Lucy playing,hiking & cuddling - Sat May 24th 08

Lucy goes to Taste of Durham - Saturday May 24th 2008

Lucy went to her first festival - the Taste of Durham this Saturday. She was very excited by all the sights, sounds and people. She particularly liked greeting the little kids.







As far as I know, this was Lucy's first sight of snow. There was a snow making machine at the entrance. She sniffed a bit, then almost peed on the snow. I tugged her away gently and then go this cute shot of her.




















Me & Lucy mugging for the camera. I lost count of how many times people came up to me and said, "Your dog is sooo cute! Can I pet him/her?" And I'd say each time, "This is Lucy and yes, she is very friendly."

After their weekend dog-sitting, Lucy's "grandparents" were asked to comment on any adventures. Yes, it was me asking for stories for the blog. As mentioned in my last post, they said, "ah, not much," but I knew that there had to be some cute stories. Lucy's "grandpa" then wrote and sent me this email on Tuesday May 20th 2008:


Subject:

Lucy at the movies with Papi und Mami

Dear Marissa,

We have to share with you how Lucy watched a movie with us.

First you have to understand that after I came home from the office I played with Lucy by throwing the bar bell rubber toys for her to retrieve. When she did this several times I rewarded her with a small treat. We played for a half hour.

When we finished dinner and played the movie Lucy jumped onto the couch and sat snuggled between Mami and I..

Then half way thru the movie Lucy jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen and brought to me one of the rubber bar bells and then ran into the kitchen quickly and brought me the second one. She immediately sat down by me and with her eyes asked for a treat. SHE IS A VERY INTELLIGENT dog anxious to please.

I hope you enjoyed the short story of Lucy and the movies.

With much love.

Mutti and Papi

First weekend without Lucy - Lucy at grandparent's

Tuesday May 20th 2008:
This past weekend was the first weekend I went away without Lucy. My parents "dog sat" and they were excited about it, as was Lucy. In Wilmington, I kept seeing dogs everywhere we went and I missed having Lucy with me. I kept thinking, "I wonder if Lucy would like this." Every dog I met, I wished Lucy were with us. I imagined her running full speed gracefully along the ocean's edge. *sigh*. In real life, she'd probably poop on the beach and not come when I called...but that's my problem as her owner not hers.

When we returned, I picked up Lucy and asked my parents about any Lucy adventures. "Oh, none," they said. But then I stayed for dinner and learned that Lucy had a few firsts:

1) First taste of watermelon
2) First taste of hamburger
3) First time she pulled out a watering rod from a garden & caused garden damage. My mom was good natured about it.
4) First time snuggling with them on the couch while they watched a movie

Lucy seemed very happy when I picked her up and that was nice. I think they wanted to keep her! *lol*

Today I took Lucy to work and at lunch, took her to the park with a lake for a short walk. I brought her up to the shoreline where there is sand and a mini-beach. She was so excited about the water. She crawled forward in a moment, then crawled backwards as the tide came in. She repeated many times. Then she scratched at the sand and then shoved her entire nose and face in it to test it out. Then she sneezed. She was so excited about the water and couldn't stop staring at the small waves. I wanted to let her off the leash to swim, but the water has mercury contamination and is not safe for swimming, plus I'm not sure she'd come when I called her out. Anyhow, that was my Lucy adventure this past week. I can't wait for more.

Tuesday May 13th - Lucy runs away!

Tuesday May 13th 2008

Sunday was uneventful, we had a relaxing day while it stormed outside and dropped to 50 something degrees. Of course I took Lucy out, but for short walks throughout the day. I had to go to Petsmart to get a new fish tank and made the wise choice not to take Lucy inside. The beta fish somehow made a mess in the vase I had him in, so I needed to upgrade.

Monday - yesterday - nothing eventful, except the usual morning walk.

Today - worked from home and I thought I'd have a relaxing morning til I started work. Boy was I wrong! While I was setting my food down to eat my breakfast, I opened the porch door and let Lucy out. I went back to the kitchen to get tea and then I had this sinking feeling - it was too quite and I worried where Lucy was. I rushed onto the porch. Empty. My heart started to race. Then suddenly I heard the "ding ding ding" of her collar tags and saw her running at full speed away from my house towards the road. I screamed, "Lucy! Lucy". I rushed inside, threw on my sneakers, grabbed a whole box of dog treats and ran outside. Gone. Poof. I was running around my neighborhood in my red fleece dog hair covered robe, Pjs' underneath and black sneakers, clutching a box of dog treats, wiping my eyes of tears and trying to cheerily call out, "Lucy, come here. Treats. Lucy!" I had grabbed my cell phone and called my friend Stefan in tears. He's Lucy's "doggie uncle". He said he'd be right over, but the best thing to do is to stay close to my house and keep calling her with treats. It was 7am and I realized I might have worken him up, but thanked him and said I had to keep looking. Images of Lucy hit by a car flooded my mind. My heart raced and I felt horrible. At least she had a dog tag and microchip. My thoughts raced, "Should I call animal control? can they find her? What should I do?"

Out of ideas and needing to get home, I walked home frustrated. Suddenly, to my delight I saw a little while tail wagging in the woods near my back door. It was Lucy! I called out and shook my box of dog treats violently. "Come, Lucy, come!" I didn't want to run towards her because she'd think it's a game and run away. To my huge surprise and relief, she came bounding my way. She shoved her nose into the doggie treats and ate away. For a moment I felt a rush of relief and even anger. I wanted to tell her to never do that again, that she scared me to death. But I knew she wouldn't understand. Instead, I scooped her up in my arms, grabbed the doggie treats and walked home. I gently put her down once inside and then reached for my phone to call Stefan that everything was okay. He was happy too.

So, having a dog *can* be a relaxing and rewarding experience. What I forgot to think about was the possibility of her slipping out and possibly getting lost or hurt. This morning having a dog whom I love caused me sheer anxiety. I'm so grateful that she came home by herself and was alright. *sigh*. It certainly was like drinking 5 cups of coffee at once and got my day started.

After the excitement, I got dressed and took Lucy out for a long walk. I clipped her leash to her collar in addition to the "Gentle Leader" chest restraint. I didn't want to take any chances. Lucy seemed her jolly self, not realizing how scared I was earlier. To her, I guess, it was just one doggie adventure.

Lucy's first cook-outs - 2 in one day!

Lucy's first cook-outs - 2 in one day! Also on Saturday May 10th, Lucy joined us for not 1 but 2 cook-outs. The first was at my parent's house for a friend & his sister visiting from Germany. Her son adored playing with Lucy in the backyard and also got some great snapshots of her. Lucy's favorite thing to do there is to run like crazy around the backyard. Her speed and agility are quite impressive. I took a quick videoclip with my digital camera.



That evening, we took her to my friend Leslie's cook-out in her backyard. She has a dog tether, no a "dog run" but the run was so long and Lucy kept knocking over things like the torch lanterns around the yard, so that ended quickly. Instead I spent our 2 hours or so there, with Lucy next to me on the leash. Leslie's yard is only 98% fenced in, so I couldn't let Lucy off of the leash. Lucy met most of our friends, except Corrine and her boyfriend Kevin. They adored Lucy and I kept trying to take pics of them with her, but she was so excited by the smells of cheese and hamburgers on the grill, that we couldn't keep Lucy still. We still got a few cute pics:

Saturday May 10th - Lucy meets Petra

My friend Petra finally met Lucy this past weekend, Saturday May 10th. Petra volunteers at a local animal shelter and Lucy could tell she loves animals. Petra also gave Lucy an adorable plush doggy toy which Lucy loved. We thought about taking her to the Farmer's Market, but given her level of excitement around other dogs, we decided against it. Just as well, because we got there at 12 noon, just as it was closing. So we had lunch at Weaver Street instead.

Lucy's date with the girls - Saturday May 3 2008

Saturday May 3rd 2008 - I brought Lucy over to my friend Kelly's house since her two daughters were excited to meet her. Since Lucy seemed very friendly on our walks when she met young children, I figured it'd be okay. I warned my friend Kelly that Lucy likes to jump up and children can get afraid, so we'll just have to see. She was fine with that.

Since their yard is "mostly" fenced in, we had to keep Lucy on a lease, but it didn't stop the fun. The two girls were so excited to meet & play with Lucy. There were a few adorable moments.

1) Both girls came running up to Lucy with toys trying to get Lucy's attention and Lucy didn't know what to do, but her tail was wagging and she was enjoying the attention. Finally, Kelly convinced the girls to throw one thing at a time for Lucy to fetch.





2) They wanted Lucy to play with this really large stick. At first we joked that Lucy couldn't possibly play with such a big stick. As if reading our minds, she suddenly rushed up and grabbed the end of what must have been a 6 foot stick. We all laughed.




3) The girls overheard me telling their mom that Lucy likes to dig and I wanted to prevent her from digging holes in their backyard like she did in my parent's back yard. But the girls only heard dig and decided to make it their personal missing to get Lucy to dig. They both, in their adorable young voices chanted, "Lucy, dig, Lucy, dig." And when Lucy didn't know what they wanted they were determined to show her. Both girls got down to the ground and with their finger nails started digging in a corner of the yard. At first Kelly told them, " we don't want the dog to dig in the yard or you girls either," but then it was so funny, that she said, "well, whatever, guess we'll have to do bath tonight." And then, as if once again Lucy read the girls' mind, she started digging along side the girls. They were so thrilled. It was adorable. A quick pic I was able to capture:

Lucy explores my office - Friday May 2nd

Lucy's usual reaction to a new building is to drop to all fours and practically grab the floor with her paws. I gather that she's afraid of going into new buildings, so I did my best to gently coax her down the hall by happily calling her, "Come, Lucy" and then offering her a treat to sit. She started to seem more relaxed once we got to the door of my office within the building. Then it was hard to juggle my laptop, snack bag, water bottle, key badge and the lease. The door almost hit her and she seemed scared. I felt bad at my bad juggling act.

Once in my office, I closed the door and took her off the lease. She happily sniffed every inch of the office for a long time while I set up my computer and started my day. I tried to take a few candid snapshots of her, but she seems to know that sound of my digital camera booting up and she comes running towards me or starts sniffing the air. The best snapshot which really epitomizes her ability to squeeze into tight places is this one below. All you can see is her tail as she crawled between the built in office furniture and the wall:

Lucy's first lunch at a cafe - Friday May 2nd 2008

This past Friday, I took Lucy to the office & then out to lunch with friends. At lunch, I was worried the outdoor cafe would excite her, so I came prepared with treats and a Kong toy full of treats. That did the trick. Here's a pic of Lucy happily gnawing at her Kong toy:


Once she was done with that, she was more relaxed, yet fixated on the crowd seated infront of us and anyone who walked by. The best "head shot" of her I could get was from behind her head showing her ears perked up in alert attention:


I took pictures of my pregnant friend so that once she has her baby, I can tell the child that Lucy was the first dog they ever met! My friend thought that was cute. Then she turned the camera on me. Me & Lucy enjoying our first lunch out together:

Our First visit to the dog trainer, Jenn:

Sunday April 27th, we drove out into the countryside for what seemed like an hour, but really was only 20 minutes or so. The scenery was lovely but the roads were long, windy and largely unmarked, so I was grateful for the detailed directions Jenn had given us.

When we arrived, I was impressed with the beautiful back yard and view she had. Jenn was tall and wiry and seemed 110% committed to dogs and dog training. I was immediately moved by her genuine concern as she took a detailed inventory of any and all issues relating to Lucy. To my surprise, she sat us down and wanted to discuss nutrition first.

What she said about avoiding corn products and corn based fillers like high fructose corn syrup made sense not only for dogs, but for us humans as well. I asked for recommendations after she looked disappointed that I'd picked a standard dog food brand from PetSmart. She suggested that I buy higher end yet affordable dog food from more of a boutique pet store like Phydo in downtown Carrboro. I agreed to do that and she gave strict instructions to only carefully and slowly change Lucy's diet. I was struck by the thought that diet can really affect our moods and behaviors and it only made sense that packaged foods for dogs are even worse as they are even less regulated than food for human consumption. Even that is debatable too given the overuse of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup in packaged foods. But I digress...

There was so much information to absorb, that I was so glad Stuart was with me. Between the 2 of us, I hoped we'd be able to remember most of it.

Some Tips from the dog trainer:

1) "Off" - instead of pushing Lucy down off of you while you are seated, instead keep the lease on her while you are with her in the house and gently tug on her lease and say "Off". Another option is to get up and that would make her have to get off too.

She said that by pushing her chest down and telling her "off", you may be actually encouraging the behavior, as for dogs that can be a sign of play.

2) "Down" should only mean moving from the sitting position to the floor.

3) Nutrition - To carefully read food labels on dog foods. Most have fillers like corn, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup as the main first three ingredients. She said that it's important to avoid - if possible - foods with fillers like that and select foods with proteins like chicken or beef or wheat as the first three ingredients. Since Lucy can get easily agitated by other dogs, she suggested that a change in diet might help her stay calmer and be able to think better.

4) Fetch - to throw a low value treat out and say "get it" and then "come" and give her a higher value treat.

The only problem with this is that she used to actually bring the ball back but since Sunday she will barely even run after the tennis ball. It's as if we've inadvertently trained her to only go for treats. At least a few times last night she ran for the ball, but then picked it up, dropped it and ran back expecting a treat. We both chuckled and tried to insist that she only get the treat when she brings the ball back. So I think somehow we confused her.

5) Walking on a lease - to introduce that gentle leader nose thing to her over the next few weeks by putting it on her and giving treats and then taking it off and stopping the treats. Most dogs hate it so it's important to at least get her to feel more neutral or at least associate it with something positive.

Right now, she can be a train wreck on a leash and especially if there's another dog around. Jenn suggested that we use a carabineer to clip the lease onto her collar, so that if she wriggles out of the chest brace, as least she's still secure. The problem is that you have to hold the leash with two hands and it feels awkward and she still seems able to pull.

6) Other dogs - The key thing Jenn suggested about encountering other dogs is to break Lucy's eye contact. How? By literally using your body to redirect her head and the lease in two places and turn away from the other dog. Once turned away and she's actually following, to reward her with a treat (from your invisible 3rd hand) and praise her. This is all hard to juggle.

Eventually, as Lucy's agitation level decreases, to let her get closer to the other dog to sniff but then move away quickly to prevent Lucy from annoying the other dog and causing a problem. Jenn suggested that we make sure to take control of the situation, not just "see what happens".

She also said that there are many dogs out there who are simply "not dog park dogs" but who make lovely and dedicated family pets. She could tell I was discouraged by Lucy's agitated reaction to even the stuffed dog that was like 100 feet away! Jenn said that some dogs know instantly it's fake, in fact I think she even mumbled that most would. It gave her a "base line" for Lucy's "reactivity level". I grimaced and realized that that base line was really over the top.

6) Crate training - we asked what is the purpose and I asked specifically about what to do this upcoming Thursday when my writing group comes over. Jenn suggested that I stuff a Kong toy full of her evening meal (still some rice with dry dog food) and be sure to put a yummy irresistible treat at the bottom so she'll be motivated to work with it.

We tried this last night and closed the crate door. Lucy didn't care and was so obsessed with the Kong toy that as we left she was oblivious to our departure. It worked like a charm. She also suggested that I keep Lucy on a lease when I let her meet and greet the guests to prevent her from jumping up and getting too excited. I’m glad that I have a plan for Thursday.

We thanked Jenn for her time and agreed to touch base in the next 3 weeks or so to then schedule a follow-up visit. She said she'd email me some more useful dog training tip sheets, which I appreciated.

The drive back involved us getting lost in the back country and both of us getting frustrated. I was so relieved that my GPS device a) worked and b) navigated us back to I-40 after a series of strange turns. Lucy was relaxed and even tired lying down in the back of the car.