Poopy buisness

 Today Novel and I stopped by Walmart to do some errands. As usual, we stopped by a patch of grass so Novel could "hurry" before we went inside. He kept getting distracted by all the trash, but finally he did pee for me and we headed in to get our shopping done. He was being very good, keeping perfect heel position and almost a continuous gaze into my face. (Of course, it helped that I had a few pieces of kibble in my hand) We had gotten through the front doors and had started walking down the isle behind all the cash registers, when Novel suddenly stopped in his tracks.

I glanced back at him.

His poor little stubby face was a mask of terror and embarrassment. Without a seconds hesitation, I spun on my heels and we started high tailing it out of that store. In that split second glance, in Novel's panicked face, I saw the unmistakable expression of:

"MOM I HAVE TO POO RIGHT NOW!!!!"

Novel was pulling hard now, but I didn't really care...I wanted to get out of that store as badly as he did! Soon we were jogging, then running toward the big sliding door. People stared at us like we were out of our minds...not only did I have a dog in Walmart, but we were running! I took no notice. My one goal was to simply get OUT before Novel couldn't hold it any longer and embarrassed us both.

The front doors came into view. They opened for us and we charged through. We turned left down the sidewalk. I just needed to get out of the direct vicinity of the doors. Fifty feet later I knew he couldn't hold it any longer so we just stopped.

"Novel 'hurry!" I said. and, oh, he did.

As I was removing the evidence from the sidewalk, a man came out to gather up leftover carts. He remarked calmly on the gentle leader and how it worked so well on his dog. If only he knew what a close call we just escaped.

Dog toy

I just walked by Novel's toy basket and realized out of the corner of my eye that there was a new toy in it. Thankfully my camera was close at hand. What a fitting place for Novel's favorite kitty to nap!

Christmas

Exhausted, sore and stiff all over from head to toe in every. muscle. of my body, I stagger through the front door to the strong and unmistakable smell of a barn. Newspapers, sawdust, an old cat carrier, and a plastic food and water dish are scattered all across the living room carpet. And atop it all snuggles a chicken. Kinda brings the whole Christmas nativity barnyard scene close to home.

But it wasn't Christmas. Christmas happened two days earlier 814 miles and 13 hours away in a magical land filled with snow. At least for me it did. Three of my siblings and I drove all those miles there and back again to spend Christmas with our Sister's family. Novel spent it here at home. At our house which was converted into a barn.

Because I tend to draw things that I miss...

 I haven't had time yet to hear the full account of the adventures Novel had with my parents over Christmas, but from the snippets I have heard, he knocked over and broke a lamp, chased the cat, and generally pulled on the leash. Looks like we've got some training sessions ahead of us. Oh, and the chicken? It apparently wasn't feeling too well. Poor thing wasn't eating or moving, even to get into the chicken shed at night, so my dad brought it in side to doctor it up. She's eating and drinking now, and seems pretty happy with her nest in front of the wood stove, but still isn't moving around. Dad is wondering about a broken leg. Oh, and the kicker? The bird is absolutely crawling with tiny bugs. In our living room. Hooray. I can only hope we don't get a bird mite infestation in here.

My sister Rosie and her newly adopted
Doberman, Ava

Although I don't have much to tell you much about Novel's Christmas, I can give you a brief synopsis of mine. Saturday I got off work early, so we were able to leave earlier than originally planned. Even so, we didn't arrive at our destination until after midnight. However, the next 4 days were spent merrily with friends and family, eating good food, taking long walks, playing games, doing Krav Maga, watching movies, and snowboarding. And, of course, opening presents on Christmas Eve. We had planned to leave for home on Wednesday in order to get home for work Thursday morning, and indeed, 4am Wednesday Morning found us speeding south down the interstate, but snow and bad weather turned us back and 10am found us ringing the bell at our sister's house once again. And so, in this way, we had an unexpected, but very welcome extra day to spend in whatever way we wished. (that was the evening I went to Krav Maga class, thus accounting for my extraordinary soreness)







The drive home was pleasant as I am fortunate enough to have 3 sisters, one of which enjoys reading aloud.

All four of us sisters...together! In one place! On Christmas day!

She finished reading "The Hobbit," which she had started on our way there, and we all enjoyed it immensely. Upon getting home again, and making it past the bug-infested chicken in our living room, I was greeted by two very happy black dogs and a purring white cat. Although nearly bursting at the seams with joy in discovering that I had not deserted him forever, Novel was actually capable of holding a sit for petting (albeit after a few tries) which made me very proud and happy. Ah, it's good to be home again!

The next morning, I'm pretty sure the only thing Novel remembered about the whole week was that I brought tennis balls.

Guinea Pig

Novel was named very accurately, for he truly is a novel dog of many titles. You heard about his kangaroo thing right? Well he is also a Guinea Pig. (...and he loves to snuggle with horses and likes to suck on cat heads, but that's a whole nother story.)

Striking resemblance is it not?

Really though, I'm pretty sure Novel gets the Guinea Pig from me. ...ok that sounded weird. No I am NOT a Guinea Pig, or even part Guinea pig (I hope!)  I'm just a bit of a mad scientist.  ....Ok scrap that. That sounded even worse.

Lets put it this way, I work at an animal hospital that just hired some brand new techs. Brand new techs need training. Training involves taking x-rays and  drawing blood and draining anal glands and...well we'll just stop there before this gets too graphic. All that training requires practice. Practice requires subjects to practice on....like guinea pigs.

Enter Novel the happy guinea pig.

Treats? Oh you want to stick a needle in my neck first? Sure that sounds great! Where are the treats?

Today, Novel "volunteered" for the works. Restraining techniques, blood drawing in multiple locations, anal glands...you name it. He was awesome, and I was thrilled because it was really good practice for him, and we had all the time in the world to take it slow and make it as pleasant as possible for everyone involved.

Only part he had trouble with was getting his temperature taken in his ear. Funny, considering that is the least invasive and most commonly accepted thing we practiced doing on him. Looks like I need to work on messing with his ears a little more.

This is just a beefed out list of four things about Novel. Literally.

I just kinda have a lot of random things to say. I'll try to squeeze in a few pictures, but I just realized that I don't really have many recent ones of him. Anyway, here goes:

#1. I love Novel a lot, but he loves me more. Seriously, this dog has attachment issues. I am pretty sure that he thinks his goal in life is to be as close to me as possible at all times. If I get up to walk two steps across the room, so does he. If I leave him in a room - even a room with other people in it - for any amount of time, he plasters himself against the door until I return (I know because the door is always warm when I come back) If I am driving with him in the car, he rides leaned up against the front seat with his head resting over my shoulder. If something of mine happens to be on the floor...a pillow, a shirt, a sock...he is laying on it. I am constantly getting comments when we are out in public like "wow he sure loves you...look at how he just stares at you constantly!" And he does. I just hope he will be able to adjust when I leave him at CCI for advanced training.
  ....now, just as a note, Novel does spend plenty of time away from me, and does well with it. I am gone nearly all day Monday through Wednesday, and Novel stays at home. I am told that he does not whine or cry or panic, but waits quietly for me to return. It is when I return that he starts to get restless if he can't see me immediately. 

#2. Novel has so much trouble being still and quiet. He really just has so much trouble. He is marvelous when we are working actively. His focus and joy in his work are unmatched...but when he is asked to do a down for any length of time, he transforms from a responsible, seemingly mature young man to an unruly little boy who can't sit still in church. He cries and fidgets and moans and groans and plays with his leash and tries to rub his gentle leader off. So we've been working on that a lot. And he gets gobs of kibbles for being good. Novel adores kibbles. Almost as much as he adores me...almost ;)

Novel Practicing "Down stay" at the Library

Novel Practicing "Down stay" at Barns and Noble

#3. Ok, now this one is embarrassing, but at the same time it marks our first real, big victory so I can't help but share it with y'all: I think Novel has finally grasped the concept of housetraining! Yeah. I know. He's 9 months old and most pups are experts on this by 4 months, but Novel really struggled with this one. Even with a really strict schedule and 100% supervision, Novel was still peeing in the house at 7 months. Now it didn't happen frequently - it was only once or twice a month - but that was only because he was on such a strict schedule and he really didn't have the chance to do it more often. Unfortunately, even the strictest of schedules aren't completely pee proof. The problem was that he was just not grasping the concept that he wasn't supposed to do that in the house. Anyway, the good part is that I think that struggle is over. Novel has not had an accident in nearly 2 months and has finally started indicating when he needs to go out. Hooray for victories!

I chose this picture for #3 only because it was the only one I had that had anything remotely to do with the topic...there is water in the picture! LOL Novel loves water a lot. Maybe that's why he had so much trouble with house training! ;P

#4. Speaking of victories, Novel is finally starting to grasp another basic dog concept: Fetch. When he was really young he played this game wonderfully, but as he got older, he started to think that it was fun to just run around with things in his mouth without bringing them to me. We have worked on this so hard. Novel has such a mischievous streak and has a tendency to want to play "keep away" so fetch was a little difficult for us. Novel has always been wonderful at the "drop" command, and loves to chase the stick or ball or Frisbee or whatever, but he usually needs the help of a long leash to bring it back. Finally, however, he seems to be understanding that "Hey, If I bring it back to her, she will most likely throw it for me again, and I will get to chase it again!" 

Yeah, Yeah I know this one doesn't have anything even remotely related to fetching in it. But its a cute picture right?

I think that's enough for now. I just need to remember to take more pictures of this dude...

Service dogs in Public Restrooms.

Taking a service dog in training out into public always creates unusual situations, curious people, and often "interesting" comments. People just don't expect to see a dog in Walmart or the Mall or at the bookstore. What I have found accentuates this situation, however, is taking Novel into a public restroom. I mean, when you think about it, that truly is the last place on earth people expect to see a dog.

Fridays are a little interesting for me right now. I work in the mornings, and have Novel's training class in the evenings, but both are about 40 minutes from my home, so it is a waste of gas and time to try to get home in between them. Instead, I've been bringing Novel to work with me, and then hanging out at Barnes and Noble or the Library during the time in between work and training class. Those precious "quiet hours" are spent studying school and working with Novel on learning to be comfortable just laying down quietly for several hours at a time. (Preparation for bringing him to school with me)

Anyway, this afternoon, being a special Friday afternoon, Novel and I headed to B&N. I had a change of clothes with me in my backpack so I didn't have to sit around and then attend class in dirty, hairy, stinky scrubbs. (being a Vet Tech is dirty work!) For whatever reason, I forgot to change at work, so I went to the bathroom in B&N to change, Novel tagging faithfully along. Before I go any further, can I just say how thankful I am for handicap stalls? They are soo helpful when you have a dog with you. Ha.

Our adventures started before we even got into the restroom. I tried to open the door at the exact moment when someone else was exiting, and we very nearly collided. We both were startled, but she was clearly (and understandably) more so upon seeing the dog. So that was the first incident.

Novel is usually really good when it comes to public restrooms. Today...well, he wasn't bad, but he decided to lay down too close to the side of the stall...and his whole butt and tail slid under the partition into the occupied next stall. The poor innocent person who had no idea there was a dog in the restroom was clearly quite surprised and let out a rather loud "OH!" when Novel's ever wagging tail swept across her feet.

Our adventures were not over yet, however. As I was washing my hands, Novel was in a sit/stay being extremely good, when yet another person emerged from the stall that happened to be right behind Novel. Upon realizing someone was behind him, Novel politely got to his feet, his tail wagging a calm and friendly greeting. Her reaction however, was quite different. The start she received upon seeing a dog in the restroom sent her staggering quickly back to press her self against the wall. Several shrill screams shredded the air of the echoing restroom as she pressed her quivering hands to her chest. She was quite clearly terrified.
"I don't like dogs!" she quivered in her strong Asian accent. "I am afraid of dogs!"

Upon my first sight of her, I quickly moved Novel away. Profuse apologies, an explanation about Novel, Reassurances that he was exceptionally friendly, and his own perfect behavior (Thank you thank you thank you Novel!!!!) eventually calmed her down enough to recover and even laugh about the incident.

The things you run into with a service dog in training! whew...

Secrets

Novel has something he would like to tell you all. He isn't particularly proud of it, but I have finally convinced him that it is time to come clean about it. You see, Novel has been keeping a very deep secret:

Novel isn't really a dog

Nope. Shocking as it may sound, he is not, in fact, canine. He is actually a kangaroo. Naturally, as there aren't many kangaroos in this part of the world, Novel tends to feel a little out of place sometimes. The fact that he supposedly comes from the best of service dog parents only makes matters worse...he sees himself as the proverbial "ugly duckling." Now be honest, how can you blame him? How much tolerance do you think the service dog community really has for kangaroos? 

Novel tries so hard to fit in with the dog community, but you know, when you are a kangaroo, those bouncing genes are buried deep in your DNA and it can be hard to repress them. Novel does a marvelous job with it, but in those moments when he forgets to really concentrate on it, they tend to slip out. 

Despite this slight hiccup, Novel still aspires to follow in the paw prints of his ancestors to one day become a great service...er...kangaroo. Now that he has revealed his secret, he is willing to release footage either in the form of video or photograph to prove his true identity. The only problem is, we don't exactly have any footage of that...exactly. Of course, I'll get right on that...

Disclaimer: This post was written as a joke, and is not meant to be taken literally. No, Novel is not literally a kangaroo. The term actually refers to his truly uncanny ability to jump in place, all four feet at the same time, to astonishing heights when excited, and other tendencies toward bouncing in general.