Thursday, January 21, 2010

Day 26 - Graaaaaaaaaaaaass





So, I decided to take someone's advice on this blog and try out grass for the puppies' housebreaking needs. They still, to my frustration, associate the carpet with pee pee time and I hate it. We've got a huge storm here in San Luis Obispo and I don't have any way to wash out my little squares and dry them with the rain like this. I was just going to keep setting down paper, but the idea to get a box of sod and teach them to pee on it sounded pretty good. Why not? This is all experimentation anyway, right? Except if you go to Home Depot during a storm, what you will find is a bunch of knocked over palm trees and total desertion. It occurred to me that planting sod in this particular weather is pretty dumb, and so is stocking it.

Deflated, I returned inside, but then thought about ground cover. It's green, it's plant, they had it in stock, and it should do the job - no mowing! I grabbed Yishai and brought him over to it while we discussed the merits of this plan and I decided a $13 investment in ground cover was fine. We looked up this particular variety (and no, I don't remember what it is) on his phone and found it not to be toxic to chewy puppies, so here we go. Let's see if it works. Carpet is now banished. I also rearranged things to make it more . . . palatable and easy to clean? We'll see.


Also, if you are curious, there's a good article on the Internet about potty training your dogs. Check it out.

The puppies are pretty fun right now, I have to say. They sleep most of the time, but when they are up, the rock OUT. Tear at each other, tear at us, and, as mentioned previously, try to stick their heads in our mouths. It's quite enjoyable to play with them. Yishai and I were talking about our business yesterday and he brought the puppies out to my bed, wherein they determined that this particular footing surface was excellent for urination. Laundry ensured. And despite his watchful eye, maybe Optimus Prime fell off the bed. I was impressed with her total nonchalance about the episode (one thing I like in my dogs is stoicism).

Yesterday I had to meet with some friends, and Yishai suggested we bring them a couple puppies to see as the sort of don't seem to want to make it out to see them at my house. We loaded up Optimus and Moto (these are Yishai's two favorites currently) and hauled them over there. Our friends are "city people."One hails from Montreal and the other from the Bronx. Miki had never held a puppy before and looked about as awkward as anything I've ever seen. Her husband kept his distance and just looked at them. Every time Moto would toss his head up to look at her she would go, "Oooh," with a little fear. It was interesting. Puppies are pretty much the most innocuous thing I can imagine, especially at this stage with them being very mellow yet alert and well socialized. It reminded us both of our encounter with some New Yorkers hiding in a tree in Costa Rica, trying to avoid baby coatis.

This is a baby coati:



It is really interesting, and I would make a value judgement of "sad" as well, what lack of exposure will do to you. I contest that all hate-based fear comes from the same place - lack of familiarity with a topic, people, politics, etc. This is why, when you apply to teach at a college, you need to provide a diversity statement - I think it's paramount that teachers understand and almost force the importance of learning about cultures and peoples different than themselves. I mean, afraid of three-week-old puppies?

Anyway, they're good people, no judgement there. It was just an interesting phenomenon.


Yishai helps Fury clean off a food-covered Optimus Prime. BTW, I am pretty sure that we have a winner. I think she'll be staying with us. No promises, but he is in love (and good, because if I were keeping one, I wanted a solid red bitch anyway - and she's awesome).


Also, shout outs to the ladies in the Business Office (I think this was Mary Key) for the little "Howdy" on my individual registration packets. That's one of the best things about my experience on the ASCA Board - meeting and really enjoying my time with those gals. :)

2 comments:

  1. Hurray :) Keep us posted about the grass. I hope you'll be satisfied with it. Another thing popped into my mind. Ginny's breeder mentioned that she had to wash the grass, otherwise it would be completely useless and full of poop after a short time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OP was like "mommy the food was mean to me :("

    ReplyDelete