If you're trying to crate-train your puppy, but the previous owner/breeder paper-trained her instead, don't put paper in the crate. Makes a confusing mess for everyone. She basically thinks you're locking her in the bathroom.
K and I haven't gotten much sleep in the past two nights. Thursday night, b.b. kept us up with explosive diarrhea. She (and her crate) got 4 baths in 24 hours. The crate maybe got 5.
She has decided she likes baths, more for the rub down at the end followed by the warm blast from the hairdryer (which whines at the same frequency that she howls at so she sings along in unison; if I ever get my video camera working, I'll get a recording of that) afterward. But - knock on wood - her stomach seems to be settling a bit.
She hates her crate and makes a variety of noises whenever we put her in. Malamutes are known for their vocal range, anything from an actual bark (which is sort of rare) to a howl to a chatter to a moan. Wikipedia says this about them:
The majority of Malamutes are fairly quiet dogs, seldom barking like most other dog breeds. When (they do) vocalize, more often than not they tend to "talk" by vocalizing a "woo woo" sound (the characteristic vocalizations of Chewbacca in the Star Wars films are based upon a Malamute named Indiana once owned by George Lucas). They may howl like wolves or coyotes, and for the same reasons. When they howl, the howl is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish from the wolf.
Thursday night, which was presumably the second time ever she had been put in a small crate (the first time being her 10 hour trip out here), this went on for 45 minutes straight, a cacophony of yelps, howls, growls, etc. K, smarter than I was, realized that if she could hear us (e.g., TV on in the bedroom) she would keep calling for us. Once we shut that off, she simmered down. Last night's various canine concertos lasted anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes each time she went back in.
Gus, on the other hand, wants to be neither heard nor seen. He's not a happy little camper at the moment. This picture doesn't do him justice, because you can't tell that he's at the top of our closet (that's the ceiling above him), but this is pretty much where he hid for the first 24 hours. Lately he's been creeping around trying to get a peek. But if I reach for him with dog smell on my hands, he sulks off in the other direction. Not that I blame him.
1 comments:
Oh, it is not that I am smarter than you were. I am smarter than you are.
I think the flash on the camera has really accentuated his 60's era yearbook-type pose. I half expect that expression to be wearing a nice teased Aquanet flip. (Am I showing my age here again?)
He is hilarious.
Is it wrong to really like your feet getting licked by a puppy?
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