You'd better hide your head! ;)

Oops, I did it again...

So, it's Saturday afternoon - sunny, cool breeze, beautiful! You'd think that Eden Park would be crawling with dogs. NOT ONE! I set up doggy training for Z at the park so we could work on his little issue with other dogs and we couldn't even find one! Good grief, what is wrong with this town?? So, anyway, on the walk back to the car we did find one nice little pup whose owners let us "work" with them for a bit. Z went a little crazy, but not much as this other dog was strangely calm. So, all went well. We get in the car to drive home and I took Z's muzzle off, cause there's no need for that in the car, right?

We get home, get out of the car and walk into the courtyard and one of the neighbor crazy dogs, a fat little bugger, comes walking out the door. This little doggy goes insane and Z goes INSANE! I start into my training and pull him closer to me and...BAM... he bites me in the back of my thigh! My immediate thought... "How did he do that through his muzzle?" My second thought... "Ohhhhhh, the muzzle is in my hand!" What a dork I am... totally forgot to put it back on after leaving the car. Well... I got him inside and upstairs with no problems... took off my jeans to see the damage (yikes!) and stood there with Z and was like, "Look what you did to me!!!!!" He was appropriately sheepish, hung his head and was off to the back room, where he stayed the rest of the day. I washed the bite and took stock of the situation. He definitely broke skin, but it's more of a nasty bruise than anything else.

I called our trainer and told her what happened. I'll admit that I am a little frustrated here. I mean, Stephen never used a muzzle and Zoli never bit him... twice! So, trainer-Joan said that I should not be discouraged as we have made great progress. She said that Stephen is taller, stronger and actually Zoli's owner... all true! We also discussed how Z's instinct takes over when he's around crazy dogs and that the muzzle is IMPORTANT! So...even though we have made progress I feel like we've taken a few steps backwards this weekend.

Stephen... don't worry and don't feel bad. I'm fine and my leg is fine (although it does now have two Zoli holes!) :) Z and I will survive this together. He has been acting very obedient since this little "oops"... he definitely knows he was a bad little pup!

Zoli Stromboli

Madison has given Z a much need middle name... Stromboli! How he has lasted this long without that middle name I do not know!! :)

So, Mr. Zoli Stromboli has been on his allergy medicine for about 5 days now. He is no longer scratching and biting like he was...which is great. He has to pee every 20 seconds... which is not so great!!!!! The meds make him drink and eat more. It's been a challenge, but luckily he will let me know when it's seriously time to go out. He will stand by the door and look at me like, "Seriously... I'm not kidding around here!" It usually only takes me about 15 minutes to figure out that he is, in fact, seriously, not kidding around.

He's down to two pills a day now and I'm hoping that sometime this week we can bring it down to one a day. I'll keep an eye on the scratching/biting and make sure that he's not starting up again. I hope these allergies were "end of summer" and not "beginning of fall" - that would be a pain!

Oh... guess who has a new little puppy friend? Fancy, pants poodle! Yes, the annoying neighborhood poodle now has a little mutt friend walking with him. Nice... another dog to drive Z mad!

A Trip to the Vet

Today Zoli, Ellen and I went to the vet. (My friend Ellen came along for moral support - I've never been to the vet before!) Z has been doing an awful lot of scratching and gnawing lately...to the point where his under regions were starting to look a little raw. After discussing with Stephen, I decided that I should call the vet. Got a recommendation from my sister and made the appointment.

So, off we go! Z is very happy to be in the car, clueless as to what awaits him...wa-ha-haaaa. We arrive at the animal hospital and of course he smells every animal that has ever been there... EVER! He is definitely a little nervous, but was able to calm down in the waiting room - luckily we were the only ones there at the time. They had asked that I bring all proof of vaccinations, etc. They did not ask that they be in English! Most of his paperwork is in Russian - whoops! I actually called Stephen while with the doctor so she could talk to him about his history. I now have to fax Stephen copies of the paperwork so he can translate and I can send back to the vet - good grief!

Three of us had to hold Z down while the vet took blood...very nerve wracking! I was probably more nervous that anyone, including Zoli! Otherwise, he did very well and everyone loved him... of course!

Long story short...Z has allergies and is now on an antihistamine/steroid. Two pills, twice a day. Hummm...that should be fun - trying to get pills down his gullet! They also game me tapeworm meds and flea/tick meds. $220 later, we leave the office. (Good think I had Stephen's checkbook!!!)

Because he was such a good boy I treated him to a McDonald's ice cream cone afterwards. It was too funny watching him chow it down. I held it for him so he could lick, and then he chomped on the cone. Just one more thing we have in common. Lounging around - check! Taking naps - check! Eating ice cream - check! We really are kindred spirits! ;)

Graduation!

Well, Zoli and I graduated from doggy Basic Training today! Our trainer said that he was exceptionally smart and that I got an A+!! We are going to schedule two more sessions - at Eden Park! She said it would be good to see us "in action," so we're going to meet at Mirror Lake a few times to see how he does there. I feel so much better about things. The other day we came outside and our upstairs neighbor was out with his big white dog. I asked if I could "work" with Z a bit and got the okay. Of course Z went crazy at first, but after a little while he was sitting at my side, breathing normally, watching the other dog from about 15 feet away. I was thrilled!!! Then, when we started moving, he just walked right past her (still a bit away, but basically ignored her!) Yeah!! Progress!!! We've had a couple other good moments like that, where he showed much more self control...so things are definitely improving. I called Stephen today to share the good news and to let him know that his money has been put to good use!! ;)

Then, to top off our graduation day Z's good friends Teresa and Robert came over for a visit!! He was so excited. He got to play on the floor with Robert and Teresa actually got him to enter the kitchen - an amazing thing! Of course, she was laying on the floor with a treat in her hand, but it worked and he actually walked in. Sure wish I had cleaned that floor first!!!!

All and all a good Saturday for the two of us!!! Now we're relaxing, enjoying the great breeze coming in, listening to nice quiet music...life is grand! :)

Play Time

I always forget that my voice is heard when video taping...duh! Thank God Ray will come over and play with Z...that's the area I worry about most. I know that I'm not so great at the "play" time. We took a bunch of pictures of Z as well. As soon as Ray sends them to me I'll post some...he really got some good ones.

As I sit here typing Z is sitting on my sofa...the sofa he's not allowed to sit on. I KNOW he sits on it all the time when I'm not here - now he's just bold and sits on it right in front of me. What to do??? He's got "his" chair, right next to the sofa...that he normally sits on. What a twerp! Guess I have to go remind him of this little rule!

Not quite there yet...

Yesterday Z and I were taking our afternoon walk. It was a beautiful day... cool and breezy. Then, out of nowhere (!) a woman and her little dog turned the corner we were coming up on. I quickly though, "Maybe we're ready to WALK past a dog...on the same side of the street." Maybe all this expensive training (thanks Stephen!) is paying off and we can do this. Maybe he won't embarrass himself in front of the other neighborhood doggies. NOT!!!!!

I had Z nice and close to my side and was talking calmly to him, telling him that he could do this. Instead he went berserk!!! I tried to have him sit and he was just all over the place, growling, jumping, rearing back, twisting, etc. Good thing that muzzle stays on!

The woman and her dog calmly walked past us...most likely rolling their eyes...while the two of us acted like we were insane!!! I finally got him to sit and we just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk for what seemed like forever, waiting for him to calm down. Sooooo...we are NOT ready to be on the same side of the sidewalk with other dogs. Across the street - no problems (at least no big problems!), so I think we'll keep it at that for right now.

One of these days I'll bring a friend along with a camera to take a video of this craziness...then I'm going to send it to Cesar...maybe he'll fly out here to kick us into shape! :)