Babs in Blogland

Get ready for winter.  This is you ALL.DAY.LONG.

Today my baby is two!  My, how time flies.

Yesterday, while I was in Anytown, the family and I threw her a little party.  She was as pleased as punch at all the presents she received.  My mommy got her a new slicker and a Buckeye hoodie, my grandmother’s friend got her a squeaky toy and my little cousin also got her a sqeuaky toy.  I gave her a new bone and some yummy birthday treats.

She had a great time and loved all of the attention.  She was still my shadow the entire weekend, but I could see her getting more comfortable with me out of her sight.  I’m looking forward to taking her back for the holidays.

I brought Roxie home at nine weeks old.  I remember that first night, I put her in her crate and she cried at the top of her lungs for hours until she finally wore me down.  I took her out of her crate and brought her to bed with me, where she quickly curled up into a ball and went to sleep.  That was the beginning of nearly two years of bad habits.

Roxie has been sleeping in my bed ever since and I really don’t like it.  Sure, I like having her curled up next to me in my big lonely bed, but really I’m not about having a DOG in my BED.  A couple of weeks ago I was changing the sheets and peeped some grass on them.  I knew Roxie was the culprit and that she had to stop thinking my bed is her bed.  That night I put her on her leash, hooked it to a chair next to her bed.  I got in bed and watched her.  At first she freaked out and kept trying to get to me, but eventually she got in her bed and went to sleep.  We’ve doing doing that routine every night for two weeks and I have never slept better.  Really, I don’t think she has ever slept better either.  The 4am potty runs have slowed down to 1 or 2 per week.

Monday night, I headed upstairs for bed.  I tied my hair up and washed my face.  I came out of the bathroom ready to put her on her leash so we could go to sleep.  I couldn’t find her.  I started to head to the top of the stairs to call for her when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  I looked back and there was Roxie sitting in her bed!

That was easily the proudest moment I’ve had since being her mommy! 

I turned off the lights and hopped in bed and watched her.  I waited for her to leap from her bed to mine, but she didn’t.  She put her head down and went to sleep.  In her own bed!  In the morning I took her out to potty and headed back to bed for another hour of sleep, and Roxie got right back in her bed and went to sleep.

Where does your dog sleep?

I’ve been taking Roxie to the dog park as often as possible.  For the most part she still stands in my shadow, although every once in a while she’ll sniff at some other dogs.  In the end, it really doesn’t do much to tire her out.

Tuesday I had to swing by my new mechanic (saving that ish for another post) and Roxie was with me.  I told him I’d walk the streets while he looked at my car.  He told me there was a field behind the building so Roxie and I headed that way.  Once we got back there and I realized it was secluded, I decided to take her off her leash.  She had a blast!

She was running back and forth at full speed.  Her tongue was hanging out and her hair was blowing back.  She had so much fun!  And she was exhausted.  I think I might start making that our new private dog park.

Wanna play?

Yesterday evening Roxie and I were walking through the neighborhood when I heard a sweet little voice calling out to me, “your dog is pretty!  Can we pet her?”  I looked up on the hill and saw the two most precious little girls waving down at me.  I told them they could and they came running down the hill.

Roxie is always funny around children.  She tends to cower when they come near her as opposed to how she jumps on adults.  I think she is confused by their size.  The girls got down on their knees and started petting Roxie and asking me a million questions.  Does she bark?  Does she bite?  What does she eat?  I moved them to the grass so we could avoid cars and let them pet her and answered her questions.

After about five minutes a woman, their grandmother, came out and called down to them.  I told the girls I would walk them back up the hill and introduce myself to their grandmother.  I explained that they shouldn’t be talking to strangers and I wanted to make sure she knew I was a nice lady. 

When we got to the top I shook her hand and introduced myself.  We talked for a few minutes about nothing while the girls continued to play with Roxie.  A couple of other kids saw us and came out and they were all trying to pet her.  I was really surprised because I thought there were so few children in my neighborhood.  I guess they just all live in the same building!

After about 10 minutes of making chitchat and kissing babies, I managed to pull myself from my new friends.  I said goodbye and told the girls they were always welcome to come and play with Roxie when they saw us walking.

As I was walking down the street the older one ran to the edge of the hill and yelled out, “Miss Babs, I forgot to tell you that I am in cheerleading and my cousin is in gymnastics!”

*sound of my womb weeping*

Don’t you just love sweet little girls?

Saturday I was bound and determined to be a good mother despite the fact that I only had three hours of sleep.  I had it in my mind all week that I was taking Roxie to the dog park and I wasn’t going to let my party girl ways stop me.  There are several dog parks not too far from my house.  We drove to the closest one and discovered that it was closed, likely due to the weeks worth of rain that we had received.  We headed to the next one and were pleased to find that is was open and there were a good number of dogs playing.

I took a book and my Ipod with me.  I thought I would be able to relax on a bench while Roxie made some new friends.  I was wrong.  Roxie became a different dog once we passed the gates.  Normally she is super friendly going up to everything on two and four legs.  But Saturday, she was my shadow.

She wouldn’t step further than 6 feet away from me.  She didn’t want to play catch.  She didn’t want to run with the dogs.  She didn’t even want to sniff tail.  She just wanted to stay with her mommy.  I guess she was a bit overwhelmed with all the dogs.  I was totally embarrassed.  All the other dogs were playing fetch with their owners or chasing each other, but Roxie just kept begging for me to pick her up.  I felt like the bad mommy who never let her daughter away from her and wonders why she cries hysterically on the first day of school.

I tried sitting down but she just stood underneath my legs.  I realized the only way to get her some exercise was to walk with her.  And so I walked around in circles for about a half an hour. Hell, I coulda done that in my own neighborhood!

At one point, she got distracted and I managed to walk away and hide behind a tree.  It was so funny watching her look fo rme.  She walked up to every single person she saw and jumped on them.  Finally I emerged and called her name.  It was like Lassie finding her way home.

After being there for about an hour it was time to go home.  If Roxie wasn’t worn out I at least was.   On the way out Roxie wanted to stop at the doggie fountain.  That heffa had the nerve to lap up the water like she had been playing hard or something!

I can see now that I am going to have to make socialization a priority.  We are going to the dog park on a weekly basis.

Do you take your dog to the dog park?

Let me free!

It’s been a while since I updated you all on blogland’s favorite pooch.  Roxie is great.  She is very happy that spring is finally here as she was cooped up in the house more than she likes during the winter.  Saturday morning we got up and did a brisk 30 minute walk and she was as happy as she could be.

A couple of months ago I told you all how I switched her food to Beneful.  Roxie loves it.  I no longer have to sit on the kitchen floor and beg her to eat.  Now she is doing all the begging!  As soon as I open the cabinet where her food is kept she starts licking her chops and walking around excitedly in circles.

Okay, so here’s the problem: ever since I changed her food Roxie is urinating more frequently.  Most days when I come home from work there is a puddle waiting for me in the kitchen.  This is really pissing me off.  I gate her in the kitchen so she can have space to move about during the day,  but that also means she can tinkle in the corner and have the rest of the kitchen to frolic.  I am serisouly considering buying a crate and keeping her in there all day.  I know she will hate that and probably bark most of the day, but I will not have her leaving puddles in my home.  Firthermore, when he goes to my coworkers while I am out of town I can’t have her thinking it’s okay to just tinkle at will.

I’ve tried limiting the food portion she receives in the morning and I barely let her have any water at all.

I’m really perplexed over this, blogland.  Please share your ideas on what I should do.  Should I crate her? Switch her back to the food she doesn’t like?  Deny her food and water in the morning?

Whenever Roxie thinks I’m about to resign her to the kitchen and leave the house she stays upstairs and refuses to come downstairs.