dug and dug and sniffed and came up with nothing. After torturing him and entertaining me with that for a while, we headed back towards home. Popping into the apartment, I grabbed a tennis ball and a camera, and ... to be continued ... with more better pictures!