Monday, February 7, 2005
Sorry for not posting much recently, but life has been pretty uneventful lately. The weather has been chilly and it has snowed the last two weekends. So what isn’t covered in snow is a muddy mess from the snow melting.
Despite the bad weather, the boys and I were ready to get outside and have some fun. So, yesterday we made a point to go to the dog park. We went very early in the morning while the ground was still frozen to help avoid a lot of the mud. There were about five other dogs there who’s owners all had the same idea about coming early while things were still frozen, so the boys had plenty of playmates.
When things warmed up and the park started turning to mud we left and went to the children’s playground area to play on the jungle gym. The boys love to climb on the jungle gym and go down the sliding boards. This jungle gym was very large and had 6 different slides. I was very proud of them because they even went down the tunnel slides that are curved. They usually hesitate and try to avoid the enclosed slides but yesterday they were up for anything!
Saturday, January 22, 2005
It has been very chilly here lately and we are in the midst of a snow storm. The heavy snow is yet to come, so we decided to head out and play while there was just a dusting on the ground.
The boys both had their coats on and were running around like mad stopping to gobble up snow along the way. They kept trying to shake off the cold and any snow that may have gotten on their coats. Luckily, I was able to snap a picture of Benjamin as he was giving himself a good shake!
If the boys are up to it, we may try to venture out later after there has been some accumulation. If we do, I will be sure to post some more pics.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Before I get to how devishly smart my cat is, let me give you a little bit more information.
A while back the boys were put on a very strict diet that consists of ground, 99% fat-free turkey, oatmeal, pumpkin and yogurt. Because they are on such a strict diet they rarely get regular dog treats. Instead, they get things like carrots, turkey lunchmeat and other healthy little snacks.
On the rare occasions that I leave the house without the dogs in tow, the dogs spend time in their crate. The routine generally is that I will put on a CD of relaxing music and then tell Benjamin & Henry to “go to bed”. The boys always run straight to their crate because they know they are going to get a treat. Once they are inside the crate, I go to the refrigerator and get them a piece of turkey. Once they eat the lunchmeat I close the crate door and then I am on my way.
Well, the cat is quite fond of the boys’ new diet because she loves turkey. When the dogs were still getting regular dog treats, she would never stir when I told the boys to “go to bed”. Once she realized that they were getting turkey, whenever I said “go to bed” she started running to her food bowl and meowing for a piece of turkey. I gave her a piece of course and this was her routine for awhile. But now she is at the point that if I turn the stereo on to play the relaxing music she will come running from wherever she may have been meowing the whole way. Before I even give the “go to bed” command she knows that I am getting ready to leave the house.
So now, every time I turn on the stereo the cat thinks that she is going to get a treat! I had no idea that she was so observant. It makes me laugh every time and I can’t help but be reminded of Pavlov and his dogs - except that Cupid is a cat and her bell is a stereo.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
If you like to dress up your puggie, or should I say if your puggie likes to dress up, don’t forget that tomorrow is National Dress Up Your Pet Day.
If you dress your pug up be sure to take some pictures and add them to our pug picture gallery.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Both of the boys love peanut butter, so I occasionally give them a Kong with some peanut butter smeared inside. After I give them the Kong they will spend the next half hour licking it to get all of the peanut butter out. After the peanut butter has been cleaned from the inside, Benjamin has no interest in the Kong itself. Henry, on the other hand, loves to just chew on the rubber Kong. He will chew on it for hours after all the peanut butter has vanished. While he is chewing on the Kong, it makes this horrendous squeaking sound that goes through me like nails on a chalkboard. Since it is something that he really enjoys I try to tune out the sound as best I can and I let him chew it for as long as he wants. He works so hard chewing it that sometimes he chews himself to sleep.
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
I was organizing my digital photos in a new software program last night and I came across this photo.
This is one my favorite photos of the boys. It was taken at the lake when they were just 7 months old.
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
For the most part, both of the boys are very good listeners. They both know the basic commands like sit, down, stay, no, leave it, drop it and take it. They also know certain commands for around the house like “go to bed” (go to your crate) and “go to the futon” (go lay on the futon that is in my office). Benjamin knows and loves the command “kisses” and Henry is learning the “give me five” trick.
Over the last few days, I have been working with the boys to teach them their left and their right. I started working on this mainly on our walks. We have basically three different walks that we use on a daily basis. One is the “just do your business” walk, another is a short walk (about 10-15min) and the other is a long walk (30-45min). So since we don’t always take the same path every walk, whenever the boys come to an intersection in the sidewalk they always look back and check with me to see which path we are going to take. So now when we are at an intersection, I tell them left, right or straight and then I go in that direction.
They don’t know the commands yet, but they are starting to recognize the words. The commands aren’t essential but it is a little something that I can do on our walks to keep them mentally stimulated.
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