Yeah for Sadie!

I have recently enrolled Sadie in agility classes...you know, the dogs that can go over A-frames, jump, and go through hoops, that sort of stuff. One of my ex-coworkers does agility and she had worked on me for a year to try it with Sadie. I didn't know if I had the time, or was willing with the money commitment. I decided to start training with her at home with the basics, and she had so much fun. Sadie is extremely food driven, which makes her extremely easy to work with, she is extremely motivated to please, and is pretty intelligent. All and all she is going to make a good agility dog (I think, as I am sure we all do about our "kids"). I just need to keep an eye on myself, and keep me motivated. So far we've had two classes and Sadie has done very well. She already knew a lot of the foundational stuff that we had to work on, so we're busy building on that and making it stronger. I have to teach her a trick, and so we're working on "dead cockroach". It's a bit of a challenge just because Sadie needs to lay on her back with her paws in the air.....not something that comes natural. I think after two weeks she has it down pretty good...once again, just working on it to make it stronger.

Lilie will probably never do agility. She is much less motivated, which I do like cause I can be pretty lazy. When I first started working with Sadie, I was surprised how eager it made Lilie to work. She does get really jealous when I work with Sadie, so I do a few easy things with her that are easily rewardable. So I guess that my life isn't all work with no play. I do sometimes enjoy the rug rats that I have!

There's Something About Leo...

And it ain't pretty. Leo is our two year old cat whom we rescued from the animal shelter in Michigan. We loved him, cared for him, and have even paid his vet bills and provided him with many expensive meals, and he has yet to thank us. I know what everyone says about cats, "Oh they're so independent, isn't it nice!", or "Cats are soooooo easy to take care of, they practically take of themselves." I wish that were true. Leo is motivated by one thing only, food. All of his behavior stems from this one true passion. Here are a few ways husband and I have altered our lives/adapted to Leo so far:
1. Safety locks on all of our lower kitchen cabinets, and one up high that contains all of our bread/chip type items. We are so far ahead of the game when we have kids.
2. Listening to constant whining (I call his incessant meows whining) for a minimum of thirty minutes prior to every feeding. Many of you may be wondering why Leo has to call attention to the fact he needs food. Well, Leo isn't capable of making good food choices, i.e. he eats everything in site, so to keep him from being obese, he gets feed twice a day, once at 6am the other at 10pm. Don't worry, he isn't actually starving, he weighs a healthy 15 pounds.
3. Large paint cans that I have to lift off of the tubs we keep dog and cat food in.
4. For those faint of heart, don't read this. Due to the situation outlined above, Leo wears a shocker collar at night. Trust me, I thought long and hard about this, I too felt tremendously bad for him. But after a year of getting woken up at 4:30am to scratching at the door, tugging of the door, and yes, even body slamming the door, I decided that getting enough sleep to deal with him far outweighed the guilt I had about the collar.
5. Allowing the cats on the kitchen table and counters. Leo is the first animal that I have ever dealt with that absolutely doesn't care about cause and effect. No punishment (besides animal abuse, and even, who really knows) deters him from doing bad things. I had to make a choice between my own mental well being and having to wash to table/counters every time I wanted to use them, or pulling my hair out of frustration. Fortunately for me I chose mental health and now the cats have the run of house.
6. Being one of those pet owners who spends lots of money on expensive food. Through no fault of my own, and this totally being husbands fault, we have two cats that are both on prescription food, for the rest of their natural, 14 years left, lives. I find it hard not to put a price on love, but I do it every day.
7. Vacationing. Hopefully one day we'll find someone generous enough to want to handle the special needs of all our animals, most notably Leo.
I'm sure there is more I'm missing, and if I remember I'll let you know. But I think I've left you enough to chew on at the moment.

Poor Sadie

Sadie has some how hurt her nose. I noticed yesterday that the hair by her nose had somehow been torn out. She has an open wound. It is getting worse. I am trying my hardest to block the maternal instinct in me that is telling me to rush her to the vet. I know that she doesn't need to go and this will pass, but I feel bad for my baby. Hopefully neosporin will fix the problem and she'll be good as new. Just another day I guess. My mom tells me the only reason I find all these things to worry about in regards to my pets is directly related to the fact that I'm not busy with real children yet. She's probably right.

Back to it

Okay, so I know that I've been absent, basically for the life of this blog, but I'm back. And here it is, right down to the nitty gritty. This morning Sadie had another accident on the floor, I know, again, there seems to be a pattern to this. So, my husband and I get that all cleaned up, and to work we go. I come home (he of course will not be) and I find that Sadie has popped in her kennel. Now, I want you to know that yes, I do in fact feel for her. For a dog to defecate in their personal space, where they can't get away, I know that she wasn't feeling well. However, I do feel for myself as well. And I feel bad for myself because now I have to go wash the blankets and kennel in the front yard in the rain, then bring the dripping wet mess inside and wash the blankets in the washer. All of this and a not so good day at work...what will be next?