September 11, 2007

• The Baron Learns Some New Tricks and We Learn About Dobie *Play*

  I think I told you about feeding the pup and how we make sure he is calm so he doesn’t *wolf* his food down without chewing. The Beast and I have been double-teaming him the past couple of days. I prepare his food dish and bring it out on the deck but put it on the table instead of right down. Baron is ALWAYS excited when he sees his food dish. I sit down for a couple seconds/minutes, depending on just how excited he is at the time. Then the Beast makes him sit calmly while I put the dish down and he has to stay there calmly before he is told to go eat. Now this does NOT happen by magic. The Beast has to keep a hold on Baron’s collar so he can’t charge the dish once it’s down on the deck, there for the taking.

  I think it took four days for him to *get it* because he now automatically sits when I come out with his food dish. You can tell he’s excited but trying to comply with what he perceives as our wishes. The Beast must still hold his collar and give the command but it is a lot easier now. He also will leave some food in his dish (not for long, however) and then return to it. I sometimes think he is trying to show us that he isn’t a barbarian but, of course, that is people thinking, not dog. I’m sure he just knows that no one is going to eat it while he steps away from it like when he was still at the breeders with all his siblings.

  I wondered just when he would notice the hummingbirds at the feeder and how he would react. He noticed them this morning and he just watched them, turning away when they flew off. He actually hears them before I do (and they have a distinctive sound) so he drew my attention to the feeder when he would sit down and stare in that direction.

  I have found that the hummingbirds use up almost all the nectar in the feeder in one weeks time. We have six regulars that we recognize and see the oddball *stranger* from time-to-time. Of course, we are not watching 24/7 so we can’ t really keep track of how many use the feeder. As it is, I love to watch them playing and/or taking turns at feeding. The Beast finally got a few good pictures of a couple of the different ones that are regulars and he shared them with my sister *D*. He also put one of the pics up as his desktop image because it is so different. I asked him to email them all to me and, of course, he hasn’ t. But that is the nature of my *beast*. He will do it ….. eventually…and I just hope I am alive to see them. He is, by far, an even worse procrastinator than I ever
  thought about being.

  A few stray pieces of information. The wrist is still broken. I STILL haven’t been referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I did find out, via the nurse in the office, that the doctor wanted to see if the brace would *push back* the slightly displaced wrist bone and avoid the necessity of surgery. I suppose I should be grateful but I won’t find out until tomorrow how the tactic has or has not worked.

  The Beast almost always wakes up around 6am every day. He takes the pup ouside in the yard so he can do his business while the Beast has his first cup of coffee. The past couple mornings, I was informed, Baron sat at the door looking inside (obviously for me) and was giving out a whine, then going over to *my* chair and laying his head on the cushion then returning to the door and whining some more. He would finally give up and go lay down under The Beast’s chair. That is what I would see when I got my coffee and went to the door and gave it a tap so The Beast would open it for me. I can’t open it and carry a cup of coffee at the same time with a brace on my left wrist. When I stepped outside, you would think Baron hadn’t seen me in years by his level of excitement that I was finally outside. As soon as I sat down, he would be putting his head in my lap, tail going a mile-a-minute, then trying to climb in my lap and lick me all over my face and neck. He then would start mouthing my arms, toes…any place he could get to, all the while jumping up and down like he couldn’t decide which to do next.

  My sister *D*, who admits she is addicted to the site, sent me a link to YouTube and a video clip of a doberman on a pool water slide. He kept making the round trip up the steps, slide down into the pool, get out and repeat it all over again. It was a cute clip. However, it got me curious so I typed in doberman, dobie and pincher and got a slew of video sites. I started looking at them ALL and found the ones showing dobies playing very interesting. It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish when a dobie is playing and when it is being aggressive but the videos gave me a lot of clues. I told The Beast about it and he went on the site and also found it informative. We CAN tell a lot better when he wants to play.

  The Beast has very thin and fragile skin and will bleed at the slightest scratch or bump. When Baron’s paws (nails) scrape his skin, *I* get a white mark but the Beast bleeds. So he put his gardening gloves on to *play* with Baron and Baron seemed to take note of this. After a few minutes of rough play, he took off one glove and Baron ignored the ungloved hand and mouthed only the gloved one. We DID discover that much of his open mouth, display and use teeth was only play with no pressure applied. The use of the glove by the Beast had one unexpected result. Baron now think my black wrist brace is also a glove! The constant corrections and firm *NO* has to confuse him I am sure. I don’t think he will be able to make the exposed finger connection. To him, I am sure it is just another glove, I expect this to continue to be a problem until the wrist is healed and the brace gone.

  Tara and the kids came over the other evening bearing dinner for us all. Baked chicken, flavored noodles and a nice fresh salad. She also brought paper plates so we wouldn’t have to dirty our plates. If that isn’t thoughtful, I don’t know what is.

  Her youngest son is 3 years old and about on a par with Baron in playfulness. However, he was not prepared for Baron’s claws. Baron wantwd to play with him and vice versa but Baron was too rough and I ended up having to put him into his crate. I wasn’t sure who I was protecting more because the 3 year old started to get mean, which confused Baron and made me decide to put him out of reach so HE wouldn’t get mean in return.

  Well, thats all I have on my mind at the moment. I have to drive down to WalMart to oick up a couple items AND a birthday card for the Beast’s aunt. How unfortunate that her birthday falls on the same day as the Twin Towers terrorist attack. You would think we both would remember it well beforehand and get the card out to her sooner *sigh*. It’s hell to get old. The Beast;s uncle used to say *,,,getting old is not for the faint of heart*. I’m sure someone else said it somewhere (someone famous most likely) but it really IS true.

  Have a great day and remember to tell those you love that you do even if it is *love you* as your parting words when ending a phone conversation.

  Love you all.

  • 10:59 am
  • 1 Comment