Is there an indestructible dog toy?

Trying to find the indestructible dog toy that's interesting is, well, very difficult.

Exhibit A: The items/toys that Lucy chewed through in one morning at my office:

It's a struggle keeping an Austrailian Shepherd/Jack Russell Terrier Mix occupied and interested in a toy;really it is. The Kong, at first, was brillant. I'd stuff it with treats and at first it took her a good 10 or 15 minutes to figure it out. That lasted about 2 weeks. Now she can wriggle those treats out of it in like 2 minutes flat...or less. Perhaps I need to find some softer treats and use more peanut butter to make it more difficult.

Then there are the stuffed toys that squeak. She *loves* those but destroys them in minutes of aggressive chewing and playing. Today at lunch I bought her a little soft stuffed toy for dogs. She went crazy for it. I could even leave my office door open and nothing could take her attention away. But then I heard a ripping sound. It lasted a good 5 minutes, more than most, but then I had to take it away from her. She was upset. I tried to distract her with this new "indestructible" chew toy - Hard Core Fire Hose. It's a red stick with a squeaky interior. She liked it for a minute or two but got bored. She wanted me to play fetch with her, which I can't do while at work, at least not well and it's distracting.

Why I love my vet & Lucy's first tick

What other vet would take a close look at Lucy's paw and site of a former tick and not charge? Well, my wonderful vet did that today! Dr Smith even told my mom, who was dog sitting Lucy, that it "was a pleasure to see Lucy." Gotta love Four Paws animal clinic!

The other night I did my first tick extraction from Lucy. I flipped through all my dog books I have but none of them had a section on "tick removal", only "tick prevention," so I googled the phrase, 'tick removal' and to my surprise came up with an amazing amount of results. I clicked on a few and found one that warned to wear clothes, get the tweezers as close as possible to the base of the tick, pull it out slowly, put the tick in a jar with alcohol and then possibly flush it. The article warned against sqeezing the tick, as it might regurgitate into the dog. Yuk. So, i was a little nervous about my first tick extraction. I gave Lucy a yummy flavored chew toy to keep her occupied and after one or two misunderstandings and having to chase her around the livingroom, I got her in the bathroom floor calmly chewing away. When I finally got the tick between the tweezers, I was afraid to pull too hard and worried I might pull some hair too and hurt Lucy. So I pulled gently, but nothing happened. I had to really put some muscle into pulling that tick out and maybe I put too much in. I had a tiny snap and realized that I did remove the tick, but left in it's sharp stinger thing. I exhaled and hurriedly put the tick into the glass jar that had some nail polish remover in it. I didn't have any rubbing alcohol so I used that instead. Then I swabbed the area with hydrogen peroxide to remove bacteria and tried to pull out the remaining part, but it was too deeply embedded in her skin. I decided to leave it and bring her to the vet in a few days if it looks infected. That online article warned that if left in the skin of the dog, that part of the tick can cause a secondary infection. I feel like I need a first aid class asap to take good care of Lucy.

Anyhow, Lucy was calm and collected about the whole tick extraction, which was great. I was relieved that we were able to have the vet take a look at her. She sprayed some anti-bacterial stuff on the site and said that Lucy's paw was alright, but that she might have some allergy. She told us to watch it and possibly give her some Benadryl (or generic in 25 mg) if it gets worse. I'm not a fan of taking meds if not absolutely necessary, so I think I'll pass for now.

I'm just glad that Lucy is alright. On my to do list is "first aid kit compilation" so that next time I have all the tools I need. A friend mentioned a "tick extraction tweezer for humans" that I could buy at Whole Foods. I might check that out.

The Big Day - Adoption Day journal entry...

April 10th 2008 - Thursday - Day 1

This was the BIG DAY! I actually went to work Thursday morning but my mind was on fire with one thought, "Today I'm adopting my dog! What should I name her? What time is Stuart meeting me at my office? What do I have to do today before I adopt my dog? What should I name her? I can't think straight. It's almost time to go time to go get her Lucy, Lilly or Lorelei!"

At 11.45 Stuart showed up at my office. He also wanted to pick up his fish tank which was at my office. Given how riled up I was, heart pounding, barely able to think straight, his calm and slow approach to unplugging the fish tank and chatting with me made me feel like I was in a high speed warp and he was in another slower dimension. Needless to say, I was a tad short with him and asked him to hurry up, "because I'm so excited I can't think straight."

Once we hit I-40, I think I drove like 75+mph because the clock was ticking and I had a date at the pound to pick up Lucy at 12 noon sharp. Granted, the dog didn't know that and the pound wasn't going to let someone else adopt her, but I felt overwhelmed by a sense of urgency to get there. We had to stop by my house for a few minutes to have him place the fish tank into my kitchen. *Exhale* I actually checked myself out in the mirror and considered changing out of my jeans and black short sleeved polo because I wanted to look good on that big day, especially considering that we were going to take a ton of photos. But I decided that I looked good enough and just wanted to get there.

When we drove up Municipal Drive, I was once again struck by the strange barren landscape of an unpaved road and areas of cleared trees, dirt and random broken large steel equipment. It looked like more of a garbage dump or industrial waste area than the local animal shelter driveway. Once we turned the corner, we entered the steel gated compound of two 70's style metal one story structures. I parked and smiled at Stuart. "Are you ready to be a doogy mommy?" he asked. I smiled, "I'm totally excited!" We agreed that once we picked her up, we'd take a long walk around the shelter and likewise take her for a long walk around my neighborhood before taking her into my house.

We arrived at the front desk at the shelter and I saw a white board behind the desk, " 12 noon - adoption". And I was excited to see that and felt a tad guilty that we were half and hour late.I was so excited to see "Kola" again that I was disappointed by the 6 pages of forms and discussion of dog diseases and viruses that were all literally Latin to me. I tried my hardest to listen. Stuart was distracted by the other dogs and the barking and was peering through the adoption window. "Stuart, can you come over here and listen too?" His mind was like a sponge and I wanted to make sure that at least one of us could actually process and remember what the shelter was telling us. He stood behind me and rubbed my back. It felt good. There was a form to fill out for the microchip manufacturer. It had the blank line, "dog name" and I was torn. Stuart encouraged me to finally pick one of my three names I'd been thinking about all week - Lucy, Lilly and Lorelei. "I'm leaning towards Lucy," I finally said. Lilly was my father's pick. Lorelei was my sister and mother's favorite. Stuart wanted me to name her Kayla, but I didn't like it. My mom had even suggested "Kela" as a female version of her last name, but I was convinced that someone in the dog park would think I'm yelling, 'Come here killer".
"Lucy," I said. "I wanted to name her Lucy even before I adopted her, I just wasn't sure."
"Well that's what you should do then."
I filled out the form. Pet name Lucy. The theme song for "I love Lucy" ran through my head as did the image of her name on a red heart dog tag. Lucy was the final contender. Finally, after what felt like hours but was actually about 15 minutes, the shelter rep said that he'd go "get your dog." I think I jumped up and down and clapped like a little girl. Stuart raised an eyebrow at me and smiled. "I know, I'm acting silly, but I'm so happy."

Then we heard barking. I mean guttural loud aggressive barking. "That couldn't be Kola,Lucy, could it?" Just as I said that, she came barelling out of the adoption area like a high speed train and barking. "Oh no, I thought. I hope I didn't just adopt a Marley?" The shelter guy seemed to read my thoughts. "Don't worry," he said, "all dogs get very excited after getting out of the shelter. A long walk would be a good idea." Before we left, I asked Stuart to take a photo of Kola with the shelter guy, whose name I have now forgotten already. It was a cute snapshot, except that he had to basically hold her up since she wouldn't sit still on her own.

The moment he handed me the lease I felt was momentous. This was not only the moment I had waited for all sleepless week, rather a moment I'd waited for my entire life. I'd always dreamed of adopting a dog.

We walked her around the gravely parking lot and tall grass areas. I definatly stepped in some stinky poop. Kola was barreling ahead of us. We finally got her to stop using some treats so we could take a few snapshots too. First Stuart took a few of me and the dog and then I took a few of them walking. It was heard since she was so wiggly.

After about half an hour we headed towards the car. Kola dropped on all floors and acted terrified of the car. I'd thought of a lot of potential problems - most of them involving house training and chewing. But fear of the car wasn't something that I'd considered. "Just pick her up," Stuart said. I sighed. I didn't want to force her to do anything. I three in a few treats. I think she actually walked backwards. It was the only way. I picked her up and plopped her in the back seat. I was so worried about calming her down that I asked Stuart to drive so that I could sit in the backseat. She was clutching the edge of the car seat with her paws. When I slid into the car next to her, she crawled towards me and place her head in my lap. I was already in love with her and I'd only adopted her less than an hour earlier.

"How's she doing?" Stuart asked from the driver's seat.
"Good. She's scared, but she's got her head on my lap and I'm stroking her." I felt like I'd just adopted a child and was leaving the hospital. All I had thought about all week was Kola and how I'd take care of her, when I'd walk her, when I'd feed her, what I'd do about issues. I tried to learn as much as I could the past weeks about dog training. I borrowed about 5 books on dog training and listened to a DVD set in the car "the loved dog method" - which was my favorite. I was determined to not only take care of Kola, but to train her with nice manners too. And right away.

Once we arrived at my house, Lucy seemed a little calmed down.

Before I adopted Lucy - the week before jitters

The week before I adopted Lucy, she, well, "Kola" was all I could think about. Here is the doggie journal entry that I wrote at the time:

Today: Wednesday April 9th 2008:

This is the last day before I am "with dog", so to speak. I know logically that adopting a dog is nothing like adopting a child, but emotionally I am so excited and anxious about it that it feels somewhat similar.

I feel that tommorrow at noon, my entire schedule and lifestyle will change dramatically. I bet that's how an adoptive mom or expectant mom feels about the delivery day.

All week, I have been toying with names. Monday, after a sleepless night freeting over whether to adopt "Kola" or not, I decided I _had_ to. Monday at 11 is when the shelter opened, but I had an 11 am customer visit. During that meeting, as our engineer gave a technical presentation, everytime he said something I somehow managed to link it to dogs. For example, "this can be used to fetch the data from the server." My mind mangled that phrase into "the dog could fetch the data, or paper." It went on like that for an hour. My mind struggled to concentrate but all I could do was imagine some happy go lucky couple visiting the shelter and choosing to adopt "my" dog Kola. At noon, I was praying we'd wrap up the meeting. I rushed back to my office and dialed the shelter. "This is it," I thought. The line was busy. I hung up and redailed. I did it again and again and again. I couldn't believe my luck . The line was endlessly busy. This was a snafu even my worried mind hadn't imagined. I dialed with my cell phone, as if that would matter. But suddenly I heard, "hello" and I felt a huge sigh of relief. Not only did I pay the $15 adoption reservation fee, I paid the entire $112 adoption fee. I didn't want to take any chances. I asked to pick her up Thursday at 11am. The lady seemed confused on the phone if Kola were spayed or not. I assured her that I saw the scar and that she had been. It reminded me of talking to hospital staff when they lost my father in the recovery room for half an hour. Anyhow, she was able to finally find the right chart and yes, she was spayed. So, yes, I could pick her up Thursday. She needed to have one more vet check there too.

When I hung up the phone, I literally jumped up and down in my office like a little girl! I went out to lunch by myself and called my sister and my mom and gushed about how excited I was. My family is one of dog lovers so they shared my joy.

My sister wanted me to name the dog "Lorelei", my mother wanted me to name the dog "Kella" but then changed her mind to support "Lorelei". My father insisted on Lilly at dinner Sunday night when I was considering the adoption. I had my heart set on Lucy, but wasn't sure. The calls the past few days with my family are hilarious. Everyone is voting for a name!

Last night, Tuesday night, I spoke with my little niece Karina who is 7 years old. She was full of tips - "don't give her too many treats, or she'll get diahrea," "buy the hard type of small treats since they are less likely to upset her stomach," etc... It was so adorable. She even asked if I would send her a framed photo of the dog like I had framed a photo of my former cat Grayson, "and add those little paw print drawings you made on the front too." I was so touched. I felt like the whole family were really welcoming her.

And then there's Stuart, my main squeeze. He is so excited that he is surfing Craigslist for dog supplies - for his house. This is to "ensure that the dog feels comfortable at my house too." He is so supportive, it's touching. I asked him to come with me when I pick her up and he agreed.

Yesterday I emailed out a bunch of my friends a photo of "Kola" like a proud parent and was so happy when I got a ton of "ohhhss" and "awws" and "wow she's cute"! I also went on Sunday to the library and borrowed literally 5 books on dog training and 1 book on CD on dog training. I also read a book on dog training in Hawaii. I'm so excited and nervous about house training and lease training. I also need to figure out what to do about lunch time visits. It'll be hard to go home everyday at lunch since my office is a 20 minute drive from my house one way. It'd take 40 minutes to drive & 20 minutes to play and walk the dog. I have to actually eat lunch too...*sigh*...I'll figure it out. I know. Okay. Gotto run. More later.

Brenda and Winnie - Wednesday May 29th 2008

Last night, Lucy made me a proud "dog mom". I'd given up on the idea that Lucy would have many or even any doggie friends as she has gotten so riled up in the past around other dogs, I feared that she might become aggressive with them. But last night, I bumped into Brenda, a neighbor on my evening walk with Lucy. Brenda is a veteran dog owner. I usually remember her as "Dokey's mom". She recently adopted a young dog named Winnie, whom came bounding out of the house towards Lucy. Right away, Lucy's ridge of fur on her back stood up, her ears perked up and her gaze was locked. I worried and said, "I'm not sure if Lucy will be friendly or not, she tends to be too forward."
"Well," Brenda said, " we'll see carefully."

She let Winnie walk up to Lucy and both dogs sniffed each other. Tails were up and slightly wagging. I was still tense though. After a minute I tugged lightly thinking the greeting should end. "Don't worry," Brenda said," Winnie gets along with every dog, she's very laid back even if Lucy is a little forward." Just as she said that, Lucy practically climbed ontop of Winnie, but it was gentle not aggressive. She used Winnie's back like a shelf for her paws. Winnie is a good 2 1/2 times bigger than Lucy and an adorable amber colored dog. Brenda suggested that we take them for a walk together if I had time.
"That'd be great. I'd love it if Lucy made a doggie friend. This is the first time she's been friendly with a female young dog. She's usually better with male dogs," I said.
"Yeah," Brenda said,"Winnie is similar in that she seems to prefer to play with male dogs."

We walked around the neighborhood, the two dogs leading the way. Lucy acted like she'd found a big sister (literally) and wanted to do everything that Winnie did. It was adorable. Up at the tennis court, I hesitatingly let Lucy off the leash as Brenda let Winnie go too. In a moment, the two of them were running at top speed in circles around the tennis court. Since Winnie is so much bigger than Lucy, Lucy could barely keep up. She barked a few times at Winnie, as if to say, "Hey, wait for me!"

Then Winnie ran over to the gate of the tennis court and kept sniffing around it. Brenda took it to mean that she had to go "do her business." Lucy wanted to follow along, but I tried to keep her a few feet away at least so Winnie could have some peace & quiet. After about 5 minutes or so, we met them again at the tennis court and let them run around. This time was different. It was Winnie that was chasing and jumping onto Lucy.
"Ahh, that's a good sign," Brenda said, "when the dogs switch playing the dominant role."
I was glad to see that Lucy was responding well & having a great time with her new doggie friend. I think my smile was plastered on my face the rest of the evening. This renewed my faith that Lucy _can_ be socialized with other dogs and may never be a dog park dog, but at least be friendlier with other dogs.

Hand signals for dog training Lucy

I read that dogs understand non-verbal communication better such as hand signals. I have definately observed this with Lucy. Sunday afternoon at a local park in Cary, Stuart and I did a run through of our best "sign language" with Lucy and took photos of each one.

First command: "Sit" using a closed fist and maintaining eye contact. Lucy sits immediately:


Second command: "Down" with a flat hand, palm down. Lucy knows this one very quickly too.


Third command: "Paw" or "Left Paw" and "Right Paw" holding hand out, palms up. Here her paw reached my hand. Eye contact is also important here.


Forth command: With hands flat, palms upwards - I made this one up - saying "Dance!" and Lucy rises to the occassion and sniffs my hand for treats.