The Weekend, in Pictures

First, we played a little fetch in the back yard.

Zoe leaping for the red squeaky toy

Otis leaping for the toy

Why yes, Tim’s shirt does say “I (heart) Carrot Top”.

Then there was stretching. This is part two of Zoe’s stretch. In the first part, she looks like she’s going into a play bow.

Zoe's patented stretch, part 2

Then there was lounging on the deck. Otis likes to rest this way, with his legs stretched out behind him.

Lounging Otis

Finally, the two pals slept inside peacefully.

Zoe and Otis snuggling, almost

Step by Step

We went for a longer walk tonight than usual. After two days of rain, it was finally sunny, although I was able to sneak Otis and Zoe out between showers so they could work off some excess energy.

It was me solo this time, with one dog on each arm. They love to switch sides on me, which means I either have to walk with my arms crossed, or I have to adjust the leashes so they’re not twisted. About two minutes after I do that, they switch again.

We met three dogs on our walk, and Zotis (which sounds like a recently ousted leather-loving contestant on Project Runway) behaved really well. They stood calmly at the side of the path while two smaller dogs passed (although they were watching them very intently). Zoe got to sniff a dog in passing (Sally, who lives down the street), but there was a brief touching of noses and they went off in opposite directions. Otis barely noticed, which was good. Sometimes when we see other dogs, he decides to play extra rough with Zoe (biting her leash, bumping her). If I can’t sniff that other dog, he thinks, I’ll take it out on my sister, yeah!

They treed a squirrel a couple days ago, but quickly lost interest when it climbed so high they couldn’t see it anymore. Abby used to chase squirrels up the tree, then slowly back off to a distance. She’d sit and wait until the squirrel thought it was safe to come down, then she’d run at it and chase it up the tree again. Finally we’d take pity on the poor squirrel and call her into the house for treats. Otis and Zoe don’t quite have that figured out yet. Their attention spans are much shorter. They’ll have plenty of opportunities, though. The neighborhood is full of squirrels right now.

They’re both quite interested in not-for-puppy food. If I have something in my hand, even though I’ve never given them anything from my plate, they stare at me with rapt attention. It’s fun to give little speeches or sing songs when I have a cookie or piece of pizza in my hand (yes, I’m quite the healthy eater) because I know I have an audience. But really, they’re not listening to me. They’re only hearing their inner voices that say, “Please drop something.”

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I finally updated the site header and the About page. I thought about this for a long time. On the one hand, I want to continue to honor Abby’s memory, but I don’t want to disrespect Otis and Zoe’s place in my hear either. I’ll keep the site address the same (abbydog.wordpress.com) because I don’t want to mess up people’s bookmarks and RSS feeds. And really, if I’m only posting once a week, what are the chances of me taking on a massive project like that?

I’m also wondering if I should write about some non-dog stuff here, or if I should keep that confined to my other blog. I’m worried that I’ll have two blogs that I fail to update instead of one, but at the same time, I want to stick to the original premise of this blog. But of course, I might change my mind later. We’ll see.

Zoe’s histiocytoma is almost gone, to everyone’s relief. For a while it kept getting bigger and messier, but the tumor is smaller and new skin has begun to grow around it, and gradually it will be gone, just like Dr. J said. Parts of our house were beginning to look like the set of CSI with all the blood spatter on the walls after she shook her head. We still find scabs everywhere. It’s pretty gross, but it’s almost over.

Otis and Zoe are calming down around each other. They still wrestle and fight over toys and chase each other, but it’s not a constant battle. They’re peacefully sleeping in the other room as I type this.

Otis is still learning that the living room couch is not for dogs. He’s started to get sneaky about it– jumping off when he hears me walking into the room. He’s almost the same color as the couch, so it might be an instinct to camouflage himself.

I’m fascinated by how petite he is. Next to Zoe, he’s tiny. Oh, and he makes the cutest face when he thinks he’s getting a treat. He pulls his jowls back over his teeth. I don’t know if he’s trying to look fierce, but it’s just adorable and funny to me.

Otis and his silly face

We’ve started giving Otis more of the Royal Canin Boxer formula and less of the Beneful. His bottom burps have decreased a little, although he’s the first one we look at when the air quality in the house suffers. Zoe might never be blamed for compromising the integrity of the room again.

I don’t understand how parents with small toddlers get them in their car seats. It’s a big production just to outfit two dogs with gentle leaders when we want to take a walk. Otis wants to wear Zoe’s leash, and vice versa.

Zoe has started to wake us up in the middle of the night to go outside. At least she’s alerting us and we’re not walking into a big surprise in the morning, but it sure would be nice if she would wait a couple more hours. Oh, well.

I love my puppies, even if they get me up at all hours of the night. Even if they sit on my feet and accidentally fart. Even if they sniff each other in inappropriate places. Even if they can’t agree on who had the toy first. I’m just happy they’re here.

Otis Update

Zoe and Otis, in the five minutes they weren't wrestling that day.

I feel like a bad mom– the one who keeps the baby book faithfully for the first child, but falls off when the next one comes along.

The first week and a half has gone pretty well. Otis and Zoe are still fighting for top dog, but I’m hoping they’ll figure it out soon. The skirmishes are getting fewer and farther between, although they’re both instigators.

It’s amazing how Zoe is suddenly interested in toys she hasn’t played with for months. If Otis is chewing on something, she has to chew on it too.

There’s been a lot of tug-of-war, especially with rope toys. Zoe’s favorite thing to do is waiting until Otis is lying on his side, then grabbing one end of the rope toy and dragging him across the floor.

I’m worried that my neighbors think we’re starting a dogfighting ring, with all the snarling and growling and barking they do in the yard. They’re just playing, but they’re doing it really loudly. They don’t have their hackles raised, and when we went to see the vet (Dr. W this time), he said that it’s best if they work it out themselves as long as there aren’t any flesh wounds.

Otis loves to leap off the top of the deck stairs when Zoe is standing at the bottom. He’s got quite a jump for a little guy. Someday he’s going to land on top of her, though. He loves to leap back up the four steps, too.

I know I’m going to sound old for saying this, but is it really necessary for the State Fair to have fireworks every night? Just when we would all get settled in and were drifting off to sleep, we’d hear the fireworks go off. Zoe just shrugged it off and went right back to sleep, but Otis remained fairly alert until they were done. He didn’t whimper or shake, but he wasn’t exactly relaxed. It will be interesting to see what he does during a thunderstorm.

I wonder if his previous name (Thunder) was due to a fear of storms, or if they were just being ironic because he’s such a petite guy. He’s 55 pounds, but next to Zoe he looks so tiny.

They love to pick on each other during walks. They’ll be cruising along, and suddenly Otis will decide it’s time to hip-check Zoe. They don’t wrestle on leash (for which I’m thankful), although sometimes Otis thinks Zoe’s leash is a chew toy.

We have to arm ourselves with extra baggies when we go out. Zoe (and Abby before her) wasn’t big on dropping a load anywhere outside our yard, but Otis has other ideas. At least his stool isn’t as soft as it was the first week. He doesn’t mark too much while we’re out, and I try to make sure it’s in shared spaces like the park, rather than in people’s yards.

We’re teaching him that the couch in the living room is for people only. We’ve been putting extra things on it at night to prevent him from making it his sleeping spot. He’s still learning. I left blankets on a couple of the cushions, thinking that would be enough, but it made it even more inviting because Tim found him curled up there this morning.

We’ve started to switch his food to Zoe’s brand. We’re feeding her Royal Canin, while he’s on Beneful with some canned Pedigree mixed in to make the meals more enticing. He still needs to put on a few pounds, but we need to make sure it happens slowly so his bones and muscles can support the extra weight.

Oh, and have I mentioned that he knows how to clear a room? Tim was saying that Zoe will probably never get blamed for gas again with him around.

We have the Boxer races when we get home from work. They’re in two crates, side by side, so we’ll open the doors at the same time while saying, “and they’re off!” They wiggle and dance around us excitedly in celebration. And we’re excited too. It’s been twice as much fun.

Toy Recall

I just saw this heartbreaking story of a dog who had to have his tongue removed because it got caught in a toy. Thanks to the response to this story, the manufacturer is recalling the toy and investigating the toys for defects.

Oh, and if you search for “Rough & Rugged Fun Bag”, the results are surprisingly tame.