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I made a mistake and it is costing my family dearly and I am having a very hard time coming to terms with it. The cost is relative but this decision is causing pain to a loved one, taking money from our very small bank account, stealing time from our finely tuned schedule, and soon it will be a major inconvenience. My dog was diagnosed with heart worms , a highly treatable - although it wasn't when I worked in a vet clinic 25 years ago, highly preventable mosquito transmitted parasite. I should concentrate on the highly treatable part of the equation, right? Well, I'm not. I'm fixated on the highly preventable part of the equation. I was diligently giving Johnders his chewable preventative every month for 2, almost 3 years, of his life. I stopped giving the tablets to him b/c in my analysis - limited and superficial - the risk/$$ ratio said the risk to him was really small but things changed and Johnders got infected. Now my seemingly thrifty decision has become a major ...

I have admitted on several occasions that I have what is pretty close to the perfect life. This is one of those weeks why its pretty close not absolute. I turned 42 on Monday. I've never been a big celebration person, don't like being the center of attention, but I married someone who although she thinks shes an introvert, loves being the center of attention...especially as it relates to her birthday. Tara loves her birthday and loves to celebrate her birthday, she actually attempts to celebrate the entire month. This is not a narcisitic thing - I mean, I guess it is but not in a negative way. She loves gifts and she loves to eat, two things that usually go with your birthday. Also, she wants other people to participate. I live gifts and I like food but I would rather people mail me the gifts and have dinner by myself - usually. Therein lies the rub. How do we manage to celebrate my birthday? Tara knows I don't want to make a big deal but she does. I know that Tara enjoys ...

I threatened to make a doghouse for Johnders way back when we first got him for a couple of reasons. I thought it would be fun to try, not having much in the way of carpentry training, and also because he used the cheap plastic one we bought as a toy and never went inside it. I started with the idea of a green roof but as summer progressed I saw that he had a favorite spot in the shade and a green roof wouldn't work if I put it nearby. My next idea was to spend as little money as possible. I didn't know if he would actually use it and wood is expensive. So I went to our neighborhood listserv and asked for wood pallets, thinking I could break a few apart and use the parts. Somebody offered 2 right away, I picked them up, put them in the garage and there they stayed until a month or so ago. Tara was nesting by cooking. This was my way of nesting, I guess. Anyway, its all but finished and Johnders loves it. I did some things out of sequence so it didn't work out exactly l...

I was back at the dog park for the first time since Johnders was cut. Tara took him the other day but we both went today. It's always fun. The dogs are fun to watch and it's fun to see Johnders run around. We chatted with a young woman, recently moved to Inglewood from NC. She mentioned how you can spend a couple of hours talking to people at the dog park and never get their name or talk about what they do. You talk dogs. I have to say yet again that it is a wonderful training experience, you don't get better distractions than a bunch of dogs running around. Also we get Johnders home and he's laid out - quiet and motionless for a couple of hours. Thank you metro parks !

The past week I've been trying to walk Johnders more than I used to. I've noticed he's been a little antsy and unfocused. I mean, he spent the last 2 weeks with an E-collar and it's been raining alot. I recognize he's a high energy dog but I have not been able to make myself go to bed early enough to get up early enough to take him for a walk. Last week we started walking when I got home. Almost every night we've walked up or down Gallatin Rd . We are probably averaging a little over a mile a day which means I am walking 2 miles a day when I ride the bus (probably 8.5 of 10 days). I haven't seen much improvement in him as far as hyperactivity but he is walking on-leash better. He's not pulling as much if he wears his harness. The surprising thing, or at least the part I didn't consider is that I have seen improvments in me. I now weigh less than 185, not by much but there is downward movement and I have been hovering at 185+ for months. We'll s...

Last week I bought a bell to hang on the door so Johnders can tell us he needs to go to the bathroom. He rang it once yesterday but I didn't see it happen so I wasn't sure if it was an accident. We went out and he peed. This morning I saw him do it. That's barely one week of training! Now, if I can get him to stop jumping and pulling when on leash. Woohoo! Johnders is great. ---------------- Ear Candy of the Moment: Method Man - Rodeo ft. Ludacris (Mixtape) via FoxyTunes

I think I've mentioned that Johnders and I went to puppy class. We went 5 of 6 weeks to a class about an hour from our home (we got a deal although the gas cost probably blew the differential). I will say that these trainers know what they are talking about but their methods are a little archaic and even brutal for my taste. They advocate pinch collars and a knee to the chest (for jumping dogs), I didn't like that but I did get a lot out of the class. Of course, I have checked out almost all the puppy training books I could find at the library too. As I see it dog training, much like any relationship, is about respect and communication. The trainer has to respect the dog's nature and the dog has to respect the trainer's commands. To gain respect the trainer has to learn how to read the dog and the trainer must communicate clearly and efficiently. The bottom line is consistency with commands and fair expectations. We have to remember that we are teaching the dog a 2nd l...

Are you looking at me?? Originally uploaded by bmitd67 . I've done some talking about Johnders and I keep forgetting to post a picture... Is he a Catahoula or something else? You tell me.

So. After we had him a couple of days I recognized two things: why people say a pet is a good prep for a kid why parents are tired all the time. We got Johnders and I found myself constantly worrying about "raising" him right, keeping him healthy, happy and safe. I want my dog that is a good citizen and happy. That's the prep part. The tired is related to that. I was worrying so much that I found myself exhausted. It took me a couple more days to make the connection but I did. The emotional roller coaster is tiring.

I have always envisioned myself as a dog owner but I wanted to do it on my terms. I wanted the dog I wanted when I wanted it and he would be easy to train and well-behaved and so on and so forth. Tara thought if we got a pet it would be a cat. She's not a fan of the dog neediness(is that a word?). We'd talked about getting one and people would tell us getting one is good prep for having a baby, which we are trying to do, but we'd never done anything to really move toward getting a pet. It remained on that "Yeah, one day, probably." list. In August we went to a BBQ at a friend's house and we were greeted by this black & white splotched puppy. It was a very cute, happy, friendly puppy but I didn't think much about him. Then, from across the room, my very unimpulsive , cat-loving wife said "can we keep him?". I was stunned. One, because I would we hadn't planned for it. Two, Tara doesn't say things like that. Three, Tara didn't want ...