Monday, July 27, 2009

"Quality" time with mom

The other day, Danny was driving mom insane. For some reason, he was extra, extra hyper. Mom was trying to work on the computer and he was dashing about, chewing on things and leaving half-eaten bits of tissue all over the place.

She decided to tie him up until he calmed down a bit. Can someone say "Bad idea"? Danny launched into a series of high pitched yelps punctuated by the occasional howl.

Mom got so upset she started howling back. It didn't work. If anything, he squealed even louder. I think Danny was just glad to have a partner.

Mom was determined to sap his energy. She put on her running shoes and set off on a brisk walk all around the estate. She and Danny went up-slope, down-slope and round the park for a good half hour before mom decided Danny looked sufficiently de-energised.

The moment they entered the porch, Danny stopped in his tracks and started to arch. Thinking he was about to poop, she quickly shoved some newspaper beneath his bum. It came out the other end instead.

Danny spent the rest of the evening with his belly flat on the floor. He didn't even get up when I reached home.

After he gobbled up all his dinner though, he was back to normal.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Parties = Happy Dog

Some time in June, we had Ka Lic's birthday bash at my place. There was loads of food from Pizza Hut and KFC. Ka Lic, you see, is this huge KFC nut.



Just about the whole gang turned up....


Louis and Shine made a special appearance...


...Even Angie joined us via Skype from New York... and we were showing her what she was missing. Mean, no? :D

While Isaac was hard at work ...


...the birthday boy was guarding his cake.


Danny, of course, was one happy dog. You could see it on his face "So many people, so little time!" He was still teething at the time and just about everyone got a mouthful from him...including poor Louis. Yunita was carrying him at the time and Danny jumped up and nipped his dangling feet.


He doesn't even spare toddlers.


Danny acting nice to Isaac.



Cozying up to Fran and David.


"Finally! Don't think anyone's looking...maybe just one nibble...."

The highlight of Danny's evening was his very first taste of KFC. He hauled a couple of eaten wings out of the trash and knawed on the wing tips. I had to pry open his mouth to get them out.

Looks like KFC could have their very first spokesdog.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

I'm getting exercised

The best part about having hyper-active Danny around is the amount of exercise my jelly-like muscles are getting.

Yesterday, Danny was tethered to the railing near the kitchen when everyone went off one-by-one. Instead of squeaking like he normally does, he propped himself up on his hindlegs and unhooked himself.

Then, knowing all the humans go upstairs to roost, he trotted up and started sniffing at the gap below the room door.

He was estatic when I opened the door...hubby was not quite so happy and promptly brought him down.

To keep him quiet and busy, I figured I should attempt wearing him out. Sensing this, Danny decided on Catch. For some reason, he insisted on running around and around the dining table with me chasing him. It was making me dizzy.

So, I decided on a more dignified approach. He likes to follow people, so I headed down the stairs to the basement and he sped past me. By the time I reached the bottom, he was waiting for me. I immediately made an about-turn and headed back up.

I did about 10 over sets of up and down before he conked out on the floor, panting away and refusing to budge.

I was quite pleased with my efforts. However, in about 10 minutes, he was up and ready to have another go.

I, on the other hand, ended the evening with a cramp in my butt.

Thanks to Danny, in another month or so I should be the proud owner of a nicely toned tush.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What's my name again?

Still on the subject of names, one of the things we were taught in puppy class was how to teach your dog his name. Dogs don't understand English so it's not like you can go "Your name is Rover, okay? Geddit?"

They have to learn that a certain sound is their name by association.

Step 1: Have some treats nearby and call your dog. Just one time. The reason is because if your dog hears "Rover! Rover! Rover!", he thinks his name is "Roverorverrover". There's a good chance he won't respond, so after that...

Step 2: Make a lot of noise. Clap, tap something, whistle. Stuff that would attract his attention. If that still fails...

Step 3: Walk up to him holding the treat. Push it in front of his nose so he can smell it. Lead him back to where you were and then give it to him.

And repeat.

Danny, being the greedy, bottomless pit that he is, took very well to the treats. A very good thing, too. Remember how he's this hyper-active dog? Now, whenever he's tearing up the house and driving us crazy, hubby and I will go get a handful of treats each. I'll head to the basement and we'll start calling him.

The first time I called him, he dashed down the stairs so fast he rounded the corner, skidded, crashed straight into the door, shook his head a couple of times and made a beeline for his treat.

By the fourth of fifth time, he was down to trotting. By the time we were done, so was he.

I love training, don't you?

Monday, July 20, 2009

What's my name?

I never really gave much thought to my dog's names. Generally me and the family just picked whatever caught our fancy and that was it. So far it's been names that most people wouldn't dream of using on people: Trakker, Chassard, Victri,.... Danny is the exception, thanks to my hubby, who is a whole lot saner than the rest of us.

As it was, I was doing a little read up about dog names and realised that there are actually a couple of guidelines when it comes to naming a dog.

1) The name should ideally be two syllables. Why? One syllable words are usually commands, for example, "sit", "down", "stay". Naming a dog Bob, for example, could confuse him into thinking you're giving him a command. And, any name longer than two syllables are hard for dogs to process.

In Trakker's case, the two syllable rule worked too well. It hit a point where we could call whatever two syllable word we wanted, as long as we used the same tone, our friend would come running. No kidding. "Furball", "Fat Butt", "Armpit" all worked wonders.

2) The name should not sound like anyone's in the family or the dog could get confused; ie you could be calling for "Bobby" but Poppy arrives instead of your bro.

Unfortunately, by the time I discovered this rule, we had already named Danny. "Danny", you see, rhymes with "Daddy".

The good news is that Danny doesn't seem to get mixed up. The problem, however, is that when we call "Danny", Daddy comes running.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Puppy class 4: Graduation

Thing's went only slightly better on the 4th and final lesson. Danny was still humping and still struggling and still growling...so much so, he earned the class' first TIME-OUT session.





Especially after the previous week's disaster, I have no idea how he could possibly be considered to graduate. I guess it's like kindergarten where no matter what you do, you can't flunk out.


So by default .....







Bottomline is that we decided this guy needs intensive tuition. We have quite a bit of leftover lessons with Chassard's previous trainer, so we decided to carry on with him. These will be one-on-one and this trainer is completely no nonsense... especially on the owners

Good luck us.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Puppy Class 3: Delinquent dog

In my previous post, I said the 3rd puppy class was an absolute failure. Why? Hmm... where to begin? I know. Let's start with this. Can you tell what this speck is?



It's a tooth, in particular a canine. Here's a closer look:



It dropped out during class. He's teething, so what's the fuss, right? I'll tell you what the fuss is.


During class, the owners are to hold on to their puppies while the trainer explains stuff. ADHD wouldn't sit still. When I persisted, he growled and BIT ME. I got a scratch but he lost a tooth.


So loser, right?


That's not all. During play time, he decided to hump Coco...and he wouldn't stop! Coco's owner said Danny was molesting her dog. Kept asking me how old he is. I think she was afraid Coco will get preggers. Super malu, can?

Good thing the trainer said that it's normal and that it what puppies do to "prepare for what they need to do next time." Hope she's right, although I still think I'm raising a chee ko pei dog.


(Note to self: Get Danny fixed next month.)


And the mark of any delinquent: he's a bad influence. For session 1 & 2, all the other dogs were nice and quiet. This round, Ally and Coco started struggling too. Not only that, Ally started barking with Danny during class ... and she's the shy one!


Bad habits are easier to pick up?

Monday, July 6, 2009

Latch-key puppy

Phew! Been really, really busy in the last week. I have lots of Danny news but just haven't had the time to blog. We just had Puppy class 3 over the weekend and it was a total, outright disaster!

No, not exaggerating ... really. I'll detail it in a seperate post but the result of the disaster is that Danny gets to spend more time with us. Why? Basically delinquent kid = neglected child. My mom's a former vice principal, so the solution came to her quite easily.

But the truth is we haven't been spending very much time with the fuzzball. On days when i come home late, I don't even get to see him at all. The main culprits are Dad, his yelping and toilet training (or rather the lack of it).

Allow me to give you the background.

Dad
When Danny first came, we turned the kitchen toilet into his room. It worked pretty well. We could let him out and chuck him back in for his "business" quite easily. The only person who wasn't happy with the arrangement was my dad.

For some reason, dad must do his own "business" in that same toilet. Nevermind that his room has an attached toilet. Nevermind that he may be snug in bed watching TV. When he needs to go, he will pop out of his room, walk down one flight of stairs and head all the way to Danny's room for a poop.

After a couple of times, he decided that Danny smelt worse than he did (yeah right!). So Danny was chucked into the basement where he sleeps between Rhoda's room and the gate to the garden.

(Lack of) Toilet Training
Toilet training calls for us to confine him in one area until he gets used to using the newspaper, and then slowly increase his space. Having too much space at one time confuses the puppy. Thus he was restricted to his basement corner unless we could supervise him.

However, Danny is fast. I'll be wondering "Is he about to..." and TA-DAAH!. Most guides on paper training will tell you that puppies will sniff the ground area and squat before they go. So not Danny.

Problem is that the living and dining areas of our house have granite flooring which absorbs any liquid that drops on it. ANY liquid.

In addition, the living room has a couple of carpets which Danny has started taking a shine to.

After having far more misses than hits, Danny has been tethered to a leash and surrounded with paper whenever he comes up. (It's also great for us cos he was a very nippy dog and the arrangement helps save our ankles.)

Doing clean up when you're rushing in the mornings isn't exactly our idea of fun. Hence we see him for only an hour at night, cos Rhoda rushes him down after dinner in case he messes up.

Yelping
Being alone in the confines of his basement corner doesn't making him very happy. He would yelp for his breakfast (begins at 6am), yelp for his dinner (starts around 7pm) and yelp when we come home. Danny's trainer told us to ignore him and only go to him when he is quiet. The reason is that if we go to him when he is noisy, he will learn that yelping works and do it more.

Problem is our friend can go on for a whole hour or more. Which means a whole hour or more of no Danny time.

.
.
.
The result of all this is that we don't see Danny as often as we should. I felt really bad. And especially since his toilet training's been improving, I decided to make it up to him.
On Sunday, I wanted to watch some DVDs. Instead of watching it in the troublesome living room, I laid out newspapers here and there in the basement, placed kitchen paper on standby, put out some of his treats and brought out a couple of his favourite toys. I even put a whole dollop of peanut butter into his Kong. It took me a good 20 minutes to prepare everything before I let him out. I was still wondering if I would need to chuck him back in 10 minutes.
But everything went really great. Three out of four was on the paper (woohoo!). Danny polished off the peanut butter and munched his toys. Later, I paused the movie and we played catching until he was really tired. When I restarted the movie, he lay down right next to me and fell asleep.

He's really sweet when he's not yelping or nipping or actively destroying something. I think I'll try something else tonight. Maybe a walk in the park....