Since K9 was booked when I called to arrange Cartman before the Yosemite trip, I had to let him stay home alone and asking one of friends to come over to feed him and walk him twice a day. According to her, Cartman obviously knew it was not his mommy when he was walked, so he refused to move out sight of the house. :( Poor little guy.
He was extremely excited and didn't know what to do with himself when I opened the door at 2am at night coming back from the trip. I had to sacrifice my after-hike hot tub bath plan and spend the rest of night with him.
I heard some story about zoo and caged animal on NPR. Some scientists conducted an experiment to put 3 groups of monkeys into 3 different envs (all in cages): 1 "upper class": a lot of toys, a lot of play mates; 2 "middle class": less toys and less play mates; 3 "poor class": far less of everything. Then they sampled the moneys from each group and study their brain "branches". If there is more "branches" in the brain, that is a indication of a happy money: it is more engaged with the env and etc. The data showed there are a big difference between upper class and low class, 20-40%. But astonishingly there is no difference between upper and middle class moneys on brain "branches". It seems a good enough env is really good enough.
Now, at this lazy quiet summer Saturday afternoon, he is lying on the floor, sleeping, uncaged. I am not sure of his brain "branches" ...
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Half dome, again
It was a surprise that I actually enjoyed the 8.2 mile uphill hiking. I must credit it to swim. Everything came down to one thing: rhythm: breath, one step a time. Departing at around 6am, we reached the top of halfdoom before noon. This time, I knew I could do it. This felt good. With no exception, the same 8.2 mile downhill was brutal and painful, which fulfilled the self-torturing part of the story.
We are getting old. Hopefully we could get strong as well.
We are getting old. Hopefully we could get strong as well.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
let me think: why I love him
he worships me, because, I provide him chichen
he smiles at me, yes, I think he is smiling, with such interest and affection, when I dance around him
he makes me dance
he jumps to my face, no one else does that, as far as I remember
he is not afraid to let me know he adores me too
he smiles at me, yes, I think he is smiling, with such interest and affection, when I dance around him
he makes me dance
he jumps to my face, no one else does that, as far as I remember
he is not afraid to let me know he adores me too
Ortega Park
Cartman and I set out to visit Ortega park this afternoo, against our vet's "no walk this weekend" advice. He was getting bored in the house too much, staying his pencil-on-the-floor pose all day, looking at me with his can-we-play? expression in his eyes. I cannot ignore him. So, off we went: a printed map for us, a bottle water for him, a hat for me, the bag/paper towel for him.
Floyd Ave, then Dunhome Way, there is the stockmair elementery school and the park.
We met a 3 years old poodle, petite, female. She was hostile, after Cartman greeted her, she started the fight with him, roaring. "Is it because our poor Cartman just lost his charm, somehow she could tell?" Her owner and I stopped a fight, and went separated ways.
Then, another white dog walked by a couple of kids. That was a boy too, I think he was a bichon too because they looked very similar, but definitely smaller than my 5 month puppy (Cartman is a HUGE bichon, for his age. He is bigger than most adult bichon now, at 5 month. BTW, I LOVE big dogs.). Cartman and he didn't get along very well either, the small dog initiated the fight with Cartman. The kids carried their dog and ran away. Cartman was fixated to the spot and want to follow them, but he was better than the other guy, who was barking, waving his paws and wanting to jump off and crashing into our direction.
I was impressed, Cartman was not the more aggissive one when two dogs met. :)
The park was small, full of people, kids. Two little girls greeted Cartman with such excitement, Cartman jumped away, which was also a first for him, usually he was the one jumped TO the kids. But, there was a thing with kids. After they patted Cartman and praised him his cuteness, they spotted another black doggie in the way, "Oh, there is another doggie coming", they just flew away to shower the new doggie with their attention. Well, Cartman still has me.
Our small adventure turned out to be successful one. Now we are back at home, Cartman went back to his pencil-on-floor pose, but happily sleeping. Is he dreaming all the chickens?
Floyd Ave, then Dunhome Way, there is the stockmair elementery school and the park.
We met a 3 years old poodle, petite, female. She was hostile, after Cartman greeted her, she started the fight with him, roaring. "Is it because our poor Cartman just lost his charm, somehow she could tell?" Her owner and I stopped a fight, and went separated ways.
Then, another white dog walked by a couple of kids. That was a boy too, I think he was a bichon too because they looked very similar, but definitely smaller than my 5 month puppy (Cartman is a HUGE bichon, for his age. He is bigger than most adult bichon now, at 5 month. BTW, I LOVE big dogs.). Cartman and he didn't get along very well either, the small dog initiated the fight with Cartman. The kids carried their dog and ran away. Cartman was fixated to the spot and want to follow them, but he was better than the other guy, who was barking, waving his paws and wanting to jump off and crashing into our direction.
I was impressed, Cartman was not the more aggissive one when two dogs met. :)
The park was small, full of people, kids. Two little girls greeted Cartman with such excitement, Cartman jumped away, which was also a first for him, usually he was the one jumped TO the kids. But, there was a thing with kids. After they patted Cartman and praised him his cuteness, they spotted another black doggie in the way, "Oh, there is another doggie coming", they just flew away to shower the new doggie with their attention. Well, Cartman still has me.
Our small adventure turned out to be successful one. Now we are back at home, Cartman went back to his pencil-on-floor pose, but happily sleeping. Is he dreaming all the chickens?
Friday, June 22, 2007
big day today
Cartman seems to behave much better after staying in K9 doggie care center for five days when we were away. He still bites a little bit, but much more gentle. He is less hype around house. He still wants to jump out from leash whenever there is another dog nearby, that seems to be unchanged.
Everybody said he will get better when he is a bit older.
Today, he is getting his malehood removed. That, I heard, helps too. (12.6 pound, that's the weight for today's vet visit).
Everybody said he will get better when he is a bit older.
Today, he is getting his malehood removed. That, I heard, helps too. (12.6 pound, that's the weight for today's vet visit).
puppy class 06.20 - sit and down
First, I didn't notice Cartman and I already missed one class last week. So, we were behind from the start, which could make both of us (mostly me, I guess) feel better for the fact Cartman once again was the worst student in the class.
Cartman was a bit like Marley in this book "Marley and me", hype, short attention span, jumping, and, sweet. He totally lost himself among his classmates, "so many doggies, so little time". This time, I had a better leash, also, he was walked before the class, we managed to stay calm little bit at the last half of the class.
The things we learned are "sit" "down" which suppose to be last week's lesson, and this week, "leave it".
It was hard work. I was having minor migraine before going home from work, now with the one hour class, I talked and worked with Cartman so much, I was exhausted, but headache just gone.
"next time, better treat, dont feed him before the class, walk him more". -- instructor's suggestion
These a few days, Cartman enjoys boiled chicken (table food is back, but only for training) as treat, he gets it whenever he does sit and down after being shouted a dozen times in the face. Chicken always works for him. It is definitely in my shopping list now.
Cartman was a bit like Marley in this book "Marley and me", hype, short attention span, jumping, and, sweet. He totally lost himself among his classmates, "so many doggies, so little time". This time, I had a better leash, also, he was walked before the class, we managed to stay calm little bit at the last half of the class.
The things we learned are "sit" "down" which suppose to be last week's lesson, and this week, "leave it".
It was hard work. I was having minor migraine before going home from work, now with the one hour class, I talked and worked with Cartman so much, I was exhausted, but headache just gone.
"next time, better treat, dont feed him before the class, walk him more". -- instructor's suggestion
These a few days, Cartman enjoys boiled chicken (table food is back, but only for training) as treat, he gets it whenever he does sit and down after being shouted a dozen times in the face. Chicken always works for him. It is definitely in my shopping list now.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
back from New York
The trip was wonderful, but getting back is also good:
Getting Cartman home was the first thing in order after coming back from SFO airport. He rushed from K9 doggie center out, with now 12 pound weight, so big, I hardly recognize him initially, also with his fierce welcome jumping and rushing to my face, hehe, he just came out quite differently from the cute little face I remembered him in my head. My, he is a big big now.
Our yard was covered a layer of small flower pedal from the tree. Some fallen leaves was scattered along the even layer. The small yard smelt good too, everything was dry. The plants haven't been watered for a while, but they survived. The red rose bush was doing surprisingly good. Cartman and I sit together, I mean, he lay on my legs, trying to sleep and tick/eat my hands, we watched the quietness and time goes by, and also that rose to be in in full bloom. I wanted to take a picture, but dared not to move with the puppy sleeping on my lap.
BTW, it is another bonus point to have quite some blog feeds to read after I was gone for these couple of days.
Good to be home.
Getting Cartman home was the first thing in order after coming back from SFO airport. He rushed from K9 doggie center out, with now 12 pound weight, so big, I hardly recognize him initially, also with his fierce welcome jumping and rushing to my face, hehe, he just came out quite differently from the cute little face I remembered him in my head. My, he is a big big now.
Our yard was covered a layer of small flower pedal from the tree. Some fallen leaves was scattered along the even layer. The small yard smelt good too, everything was dry. The plants haven't been watered for a while, but they survived. The red rose bush was doing surprisingly good. Cartman and I sit together, I mean, he lay on my legs, trying to sleep and tick/eat my hands, we watched the quietness and time goes by, and also that rose to be in in full bloom. I wanted to take a picture, but dared not to move with the puppy sleeping on my lap.
BTW, it is another bonus point to have quite some blog feeds to read after I was gone for these couple of days.
Good to be home.
Monday, June 11, 2007
doggie day care
http://k9casa.com/site/?p=7
"He is really a piece of work", "in your face" ...
He was accepted to the stay over night program after my begging.
why he could not just be a pleasant puppy?
"He is really a piece of work", "in your face" ...
He was accepted to the stay over night program after my begging.
why he could not just be a pleasant puppy?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Nina simone afternoon contd
Cartman and I went for a walk at 5pm. Well, the first thing he did was poo-poo, but he didn't do it very cleanly. The 20 minutes I took to bathe him carefully, the effort just went south, now he smelled like poo, with his end blackened. whew..
Then, we met a one-year old spaniel boy dog, very cute. Cartman and Biscuit(?) went along very well, until Cartman jumped onto him. And, then, Cartman vomitted a chunk of chicken out. The other dog tried to eat that, whew... Cartman tried to jump onto him again while he seemed to need vomit again ... The leash was useless. The lady told me it will be ok when the puppy reaches 8 or 9 months, it will be amazing when the dog listens to you... I took what he vomitted into paper (always have towel in the pocket, that is the first lesson I learned about walking a dog), hopelessly carried the 12 pound puppy into arm, one hand was the dirty paper and leash, walking back home.
That was the end of today's walk. And this is how this Sunday afternoon ends, minutes away from the slow melody crossing the silent river, and the sweet puppy and me alone time.
...
Ok, NO MORE TABLE FOOD, NO MORE CHICKEN. And, more training time.
Then, we met a one-year old spaniel boy dog, very cute. Cartman and Biscuit(?) went along very well, until Cartman jumped onto him. And, then, Cartman vomitted a chunk of chicken out. The other dog tried to eat that, whew... Cartman tried to jump onto him again while he seemed to need vomit again ... The leash was useless. The lady told me it will be ok when the puppy reaches 8 or 9 months, it will be amazing when the dog listens to you... I took what he vomitted into paper (always have towel in the pocket, that is the first lesson I learned about walking a dog), hopelessly carried the 12 pound puppy into arm, one hand was the dirty paper and leash, walking back home.
That was the end of today's walk. And this is how this Sunday afternoon ends, minutes away from the slow melody crossing the silent river, and the sweet puppy and me alone time.
...
Ok, NO MORE TABLE FOOD, NO MORE CHICKEN. And, more training time.
Carnivore
It said for every first pet owner, there are things we wish we haven't done if we had known better. Mine is: I shall not have had feed Cartman table food. Instead, Cartman has now sampled the following food:apple (not big fun)
strawberry (definitely not big fun)
cherry (love chasing it, the stain made the floor and carpet messy, which brought me more trouble than the pleasure watching him chase his food)
banana (definitely hate)
cucumber (seem to like for its crunchiness, especially when I eats it in his face, he definitely wants one too)
carrot(no)
water melon (ok, but love the shell better for some reason, very economical habit)
rice (ok, but it becomes a hassle to me due to its stickiness. Most rice will end up to his long coats)
rasin (love to chase it, actually I just found out it is poisonous to dog, so stopped teasing him with it now )
egg (prefer fried over boiled)
pork (LOVE MEAT)
beef (LoVE MEAT)
lamb (LoVE MEAT)
chicken (LOVE WHITE MEAT MORE, FAVORITE)
Conclusion: he prefers chicken over anything, hence a meat lover. No surprise, I guess, since he is being raised by one.
Nina simone
My puppy and I are enjoying Nina Simone together, this weekend: two of us, alone in the house, with loud music, curtains half draped, and a cup of starbucks coffee. The big, black and silky voice goes up to clouds and down to deep ocean, it is the only things travels at this lazy afternoon. And, now the puppy is sleeping heavenly around my feet, and music continues. (We shall do this every week!)
Black is the color of my true love's hair
His face so soft and wondrous fair
The purest eyes
and the strongest hands
I love the ground on where he stands
I love the ground on where he stands
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Of my true love's hair
Of my true love's hair
...
Black is the color of my true love's hair
His face so soft and wondrous fair
The purest eyes
and the strongest hands
I love the ground on where he stands
I love the ground on where he stands
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Of my true love's hair
Of my true love's hair
...
Friday, June 08, 2007
not everyone likes him
"take your dog away from mine".
"No. My dog just had surgery".
Two objections during today's walk.
"No. My dog just had surgery".
Two objections during today's walk.
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