Oh Captain My Captain

Commands my dog could occasionally obey when I got him from the kennel: Sit.

Commands my dog can reliably obey almost a month later: Sit, Lie Down, Stay, Back Up, Pray, and (as of this morning) Shake.

Commands we're working on: Evolve (walking about on hind legs), Stay on Grass Verge, Ring Bell to Go Out, Come When Called, IGNORE CAT, Ignore Traffic Noise. And heel. DEAR GOD, HEEL.

Behavioral problems when I first got him: Digging in trash, peeing in submission every five seconds, jumping over his barrier, chasing the cat, throwing tantrums when penned, bolting when on leash.

Behavioral problems today: peeing in submission every three days or so if he hasn't been out for a while and something really exciting happens, chasing the cat, bolting on leash.

He mastered 'shake' in about five minutes with the help of a small dish containing a teaspoon of chunky peanut butter. Every time he did what I asked, he got a few licks at the peanut butter and a lot of praise and petting.

We're also going to start classes at the local PetSmart this week; probably not tonight, since I haven't been to bed yet and have an update to work on, but maybe tomorrow.

He's much less neurotic than when I first brought him here, but he still panics and flies to the end of his leash when a bus goes by. I've been able to get him to come along one block of University Avenue, but that's his absolute limit and he will go on to pull and misbehave for almost the entire walk home. Whenever he tries to drag me, I just stop and stand there til he sits down. It makes for more tedious walks, but seems to help.

Loose dogs still wander the area. The other day we barely missed being accosted by a border collie on one end of the block and a huge German Shepherd on the other. Despite avoiding other dogs, he still managed to bring home fleas from outside, and I gotta go buy something to kill the little bastards before they take over the house.

Tonight we're going to get a jump on 'heel' if it fucking kills me, because my right arm is SORE from holding him back. For such a smart dog, he sure seems content to slowly strangle himself on behalf of whatever smell he's trying to chase down.

That said, did you know Mr. Winkle is all over frickin' YouTube!? I don't normally melt over little bitty dogs, but I worship that little alien puffball in his every incarnation. I had NO IDEA he was famous outside of the picture books, but in retrospect I guess it was inevitable. See?





I take back everything I've said--not all terrifying toy breeds are yappy evil little fucks. Some of them are quiet evil little fucks with cute smiley faces!