Kunoichi: Doggie Ninja

We’ve made it to the apartment just fine. There was a little whining at malfunction junction of all places, but she slept the rest of the way. She ran for an hour straight very Shiba 500 style once I was done unloading stuff from the car (I think I made 4 trips, ugh). That running sure did tucker her out as she is now sleeping in random places in the apartment.

Unlike my parents’ new house, there aren’t a lot of places she can go that I can’t see, which makes me worry a little less about her. There also aren’t a lot of people coming and going (and opening doors). I am a little concerned for my carpet though.

Oh yeah, we broke our streak of 4 days this morning and wouldn’t you know it….in Daddy’s study. Oh and Merry Christmas (not sure if I said it) and Happy New Year!!!!

Back I go to watching my Auburn Tigers (because it’s great to be an AUBURN tiger). I’m trying to train Ichi to be excited when Auburn does something well.

I’m finally back to internet that isn’t malfunctioning so…pictures at long last. (Remember more here

Ichi and Sunny meet

(well, I got one, maybe it’s a wordpress issue.)

So far, so…..okay. We had a few accidents including 2 on Christmas day. But we have now been accident free for 2 whole days. She doesn’t particularly like putting on the harness, but once it’s on she’s off and running. But disaster almost happened today when some birds were squawking (like hawks or something) and she ran off after them. I lost my grip on her leash while she was running. Thank God I’ve tied a flashlight on her leash for night walks or I would have never found her.

Also, she’s eating kibble now. We’re out of puppy can food and down to puppy kibble. She doesn’t like it as much but she’s eating it nonetheless. Granted, she hasn’t picked up on the fact that she can’t graze all day and has to eat at certain times so we can make sure there aren’t anymore accidents.

And she and Sunny are doing EXCELLENTLY. There hasn’t been any chasing (mainly cause I broke that up) and only 2 hissing moments. Otherwise, they touch noses every time they see each other and Sunny checks on Ichi when he first comes in the house. Ichi on the otherhand is VERY interested in Sunny’s tail, which Sunny isn’t too pleased with as it means she’s constantly trying to play with it. Beyond that, they just stare at each other. There have been MANY pictures taken but mom and dad’s internet is still sucking. As far as my holidays go…I’d say typical? Or at least typical for my family. Although the random day after Christmas lunch/dinner at my grandmothers was interesting at best. Ichi was very happy to see me after they would-be-5-hours-turned-out-to-b- 9-hour-trip.

Well, we’ve had an eventful weekend. It started by being finally comfortable in our new home and establishing out route for what I assume to be the puppy version of the shiba 500. For those that don’t know, youtube it.But unexpectedly we got our vet appointment moved up, clean bill of health but maybe a cold. After the trauma of going to the vet and being poked, proded and barked at, we weren’t too enthusiastic. Around 7 we got more visitors and then I went to the movies to see Sweeny Todd with Lauren at the Monaco.

(The Monaco is probably the swankiest movie theater one has ever seen. It serves not just the standard nachos, popcorn, hot dogs and candy but also things like quesidillas. And if you pay an extra $3 you get to sit in leather rocking chairs that have a better view of the screen and take you “adult beverage” into the theater with you. Also, VIP sections are 21 and up.)

More on our first weekend at “grandma and grandpas” and my trip to the monaco under the cut. Oh, and TONS OF PICTURES.
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Well, we’ve made a bit of progress. She’s certainly happier in her surroundings than before and SEEMS to understand the word “no” and potentially the words “leave it”. She’s begun to bounce in and out of her crate while I’m home and has gotten about as far as the kitchen counter before she bounces back in. She does seem to like the stick reindeer I have. It’s the perfect size to hid under for her. And she still wouldn’t eat much last night, even after I went to walmart and bought the baby food that the breeder recommended.

We got about 4 hours of consecutive sleep last night. The rest, I think all of an hour and a half, was extremely broken. She actually needed to be taken out of the kennel the first time, but in doing so figured out that if she whined, I would let her out thinking she needed to. Smart puppy, except after the second trip in 2 hours to the puppy pads, I wasn’t being fooled anymore. So she whined until 7:15 when my alarm went off. I again tried to get her to eat and she wouldn’t. We played a bit and she’s figured out how to get the toys into her crate, but eventually I had to go to work. I closed the crate again and….she started whining. Except I didn’t open it, I went to work. Hopefully that will be the end of it. Probably not, but one can hope.

I uploaded a TON of pictures of her. I’ll do a post with just them later on when I’m on my laptop.

IT is hard work for a tiny pup. We’ve been held by just about all of my coworkers and after a valiant effort to escape the kennel and go after all the tasty looking cords, she’s APPEARS to be sleeping. This is probably just to gain my trust so she can attempt to chew on the leash again. I’m running few risks. We are leashed and harnessed. I’m the second door from the outside door that has only a parking lot between it and train tracks. I’ve got the leash in my lap and it’s attached to her harness. Don’t worry, I’ve set it long enough that she doesn’t really know, but short enough that if she got out of the kennel, I’d know.

She’s run out of water, I’ve run out of caffeine and I’m not overly sure how to fix this problem without drawing TONS of attention. We’re pretty zapped on attention today. She might want to get used to it. Grandpa is gonna be VERY excited to see her come Saturday. Here’s a work picture (taken on my iPhone). What’s up with my iphone taking better pictures than the massive camera…oh..yeah..it has no added functions thus I’ve already mastered it.

Well, she’s finally here. Basically, delta lost her. The wonderful people at the Huntsville Delta Cargo facility tracked her down in Cincinnati and they finally got her here at 10:30 last night. She was shaking heavily (as was I) and it took a while to get her to go to sleep in her new crate. I put it beside my bed and basically proved that I have that motherly gene of waking up every 2 seconds because you think something’s wrong. I also proved that I can survive on a minimal amount of very broken sleep.

She hasn’t barked. She’s only whined briefly twice. She’ll lick food but won’t eat it unless it’s in my hand. She is better at drinking water now. And she’s not shaking quite as bad.

I went back to work at 12:30 but was asked why I didn’t bring her with me, so I’m going to get her in about 20 minutes. I’ve taken a lot of very bad pictures but the best one of the 2 of us was with the macbook:

No name yet, but she has been very sneaky and very stealthy, so maybe she is a ninja.

Jennifer and I met up at 4:30 to go pick up the puppy. We got to the ticket agent and found out we had to go “around they way follow the signs to the doppler ball and Delta cargo”. We got slightly better directions and managed to find it where we were told that she was late and wouldn’t arrive until 7:15. So off we went to meet up with Ron to eat dinner. After dinner we went back at about 7:45 and were told that she had been rerouted through Cincinnati and never even made it to Atlanta to be on the original flight. Now her flight won’t get here until 9pm. We’re watching Chicago until then. More later.

The puppy should be arriving at the Huntsville airport in about an hour. I’ve got toys, treats and water to get her calm/happy on the way to my apartment (all of 5-10 minute drive away). I’ve got flightstats.com running to track the flight and I’m getting both texts and emails on it’s progress.

Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to Christmas music. I mentioned to Mom how I found the line “you’ll catch pnuemonia and die” found in Baby It’s Cold Outside to be odd and not very romantic the other day. Since then I’ve decided it’s the creepiest Christmas song ever. Lyrics and more explanation under the cut.
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Due to the ice storm/snow storm situation in Ohio, I’m still without a puppy. Weather.com seems to be telling me tomorrow (Tuesday). Hopefully I’ll get to pick her up tomorrow from the Huntsville airport, take some time to spend with her and then get some sleep. But, I’m too much of a pessimist/realist to believe that so I’ll let you know how much sleep I actually get. I’m going to try to work as much as I can now so I feel better later when I’m sleep deprived (also get as much sleep now).

I’m very much a creature of habit so having my schedule be so ripped apart with little time to adjust is not exactly my idea of an ideal situation. I’m really the most nervous about that. I have issues with sleep already and having to go to work on both day 1 and day 2 is not exactly what I had in mind. However, part of getting this puppy is to help me deal with issues like not worrying about things I can’t change…and I can’t change the fact that there was a snow storm in Ohio that has kept her from getting her as expected. Hopefully I will have more exciting news tomorrow and lots of pictures. And maybe a name.

Non-puppy stuff after the jump (more…)

The breeder emailed me and said that since Ohio is now a part of the ice storm that’s going from the midwest to the northeast, that there is a chance the puppy won’t be able to be shipped on Sunday. You can’t ship live animals if it’s below 25 and there is a chance that it will be. Back up plans are being made but so far it’s just a matter of hoping it won’t come to that and I will be united with my girl on Sunday as scheduled.

Other than that, I’m having a happy birthday. It’s unseasonably warm (10 more degrees and I could have a pool party).  I think the ice storm is sucking all the cold away. My coworkers have taken me out to lunch and there was a balloon at my desk this morning. And while I would love to finally get the birthday pool party that I’ve never had (but always wanted since my sister’s birthday is in August), at least it’s warm enough to do something outside which is still pretty rare.