You Can't Fix Stupid.

Sometimes the amount of stupid and silliness I see in him every day scares me. ;-)

Mountain Goat Day.

These videos were taken as part of a small, on-going competition amongst friends. This round was showing a cued sit; the harder the sit (whether due to placement or back-end awareness), the more arbitrary points you get, up to the full 6 points.

I initially started by having Kane sit on my car.

Except Kane found it way too easy to sit on my car, so I had to think of something else.

And came up with the idea of having him sit on the 4-foot-tall, foot-wide tree stump in my backyard. Suitably armed with the necessary temptations/rewards (a chunk of turkey sandwich meat, his favorite Bil-Jac liver treats which I didn't end up using, and two chocolate chip cookies [one of which I accidentally dropped in the beginning of the video and made him Leave It]), I set out to see if Kane could actually accomplish what I was asking him to do.

This is definitely filed under: "Hmmmm ... I wonder if my dog will ..." :-)

Yes, I did initially help him get his balance, but I could tell he was going to sail right over the other side because of how top-heavy he is and once he got his feet up under him, he sat on his own. :-)

When you think about the fact that this is a 50lb, clumsy puppy-brain pit bull trying to sit in a foot of space, I think he did an amazing job!

Some good news ...

I emailed all of the representatives involved with HB 4717 currently and received an actual, non-automated reply from one of them: Rep. Hugh Crawford from the 38th district.

Dear Ms. ***** & Kane,

Thank you for contacting my office with your concerns about HB 4714. As the Chairman of the Regulatory Reform Committee I do not plan on taking up this legislation at this time. Your e-mail has been filed for reference purposes. Thank you again for contacting me, I appreciate you taking the time.

Sincerely,

Hugh D. Crawford

State Representative

38th District

So, that is one representative down.

Have a video of Kane to lighten the mood of this blog right now. I've called this game (creatively) "Get the ball". This gives him a run-through of some of his commands and teaches him impulse control, which is important for every dog, regardless of whether you want them to know more than a couple basic commands.

WW: Stalky Puppy is Stalky.

Day Seven: Could It Be?

Last night, on Ellie's 9-week birthday, she held it all night! *does cartwheels!*

She still woke up during the night and whined a bit, but she quickly settled after 2-3 minutes. That's usually my gauge for whether I have to actually roll off the couch and take her outside. If she whines longer than that, up to 5 mins or more (if I'm really tired!), I know it's Serious Business.

We'll see if that continues tonight. :-)

Day Six: Photo Blogging ...

I finally got my replacement camera charger in and was able to take some pictures and a handful of videos of the little squirt. I have plans to upgrade to a dslr some time in late July/early August, but in the meantime, I'm not missing a second of her puppyhood.

Kane has a thing for flip-phones ...

He thinks the sound of the phone flipping shut is The Greatest Game Ever. I didn't have my contacts in at the time, and no glasses, so there's one part where he catches a whiff of the milk bone Cecil (the dog I was house-sitting for) left by the couch, which I didn't realize was there until after Kane had begun to chow down on it. I recommend turning the sound off to avoid me giggling my fool head off.