Kunoichi: Doggie Ninja

Well, Ichi and I managed to survive the holidays. And before my mother sees that and decides to infer something, let me put plainly: I HAD NO INTERNET. Yes, I consider no internet for 9 days having to survive. I’m addicted. What can I say.

Surprisingly, Ichi was very calm through most of the holidays. She’s had the typical trouble of readjusting now that we’re home again, but even Joey remarked that he had never seen her so calm. And then there was dinner…

Last night was interesting. It’s like the one time I can ever fully get away with saying that a whiney bitch kept me up all night. Backstory: we’re having icky weather up here and she really doesn’t like the rain. 4am she started with the howling and didn’t stop until I moved her kennel to my room and said “stop” or “no” every time she started until 6:45am.

She’s also finally learned that begging works a lot better than demanding. Before she would jump all over you to get what she wanted, but via 2 holidays in a row, she’s figured out that sitting in the middle of the floor with this “I’m a good doggie, don’t I deserve a treat for how long I’ve sat here looking cute” face will get her pretty much anything she wants (see picture). Like cheese or steak or cheese covered chicken. Yep, she’s spoiled. (more…)

Case in point: it’s my birthday today, so I took the day off from work. Ichi’s been extremely good all day, except for when my friend Dawn came to take me to lunch. Ichi barked constantly. If I hadn’t had her on a leash, she probably would have been more than just annoying. Before dinner, I clipped her nails. Very few problems (in that she thinks the clippers are a toy and wants to play with them). Then we went for a walk, remember she barked and was aggressive to Dawn. Well, on the walk she sat when I asked, came when I called and licked the mailman. 

Yes, my dog barks at friends but loves the mailman. She’s a little odd. 

I busted out her Christmas toys from last year. Since she was so little then, very few of them even look used. WELL, not anymore. The rubbery candy cane is already history. The stuffed santa hat is in the destuffing process. The GIANT SANTA, missing his santa hat poof. 

Also, she’s gotten VERY FOND of jumping up on the couches. Provoked or not. But she’s doing so much better on stay, come, roll over and we’re SOOOO close on the carrot on the nose trick. I keep telling her that if she learns it, she’ll get more treats, not less. Everyone will want to see it. If only she saw the benefits of the party tricks. 

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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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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