be a wonderful dog mama

I’ve been keeping Roger off-leash in my office, and it’s going really well! He doesn’t go any further outside my door than his leash had reached, and there’s no tangled leash getting wrapped around my chair. He also seems more calm when we finally leave the office, too.

Agility went really well last week! Roger’s a natural! I, however, need some work! :)

I found an intro to agility class for Roger and me! I’m so excited, we start tonight!

Our office is now officially dog friendly!! They instituted the policy last week, and Roger’s been with me almost every day since!! It’s so great to have so much time with him, I’m so happy!!

I’m bringing Roger to NH for the weekend! We’re leaving today right after work.
He’s going to get to run around Mom and Dad’s yard all day, and we’re going to camp out in the yard, and he’s going to meet Haiden and Jess FINALLY!

Well shit…it’s going to rain the whole time. Looks like we’ll be “camping” on the porch!

Well. Roger and I both survived our first weekend apart!

I was in St Louis from Thurs-Sun, and my dog trainer friend Damon was in charge of Roger. They had met and Roger liked him, but the first night Damon came, Roger was NOT having it! I got a call from Damon while I was sitting in the Chicago airport waiting for our flight to STL…he was growling, wouldn’t let Damon get near him, wouldn’t accept treats, and wouldn’t leave my room even for food! My poor puppy!!

Luckily, Damon was able to get our mutual friend Erin to come over, who works at the shelter and Roger remembers and loves her. She was able to reintroduce Roger and Damon, and convince Roge that he was a good guy. The rest of the weekend went smoothly (for the boys, anyway!).

After canceled/delayed flights and lost luggage, I finally made it home in the wee hours Monday morning. Roger was a little tentative at first, but pretty soon he was my lovey velcro dog again! Even in the crazy heat, he slept on top of me and I loved it.

The hot weather finally broke yesterday in a couple BIG thunder storms. I snuck Roger to the office for the afternoon, and he alternated between napping fitfully on my feet, pacing my little office, and resting his chin on my lap with his ears flattened and his eyes wide. Puppy doesn’t DO thunder.

I missed him terribly, and Damon reports that he missed me too – lots of heavy sighs by Sunday. We only got each other in April…I don’t really know how long it’ll take for him to realize that we’re going to stay together forever. I’m already at least his fourth home!! I’ll be gone for a whole week in August, what will he think?!? Maybe I could sneak him to camp with me…

Last night Roger and I had our interview for DogZone, one of the snazzy doggie daycares in the area. He passed with flying colors (got along with the owner’s dog, peed outside)! I’m such a proud dog mama!

However…it’s REALLY expensive! My budget is pretty tight, and we just decided to raise our condo dues, too. I know Roger would totally LOVE it, and the exercise and socialization would be so good for him, but I just don’t think it’s in the cards for now. We’ll see…

Oh my dog! He’s lost 4 lbs, about halfway to his ideal weight. AND HE HAS SO MUCH MORE ENERGY NOW!! He’s still as mellow and lovey as ever, but instead of a walk around the block in the afternoons, we go down to the pier and tear around playing “matador” and “splashdown,” two games he’s made up that make me laugh out loud every time, as well as just running back and forth in the sun! What a happy dog!! We’re looking into an agility class this summer, boy will I have my hands full then!

can’t get over how SMART and GENTLE and WELL-BEHAVED Roger is.

—neighbor Sara has a new Yorkshire terrier puppy Lucy, about the size of Roger’s foot; they came over to play and Roger flattened himself down on the floor with her
—We went to the dog park yesterday, and the dog he was playing with barked the entire time; Roger didn’t bark once
—Every night as we’re going to bed, he waits for me to invite him up onto the bed
—In the morning Roger loves to sleep in too, and when I hit the snooze and climb back into bed, he snuggles right up to me
—He knows a peanut butter-stuffed kong means I’m going to the office, and he leads the way to his kennel

I’m the luckiest dog mama EVER.

Happy dog!

I’ve been looking at those $100 dog beds in the LL Bean catalogs for as long as I can remember, then I found this one for $25! I got my couch Friday, so we got this Sunday. Now we both have a new place to relax! It doesn’t have his name embroidered on it, but I don’t think he can read yet anyway. :)

We baked peanut butter oatmeal dog cookies together last night. Well…I did the baking, he licked the spoon.

I quickly realized (thanks to a broken dish and paw prints on the window sill) that when left alone, Roger was jumping up on the kitchen counter to look for me out the window over the sink!!!

Since that discovery, I’ve been closing him in my bedroom when I have to leave him alone. That works fine, he doesn’t chew anything and he’s got my bed. Dad came yesterday with a kennel for him, which he was very displeased with at first, but he went in it voluntarily when we put his bed in.

Dad and I left him in his kennel when we went to Lowe’s for maybe two hours, and when we got back Roger met us at the door! Hmm, that’s not supposed to happen… He had bent the bars and gotten the door open!! I’ve got one smart cookie on my hands. Luckily, the kennel came with an extra divider panel, so I put that against the end he bent. Hopefully that will hold my little hulk puppy for the day.