Yesterday, Marley had her annual vet appointment. She's healthy, but 8 pounds overweight, so we decided to cut back from 3 cups of food/day to only two. This morning, she let me know that she was still hungry by grabbing a cardboard box and ripping it to shreds. I gave her tough love though by I scolding her and not giving in to her whimpers for more food. We'll see how long it takes her to adjust.
Last night after Marley's vet appointment, Eric and I went to PetSmart to buy food, treats and a toy for my not-so-little terror. We can't buy her stuffed animals because she rips them apart and then eats them, we can't buy her plastic toys because she breaks them apart and eats them and we can't buy her tennis balls because once again she eats them. So we have to resort to the more expensive Kong-brand dog toys that take an extra long time for her to destroy.
Last night, we decided on getting her a tug of war contraption. The concept is that she grabs one end, we grab the other and we wrestle, which would give her more exercise and help her shed some of those unwanted pounds. The problem is that Marley can't comprehend the game. She just wants to chew on it. And while I am so glad that obedience school is starting to pay off, Marley no longer understands the game of tug of war. When we get our end of the toy, Marley instantly drops her end. Eric even tried putting his end in his mouth so that she could visualize the concept of the game... gross. It took more than 20 minutes before Marley finally understood that it was ok to play with the toy by tugging on her end while I held on for dear life on my end. It was short-lived, however, Marley walked away within 5 minutes of the game starting and went back to chewing on it. We'll practice again tonight.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sunshine = Smile
I am very happy that the warm weather has finally decided to grace us with its presence here in Western New York. Don't get me wrong, we had a relatively mild winter, and some even say we didn't have much of a winter at all. However, in my opinion, it was still chilly until just recently and this past week has been gorgeous!
Warm weather puts me in a fabulous mood - although not the hot, hot, hot weather (when it's too hot, I'm a hot mess) - rather when the temperature allows the sun to warm your face, but not drench your hair with sweat. I love to open the windows and let a nice cross breeze in, and it's music to my ears hearing the birds chirp and the neighborhood children laughing as they play outside. It's just hard to be unhappy with the sun is shining bright. Last night, I met a friend for a stroll in the park and although it had just rained, and the mugginess and the bugginess were not the most pleasant (refer back to the sweat hair comment) it was still wonderful to be outside doing outside things. Happy Spring all!
Warm weather puts me in a fabulous mood - although not the hot, hot, hot weather (when it's too hot, I'm a hot mess) - rather when the temperature allows the sun to warm your face, but not drench your hair with sweat. I love to open the windows and let a nice cross breeze in, and it's music to my ears hearing the birds chirp and the neighborhood children laughing as they play outside. It's just hard to be unhappy with the sun is shining bright. Last night, I met a friend for a stroll in the park and although it had just rained, and the mugginess and the bugginess were not the most pleasant (refer back to the sweat hair comment) it was still wonderful to be outside doing outside things. Happy Spring all!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Cinco De Mayo, fifth in class: coincidence?
Saturday was Marley's last obedience class, but she wasn't as excited to go as she normally was. She seemed off from the minute we woke up on Saturday, and Eric leaned over and said to me that maybe we should skip the class. I told him no, that we were going to the class, and that she'd be fine. I said her ADD would subside once we got settled, but I'm ashamed to admit that I was wrong.
When we got to class, she was going crazy. She was jumping, not listening and pulling as we walked into school. She just wouldn't settle down, and it was as if we were back to week one. She "forgot" how to lay down, she needed to be told repeatedly to sit and she refused to do the obstacle course in a timely fashion. Needless to say, I was embarrassed by Marley. After the obstacle course, we went outside to practice come when called. I was adamant that she would listen to me and I was determined to prove my husband wrong, I told him she really did know the command and she wouldn't be distracted by the other dogs and the play area. Little did I know, Marley was dead set on proving me wrong. She ran right passed me, and refused to come back. When we finally went back inside, we were given awards and Marley placed last, but the trainer tried to throw us a bone by saying she tied with the American bulldog in the class for fourth. I told her that our feelings weren't hurt, and it was ok to be honest, Marley placed fifth out of the five dogs in attendance. It's hard to admit when you're wrong, but I should have listened to my husband and stayed away from the evaluation class. Marley and me, we still have some work to do.
When we got to class, she was going crazy. She was jumping, not listening and pulling as we walked into school. She just wouldn't settle down, and it was as if we were back to week one. She "forgot" how to lay down, she needed to be told repeatedly to sit and she refused to do the obstacle course in a timely fashion. Needless to say, I was embarrassed by Marley. After the obstacle course, we went outside to practice come when called. I was adamant that she would listen to me and I was determined to prove my husband wrong, I told him she really did know the command and she wouldn't be distracted by the other dogs and the play area. Little did I know, Marley was dead set on proving me wrong. She ran right passed me, and refused to come back. When we finally went back inside, we were given awards and Marley placed last, but the trainer tried to throw us a bone by saying she tied with the American bulldog in the class for fourth. I told her that our feelings weren't hurt, and it was ok to be honest, Marley placed fifth out of the five dogs in attendance. It's hard to admit when you're wrong, but I should have listened to my husband and stayed away from the evaluation class. Marley and me, we still have some work to do.
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