Nokes (Our Dog)
Bristly Puppy
Sarah had asked me a couple weeks back if I had ever seen Nokes when his back would get all bristled. I said I had, but I guess I hadn’t. I was sitting working this weekend, and all of a sudden he got really mean and kept barking outside. Well, there was a nasty old squirrel outside, so I told him to go outside and bite his head.
He didn’t do much, kind of sauntered around, almost like he was trying to be sneaky, but he hardly dashed after the squirrel. But I hadn’t seen his back hair stand up like that before, I thought I had. It was totally a different color, I couldn’t believe how high it was. I thought we were the proud owners of a cat in disguise.
Nokes was a very bad boy
I had written that I have been leaving Nokes out in the house for short periods of time, no more than two hours usually. I hate that we own a dog, but have to have him shut up in a crate all day long. Seems counterproductive to the idea of having a pet.
So when I went to the gym last night, I left him out. I got a rude awakening, and no indication that something like this would happen. He had been an angel until this point.
He shredded a paper bag full of papers that were supposed to go to recycling, and he also tore apart one of our newer rugs that was hanging over the child gate by the steps.
He was so happy to see me, I was firm, but what can you do? Scold him really firmly for something he already did? I just now know we can’t leave him out all the time, and he always has to be in his crate. It makes me sad, but I am just glad he didn’t chew up my laptop power cord. That would have been the worst.
Nokes is jumping on our bed
I really thought he was too small to do it, but he has started.
Lately he has been waking us up around 7:00 each morning. He’ll hop up on one side of the bed, paws up, usually catching us on our arms or back, giving us deep scratches (no matter how much we trim his nails). If you came in and saw us, you’d see our big queen size bed, and us huddled in the middle by the morning in anticipation of being shredded to pieces.
He has been sporatically been able to jump up on the bed, but last night and this morning he just jumped from a sitting position without a problem. Bam! shedding, liking, biting, clawing monster at your service.
Nokes first full day home alone!
Today both Sarah and I had to be gone all day, me for work and her for preparing for yet another year at school.
Nokes stayed home all day today, over 8 hours, by himself without an issue. He did have to poop quite a bit, which was weird, like four times. But we are very excited about this next step for him.
I personally still hope we can leave him in the house alone within six months, but who knows….
New photos of Noksie
Added a video of Nokes as a younger puppy and four new photos to his photo album.
Nokes is twitchy
When Sarah came home last night, we noticed when you run your hand over the back of his right shoulder, his muscle clenches up and then releases. Pretty cute, it happens every time you do it, and it didn’t happen just one day. He still has it this morning.
August 1st, 2007
I figured a time would come when I wouldn’t write about our little puppy everyday. I don’t want to take him for granted, but there are also days now where I don’t have anything new to say about him.
But this is a week where some new things have happened.
Nokes has been more calm, at least in my opinion, than I can remember in the past. After we got back from vacation, both Sarah and I felt like he looked older. Christine said that she swore he got bigger in the time he stayed with her, but we didn’t see that as much. Well, maybe a tad:)
He was very good for Rachel as well, everyone seems to love him. I guess the first time Joel met him he really fell in love with him too. You can’t resist, he is such a beautiful, smart, loving loyal dog.
He made it through our first vacation. When we came back, that first night he was a little turned around. He seemed happy to see us, but tentative at the same time. He was pottying in the house, and just some of the small things seemed wrong. But by day two he was basically back to normal at home.
This week, I have left him at home, alone, with a roam of the house out of his crate for 1-2 hour periods. If we go for longer times we usually crate him, but I am trying to move him into a house dog and not having to be in there all the time. Not that he doesn’t love his crate. We haven’t walled it off since we have been back, and whenever I leave the room, I frequently catch him sleeping in there, his little home. He is so cute.
Right before we left we had Nokes nuetered. He was not settling down when playing with Lady, and that concerned us for Christine’s sanity when we were gone. They say sometimes that calms a dog down. Well, I don’t think it has made that much of a difference with him.
But I will tell you, the day we took him in, I couldn’t think all morning. They have to put the dog under when they perform the operation, and I am always nervous about that. I have had personal experience with a loved one, and I just know the risks. I worried all morning, and I teared up when we left him. But the surgery went through without issue, he woke right up and was moving around like nothing had happened.
We kept an eye on things, but he seemed to heal up just fine and quickly. By the time we returned from vacation he was back 100%, besides what he is missing:)
Let’s see, what else. Well, Sarah gave him a new chew toy. It was presented as a gift for both of us. It was a chewy Spiderman 3 rope. There is a poofy part in the middle, with two tied ends. By the end of the night, he had trashed it. The middle was chewed into pieces. So, it was fun while it lasted for the very short while.
We are walking him on his choke chain now. We are very happy with how he walks, he does really well with keeping up and heeling, and if he gets out of line we just give a short tug and command “Leave It!” or “Let’s Go!” and that is usually enough to keep things moving. I haven’t noticed improvement enough to think that he can go back on the flat collar, but I do hope that comes. I dream of a day when we can walk him no leash, but because of our paranoia, we may never do that either way.
What is on the horizon for him? Well, in a month or so we will be taking him back to round two of the doggie obedience training. That is the largest thing, and of course, with me being off work this week, I get to enjoy him all day.
We love our Nokes very much. He has helped heal our heartbreak.
