let's see, what new things does ahboo know?

sit- he does this 90% of the time with no treat involved

stay- he's extremely good at this one and can even do wierd ass tricks where we walk around him, then go get a treat, then put it on the floor 6 inches in front of him, then stare at him and count to 30 in our head, most of the time (we might repeat ourselves once or twice if he looks antsy to go get the treat). He also is getting better with stopping dead if you tell him to stay when he's walking around.

down- he can do this one pretty well, but he usually needs visual and verbal prompts (we tap the floor with our foot or hand and say "down"). He acutally does this one 99% of the time with visual prompts, but only about like 30-40% with verbal only.

up- we use this right after down usually and he doesn't get it without visual prompts at all. We've been working on this one for a while, but "a while" is relative because he's only been here a month-- i've heard that it takes most dogs 2 weeks to a month to get tricks down pat. We only start working on "up" 7-14 days ago.

He's pretty fucking smart and we can get him to do alot of the tricks with visual only prompts which is interesting and kind of funny looking, but could prove useful especially during phone conversations when he decides my crotch smells like a daisy.

Random News

So, the dog has not needed anymore peroxide cocktails recently as we have learned to just stop letting him have things that are unsafe for him to eat, and have prevented the issue of us not knowing whether or not something is unsafe for puppies, by just not putting anything in the crate with him except his water bowl and the one toy the vet said was okay. He is still cute, and intelligent and defiant. He is also now slightly more sociable as there were4 or 5 dogs at the dog park when we went sunday.

We are moving from the duplex here to a cute little house a few minutes away. This cute little house has a cute little fenced yard so that cute little ahboo can run around. My parents are coming up in a couple of weeks and will probably be the first visitors to the cute little house.

Speaking of visitors, we're going to have some of Chris' and possibly some of my co-workers over this weekend to play games and stuff. That should totally rock... and it will also be the first time since we've been here that we've invited anyone over for anything. I'm already getting excited planning what hors d'ovres to make.

Speaking of food, I've been going to weight watcher's since early february and have lost 28 pounds. This is great except that dropping pounds like flies means dropping clothing like flies... I can buy most stuff from the thrift store, which isn't too bad moneywise (And, dear god i love thrift stores), but I refuse to buy undies and bras and bathing suits from the thrift store, and even getting this stuff from wal-mart can get pretty pricey when you need to replace everything at once.

Finally, I discovered a few more nifty ass things about sandpoint. 1. We totally bloom in the spring. There's shit to do in the winter unless you like to ski, but there's nothing but new and exciting stuff once we hit spring. 2. The internet cafe makes a mean mexican spiced mocha, plays great music, and has a hot girl that works there. 3. AFRICAN DANCE CLASS IN THE PARK BY THE LAKE. Jammin' with mountains in the background; oh yeah. 4. The african teacher said that my nia teacher (the one who i ummm like) wants to start an ecstatic dance thing (it's an improvisational/creative thing) on sunday mornings called "Sweat your prayers out". Now all I have to do is bug her until she does it.

So, that's what's going on in my corner of the world... in case you care

number thirteen

13. Blankets are some serious gourmet shit.

Everything I need to know I learned from being a dog owner....

1. You can lick anything if you are fast enough.
2. You can stick your nose in anyone's crotch if you are cute enough.
3. Asses smell like daisies.
4. You can poop anywhere you want to if you look sad enough afterwards.
5. Walking around in public with your genitalia sticking out is quite attractive.
6. Anything I can't have is automatically cooler than the nice things I'm given.
7. Sleeping in a wire box isn't so bad if you have someone to wait on you hand and foot.
8. I can get as many cookies as I want as long as I wiggle my butt and do what people say.
9. Foam Rubber is tasty.
10. The sound of squeaking is better than the pixies, tori amos, or even the philharmonic.
11. Carpet is not merely a floor covering, it is a long string waiting to be liberated from the confines of oppression under the feet of men.
12. Everything is better with a hole in it.

What I really think of the new dog....

He's amazing. He's brilliant. I love him. I couldn't have asked for a better dog.

BUT

Having a dog is like having a baby. I wake up earlier than I used to, do less things for myself, can't wear nice clothes because they'll just get messed up one way or another, have to think of him before I think of myself. Which leads me to why I am having such a hard time adjust to the new dog.

Having a dog pushes me to places I don't like to be for various reasons. I don't like putting someone/something before me. Not because I'm a selfish whore, but because that's something everyone keeps telling me not to do because my Modus operandi is to allow people to use me up and then ask for more. So now, after years of work on recognizing that I am important, I have to take care of the dog, sometimes at the exclusion of my own needs.

The other place that having a dog pushes me to that I hate is having to be the alpha dog. Let's face it, I am the alpha-nothing. I may not be a complete doormat anymore, but I don't like having to overextend myself to be something I'm not. I am not dominant, I am not authoritative and I do not naturally command respect. Furthermore, if I try to be those things, people (And dogs) still react to me as if I have "Welcome" stamped on my forehead because I still come across as a marshmallow. So essentially, I'm working really hard to do something and failing miserably and it's thrown in my face every time I work with the dog, and especially when I get advice from people on what to do with the dog.

So anyways, in conclusion:

Dog good. Raising a dog? fucking difficult.