and They Call It... Puppy Love

After a hellish weekend of Mr. Frustrating Stubborn Extraordinaire, we decided to try round 2 of the Doggy Park down the street last night to try to burn some energy out of this pup.  He just got his last round of shots a few days ago, and he was due for a bath anyway, so it was good timing.  

This dog park is different than some others in that there aren't separate sections for big dogs and little ones - so there was a good mix of different sized dogs in there.  I'm not sure I love it - I am much more comfortable with him around dogs of his own size, especially as a puppy.  

But it's the only one we've got, and he had a good time last time, so in we went, big dogs and all.  Of course when a new doggy arrives, all the others have GO SEE - and this was no exception.  We were there all of about 2 minutes however, when all of a sudden there was a gang up and all we could hear was Vasher yelping like he's never yepled before.  We both got scared, took action, and all the owners broke it up.  He got a little dirty, but no damage done, so we both breathed a sign of relief.  

He soon found someone his own size - another 4 month old puppy - a female Rottweiler named Zoe - and.. well...  after some VERY close "get to know yous"... yeah.... Our little guy got his first girlfriend.  

I apologize in advance... for some reason I can't embed the video here... so here's a link to it on YouTube.... 

Follow and Enjoy!  (I promise it's worth it!)

http://youtu.be/GwS-ghEZixs

Puppies are.... tiring

So it's been a Loooooong time - yeah yeah you heard that all before, but damn we're both exhausted.  Seriously our lives have been reduced to:

• Wake up (yay it's been 6:30am lately - not 4:30am) - I play animal shuffle where I take the kitties down to the basement while Chris and Vasher are outside.  

• Stay up and supervise Vasher (because he can't be trusted on his own for longer than 2 minutes tops on a good day) till it's time for his crate - includes feeding, the obligatory pee and poop, and playtime. Crate time around 7:50am on weekdays - 8:30-9 on weekends.  

• Work (weekdays) / regain sanity (weekends)

• Lunch = puppy out for an hour or so, less on weekdays, more on weekends.  Shuffle the kitties into my office room for the hour to shield them from that which is the Vash.

• Work (weekdays) / regain sanity (weekends)

• Afternoon = puppy back out around 4:30/5 - another Animal Shuffle to take the kitties back to the basement (which is finished, and has all their necessities - no worries, they are comfortable, if a bit mommy deprived down there) - then its..... VASHERTIME which includes Hunger Games (more to come on that), training, walks, fetch, keep away - basically anything we can do to keep him engaged, active, and preventing him from doing bad shit including chewing and digging on furniture, closet doors, and rugs.  We may or may not also try to play Jedi mind tricks on him that "you're tired.  Really... Vasher, you're tired."  It doesn't usually work... bummer.

• 9:30 - approximate puppy crash time.  Yeah full 5 hours of VASHERTIME means 5 hour energy is getting a bump in it's stock shares from the daily shots Chris has been taking just to stay functional.  

Seriously, by the time Vasher crashes it's beddy-by time for us.  And trying to do anything productive (like blogging ?!) during VASHERTIME is an exercise in futility.  Chris tries his damnedest to be the primary interactive human but come on the poor guy needs a backup just to keep his sanity.  What does all that lead up to?  No blogs.  No social life.  A crash course in patience.  Realizing how much we need and love  each other.   ...And trying to remember that PuppyTime won't last forever - and even though he is INCREDIBLY exasperating at times, he has glimmers of being a great dog - so that's the end game.  I'm confident we'll get there - perhaps looking a bit like Tyrion or Davos (minus a nose or finger from a puppy nip) but we'll get there.  We're both too stubborn not no.    

Now for some new shots... a video mash-up of bath time antics, as well as "Hunger Games" is in the works, but for now this is gonna have to do... Enjoy 

Morning Antics on the deck

That ball is a BIT too big for your mouth pup... for now.. 

A rare moment of stillness

Ahhhh the puppy life - AC, favorite chew toy, and a tennis ball... doesn't get better than that.

Where's the Squeaker??

If you've been reading along, you know we have 2 older Siamese cats - 12 and 11 years old - who have been with me since they were kittens.  I love them dearly, and Chris begrudgingly puts up with them because he loves me.  I am the "Cat Person" and he is the "Dog Person" and we live in harmony as such... so while he has put up with my cats for 3 years, he finally has his new puppy that he can live out all his dog glory in (and revel in the frustration that is raising said puppy).  

Guys, this is just a one bedroom apartment... 

If you didn't already know, Siamese are talkers.  Leo is a bit more chill and only lets out his deep yeowls when he musters the energy to do so (which is quite a bit more often with Vasher around).  Leia on the other hand can get into fits where she just meows with wild abandon, with her decidedly higher-pitched voice.  Lemme tell ya, Chris Loves It.  


I was able to catch a video of Leia having some rare quiet time, and she was in a really sweet mood.  I can already hear Chris saying "oh god no one wants to hear her meow..." so fair warning, this is about 50 seconds of Siamese meows, but she's my sweetie.  And it's also a good example of how similar she sounds to a squeaker in a dog toy.....  

We noticed a few weeks ago that instead of running away, standing up for herself, or fighting back.. the dynamic between Vasher and Leia is.. well... a bit odd.  I really think Vasher thinks she's a toy with moving and vocal parts.  Which is a little scary, yet funny all at the same time...


You decide... 

Ser Vasher Lionhat... if you please

Yes we're as obsessed with Westeros as everyone else... although our lack of an HBO subscription means that we we actually read the BOOKS... so I'll get all hoighty-toighty and proclaim that we are real Ice and Fire fans whereas all you pretenders that just watch the TV show are just posers.  The reality is that although we have read the books (ok I'm still reading Dance with Dragons, but STILL) we are insanely jealous of all you HBO people that get to watch the shows whereas we have to wait for the Blu-ray edition (or ::cough cough:: watch them through nefarious online locations ::cough cough::) 


Whether you are a fan of the books, the TV series, or both... you should enjoy this introduction to the newest ally for the North... Vasher Lionhat.  

Basement Camping! ...finally

Yeah Yeah Yeah... I know, this is a loooong time coming.  We're like a video game that keeps hyping ourselves up and keeps pushing back the release date.  I feel your frustration, and the best excuse I can come up with is that I'm an overly anal person, and it took me forever to futz with all these video clips and get them into some kind of coherent collection that lived up to my mediocre skills.  The additional excuses include that I've had a few freak out moments when it comes to raising a puppy and I needed a few mental health days to get back on track.  Thank the maker for Chris being the primary caregiver because I'd have been in a padded cell a few weeks ago!  


ANYHOO... we've been hinting at all the shenanigans that we had to come up with during our time in hell the basement without power (134 hours during the hottest week we can remember for all you who may have miraculously forgotten from my incessant facebook updates).  We made the best of it.  


It was over July 4th (a Wednesday of all days) so while that granted us a day off work, we didn't really get to enjoy it like we wanted... but we still did do our best - we luckily got a 3550 watt generator from Chris's dad about 3 days after we lost power feeding extension cords into the house which we connected the fridge to, as well as trailed down to the basement to run some fans and lights.  Since I wanted nothing with grilling outside in 105 degree temps only to come inside to 95 degree temps to eat, we decided to hook up the George Foreman (do I need a copyright or something?) to grill up some hot sausages and at least do up the 4th of July proper.   Lesson Learned:  a 3550 watt generator does NOT like trying to power a Foreman and a fridge at the same time.  This sucker hoovered more power than the Xbox 360 and Gamez system.  True story.

Basement Grillin'  ...oh yeah

We had plenty of time to take pictures because... lets face it... there isn't much else to do when you are without power.

Vasher n' Daddy.. chillin like villans

I'm sexy and I know it

Photo Bomb

Coolest seat he could find

Ima big boy!

But where are the kitties during all this you say??  They were troopers hanging out upstairs for the most part... even though it was hot as hell up there (thermostat pegged on 90, so my best guess was about 99/100) they lounged around, I kept lots of water on hand for them, and they of course had the option to come join us.  For the most part they wanted nothing to do with a cooped up puppy.  Can't say I blame them.  


Last but not least, we were hard pressed to come up with ways to tire the guy out since he wanted nothing to do with being outside aside from some P&P so hey... what can I say, we improvise.  


Enjoy.... 

Dog days of summer...

So remember when it wasn't a daily temperature of "holymotherofgodhotashell" outside??  Yeah neither do we... but it must have been at least a little tolerable when I took this footage of the demon hound our darling puppy a week or so ago.  


In the midst of out 134 hour long power outage (thank the maker for the 3500 watt generator we had to at least run a few fans, lights, and keep our cell phones and laptops charged) my newly purchased video editing software arrived and I had something to keep me occupied while I wasn't grilling hot sausages on the George  Foreman grill (that by-the-way sucks power like a Dyson with a wattage addiction) in the basement (yay Basement Camping!).  


The result is my first foray into video editing... yeah you better watch out Spielberg... 


Enjoy :)

Mass Hysteria Round 2 - Come Into My Castle

So in the ever-eventful land of Dogs and Cats! Living Together! We often get to complete the quote with MASS HYSTERIA.

Usually it involves the Fat Man himself - Leo "Lunchbox" Kitty and Vasher the Thrasher because unlike Leia, Vasher hasn't quite gotten up the gumption to try to !PLAY! with Leo. Mostly because Leo Ain't Having It, whereas Leia has been sighted giving the young pup a a tease now and again.

Unfortunately the latter hasn't yet been captured for posterity yet. I'm convinced that I'm going to have to strap the camera to myself during all waking hours, it's like trying to catch a Sasquatch on film sometimes.

We were lucky enough to get this sighting... Leo's got his full on Grumpy Old Man Pants on here... 

And he'd rather dig in for the fight than give up his well-earned seat. I can just hear him thinking "..dammit I was here first you rotten mongrel...."

C'mon Leo, Vasher just wants to plan "Come into my Castle" - don't you read Game of Thrones??




Why doesn't he wanna play?! I'm CUTE!!


Oh... alllllllll Riiiiight.......:::sighs::


Round 2 to Leo, but this battle ain't over yet.

Cruise Intermission - Tower Defense and Jenga

So time for another little break in the story for another installment of "Vasher vs. Cats, Round 2"...


This time, Leia decides to get a bit crafty...  hide and seek!

Unfortunately all it ended up doing was teaching him that the furniture has new and exciting chill spots.

In other news, Chris felt altruistic and purchased a snazzy new cat tower for the Beans* (..ok sidebar time.. "Beans" is a time-honored nickname that I christened the kitties ages ago, and the nickname stuck.. yeah, Little Beans. I dunno what inspired it, the mysteries of my mind are infinite, and it's best not to dig to deep...)

*thank you again love - We (collectively myself, Leia, and Leo) all say THANKS!!

It's safe to say they love it. It's been intact for about 5 hours now and Leia hasn't left - she keeps hopping from perch to perch.

Leo is just happy he fits somewhere... 

Leo also took it upon himself to deal with his own form of security... out come the laser-eyes.

For now all is calm in the land of pups and kits... it's a truce  akin to a massive game of Jenga - one wrong move and it all crashes down. 
  

Cruise Intermission - First Puppy Bath!

So my original plan was to at least get the full review of our recent Carnival Pride sailing posted before any other posts, but can't let this day go by without a mention...


Puppy boy had his first accident in his crate today, much to my utter sadness - just felt bad for ignoring his barks and whines (although doing the same thing for the past 4 days he did just fine... thus is a puppy bladder I guess - akin to old people and pregnant women).  


So poor Vasher had to lay in his own pee for an undetermined amount of time (probably no more than 30 mins or so for all you tsk tskers out there) and while he was perfectly happy 10 minutes after getting let out when Chris came home for lunch, he definitely had a stink to him, even after a wet towel rub down.


So that leads us to... Vasher's First Bath!  Wooo!  


Little fuzzy wuzzy wasn't so fuzzy was-he? 

He was a champ though, and through the tag team efforts of both of us, me on water duty, Chris on hold-down and suds duty, the little guy was sparkly clean and smelling of tearless baby powder puppy shampoo in no time... 

Of course toweling the drowned boy off after was a chore, and he eyed us with deliberate mistrust afterward for having to be subjected to such an evil activity.  

...And then he turned into SPAZZ MATAZZ... seriously, he must have channeled his inner Ozzy because he turned into the Crazy Train afterwards... and of course both cats were hanging out behind the door wondering just what the hell was going on in here... 

And Leo just wouldn't back down... 

(yes Leo is declawed up front)

Oy... what a night!  

Vasher's back to his fuzzable self (alternating between extreme bouts of cute sleepiness and crazy puppiness)

I dunno which toy to choose!!

And Leo is back to his normal aloofness

So all is right with the world... for tonight at least.  

Nighty Night.