15 August 2009 (Back Tracking)

Since 28 July I've been keeping a Zoli Journal. I thought I'd transfer it over to this Blog - to play a little catch up. From this point forward I will just add to this site. So, here it is:

28 July 2009

Training Day 1
- Z has low confidence L
- Don’t “whine” to Z… speak in commanding voice – as if he is a 14 yr. old boy
- Don’t use the AC if no need, it will help him better adjust to heat outside (seriously??)
- Be aware of the temperature of the ground surface
- Buy a Martingale “no slip” collar
- Buy a “coupler” to put between the collar and harness
- 15-30 minutes a day – “chill time” – sit with leash under me so Z has room to sit, stand and lie next to me.
- Keep leash on 100% of day
- Walk out door first, say “free” when it’s his turn
- Say “heel” when you want him to walk
- Commands he already knows: Sit, Stay, Paw, Off

29 July 2009

Well, Stephen left this morning. :( I followed Joan’s advise and we both took him outside for a walk and then Stephen left and I was to walk Zoli back inside. Yea, right! He DID NOT want to come back in…he wanted to stand there and wait for his daddy to come back. I had his leash under my lap for about an hour after we finally got back in. He was very sad, whimpering and out of sorts all day. He just sat in his chair looking forlorn. Then went into his bed and looked forlorn. I took him out in mid afternoon and we just made it in before a big storm came through. He did not like the thunder so I attached him to me and he sat by me while I worked.

Then, when we went out for his night walk I didn’t put his muzzle on. I was thinking, “Hey, Stephen never used it…I walked him in Russia without one, I’ve walked him in DC, I’ve walked him in Dayton – we don’t need no stinking muzzles… no biggie!” Well… I was wrong. As soon as we got outside there were other dogs in the courtyard and Z went ballistic! He started growling and snarling and I immediately turned him back to the door and in his total frenzy I ended up with a nice canine puncture above my knee. I was so upset and it hurt so much. We came back inside - I was crying and he was upset. Ugh! I waited a few minutes, calmed down, put the muzzle on (which it will always be!) and we went back out. When we were done I came back, cleaned up my leg and am now just sitting here crying. What if I can’t do this? What if Z decides I am no pack leader at all and turns on me? What if I can’t make it the whole year??? I am very nervous and upset!

30 July 2009

New day! Leg still hurts, quite a lot. I really got a hole in the leg. Just one tooth hit me, but it was obviously a biggie! I washed it out again and will keep an eye on it. Don’t want an infection. This morning’s walk was fine, although he is very much controlling the movement. Sometimes he just WILL NOT MOVE! I’m not going to drag him so we just stand there until I can get him walking again. He wants to control the direction we go and I’m not letting him. He is not happy with that. He did eat all his breakfast this morning so that’s good. He is once again sitting/sleeping in his chair. Stephen did tell me yesterday that Z will often laze around the whole day, so that doesn’t concern me much. I remember when in Russia he was in his chair almost ALL the time, just sleeping and hanging out. He heard when Eric from upstairs brought their dog down the steps and all his hair went up and he was barking/howling, etc. My neighbors probably are wondering what I have brought into their mix. Deron just IM’d me and I was telling him about the bite and I started crying again. I seriously can’t do this in front of Z or he will have NO respect for me at all. GET A GRIP!!!!!

I left Z for about one hour and ran an errand to Target to get a rug and some ointment for my puncture. He cried when I left, but was fine when I got home. Afternoon walk went okay. Z kept stalling again and after giving in and walking in the direction he wanted to go to it became clear he was looking for a place to poop! Go figure! He’s been lazing around again this afternoon. Pug the kitchen rug down, but he’s still scared to walk over to it. Geesh! Mary’s on her way over for a visit. Maybe she will go on a short walk with us.

Questions to ask Joan:
· When are treats appropriate? As a reward for something…never for no reason
· What is good play? (Stephen always played “tug”) Ball, something that is not a competition
· What do I do when he won’t budge during a walk? Stay still, don’t pull/drag him, give him a quick tug and say “come”

31 July 2009

I learned not to walk Z too early for his last walk. We were in bed before 10pm and around 11:30 he was up walking around, scratching the carpet and acting strange. I didn’t know what the deal was until I finally asked if he needed a walk and he was immediately at the door. So, we walked in the rain for a bit and then he slept until I got up this morning. Go figure! Guess I’ll have to change my sleeping a bit.

This morning we had our best walk yet. He is still pulling too much on the leash, but he didn’t “stall” anywhere, went two times and we meandered back. We’ve been just walking down one block, up the other side to the little park and then home. Luckily we didn’t see any dogs along the way…woohoo! He is now crashed on my bed…right below my pillow! I figure it’s okay cause he’s getting familiar with my scent and that can’t be bad, right???

My leg really hurts a lot today…not sure if that’s normal for this kind of puncture. Well… called Ray and after looking at my bite it’s clear that it is infected…full of puss and gross. I have a Dr. appointment at 10:30 this morning. Fun!

Doctor said, “ohhh… gross” when he saw my leg! He took a swap of it to send of f – to make sure it’s not a staph infection – gave me a tetanus shot and a 10 day antibiotic. Good Grief! Z has been sleeping ALL day – obviously has no remorse what-so-ever about my poor leg!! J
Good afternoon walk. Went around the block and over to the park. He only tried to stall twice and I gave him a nudge on his belly and he moved on. Didn’t eat his whole dinner tonight and hasn’t had much water all day. Wonder if that’s a problem.

Questions to ask Joan:
· How much water should he be drinking each day? He will drink when he is thirsty
· Should I worry if he doesn’t eat his full two meals a day? He will eat when he is hungry
· St. John’s Wart – Stephen was giving it to him over past few months. Thoughts? Forgot to ask Joan about this.

2 August 2009

We drove up to Dayton yesterday. Z is very good in the car! The goal of the day was not to let Stephen and Mom know about the bite. I did show J so she could give me her expert medical opinion. She said it was looking fine and as long as I kept taking my meds it would be fine. Phew!

Z was too excited to see Stephen and the whole day was a bit of over-stimulation for him. Abbie thought it would be fun to dance with him and he ended up humping her leg…ha! He totallyt crashed on the drive home. When we got home we took a walk around the block prior to going in, it was around 10pm’ish. I thought this would do the trick. He totally crashed on my bed after that and then when I turned out the light went to his bed. Then, around 11:30ish, he was up and we had to go outside again. I am definitely not going to be able to walk him before 10:30/11:00 pm. And I am NOT going to fall for this… "I have to go out again!" crap!

This morning’s walk was great. No pulling, no stalling…NO DOGS, no poop bag (woops!)! Nice.

4 August 2009

Yesterday was Z’s first day alone while I went to work. I think it went well. I’m SURE he was on the sofa while I was gone…guess that will be what happens! He was very excited when I came home, jumped up and seemed happy. We had a nice walk (although it was so freaking HOT – like 94 degrees!). His evening walk went well, although I wish he wouldn’t wait so long to find the “perfect” place for a poop!!!

This morning he was up early, around 6am. I got up and we had a nice walk, although he did a lot of pulling. There is a huge storm working its way through town, so we made it in before the rain started. After coming in we lounged on the bed for awhile watching the news. Then I got his breakfast and he wouldn’t eat a bite of it and was all out of sorts. What the hell?? He won’t sit down, heart is racing and shivering. He was barking by the door so I thought maybe he had to go out again, so dumb me took him out… and we stood around in the rain while he sniffed everything under the sun! He played “statue” with me numerous times and I finally had to drag him in. He then spent the next 30 minutes acting like he was scared, although there was no lightening, thunder or rain. WTF??? I had his leash under me and he would not sit…just stood there. When not with me he would just stand by the door. He just tackled his way to the back room over the dreaded hard wood floors and must have found some comfort finally because it’s quiet – he can probably still smell Stephen in that room. :( Good grief. I’m working from home, and am glad that Joan is coming today. I’ll have to ask Stephen how Z was during storms.

Training Day 2

· Today we worked on “Heel” – bringing him to my left and then “Sit,” “Down,” and “Come.”
· I have a lot of work to do this week : 15-20 minutes practice each day. I need to continue with the “leash under the seat” game. I don’t, however, have to leave the long leash on all the time.
· Z definitely has some trust issues. He pulls away when we try the “down” command.
· He is also very smart and knows what you want to do. If I mess up, he won’t do it at all.
· She has me using a different type of collar. I don’t like it too much, but will give it a try. If it helps with his pulling on walks, then it will be worthwhile.
· I have a list of words that I need to start using and he needs to become familiar with.

Afternoon/Evening walk went well, although he was a little stubborn. We’re using a new collar. Tried a No-Slip collar and that worked okay, but Joan suggested one more like a choke collar – but it has nice rubber coverings over the pointy parts, so it doesn’t really hurt him. The new collar may just have kept him from pulling as much, although he did his statue trick more often! He did eat almost all his dinner. I assume he was hungry as he didn’t eat any of his breakfast. The storm made him wacky!!

I went out with the girls tonight for dinner and shopping. Z was very happy to see me come home. I told Mom about the bite, she was upset and agreed that Stephen didn’t need to know! :) (At least until he reads this!)

5 August 2009

Good morning walk! Tried training with him. We did the “heel,” “sit” well and even got the “down” one time. He WOULD NOT do the “stand”…even with treats in my hand. Ugh! We’ll try again this afternoon. He is one stubborn pup!

We must have seen a million dogs on our afternoon walk! Geesh! Z did okay actually. One was on a porch and yapped, one was too small to worry about (he just scorned it!), the other literally popped up behind a fence out of nowhere and scared the bejesus out of both of us. I could not blame Z for getting a little wiggy on that one. Then we tried to avoid a damn fancy dog (what the hell are they called – oh yeah, poodles!) by crossing the street and every time we’d cross, the women would cross too. Seriously, I must have crossed four times to avoid the damn thing. When we finally walked past fancy boy(on the opposite side!) and Z practically ignored him. Yay!! It’s damn hot today! One more to go and then sweet bed!

6 August 2009

Good day so far. Nice morning walk and wonderful afternoon walk. The sun was shining, 80ish degrees, blue sky and awesome breeze. Z was calm (other than seriously trying to eat a squirrel!) and it was a relaxing walk. :) I’m headed out again tonight, after being at work, so I’m sure he will be put out about that. We’ll see!

7 August 2009

Z is pretty smart – he already knows that when my radio alarm goes off that I really won’t get up, just snooze a few times. But…when my phone alarm goes off he’ll let out a big howl because he knows that’s when I really get up. He also will sit on my bed with me after our night walk and watch TV with me. When I turn the TV off he will hop down and go to his bed. What a smarty pants! :)

10 August 2009

Joan said that Z is an “above average” dog! That is no surprise… that is, until he sees a squirrel or a cat and goes absolutely berserk… then I wonder about that. Seriously, he went mad over a little black cat last night, a dumb cat! Yesterday we ran into every big dog in the neighborhood…stressful to say the least!!! There was a storm today and I was afraid that when I came home he would be going crazy, but he was okay. He’s happily sleeping away right now. I would LOVE to go to bed early tonight…I’m so tired, but no go… have to have that late night walk.

11 August 2009

Tonight’s walk was miserable! I waited until 11pm hoping it would be better. When we go near the park there was a large dog on no leash, with no one nearby! It was very hard to get Z back to my courtyard. I was afraid the stray dog was going to follow us. Then there were about three other dogs that came in to the courtyard. I brought Z into the doorway until they were gone because I thought he had to go still. He would just not settle down at all. Pulling, stalling, and trying to get out of his muzzle by rubbing on the ground. I’m so upset…I can’t deal with this every night for a whole year. What have I gotten myself into? I’m tired and I can’t handle this.

14 August 2009

So… it’s been a bit of a struggle thus far. I feel like the training is going well – he’s smart and definitely get’s the whole thing. It’s the other dogs that are the true battle. I understand his instinct to go after squirrels, etc. but it’s his fear of other dogs that needs to be dealt with. I will talk to Joan about it, but I’m also contacting a true doggy psychologist. Mom has a friend whose daughter does this for a living. Hopefully she’s not too expensive. If I can work with Z and help him gain confidence and lose his fear that would be awesome!

This morning after our very early walk (5:45am!) he looked behind him and there was a woman at the bus stop with a backpack at her feet. He freaked out thinking it was a dog! Good grief! We had to almost run back so he could confirm that it was, in fact, just a backpack. What a goofball dog!

Afternoon walk was nice. He will pull until after he finds a place to poop. I don’t get it… if I have to poop I will find the nearest bathroom and go. One would think that as the world is his bathroom he’s do this in pretty quick fashion. But no!! He has about two places in the entire neighborhood that he’ll go and he will just pull until we get there. Then he’s fine. We walked nice and early, around 2:30pm, so there wasn’t a dog to be seen!!!

I also found out that I don’t need to be “walking” him late at night, just let him out to pee! Geesh… would have been nice to know that one. Stephen told Mom I can just take him out to the courtyard for a quickie!!! That will make life MUCH easier!!!!!

15 August 2009

Training Day 3

- Practiced all commands and worked on "come" and lots of "lunges"
- We did our training outside today – it was like starting over! He was totally distracted and forgot most everything we’ve learned thus far.
- Of course a big dog came out of the building right in front of us so Joan got to see him in true Cujo form!!
- I don’t know if we’ll have conquered all his issues in just three more visits.

Stephen called today and I somehow let it slip about the bite…he was quite upset. I actually think it’s not a horrible thing that it happened. I mean, that was my fear…that Z would bite me. It happened, it hurt, it was gross, I had to get a shot, I survived! Nuff said!