I'm Gonna Do It

I don't know where Lilah gets it from, but she is so damn mischievous!

Seeing as how the weather in Los Angeles was delightfully warm, we took the opportunity to give the dogs a much needed bath. I swear, the water running off of them was grey... But that's not the focus of this story.

Because they were clean finally, I didn't want either of them rolling around in whatever weird scents they find outside or romping around in damp dirt. Lilah and Ritter were still drying off and therefore not wearing their collars, so I decided to make a slip leash using the loop handle of the leash.

Lilah, being the way that she is, always has to go first. So I took her out on the leash and left Ritter inside. Like a good girl, she immediately did her business. Unfortunately though, I wasn't paying attention and had a little too much slack on the leash. Yes, she slipped it.

And you know when a little kid is poised to do something naughty right in front of you, despite your backless threats of "don't do it" hanging ominously in the air between the two of you? Yeah, it was just like that. Lilah got into that front low crouch, readying herself to lunge to one side or another should I attempt to grab her. It's also the same posture she takes right before rolling around on the ground.

"Don't do it, Lilah. Don't you do it."

But I could read her exact thoughts from the look in her eyes. "I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna do it!"

We went back and forth for a good minute or two.

And right between "don't" and "do it," well, she did it, driving the side of her face and body against the ground. When I tried to pick her up, she rolled onto her back and twisted. Horrified, I jumped backwards, hoping it'd draw her out of the roll. She pranced around me immediately after. Lilah can be such a pain in the ass.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I'll get straight to it, there are no pictures or videos this year of the dogs with their gifts...

Yet.

Okay, so what happened was I purchased Lilah and Ritter coats from Land's End at a really good price! I chose the size that I thought would fit them according to their measurements, medium. It looked kind of small, but I couldn't put it on them yet to check the fit as it was their Christmas gift.

Christmas morning arrives and put Lilah's on first, because if it doesn't fit her then it definitely won't fit Ritter. Surprisingly, I could not get the chest side straps to attach. Apparently these dogs are larges. Hmm, I think my mom is being a little generous with their food lately...

So I'm waiting on the exchange order. Once they arrive, you can rest assured their will be enough photos from their private fashion show.

If you're feeling sorry for Lilah and Ritter though, do not fret. My brother spoiled them with lots of healthy, delicious treats and my mom showered them with new toys. And I know you're thinking it so I'll just preempt you and take some of the sting out of it. Yes, I'm the relative that gives you clothes, and on top of that, clothes that don't fit!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Birthday!

Yes! Happy birthday to Ritter, who turned 3 today!

And boy, was he especially bold today. I don't know if he knew it was his birthday, but he was climbing up me and my mom and constantly wanting attention and affection. It was actually pretty cute. And for once Lilah didn't get too much on his case for getting so much attention.

Unfortunately his mom (my mom) has been sick the past week, so she couldn't really prepare anything for him. Plus there's been the typical craziness of the holidays topped with some other obligations. But we're thinking of doing a joint celebration when Lilah turns 3 in a couple weeks.

And no, we're not those people that throw elaborate birthday parties for animals, despite what you may think. It'll be nice dinners for both of them and some extra treats. See, not all dog owners are crazy! Now cat people...that's a totally different thing...

Solar Pup in Fall

I've mentioned before that Lilah is solar powered, and so in a continuation of that thought: I think Lilah suffers from SAD or seasonal affective disorder.

As fall arrives and blankets the world in a layer of dead leaves in hues of orange, red and yellow, the sun all of a sudden gets lazy and doesn't shine nearly as bright or as long as it did during those wonderful days of summer. And this really messes up some people. Or dogs, like Lilah.

This is what Lilah does during a typical sunny morning:
Praying at the altar of the sun.

Then she's all charged for a full day of playing and naughtiness.

However when it's the slightest bit overcast (and not raining like last week's premature winter weather), she just lies around and sleeps. Like full on sleeping so deeply that i can put my face in her face and she won't even open her eyes. So lethargic. Almost like she's a poster dog for one of those Cymbalta commercials (really just the first 20 seconds).


I admit it's kind of nice, that peace. Except it's eerie and unfamiliar. Every time she does that, sleeps a lot, I start to worry that she's ill internally or seriously depressed or something. How sad that a quiet and resting dog is something so rare to me that I worry she's suffering from something.

First Day of Full Rain

I'm sitting here in the breakfast room where the doors open up to the backyard, listening to the rain fall. And Lilah is driving. me. CRAZY!

She keeps scratching at the door and barking to go out. I figure she needs to do her business outside. I put on my boots and grab my umbrella. We go out together into the first real rain storm fall in Los Angeles. She wanders to the garage, smells the huge puddles of water pooling on the dirt lawn, lies down on damp weeds near the potted herbs. She does all that and more. But does not pee or poop.

Because Ritter doesn't need to do anything outside and is happy staying inside and dry, but more importantly where the food is, he remains in the house with my mom. Both of them warm, dry and cozy together. But Lilah is an includer. She wants everyone to join her in everything she does. So what does she do? Slams the door open and runs inside with wet fur and muddy feet to free Ritter and invite everyone outside with her.

Frustrated with her, we go back inside. And as soon as I sit back down, she's back at the door, barking and scratching.

And she did this several times over the past couple hours.

ARGH! Hold on, she's scratching and barking again.

. . . . .

Finally! Now I don't have to worry anymore if her barking means she NEEDS to go out. Finally, peace! She's actually quiet and napping in the hallway.

I think partially what fueled Lilah's crazy was the overwhelming rain. Being a SoCal dog, she doesn't see constant rain often. So the concept of falling water droplets was just so novel, she had to romp around in the rain like a five year old boy.

I seriously hope that the novelty for her fades. How do other people handle house dogs needing to go out in the rain?!

Laser Prey

I often write about just how different Lilah and Ritter are from on another. Well, this post is no different. Psh, why would it be?

Cat owners have long known that a laser is a cheap and relatively lazy way to play with a pet. This same concept also applies to dogs. But it is kind of dependent on how strong of a prey drive your dog exhibits.

For example, Lilah has a strong prey drive which is why she loves to chase after the soccer ball or root around for lizards. Ritter has a low(er) prey drive and is more laid back, happy to just do his own thing and relax next to you.

So, as the video will display, they have different views in regards to the laser pointer and just how much of their attention it deserves.



Despite the thunk sound of her muzzle hitting the ground, when Lilah goes after the laser against my leg, it doesn't hurt at all. It's more like a hard nudge with a soft muzzle, and oddly a pleasant feeling (to me at least).

Ritter's a smart guy. I think Ritter realizes that the laser is an intangible thing that no matter how hard he tries to catch, will still exist to tease him. Understanding this, he deems it unworthy of his extended attention, when the floor beneath him is tangible and completely lickable.

Lilah, however, will spend a good while chasing the laser around, even tracking it to where she thinks it's hiding under he dog bowl/feeder. She will lie down and wait for it to come back out so she can hunt it.

Private Lessons

Today Lilah and I joined my mom and Ritter for their private training class so that we could address the issues between the two dogs. One thing that I need to mention is that this is the same trainer that taught the Beginner's class that Lilah and I attended when she was a puppy (over a year and a half ago).

And though it's been a long time since Lilah last saw the trainer, I'm pretty damn sure she remembered him. Because even though she's a wiggle-butt greeter under normal circumstances, she just played herself up to the max level. She wiggled her butt. She greeted him politely enough without jumping on him. She reacted positively and intelligently to his instruction. And followed every damn one of his commands.

In a way, it could be said that Lilah's behavior made me and the trainer both look good as well; showed that I was capable of applying the training and handling her, and that the trainer was successful in teaching me how to train her. Seriously though, where was the barky and obstinate dog that I was so used to? The one that snatches up any piece of paper product that you drop? The one that gives you a flat tire and untied shoelaces when you try to leave a room? *sigh*

Lilah with all her star power and ability to make others shine along with her, however, did not make Ritter's issues any less apparent. Poor Ritter was his normal public self: nervous and reserved, wedged into the small space next to my mom's stool. Reservation among strangers is more the standard for their breed.

Lilah is a huge anomaly in that regard. Any person that passed the training area and made eye contact with her for the briefest moment got that weirdly bushy butt of hers wiggling and her little paws stamping in excitement. An elderly Asian lady actually threw away all semblance of dignity and spent a couple minutes making funny faces at Lilah and wiggling her body in answer to Lilah's. It was kind of bizarre, but that's the kind of draw Lilah has. A very potent and dangerous power.

If Lilah were a human, she'd be that sister that you just hate because she's so damn good at making you look bad. And she can't help but do it every time.

Who Needs an Alarm Clock?

I'm a pretty deep sleeper; I've always been. However, I find that setting my cellphone's alarm to vibrate and placing it on my wooden bedside table to be very effective. Others in the house, on the other hand, use obnoxious and loud alarms that are equally annoying and ineffective.

But despite the wonderful waking powers of a loudly vibrating cellphone, I have discovered an alarm clock with near perfect get-your-ass-out-of-bed-ability. What's the name of this magnificent device? you might ask. Why, none other than LILAH!

It's 8 AM, and you're snug in your bed, dreaming gentle dreams, when you hear something odd penetrate your REM sleep. *Scritch* *Scritch* The sound of claws scratching against the painted wood of your bedroom door, followed by a muffled whimper. Maybe it's an instinctual reaction reaching back to those primal days when men feared beasts descending upon them in their sleep, and so grew unconsciously hyper-aware to the sound of claws, I can't really say. But I'm awake.

The dogs are not allowed upstairs where the flooring is predominately carpeted. Ritter though, with his insecurities, found a way to knock down the makeshift barrier (ok, really just a package of Bounty paper towels) and make his way upstairs. He usually does it during the day when no one is downstairs. Interestingly while Ritter is running around upstairs trying to locate my mom, Lilah remains downstairs calmly lying about the hallway.

That being the case, how come my mom never complains to me about Ritter scratching at her door in the morning to wake her up? Sure, she'll come across him, sitting pretty and waiting for her outside the bathroom in the morning, but that's after she's already woken up on her own accord.

*Sigh* So purchase yourself an alarm clock dog today. The cost? Only a couple extra hours of sleep everyday.

Touch!

If you're around the house in the afternoon, you might find yourself annoyed by the constant repetition of "Touch."

It's a simple game/training exercise of getting the dog to touch an object (my hand) with its paw or nose. It's pretty easy to teach and can be a fun challenge for your dog. In conjunction with treats I also use a clicker to accustom the dogs to future click-training. I think touch is usually the starting off point for more demanding skills like turning off lights, closing doors, etc.

But I have a problem. The dogs, being miniature, can't reach the light switches even if we had easily dog-accessible switches for them to try to turn off. I tried to get them to shut the cabinet door as a precursor to closing actual doors, but the loud slamming sound disconcerts them. What to do?

They do enjoy it though, as limited as it is right now. Both Ritter and Lilah love to learn and they love to do tricks, for Ritter especially if there are food treats involved. Hmm, what useful thing can I teach the to do with touch...I'll have to get back to you when I figure something out.

Ritter's First Day of School

I never got around to writing about Ritter's first day of (dog) school, so here goes.

It was difficult getting him into the car. Ritter didn't grow up with car rides, and what we know, very limited interactions with cars in general. It was a struggle getting him into my car. After a lot of pulling, pushing, luring and coercing, I finally just picked him up and deposited him onto the back seat.

It was his first time going on the freeway. Up until that point, the fastest Ritter had ever traveled was 45 MPH on wide boulevards. There's was a little more pacing and panting than usual on the 35 minute drive, but overall he did well and seemed to enjoy looking out the window.

It was difficult getting him out of the car. Getting him into the car was nothing compared to getting him out. Once again there was pulling, pushing, luring and coercing, but he managed to keep dancing around on the back seat and would then jump into the front seat. What happened next though really made me wish we had just sucked up some pride and copied the woman in the car next to us. Pick the dog up from the car to carry it out (though her dog was probably 15 pounds lighter than Ritter).

I won't dance around it: he peed on my perforated leather seats. I wasn't angry with him because what good would that do? He's already scared and anxious enough to let loose his bladder, no point in adding to his fears. The small confines of my back seat made it difficult to get in there and pick him up though. At that point I sucked up any semblance of dignity I had wanted to maintain, and showed the world just how little control I could exert over my mom's dog when I finally carried him awkwardly out of the car.

Once he entered the store he was fine, albeit his normal anxious self. My mom worried that Ritter wasn't learning anything while he hid underneath her stool. But really the in-store training is meant for the owner of the dog. I thought Ritter did well considering he was in a completely foreign environment.

After class we wandered in the store. He was very patient and didn't fuss at all, unlike some other dog we know. *cough*lilah*cough* While my mom and I were looking at a product, Ritter sat patiently near us. To my left I hear two young boys comment about a dog and start to run my way when their dad tells them to slow down and ask.

"Can we pet him?" they asked. Two boys between 5 and 8 stood about a foot away from us.

I said yes of course and they pet Ritter on the head and shoulder. The boys giggled and ran back to their dad who told them to say thank you. So cute. And Ritter, while not lapping up the attention, was dignified and gentle.

My mom also reported that a young girl who petted him commented on how soft his fur was, which is very true.

In the couple of weeks that my mom has bee working with him on the training, he seems to be doing very well. As long as you have some chicken to treat him with, I'm sure Ritter could even learn how to steer a car.

Hide and Seek

If I ever get lost, I want them to send Ritter for me!

Yesterday, as part of the car ride adventure, we took the dogs to play at my grandma's house. It's a very nice yard with a large (empty) pond, a small grass area, stone walkways, raised ground areas, a bridge, and a long driveway. Overall it seems like a fun place to adventure if you're a dog or a young child.

When you read puppy books, they suggest playing hide and seek with your dog as a part of a bonding game. I guess also if you wanted to practice recall with them too.

Our yard, before the trees were cleared and the new fence put in, had a lot of vegetation to hide behind. I sometimes used to play hide and seek with Lilah when she was little, but she often found other things more interesting than looking for me. Or maybe she didn't feel it worth it to actively go to me, when I was clearly hiding behind the apricot tree.

Ritter, however, is a joy to play this game with. He'll trot around the yard with a slightly worried expression on his face as he searches known hiding places. Sometimes he gets help from bystanders in the yard, pointing towards my hiding place, but he always finds me to receive his reward of kisses and lots of affection.

So that's what we spent a lot of time doing at my grandma's backyard. Ritter found me majority of the time, with Lilah hot on his heels. After a certain point though, Lilah kind of stopped caring and Ritter hounded me everywhere so as not to lose sight of me.

I do wonder though, if I could wait long enough for Ritter to rescue me. The longest I've seen him in motion was yesterday and that was maybe an hour at most...Let's just hope we aren't separated by too much distance then when I get lost.

Doggy Passengers

Yesterday my mom and I took the dogs for a drive. Lilah loves riding in the car for some reason and it's good for Ritter to see the world outside, even if it is a little blurry and muted. He used to hate riding in the car. It took herculean strength to lift his unwilling body into the car. Then he shivered and drooled in the back seat at first, the car racing along at the speed of 5 MPH. Not to mention he peed in my car when we tried to coerce him out...

I'm a visual person; I enjoy diagrams. And so you shall receive diagrams. Specifically diagrams of how the dogs are placed when we ride in the car. (Do not judge me by my poor textual diagrams)

P = People
L = Lilah
R = Ritter

One Person + Ritter

  - - -
[]      []
  P
      R
[]      []
  - - -

Two People + Ritter

  - - -
[]      []
  P   P
   R
[]      []
  - - -

One Person + Lilah

  - - -
[]      []
  P   L

[]      []
  - - - 

Two People + Lilah

  - - -
[]      []
  P  LP

[]      []
  - - - 

Two People + Two Dogs
  - - -                                 - - -
[]      []                            []      []
   P   P              or              P   LP
   R   L          sometimes           R
[]      []                            []      []
  - - -                                  - - -

Notice a pattern here?

Lilah has pretty much always ridden in the front seat. When she was a puppy, she typically sat in the front passenger seat, on the front passenger if there was one. It really made no difference if there was a person under her fuzzy butt or not. It was only recently that she started (forced) to ride in the back, perhaps to allay Ritter's fears.

So going back to the initial story, the dogs were riding in the back, and my mom and I were in the front. We stopped by the local BR to get some ice cream. I stayed in the car with the dogs while my mom went to purchase the ice cream.

As soon as the car door was shut, Lilah hopped into the front seat and quite prettily sat her rump down. When my mom returned, Lilah refused to move. She did however grace my mom with a look that boldly stated, "Yes? May I help you with something?" As is required in any stand off with Lilah, my mom pressed on determined, lowering herself into the seat.

What could Lilah do but yield? Lilah deigned to grant my mom half the seat and waited patiently for the drive to begin.

Dog Jogging Pt. 2

So after yesterday's undignified run for my life, my mom commented that Lilah was slightly limping. Lilah being as active as she is, sometimes gets hurt like any athlete. And like any athlete though, she typically walks it off. She continued to run around and play soccer with my brother like normal.

However later that evening, Lilah was noticeably limping, putting as little pressure as possible on her front right paw. My mom has always been kind and nurturing towards me and my brothers, and just as much so towards the dogs. She immediately told me to comfort Lilah as she herself sat down at the floor to scratch and soothe Lilah. So there we both sat on the ground, with Lilah comfortably resting in my lap while my mom gently stroked her and cooed at her.

Where was my sympathy a couple days ago when Lilah's demon speed caused me to injure my knee and limp around the house? My mom certainly didn't order Lilah to lick my wound! Even on the run earlier, I had gotten cut from some brush Lilah ran me past. Injustice I say!

All kidding aside though, I'll have to keep my eye on her because if it persists or gets worse the next couple of days, we'll have to visit the vet. Lilah isn't one to make a big fuss over an injury. She's tough as nails. So it's possible she could cause further damage to herself. Guess I'll have some time to let my injury heal too.

Dog Jogging Pt. 1

Ritter is going to have his first dog training class on Saturday! (Which of course I'll write about) In order to help quell Ritter's innate anxiety, my mom's been given the task of getting Ritter accustomed to exercising sans Lilah as she usually prevents him from doing so. So while my mom takes him out on her own to play in a "fenced in meadow," I've been taking Lilah on run/walks.

Lilah, despite having gone through basic training, isn't the best walker. She does, however, love to run. So for the past few days, I've put on my running shoes and taken her on run/walks. For the most part she does remarkably well. Once she finally stops squealing and yipping in excitement. And I finally convince her that no, we're not going to the car. And she finally stops trying to backpedal to the front porch. And I finally get her past our property line.

Aside from all that it takes to get her started, she's actually quite pleasant to jog with. I slowly jog while she keeps a quick trot. Every now and then I have to suddenly halt when she decides a spot of grass needs to be marked. Or when she decides to poop. And then poops again a few blocks later. After I've already used and thrown away the one poop bag I brought along...I have since learned to tie on three bags to her leash, just in case.

The only problem is once we reach the home stretch, that straight shot of two blocks to home, Lilah takes off at a full sprint. Now I can run pretty fast, my bow-legged-ness giving me a springy-quick stride, but Lilah has a body meant for speed. You know how a running cheetah has a spine that allows it to flex and bow? Yeah, Lilah's long back does that. Her mad dash for home requires that I stomp down hard to maintain my balance and to kind of rein her in.

So down the two blocks we go, Lilah wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth, panting so hard it sounds like a warthog on the rampage. And me, with my loud stomping, ugly form and silent plea for her to trot back home on a loose leash like a normal, tired dog.

Somehow I find myself at home, nearly collapsing on the front steps as Lilah's spittle covers her muzzle and her drool starts to pool at her feet. Zero dignity.

Another Water Day!

Hot weather + dirty dogs = water day!

Lilah loves anything that shoots water. She's like that kid that spends hours on a slip and slide. Or better yet, the kid that sits right in front of the shooting sprinkler head, laughing with the goofiest grin.

Knowing this about Lilah, I purchased some new SuperSoakers with which to shoot her. My brother enjoyed aiming his shots at her open mouth, much like that carnival game where you shoot the clowns mouth to fill the balloon. Maybe it was the constant refilling of the water reservoirs and the pumping action required or just my brother's drive for excessiveness, but he dumped the guns and straight picked up the hose.

My absolute favorite picture of the day. In yo' face!!!
She gets pretty into it. You constantly hear the frightening snap of teeth.
Lilah truly looks happy when she's playing with water or a soccer ball.
Here, listen for the snapping:


One thing we noticed about Ritter, after a certain point he didn't want to play with the pools anymore. My mom suggested we drag the pools to the shady part of the yard. Ritter began to play once again.

See, we started in the sun.


Ultimately, this is why the dogs can only play with water right before getting a bath:


Bonus Footage! Get ready to be jealous of Rolling Ritter!

An Evening Snack

"The hot summer sun had descended and made way for the cool night with its gentle breeze. Well, the young possum, dubbed Pat, crawled forth from his hiding spot and popped his head out from the garage. Raising his moist, pink nose and gazing up at the stars with his black, beady eyes, Pat deemed it a most pleasant evening for a stroll.

At first, he quenched his thirst at a small pool of hose water that had collected in an old clay pot. But then the scent of ripe blueberries wafted towards him on an easy breeze. He did feel a bit peckish and those blueberries were looking quite plump and delicious.

He gracefully waddled to the nearest cluster of blueberry bushes. Not being one to waste time and energy, Pat dined on the finest berries that had already fallen to the ground. And if he happened to come across a tasty bug or two, even better.

In the distance, he was aware or something going schnick but paid no mind to it and continued to nose around for delicacies. Pat did, however, notice the skittering of nails followed by the thundering of paws. He recalled the feeling of being carried in large jaws and the unpleasantness of being stepped on and confined.

With the speed of a fat cat, Pat climbed his way up into one of the blueberry pots. The familiar scent of a big grayish thing with a black nose and large teeth was getting stronger. He could hear it searching for him. "I'd like to see it try this time!" Pat gleefully thought to himself as he dove between a set of v-shaped stems.

Pat tucked his head down and slowed his breathing just in time to feel a very blunt and wet nose jab into his side, inhaling deeply. For a moment his heart stopped.

But just as soon as the nose had arrived, it was gone, preceded by a call and followed with a resounding schnick.

"Guess I better get this meal to go," Pat said to no one."


Really, what other story could you come up with when you come upon a possum tucked into a ball in branching base stems of a blueberry plant, making itself difficult to get a mouth around, let alone be pulled free from the bush?

Twist Them Hips!

When Ritter first arrived at our home, he was reserved and quiet. Due to Lilah's obnoxious behavior, he was essentially confined to his crate. He's come a long way since then.

One thing that always makes me happy to see is Ritter rolling around on the grass or the rugs inside. He does it with such pure joy and derives such pleasure from it that it kind of makes me jealous. Okay, not kind of, I'm definitely jealous every time.

Something so simple as rubbing your face into the ground and then rolling onto your back to twist your hips and shoulders back and forth can make you that happy? I long for that easy life! And he always finishes his rolling session with a very satisfied snort/sneeze. It's like a 15 second pick me up that never fails.

I once witnessed Ritter twist on his back a distance of 10 feet down the slight incline of our dying backyard lawn. He must have been in seventh heaven!

Captured this roll session long distance (15-20ft) with my cellphone.
ENHANCE. Look at the expression on that super pixelated face!

Solar Powered Puppy

Living in sunny Southern California means that majority of days are blue sky and bright sun. I don't mind it, running on the cold side and having only lived here. Apparently Lilah also doesn't mind it, because most mornings she dashes outside just to settle down for a good sunbathing session. Then she's all set and ready to play for the rest of the day.

However, on the few occasions that it's dreary or overcast outside, Lilah just lies around. Maybe she's depressed or maybe she's suffering from astigmatism (light bouncing off clouds can cause headaches for people with astigmatism). Either way, she's got no juice until the clouds either drift away or burn up.

Which leads me to believe that Lilah is solar powered. A solar powered puppy.

Now Ritter on the other hand, he travels from shady spot to shady spot, until he ends up running inside the house. He was born in snow country. I've nicknamed him Vampire Pup and imagine him coming from Transylvania.

The Importance of "Drop It"

It's been pretty hot here in Los Angeles this past week. In fact, it's been so hot that it has actually woken nocturnal animals up during the day due to the fact that they're so hot and thirsty. Case in point: Monday's Possum.

My mom and I, along with my brother let the dogs out around early afternoon. Like normal they raced out the door, Lilah to the back of the yard behind the garage to hunt for lizards (I'll address this in another post) and Ritter to the blueberry bushes on the patio where my mom likes to hang out and admire her hard work.

Except instead of hanging around her legs, Ritter darted into a tightly clustered grouping of blueberry bushes adjacent to the open garage. He was nosing after something, but I just figured it was a lizard that he wouldn't be able to catch. So I headed on back to where Lilah was to check on her progress when Ritter emerged from the bushes with something in his mouth.

"Aaaah! Drop it Ritter!" I said in that freaked out kind of tone.

Ritter did the equivalent of "ptooey" and ran in excitement to the back where Lilah was.

I had been quite wrong. Not only had he caught what he had been nosing after, but it was no lizard. Ritter had managed to catch a young possum, no bigger than a huge rat. He must have a soft mouth because he didn't puncture the possum, nor did it look injured. It did however look dead, as possums are known to do in the face of opposition.

In all the commotion of trying to round up the dogs, my mom yelling for Ritter and my brother trying to corral Lilah, Lilah zoomed past and actually stepped on the poor possum. I still believe that she had no idea what was going on and was just running around in the frenzy. She's really not the type to help a situation. Me, being the calm collected one of the group, ran off to fetch a container to cover the possum with until we got the dogs settled inside.

If you're imagining this scene in all its frantic glory, you can understand why my neighbor actually stuck his head out of his second story window to stare at us. I tried to ignore him.

Once we had it secured in a container in the shade with some water and a little fruit, we decided to let it go at dusk in my grandma's backyard (no dogs). After about an hour it too, had calmed down and was actually sleeping from all the stress and daylight. Up until that point I had stayed outside with it to make sure it didn't go anywhere. It mostly just hissed at me and opened its mouth. Well, no harm in going inside for a moment to get a drink and check on the dogs.

I got back outside just in time to see it climbing out of the container and wandering back into the garage. So much for that plan of releasing it at my grandma's. Hopefully though it learned its lesson to only wander outside at night.

Emergency Preparedness Part 2

I finally completed gathering everything for Lilah's emergency bag.

It's roughly a 2-3 day kit that includes things she'll need if we have to evacuate our house. My goal was to pack all her necessities into her own pack and still have it be plausible for her to carry (10-20% of her body weight). As it is, I think it weighs 5-6 lbs. A breakdown of what I have packed:
Mountainsmith Dog Pack (Small)
Food and Water
-Stella & Chewy's Freeze-Dried Dinners - 17 patties vacuum packed in 5 bags
-Emergency Water Packets - 4 @ 125ml/packet
-Nalgene Collapsible Cantene - 32oz. (compact and empty, but option of carrying water)
Gear
-Dog Identification Card
-6ft. Leash
-Harness
-Dog Travel Bowl
-Poop Bags - 1 roll
-Tempo Paper Towels - 2 packs
-Ziploc Bags - 2 1-gallon and 2 1-quart
-Duct Tape
-Nylon Cordage - 11ft.
-Emergency Survival Blanket
-Emergency Glow Stick
-Dog Toy
-Water Treatment Tablets - 5
-Elastic Bandage Wrap

Even though Lilah and Ritter get fed traditional kibble, I opted to pack the freeze-dried raw meat patties into their packs because of the shelf life (1 year) and the space/weight. I read that a simple method to gauge a dog's daily water requirement is .5-1oz of water per pound. Lilah weighs about 30 lbs. and each packet is 4.224 oz. (125 ml.) She most definitely needs more water than is packed, however I intend to share my water with her. Which is where the collapsible cantene comes in. It's compact, but allows me the option of packing more water for Lilah.

Her gear list seems pretty standard to me. Maybe throw in a roll of Ace bandage material or a muzzle and if I had extra cash to spare, a set of dog booties. I also have an animal first aid booklet, but that's probably going to be packed in my pack.

One important thing though is I made a laminated card, roughly 5" x 7", with Lilah's identification information like her Los Angeles animal license registration information and her microchip information along with a shrunk copy of her rabies vaccination. Of course included is my contact information. In my own kit I have a copy of that same card along with pictures of her and Ritter, and me with Lilah. Hmm, maybe I should include a picture of me and my mom in her kit too...


Not too bulgy or cumbersome either.

This kit was made with the intention that we have to evacuate our home and possibly walk to our next destination, wherever it might be. That's why I put a heavy emphasis on keeping the weight down and having Lilah carry her own things because I'll have my own pack to carry too.

The most expensive item was the pack itself at $30 on sale at REI. The food typically is expensive, but I had a great coupon at Centinela. With that in mind, this whole kit cost roughly $60 to put together as some things I already had on hand.



Ritter's pack isn't as complete as Lilah's because hers was more of an experimental thing, to see how viable it was. Now buying Ritter's gear will be a snap!

Are You Prepared?

With the recent events of Japan, those of us in Quakeland, California, have just remembered that at one point we made earthquake kits in case of emergencies. Except that was probably several years ago and by now any perishable goods have expired.

I totally revamped my earthquake grab-n-go bag. As I was tossing out some five year old dog food in a plain ziploc bag, I realized that a dog should have its own emergency kit as well!

Luckily I found a pretty good bag on sale at REI, the Mountainsmith Dog Pack. I expected Lilah to balk, run away, and hide under the table as she totally despises being confined or restricted in any manner. Surprisingly though, I tossed it over her back like a cowboy saddling up a horse, and strapped her in, all without her causing a fuss.

Okay, that was easy enough. She must be planning to roll around and squirm out of it or try and chew through the straps, I thought to myself. But Lilah was quite content wearing it. She looked almost proud to have it on, like it gave her a sense of duty. It looked pretty good on her too.

She had no problem moving with it on. Lilah ran around the yard, played some soccer and was her normal self while wearing the pack. It was a delightful surprise.

Ritter on the hand looked completely uncomfortable when I tried to put it on him. Yes, I did adjust the straps for his more robust body, but he kept hunching his back. But you have to remember that Ritter has come a long way since he first arrived in our home. He had never worn a collar before or walked on a leash. He did look very uncomfortable, so maybe he might need a different style pack.

She Doesn't Learn

*sigh* Lilah is sick again with tummy troubles. Good thing we have some medicine leftover from the last time she had the exact same problem. I started giving her the medicine yesterday, and judging by her level of activity she's feeling better.

Except now that she's feeling better and despite our combined efforts to get her to stop, she's back to chomping down on my mom's blueberry fertilizer, which is what probably made her sick in the first place.

Oranges from the Sky

Lilah has this annoying habit of managing to see something, or thinking she sees something, scurrying around outside, while she is locked away inside behind glass doors. You might think to yourself, "why is that annoying? She should be praised for her great observational ability." And I wouldn't hesitate a moment to say, "shut your mouth!"

Because what follows is non-stop barking and pounding against a 5'x1' glass plane inset into a wooden door frame that I will eventually have to pay to replace from all the damage she has inflicted upon it. If you look carefully, you can actually see the glass kind of flex when Lilah stands on her hind legs and slams her front paws against it, barking incessantly the. whole. time.

Even when we try to block the window up with cardboard and chairs, she just gets on her hind legs and lets gravity aid her in pushing down the barrier.

It used to be more of a problem when the fence was all broken. But now that it's fixed, it's usually easier to just let her rush out the door and hunt down whatever it was she (thought she) saw.

So the other day in the early afternoon while I was relaxing downstairs using my laptop, I heard the scrabbling of feet and the slamming of paws against glass just seconds before the brain-piercing barking began. I pushed her away from the door long enough to unlock and open it a sliver before she squirmed her way past me and out the barely opened door, Ritter and me hot on her heels.

We race to the back of the yard, behind the garage where the phone pole stands slightly leaning. The dogs are sniffing at the base of it. Lilah looks up and watches the squirrel that's perched on the neighbors fence, it's mouth clamped on the partly eaten orange.

Now I can see what it's planning. That squirrel wants to jump, with the orange gripped in its mouth, from the wall to the phone pole, a decent foot away. Lilah and Ritter by that time are either sniffing the ground or looking at me, wondering slightly why I'm not bugging them.

The squirrel jumps! It grasps the phone pole, but has lost its orange during the trip. The orange hits unsuspecting Lilah on the side of her head. She immediately looks up and around her, trying to figure out the origin of the orange. I can't help it, I laugh really hard for the next couple of minutes as she keeps looking up and all around her, paranoid that another orange will hit her on the head.

For a dog as proud as Lilah to be paranoid like that for a moment, it was damn funny.

Doggie Blankets: Are They Necessary?

Now that it isn't so hand numbingly cold, I find it a bit easier to type. Which means that I now have the opportunity to write about some cute things that happened during the more frigid periods of an L.A. winter.

My house lacks heating, so if you want to stay warm in winter, you either have to bake a lot or wear tons of clothes that most people reserve for the outdoors (think down jackets, wool socks and long underwear). The dogs, on the other hand, just have themselves. Neither me nor my mom are the type to dress up our dogs... Well, okay, I'm not so sure about my mom. But so far, our dogs don't wear sweaters or booties. So just how cold do they get, if they get cold at all?

Photographic proof that Lilah was cold!


Look at those cute back feet tucked under her front legs! And she pretty much only does this when she's cold.

Then I got to wondering, if she's arranging herself to stay warmer, would she appreciate a blanket? Because in her situation, I know that I definitely would.


She didn't seem to mind. Under normal circumstances, Lilah would have started playing and tugging at the towel. But in this case, I guess it was a perfect mix of fatigue and desire to stay warm that kept her calmly resting with the towel tucked around her, undisturbed.

Holiday Gifts

I never got around to it, because I was waiting on myself to upload pictures. But I finally did it, about two months later...

Yes, I bought the dogs Christmas presents. I purchased two IQ Treat Balls by Smarter Toys (5-inch). I figured it'd be fine if I got the same toy for the both of them, because Lilah would be jealous of whatever Ritter had, and Ritter would steal whatever toy Lilah had.


My brother got a nice Nylabone for Ritter, which he loves, and a rope ball toy for Lilah, which she immediately started to tug on.


And my mom gave them a couple round and ridgy chew toys and two ridiculously funny looking fabric toys with lots of appendages that are great for whipping around or playing tug of war.


Most of their toys were pretty straightforward, except for the treat balls. It's weighted on the bottom and has a divider in the middle of it with an adjustable hole opening that allows the treats placed in the bottom half of the toy to pass to the top half of the toy. It's the dogs job to bat the ball around until it can knock the treats out of the ball's opening in the top half of the dome.

Lilah immediately figured out how to get the treats out and began smacking the ball all over the room. She even advanced to the level where she was putting heavy backspin on it so it would rotate the ball, but essentially keep it in place.



Ritter was not so ingenious. His approach, as with most toys, is to chew on it until it breaks. I thought the ball was big enough to not fit in his jaw. But apparently it has these ridges that allow him to grip it. He started to gnaw on those ridges after he would try, unsuccessful, to lick the treats out of the ball.

Do Dogs Look Up?

Yesterday when we let the dogs out before settling down for bed, my mom and I noticed a lot of giant spotlights moving around the overcast sky. I guess either we had never really noticed such things before or there were just that many spotlights going all around. Seeing as how it was the middle of the week, we couldn't come up with any readily available explanations that would warrant such a display. So we stood in the cold darkness just staring into the sky, and wondering. Okay, maybe 'wondering' isn't accurate. The lights freaked my mom out.

Surprisingly though, Lilah also noticed. Personally, I think it's rare for dogs to look up towards the sky for prolonged periods of time. But that's what she did. For a good three minutes she sat and stared up at the spotlights dancing along the clouds with the most puzzled expression. Maybe it was also the sound of a passing helicopter that drew her attention. Either way, it was an eerily human reaction to something so curious.

A New Do

Today we took the dogs to get their nails trimmed and to get a little grooming done. Okay, a sanitary cut because my mom insists on wiping them and it's easier to find the target when there's less hair...I know you're thinking about it and making a 'gross' face. Don't.

Normally, for Lilah's nails I try to trim them myself. It involves me following her around the breakfast room for an hour and trying to clip a single nail. She's one of those fussy dogs that doesn't really like her feet being touched, squeezed or gripped. But if I keep at it long enough, she gives up and resigns herself to getting her nails clipped. It's not like I clip it so close it bleeds, so I don't know what her problem is.

I've never had to clip Ritter's nails because for some reason they just don't seem to get that long. Which kind of doesn't make sense when you compare him to Lilah. Lilah runs around a lot, so you would think her nails would wear down from all the activity. Ritter doesn't move nearly as much as Lilah, and yet his are usually short while Lilah's are long like claws. But my mom likes it when the fur between the dogs' pads is clipped short, so she pretty much gets his nails trimmed for that extra service.

For the sanitary trim, I don't mind doing it myself with some scissors. However I'm pretty sure my mom calls it a hack job behind my back. We did take Lilah to PetSmart once to get her nails clipped, pads trimmed, and sanitary cut. It was a disaster that left everyone exasperated and very annoyed.

Strangely though, the dogs seem relatively calm and easier to handle at the vet's. I have a sneaking suspicion that they drugged Lilah because she wasn't nearly as restless throughout the day and there was a suspicious "assistant technician fee"...perhaps the fee required for the guy administering her shot?

For what it costs though, I'd rather spend two hours following Lilah around the house trying to clip her nails and trim her fur. Ritter, well that's my mom's responsibility...

After months, we're free!

For the past few months, we've had to coordinate letting our dogs into the backyard with our neighbor. Our old, dilapidated, rustic-looking fence finally collapsed under the weight of the neighbor's dog, an enthusiastic pit bull-mix puppy. W (for the sake of anonymity) liked to jump on the fence and try to get over to our side, either driven by the desire for new human acquaintances or by the allure of both Lilah and Ritter. Just for the record, W succeeded a couple times in crossing over to our yard.

Well, Ritter would have nothing of the sort and the two would have at it (Lilah doesn't really notice the presence of other dogs). At first we all tried to mend the fence with wooden planks, particle board, metal grates, and poles to prop up the fence. All it did was offer W more purchase when trying to jump up the fence. So, in order to keep the peace and what little hope we had of preserving the fence, we had to call our neighbor and make sure that her dogs (W and B, a friendly, but older black lab) were in when ours were to go out.

It was inconvenient, tiring, annoying and sometimes not well coordinated. It created a lot of stress for dogs and humans alike.

So my mom and our neighbor finally came to an agreement. After this past week of workmen chopping down five huge trees and putting in a brand new fence, the dogs were finally able to run free in a much wider yard without worry of an unexpected puppy visitor.

Ditch Digger

Remember last summer, how I was clearing out some dead birch trees, and the dogs were both helpful and unhelpful? So after all that, there's about 4.5 square feet of open dirt. When I had just removed the stumps, I had tried to clear out the debris in order to ready the ground for another tree.

Well, six months later and there's still no tree planted, but that does not mean, however, that I have given up. With all the rain from last month, the clay-like dirt was easy to work with. So I got out the pick axe and started once again to remove some residual roots.

And every time, the dogs are right there, wanting in on the action. Ritter cares about gnawing on the roots, whereas Lilah is more interested in freeing the root from the ground. However this time, since the dirt was so soft from the rains, Ritter couldn't resist.

I wasn't able to catch video of them digging, but I do have evidence from a previous event where we dumped fresh dirt into a hole.



If there's soft dirt nearby, give Ritter a good five foot radius because that dog likes to dig in all directions.

I have a picture of him lying in the ditch he dug out, but I'll have to upload that later.

Guess Who Turned 2!

Happy Birthday Lilah!

That's right, Lilah turned two today. Using the old method of converting a dog's age to a human equivalent, Lilah would be 14. However, there has been a greater effort in the past ten years to more accurately study the human-dog-age conversion. So according to the more updated versions, Lilah is the equivalent of anywhere between 21 and 24 years old (just google "calculating a dog's age").

More important than the updated dog-years conversion method is the fact that Lilah and I are the same age and pretty much at the same point in life. We're both unemployed, living at home with our guardians and still, luckily, rent-free. *sigh* such a depressing life.

Maybe I really should get Lilah into agility training. That way she'll have the title of being a professional athlete, something I always thought would be pretty cool. And she'll also be able to start covering some of her own costs, Miss I-can-eat-whatever-I-want-and-not-have-to-worry-about-paying-expensive-vet-bills!