February 02-08 2013

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Sunday 02- sunny but cold.

I am so tired; like I predicted they woke me up at dawn wanting out. Just got done cleaning all the pee up in the house; they didn't understand about using the newspaper I put down for them... I'm going to take a nap right now...

The lady who breeds them got in touch with me through Peggy who knew someone (Nancy) who might know who they belonged to and that's how it happened and the breeder came to collect both dogs. She said a bolt had gotten loose and fallen off a gate letting all her dogs loose. She got all of them except the ones who came into my yard. She and her friends frantically drove around that night looking for the two escapees. I told her I really bonded with them and she said that the male was already spoken for but I could have the female for a price. Then she thought for a quick second and then said I could have her! She figured that was how the universe meant it to be and I was supposed to have Cassie. That was mighty nice of her and she came by later with some food and the papers for Cassie. All is well now, all is right again with the world.

Meet Cassie! She's a little over 4 months 09/23/2013.

Peggy came by with a bigger bag of dog food and a chew toy she and Nancy chipped in for.

I still gots lots to do. I got to get everything that is under the sink that is toxic and put it somewheres where she can't get to them... more stuff to do.... lots more!

I put the wet newspaper that I used to soak up some some of the pee and put it under some new newspaper so Cassie might get the hint.

This I hope will work until we can get a routine going...

Monday 03- dang cold, but mostly sunny.

I got up maybe three times during the night to let Cassie out. Two of the times she just wanted attention, but the last at 3am she let it pour which made me very happy and I told her so; I think it was Peggy who told me to exaggerate being happy when they pee in the right place.  I am letting her sleep with me for the first few nights or so; I’m finding out that a large puppy will take up a third of the bed. I slept the night with my butt hanging out from under the covers, plus I slept in an awkward position and my body ached for most of the day. When we finally woke around 9am I took her for a nice walk around the property.

By the way Venus is very bright in the eastern sky at around 4am! Everyone who knows me well can tell you I’m definitely not a morning person; I haven’t seen a sunrise in a long spell.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for two minutes. I then took Cassie for another walk.

I entertained Cassie throughout the day; puppies need lots of attention.

We went for an evening walk together.

I started reading chapter three of “Physical Geology: Earth Revealed 6th edition”; The Sea Floor.

I continued reading chapter 1 of “The Cell: a Molecular Approach”; Tools of Cell Biology: Light Microscopy.

We went for a night walk up the hill kinda sorta.

I started reading chapter 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion in “Astronomy Today; Fifth Edition”: day to day changes, diurnal motion and sidereal day- 3.9 minutes a day. I’d go deeper into this but I’m just too dang worn out by puppy love!

Tuesday 04- nice day.

Cassie woke me up at 6:00am to be let out so we went for a little walk and she did her business. I went back to bed until she woke me again at 9:30am so we went for another walk.

I did my stretches.

I was online last night looking for dog kennel and found one I think will be very nice for her at Home Depot. I called and they said they had it in stock at the back of aisle 15. It hurt to make the drive down there and listen to her crying inside the house when I drove off. I had daymares of all kinds of dangerous things happening to her while I was gone; anything she broke or chewed could be replaced, no problem because she will only be a puppy once in her life. It took me about an hour and a half to drive down to get the dog kennel, stop off at WalMart to get a ton of dog food and treats; I even got a roasted chicken to share with her.

When I got back to the house everything was quiet and that kinda worried me, but as soon as I opened the door I was met with tail wagging puppy and everything was okay. We ate some of the chicken and I took her for a walk. I’m just too worn out to assemble the dog run today and still have to find a nice place to put it.

Wednesday 05- a little breezy and cold, but okay; I think about my poor friends back east going through a really dreadful winter, so I really have nothing to complain about.

I did my stretches and Cassie and I walked a mile and a half; this is after being woken up several times during the night.

It took me a little over an hour to put together the dog kennel. It took longer getting it out of the car and lugging it over to where it was to be put together.

We finished off the roasted chicken from yesterday lunch.

Today was mostly “no” day for Cassie. I said no to her many times; no Cassie don’t eat that, no Cassie the wood stove is hot, no Cassie that’s disgusting spit it out... She did pee on the newspaper and I told her she was a good girl!

I took Cassie for an evening walk with me.

I entertained Cassie until we went for a night walk where I found out she is afraid of the dark and fought hard not to go up the hill. I will try doing this at sunset to get her used to it.

Thursday 06- cloudy and windy with a chance of rain; it didn’t.

This is the first time my Cassie woke me up to go outside to pee and she did it again later on by standing by the front door wanting to get out to pee. So all that jumping up and down, giving her treats and saying how good a girl she is when she pees outside has paid off!

I took Cassie for a mile and a half run, not walk, this morning. It is easier on me because she doesn’t have the chance to stop to smell something every few yards.

My new Sony laptop froze up again and I had to do a refresh on it that saves all my data (I have that all backed up anyways), but it leaves Win8 at the beginning and I have to do all the updates, reinstall programs, and update the dang thing to Win8.1 again and reinstall MS office. If it wasn’t for MS Office and Word I’d go Linux.

I went on a few short walks with Cassie. I haven’t been able to do much writing anyways because a puppy is a full time job I am finding out.

Friday 07- it turned out to be a very nice day after the sun came out around 11am.

Cassie is getting better at waking me up fewer times and there was only one false call to go pee. I remember it was 4am and then 7am there abouts and there was frost on the ground and the sky was heavy with clouds. I do the jump up and down with joy and praise her for being such a good girl routine and then went back to bed.

She got me up again at 9am and I took her out again and decided to just stay up. We went for a walk around the property and not a mile and a half jog because we were waiting for a UPS package that Carolyn Shaffer sent that was full of doggie toys and treats. UPS arrived around noon time and I opened the box and let Cassie dig around inside until she ripped open a bag of treats which I quickly took away from her but gave her one of the treats. Included in the box was a book for me to read on how to train a dog. (Thank you Carolyn!)

I started the Harley on its weekly warm up to keep everything working including charging the battery. Cassie didn’t like the loud noise coming from the short tailpipes; I’ll put her in the house next time I run it.

We went for our evening walk, but this time I had the doggie treats with me which made it a little better controlling her; she can drag me around on the walk if I let her. Once I get a proper harness, so she doesn’t choke herself to death pulling me, then I’ll start training her to heel. I figure right now she is a pup exploring the world and I let her have her way mostly; she saw her first butterfly today!

I gave her a nice brush down with one Carolyn thoughtfully included in the package and Cassie really liked it.

She made me take her out two times to pee (I talk a lot about peeing but it’s really important she learn to do it outside and not inside, plus it’s a sign she’s learning).

Later in the night she was barking up a storm at the front door like someone was out there and I went to check, but found no one. It turned out to be my hat and jacket hanging by hooks on the door that spooked her. I moved them around to show her what they really were and she simmered down. Then we played with the rope toy for quite a long spell.

Saturday 08- a dang nice day.

Cassie has taken up sleeping behind my head with her nose nuzzled between pillow and my ear for the past two nights. I don’t mind but I think I’ll start looking for a larger bed.

It was another 4am wakeup call to go outside to go pee.

Sherry came by with doggie toys and a nice bed for Cassie.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for eight minutes. I went for a short cool off walk afterwards with Cassie. We went on three more walks throughout the day.

I put Cassie in the dog kennel while I cleaned the house and mopped the floor. She would be whining and whimpering and I’d go out about every fifteen minutes to sit inside and give her treats. It really hurts me to hear her in the kennel carrying on like she is being torture by some evil person (me). I know she will get used to it and I also won’t leave her in there for long periods unless it is an emergency. I might try putting a radio near the kennel and see how she reacts to that.

Later in the evening we went over to visit Jimmy and Clarice who are out here visiting over at Stoney’s. I took Cassie for her first car ride and she behaved mighty fine and just sat on the passenger side for the ride. Their little male dog Mickey (fixed) was a little hyper and so was Cassie when we first went into the kitchen, but everyone settled down and we stayed visiting for over two hours or so. I was so happy (and surprised) that Cassie handled it so well, though I had to pick her up and put her inside the car when we left. We got home and once I let her out of the car she found a spot and peed more than I’ve ever seen her pee; meaning she held it in all that time we were visiting.

I have learned a lot my first week with Cassie and also found I have many wonderful Friends, here in the desert and online at FaceBook, who really are a kindly caring bunch of folks and I want to give my heartfelt thanks to them for making my life “Mystical again”...

I posted this on FaceBook:

I have the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for. I was thinking just yesterday how blessed I am to have so many beautiful wonderful Friends such as all of you  And I live in a desert ways away from most anything! Who would have thunk?

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