The I Love My Bad Dog Blog

Dog Eat Something (Weird)

2011-03-15T20:23:00.006-04:00

NONE OF YOU guessed right about P’s new diet. My favorite guess came from Celeste: “Dog? It’s that kind of world...”

I’m tempted to just mete out clues over the next few days, but really, how much suspense is anybody really in with regard to the diet of a dog they don’t even know? So I will show you the two main ingreds:

I KNOW, you guys. I know.

ADDENDUM: I was wrong! Someone did guess right! DeniseL, under the cover of anonymity, totally pegged the kangaroo. Cramazing.

MEGA UPDATE TIMEZZZ

2011-03-07T18:43:00.002-05:00

If anyone is left who reads this blogue, sorry it’s been forevs since I’ve posted. I got a new job that I’m very excited about, and it’s been taking up a lot of time. But I’m trying to STRATEGIZE and TIME-MANAGE and whatnot for the future and so here is an extensive Piney update in easy-breezy list form!

Dudes. Guess what he’s eating now! I might not give this one away and let people guess in the comments so I can laugh at all of your not-insane-enough guesses. The only clue I’ll give you is that once a year P gets sensitive to whatever he’s been eating and has to be switched to a combination of a TOTALLY NOVEL protein (i.e., one he’s never even tasted before in his LIFE) and a totally novel carbohydrate. He’s already been through tuna, bison, pork, rabbit, tapioca, sweet potato, chickpeas. He’s probably allergic to rice, wheat, beef, chicken and turkey.
As a result of his crazytunes new diet, he has gained 10 pounds, which has forced us to change his tacky nickname from Spiney to Pork-u-Piney.
My new job lets me work from home, so far, and so P is happier and more content than we’ve seen him in ages.
Training with Jolanta continues to be awesome.
He continues to love his occasional babysitter, Alex. I’ll post some of her photos of Piney dressed up in the outfits she inflicts upon him in the next couple of days.

XOXO,

Anaheed (and Piney)

The Snow + Piney's Tail: A Love Story

2011-01-18T16:16:00.001-05:00

Just Checking

2011-01-18T16:06:00.003-05:00

Is there anything better than when a dog is sleeping with all four feet twitching and his tongue sticking halfway out? No, right?

I Know That Guy

2010-12-16T00:28:00.005-05:00

This is my friend Leonor’s dog!

From NY Mag: Because This Is a City Where, At Least Some of the Time, We Can All Go Off-Leash

Go Moose! You are famoose.

Misplaced Pride and Two Very Expensive Manicures

2010-11-28T15:28:00.005-05:00

Two vet visits in two days for two cracked toenails = about $400 and a big bandage on one of Piney’s feet. I did feel strangely proud when yesterday’s (awesome) doctor told us that the reason he keeps cracking his toenails is that he is VERY ACTIVE. It was the kind of pride that two sedentary parents must feel when their kid goes to the Olympics. I feel like it makes me seem like less of a lazy slob, though of course the truth is I just look worse for the comparison. Doesn’t help that yesterday’s vet trip made me miss my yoga class.

Side note: Why are (almost) all vets so awesome? Ira says it’s because they love animals. That’s probably right.

UPDATE a month later: Well, that was very funny wishful thinking I was up to back then. It turns out that P’s nails were not cracking because he was so awesome, but rather because of a vitamin-B deficiency. How brief was my time in the dizzying heights of MY DOG IS AN HONOR STUDENT hubris!

Saturday Afternoon

2010-11-27T18:09:00.005-05:00

After one stressful vet appointment (his) and one prosecco–lemonade slushie (mine).

Face to Face

2010-10-28T17:44:00.002-04:00

Message to the people who are walking outside when I am walking my dog right next to you: I can see you.

So when you stare and point and give my dog the gas face because he is a pit bull wearing a muzzle, I know that is what you’re doing. You are maybe too busy gawking at my dog to notice, but my face involuntarily becomes a mirror of yours: whatever horror, revulsion, anger or judgment you’re shooting at Piney is reflected right back at you.

To those of you who look at my dog and smile—that goes for you, too. And: thank you. I needed that.

True Science

2010-10-08T12:21:00.001-04:00

paulfeig

Dog brains are snow globes. Snow's the crazy. When they sleep the crazy settles at the bottom. Then they shake their heads to redisperse it.

Train Thyself

2010-09-30T18:15:00.005-04:00

This literally JUST happened:

ANAHEED is walking PINEY home from the park. Suddenly TWO FRENCH BULLDOGS run toward Piney. Anaheed notices that the FLOPPY-HAIRED DUDE, apparently in his late 20s or early 30s, walking the Frenchies is making no effort to shorten their leashes or prevent them from going straight up to her dog, who is very obviously wearing a muzzle and on a short leash, and who looks pretty anxious at this latest development.

ANAHEED tightens PINEY’s leash and tries to get away from the approaching dogs as quickly as possible. She’s wearing her noise-canceling headphones and listening to “The Long Shot” and so she can only very faintly hear the FLOPPY-HAIRED DUDE say something like, “Don’t be so tense. ”

As she ... I can’t keep up this third-person thing any longer. As *I* approach my apartment building, I’m aware that I’m being followed. I turn around and see that the follower is none other than FHD. I see his lips moving but can’t hear him. I remove my headphones.

ME: What?

FHD: I was just trying to ask you how aggressive he is.

ME: Oh. He’s very aggressive.

FHD: [Chuckling] Well, he can’t be very aggressive.

ME: He is.

FHD: Why do you think that?

ME: [Getting out house keys] I know that he is.

FHD: How do you know that?

ME: [Unlocking front door of building] Because he’s my dog.

FHD: Well, he wouldn’t be aggressive if he were trained.

ME: He is trained.

FHD: I’m a dog trainer.

ME: [Opening front door] Great.

FHD: He probably just needs a trainer.

ME: He has one. OK. Bye.

FHD: Well it can’t be a very good trainer if they’re calling a dog aggressive!

ME: She didn’t call him aggressive. I did.

FHD: How do you know he’s aggressive?

ME: Because I’ve lived with him for five years. [Starting to enter the bldg.]

FHD: You don’t have to run away.

ME: I’m not running away. I’m at my house.

FHD: I’m just trying to help.

ME: Great. Thanks. [Walking away]

FHD: I am trying to help you!

ME: I don’t want your help.

FHD: You shouldn’t run away from me! I want to help!

ME: Thank you for your unsolicited advice. It’s very helpful.

FHD: No problem! I’m a dog trainer. You shouldn’t have tensed up over there at the corner. Your dog can feel you getting tense. That’s probably why he’s aggressive.

ME: [Exasperated] I tensed up because your dogs were running at mine full speed, and you showed no signs of thinking maybe you should stop them. You can’t be much of a dog trainer if you let your dogs run right up to obviously nervous, muzzle-wearing dogs.

FHD: God! You don’t have to have an attitude!

That’s when I shut the door between us.

Puppy F. Tompkins

2010-09-28T12:18:00.004-04:00

I found this video so funny. Even though I have a vicious dog! How is that possible? It is because I am so super fair-minded and also such a big person. Also because I heart Paul F. Tompkins with the strength of one thousand hearts.

Comedy Central Presents

Friday 10pm / 9c

Paul F. Tompkins: Terrifying Dogs

www.comedycentral.com

Nick Swardson's Pretend Time

Big Lake

Ugly Americans New Episodes

Also, his building sounds just like mine.

P.S. Does anyone know how to center that video? The html is in table form. Jules de Witt, are you out there?

Sunday Morning

2010-09-26T20:25:00.003-04:00

Required Listening

2010-09-17T00:34:00.006-04:00

If you have ever wanted to understand what life is like for people like me, people who own and love aggressive dogs, especially in New York City, there is nothing better that you could do than to listen to this perfect, compassionate episode of Piney’s trainer Jolanta Benal’s podcast, “The Dog Trainer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Teaching and Caring for Your Pet.” Everything she talks about is something that has happened to me many, many times. I have never felt so understood. I wanted to cry when I heard it! Which was just two minutes ago, and I ran over to my computer to post it.

“What Is Life Like With a Difficult Dog?”

GO LISTEN TO IT NOW. You will be a better, nicer, smarter person for having done so. I mean this is everything I have been trying to tell people all this time, but I’m not nearly so articulate as Jolanta is.

Thank you, Jolanta! On behalf of all of us bad-dog owners. (Not the same thing as bad dog-owners.)

Walk of Shame

2010-09-15T00:46:00.005-04:00

Today’s tip: If it’s Fashion Week, and you live in Chelsea, don’t take your muzzled pit bull to the dog run by the West Side Highway via 22nd Street wearing your working-from-home taking-the-dog-out wardrobe of old “relaxed fit” jeans and your husband’s company T-shirt, because you might just find yourself accidentally walking RIGHT NEXT to Carine Roitfeld, Anna Wintour and Anna Dello Russo and also a bunch of people you work with and you will feel so gross and ashamed and you will pretend you don’t see them and hope they are doing you the same favor!

Fetch

2010-09-05T17:14:00.001-04:00

He Asked for the News Not the Weather

2010-09-05T16:30:00.004-04:00

Ira took this picture of himself and his dog. Is that Piney saliva all over his glasses? Gross.

Faith in Medicine

2010-09-05T00:07:00.004-04:00

Last week we took our guy to a Dr. House of vets at Cornell. She’s a pain specialist who gave us some good ideas to deal with his stomach troubs. I don’t, as a person, believe in homeopathy, because I have a hard time believing in anything, but we’re trying a few homeopathic meds on her recommendation and weaning him off the heavy stuff. She was kind and smart, and said that the reason he’s been in such a great mood lately is probably that the antibiotics treating his Lyme disease are acting as an anti-inflammatory for his gut. The difference in his personality is dramatic, which tells us how much ginormous mood-changing pain he must have been in all this time.

Any Means

2010-08-26T00:04:00.004-04:00

In other unusually good news, P will now go down the stairs with me and even leave the building if I want him to. Which I often do! What worked in the end was playing a lot of scent and touch games in the stairwell (ew, “touch games”!), having Ira waiting outside for us sometimes, and—and yes I am totally ashamed to admit this—kind of PULLING him a little bit to get his feet moving toward the door. I know you’re not really supposed to do that type of thing but I was at the end of my rope!

Best Friends Sleepover Club

2010-08-24T19:04:00.004-04:00

We are the luckiest people in the world, and Piney the luckiest dog, because his bestie Alex, whose absence at day care for the past couple of months he has mourned frequently and vocally, has agreed to come over and stay with him when we go out of town.

So two weekends ago we went to one of our favorite places for our anniversary, and then this past Sunday I went to a friend’s wedding in Provincetown, and we didn’t worry about him at all, because the person who was watching him is the kind of person who took all these pictures while she did so:

He probably can’t wait till we leave again.

The I Love Susan Orlean on Dogs Blog

2010-08-09T13:36:00.005-04:00

This blog is in danger of turning into the Susan Orlean dog-writing repository. It would be a big improvement!

If you look on petfinder.com, you’ll see the usual array of cockeyed mutts and alley cats, but you’ll also see a startling number of purebreds; I assume that like our new puppy, many of them were being given away by people who had gotten them when the world was a much brighter place.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2010/08/recession-pets.html#ixzz0w8Cquafn

Speak! Memory

2010-08-04T23:07:00.002-04:00

If therapists didn’t charge you and were willing to chase sticks, they would be dogs. The kindly and receptive silence, the respect for secrets, the inexhaustible supply of attention—these are a dog’s, and a therapist’s, finest qualities. Dogs, though, are more fun than therapists, more tender, more dear, and certainly more admiring.

Susan Orlean on dogs and losing them: Dog Memory.

Doppelgangland

2010-08-04T21:13:00.006-04:00

Piney is so cute, right? You guys are always telling me that. Well, if you’ve ever wished you could have a dog that looks exactly like him, but is friendly, may I present Venus:

I know, it’s insane how alike they look. Venus is about one year old. She is SUPER high energy and loves to play in the dog run. Gets along well with people and dogs. Probably doesn’t get along with cats.

My friend Sara is fostering her for the time being. If you’re interested in meeting her, say so in the comments.

Because He Didn't Have Enough Health Problems Already

2010-08-03T21:50:00.006-04:00

We did everything. In Montauk, we got Piney a tick collar and squirted him with Frontline and coated him in terrible-smelling neem oil and combed him twice a day with a metal comb. And somehow he still managed to get Lyme disease.

We got the results the other day. The doctor said it was a “low positive,” which they don’t necessarily treat, because sometimes the dog’s immune system fights it off successfully. BUT we all know about P’s wonky immune system. BUT the treatment—one month of doxycycline—might upset his stomach, and we all know about P’s barely functional stomach. BUT he’s been acting sick, so maybe we should give him the drugs? This back-and-forth is what my brain has been doing for 2 days.

D Is for Disappointment

2010-08-03T00:04:00.002-04:00

Ever since Alex left, Piney cries every day that he’s in day care.

Question!

2010-07-20T19:53:00.002-04:00

Can someone give me some really SIMPLE instructions for embedding videos from my new Flip camera on Blogger?

I Wish for Dull Moments

2010-07-19T19:48:00.006-04:00

Piney likes to keep things interesting for his owners. Probably that’s why he’s picked up this exciting new behavior where he totally refuses to leave the apartment with me at all, ever, even if that means not “eliminating” for 13 hours at a stretch. The infuriating thing is that he will go out with Ira without complaint. He timed this well, too—Ira’s been out of town since Saturday and I am out of my head with frustration.

Tomorrow I have a phone appointment to talk about this issue with the awesome people who are P’s behaviorist and his trainer. As homework Jolanta, the trainer, had me watch these videos:

Riot’s scent game

Shell Scent Game

Hmmmmm I wonder what we’re gonna be teaching Piney this week! Probably skateboarding is my guess.

Beach Boy

2010-07-13T00:01:00.010-04:00

When Piney is in Montauk his face looks different. His eyes, which are usually wide and round,

get all soft and almond shaped.

He spent his vacation playing off leash on empty beaches,

playing fetch in the backyard,

splashing around the kiddie pool we set up on the balcony,

and lounging on the couch.

He seemed so happy! So did we. And none of us caught Lyme disease, at least not so far.

Here’s what he looked like in the car on the ride back to Manhattan:

No-Good Terrible Very Bad Day

2010-06-30T16:06:00.006-04:00

Today our favorite person at P’s day care (and P’s best friend at school) was relieved of her job. I know more than I can say here but I will say that she was why we could leave Piney there while we went away on vacation. Now I don’t exactly know what we’ll do. Never leave town at the same time?

Luckily we won’t have to face this crisis for a while. We’re going on vacation next week—to Montauk—but guess what, we’re taking Piney WITH US. Unprecedented! We want a lot of backyard funtimes and kiddie pools and surfing and nothing-doing, and little if any Lyme disease. We have Frontline and a tick collar—anything else we can use to keep the ticks off of him? How about off of us?

Do You Believe in Life (With a Dog) After Love (With a Dog)?

2010-06-22T00:15:00.005-04:00

I think (know) that after Piney, we’ll eventually get another dog. Ira thinks we won’t. Who’s right? Vote in comments.

No News Was Just That

2010-06-20T22:35:00.003-04:00

I’m so sorry to keep you guys hanging! Everyone in my house has been sick (myself included) and everything feels just so overwhelming right now, but thank you so much for your sweet questions and expressions of concern! We are lucky to know that such good people are in the world.

To answer everyone: Healthwise Piney seems to be doing a tiny bit better? He doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore, but he still is dragging his butt around and sulking a lot. Still! Upswing! His behavior is for shit now though, so I’m Ghost Dogging him and Ira is throwing him treats all day so he stops threatening to bite him. (Piney-->Ira, not vice-versa ... yet.)

Ghost Dog is a thing we learned about from P’s behaviorist. It’s where when you’re not actively training or walking your dog, you pretend he doesn’t exist. In our case, it’s to get P to stop protecting me so fiercely and insanely, to loosen his bond with me ever so slightly. It is impossibly hard to do, especially when your dog is as cute as ours and so sick most of the time, but dang if it doesn’t work. I wanted to post a link to more information about this technique, but I don’t know what it’s actually called. I think I might have started calling it Ghost Dog? Does anyone know what the real name is?

Again, THANK YOU for the concerned and kind emails and comments, everyone. Big hearts all around.

While I Was Asleep

2010-06-10T16:35:00.006-04:00

I had two dreams last night: In one, I was riding a bike carrying Piney in a kind of back sling, and at some point I worried that he had dropped out so I felt around for him. When I touched him, he bit me, and I gave him a light slap on the head in retaliation. He gave me a hard, disdainful look then jumped out of the sling and across a huge, like 8-lane freeway and into oblivion. I chased after him, trying to call Ira, but I had accidentally downloaded a program that made any icon I tried to touch on my phone explode, and that program/app disappear. Including the PHONE one. By the time I had crossed the freeway, P was far out of sight. That’s when I woke up. In the second dream we had a pet muskrat or gopher or hedgehog or one of those kind of scrumfy gray animals with a fat body and long nose? And it was a puppet, but alive (stay with me here). It slept on the bed with us. Ira had already gone to work and I saw it suddenly breathing really hard and fast, then suddenly the breathing stopped, and I realized our pet hedgehog puppet had died, and I felt both sad and relieved. And also guilty about feeling relieved.

Good thing I don’t believe in premonitions! Because the other one of those that I had was that Piney would die in June 2010.

Enough Already

2010-06-08T13:27:00.011-04:00

In response to Ann, who said:

I can't stand it! There has been no post and I am worried sick about Piney. Is he ok? Is he doing better? Please let us know.

He’s not doing better. He’s doing worse. In the middle of last night I (very gently) moved him over on the bed and he yelped in pain.

I’m starting to research hookworms. That’s how bad it is.

Colon, Open Parenthesis

2010-06-04T11:45:00.006-04:00

Piney growled at me this morning when I tried to pet him. He has never done that before. Then he refused to get off his bed when I wanted to take him out to pee. So I canceled my whole day and am spending it on the couch with him sleeping next to me. I just got this email from Ira:

Subject: I’m worried for the dog.

I wish I knew how to do an emoticon here for sad.

Preferential Treatment

2010-05-31T18:46:00.002-04:00

It turns out that Piney will be coaxed to the dog run—just not with me. Here he is the other day, with Ira, playing his kiddie pool game, which btw he invented.

Sickness update: no improvement, no answers.

I Would Like for Things to Get Better Now Please

2010-05-30T18:50:00.008-04:00

Our little guy has been super-sick for like two weeks. He’s had an X-ray, blood tests, a fecal test, a physical exam and many, many new meds, and we have no answers, and nothing is changing. He refuses to enter the dog run to play fetch—he acts like he’s scared of the dogs in there, all of a sudden, out of nowhere. He sleeps all day and when we try to walk him he acts like we’re leading him to a death chamber. I haven’t been talking about it because it is hard to talk about. Except for the two or three emails every day to four out of his five vets (the other, lucky, one I don’t have an email address for).

I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m so worried about him all of the time.

Dismissed

2010-05-26T11:26:00.003-04:00

I had to appear in court last week, to be tried (!) and pay a fine for having my dog off leash (at night, on a fenced-in basketball court, with no one around but the two dogs Piney is friends with and their owners). They gave me a public defender, who looked at my case and was like, “Oh, it’s a pit bull? That’s even worse.” Funny, the ticket the cop gave me didn’t specify my dog’s breed, but apparently he entered that information into the record. Then the judge said, “A pit bull! There is no worse dog to have off leash. Are you aware of the reputation of that breed?” I paused for a long time before answering—so long that the PD had to tell me to say “Yes, Judge.” What I was thinking during that pause: Last I heard, there was no breed-specific legislation in NYC—so why does it matter what breed my dog is? How is that relevant to my legal case? And the reason he was in that park, off leash, at night, is that he can’t be off leash in too many places. And have I told you about my dog? And the misery he goes through every day, what with the stomach pains and the itchy skin and the anxiety? Do you know that his evening playtime with Katie and Mocha is literally his FAVORITE THING THAT HE EVER DOES and one of his few chances for real joy in life? So no I will not stop taking him off leash, illegally, in that basketball court at night, and I am actually being a responsible dog owner by doing so.

Obviously I didn’t say any of that. I said, “Yes, Judge.” And I’m not really complaining, because the judge—who has a reputation as a dog lover—dismissed my case and sent me home! And at least I wasn’t one of those guys who had to get up in front of everyone to plead guilty to urinating in public. There were so many of those dudes.

Proof of Happiness

2010-05-03T23:46:00.008-04:00

Here are just some of the photos that D Is for Doggy texted to us while we were in Alaska:

This one demonstrates that they used the blanket we packed for him:

The original owner of D Is for D, P’s girlfriend Gina, came by to visit while he was staying there. Don’t they look happy to be reunited?

This is where they dressed Piney up as his dad (sorry, I mean as his OWNER—Ira hates it when I call him Piney’s dad):

And, finally, my favorite, taken after they gave him a bath:

We’re back now and while Piney could not seem more thrilled to be home, I know not to believe him when he says life was awful while we were gone.

Addled

2010-04-22T13:05:00.006-04:00

Because of Piney’s problems of the health and personality varieties, Ira and I don’t often travel together, so why does it feel like I’m constantly typing on here about how I’m afraid to board him again for this or that trip? This time it’s Alaska. I am really psyched to go, because from the pictures I’ve seen it looks like a totally other planet, and because I get to hang out with my friend Lance, whom I’ve mentioned here before. But I hate hate HATE leaving my little bug at the day care place for a whole week. It hurts my heart just to imagine him there at the end of each day, looking up hopefully whenever the door buzzes someone in to pick up their dog, and being disappointed every time. Maybe I am projecting—I mean, I know I am projecting—but there’s some truth there too. He’s a sensitive guy, and a big baby, and he’s been known to go on hunger strike when we leave him longer than three or four days. I can hardly look him in the eye today, knowing what’s about to happen.

Meanwhile I’m running around gathering refills on most of his meds so he won’t run out of anything while we’re gone. He’s on so many different things that generally we don’t keep close track and refill them only when we’re absolutely out.

Speaking of meds! P’s trainer, Jolanta Benal, linked from Facebook to this handy PDF that lists the questions you should ask your vet when she prescribes something to your dog (or cat or giraffe or what have you). You’d think I’d be really good at this by now but I always forget a couple of these and have to call back and bother the vet multiple times. The basics:

Medications for Your Pet:
10 Questions to Ask Your Vet

1. Why has my pet been prescribed this medication and how long do I need to give it?
2. How do I give the medication to my pet? Should it be given with food?
3. How often should the medication be given and how much should I give each time? If it is a liquid, should I shake it first?
4. How do I store the medication?
5. What should I do if my pet vomits or spits out the medication?
6. If I forget to give the medication, should I give it as soon as I remember or wait until the next scheduled dose? What if I accidentally give too much?
7. Should I finish giving all of the medication, even if my pet seems to be back to normal?
8. Could this medication interact with other medications my pet is taking?
9. What reactions should I watch for, and what should I do if I see any side effects?
10. When should I bring my pet back for a recheck? Will you be calling me to check on my pet’s progress, or should I call you?

(from the FDA's Consumer Health Information page)

Update!

2010-04-15T22:10:00.005-04:00

I haven’t posted anything here in forever, because I’ve been overwhelmed by work and unpaying projects. Here’s a quick update:

Piney gained 10 pounds since my last post!! TEN pounds on a formerly 50-pound dog = a lot. He looks positively husky now. One of my favorites at the day care he goes to said, “I can’t call him Spiney anymore.”

Ever since he gained all that weight (because of the phenobarbital and diazepam that he’s on) and started taking Gas-X, he seems about 200 times happier. But now that he feels so great about himself he’s lunging at strangers on the street way more frequently. The strangers don’t like that very much. Neither do I. But I think I make it worse for the strangers by acting totally cavalier about it. They’re scared out of their minds and I’m all casual, “Oh, sorry about that.” Yeah, whoops, you know how it is, crazy attack pit bull in a muzzle, ha ha. I mean, I pull him away before he gets anywhere near them, and he is always wearing said muzzle, so he couldn’t do any damage even if I let him. This was proved to me last week when he tried to attack a lovely friend of mine on the sidewalk. P has always been very sweet and gentle with this friend, so I didn’t even think about the fact that we were in front of my building, where P’s worst territorial aggression comes out, when we ran into him, and I didn’t get in between Other Human and the dog the way I usually do. So I finally got to see what happens when Piney attacks someone with his muzzle on: basically nothing. Except I feel horrible for several days.

Or maybe longer. Piney is getting much more comfortable with his trainer, Jolanta, and last time we met with her he started bringing his ball to her and dropping it right into her hand so she could throw it for him. This is MAJ for Piney. When Piney offers you his ball, you are IN. So that was a really happy thing, right? And yet, on the walk home, Jolanta and I were talking about our goals for P, and I realized that the best we can hope for is still not very good at all. He will never be a normal dog. He will always be on a lot of meds and wear a muzzle whenever he’s in public. We will never have people over to our apartment as long as he’s around. All of this is a lot to take in. As you might imagine.

Cute Attack

2010-03-23T17:32:00.005-04:00

Pit bull puppies! They are the Asian babies of the dog world (i.e., the cutest type of puppy).

The Miracle Worker

2010-03-17T14:39:00.003-04:00

Piney has been feeling so much better for the past week or so, because of a radical new treatment idea from one of his very smart vets. It’s an extremely advanced and sophisticated new protocol. What is this miracle drug? Scroll down for the answer.

(keep scrolling)

Yup. Gas-X.

Dog Days

2010-03-09T14:15:00.002-05:00

In case you were wondering, Piney survived his weekend at day care. Here’s a little movie that Alex from D Is for D made about it, which is ridiculously cute even though it gave me a heart attack to see Piney on the sidewalk sans muzzle!!

Play Smilebox movie.

When he got home yesterday he spent 2 hours licking my face, bringing me toys and rolling around on the floor in sheer glee. Then he slept deeply for like 5 hours then was ready to go outside and play fetch as usual.

Then today, the first really springlike day that I’ve had in NYC this year (I was in Chicago all weekend, remember), we went for a (slow, wimpy) jog and played fetch for an hour at the dog run and currently he is CONKED OUT. He’s a happy dog, for now.

Left Behind

2010-03-07T00:04:00.003-05:00

Man, do I hate leaving Piney at day care overnight. Especially since his relationship with the new owner is still, shall we say, rocky. I was supposed to leave yesterday (for Chicago) but I couldn’t bring myself to leave him there for 3 nights. This morning when we were playing in the dog run I told him, “I’m here because of you. You’re here because of me.”

Wish us luck this weekend. The instructions this time were 4 pages long.

Attractive Wagger!

2010-03-04T00:15:00.003-05:00

The amazing Alex at D Is for Doggy made this today, when Piney was hanging out there for the day:

linky

Bottle Rocket

2010-03-02T23:33:00.002-05:00

Just an hour ago P and I were playing fetch on the basketball court of the housing projects down the street when a glass bottle crashed onto the ground right next to me, lobbed out of a third-floor window in the projects themselves. I would’ve called the cops except I was breaking the law, having my dog off leash in a public-ish space. I could’ve leashed him up and waited for the police, but that would’ve stressed him out too much to be worth it. I have no doubt that the bottle was aimed specifically at me. Whoever threw it turned off their lights and ran away immediately afterward. Anyway it was scary. We left and went to the dog run, but by then P didn’t seem to feel like playing, and neither did I.

Can Buy Him Love

2010-03-01T23:36:00.004-05:00

Today when Jolanta entered the dog run, Piney ran right up to her, twice, tail a-wagging, eyes soft & happy. It’s crazy to me that you can actually take a suspicious, strangers-fearing dog like our Pines and literally force him to like someone. But our plan of regular, stress-free play sessions over the course of a couple of months totally worked.

Pine-Sol probably thinks Jolanta plays with him every week out of love. And while I am pretty sure she does love him, we do technically pay her to be his friend. I wonder what P would think if he knew that basically she is a whore. (Um, sorry, Jolanta.)

A Bundle of Sticks

2010-02-21T11:34:00.004-05:00

First thing Piney did this morning was puke up a faggot.

By which I mean literally a bundle of sticks! And yes I am only telling you this so I can use that word with its original meaning. And yes I am basically 12 years old!

Since U Been Gone

2010-02-20T20:16:00.002-05:00

I can’t believe that’s the best picture I have of Piney with Gina Song, who for the past two years has run the day care P goes to and has been an amazing friend to him, and to us. She’s the reason we can go on vacation and worry about him only 75 percent of the time. She’s why I can work full time in an office. We trust her implicitly and that has made our lives, and P’s, so much more happier and more functional.

I’m so glad for Gina that she recently got engaged and moved to Cali to be with her fiancé (and their two dogs). But I’m so, so, so sad for us, and for Pines. We miss her a ton already.

Piney barked and lunged at the new owner of D Is for Doggy tonight, so I’m not sure how much longer he’s going to be welcome there. And like I’ve said before, if Piney can’t go to day care, we are all totally fucked.

Le sigh.

People Suck

2010-02-16T12:32:00.006-05:00

When you’re done crying, adopt this beautiful girl whynot. (Bigger version of the picture here.)

February 15, 2010

Dear Friends of Petraits,

I spent my Valentine’s Day with Sheba (Petraits attached) a very gorgeous, loyal, sweet, snugly, and affectionate, six-year-old, 52-pound, black Shepherd-mix.

Sheba gave me all the sweet Valentine’s Day kisses I needed. She knows sit, and gives paw … takes treats gently, and will be a joy to continue her training because she is so very food-motivated. She is great on leash, good in the car, crate-trained, and housebroken. Sheba is full of tail wags and joy; she loves toys, snuggling on the couch, and sitting in your lap.

Sheba gets along just fine with other dogs, but she is a real people-loving dog. So, the question will always be … why was she living outdoors in a Blue Island backyard, neglected beyond belief.

She was relinquished by her family to a humane investigator who was tipped off to a dog living in horrible condition in someone’s backyard. When the officer arrived, he took one look at this poor girl who – at the time was missing half her face down to the muscle – and brought her to be cared for by the vets at the Animal Welfare League.

Sheba has been under veterinary care since July. She has endured half a dozen surgeries to remove her non-functioning eye, and her left ear canal, as well as to repair extensive damage to her face. It is unknown what caused these injuries. She is left with one working eye, and one functioning ear. And, believe me … she gets around just fine, and can still hear the crinkle of a dog treat package from across the room!

And, she is really doing fabulously. She is living as a foster in a vet’s home with her two other dogs. She is the most loving, forgiving dog I have ever met. She harbors no ill-will towards humans even after all the neglect she has suffered. All she wants now is a home where she will be cherished, well-treated, and adored.

Sheba is now finally healthy, spayed, up-to-date on vaccines, heartworm-tested, and micro-chipped. Going forward, she should need no special medical care.

To meet and possibly adopt Sheba, please contact Dr. Barbara Kompare at bkompare@sbcglobal.net or 773-450-1128.

Her adoption fee of $129 benefits the rescued pets of the Animal Welfare League.

To see other pets for adoption, please visit http://www.petraits.petfinder.com

Not-So-Fast Friends

2010-02-15T19:14:00.002-05:00

I wish you could have seen Piney at his training session with Jolanta today. When she walked into the dog run where we were already playing, he ran up to her, tail wagging, eyes lit up. Then he was all soft eyes and sweet flirtation with her for the rest of the lesson, and a bit of a walk home. That’s what you get when you give an anxious dog some time to get used to a new person on his own terms. So there’s some good news for you for once!

A Ghost of Piney Past

2010-02-08T15:00:00.004-05:00

I guess a few years ago, like three and a half?, I must have sent in this picture of Piney to The Bark (I honestly don’t remember doing so, but it’s totes something I would have done), which just the other day ended up on their Smiling Dogs page:

http://www.thebark.com/content/feb-8th-2010-smiling-dogs

That was back when P was less than a year old. Still healthy, and nonaggressive, and full of happy, shimmering hope. So strange to be sent this image now, sitting next to my balding, sickly, bite-y, frankly dying four-year-old dog. What a sweet little pudding cup he was. Well, he’s still my little pudding cup.

Crime Report

2010-02-05T00:21:00.005-05:00

First of all, thank you all so much for your compassionate comments yesterday. You invisible people are a good lot.

Second, I got a ticket tonight! For having Piney off leash in a basketball court at night. It’s one of P’s daily joys that he gets to play with his friends Katie and Mocha there every evening. But it is technically illegal, and now I get to go to court in April and pay many dollars for that rare pleasure. Piney did make his feelings known to the cop by barking and lunging at him, though, at least. (Yes I am making light of a bad dog’s bad behavior. When you have a bad, sick dog you might make the same kinds of jokes. Until then I don’t need to be scolded about it. [Not all invisible people are so nice as yesterday’s commenters.])

You Should Read This If You Love to Feel Sad

2010-02-03T17:54:00.004-05:00

Ira has this great skill where if there is something really disturbing going on, he just doesn’t think about it until he has to. Which means that for a while now I’ve been the only one cognizant of the fact that Piney is going to die sooner than later. I told Ira the other day that he has to think about that sometimes too, because I can’t be alone with this feeling anymore. The result has been that Ira can no longer think about anything else. He says that now Piney is like a walking ghost to him. Which is maybe a touch too literary, but at least I’m not alone.

Bumpy Night

2010-02-03T12:21:00.005-05:00

Piney was so sick last night. He was breathing so hard and so loud that I couldn’t fall asleep and so sat up with him for hours while he grimaced and lip-smacked and panted. My poor little guy. It was hard to watch. I wish I could tell him how hard we’re working to cure his pain.

The Banality of Illness

2010-02-01T15:27:00.006-05:00

I haven’t posted anything Piney related for a little while because if there’s one thing more boring than hearing people describe their dreams, it’s probably when people talk at length about their illnesses, and the only thing worse than that is when they talk about other people’s illnesses, especially when those people are actually dogs. Piney is still sick. Blah blah blah. There is nothing interesting about it, and it keeps accelerating. We still don’t know, definitely, what’s going on. But it keeps going on.

Much more interesting: If you’re on Facebook and think, like I do, that Cesar Millan is a hack, go help out this guy Leonard, who is patiently fighting the good fight on a Cesar Millan fan page:

How are we viewing our dogs?

Well Duh

2010-01-29T19:13:00.001-05:00

A 1999 study found that people who strongly dislike dogs score significantly higher on the measure of anal character and lower on the empathy scale of the California Psychological Inventory, indicating “that people who liked dogs have less difficulty relating to people.”

Important Facts

2010-01-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

A message from my friend Lance about his dog, Oliver:

Every morning when Oliver wakes me up, he yoops a lot and we talk about his yooperverse. Today we learned that
before dogs and man met, man’s best friends were a loose association of clams and badgers.
before dogs came along, people had no water. Instead they had to make do with buckets of nails. As expected, they didn’t smell very good and their pasta was awful.
3/4 of an acre of cauliflower will provide the energy needs for most of the eastern seaboard, but people just aren’t willing to look for solutions outside the box.
the only limpet worth anything is the Hassidic limpet.
there’s a village in Italy dedicated to terriers that is called Oh My God Someone Shut Uppa These Dogza Already.

Braggy

2010-01-26T13:36:00.006-05:00

List of nominees here.

Two Types of Magic

2010-01-26T13:18:00.002-05:00

Type 1: While we’ve been wringing our hands about whether or not to bar Piney from our bed, he made an executive decision himself and just magically, for no apparent reason at all, started sleeping on his own bed, next to ours, at night.

Type 2: Yesterday Ira told me that his signature magic trick—that common bit of sleight-of-hand where a magician makes a small object disappear—works on Piney. But it doesn’t work on kids younger than four, because they don’t know where the hidden object is supposed to be—so they’re unsurprised when it’s not there. This means that our dog is smarter than a three-and-a-half-year-old. It also means that when I’m not home, Ira is doing magic tricks for our dog.

Taking Account

2010-01-25T23:28:00.004-05:00

Dog is sleepy in the morning, normal in the afternoon, sick every night. Man and woman are worried all of the time.

I Was Right (as Usual) About Cottage Cheese

2010-01-21T00:30:00.005-05:00

A guest blog post from my hoseband:

Since he got back from the hospital, Piney still hadn't recovered fully. He was dragging around the house, following us from room to room, clinging. He'd come up to us, sit on the floor and stare at us with sad eyes. He didn't want to play or be hugged. Best as we could figure, he just wanted someone to know he was feeling bad.

We thought maybe changing his diet would help, and over the course of a week, swapped out the protein - tuna - for a different protein - cottage cheese. Didn't seem to help. Diarrhea. General malaise.

Then we cut off the cottage cheese and finally last night in the dog run, Piney acted like his normal self. Played and ran for an hour, jumping high for the ball. His normal self, more or less. Till last night it's been so unbelievably sad to take him out at night. Running for the ball is probably his favorite thing in the world. I guess that's not unusual. He'll do it repetitively and obsessively, ignoring dogs and people and everything around him, jumping over and over, two and three feet off the ground, for an hour or more if we're up for it. But these last few nights, feeling so wobbly, he'd mostly want to tug with the ball. Not much running. Which was like a singer who doesn't want to sing or a dancer who doesn't want to dance or, come to think of it, a metaphor is unnecessary here, because he's pretty much exactly like a dog who doesn't want to run for a ball. He's living the metaphor.

So he had a nice hour last night, at last. Then this morning when he got up, he came to find me in the kitchen all full of pep and happiness and led me to the other room to play. So much better!

Hope it lasts. Guess the cottage cheese was doing more harm than good. Anaheed's always hated the stuff but I find it slimming!

The Invention of Lying

2010-01-15T13:15:00.004-05:00

In the past, meaning in the olden times before yesterday, if I wanted to give Piney a pill, I usually tucked it inside a ball of food. He would swallow the whole thing without even noticing the meds. This still works. But when he’s not hungry and won’t take the food ball, I generally—or, I used to generally—shove the pill all the way into his mouth, to the back of his throat, then quickly but gently shut his mouth and give him a kiss. He would find it impossible not to kiss me back, and for whatever reason after licking something/someone he would just automatically swallow, and the pills would disappear.

Here is what happened yesterday morning: I put his pills as far back in his mouth as I could get them. I shut his mouth. I gave him a kiss. He kissed me back. He SWALLOWED, then looked at me solemnly and innocently, mouth closed. Satisfied, I left the room to get something, and when I came back I saw Piney spitting out the third of three pills that were now visible on his bed, dissolving in dog saliva. He lied to me! This is not a good development.

Tragicomedy/Theater of the Absurd/Comedy of Errors

2010-01-11T17:47:00.007-05:00

When one’s dog is so drunk on phenobarbital that he literally walks into a door, the contact of face vs. door making a loud THUNK!, is one supposed to laugh, or cry? Or both?

Warning: Graphic Content

2010-01-08T14:53:00.011-05:00

My husband made it known in Thursday’s comments that he wants more blood & gore on this blob. So here, enjoy this grody email and picture he sent on Tuesday morning, after Piney vomited blood in our building’s vestibule and on the front stoop (through his muzzle, sob) as he and I were rushing out of the apartment to get to the hospital:

In the time it took me to put on socks and shoes and walk downstairs, all of piney's puke had frozen. To clean it I had to bring down a series of jars of hot water. Then the problem was that the water froze within 30 seconds on the ground, creating a thin, treacherous sheet of ice right in front of the door. So I spread rock salt. Seems to have worked.

Sorry.

Sob Story

2010-01-07T15:19:00.010-05:00

Thank you, commenters, for the lovely well-wishes. P is feeling better—no more vomiting, hooray—and we slept for 7 hours last night, but I still have a headache from concentrated worrying, and P is on more drugs than I’d prefer. But no matter. He’s alive and so am I, and we’re sitting on the couch together and he is doing a thing that he loves (chewing on a Kong ball).

What happened was the other night Piney vomited eight times—every hour on the hour. By the 4th time it was just rivers of blood. Which was alarming. He was also emitting a constant low moaning sound. So in the early morning I took him to the emergency vet (thank god he didn’t puke blood in the taxi), where he obligingly showed them I wasn’t overreacting by vomiting more blood, three times. By now it was more than rivers. More like little ponds of blood. And he was still ceaselessly moaning. (I think the vet called it groaning. Is there difference? Not a rhetorical question; I ACTUALLY WANT TO KNOW.) They wasted no time admitting him to the ICU and getting him started on IV fluids, as he was severely dehydrated.

During the first day of our two-day stay they did an X-ray and an ultrasound, neither of which showed anything dramatic. They kept him on IV fluids and antibiotics and did new blood tests every 4 hours and eventually his gut calmed down and we were sent home last night with a diagnosis of hematemesis, hematochezia (warning: gross picture on that page) and IBD, and some new drugs (metronidazole and phenobarbital). Everyone at the hospital was seriously amazing, and remarkably tolerant of my staying in Piney’s cage with him. Which I did because I was scared he’d bite anyone who tried to handle him. But one of the vet techs told me that he seemed calmer when I wasn’t in the room, so maybe next time I’ll stay at the hospital just in case, but not actually sit next to Piney the whole time. Wait, no, there won’t be a next time. Because Piney is going to get and then stay perfectly healthy and never scare us like this again.

I See You

2010-01-06T19:28:00.007-05:00

Hi. Piney and I spent the last 40 hours in the ICU at the emergency vet. I’m currently too exhausted to go into a lot of detail about that experience. I can tell you that he had a horrifying flare-up of IBD, and show you some pictures from our stay there:

More tomorrow, when I’ve finally gotten more than 2 hours of sleep in a row.

Glamour Shot

2010-01-02T19:41:00.002-05:00

Made by my awesome friend Shrubs Feinberg:

What Plan Is This Now? Plan D? E?

2010-01-01T21:07:00.004-05:00

So much happened today. First Pines got his blood drawn to test for basically everything ($450 btdubz), then Ira and I met with his trainer and his behaviorist to talk about his new aggression stylings. Their advice: To desensitize Pino to Ira’s approaching him “with intention” (the way he did when he used to pull Piney off the bed to take him out in the morning), Ira just doesn’t approach him at all for a couple of weeks, and sweetens the deal by throwing a treat his way (without looking at him or walking toward him) whenever he walks by. So that Piney will associate Ira’s presence with awesome things. After that we’ll have him get gradually closer to approaching Piney (with treats) until, I guess, he approaches him on the bed and Piney reacts happily, instead of yelling and lunging and acting like a dbag? And we’ll continue with the CAT stuff too, and when his blood test results come back we’ll talk about upping his anxiety meds, and we’ll all cross our fingers, because if he ever follows through on his threats toward Ira and actually bites him, well, that’s really “the line” that I’ve mentioned on here before. I just wish there were some way to inform Piney of that.

I Can Still Look, Can't I?

2009-12-30T19:43:00.007-05:00

Piney would feel so betrayed if he knew how often I fantasize about our next dog. The perfect, kid-friendly, stranger-loving, unflappable, physically healthy, easy, easy dog that I feel like we’ll have earned after going the course with P. And while I usually tell myself that next time, it won’t matter what breed the dog is, so long as he/she is basically bomb-proof, every once in a while someone sends me a link like this one, and I’m back to being spoiled for anything other than a pit bull.

(And yes, I feel horribly guilty about these next-dog fantasies. Please don’t tell Piney about them, OK?)

P.S. Karen Minturn Brown, I accidentally deleted your comment. Repost it if you get a chance.

When It Rains, It Sucks

2009-12-29T12:48:00.008-05:00

I haven’t posted in a while because it’s been nothing but bad news for a while. My dog’s health and behavior are spiraling downward, in tandem, with alarming speed. He’s been sick and pukey for like two weeks now. He has started to generalize any surface that I’m sleeping on as “the bed” and has lunged and barked at Ira from such spaces accordingly. Ira is now scared of the dog when he’s on the bed, so the dog is about to lose his bed (and couch, probably, too) privileges. There is really no other way to go, of course, but it makes me sad, because in bed with us is the only place where Piney seems like he feels 100 percent safe (even if he is endangering the safety of those he’s sharing the bed with). And it’s the only place where P will ever cuddle with me, and I love to cuddle with a dog. I’ve never hidden that from you guys. The thing I have hidden is that for a while I’ve felt convinced—even though I never have spooky feelings like this—that Piney is not going to make it past next summer. At the latest. And so I hate taking away one of the few things that make him feel OK in the world.

Piney Claus

2009-12-20T14:35:00.005-05:00

More pictures from day care:

Snow Day/Sick Day

2009-12-20T13:54:00.004-05:00

We’re in one of those awful limbos where Piney is really sick and we still have no idea what he has. He’s vomiting and acting tired all the time but he doesn’t have pancreatitis (thank god)—though his pancreas-test numbers, even when they’re under the official pancreatitis minimum, are steadily rising over time. I don’t know what that means yet. We have a couple of tests pending and he’s on antibiotics in case he picked up some random infection (sometimes we forget that not all of Piney’s problems are exotic and incurable). The upside: It’s very cold outside and all my dog wants to do is stay inside and nap on the couch, and occasionally cuddle.

Christmas Torture

2009-12-17T17:25:00.003-05:00

What they do to my dog at day care:

And BTW the Vet This Morning Cost $275

2009-12-15T18:11:00.003-05:00

Today’s babydrama: My little diva of a dog shivered and shook through getting some of his blood drawn and some subcutaneous fluid injected in the morning; we’ll get the results of his pancreatitis test tomorrow.

Today’s sad and beautiful link: These pictures taken by Charlotte Dumas of dogs in shelters. They were all, I think, picked up as strays.

Bad/Bad/Bad/Good

2009-12-15T00:20:00.005-05:00

B: Piney threw up all weekend and didn’t eat breakfast this morning and has been acting sick to his stomach. I’m afraid it’s pancreatitis again. Each time he gets it his pancreas gets more damaged; he can’t take too many more bouts.

B: He is itching so much! I wonder if we’ll have to reformulate his food again.

B: I had to express his anal glands (that verb is hilarious to me) tonight which as you can imagine is my favorite thing to do.

G: Despite his pains he had a pretty kick-ass play session with Jolanta today. He actually wagged his tail a little when he saw her and was frolicking around joyfully the whole time.

Sadtimes

2009-12-11T12:46:00.006-05:00

After the trubs of the other day, Ira says he’s now afraid of his own dog in the morning. I hear him sometimes, while getting out of bed, asking Piney, “Do you want to kill me today?”

If Only

2009-12-09T21:54:00.007-05:00

What Jolanta said tonight when we took Piney out for a training/playing sesh, and at one point I called him to me and he came running, joyfully, as fast as he could, and ran into my arms and then played tug with me with a look of overwhelming happiness on his face: “Your relationship with him is so nice to see. It shows me what he’d be like, you know, if only.” What you call the feeling this gave me: bittersweet.

I Was ALMOST Tempted to Call This Post "Yogurt for Dinner"*

2009-12-09T11:55:00.006-05:00

This morning my husband made a mistake. He approached the bed when P and I were sleeping in it and reached an arm out toward the bed. He was just trying to wake me up so I wouldn’t be late for stupid work, and he thought it would be OK because he was coming for me, not for Piney, but how was Piney supposed to know that? So, predictably, Piney lost his shit and barked at Ira and chased him out of the room. Then I started crying and I yelled at my husband, which I immediately regretted, and everyone was sad, and we’re back to square one with the CAT training. Then today I got this email from the husband:

I’m sorry again about this morning. I should’ve thought through that I couldn’t wake you up that way, that he wouldn’t care if I were going to you rather than to him.

He is nice. I totally married up.

* But even I am not that lame.

Friendship Update

2009-12-08T00:30:00.004-05:00

Email from the doggie day care:

So, yesterday Pines raced downstairs and hung out with us before going into the playroom. I snapped some of the cutest photos of him making his rounds...

The Muffin Tin Game

2009-12-06T23:19:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was the worst. Snow, freezing rain and chilling gale-force winds blowing all of it in your face. Piney and I agreed: It was not a day for leisurely strolls or extended fetch sessions in the dog run. Instead we played the Muffin Tin Game, which I was introduced to by Jolanta Benal’s podcast, The Dog Trainer.

You take a muffin tin and a lot of balls. Tennis balls probably work best, but all we had on hand was a million Kong balls. You put a tasty treat in each of the cups, then cover them with the balls and let your dog go to town. (Jolanta suggests that the first couple of times you keep a few of the treat-laden cups uncovered, so your dog gets the idea.)

So fun. This vid is too long and boring, but it’s my first try uploading video. Next time I’ll try to figure out how to edit it down.

In her podcast, Jolanta says she heard about the game from a friend, but they haven’t been able to locate the genius who invented it. Was it you? Thank you!

Lots more ideas for bad-weather funtimes here.

I Can't Believe How Much I Talk About Pancreas Nowadays

2009-12-01T19:04:00.005-05:00

I just read this post on Nancy Kay’s informative blog, Speaking for Spot. My dog has, among his 5,000 pre-existing conditions, chronic pancreatitis, and so this part jumped out at me:

Long-term treatment for pancreatitis typically involves feeding a low-fat or fat-free diet. This may be a life-long recommendation, especially if your dog has been a “repeat offender.”

When Piney is on a very-low-to-no-fat diet (like now), his back goes bald. But maybe that’s OK? But isn’t fat necessary for mood and hormone regulation and, uh, other really important things, besides luxurious fur? Any nutritionists who can weigh in, please do.

Hot Dog

2009-11-30T23:49:00.005-05:00

Email I got today from Ira:

Me and P yesterday. I think he looks sharp in that sweater. People on the street comment on it like when he was a pup. Which is good for his ego. He has low self-esteem as u know.

Sick as a Piney

2009-11-28T00:41:00.005-05:00

By now we’ve tried so many things to combat Piney’s chronic nausea: mirtazapine, budesonide, slippery elm bark, Pepcid AC and probably five other things that I’m forgetting. Some of these things worked a little, but not enough to stop P from licking his lips and panting every day, especially at night. One of them made him less nauseated but amped up his aggression. The latest trial was treating P’s anxiety aggressively, with Valium three times a day on top of his sertraline. That calmed him down a bit but did nothing to stop the heavy breathing and constant lip-smacking. So, we’re running out of options. The next possibility on the list is Cerenia, which he’s had before and which works, but it’s not supposed to be taken for more than two days in a row. Though I haven’t gotten any straight answers as to why. Does anyone out there have any experience with giving Cerenia long term? Does anyone know what the dangers might be?

Thanks!

2009-11-27T00:23:00.007-05:00

Some (of many) things to be grateful for today:

This morning’s CAT session went great—Ira got much closer to the bedroom before P tensed up, and he calmed down right away. Maybe because he’s on Valium thrice a day, but I’ll take it.
He’s finally tolerating a little bit of oil in his food, so maybe his hair will grow back eventually?
Several people smiled at him on the street today, despite the Hannibal Lecter–looking muzzle.
We have an awesome trainer.
And terrific vets.
And the sweetest day care place.
We can afford to pay for all of those things.
And even when things are going terribly, as they kind of have been lately, he’s my little guy, and I love him.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m thankful for Piney, because honestly I wouldn’t wish him on anybody. He is more trouble than a dog is worth. He’s the one who should be thankful, actually. Too bad he is a dog and therefore too dumb to understand how lucky he is. It’s OK. We don’t need him to know.

Side Effects

2009-11-25T11:52:00.004-05:00

It’s been kind of a crappy week so far. The mirtazapine we’d been giving Piney for his constant nausea made him slightly less nauseated but a lot more bratty and barky and quick to turn scary, like this morning when we tried to work on some CAT and he jumped out of bed and charged the front door, where Ira was. We stopped the drug today. And I’m about to talk to our behaviorist about giving him more Valium to lessen his (also constant) anxiety. He better get better. He has to.

CAT Dog

2009-11-20T14:45:00.007-05:00

We started Piney’s Constructional Aggression Treatment this morning, in the tiniest increment possible. It went like this: Piney was in bed with me, as he is most mornings, while Ira got ready for work. Then, right before leaving for the day (actually for the whole weekend, but don’t tell Piney), Ira walked toward the bedroom till I saw Piney tense up. I told Ira to stop there, which he did, and then he made little noises there in the hallway until Piney showed a sign of relaxation. It took a long time, like 50 seconds, but finally Piney turned his head away from the bedroom door. As soon as I saw that shit I was like “Bye, honey!” and Ira turned and left the apartment.

That sounds like nothing, probably, but it actually went perfectly. We re-created a moment that makes Piney nervous—Ira approaches the bed in the morning—but kept it within a very very low-stress threshold. Then we held it there until Piney showed a sign of de-stressing, and he was rewarded for that behavior by having the stressor—Ira making noise near the bedroom—removed.

We’re going to do this once per morning for a while, then gradually increase the difficulty. Very gradually! As Jolanta says, “We do not want to push this dog.”

Speaking of pushing my dog, one of those assholes on the front stoop actually refused to get up when I walked out with Piney this morning. I would tell on them today, but I figure it’s only fair to warn them that I’m inclined to do that, before I actually do it. Right? As much as conflict-avoidant me hates to say things like that out loud to people’s faces.

And in cuter news, here are some pictures from the Halloween costume contest Ira judged last month: 2009 Halloween Winners.

Life Is Ruff

2009-11-19T20:38:00.004-05:00

P’s bandage came loose at day care today, so they patched him up. And then he got busy doing his main job of looking cute.

Jacked

2009-11-18T15:55:00.008-05:00

This morning while playing in the dog run Piney cracked a toenail so violently that half of it was hanging off and it was bleeding all over the place. I took him to the vet and they trimmed back the nail and wrapped his foot with a fashionable camouflage bandage. I have to tie an IV bag over the whole thing when he’s outside so the bandage stays clean and dry. That IV bag drags a little bit with every step and makes a loud scraping sound, drawing the attention of passersby, who take one look at my dog, wearing a jacket, a muzzle and an insane foot dressing and look at me like, Whoa, that dog is jacked up. And they are right. See?

But you know what, I bet everyone has something in their life that is just as messed up as my dog, but at least other people don’t have to walk around with that thing all day long, absorbing the judgment of strangers.

Howl

2009-11-17T23:41:00.002-05:00

Here’s a video they made today at Piney’s day care.

The Moment

2009-11-17T13:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, at Pino’s second training session with Jolanta, we threw his ball for him at the dog run, just like last time, and he was doing OK, never taking the ball back to Jolanta but occasionally throwing her a wary glance, and sitting when she told him to. Then, after like 20 minutes, he did something amazing. Jolanta was sitting on a bench, and he pressed his ball into the side of her leg and pawed at the ball for a while—which in itself is awesome, but I’ve seen him do that before with people—and then, like the fourth time he did this, he looked up and for a millisecond put his face very close to hers, maybe to check in with her or to smell her or to otherwise figure out more about her? I think his nose may have even made contact with her face. It was a split second, a micro-gesture, but its meaning, I think, was huge. Piney is starting to trust his new trainer.

No Cake for Allergic Doggies

2009-11-13T19:22:00.004-05:00

Happy fourth birthday, my darling, terrible, lovable dog.

Puppies Rule, I Drool

2009-11-12T21:42:00.011-05:00

I was supposed to take Piney to the vet this morning to get his blood drawn for another PLI test for pancreatitis. Unfortunately I had set my alarm to 7 PM instead of 7 AM, and we missed the appointment. Now we can’t go till Saturday. I suck as a dogmom! I will cheer myself up by looking at a cute puppy:

Oh em gee! Those eyes! She is up for adoption. If you live in or near Chicago and want to meet her, here are some infos about her:

Sedona (Petraits attached) is an absolutely adorable, 10-week-old, 15-pound white and brown speckled female pit bull puppy looking for a loving home.

Sedona is living in a wonderful foster home, but looking forward to being adopted into a great family where someone has the time and energy to train, exercise and housebreak a puppy.

Sedona is very healthy, spayed, up-to-date on vaccines, micro-chipped and heartworm-tested. To meet and possibly adopt Sedona, please fill out an adoption application on the web at http://www.chicagolandbullybreedrescue.org/application.asp

Her adoption fee of $250 supports the rescued dogs of CBBR. For more information, or to follow up on your application, please contact Carolyn at carolyn@cbbr.info or 773-418-3286.

To see other pets for adoption, please visit http://www.petraits.petfinder.com

To me she looks like Lily Donaldson. Look:

She is the supermodel of dogs! Adopt her why not and name her Lily Sedona Hussein Donaldson.

FML

2009-11-11T13:30:00.007-05:00

Piney growled at Ira again this morning when Ira was only near, not in, the bedroom. And when I touched his stomach shortly after that he winced a little. Things are getting worse, not better. I am currently researching Constructional Aggression Treatment and ordering some Oxycodone from the pharmacy.

Last night a dear friend told me he doesn’t understand why anyone would keep a dog like ours. And right now I’m wondering how much longer we’ll be able to.

The Sad End of the Leash

2009-11-09T13:27:00.005-05:00

One day I’m going to need this post from Patricia McConnell’s blog, The Other End of the Leash. Maybe you will, too. Maybe you already do.

Love, Guilt and Putting Dogs Down

D-Bag Report

2009-11-09T12:16:00.006-05:00

This morning’s quote from the construction workers who smoke on our front stoop every morning and act inordinately put-upon when I ask them to make way for my territorial, aggressive dog: “God. Not this bullshit again.” If I were a braver, more confident person and less flummoxed by conflict, I would call 311 and complain. And if they keep this up, I might just.

Ha, how do you like my yuppie righteous indignation? I’LL TOTALLY CALL THE NON-EMERGENCY SERVICES NUMBER ON YOU, YOU OLD SO-AND-SO! It reminds me of the time I exacted revenge on an archenemy by getting our favorite artisanal, organic, farm-to-table-type resto in Chicago to charge her for the cocktails they were going to give her and her date for free. Don’t mess with me, people! I might just cancel your “weekender” subscription to the New York Times, or get you uninvited to your next book party, or delay your delivery from FreshDirect!

Up the Morning

2009-11-08T14:09:00.008-05:00

I talked to Jolanta this afternoon about yesterday’s troubs. She said that because Ira used to get Piney out of bed in the morning and take him outside right away, then feed him and take him to day care, Piney associates Ira’s approach with having to leave the apartment. Piney doesn’t really like leaving the apartment at all, and he is very quick to “defend” himself against things he doesn’t like or want. Thus, the growling and the barking. Jolanta says that for a while we should completely avoid Ira’s approaching Piney in the morning while P is in bed. Since he is so thoroughly sensitized to that scenario, the desensitization process will have to be very careful and gradual. Which means that I have to wake up early every morning to get Pines up. Sacrifices.

She also said that the only way he should be coaxed out of bed is by asking him to target something, or showing him a ball that we’re about to play with. We should never go to him, in other words. We should give him a reason to get out of bed and come to us.

Lastly, she said that we need to break the sequence of events that Piney has learned to expect in the morning: Ira wakes him up, forces him out of bed, and immediately leashes him up and takes him outside to pee. This, says Jolanta, can be accomplished by giving him two minutes of some other activity—playing fetch in the hallway, or cuddling in the living room—before he goes outside. The key is breaking the chain of events that he’s come to expect, and to dread.

This morning Ira came to the bedroom door with a ball in his hand and called P to him. P jumped out of bed with his tail wagging. Then they went out to play. Happy dog:

Blerg

2009-11-07T19:42:00.005-05:00

Because I cannot bear to tell this story again, I’m just pasting below the email that I sent today to P’s trainer and his behaviorist.

I am writing to tell on Piney, who has been a very bad dog! Gina @ the day care place says he’s been barking at dogs in a semi-aggressive way (especially one particular collie) this week. We weren’t too worried about that, because it never escalated beyond the barking. But then last night, in the middle of the night, Ira pushed Piney on the bed to get more room for himself (we do this all the time and he has never complained) and he GROWLED at Ira, which was worrisome, then this morning P and I were sleeping and Ira came over just to pet P (which he’s been doing lately to show P that he’s no longer interested in pulling him out of bed in the morning) and P jumped up and started barking at Ira threateningly. I grabbed his collar and he just kept barking and barking until Ira had left the room. (Then I left the room too and gave P a time out by himself in the bedroom.) THEN this morning he was barking and growling at literally NOTHING out the window. We live on the 4th floor and he was looking at an empty bldg and barking and growling like a crazy.

We have three theories about this:

1. This week we’ve started adding a TINY amt of oil to his food, because he’s losing a lot of hair. P has a hard time digesting fat, so maybe his stomach is really hurting. We’re going to stop the oil for a few days and see what happens.
2. Maybe the mirtazapine is making him more aggro? But he’s been on it for 2 weeks and the increased aggression has been only this week.
3. I've been working full time again this past week, and maybe he’s out of sorts because he has to go to day care every day and never gets to sleep in, which is one of his favorite things to do.

OK. Let me know if either of you has any ideas.

The trainer, Jolanta, says she does have some ideas, which I look forward to hearing. In the meantime I’m really depressed about this behavior and in one of those funks where I hate my dog. It doesn’t help that a friend just adopted a pit mix that is gentle and soulful and perfect. This friend deserves this perfect dog, but so do I! Hmph. Boo. Bad day.

I’m gonna have a glass of wine now.

But Where's Toto?

2009-11-02T18:52:00.005-05:00

As part of his relentlessly glamorous life, Ira spent Halloween night judging a costume contest at our local private dog run. First place went to a big white poodle dressed as Holly Golightly, but Ira’s personal favorite was this costume, which he thought was Little Bo Peep but which turned out to be Dorothy. Adorable either way:

And here are some pictures from last year’s contest: 2008 Halloween

Cosplay

2009-10-31T20:11:00.003-04:00

Some of Piney’s many Halloween looks:

Joey Ramone!

A bunny!

A Jew!

Piney Glass-Alani!

(Photo and styling credit: Alex at D Is for Doggy)

My Dog Is on the Honor Roll

2009-10-28T11:50:00.004-04:00

Part of our homework from Jolanta is to teach Pine-o to target an object, so that if, say, Ira’s having trouble getting the dog out of bed in the morning, he can just place a target outside the bedroom and tell Piney to touch it. We have two weeks to get this down.

OK, granted, Piney had an advantage because he already knows how to target my hand, but I am not exaggerating when I say it took him all of two seconds to understand how to target this thingie that came with the Manners Minder (which we never really used because we could never find a treat that would work in it that Piney isn’t allergic to):

He is a genius! I’ll see if I can figure out how to post a video of him bonking his nose on that thing on command. It’s pretty effing cute.

Here’s some info on target training.