Saturday, February 11, 2012

Status Report

When my little brother turned five years old, my mom brought home a puppy. It was a GSD mix, maybe some Doberman in there, maybe something bigger. She was one of the last puppies left in the cardboard box at the end of the day, so she ended up being my brother's birthday present. He named her Nibbles.

Nibbles went on to grow very large and somewhat vicious, ridiculously overprotective of "her" kids and "her" house and "her" yard. That's not the point. The point is, my last experience with the special mindset of a puppy was about three decades ago.

I realize that Monsoon is two and a half, so it's not as challenging as it could otherwise could be, but this dog is a baby. You know how I know? Because I was up at 3:30 this morning trying to get him to stop playing with his squeaky toys. See, when someone gets up in the middle of the night to use the washroom, Monsoon will dart out of the bedroom, down the hall to his toys, grab one and return to bed. He's so small and quick and hard to see at night that sometimes we aren't aware he's done this until we are drifting off again and it starts.

Squeak.

Squeak. Squeak.

Squeak squeak squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak!!

We had an urgent family situation arise this week that shunted aside all my plans to start working with Monsoon more in depth. He ended up having an extra week to get used to the house and I think it's served him well. He still has some anxieties and some idiosyncrasies that need a little help. For example, he loves his dad in the house and will walk with him happily, if dad leashes him and takes him out. If I leash him and take him out and dad walks up later, Monsoon acts as if he has no flipping clue who this man could be and hides behind my legs.

He hides behind my legs a lot.

He's picked up leash manners beautifully and will trot along on my left side with a slack leash. He responds to minor correction most of the time, although seeing squirrels or people or other dogs makes him forget everything. This week, as we resume normal operations around here, I hope to start working with a clicker. The first job is to find a treat sufficiently enticing, especially as Monsoon is shy about taking treats from the hand.

He is calming and settling, and his goofy baby antics lifted my heart more than once during this long strange week. I had hoped for time to write a longer update and share some of the ridiculous things Monsoon does that make me smile, but this was not the week for it. Next week promises to be a big slice of normal and I cannot wait.

As an aside, I did make a FaceBook page for this blog so that I'll have a place to stash some of my second-rate photos and inane one-line observations. ;) Feel free to join us there! And we're also joining the Blog Hop this weekend. If that's how you found us, welcome!


We’re participating in this Saturday’s Pet Blog Hop, hosted by Life With DogsTwo Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you’d like to participate, please follow the rules and follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop!

10 comments:

  1. Rider, Lilly, Jack and LisaFebruary 11, 2012 at 1:06 PM

    Sounds like he is settling in nicely! How are he and Lanie doing?

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  2. Monsoon sounds like he is getting more comfortable.

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  3. You know, if he loves his toys that much, you might think about getting a small squeaky and carrying that in your pocket to treat him with when you use the clicker. It sounds like toys are his thing! I had to laugh about the midnight toy squeaking. Lilac used to sneak her screaming monkey in and hide it under her bed at night. Waking up to that thing screaming was a special treat!

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  4. Monsoon sounds lovely. The 3am squeaky toy run, is so funny

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  5. Using a clicker was magical for Elka's leash walking! I recommend it highly!

    Also, as houndstooth said, using a squeaky toy for the clicker reward is a great idea.

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  6. I hope everything is ok! Sounds like Monsoon is settling in just fine and has found the perfect patient family to end up with!

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  7. Beckett used to do the squeaky toy thing in the night too when he first got here. I think he was just so enticed by them, he didn't want them to dissappear in the night. It's worn off some now.

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  8. How funny. I think I'm falling in love again :o)

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  9. I like bowling my Kong into the door when I'm bored and want Mum to get up! Deccy x

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  10. Yay! I haven't checked in since the post before Monsoon arrived home... I've been laughing out loud at the video with the squeaky stuffy! What a gorgeous puppy. What a LONG tail! :)

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