Pompei Post #5

Hi Guys!
We was real, busy today!
First we hadda go on a  long car trip. It was soooo long, I was almost boarded out of my mind!!
I tried ta get Texas to play again, but mom said no, cause the car was moving.
So I had to sleep.
Than we got to this place, and mom got Bubbles and Texas out first, and let them "stretch there legs". But I don't know how they doo that cause, they don't have long legs like me!
I sat on the seat, and watched them, even though I'm not supposed to do that.
Than mom put dem back in the car, and drove for a little bit, and it was my turn to get out.
I stretched, and stretched my legs, but I didn't even have to go potty, so mom gave up, and got my jacket on.
Then all of the sudden another dog got out, of a nother car, and he had a same jacket like me!! Hey that's weird!
I tried to say "Hi", but he was busy. Going busy.
Then two more doggies with jackets got out!
HEy! iTs a party!!!
But all the human moms were being mean, and didn't even let us play!!

They can't saying stuff like "sit" and "leave it."??
Then we walked inside the....place...(Erin Notes: The Firestation) an we wait while the humans talk. And talk, and talkity, talk, talk talk.!
I was getting real bored, so I barked a couple of times, at my new friends to see if the wanted to play. But mom said I couldn't.
Well PhoOeee.
So then we all walked, to this place with a LOTTA big truck things, but I didn't even care about those. I wanted to talk to my new friends!!
But nooo.
We had to do bedience stuff, we I was sure tired of doing that, and than I remembered that I really.had. to pee. BaD!!
So what was I supposed to do?
Go outside away from my friends? I might not be able to come back?
I was real sneaky, and didn't even stop walking!! Hee hee
Den this guy put on a strange outfit and walked around, and around.
I didn't care bout him, cause I wanted that bone on someone left on the floor.
(Erin Notes: We were using different things as distractions for the dogs to leave)
Then he came and petted me, so that was fun.

After that we went outside, and walked around the big truck. That was fun!
Then the truck made lots of silly noises.
Mom told me I was a good boy, for not reacting to those noises...I said thanks, but I didn't even know why that was such a good thing...?

After that we went back inside...and they let us play!! How coooll! I love those fire people!!

Car Conversations

Pompei: Hey Texas ya got sometin on your lip....heeey is that mom's cookie I smell??

Texas: NO YOU DON"T SMELL ANYTHING!

Pompei: Yeah I Do! I"M TELLINNN!

Texas: I WILL EAT YOU FOR LUNCH PUNK IF YOU SAY ANYTHING!
Pompei: You couldn't even hurt a.....a.......uh.....fly on CRUTCHES

Texas: You LITTLE....COME CLOSE AND SAY THAT

Pompei: OK I WILL! BAAAAARRRKKKKK!!

Erin: Kids you both will go into time out if you don't be quiet

Pompei: Buut Mooom? Texas started it!

Texas: WHAT?!? MEE???

Erin: WHAT.DID.I.JUST.SAY???
Pompei: Sorry Mom

Texas: Fine. You're the boss I guess.

Conversations from the Bed of Erin

I have taken to studying in my bedroom, as its the quietest place away from my computers, that I can focus in. But since I have allowed the dogs on my bed, I have to deal with this:

Dogs: *gasp* Hey mom's on her bed! Lets join her!

Me: *groans*

Texas:*bounces on bed* HIiii Mom!! Can I sit on your lap?

Bubbles: *whines* I can't get up here..... Moom?

Me: You can when you want too

Bubbles: Noo I really really can't.

Me: Fine. *leans down to heft the dog onto the bed*

*dogs tramp around the books and papers, effectly destroying any sense of order*

Me: *sigh*

Bubbles: Maaa Texas won't share your lap, and I'm older which means I gotta sit on your lap

Texas: I WAS HERE FIRST!! HEY she pushed me off!!??

Me: omg guys get off of me

Dogs: You...don't want us on your lap?

Me: Puts head in hands. Alright both of you out of here!

Texas: But..but...don't you love us?? I wanna be in heeerrreeeee

Bubbles: Fine. I'll go sit on the couch.

*closes door behind them*

Through the closed door comes the  sounds of pitiful whines from Texas

"shedoesn'tloveme*shedoesn'tloveme*shedoesn'tloveme*shedoesn'tloveme*shedoesn'tloveme*shedoesn'tloveme*"

Me: Oh geez fine, come back in but you have to stay here. *places dog in position away from papers*

Texas: Youdoloveme! iloveyouiloveyouIloveyouiloveyouiloveyou
*clambers into my lap, and settles down.*

Me: Yeah I love you too crazy pup..

Hours later, I hobble out with sleepy legs, and aching back..but the dog is happy.

I think I'll be finding a new study spot soon.

Or..... I suppose I could just teach them not to get on the bed.......

Speaking of teaching... that was a perfect example of how to teach your dog to beg.

Shots & Car Seats

Today was slated to be Pompei's last round of shots, but somehow, somewhere,something was not read right...so yeah we still have his Rabies to get taken care of. I am a little disappointed as I was looking forward to hitting up some parks with him this weekend.

Ah well.

After we got finished there, we headed to the pet store to pick up some cleaning supplies, and of course, dog treats! While I was in there, I browsed through the car travel section, and came across a "seat", on clearance... hmmm....

I went ahead and purchased it, along with our other "goodies". Texas and Bubbles had rode to the vets office with me, and were waiting in the car to try out their new seat.....quite impatiently.

Well Texas was impatient anyways.

With a couple cookies in hand, I tossed them in, and placed him in it afterward. Right off I could see that this was was probably too small for him to fit comfortable, and was very poorly made. (No wonder it was on clearance!)

Texas didn't appreciate being confined, but he didn't try to get out...too hard. I will probably wind up returning it, as it sorta fell apart when I took him out of it later. But I really wanted it before this weekend.

We'll be headed over the mountain, for Pompei's second puppy meeting, and I didn't want to have to deal with wrestling my puppers out of my lap, while going through windy roads. That and Texas does.not.like to be still. He wants to run from the front seat, to the back, to the window ledge, to my lap.....

So we have to do what we have to do!

Texas: "My Mom hates me."

Oh Texas

As I've said before, moving is stressful for the dogs as well as us humans; and I was interested to see what behaviors the dogs would display, as they adjusted to their new surroundings.
For Texas its been an increase of his already annoying barking. All these different house sounds, outside noises, cars pulling in and out...etc.. are usual things that have GOT to be barked at!

And because we don't think moving was stressful enough, a dear friend of mine, will be rooming with us for the near future. Over the weekend they  have been dropping in randomly over the weekend, getting things squared away.

Since Texas has met them in the past, I don't worry too much about them coming into the house, yes he'll come at them in "killer mode" but turns to wiggling, silly puppy once he realizes who they are. And because they know to just ignore him, which takes the "fun" out of sounding mean.

Well yesterday C (future roommate) and her sister R (future neighbor as she's moving into my old house) came over to "hash out" our living arrangement. R was in the back room, doing something on my computer.

All the dogs went silly of course with new people, but calmed down when they were receiving any attention. Everything was quiet until R yelled out something from the back room.

What? Intruder!

Texas lets out a bark and tears to the back room, ready to defend his.....hide...  a few seconds later he comes back out, realizing who it was.

R called for some assistance a little bit later, and again Tex tore into the back room, sounding the alarm. Again he realized it was a false alarm, and comes trotting back out after getting some attention.

You'd think we'd be done by now...but no. Once again, R (eaves dropping on our convo) made a comment, in her normal voice, which sent Texas back into defense mode.

It will defiantly be interesting to see how he adjust to having another person living with us.

>> I really wanted to start some "serious" Texas work this weekend, but forgot we'll be heading over the mountain for Pompei's puppy meeting. So. Phooey.

Also to my small dog owner bloggy friends... has anyone used a car seat for their dogs....is it worth it?

94 Followers...

94 Blog Followers + 50 Facebook Followers + 0 comments = Sad us. If you stop by today let us know you're out there!! It motivates us to post more, more often! :-)

I know it didn't help that I went in, and accidentally changed my feed settings! Oops! hopefully everything is operational now!

In the meantime we'll leave you some photos to look at.

 

{Texas screaming at something he saw from the window}

 

{Bubbles and Texas snoozing on the couch}

 

{Family Portrait}

{"Hey Tex? Whatcha Doin?}

 

{Fun with an de-stuffed toy}

Success!

Today was another school day for Mr.Pompei and I; it was the first class since lasts week escapades......

Last Week:
I knew I needed to exercise him before subjecting him to 4 hours of class time, but it was cold, and I was feeling very lazy about getting out and doing it. So I walked him around a little bit before heading to class.

Boy did I pay the price for that! The first 50 minutes of my 55 minute class was spent: "Pompei Sit" .."Down" Good..Noo SIT" "PoMpEi". And Pompei is not one to take these things quietly, noo he's gotten to let me know vocally. While he didn't bark, his whining was insistent.

It was very easy to let myself get frustrated and be harsh, but I had to realize that I was so focused on his "negative" behaviors, that I was failing to reward his positive behaviors. Such as responding to my commands.

So I had to mentally pull myself together and go back at it.

• "Pompei Down ... Goood Boy!" *kibbles
• 10 seconds late
• "Good boy" Kibbles
• 10 seconds later
• "No, Down" 
• "Good job" 

I had to teach him, what I needed him to do was lie quietly, and I knew jerking him or being harsh wouldn't teach anything, and could set us back, that and I could tell he was starting to pant and stress out and I needed to get him calmed.

Needless to say we both were worn out by the time we made it through our last class, and was beating myself up pretty good for being lazy! But we survived.

This week, I knew what I had to do, and we got out and pounded some pavement for about 20 minutes before heading to class. And this was the results: Success Baby!

 

As he grows, I will expect him to do this regardless of his energy level, but until that point I have to set him up for success, so that he will know what to do later. 

International Puppy Raising Day

Please join us in raising awareness about puppy raising or  by celebrating International Wear Your Puppy Raising Shirt Day, this Friday, February 19.

What is a puppy raiser? Puppy raisers are volunteers who raise puppies for different service dog organizations.With the Guide Dog Foundation Puppy Raiser ( or Walker) families provide the loving homes that care for our Foundation puppies until the dogs are old enough to enter our training program. Puppy Walkers take home a 7-week-old puppy and care for it until it is between 12 and 14 months old. They housebreak the puppy, socialize it in different environments, teach it good house manners, and provide it with the loving attention it needs. When the dog is about a year old, the family returns the dog to the Foundation so it can move ahead with its new career.

Find more information about raising for the Guide Dog Foundation here.

*TO MY KNOWLEDGE THIS EVENT IS NOT ENDORSED BY THE GUIDE DOG FOUNDATION*

Thanks to Mimi for the awesome banner!

New Camera

I promise I won't get into all the boring photog stuff, but in a nut shell.. I bought another camera, with more lenses to help me get better photos indoors, a better lens for long range shots and the standard "kit" lens.

So I am selling my Sony Alpha DSLR a200 it comes with kit lens (18-55mm),manual, wide angle/macro lens, battery,battery charger,computer cables, etc..etc.. for about $400-450. The only reason I am putting it out here, is because well I've had that camera for about two years and I strange just selling it to some random person. I'm weird I know. Email me if you are interested: toomanyemails07@gmail.com

P.S.  (Sorry will only sell to individuals not Bots or "company sites")

Pompei Posts #4

Happy Valetines Day! We has to take naps alllll day cause we worked real hard yesterday!! I had to help mom put her puter thing together and it was a real hard to get those screw things in their!  I even helped her pick out a new toaster thing, an vacuum!!! But mom didn't even say thank you?!? Nope! Sheez. See if Iz ever helps her again.

{Pompei sitting on top of an upside down desk piece}

{Pompei now laying on another piece of the desk,hindering progress}

{Pompei attempting to see if the desk screws were tasty..getting in the way of progress in other words}

{Pompei finally removed himself from the desk to check out a screw that feel}

{Pompei laying patiently in front of boxes of toaster ovens at Bed Bath and Beyond}

{Pompei laying half off of his blue and green dog bed surrounded by toys and a vacuum cleaner}

Note From Erin: (Pompei was in no danger of eating the cord, or screws as they were all kept out of his reach or in my hands.)

Thoughtful Thursday

{Pompei Laying in the floor with his head half wedged under a computer chair}

This is what good guide puppies are SUPPOSED to do while attending class with their humans. The challenge is  teaching them to be calm and quiet during this  time when they'd rather play. As my area coordinator likes to say..."If they were perfect, we wouldn't have them." 

:)

February

Wow February is here already! January seemed to drag on for so long...I'm hoping February won't be as crazy! There will be some craziness as I'm still trying to move, and then get the dogs adjusted to a new home..but as long as my dog numbers stay at or around three I should be ok. (crosses fingers hopefully)

Bubbles & Texas are still adjusting to my schedule/Victoria being gone/Pompei's arrival...so I'm sure this move couldn't come at a worse time. Bubbles has displaying some 'out-of-the-norm' behaviors, that I've come to associate with change. Guess there is some truth to the "Cant teach an old dog new tricks" statement.

Pompei on the other hand is not only growing leaps and bounds, but is excersising his brain more and more each day! I think he's going to win the Smartest Puppy award in my house.

On Monday and Wednesday's he's normally very antsy during my first class period, due to getting a good 35 minute nap on the way over...pretty much dissovling any exercise efforts we put into him before we leave.

So this week I employed a couple of different strategies to help him feel more inclined to sleep during class. On Monday I fed him his breakfast in a KONG, hoping that would keep him busy for at least half of our trip. Five minutes later, the kong was empty and he was settling in for a quick nap.

Sure enough, I spent the first part of my classes, reminding him what position he needed to be in, though during the second class, he went to sleep pretty quickly and with only a little bit of whining.

So Wednesday, I volunteered to take my sister to class (she has class about 40 minutes before mine) and I gave Pompei his breakfast in a bigger and much more frozen KONG. It worked! We were pulling off the campus exit as he finished;

Once we found a parking spot, Walked walked through a couple of buildings, than Potty'ed, before going to our building, and walking around each level. By the time we reached the third level he was more than ready to lay down. And slept through class. #phew

I was just as tired as he was, as I was hauling around all of his stuff, as well as my camera bag, and school books; I was more than happy to find out that my next class was canceled and I could run home.

Pompei is also proving too be a very vocal puppy, thankfully the public has been very forgiving, as Pompei tries to communicate with me vocally....

Yesterday while in Krispy Kreme, he gave the manager a good scare, when he barked at me for not letting him go after a crumb on the floor. It would have been embarrassing if everyone hadn't of been laughing.

I love this little guy. :)