*This is a guest post by John, sometimes referred to as “hubby” in the blog. This is John’s blogging debut! Since he’s heading to BlogPaws with me, and since I’m buried under stacks of postcards, I figured now was the perfect time for him to break into guest blogging! So, take it away, John!

Inevitably, owning dogs will cause you to realize certain things about yourself, like how you can easily grow accustomed to certain things, and how you can be continuously amazed at others.  For example, Maggie and I are completely used to the fact that each week, we will fill a 40-gallon garbage bag with dog poop.  No question, it’s going to happen.  We are never surprised that Lucas hauls butt out of the room and down the stairs whenever we (erm, Maggie) decide it’s time to vacuum the bedroom.  We also know that, invariably, Lucas will be limping/bleeding/missing some fur after a good romp with one of his friends.  We can set our clocks by Emmett’s internal dinner schedule, as he plops his butt in front of his food bowl at precisely 5:15 every day (he even adjusts to Daylight Savings).  We have accepted that fact that no matter how hard we try, Emmett will find a way to eat something he shouldn’t.

There are other unpredictable things that we’ve gotten used to, and that, had we not brought these dogs into our home, we would never have dreamed of having to deal with.  Last night when Maggie and I got home from work, Emmett got himself so worked up that he started barfing.  Everywhere.  Several years ago, had someone asked me how I felt about wiping up five piles of dog vom, I’d have politely declined.  Nowadays, it’s just something that you have to deal with.  Not too long ago, after an afternoon of playing demolition derby with Cady, the pup next door, Lucas was yet again limping.  However, it was worse than usual.  He wasn’t putting any pressure on his front leg and couldn’t make it up the stairs when it was time to go to bed.  But these things happen, so I scooped up all 75 pounds of Lucas and carried him up and down the stairs for the rest of the day whenever he wanted to go in or out.  Like I said, you get used to having to deal with all sorts of things.

It can go the other way, too.  There are some things that you can never get used to, things that never cease to make you smile/laugh/snarf some beverage out of your nose.  Prior to Emmett’s epic barfing episode, he was doing something that Maggie and I can never not smile at.  Whenever we come home, he hops out of excitement and then leans into us with one of his legs off the ground.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Lucas, upon realizing we’re home and have nothing to do for the rest of the evening except entertain him, immediately fetches the nearest toy.  Likewise, when I was toting Lucas up and down the stairs as if he were nothing more than a small puppy, he wagged his tail the entire time.  Do you know anyone who can be in excruciating pain but still be happy?

In the end, having dogs teaches everyone one critical thing, and everything else you learn about dogs and yourself stems from this one principle:  You always have to take the good with the bad.

Sounds simple and cliché, but that’s pretty much all there is to it.  You pick up some poop, wipe up some stomach contents, and clean some dried blood out of their fur every now and again.  But for me, every little wag of their tails makes all of those things worth it.

The image below is super grainy and fuzzy and way too dark. Reason being, it was 6:50 this morning! I barely had my eyes open, and the sun is no longer all the way up at that time.

However, this is the first thing I see every single morning when I open my eyes:

I snagged my phone this morning without opening my eyes all the way to catch him in the act. The best part? As soon as my eyelids start to flutter, my darling Lucas wags his tail, thumping it against my nightstand until I swing my legs out of bed! I can’t help but wake up with a grin! Because, oh, how I love how happy he is to see me first thing in the morning.

The last couple weeks have been incredibly stressful for me. My work days have been longer with more errands and chores and obligations piling on top of each other. My nights have been later and my mornings have been earlier.

And yet, here’s Lucas. Same time. Every morning. Happy that a new day has begun!

Once again, I think my dogs might be trying to teach me *yet another* lesson…

Of the many, many things that dogs are better at than we are, knowing when to stop and rest rises to the top.

Emmett found the perfect pillow for sleeping in the car.

I’m sure your to-do list looks a lot like mine: errands, chores, work, social commitments, laundry, more errands, more work. Every time I scratch one thing off, there are half-a-dozen tasks added.

John and I have a running joke about the boys’ having very full to-do lists. “That afternoon nap isn’t going to take itself,” we say. We rattle off the items that Emmett and Lucas have on their list: eat breakfast, take an after-breakfast nap, go for a walk, sniff the garden and munch on a bug or two, take a nap in the grass, if it gets too hot move the nap indoors, play with toys, eat dinner, play outside, play with toys again, take an evening nap.

He missed his bed.

This past weekend, we were busy. We drove a couple hours out of town to go to a concert and my darling nephew’s first birthday party. We worked, John on his qualifying exams for his PhD and I on the syllabus for a course I’m teaching this fall and articles that are due this week. We picked up the house, swept up the fur, and went to the store. We made coffee Sunday evening, just so we could stay awake long enough to get through our tasks. We fell into bed, exhausted, just after midnight. And got up this morning at 6 to do it all over.

But the boys… Yesterday, they slept! They slept in their beds upstairs, then moved to their beds downstairs, then came back upstairs to sleep some more, then laid in the grass… After all their excitement of going out of town, having three other dogs to play with, attending my nephew’s party, they were wiped. And they knew it. So they slept.

This morning, I struggled to get out of bed, and John hit snooze every 9 minutes. When I finally crawled out from under the covers, there were Emmett and Lucas, bright eyed and bushy tailed. They wagged away, so happy to see me, ready and excited to face their day while I struggled to open my eyes.

There’s a lesson in this, I think.

In a total departure from my usual posting scheduled, I wanted to take a minute to figure out how I can improve this blog for you, the awesome readers who come back day in and day out.

When I started blogging last summer,  I thought my boys’ antics were entertaining enough to fill out these pages. And while I love writing about Emmett and Lucas, Oh My Dog! has evolved to include so much more than their stories. It’s been a platform for me and other bloggers to talk about animal welfare issues, to discuss products, food, health and nutrition, to exchange training tips and tricks… and so much more. And I’ve grown from a small group of readers to a lively, vibrant community!

We’re all so busy, and there are so many amazing blogs to read. I want to figure out how I can improve the time you spend reading Oh My Dog! Below is a short little poll. If you have a spare moment, please weigh in! An overhaul of the site is in the works (it’s about time!!) and  I’m trying to determine what content you like the best – and the least! – so that I can deliver more good, less bad! And, as always, please feel free to leave additional ideas and opinions in the comments section.

My assistant is standing by, ready to tally the votes!

Thank you so much for your time and for sharing this little corner of the internet with me, Emmett, and Lucas!

That face gets me every time.

Each day that the dog walkers come, they leave a little note describing their visit and what the boys were up to while I was at work. Those notes are the highlight of my day; as I’m driving home, I often wonder what the note will say. I know my guys inside and out. I can describe my dogs’ personalities in intricate, intimate detail, and I worry that someone else may not pick up on all the little details that make them them. Although, turns out, their personalities must be strong enough to shine through because the notes really capture facets of their individuality! I’m often so surprised when people – people who likely have never loved a dog – don’t seem to realize the depths that their personalities have.

He's thinking, "Give me that treat NOW, lady!"

All this is a roundabout way of saying that training a new behavior can be a gigantic pain with two dogs who are so completely different in every possible way. Emmett is food motivated and desperate for approval. So, in theory, he should be really easy to teach. But he gets himself all worked up, offering every behavior he can think of – sit, down, wave, roll over, sit, bow, down – in a rapid succession that the first hurdle in teaching him anything is to get him to STOP offering behaviors so that he can focus. Lucas, on the other hand, is only sort of into food (unless it’s American cheese – then he’ll do algebra for me), and he sort of wants approval, but if the mood strikes him, he’d rather run in circles. Or chase a fly. Or pounce on a toy. Or bark out the window. Or clobber Emmett.

It occurred to me over the weekend that I face the same challenge with both boys – attention – but for wildly different reasons. For Emmett, it’s getting his attention; for Lucas, it’s keeping his attention. We only work for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, so I feel pretty confident that they’re not being over-worked… but I don’t know?

So all you dog-savvy readers: How do you get (or keep) your dog’s attention when you’re training a new behavior? Any tips or tricks?

]]> http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/08/two-dogs-two-personalities/feed/ 10 http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/08/i-really-hate-to-admit-it-but/ http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/08/i-really-hate-to-admit-it-but/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:50:56 +0000 Maggie http://ohmydogblog.com/?p=1770

… sometimes Emmett and Lucas drive me crazy. I feel particularly guilty saying that now that I’m away from them all day. But the reality is there are times when I just get so annoyed with them!

Who? Me?

Emmett, for example, is a fuzzy piece of Velcro stuck to my pant leg. I love spending time with him and would take him with me everywhere I go. Except for sometimes. Like when I trip over him for the three-billionth time because I turned around or stopped or whatever before he could adjust himself.

Oh, this guy.

And Lucas. Oh, my little Lucas. But when he howls and stomps his front legs – really, he does this; I will try to get it on video – because I had the nerve to put away the toy he wanted to play with or because he wants me to chase him but I’m washing the dishes or whatever. He has a temper tantrum at me!

Or when they start wrestling and even though we have a whole house with a yard, they have to wrestle on top of my feet, so I get pushed around by 145 (combined) pounds of dog. Or when Emmett forgets to chew his treat, hacks it up, then re-eats it. Drives. Me. Crazy.

I suppose I’m just a little grumpy, just a little too over-extended right now. The little things are getting under my skin. But then they do things like this:

And this:

And this:

And I get over it.

Tell me: What (if anything!) does your dog do that annoys you?

For as long as we’ve had Emmett and Lucas, one of us has worked from home. It’s been both lucky and fortunate, especially considering all the behavior problems we faced with each of them post-adoption.

Last week, though, I accepted a two-month, full-time, on-site copywriting gig. On-site. Not in my house. So not only did I have to ditch my yoga pants and fuzzy slippers, but I had to deal with leaving the boys home for nine hours a day for the first time in their little lives. To top it off, John is out of town for two weeks, so I was sort of stuck with some evening meetings I already had scheduled.

So bring on the best pet sitters I could’ve imagined!

Thanks to all of you and your helpful hints, I was armed with questions for our first meeting. Turns out, these ladies are fantastic, and I am so happy and relieved I found them through my awesome neighbors. As someone who is obsessed with making sure my pups are happy and healthy, these ladies totally deliver. They leave little notes every day that are just adorable, follow all the rules we have for the boys, and give them lots of exercise and affection.

They took the time to go through a number of questions and our household routines. Although, I feel like I forgot to mention a million things: our backdoor sticks, sometimes Lucas doesn’t do on-leash greetings so well, Emmett is a counter-surfer and doesn’t chew his treats, and on and on. Guess I should leave some notes!

Anyway! Monday was the first day they came, and they so thoughtfully emailed me pictures of their visit – including a play session with Cady, the pup next door! (Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.)

So, again, thank you all for your encouragement and suggestions! This turned out to be far less stressful than I thought.

But I’m wondering: What do you do with your pups if you work outside the home? How did you get him/her accustomed to being home alone? Do you use a pet sitting service?

After "work" Emmett enjoys a puppy latte!

Every other Friday, Emmett and I participate in the pet therapy program at a mental health facility near our town. We primarily work with the children who live at the facility and fall between the ages of 6 and 13 or so. Occasionally we’ll spend time with the younger or older groups, but there’s a core bunch we see every time.

And, man, do these kids love Emmett.

Every other Friday, when we walk through the door of their gymnasium, the kids rush Emmett. “I missed you, Emmett!” they cry. “Did you miss me?”

The thing about Emmett is that he can not get enough attention. He is basically a bottomless pit of need, which means that these kids who want to just pour all their affection all over him are the perfect kids for Emmett to work with. While 15 to 20 kids throw their arms around his neck, plant big fat kisses on the top of his head, beg for high fives, rub his belly, and sprint circles around him, darling Emmett just basks in it all. I swear he thinks that I ferry him from place to place to allow his loyal subjects to devote themselves to him.

While we face the occasional challenge, with this particular group of kids, the biggest struggle is doling out our energy equally. Some of the kids push themselves against us, making us notice them, and begging to be the first one to give Emmett a treat or whatever. Others sit quietly, patiently waiting their turn. While others sort of hide, desperately wanting a turn with Emmett, but not sure how to proceed.

So after I discovered that Emmett is a hoop-jumping fiend, I decided to incorporate some agility into our visits. The first week, I took along a hula hoop and short tunnel. I explained to the kids the idea of agility and asked if they’d be willing to help me train Emmett to tunnel. They enthusiastically agreed and immediately began discussing the best way to teach him. “Just tell him to run through it.” “He won’t know what that means. We need to crawl through with him.” “That’s dumb. Stand at the end and call him.” In the end, we decided to toss a treat through the tunnel while the kids stood around and yelled, “tunnel!”

Luckily, Emmett already knew the tunnel command.

Last Friday, I took two hula hoops. I figured the kids could work together to set up a mini obstacle course, deciding where to position the jumps, how to hold them up, who should lure him, etc. I thought this would build on the teamwork exercises from the previous session. We could work together to figure out how best to get Emmett to follow the course and jump through the hoops.

But those kids had a whole other idea!

They wanted to run around.

Run with Emmett, race Emmett, fling the hula hoops around, chase each other in circles. So that’s what we did because, really, the whole goal of our pet therapy program is to make these kids happy. They wanted to run, so Emmett ran, wagging his tail the entire time.

Four years ago this week, Emmett burst into our lives. It was a match made in heaven – from the moment we saw him at the rescue, we knew he was ours – and we were his! In the car on the way home that day, Emmett rested his head on the armrest between our seats and fell right to sleep, like he was happy and comfortable and just knew he was going home!

At the shelter he jumped right on my lap!

His fave toy and pillow when he first came home!

His first ever Frosty Paw!

Emmett's first Christmas!

His first trip to IN, he commandeered his cousin/chihuahua's bed!

That first year was filled with so many funny, memorable, touching experiences. We made a lot of mistakes as first-time doggy parents, but Emmett was so happy and eager from day 1. He made friends with everyone in our building and instantly endeared himself to our friends and family. When we adopted Lucas – fearful, timid, aggressive Lucas – Emmett took him under his wing (paw?) and helped us help Lucas. Emmett is a world-class snuggler. He’s silly, playful, and loves people more than anything. Except food. Which he really does love more than anything.

It’s hard to believe four years have already gone by. It feels like he’s been a part of our lives forever, and he really has changed our lives forever. We are so lucky and so incredibly grateful that Emmett came into our lives four years ago.

We love you, Emmett!

Handsome Emmett

]]> http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/07/emmett-gotcha/feed/ 2 http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/07/dogs-obsessed-with-bugs/ http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/07/dogs-obsessed-with-bugs/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:13:37 +0000 Maggie http://ohmydogblog.com/?p=1610

Emmett and Lucas are obsessed with insects of all kinds. They chase down moths and lightening bugs. They watch caterpillars crawl across the patio and sniff the little ladybugs that crawl through our garden. They gobble up spiders – which totally freaks me out because I am irrationally terrified of spiders. But their favorite activity is fly hunting.

The flies have been really bad the past couple weeks. I don’t spray anything to get rid of them, but Lucas has taken it upon himself to rid our home of those pesky flies. Periodically, I hear him launch up, scramble around, sometimes crash into a window or wall, and snap flies out of the air. He doesn’t eat them, though. Once dead, he spits their carcasses out on the floor for me to step on/sweep up.

Do your dogs do things like this??

Anyway, last night, Lucas slammed into the window while in pursuit of a fly. Somehow he knocked the fly down the air vent. Their reaction was so funny – and so prolonged – that I was able to grab my phone and film their reactions to the poor fly who was buzzing his last buzzes in our vent.

(So I don’t know why these aren’t showing a screen shot, but if you click play, they do play.)

Fly-Hunter Lucas Loses His Prey from Maggie Marton on Vimeo.

There’s something down there…. from Maggie Marton on Vimeo.

The camera was shaking because I was totally cracking up. Silly dogs.