Our little rat dog by HMX
A week shy of three months and 3 days shy of two weeks in his new home and Oppenheimer is doing well. He respects the pack leader (me) most of the time and he has now learned that when the big, two-legged hairless things are home, it is in his best interest to go to the patio door when he needs relief. Honestly, I was expecting this to take much longer than it has, and I can deal with the occasional bit of separation anxiety, but being all but potty trained in just under two weeks? I know he is a smart dog and there are times when his ingenuity still amazes me, but two weeks. I don’t claim to be the sole reason behind his success, but I do believe that a firm hand and the occasional reminder that it isn’t alright to go tinkle in the house has gone far in our little rat dog’s head.
My pup likes to potty all the time by HMX
I know I recently spoke of progress, and this post isn’t meant to contradict what was previously said, but it has come to my realization that Oppie (for such a small animal) has impressive bladder capacity. I still hold firm to my belief that he is marking what he perceives to be his territory, but egads. I can take him outside, watch him expel a huge puddle of fluid only to come in and seconds later try to expel more in some new location. He got a bit of a surprise today, as I was waiting for him to do just that, and he found himself on the patio for a bit of time sans humans. (more…)
More Progress by HMX
It has now been a week and Oppenheimer is doing well. I still think he doesn’t like it much when we leave him alone, but I want to believe that he is getting better at coping with it. There is still the occasional tickling here and there, but I think that is more of him marking his territory and less of a biological need to empty his bladder. We are still waiting for his testicles to descend, but once they do and are removed, we’ll find out if this is the case or not, as I believe that particular habit has a tendency to go away post-operation. (more…)
On Anxiety: Oppenheimer vs. the Big Gate by HMX
Today saw the beginning of Oppenheimer’s training. Being in school for another 2 weeks, I decided to tackle the biggest hurdle that could potentially leave us with severely pissed off neighbors: separation anxiety. As he isn’t yet housebroken, we have elected to use the kitchen as a holding area for Oppenheimer during the day due to the nice, easily cleaned, linoleum floors. To keep him in, we’ve purchased a large baby gate capable of spanning the 46″ opening. Standing at 32″ tall, it is a bit of an overkill for our small pup, but there seems to be a linear relationship between height and width: the longer you want the gate, the taller it is going to be. This isn’t much of a problem for me, being over 6′, but for Blythe who stands an impressive 5′, getting over the gate without removing it is a bit of a challenge. (more…)
A Long Day by HMX
Today we had the joy of picking up Oppenheimer from the airport. He had an 8:40 am flight out of Dallas and arrived in Phoenix at 9:25 am. We had planned on being at the airport at 9:25 am, but the state of Arizona and the local transit authority sought otherwise. Needless to say, we sat in traffic for over an hour while driving a course no more than 5 miles. We arrived at the airport shortly after ten and had to wait another 15 or so minutes while the lady at the American Eagle baggage counter helped another customer. All the while, Oppenheimer was sitting in his cage and we could hear him whine every so often. (more…)
Got Contingency? by HMX
I have said for a while that everyone needs to have a contingency plan. I have several, myself, and contingencies for the contingency. It never hurts to be too prepared, and I’m not referring to just zombie attacks. Now days, one needs to be prepared for all types of apocalyptic events that could ruin an otherwise good day. Just ask Randall Munroe, I’m almost certain that he has a contingency plan for raptor attacks. That is why I found the following link amusing. It is limited in its focus in that it only deals with zombies, but the information is good and the pictures make up for their lack of foresight. If you get a chance, I would recommend checking out Cracked.com’s 11 strategies in case zombies attack.
Enter Oppenheimer by HMX
We’ve purchased our first dog. His name is Oppenheimer and he is a Yorkshire Terrier, born on the 11th of February. He won’t be here until April 22nd and some of us are already anxious to get the newest addition to our family in the house. This will be a new experience for me, being a cat person, but I figured it would be good to have something a bit more companionable with me as I make the transition from East Valley, AZ to Seattle, WA.
