Autumn at the dog park

I took some pictures of Keeley and Teagan at the dog park yesterday. It's been several months since I've blogged so I think it's pretty obvious that I'm taking a break from it. I'm going back to school so that is taking up most of my time. However, I will still try to post some pictures occasionally.
Keeley and Teagan are adjusting fairly well. They don't like the days that I'm in class all day and they don't like that I'm always telling them that I have to do homework. But they're good little dogs and are trying their best to be patient with me.
We still go to the dog park everyday but the schedule is a bit unpredictable. Keeley and Teagan have become quite a pair. They are always together and don't often allow other dogs into their little group anymore. Teagan still thinks she's the boss of Keeley but he has become more assertive with her and will only put up with so much now.
I think this picture is hilarious. Look at Keeley's expression; the poor guy! This is how Teagan chases Keeley. She really sticks her head under his butt and then like lifts up. It looks ridiculous! No wonder, her noggin always seems to smell like butt!

In the backyard...

This morning at Uncle Pete's

This morning the dogs' grandpa took them to their great-uncle Pete's backyard to run and play.
It's a really big yard with lots of space to run and lots of smells to sniff.
They really seem to like it there. When they first started visiting, Teagan would bark like crazy at Pete. But now she's realized that he's supposed to be there so she doesn't bark anymore.

New Outside Dog Beds

Keeley and Teagan's grandma bought them some nice new doggie beds for lounging in the outdoors. Keeley took to them right away.
Teagan didn't get the hang of them until the next day.
I think they're great. I only wish that we had like 4 more of them! I'm constantly moving them as the shady areas of the yard change throughout the day.

At the Dog Park

This is what Teagan does at the dog park. She chases tennis balls. For 45 minutes, she chases tennis balls.This is how she looks when you're about to throw the ball. Isn't she cute?
And this is what Keeley does at the dog park. He walks around sniffing things and peeing on things.
I'm not kidding. He pees on benches while people are sitting on them. He pees on trees, fences, clumps of grass, toys, posts, old dog poop, etc. He pees on other dogs if they're not careful about where they're putting their heads. He pees on water dishes. If someone sets their bag down, he'll pee on that too. Well, to each their own I suppose. Maybe peeing on things makes him happy. I don't know.
They are 2 very different dogs with their own agendas.
After Keeley is done sniffing and peeing, then he makes the rounds and gets petted by every human at the dog park. He's so freakin' charming that they usually give him treats too!
The whole time Teagan is still just chasing tennis balls. I tried to teach Keeley to fetch when he was younger and if I tried really hard I could get him to do it like 3 times in a row before he walked off and ignored me. Now I just let him do his thing. I'm too busy throwing balls for Teagan now and Keeley really seems to enjoy his independence too.
After he's done sniffing, peeing, and making the rounds, then he just watches things for a while.
Teagan chases tennis balls. But she won't chase just any ball. It has to be one that's thrown by me or her grandma. Sometimes someone else will try to throw one for her but she doesn't even budge for it.
I always thought it would be cool to have a dog that fetched. It's certainly one of the coolest things about Teagan. And she's so tired afterwards.
Before we leave the park, she drinks a bunch of water and then goes right to sleep once she gets in the car.

Dog Duty

Perhaps my pups have grown too accustomed to me being home with them since I had been unemployed for the past year. The transition to me going to work each day hasn't been going exactly smoothly. Twice I've come home to find that Teagan has had a potty accident in her crate. And last weekend Keeley had vomited in his crate. Not to mention that I miss them dearly while I'm at work.During the week, their grandma is on dog duty. She takes them to the dog park and then they come home and nap together. She reports that they stick to her like glue when I'm gone.
Since both their grandma and I work during the weekends, that means their grandpa gets to do some dog duty too. He picks them up and takes them to their great uncle Pete's back yard. It's a big yard with lots of space to run and smells to sniff. They like to chase birds and squirrels while their grandpa digs in the garden.

When I come home they don't want to let me out of their sight. Keeley has taken to sleeping practically on top of me at night.

How strange is this?

Today at the dog park there weren't many dogs around. At one point it was just me, Keeley, and Teagan. Then a guy and his dog showed up.

If there were like ten dogs there, I probably wouldn't have looked twice at this other dog, but since it was the only other one there I was paying more attention to it. It was the same size as Teagan, all long legs and tiny waist.

So I asked the guy what kind of dog it was and he said it was a lab. I responded that it must still be a puppy because labs generally get to be twice as big as Teagan when they're fully grown. He agreed that it was still a puppy.

So then I asked how old it was. I was guessing like 6 or 7 months but the guy said no, it's over a year old. He also said that he still expected it to gain another 6-8 inches in height over the next year and fill out. I thought that was kind of odd since I thought dogs were, for the most part, done growing once they got to a year old, but I held my tongue and didn't say anything.

I sat there watching this dog for a couple more minutes. It was a shiny jet black color with a tiny white spot on it's chest. It liked to run fast and play chase and was just as fast as Teagan. It's tail was about the same length as Tess's and had a slight curl to it. And it's body shape was exactly like Teagan's.

So I asked the guy if he got it from the Humane Society here and he said he did when she was just a puppy. Then I asked if her birthday happened to be March 10th and he looked surprised and asked how could I know that. I told him that's because it's Teagan's birthday too and told him I think they're sisters. But he refused to hear it and insisted that his dog was a black lab, not a mutt. So I let it drop.

I sat there watching the dogs run and play and the guy continued to talk about his dog. I became more and more convinced that this was another one of Teagan's litter mates. He said he got her when she was 10 weeks old and that her name was Mandy. So I asked him if her other litter mates at the Humane Society all had names that started with M's too. Again he was surprised that I knew this so I told him that Teagan's name used to be Mona but I changed it.

Still he insisted that Mandy and Teagan were not sisters. He said that his is a black lab and that the other dogs in the litter were black too but that there were only 3 of them total. But if Teagan and Tess had already been adopted before he got there, of course it would look like there were only 3 dogs in the litter. And for that matter, I've been saying that there were 5 dogs in the litter but I don't know that for a fact either since there could have been more that were adopted before I got there and I wouldn't have known. Anyhow, I decided not to argue with the guy.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me today, but you can be sure I'm going to be bringing one from now on in case we ever run into Mandy again.

Meet Tess

Looks like Teagan. Acts like Teagan. But it's not Teagan, because it's TESS! Today at the dog park we ran into one of Teagan's biological sisters and her name is Tess.

They came from a litter of 5 girls and the Humane Society gave them all names that started with M's. Teagan's name was Mona before we got her. Tess was obviously renamed by her new parents as well.
I've always hoped to one day run into one of Teagan's litter mates. I knew she was Teagan's sister the moment I saw Tess. They do look an awful lot alike, don't they? Teagan is a little taller and longer. Tess is a little more blond and more sturdy. Teagan's tail is longer and curlier. Tess is more well adjusted and doesn't have any hang ups about other dogs or resource guarding. However, it is clear that they are related. They both love to run fast and chase balls. Also they both can entertain themselves for hours with just 2 tennis balls.
It was hard to get a good picture because Tess was moving so fast but here's a shot of the two sisters together. I wonder if some day we'll run into the other 3 girls in the litter. I hope so because it was so cool meeting Tess at the dog park today!

Foolishness!

Here's a little update about all that's happened in the last couple of weeks....

Their birthday party got Teagan all riled up and in a bad mood. She was throwing around her bad attitude several times a day, everyday after the party. Then one Sunday, while she was giving Keeley a piece of her mind, she got him in the eye! Oh man, was she ever in the dog house then! What a b*tch, huh?

My poor Keeley boy! It didn't look very serious but there was a little blood. So obviously we had to take him to the vet because you don't want to take chances with eyes. Fortunately, he's fine. She didn't actually get him in the eye. Turns out she just missed and nicked his lower eyelid instead. There's no damage to his actually eye. He's just got eyedrops we have to put in everyday to prevent infection. We also decided that Keeley deserved some special treatment and Teagan deserved some punishment. Keeley was totally thinking Arby's and that sounded like it would fit the bill. So while Keeley got a special trip to the Arby's drive-thru, Teagan got left home alone (which she hates with a passion!).

The next day Keeley was thinking Dairy Queen and got a special trip to the DQ Drive -thru while Teagan got left home alone again. And the day after that Keeley was thinking McDonalds but I told him that enough was enough! I don't want him to get fat!

Since the eye incident, Teagan has not had any more psycho b*tch episodes. It could be in part due to us getting a D.A.P. Diffuser (Dog Appeasing Pheromone). Our vet recommended it and it seems to work. It was kinda pricey ($40) but I see I could get them cheaper on Amazon so I plan on getting 2 more and putting them in the rooms where the majority of her attacks have taken place.

In other news, we've been having some lovely early spring weather here in Wisconsin. There's still the occasional cold snap for a few days at a time, but still that's not too bad. Anytime it's sunny and gets above 50 degrees, then Keeley wants to go sit out on the balcony and sun his buns.It's supposed to get up into the 60's later this week so I'm sure we'll be doing more of this soon.
Keeley loves to sit and watch all the goings on in the neighborhood. However, Teagan feels the need to bark at everything which is really annoying.
The dogs and I are going to be doing a lot of yard work this week to start getting things ready for spring. I know it's a little early for Wisconsin. The reason we're going to work on it this week is because next week I start my new job. After being unemployed for over a year, finally someone hired me! It's only part time and I haven't worked for so little since college, but at least it's a job, right?

Last but not least, you know how I like to make up songs about my dogs. Well I sing one that really annoys their Unkie Ryan. It's to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps" but just to the chorus. It goes like this: "My pups, my pups, my pups, my lovely little pups! My pups, my pups, I love my little pups!" Ryan just rolls his eyes. I like being silly and my dogs don't seem to mind.

That was Then, This is Now

We were inspired by McGillicutty's That Was Then, This Is Now photos on his birthday post. So we're going to do the same thing!

Here goes:

That was then,

This is now.

That was then,

This is now.

That was then,

This is now.

I love my fur-children so much! I don't know what I'd do without them. I can't believe I wasted 28 years being scared of dogs!

New dog park at Currie Park

I forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never!

We were driving around and noticed that there's a Dog Exercise Area at Currie Park now.We decided to go check it out. Apparently it opened in October last year.
We met this cute dog named Cola there. He's a cross between a Westie and a Miniature Schnauzer.
Unfortunately, it was all icy and frozen on the day we went and conditions like this are hard on Keeley's bad leg. But I think he did alright.
Teagan was her normal goofy self.
The only problem with this dog park is that they built it on a hill. So on the day we went, it was an ice slick. And when it melts, it becomes a mud slide. Sometimes I really wonder who they've got designing these things! Do they even have dogs themselves? Have they ever even been to a dog park before?
There's Keeley getting a butt rub from his grandma.
Keeley really likes to explore new places so I think he had a good time even though it was icy.
After Keeley had sniffed all there was to sniff, then he played a little with Teagan before we left.

In defense of Teagan... and me too!

Teagan has her issues but she's getting better. Really, she's not all that bad!

I've been told that I'm a bad dog mom and Teagan has gotten labeled as a bully by some people. I think that judgement is really unfair and wrong!

On the spectrum of dog owners, I think I'm pretty darn good. I walk them everyday. I feed them good food. I play with them and pet them (sometimes until my hands hurt!). I make sure they get to socialize with other dogs at parks and at doggie daycare. I bathe them and brush them. I take them everywhere that I'm allowed to take them and sometimes even to places that say "No Dogs Allowed". They have the run of the house. They have a fenced yard. They don't want for anything. They seem happy.

On the local news here a few days ago, there was a woman walking her 2 dogs and they ran onto a frozen pond after some geese. Then the ice broke because it's been so warm here lately. The woman went into the icy water to save her dogs. The reporter went around asking people who were walking their dogs if they would have done the same. And only about half of the people said they would. I think that's just crazy! Of course I would jump into icy water to save my dogs!

And I don't think Teagan should be labeled as a bully. Yes, she does boss Keeley around but I think that's just because she's a girl. And yes, she is reactive and gets aggressive when she thinks she needs to protect me or some other resource. But she's not a bully. She does know how to play nice with other dogs. I've seen her do it.

At Lake Park, there's a little corgie named Millie that is about the same age as Teagan. They play terrific together. They take turns pinning each other; just the way a game of bitey-face should be. And I asked at doggie daycare if she was having any issues there and they seemed truly shocked at the suggestion. They said she's really good there. They like her and she makes them laugh too.

I think in Teagan's mind, she thinks that she's a really small dog. And that's why she only wants to play with dogs that are smaller than her. She's scared of big dogs and tries to stay away from them if she can and if she can't avoid them, she attacks them. I don't think that sounds like the behavior of a bully. I think I bully would attack the little dogs, not the big ones, right? I think she's only attacking them out of fear. And this behavior is limited to our home so it probably has to do with resource guarding too. Being reactive is different from being a bully.

Teagan has her issues but she also has so many good qualities too. She trusts me completely. She's sweet and smart. She's insanely healthy. She walks like she's on a mission (sometimes never even stopping to do her business until the end of the walk). She loves her family. She has her issues with Keeley but she really loves him too. She never wants to be far from him. If he wants to play with her she'll get up and play with him even if she'd rather be napping.

She's a year old now and I'm not giving up on her! I think she'll only continue to get better as she gets older.