Nokes (Our Dog)
June 1, 2007
Today Nokes went in the car with Sarah and she said he stuck his head out the window. He apparently was puppy Joe cool too, one paw deftly pointed down and he head cocked like a stud.
Oh and he did a number on that firehose chew toy, it is frayed all over the place. Good thing it is for heavy chewers because he is going to seperate the two pieces within a couple of weeks I imagine.
May 30, 2007
Tonight Nokes met Christine, he was all over her and the girls. They thought he was quite the cutie though, and he is still, even as he gets more distinguished everyday in his looks. They brought him a new chew toy, a loop on one end and a squeaky firehose material on the other end.
May 23, 2007
For two days now Nokes has been sleeping on the floor in our room. He was sleeping on the bed on Sunday and Monday, but I didn’t want to make the transition harder. Sarah was just having problems sleeping with him on the floor because he moved around so much and she couldn’t sleep. He has done really well actually, hasn’t chewed up something he shouldn’t, has been quite, and hasn’t made any messes. Seems to like to hang out under the bed and sleep instead of his box tipped over. That is where he runs to sometimes anyway when we are home.
Yesterday Nokes met Sierra, which was interesting at the start. Sierra is pretty much a spaz Husky anyway, so I was nervous, for both of them. But after some initial signs Sierra chilled out and they both went on a walk together, Sierra in front as the alpha dog of course.
We have gone back to the can for teaching Nokes “bad”. He really doesn’t like our pop can filled with pennies, and wouldn’t go near Sarah for awhile yesterday, so hopefully that helps.
Oh, and almost forgot. The other little trick we found out about tonight. Apparently Sarah found Nokes laying long ways on the second to bottom stair last night. He had his head in his lap looking at something. Right in front of his nose was a spider, that Sarah thinks he killed either by stepping on, or biting, and was guarding the body. Very very odd thing for our puppy to do.
May 22, 2007
We left Nokes alone for the first time this weekend. We had some people come over and watch him, Andrea was with him most of the weekend, and Rachel came over to see him too. Rachel commented on how big he was getting.
I think more and more, I wonder how much lab he has in him. I don’t remember when our puppies were growing up, but I don’t remember them being so out of control. We have been really good and consistent in trying to teach him how to behave, not to bite, not to bark, and to stay down. But it isn’t sticking. I really wonder how much lab he has in him, if he has any, because he does have so much energy. More than I remembered the typically puppy having. He is constantly biting or jumping on you, without provocation.
It is interesting to see Sarah get frustrated. Her tolerances are really low, as are mine. The walks don’t seem to calm him down, and Sarah comments he really is like a little kid. When he gets tired he gets more wound up and nippy, like he doesn’t want to lay down. But when he does lay down, everything is fine.
We talked with Brian about some of the things that their obedience training taught them, and we tried some of them tonight. I know I personally hope to seriously look starting next week at enrolling him very soon in something. We don’t want it to get out of control, and it is going in that direction. We can’t have guests over and have him be all over them and having them feel unconfortable.
May 14, 2007
Nokes had another appointment at the vet today. Tonight he was uncharacteristically wild, and we had a hard time trimming his toenails again. Sarah had even taken him out for a walk and that didn’t seem to help. He understands what is going on when he sees the leash and gets really excited. I don’t enjoy the walks right now because he does go all over the place and is constantly stopping to smell. We are going to be enrolling him in some sort of obedience school very soon.
But the big news, the vet weighed him, he gained 7 pounds in just a week plus. He now weighs 22 lbs!
May 10, 2007
Tonight we heard something strange. Nokes was outside when the neighbor dog two houses down came out. He did a very deep bark, something we hadn’t heard before. We have only heard the cute little bark that makes you smile / laugh. This made us look at him again to make sure he wasn’t a full grown dog.
May 6, 2007
Today was kind of strange. I was brushing my teeth, and I hear this noise behind me, and Nokes had climbed up onto the garden tub. First the step, and then the higher ledge. The didn’t climb up onto the drywall ledge, but that would be kind of cute if he did and just sat there in the morning while we got ready. Instead, he just licks my legs all over when I get out of the shower.
I took him on a car ride today down the street to get milk. He did pretty good, but on he way back he sat on my lap and looked out the window. It was pretty hard to drive, but for now I figured it is ok. This one time, probably from here on out we’ll have to do things to discourage that.
