Drought, Drought, Drought

We had one substantial rainstorm this summer in the DC metro area, and that was at the beginning of July. Since then, almost nada.

The last few summers have been dry, but we managed to keep a few strands of grass alive. With the addition of the Papster storming around in back after balls (see "Confessions...", particularly the last scene with the plumes of dust), that's it for most of the grass. And the hostas have been creamed too... whenever he catches the ball, he runs back into that bed and stomps around for a while as a final flourish, like a wide receiver in the end zone.

Intelligence of Dogs

I got a copy of "Intelligence of Dogs" by Stanley Coren. While many dog authors, especially boneheads like Elizabeth Marshall whozits of "Hidden Life of Dogs" note, seem to attract mixed reviews, Coren seems to be widely respected. Other authors regularly quote or reference his books as source material. I've got a copy of another of his books, "How to Speak Dog" on the shelf, but I'm taking this one on the plane today and plan to make some headway.

Blog Redesign

Google has assimilated blogspot.com, and, in the spirit of all things Google, entered into a perpetual "beta" with new features. To enable these, I switched to a new site template-- and, presto, the all-new Pappy's blog!

It's pretty plain, but I like the extra space it provides for oversize youtube video links, and the archives are better organized. And, of course, who couldn't love that face... with its unconventional good looks.

Leash Not-So-Niceness

We're still struggling with Pappy and leash aggression (earlier post). I came across this article, which is a pitch-perfect description of our situation-- pulling and lunging towards the other dog... barking and growling... my excuses that Pappy is friendly. The worst part is that I have been losing my patience and feeling a lot less kindly towards our pup during these incidents.

Yesterday we got a Gentle Leader, having heard it can help with training. As long as we've had Pappy, we've used an Easy Walk harness from the same manufacturer, but it was never markedly effective at preventing his pulling or lunging-- generally he's good on the leash away from other dogs, so switching hadn't been a big priority.

He fussed and bridled a bit after we first tried the Gentle Leader, but from there it's been very encouraging. Already good on the leash, he doesn't pull at all with the new collar. We ran into Taz, barky miniature Schnauzer, on the trail. Pappy wasn't barking-- but mostly because he started struggling with the collar rather than fixating on the dog, so it was kind of a mixed victory. I wouldn't call him "trained" or "desensitized" yet, but it gave me hope that I can draw his focus away from the other dog and start that process.

Confessions of a Ball-Chasing Addict

The latest Pappy movie is a drama. If "Leaving Las Vegas" can net Nicholas Cage an Oscar, surely Pappy can rocket to stardom with his vice.

Dog Park Ink

Well, the Wheaton Regional dog park got some ink in this week's Gazette. The weekend before last, the Saturday early morning crew (including Ollie the Collie, Truman the German Short-Haired Pointer, Lucy and Joy the Boxers, Jack, Jojo, and Pappy among others) were all running around when a stranger, sans dog, entered the gate. Joy immediately bounded up and greeted him paws first.

He said he was writing an article on dog parks, and collected some thoughtful and pithy quotes from us. Last weekend folks at the dog park were all wondering what happened to the article, but my wife popped open today's paper and there it was. The crew will be so pleased.

Someone Else's Doggy Movie

We rented the DVD of "Shelter Dogs" this weekend. It's a documentary concerning a dog shelter in New York state. It's an engaging movie, but not incredibly polished. I agree with the key point-- that a no-kill policy for shelters isn't always the kindest solution-- but I am not sure that the events of the movie absolutely nailed the argument.

But it does show the difficulties of running a shelter, the devotion and dilemmas of the dog owners and staff, and some very sweet doggies. It definitely made us a little verklempt when we thought of Pappy in shelters, and his rescue by volunteers like these. He is still listed on the Last Chance page (as 'Fritz'). 8/27 Update: Last Chance finally updated the site and Pappy's pre-adoption pic is gone.

Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon...

...or not. Pappy's eight-month-old puppy pal, Molly, was spayed this week. As a result she has been noticeably absent for her traditional morning play dates with the Papster.

Pappy was neutered long before we got him. There is a "why-it's-good-for-your-pet" party line that is a little too zealous, but they are trying to battle some popular misconceptions regarding fixing your pet. The sad fact that was most convincing to me was the number of dogs up for adoption. When we were looking to adopt a dog, the selection of pets at the no-kill shelters was astoundingly large and turned over much too slowly (Pappy met Sierra and Milo at the beginning of June, and they are still listed at All-Breed Rescue). And, in the kill shelters, the selection of pets turns over much too quickly.

8/29 Update: Looks like Milo was adopted from All-Breed Rescue!

Pappy's "Gone With The Wind"

We finally have Pappy's masterwork-- the movie that generations will view and remember. "The Teletubbies Meet Pappy" has the sort of nuanced portrayals you don't expect from a 2 1/2 minute movie. It's sort of like "Kramer vs. Kramer" meets "Alien vs. Predator". Maybe with some "Itchy vs. Scratchy" thrown in.

This may be a little intense for teeny tinies.

Hordes from Texas

We had some visitors to our suburban Washington enclave, and Pappy was in on the action. My wife's junior high friend, her husband, and six kids DROVE up from Dallas to DC for a vacation. We had them by for breakfast Saturday morning.

I broke out the bouncy ball for a demo of Pappy's exceptional ball-obsessed reflexes and willingness to chase 'til he drops. Given that we have no good toys, tossing the ball kept the little ones occupied. Apart from how nice these kids are, one thing that impressed me is that all of them could throw. Tiny Elizabeth had the kind of arm you don't see on many little girls.

Dog Days

It's stinking hot, and it's amazing how this changes a dog's behavior. Pappy's morning play dates with Molly have devolved into a few seconds' faint-hearted wrasslin' followed by both dogs at the back door begging to come sit by the air-conditioning vent. You'd almost think the two of them were mellowing out.

Of course, Pappy will run himself to heat-exhaustion if there is a ball to be chased.

Water Dog

It could be the heat, it could be newfound love, but we couldn't drag Pappy out of the kiddie pool at the dog park this morning-- except to chase a tennis ball.

Last weekend we spent the afternoon by a pool with the Papster, and he was pretty nervous around the water. His ball would fall in, and he'd paw at it trying to get it out. Finally he started wading in on the steps to retreive his beloved toy. If you held the ball underwater, he'd even go dunking for it. Sadly, Pappy's unconventional good looks don't really hold up when he's sodden.

Uncle Fred

In many ways, the inspiration for adopting Pappy came from his Uncle Fred, a poodly mutt belonging to my mother-in-law. When visiting Texas, old Fred becomes our devoted sidekick. He may look like a lamby poufta, but he's got the heart to go after muscle-bound dogs thrice his size. Ah, good times!

Though the physical resemblance to Pappy might not be obvious, they are both lanky, medium-sized dogs with long snouts. Shave them, dye them the same color, and they could be twins.

Ga-ga for Other Dogs

For a good dog, Pappy does drive me crazy with one thing. It could be that he is young, it could be that he's a terrier, it could be that I am too nervous, but Pappy has a lunatic drive to engage every dog that he sees on a walk. From fifty feet the ears go up and he starts pulling towards the dog. At twenty feet I can no longer get his attention. At five feet, if he gets a chance to sniff with a calm dog, all is well. Otherwise, he's jumping, he's lunging, and-- no longer content to whine in frustration -- he's recently taken to barking and growling at strange dogs. I see so many dogs who can pass calmly, and I want me some of that.

He's good with other dogs at the off-leash dog park, so he's pretty well-socialized. The difference on-leash is that he's being restrained, and I am probably stressing him out. There are some interesting articles on clickersolutions.com about desensitizing dogs to other dogs, but I am still trying to do too many things at the same time. This morning Pappy had some success at staying calm while Taz, a sweet-but-barky mini schnauzer, passed by. But then Taz's owner stopped to chat and eventually the whole thing disintegrated into the typical conflagaration.

But it is always important to remember, as weird as your dog gets things could be so much worse.

What? A Pappy-less movie?

This is movie of our trip to the Scottish West Highland Way, which dragged us away from our beloved Papster in late June. Eight minutes of pure delight for people who want to go the 95 miles without all the walking and blood-sucking midges. (There are a couple of shots of a working Border Collie to justify me placing it in a dog blog.)

More Quotes

Following our quote from the Washington Post journalist, I have a new quote from the professional ranks on our dog's-eye view. On viewing Pappy's Blog, a Ph.D. psychologist and published expert on schizophrenia had this to say-- "We're upgrading you to 'code red' on our watch list."

You better have us on your watch list, because we are the ones to watch. All the way to the moon, baby.

Running Again

I stopped taking Pappy for runs a while back because of a nerve-wracking incident, but this weekend we went out and he seemed to enjoy it.

The incident took place the morning of the day we were flying to the UK on vacation. I decided to take Pappy on a run to keep him from getting too out of shape during our absence. Pappy always starts a run tugging at the lead, dawdles a bit up to the halfway point, and then he gets into the "zone" and races through the home stretch. At the halfway point that morning, he was really dragging. I then saw he had a pronounced limp. Suddenly I had visions of Pappy having a burst tendon with five hours until I had to leave for an international plane flight... and a newbie dog-sitter who we couldn't reach before we left... and a million things to do. I picked Pappy up and started carrying him with my mind racing to think how I was going to fit in a vet visit, and who I could talk to about follow up.

Pappy isn't big at 37 pounds, but he gets to be a load after a quarter mile-- but I forged along. He seemed to be having a good time licking the sweat off my face, and looked suspiciously comfortable. Finally I needed to take a breather, so I put him down and he was walking without much trouble. Within two hours, he was chasing balls around the back yard. The little stinker!

Our Hero

Turns out that while we were away on vacation, Pappy showed the heroic fortitude of Rin Tin Tin (minus the training and obedience).

While the housesitter had him out in the back yard, Pappy was barking incessantly at something. He's not a barker under normal circumstances, so a neighbor took a look outside... finding a suspicious stranger in my next-door neighbor's yard. When confronted, the stranger made some excuse about mistaking this house as having a basement apartment for rent, and then skulked off. My next-door neighbor later found his basement window had been broken, but no one seemed to have entered. A short time later a burglar was apprehended after being identified breaking into another house in the neighborhood.

My next-door neighbor is no dog-lover (and of course Pappy heads straight in for a crotch-sniff every time he comes by for a chat), but I think he is warming to the Papster following his extraordinary heroism. I was considering a parade in Pappy's honor, but that kind of thing is so overdone in July.

We're baaack...

After a three-week vacation hiatus, we're back and ready to begin posting. Sadly Pappy was not with us during the break, because he would have certainly enjoyed chasing the sheep on the West Highland Way. Instead he stayed home with his housesitter, eating peeled grapes (metaphorically) and pining for our return.

The New Movie

We've been getting Pappy parts in a few "smaller" films to help build his rep. This one's a minute and a half.