Stampy's lips draping over his now parapalegic toy

2 dogs riding in back of station wagon

Egg Sweaters, made by Judith

Christmas 2006

Favorite present from Aunt Judith.

How big Stampy is, Echo in the chair, and my new window - thanks to Kevin and Dad.

R.I.P Echo

Echo has been missing for over two weeks. When Max came for the weekend, she got skittish, and I last saw her in the middle of the night on Sunday. I hoped she was just hiding, but after a week, I figured she wasn't. I hung signs around the neighborhood and put flyers in everyone on my block's mailbox, but no one has called. I can only think of two options: the crazy neighbor took her into the woods somewhere or someone hit her with their car. I can't imgaine she would have moved into a new home. And she was wearing a collar.
I am a bad pet parent. When Kevin moved out there were 8, and now there's only 4.

RIP Quilliam

Full house (minus two)

Dogs in snow

It's been unusually cold here

Today I was finally home during daylight, so I went on poo patrol, with Orion, as usual, tagging along behind me. It was an unpleasant poo patrol because the snow hid old poo, and I had to creep along, with my hands aching from the cold.
As I rounded the raised garden bed, I saw Odin devouring the last of Orion's food in the bowl inside (which explains why Odin is beginning to look, from above, like the "overweight" dog on the chart at the vet office - a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, Odin).
So anyway, I went running towards the door to yell at Odin, hit a patch of ice, slid along merrily on my heels until I hit the wooden "deck" thing, fell down onto it, watched the bag of poop fly in slow motion towards the sliding glass door; it hit the "deck" (not the door, which I seriously cleaned two days before), burst open and frozen chunks of poo went everywhere, and I, in the only non-clumsy part of this whole ordeal, did not smack my hands down into it.
Odin looked at me like it was a dinner show, and then licked his lips and waddled off.

Orion being cute in the chair

Never mind, he's not as tall as Odin

And he sleeps in the bed now. It's crowded because sometimes the cats sleep in there too.

Stampy's new habits

He gets the crazies about once a morning and once in the evening. He races the length of the house and then leaps into the big chair and catapaults out. He'll do this for about five minutes. It's funny because he's big and turns slow, like a battleship.
Whenever Odin gets up (out of bed, off the couch), Orion follows him around, being submissive. This one is more irritating, because then Odin starts to make noises at him and then Orion crawls around on his belly. I wish there was a dog park in Olympia so Orion wasn't learning only behavior from Odin who is not the most dog-ish dog.
Also I think Odin is stealing all the treats so Orion gets nothing and Odin is getting fat each time I leave the house.
Orion has figured out to run over to the fence and watch me leave. It's driving me crazy. It doesn't matter how many treats I give him, how delicious they are, how I spread them around, he still runs over to watch me leave. It makes me nervous because Odin went through a phase of jumping over the fence whenever I left, so someone had to be home to hold him (if he was in the yard). Since I can't leave Orion in the house because I'm gone too long, I'm worried it's just a matter of time before he starts jumping over the fence.
He also has gotten out of the room twice, though I'm not sure how since there is a shut door and then a dog gate with chairs blocking it.
Last week he peed on the floor for no apparent reason. I haven't found any other accidents other than that. I was sitting in the next room when he peed on the floor.
He also keeps chasing the cats.
He likes to chew on stuff. He's a lot more friendly without Betel, and he follows me around a lot and wants to go outside about once every ten minutes. He hasn't figured out how to ring the bell yet.

Orion the Teenager

I think that Orion got taller than Odin. I can't get a picture of them standing next to each other though.
Betel is now living in Portland, and the breeder says his new family loves him. Orion didn't work out in his new home, so he is back with me and Odin. It is easier just having him, but I still miss Betel.
The boys are about to get a bath, if I can the fire going to warm up the house. Orion stinks.

Black Friday for me, hopefully not for Betel

Betel went back to the breeder on Friday. I cried most of the way down and all of the way back. And I kept sporadically crying while I was there. We waited until he calmed down and relaxed on the floor for me to leave - then they took him to give him his dinner and I snuck out while he was gone. He will have lots of friends to play with (and 5 acres!) while he is staying with them, and they also have some kids to play with him. He'll get to learn from some well-trained and -behaved dogs, and learn from some humans who have good, consistent obedience skills.
They are going to find him a wonderful home that has a dog friend and plenty of space. They said he looks great, that he is alert, aware of his surroundings, and he has his name and sit mastered.
It was awful to leave him. I hope this is for the best and he has a wonderful life with his new family.
I am never getting another dog until I have a huge amount of land, a huge amount of time, and a partner who can help me. I feel so, so horrible about giving him up.
Orion leaves tomorrow morning.

R.I.P. Watanabe

Watanabe has been missing for several days from his new home, after coyotes were in the yard.
I'm going to hold onto the idea of him being a wonder cat who is going to find his way home from Redmond, and show up maybe a pound or two skinnier. Despite his bulky size, he was an agile cat and a good killer, and he probably made that coyote think twice about taking another cat.
As my mom said, at least he spent his last few weeks happy and enjoying life outside, instead of cooped up and angry in the house, spraying on my cookbooks and god knows what else. He got a lot of affection and love.

There was a flea on Bella today

Here's a photo of the puppies huddled on the couch. They're mad because they got baths first thing this morning, then the entire house got cleaned, including steam cleaning, so the floor is damp.

The dog family

Best buddies

The chair really is popular

Status of favorite toy from Aunt Judith

What's left of the new favorite toy from Aunt Judith

Betel is not as smart as I thought

Betel has been to Neil and Marcie's twice. He went for their party, with Orion and Odin on a Friday night. Then we spent the weekend there. They have electric fences for the horses, and at the party, Betel ran underneath it a couple times and only got shocked once.
However, when we were there for the weekend, he would not stop running underneath it. Of the 6 dogs, he was the smallest, so it was the easiest for him to get under. But it still brushed him. About every 2 or 3 times under, he'd get shocked and yelp and a few minutes later run under it again.
Finally, he accidentally brushed into it (instead of deliberately running under it) and it shocked him, and that time, approximately the 7th time he got shocked, he yelped and ran all the way back up the driveway to the house. It's a long driveway. And then he wouldn't come back down and made me carry him back down. He's heavy. And then he acted scared of it the rest of the time we were there.
What a dog moron. At least Orion and Odin figured it out, and they are far from bright bulbs. Orion, by the way, is still peeing on the floor and ocassionally pooping. I think it's him. I can't figure out if it's stress - from the change in routine and home, if his nose is too sensitive so I can't make the room smell clean enough, or if he's just too dumb to know to go outside.

Betel and Max playing with a stick

These pictures didn't come out as good as I hoped. Max weighs about 170 now, which is a Betel & Odin combined.

The new chair is quite popular

For some reason, pictures are posting great

So I'm just going to keep going. Stampy twisting himself up in the chair under the table.

Me learning to knit, surrounded by my boys

Note the look of intense concentration on my face. These ended up being pretty ugly. Judith and Mom just about fell down laughing.

Betel enjoys a good fire

Fact 4: When Stampy is going to bed, he likes to paw the bed a whole lot. Betel and Odin don't do that. He scratches and scratches and messes everything up, the flops down.

Mom and Judith on the couch with Orion

The dog couch, as you can see, was very popular.
Fact 3: Puppies appear to like to eat poop. Odin went through the phase, and now the boys are going through it. On our walks in Oakville, they kept finding delicious piles of what could only be poop and chowing down. As Mom & Judith taught me "TMI! TMI!"

Judith on the couch with Betel and Orion

Fact 2: Orion's tail is still really, really long. He is always forgetting it is behind him and I am always almost shutting it in the door because he only brings his body in. And Betel likes to grab it in his mouth.

Orion on the couch with Judith

Fact one: I saw Betel pee while he walked today because he was too hyper to stand still.

Judith's Pictures

Some of her pictures from her recent visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexheimer/sets/72157594334405179/

Flashback to 6 Weeks old photos

Housebreaking problems

Someone peed on the floor twice yesterday (I was gone all day), and then sometime between when I got home last night and went into the room this morning, someone pooped in there. I'm assuming, like with all the other accidents, Orion. He seems to be too dumb to have figured out how to work the bells on the door (which Betel uses also to go out and play and even Odin figured out when he was a puppy).
Betel has really been obnoxious. He won't stop chasing the cats and chewing on things he's not supposed to. I know we've moved into the most high energy destructive phase of a puppy's life, but it feels a lot more exhausting than Odin's phase.

Crazy Puppies

Betel and Mom

New toy from aunt Judith

Duh - Echo looks like a squirrel

That's why she gets chased so much!

Somebody keeps peeing on the dog bed

I suspect Orion, but it is really frustrating because I have never caught him (and I know it's a him), and I can't figure out why because he's not ever alone that long.
Both puppies have kennel cough. They must have gotten it at obedience school. It was a nice bite out of my dwindling money today to take them to the vet and find out.
However, I did get to find out their weights since they have long since grown past me being able to balance on the scale holding them and look down at the weight.
Betel is 58 pounds, and Orion is (drum roll - dum dum dum) 76 pounds!! He's not even 6 months old yet! He's also eating about 15 cups of food a day, compared to Odin's peak of 12, and Betel's measly 9.
But Betel - he walks in a room and people say "Here comes trouble." He was a terror. He yelped and screamed and ran around and was a pest. He provoked lots of stories about horrible dogs the vet or tech have known, and how disappointed they were when they heard a ridgeback was coming in. Apparently they are known for having personalities like Betel and not like Odin. (Two of them suggested I take him to obedience, and I said, sadly, he's already been through two classes.) Orion was sweet, as always.
The one funny thing that happened was that when they were leading Betel away to be weighed, Orion stayed in the room with me. I heard a distinct "poot" and started laughing at how loud it was. Well, it turns out it wasn't Orion - it was Betel - on the other side of the wall! The tech said "Does your dog always fart like that?"

There is a tooth next to me

It's disgusting. Kevin found it on the floor.
Both puppies were limping yesterday. They both are eating and running around, but it makes me nervous to watch them limp. And Orion still has a bad cough, but he is still eating and playing, so I am just monitoring it.
Odin likes to eat broccoli as a treat.
Yesterday we went to Jem's property and the puppies did all sorts of running around. When I was on the rope swing, they got nervous and ran out into the center so that I smacked into them.
Later, when I was in the incredibly posh outdoor toilet, they were all right outside when I went in, and when I came out, only Odin was there. 30 minutes later the puppies came back. I was so nervous. I had been walking around calling for them and whistling for 20 minutes, then I sat dejected in the communal area.
That's about all the news for now.

What's left of the favorite toy (a gift from favorite aunt)

Betel at 6 months and Orion at 5 1/2 months (and Odin at 7 years and 4 months)

Blogger won't post the pictures.
Today I was doing stuff around the house, and Betel apparently thought I wasn't paying attention because he went and sat on the bed - the one forbidden zone.
Stampy hurt his leg hiking on Saturday and has been gimpy ever since. It got a little better, but I can still hear that he's off, and when he moves around too much, it gets more obviously lame. When he is going to sleep, he likes to walk around and paw at the couch, dog bed, or crate - whatever he's in - before he curls up. It's funny. Betel doesn't do it. He also likes to get up every morning around 5:45 am and have a snack before he finishes sleeping. He is eating a TON of food, so I think he must get hungry during the night.
Betel is a late raiser, like his big brother, but then once he's up, he's wide awake.
I'll try the pictures again, one at a time.

If Betel were human, he'd play the pots in the kitchen

He is SO rambunctious.
I can't do their weights anymore because I can't lift them and then look over to see the number on the scale. And they are too big and squirmy to sit in one tiny little scale spot. So now we'll just have to be surprised when they go to the vet (which I hope is never). I remember there was a phase where I was sneaking Odin into banks to weigh him on their scale.
Orion is eating about 15 cups of food a day. Sometimes he doesn't quite finish. Betel is eating about 12, maybe a cup or so less. In comparison, Odin eats 3.
They have also learned how to blast the door open with their bodies. First, I found Orion out in the living room when I got home at lunch, while Betel was inside the dog room with the gate up. Then they were both in the living room and the gate was down. So I started putting the gate up, and cracking the door open but holding it with weights. That has worked so far while they're both in there, but then I started taking them on walks one at a time (more on this in a minute), and they don't like being left alone. Even with the door shut and 20 pounds of weights stacked against it, they can blast it open and open it far enough to get out. The only way I can keep them in there is if I pull the treadmill in front of the door to hold it shut. I don't want to have to shut that door all the way because it's also the cat door. But the cats don't come in much anymore.
Speaking of the cats, each morning when I take Betel on his walk, all three are following me. I haven't worked up the nerve to go all the way around the block because I'm worried they would get scared and go into the evil neighbors yard and get trapped. Now only Bella wears a collar because Echo takes them off within 24 hours and I lost all the spares. Echo is almost impossible to catch now, and I see them two or three houses down. I feel like the neighborhood nut with all the animals - the Pied Piper, but harried - but at least there's the crazy neighbor who's nuttier than me.
The room that Watanabe sprayed in smells so awful (it is the dog room). I can hardly bear to go into it, and I don't know what to do about it. If I pay to get it fixed, he might just spray on it again. The carpet is getting all worn down, and they have done a tiny amount of damage to that door when they blast against it. Thank god I am not renting.
Finally, Orion was awful in obedience last week. For our third class we worked on the same: sit, down, stay, leave it, and walking on a loose leash. We just made each one a little harder. We played puppy poker first, where we walk around and when the music stops you have 3 seconds to sit on a card. Orion only got 2 cards out of 5 chances because he would not stop trying to figure out where Betel was. The instructor said the problem with two puppies is they bond together, and Orion is bonded to Betel, so he could care less about what I'm telling him to do. So now I've instituted a new, rigorous schedule where they eat separate, go on separate walks, and do very separate obedience. She said that should be enough, that I don't need to separate them all day. He already seems to be responding better. But it's very time consuming.
Odin has been sneezing and coughing a lot. Betel got over his sneeze he had after being boarded, and I don't know if Odin is having a delayed reaction (it looks like kennel cough from my dog book), or if it is a heart thing. One sign of heart failure is a lot of sneezing and coughing, especially after going to bed. I guess because you're asleep on your heart and the weight? He has been doing it a lot in bed, so I am going to watch him a couple more days, then take him to the vet. He still has that lump on his tail too.

Link to about 196 of Judith's best photos (about 1/5 of her set)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexheimer/sets/72157594247246876/

1st set of photos from Judith's 1st CD

Never mind, blogger is lame. I'll see if I can get a link to Judith's Flickr account.

I am a negligent blogger - 12 days and no photos!

Things have just been busy, so here's the scoop in a nutshell:
1. Betel does a heli-tail when he's excited, just like Odin used to do.
2. Last week in obedience we worked on: sit, down, up (back into a sit), stay, leave it, and walking on a loose leash. The boys were much better than the first week.
3. Orion has been kind of clingy to Betel, especially in obedience. He wants to be wherever Betel is, while Betel seems to care less about Orion, unless he's bored, then he wants to chew on Orion's face. Another person in the class suggested that we put Bitter Apple on Orion's cheeks to stop Betel's chewing.
4. Odin has pooped in the bed a bunch more times. We put a waterproof cover on it for the upcoming pee in the bed. Apparently, old dogs just get incontinent and when they are relaxed (warm and sleeping), they let loose. Poor O.
5. We brought home a stray cat from our friends' wedding. It was in the parking lot of the Motel 6 and so it's been living in the spare bedroom, eating fabulous meals (torn up meat, squishy food, soaked cat food), and he got the heat before anyone else in the house did. Unfortunately, after a week of "fattening" him up (he didn't really get fatter, but he got livelier), I brought him to the vet today and he has feline AIDS. I was going to put him down, which I cried and cried about, even though I refused to name him, because I suspected this would be the case, but then a miracle happened and one of the vet techs with no cats said she'd foster him until she can find him a cat-free home. He was such a sweet cat. He pooped on the floor a lot, but he was still sweet.
6. The dogs spent the wedding weekend at Fido's Farm. They seemed really happy, and a special bonus for us, tired, when we picked them up. It was anxiety-inducing for me though to leave them there.
7. Betel had a bit of a cold (he kept sneezing) when he came back, but it cleared up after a couple days.
8. Both puppies have been having trouble with "down." I don't know what the problem is. They used to know it, then they just forgot. They can do sit, stay, and leave it, but look at me blankly when I say "down."
9. Betel has been giving me the affectionate nibble that is a lot like a flea bite.
10. I haven't been weighing them or taking any photos. I'm going to post some of Judith's top photos from a few weeks ago over the next few days.
I think that Betel is now 5 months old which makes Orion 4 1/2 months old.

Bird's Eye View

Last night I caught Orion getting on the bed next to Odin. Today I caught Betel on the bed next to Odin twice, and once on the bed in the spare room. hmmmm.

1st Night of Beginner Obedience

Well, within the first 20 minutes Betel had scared another dog into peeing on the floor and lept around pawing at the instructor when she tried to demonstrate how to walk on a loose leash. She had to show us the "emergency" method for wrapping the leash around his leg so he couldn't jump up so high. Kevin and I both hung our heads in shame. At one point I started laughing out loud because he was far and away the worst dog in the class.
Orion was his sweet, mellow self, which begets a chicken and egg question. Was Odin so good because he is Odin? Or was he so good because I made him good? I spent a lot more time with him and was far more strict with him when he was young. But I've always attributed his "goodness" to being dumb.
We worked on looking at us, catching and grabbing by the collar when loose and playing (Betel couldn't handle this), sit, down, walking on a loose leash, and come. Our homework is to do all those this week and next week we will also work on stay and maybe some outside walking on a loose leash.
She said to bring in our Halti for Betel because it should adjust to fit him and he needs it. They are also both mouthy, and she said to not let them have the treat until they're gentle. She used "easy."
There's certainly plenty of room to win "most improved" this session.

Tonight we start Beginner Obedience

The other fascinating observations I had about our Labor Day weekend was that Kevin made up a couple new nicknames: Scarface for Betel and Noodle for Orion. Betel is covered with little scabs and scrapes from playing, and Orion gets sleepy and just goes limp. They both got their ears really dirty from all the dust.

2nd set of Labor Day Weekend Photos