Doggie communications

A major milestone in puppy development is the development of a clear signal that the puppy needs to go out. In most areas, Nova is a very clear communicator. She's happy, she wiggles. She's afraid, she cowers. She doesn't want to lay down for you, she gives you her paw; very clear.

Potty, not so much.

As a result, she seems to have us housebroken. That is, we take her out on a set schedule and rarely wanders from that. However, I think we have narrowed down on a signal, however subtle it may be. She walks up to me and sits and then stares at me with a deep, soulful, searching look, as if she is trying to telepathically tell me her bladder is full.

Of course, there is a wrinkle in this whole plan. She is in love with the neighbors. They spoil her rotten. They also serve wonderful wine whenever Nova wanders by their house, and let's not forget that they are very nice, fun people as well. So, It's not a problem for me that she wants to go over there every time she goes out and hears them on their porch.

The only problem is that she spends the entire evening sitting in front of me telepathically telling me she needs to go out; every night. If I don't respond, she whines. Which of course worries me because she's only 4 months. So I take her out and she immediately heads next door. Tricked again!

The other night, said neighbors were out of town for a wedding. It was a rough night until we went to bed and it was clear to her there would be no partying that night.

When she doesn't have to go out, this is a more common expression.

Of cats and dogs

Georgia and Nadia are delicate creatures. They are afraid of humans. Not so afraid that they can't be seen by our visitors, but they certainly won't walk up to a stranger shortly after the stranger enters our house.

Of the two, Georgia is the more courageous. When I first let her loose in the house, she ran around the house sniffing everything with her belly close to the ground. You could feel the tension. On the one hand, she was feeling the thrill. On the other, she was scared to death.

So, imagine my worry at bringing a Labrador cross into the house with these two. I was fully aware that they might completely shut off to us and we would never get to pet them again.

The truth is they are doing better than most cats and dogs. Georgia, as always, the courageous one, spent a lot of time sniffing the dog through her pen, walking on top of the pen and watching the dog, or just walking right up to him and sniffing him when he slept.

Surprisingly, Nadia seemed to gain confidence in the situation. Not that she cuddles with the big lug, but she doesn't let the dog restrict her in any way. I think what helps with her is that she knows she can jump much higher than the dog can. So, while he is big and scary and has a very large, wet tongue, she can get away. And she does. Her favorite maneuver is to run onto the cat tree and look down at him, tail swooshing in a kitty laugh. She takes no pity.

As the dog gets larger, and boy has she gotten larger, Georgia has become a bit more timid. But the other day, I caught on video, to cases of Georgia and Nova enjoying each other's company.

In the first, Georgia was sleeping in her patch of sun in the family room. Nova likes to sleep in that patch as well, so she walked calmly over and laid down next to Georgia. For a moment, Georgia checked out her escape routes and sized the dog up to see if she would be the next meal, and then she rolled onto her side and relaxed.

Unfortunately, at 4 mos, Nova doesn't relax and she had to keep sniffing and licking the cat. So eventually, Georgia gave up and climbed the tree.

The clip I am including here was later the same day when Georgia was hunting a bug in the same sun patch. Nova comes by to help her out and the two have a very enjoyable time bug hunting for several minutes.

Cats and dogs laying down together!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3518702831301539733&hl=en

What I Did Last Summer

By Firstborn:


I built a suit of armor out of duct tape and cardboard. Really!





Here's a video of him in full armor walking around the neighborhood to show off his new suit.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6554268021956205562&hl=en

Who needs a stinkin' pedigree?

We knew when we got her that Nova was more than just a Labrador Retriever/Golden Retriever mix. After all, neither breed has white patches. And just look at those ears. They are clearly neither. They only lay flat when she is sleeping. When she is awake, they are all over the place in various stages of half to full cocked and rarely symmetrical.

When she walks or runs, they are plastered flat back against her neck (for best aerodynamics, I believe).
Many possibilities have crossed our mind through the weeks; greyhound, rat terrier, or just about any terrier, or maybe the result of the cross of some upstanding ear with the very floppy retrievers. We were ill prepared for the Vet's suggestion.

It started almost two weeks ago when I took a walk through the woods of Bill Yeck park with Nova. We passed a nice family on the trail who of course had to stop to pet her and complement her. They asked what mix she was and I proudly told them about her retriever background. Then they suggested that the ears looked really Great Dane. Gasp!

So at her last vet appointment, where she weighed in at 28 lbs at 4 mos, I asked the doc about her ears.

"What do you think they are?" I asked.
"Well, it's hard to tell," he demurred.
"'Cause, someone suggested Great Dane," I pressed.
He blushed a moment and smiled looking at his feet. "I was thinking that, but I didn't want to say anything."
I laughed and said, "I just wanted to know if I should enroll the kids in riding lessons."
At this point, he decided to backpedal a bit. "Of course, she could be just 5% Great Dane," he said. You know, just the 5% that shows up in the ears.

Then he pushed me to get her fixed soon because we don't know how fast she is going to grow and the bigger the dog, the more it costs to do the operation.

Off to buy stock in a dog food company...