Biscuit by candlelight

The bending Willow

On Wednesday night, I was making dinner and I looked out to the happiest dog (that was not my own) in our yard. I, of course, decided on an impromptu playdate for Rico. 

Meet Willow, who we did not know was Willow, until after about 10 minutes of play time. 

Willow and Rico were getting along so well in the yard, that I decided to go back in to make dinner. They enjoyed each others company so. 

Then, I noticed a woman at the front of our house, in a car, who was clearly not happy with the happy dog in the back of our house. 


Bad Willow. 

Funny part about Willow? Her Mom was concerned when she saw her in our yard because she doesn't know what to do around other dogs. 

I think Willow has her Mom fooled. 

Willow can come play at our house any time.

- - -

Silly Dog | Silly Bandz

I know this is gross, so let's just get it over with.

Yesterday, Matt told me that Rico had thrown up in the office. Culprit: One SillyBandz. Although, I am relatively confident that the last time this happened, I threw all of those bracelets away. Weeks ago.

Fast forward to today, and Rico was gagging at the back door. I let him out so he could, again, purge whatever was in his stomach.

I told you it was gross. Dumb dog.

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To Know My Dooders Is To Love Him

Family Bed

Last night the boys were watching a movie in the basement while I got some work done. Right around snack time, they can up to get ready for bed.

I made Ian his usual snack... a yogurt-icecream-Carnation Instant Breakfast-banana-milk smoothie. He refused it, which made me certain he was getting sick.

Fast forward to 1:07am. Ian is at the foot of our bed, crying. He had a fever.

Imagaine Matt in the most panicked voice you can think of, saying, "He's gonna puke! Hurry! He's gonna puke!"

While it is obviously normal for someone to not want to be puked on, Matt  has a severe repulsion towards bodily fluids.

Ian and I sat on the floor of the bathroom until we were certain there would be no vomiting. He kept a dose of Ibuprofen down, so we were good to head to bed.

Matt found another available bed in the house, and Ian climbed in bed with me. Of course, at this point, he is nice and awake, tossing and turning, and wanting to carry on conversation. He eventually decided that since he was in Dad's bed, he wanted to sleep like Dad, with only his underpants on. (This is not TMI. This is important to know later in the story.)

Side note: I am a very angry sleepy person. I need at least 9 hours of good sleep, so that may mean an hour or so more of actually being in bed not getting good sleep on a normal night.

It's about 2:00am, and Ian is still awake, so we turn on Backyardigans. Brand spanking new episode, so I let him watch and ask Ian to please turn off the TV when it is over. He does eventually, yet, I am still awake to acknowledge that he has done so.

Ian falls asleep, and has this lovely every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze going on. Of course, I cannot sleep.

Fast forward to 4:00am. I am still awake, so I decide to give Ian another dose of meds before his fever spikes again. He does so and quickly falls back to sleep. Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze. Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze. Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze.

5:00am-ish, and I am woken up to the dog on the bed on Matt's/Ian's side. Gagging. Wretching.
I cannot reach him from where I am so I have to get up to go around to the other side of the bed where he is standing over Ian, Ian laying on his side. 

By the time I get there, THE DOG HAS PUKED ON IAN. Right on his side. His side is not that big, mind you, but I am thankful that 1) Ian was only in his underpants, and 2) The consistency was perfect for very little drippage. Gross, I know. Aware. I was there.

The dog is looking at me like, "Uh oh. What have I done?", and I am in that state of not really knowing what to do because Ian is still asleep, and I cannot find any papertowel in the master bathroom... ugh.

So, I grab the rag that was wet & cold on Ian's head for his fever, and scoop up the vomit off of his little body. I throw it in the sink and grab another towel to clean Ian up... I do so, and he says, still in sleep mode, "There is some that fell off," and he points behind him on the bed. Blech.

All is clean, dog is on the floor recovering, and I climb back into bed. Ian says, "That puke was hot," and he falls back to sleep.

Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze. Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze. Every-breath-snore-gurgle-wheeze.

8:00am comes and Ian is awake and feeling fine. I send him off to find Matt.  And, I have been awake ever since.

And, I am an angry-sleep-deprived woman who is very thankful that she kicked Matt out of bed last night. Did I mention how much he likes body fluids? I wonder if Rico will be allowed to sleep in our bed tonight.

Rico-1, Pizza-0

How can lil' biscuit be so sweet...

And then... be soooooo not so sweet? 

What, you ask, does Rico have to do with this pizza?

I bought it today at the grocery, and since it's box was so big (that's what she said), I figured I would just leave it out in the garage on the shelf next to the door to stay cool until we needed to heat it up for dinner.

I obviously forgot about it when I left Rico outside to do his business. He must have been very hungry.

Biscuit's Snow Day

Rico loves a cozy snow day as much as the rest of us!

Psst... don't forget to click on the brown bar above to vote for my blog! Much appreciated!

Clean grill

Rico got his teeth cleaned today, and heck, while they were in there, why not pull a tooth??? Here he is 8-hours later, obviously either still feeling the effects of anesthesia or feeling pain.

While I realize this is just a picture of Rico standing in the doorway, enjoying the lovely fall day that we are having here in Northeast Ohio, he has been standing up at that door, for the past hour and a half. Every now and then, he starts to fall over.

Dog Training Update

We are a week-plus into the training with Rico, so I thought I would give an update. Things are much improved. Since Rico is not an aggressive dog, but is smart, training has been relatively easy, and thankfully Matt can take some time to devote to him during the day when there are less distractions. However, the training we do during distractions is definitely the most helpful to see how Rico's behavior has progressed.

Rico now has to work for treats. And, work he does... happily.  As the trainer put it, as humans we do very little for free, and dogs are the same way. He is starting to understand what we want of him and will sometimes run through his list of "tricks" when he knows we have a treat ready.

Rico is also wearing a DAP collar. "DAP" stands for Dog Appeasing Pheromone. Essentially, the collar's scent is activated by heat, and the scent is designed to mimic the smell of his mother. Sounds kooky, I know, but it has been shown to be very helpful in dogs that were removed from their mothers too early. Matt calls it his "Mommy collar". If you have issues with your own dog(s) - from submissive urination to aggressiveness - you should actually look into this collar.  Rico is a completely different dog than he was when he and Ian got into their scuffle... and it is possible the collar has contributed to his calmness.

We have actually had a couple situations where neighborhood kids have run through our yard or come up to him in the yard without us knowing (frustrating from a pet owner's perspective, let me tell you) and Rico has responded almost perfectly. Honestly, Rico has not shown any aggression since we started the training. And, Ian has greatly improved on his interactions with Rico, too. 

Rico sometimes doesn't listen because the temptation in front of him is too great (like the sweet new Dalmation he met this morning - "Pongo" - that he just wants to play with!), but when led away from those temptations, he hasn't shown aggression.

Because I know there are some of you reading this that likely are saying/thinking, it is a dog and if it was MY child was ever in danger because it was near this dog... blah... blah... blah... a dog should listen to humans... period... blah... blah... blah... that dog should be given to a family without kids or put down... blah...blah...blah.... let me say this, Rico is not Cujo. He is a sweet, smart dog who wasn't being trained as a dog. We were doing somethings right, but many things wrong with him. And there were likely many things that contributed to the incident with Ian a few weeks ago... that we have been working to successfully fix.

In the meantime, parents, please teach your children (and remind them often), that no dog is "safe". A child should never approach a dog unless it is their own, and a child should never ever pet a dog that is not theirs unless invited to do so by the pet owner. A dog is a dog, and a dog will act like a dog even if you don't want it to.

Dog Whisperer

A couple of weeks ago, our 3-year old cockapoo bit our five year old. I first blogged about it here.

Today was the first meeting with the trainer. A.MA.ZING. I wanted to give just a quick recap of the couple hours we spent with her because many of you have asked about it.

Essentially, the trainer came to our home, and we talked ALOT about our interactions with Rico. His likes, dislikes, tolerances, triggers, etc. She then introduces the "clicker" as training tool. We practiced using it, and the BEST part of the whole afternoon was seeing Rico act PERFECT.

In the past, if our kids - or, God forbid, other children - were running or playing in the yard, Rico would be running and jumping and nipping. Not today. He was so well behaved as the trainer counter-conditioned him. It was looooooovely.

The trainer taught us things that we should have known... and somethings that we just needed to tweek... there were maybe A-HA moments, I must say.

Dog trainers are a huge expensive, there is no doubt about it... but, we are so glad that we took the step. Stay tuned...

A boy and his dog

A couple of weeks ago, we had an incident where Rico seemlingly bit Ian, our five year old, in the face after Ian woke him up from a sleep. This happened the day before we were supposed to leave for a week's vacation, with Rico in tow. Thankfully, a friend was able to watch Rico instead while we were gone, which gave us some time to sort our thoughts and come up with a game plan. The initial reaction was that we needed to give Rico away (Matt wanted to put him down). But with some thought and guidance, we have decided to go in another direction.

I know everyone has their own opinions and ideas about dogs that have bitten someone, especially a child... and most of them likely differ from mine. Here is how I see it... and this isn't just because Rico happens to be our dog and one that I especially love... 

We have not invested an ounce of training into Rico. I am not talking about formal professional training. We have taught the dog how to sit, and that is it.  Sitting. Helpful. In about three situations I can think of. We have treated Rico as a furry human for the past three years and not as a dog. And, unfortunately, because he is an animal, a couple weeks ago, he was pushed to get as agressive as he could to get Ian to take his cues. And, because of how Ian was wounded, it is likely Rico didn't actually bite him. Which is good news, but I will get  to this later.

Whether you can relate (I use relate vs "agree" on purpose) or not, Rico is a part of our family.  We have created this little monster, and I will not have him put down for acting like a dog. I also will not give him away before trying to reverse the behavior because he is our responsibility. I will not pawn the problem off to someone else, untrained, to have him do it again... and then be put down. He is a great, smart, and loving dog, and as his family, we need to find the time and energy to go through the steps to correct the triggers of his aggression and curb his response.

On the day that the incident happened, we immediately called the vet for guidance, and she gave us the name of a trainer. The trainer and I finally connected yesterday, and the first question she asked me was, "Did Rico actually draw blood and create a true bite where medical attention needed to be sought?"... he drew blood, but did not create a true bite. While he did have a couple scratches on the side of his nose, the actual "wound" was on the inside of Ian's mouth. It looked like he had been punched in the kisser. Per the trainer, this likely was not a bite, which shows that Rico can control his bite. Why is it important or why make the differentiation? Because it shows that Rico has likely done all that he can do without actually biting. { Believe me when I say that Ian has agitated this dog to no end over the years, and he has put up with it for a very long time. } Apparently, if a dog is going to bite, it is a BITE... no confusion about how the wound was created. While I understand the severity of the situation, it also shows that Rico likely has the good control needed to reverse the problem.

The trainer will be coming to our house on Friday to get the ball rolling. I will keep you posted on how it goes... I have a feeling, in the end, it is going to be five humans with our tails between the legs.

Sign of a true Mayle

We went to the Fourth of July Parade last weekend with our BFFs, and Rico even found some awesome parade chotchkies to enjoy. Do you know that you can ask some if they would like a "koozie" with their beverage, and they look at you like you are from another planet? Kind of like my darling husband, Matt, who hails from the big state "down there", when he saw unshucked corn straight off the cob for the first time... which was when he was in college.  

Biscuit Love

{ My sunshine doesn’t come from the skies.
It comes from the love in my dog’s eyes. }

Author unknown

Matt says "No"

I have always been a sucker for dogs. I love dogs. Growing up, I would bring "strays" home, although I have a hunch that I actually coerced family dogs to leave their yards to follow me.

Now as an adult, on any given night, you can find me outside with our pup, along with one or two from the neighborhood, playing in the yard. I will invite almost any dog in to the yard and sometimes even into our house, to play with Rico. 

Yesterday, my boss brought this little munchkin into the office. This is TJ (Tucker Jaskson), the labradoodle. He is quite possibly the cutest puppy I have ever seen.

I asked Matt if we could look for a new house. No. I told him we should have another baby. No. A puppy? No.

just as good the second time around?

TODAY'S QUIZ:   This is the face of: 

a.  Rico resting after a bout with canine diarrhea.
b.  Rico resting after a bout of the canine vomits.
c.  Rico resting after eating his own vomit.  

d.  All of the above.

he likes the wind...

...and he lays like a frog.

wordless wednesday

{ this is the list of companies that need to be included on our tax returns... can you imagine how many we will have next year? }

{ my co-pilot }

winter coat

I had a neighbor tell me yesterday that they thought we had gotten a new dog. Jeez. It is just his winter coat.