In which my Canine Companions Desert Me over a Rat. . .

Thursday, July 22, 2010

After art class on Sunday where my daughter and I made really cool garden globes we felt inspired to work in the garden. We stopped at Home Depot and got some plants, and then set about weeding, planting, edging, and so on.


As my daughter was watering the strawberries on the topsy turvey, a big spider suddenly appeared. To say she hates spiders is a huge understatement. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed. I could see the goose bumps on her arms from 100 feet away. I got her in the house and killed the spider. OK, I couldn’t really find the spider, so I told her I killed it so she’d come back out. A little mommy magic goes a long way.


I got to work on the shed. It’s one of those plastic ones that never seems to stay together right. After a few minutes of pushing and prodding, I decided I’d have to take everything out of it and put all the pieces back together. As I pulled a box out from the back, a huge tree rat came bounding out. This may sound familiar, because something similar happened a couple of years ago so you’d think I would be prepared for the wildlife in the yard. But no. I screamed like a cartoon character, loud enough to wake the dead, or at least run off the rat. Or so I hoped.


This set my daughter off who screamed and ran in the house. And my faithful canine companions? They ran and hid under the dining room table. Thanks, guys. (Actually I think they were pretty smart- I wanted to hide under the table too at that point!)


This shed is right up against the fence of my neighbor’s house. About 20 seconds after I screamed, their bedroom window opened and my friend shouted, “Are you OK?” Now I was feeling a bit sheepish. I told her I was fine and a rat had startled me. She told me she was glad I was OK, because she’d just got out of the shower and if I needed help she’d be running down with nothing but a towel on!


She told me later, “The funniest thing about yesterday was that I had just gotten out of the shower and my husband had just jumped in. We heard the screaming over the rat and both just froze and stared at each other for 5 seconds. I was thinking either a rabid coyote had gotten into the yard (Coyotes Gone Wild!) or a mad man had entered your house and trying to kill everyone since your husband wasn’t home. So then I figured I should at least grab a towel if I was going to rescue you guys. My husband was scrambling to get out of the shower while I ran to the window to see if you would answer me. It was like a Bugs Bunny Cartoon in the bedroom! We laughed about that last night because we looked so ridiculous.” Thank God for good neighbors! And mine are awesome.


About the time my adrenaline had calmed down, my husband and son got home. I rushed to tell them the story, but they seemed a little nonplussed about the whole thing. My husband went out and helped me fix the shed, and then sat down on a fake rock we have next to the shed covering our sprinkler valves. That stupid rat must have been hiding behind that rock because the rat shot out from behind the rock, with me jumping up and down and screaming, “There it is! There it is! Get it! Get it!” The rat took off under our fountain rocks and my husband never even saw it. And now he keeps reminding me about an “alleged” rat. Alleged rats do not make me scream. Only real ones.


The neighbors (now dressed) came to look over their fence and the crazy woman being stalked by rats (I guess that’s me). We chatted for a while. . . and then my daughter encountered a worm in the soil where she was planting lantana and went into more screaming.


That was it. Enough screaming, spiders, rats, and worms. It was time to go in, get cleaned up, and have dinner. I am reminded of the scene in the second Indiana Jones movie where Willy screams at every horrible dinner dish she encounters. Who knew gardening was not for the feint of heart?


The dogs came back out after all the commotion. I can only assume the rat was no danger to me or they would have been there to protect me. Right?

In which Ninja Flees From Fireworks

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

On the 4th of July we went to the Angels Game. Such a surprise, right? :) I made a special effort to make sure the yard was secure and the dogs could come into the house if they were frightened by the fireworks. Fireworks are illegal here, but there are some local shows with the big booming kind.

We got home about the same time as a number of our neighbors, and we were all out front talking to each other. I let the dogs out to say hi to everyone. I have to say that both my pups are usually totally under my voice control, so I can call them into the house or to my side with no issue,

As we were all talking out front, someone let off an illegal firework a few streets over. This terrified Ninja, who panicked and took off.

I thought he'd just run down the street a few houses, but when I went and called him he was gone. Luckily Penny was right at the door and she headed in the house, not out of it. The kids and I made sure she stayed inside, because usually wherever Ninja goes Penny goes.

I called and called and he didn't respond. He must have just kept running. I got really frightened. I could just see him getting hit by a car- he's all black and almost invisible at night. My husband took his car, our neighbors took their car, and I took my car and we all went looking. (Apparently my panic set everyone off.)

About 20 minutes later I found him at the entrance to the park by the school and he almost jumped into my open window, poor baby. I got him in the car- and it was great fun to drive with 40+ pounds of dog in my lap, but I didn't care.

He wouldn't come out of the car when I got home. My husband and I had to put a leash on him and coax him out. I sat down on the floor with him and he was completely glued to my side all night. He wouldn't even sleep. Just laid there shaking with his eyes wide open. I've never had anything like that happen before.

Thank the Lord it all turned out OK, because it could have been really scary. So that was the frightening ending to an otherwise nice 4th. One more prayer of thanks to say at bedtime, right? It really made me think about how much both my pups mean to me.

The Aussie Patrol

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's 11:15pm and im Western Nichts Neues. That means All Quiet on the Western Front. It won't last. Any minute now my Aussie patrol will shoot up, race out the back door, and bark viciously at whatever thing has been walking on the hill behind our house.

I know this because it has happened every night for the past month of so. Ninja has even got Penny involved in this adventure every night. She's not a big barker. For the first few weeks she came home I wondered if she even could bark, she was so quiet. I now know she can bark and be loud, along with Ninja who can bark the house down, but rarely does. Except when they are on patrol!

What is it that comes visiting? Who knows. Coyote? Raccoon? Possum? Rabbit? Whatever it is I doubt it posses any serious threat with a fence between the pups and it, but it sure gets noisy at night.

I am not complaining, except that I'd like to sleep instead of checking on the barking dogs. I always praise them for doing their job. I really don't think that anyone could get into the house (with bad intentions) without these two taking them down. What makes me happy about the whole thing is that Penny must be feeling that we are her pack or she wouldn't be out there working with Ninja to keep us all safe.

Sounds like the guest has arrived out back. The patrol is barking. I'd better go check and give them their treats for doing their job! G'night! I'll sleep tight with my patrol on guard.

The Magic Shoes

Monday, June 21, 2010

Once upon a time there was a lady who found a great pair of tennis shoes as Wal-Mart market for $7. They were her size, so she whisked them off to the register in a flurry of excitement.

The woman at the register rang them up- for $11. "Wait!" cried the lady. "They are marked $7."

"Oops," said the clerk. "I'll reverse the charge and fix it!" And she promptly rang in 70 cents. "Oops!" again cried the clerk. "I'll just charge you $6.30 and it will all be right." So she made the adjustment and typed in sooooooos for the description. Uh huh. She really did.

The lady took her purchases home and got to thinking. My goodness, the bill seemed high! So she looked at the receipt and realized she was charged $11 for shoes, 70 cents for sooooooos and also $6.30 for soooooooos. This was a grand total of $18.00 plus tax for her $7.00 shoes.

Back to Wal-Mart she went, and explained to the returns lady 3 times about the charges, and got it all worked out. She came home and went to put on her soooooos to take her darling pups on a walk, and discovered . . . that she had two right soooooooos, I mean shoes.

The next day, she took the whole mess back to Wal-Mart, go the correct shoes for the correct feet and headed home. That night she walked the pups in her new shoes. They were very comfy and she decided that even though they weren't such a bargain with all the trips back and forth, she really liked them.

The next morning the lady came downstairs to discover that her darling pup, Penny, had eaten the heels out both of her new soooos. The moral of the story is that sometimes a bargain just isn't a bargain after all. :)

The end.

Minor Disaster! But the Dogs are Fine.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

I haven't had a moment to update my blogs lately because our house was flooded a week ago Sunday. A sprinkler pipe blew in a planter just behind our house at about 4am and ran until I came downstairs at about 8:30am, flooding the yard and providing my downstairs with about and inch of water over the entire floor.

It's one of those things you can't quite get your head around. I walked downstairs and the pups were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, completely bedraggled and muddy. I kept looking at them and thinking, what happened? Why are they so wet and muddy? Why are my floors so shiny?

Penny splashed off and then it hit me, there is water everywhere! I ran out in my pajamas to turn off the sprinkler main valve and ever since then we've been cleaning up the damage. All the carpet had to be ripped up and new flooring installed. Some drywall had to be replaced, walls painted, baseboards replaced. I am thankful that it wasn't worse, but it's been a lot of work.

The good news is that the new flooring we're putting in is beautiful! The dogs weer not harmed in anyway, except that Ninja hates water. Penny seemed to think it was fun to have water everywhere for her to splash in.

I hate having furniture in places it doesn't belong while we finish the floors. The dogs seem a bit frazzled with things out of place too. It's been two weeks and at least I don't have to climb over the couches to get into the kitchen anymore. It's funny how you don't realize how much you miss just coming home to a normal house and resting. It's getting there, but slowly.

So I'm not ignoring my blogger friends. I've just got house stuff going on!

Ninja and In N Out Burger

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A few nights ago my husband worked late and stopped at In N Out Burger for a bite on the way home. In case you aren't from Southern California, In N Out is a Hamburger drive-through that you either love or you don't. Ninja and I love it. I suppose I've spoiled him because he always gets the last bit of my Double Double. I purposely order a bigger hamburger than I can eat so he can have some. Sometimes I even order him his own burger.

So it should come as no surprise that when my husband came home late and set his food on the table, Ninja expected that he would get some. I was asleep. My husband set down the box of food on the sofa table. It comes in a little box with no lid. He went into the kitchen to wash his hands, then came back and. . . no burger. He told me he had a moment's confusion and thought perhaps the burger had fallen out of the box and was on the seat of the car. But he looked outside on a whim and there was Ninja munching away on the double double. The ensuing roar woke me up, sent Ninja scurrying away to the corner of the yard, and the neighbor's cats home in a hurry. My poor husband went to bed hungry but Ninja slept well with a belly full of hamburger.

Into the Creek

Friday, August 8, 2008

I really should take my camera to our Thursday night walks in the regional park. As I've mentioned before, my husband plays ball almost every Thursday and the kids and I (and Ninja of course) walk in this absolutely beautiful park, which is right next to the ball fields.

Last Thursday was an early game so there was plenty of time to walk, with plenty of light. There is 1 hour and 15 minutes allotted to each softball game, so that's a nice walk. This week we were joined by one of the kids of another player, who unfortunately didn't bother to inform his father that he was going walking with us. Normally I would have made sure, but I was happily walking my dog and chatting with my kids before I noticed this boy was attached to us. Did I invite him? No. Did I particularly want the responsibility of this kid? Not really. But I decided to be a good sport and let him tag along.

One reason I worry about this kid is that he is not dog people. I don't think it's his fault- he's only around 10 years old and his parents are not dog people. What "not dog people" fail to understand is that their actions almost always directly correspond to a dogs reaction, but not understanding dogs, they often label our beautiful fur friends vicious and aggressive.

The week before, this kid had talked sweetly to my dog and then wildly waved his hands in a chopping gesture around Ninja's face. Dog people know that this is a bad idea. Luckily I had Ninja on a short lead and as soon as the kid starting waving his hands I strongly cautioned him to stop. However, Ninja very loudly warned this kid with a growling snarl, which I'm sure sounded quite menacing, but of course I knew it to be a big warning with no "teeth" behind it. I tried to tell him! The kid's mom freaked and told me to keep my dog away from her kid. Of course trying to tell her that my dog was minding his own business when her kid challenged him resulted in the blank stare only "not dog people" can manage.

I have to be so careful, though, because the county is a "zero tolerance" county and if Ninja did bite, he would be put down. So around children, especially, I keep him close and put my hand on his head so that if something upsets him, I can stop any reaction right away. It's just not worth the risk, you know?

So, Thursday night we walked and just kept heading out. I wanted to see the side we hadn't gotten to yet. The park is over a mile long, so it's a great walk. About 45 minutes into our walk the kids saw a playground with a big slide on the other side of the creek. We found a place to cross with lots of rocks and very little water. The kids skipped over and headed into the playground. I started over with Ninja by my side. But not for long. Ninja sat down and dug his back paws in. I tugged on the leash. He pulled back. I coaxed. He ignored my efforts. Then he stood up and I thought we were making progress, until he went behind me, and next thing I knew I was in the creek.

I have no reason to believe he knocked me down, he just did not want to cross right there and in an effort to get away the leash caught my legs and I went down. My daughter shrieked, "Mommy, are you OK?" I was muddy, very muddy, but unhurt. Her next questions was, "Is your Coach purse OK?" Ah, a girl after my own heart. Why I took a purse, let alone a good purse is beyond me. But there we were. BTW, the Coach purse is the only "designer" purse I own and was a gift, but I do love it and I"m glad it "wasn't harmed in the filming" of this adventure.

So, remembering that dogs are very clever creatures, I unleashed Ninja and he bounded across the rocks without me just fine. Lesson learned.

To add insult to injury, my husband's game was over 20 minutes early and we were all on the far side of the park when he called. . .and the tag along kid's dad was mad. So we rushed back as quickly as three kids, a dog, and a very muddy woman can.

Maybe next Thursday we'll take a break. Then again, the days are already starting to get shorter and we won't be able to do this for many more Thursdays. Next time I'll take my camera and leave the Coach purse at home.

The Brownie Thief

Monday, June 9, 2008

On Saturday I went to my ceramics class and came home to a very happy pup. There is nothing like seeing that little wagging behind (remember the docked tail) waiting for me at the door.


He had stolen one of my shoes and taken it out to the yard, but there wasn't too much damage and I can still wear it. That's a good thing.

We tend to bring lots of goodies to munch on during class. This Saturday was no exception, and I was sent home with a rather large plate of brownies. I set them on the kitchen table, told my kids to help themselves, and settled down on the couch with a large iced tea and the remote for a short rest.

About an hour later my daughter asked where the brownies were. Only a forlorn, empty plate with one black hair remained, and it was on the floor.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnjjjjjjjjjaaaaaaa!

Ninja and Bootstraps

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Why do dogs and cats not like each other? Is it instinct or is it learned? I've never been able to figure that one out, especially since you can raise a kitten and a puppy together and they are often quite friendly.

So just recently Ninja has started to go after cats. I have no idea what he'd do if he actually caught a cat. Maybe he'd lick it to death- I don't know. He makes a posture of dominance at the orange cats who live on the street below us as we pass by on our walk to the park. They just look back at him.

Our neighbors (the ones who have Bingo the Jack Russell and where Ninja got stuck in the yard) have a black and white cat names Bootstraps. He's a really beautiful cat and is often found sunning himself in the yard near where the kids are playing outside. He was wild when he adopted our neighbors, but he doesn't look like a wild thing. He pretty much won't take any crap from anyone, especially not Ninja.

Bootstraps was outside the other day with the kids when Ninja went outside with me to take out the trash. He saw Bootstraps and took off running at him. Bootstraps retreated into the bushes, but wasn't going to take any more than that. Ninja charged at the bushes and the cat came flying out, with a snarl. Ninja retreated. So did Bootstraps. Then Ninja went back at the bushes and Bootstraps came back at him. I think Ninja got his nose swiped because along with a cat snarl I heard a puppy yelp.

At this point all the neighborhood kids and I were laughing at Ninja's antics and we were all cheering on the cat. I mean, Ninja has almost 30 pounds on this little guy and he was completely holding his own. But before anyone got hurt I decided to call in the dog and give the poor cat a break.

I'm still looking to get a cat to avoid any more rodent issues, but I'm wondering how Ninja will take to him.

On another note, did I mention that my car windows are fixed? I was lucky to find the right part on eBay motors for about $150. DH fixed it in about 5 minutes. I also just orded a new cup holder (to replace a broken one) to help avoid any more spills on the center console, which is apparently rather sensitive to we spills, according to Mercedes. No kidding. We've done pretty well making repairs on our own, since owning one of these beautiful cars can be quite expensive to keep up. The labor is the really expensive part.

Gorilla Glue

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Every morning my pup comes to give me a good morning snuggle and wake me up. Unfortunately he doesn’t differentiate between the weekends and weekdays, so he comes to snuggle me around 5:30 every morning. (Remember Lady and the Tramp?) In case you are wondering, he does not sleep on my bed. I certainly have no issue with that, but DH has a strict no-dog-on-the-bed rule which Ninja is actually afraid to break. If DH isn’t around, he gets to sleep on a blanket next to my bed, but that’s as close as it comes.

One work morning this past February the snuggly pup came to get me up. He always puts his paws on the edge of my bed and bumps my arm with his nose. I usually pet him, rub behind his ears, and mumble something about five more minutes. But this morning he had something hard and crumbly all over is face. My sleep deadened brain kept insisting it was frosting. MMMMM, frosting. No, there isn’t any frosting to get into.

I got up and looked at him and I realized it was some sort of yellow glue. I went downstairs to investigate and remembered that DH had glued some legs to a stool back on with gorilla glue the night before. Ninja must have gotten into it. I found the bottle in the backyard “lair.” It wasn’t opened and was in tact. It had a few bite marks on it, but no glue seems to have come out of it.

I didn’t think all that much about it. I put the glue away, went through my usual morning routine, got the kids ready and went to work. At work I started thinking about it. (This was before the rat poison incident.) How much of this stuff did he ingest? Was it poisonous? So I started looking on the internet. As with the rat poison, what I found scared me to death.

From the gorilla glue website:

“Gorilla Glue is a polyurethane glue. All polyurethane glues foam when they come in contact with moisture and may cause gastro-intestinal blockage if swallowed. This is not unique to Gorilla Glue, but true of all polyurethane glues. If you think there has been a case of ingesting the glue, seek medical or veterinary advice immediately.

For this reason, polyurethane glues must be kept out of reach of children and animals. Polyurethane glues are harmful or fatal if swallowed. Store Gorilla Glue in a safe location.”

From another website about pet safety:

“After being exposed to moisture, this product is able to expand to many times its original volume. If ingested in its liquid form (e.g., by licking up a spill, a towel, or item being glued) it can form a hard "foam-like" foreign body, generally in the stomach. An obstruction of the digestive tract can then occur.”

Now I was scared. Signs that there was a problem included loss of appetite, vomiting, enlarged abdomen, labored breathing . . . and worse. . .

It was about 11am by then and I was really worried. All I could think about was getting home that night and seeing the poor dog in serious trouble. It seems this stuff has a smell and a taste that is nearly irresistible to pets. It seems to me they could easily fix that part, but what do I know?

Anyway, remember that I work for the lady who owns Ninja’s mom? When I told her I was worried she sent me home. So I raced home with all of these terrible worried thoughts and rushed through the front door. . . to find Ninja bounding from the yard, thrilled to see me with absolutely no signs of any distress or illness.

I kept a hawk’s eye on him (and - what fun - all of his bodily functions) for 24 hours and saw absolutely nothing that would indicate a problem. I can only assume that very tiny amounts were on the stool that was being repaired and that most of it was on his fur rather than in his mouth. However it worked out, I’m very thankful that he was not harmed. He’s not a cat but he seems to have multiple lives. . .

When I told the story to my MIL she said she's surprised he didn't get stuck somewhere. Yeah really! What kind of glue is that anyway?

Ninja, Stop! I mean go!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

When Ninja was about 3 months old we would walk down to the park almost every day, especially since it was still Summer. Often we would wait until dark when it was cooler to head down. I liked this time of day because it meant fewer people and dogs in the park, and I could let Ninja off the leash to run and use up some of that famous Aussie energy. It made for better nights for us all.

Little Ninja would always stick close so, thinking that I had total control over him (ha!) I would let him off of the leash on the way to the park. At the time he was afraid of other dogs and would cower behind me if one came around rather than act aggressively.

So this evening it was already dark and we were heading down to the park. DS was on his bike and DD and I were walking. DS got rather far ahead of us on his bike, even crossed he street at the bottom of the hill and waited for us. DD liked to run down the hill, so she started flying down. She knows to stop at the corner and wait for me. Unfortunately Ninja does not.

As soon as DD started to run, Ninja did too. She stopped at the corner. Ninja saw DS on he opposite corner and just kept going. About that time I could see headlights coming and all I could think about was that Ninja was almost all black and any driver would probably miss him in the dark. I must confess, I panicked.

I was about 15 feet from the curb and I screamed and ran as fast as I could go. As I got to the corner I saw Ninja fly across the street and I made the worst mistake I could at that moment. I screamed at him to stop. And he did. Sat right down in the middle of the street (like he thought I wanted) with a mini van bearing down on him. If I had had a cooler head at that moment I would have had DS call to him and he would have just continued to fly across the street and been perfectly safe.

So I screamed louder, waived my arms in desperation, and ran into the street myself. Luckily the lady driver of the mini van wasn't going very fast and she must have seen and heard all the commotion, so by the time I entered the street waving my arms and screaming stop, she had stopped. The poor woman must have thought she had entered the neighborhood of an asylum or something.

I was able to scoop up Ninja, get DD across the street safely, wave thank you to the driver, and burst into tears of relief.

Ninja stays on his leash the whole way to the park now.

Ninja the Stowaway

Monday, May 5, 2008

I was reading on the Internet about Mini Australian Shepherd's temperament. Here's one of the things I found: " Mini Aussies are pack oriented. This means that if you do not want a dog which will insist on following you to the bathroom, you should consider a different breed. Mini Aussies need to be a member of the family."

And this: "The Australian Shepherd is an intelligent, medium-sized dog of strong herding and guardian instincts. He is also a delightful and loyal companion and a great family dog. He loves to be part of the daily hustle and bustle, and enjoys riding in the vehicle just to be with his beloved master. "

No kidding. If you do not want a dog who wants to go everywhere with you, consider another breed. (But in my mind, who wouldn't want an Aussie???) Remember the short circuit incident? That would not have happened if I didn't take him with me everywhere I can. He's my little car buddy. He gets annoyed when I can't take him, but if I'm going to be gone long or it is hot, I can't put him in danger.

Speaking of the short circuit incident, it looks like the window switch module that controls all my windows, the mirrors, and the truck release is kaput. It can be replaced for around $150. It could have been much, much worse. It's not great, but it's not the end of the world either.

So back to mini Aussies being pack oriented.

The other morning DH went out to the car, ready to leave for work. He realized that he had forgotten something, got out of the car, left the door open, and went back inside. He came back outside, shut and locked the front door, got in the car and headed off to work.

He turned on the radio, drove down the hill, and was waiting at the light to enter the freeway when he heard a tiny jingle behind him. He looked back, and for a second he didn't see anything, but then he realized that the white something on his black seat was a paw. Remember, Ninja has so much black on him that if he lays on his stomach on a black surface and tucks his paws under, you can hardly see him. Then Ninja smiled. Dogs smile- they really do. And Ninja has a great smile.

And when he smiled his little pink tongue showed and DH knew he had a stowaway! Luckily he wasn't too far from home and he had time to drive the separation anxiety crazed pup back home. OK, he doesn't really have separation anxiety, he just like to be with us whenever he can.

Fortunately, it wasn't a hot day and DH noticed the little beggar, otherwise he might have had to spend the day in the car if no one had noticed him. DH would have been quite annoyed to make the 20 mile trip back home at lunch to drop him off.

"Aussies are also quite demanding of their owners' time and attention and want to be constantly with them, following them from room to room in the house, and going along in the car or truck on errands. They can be highly territorial and protective of their masters' possessions, which can cause serious difficulties unless controlled with proper training. " Yep. A daily walk saves me a pair of shoes. . . every day.

We're getting there. The training is kicking in a bit here and there. The signs are there. Yesterday we left the front door open while we worked on some new flooring. The kids were playing outside and I told Ninja to stay and not go outside. I could see it was hard for him , but he stayed and did not go outside. He did look outside and kept a watchful eye on the kids. I had to remind him a couple of times, especially when the kids got loud while playing as he inched over to the door, but a few corrections to get his attention and he listened.

That's a good thing.

Ninja and the Christmas Tree

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The ribbons I like to weave into my Christmas tree were just too hard for my puppy to resist. Every year I take the different color ribbons and start from the top of the tree and weave them down all the way to the bottom. They always make the tree look beautiful! About a week after we put up the tree we came home to this.





Ninja sat right in front of the tree and looked so innocent. Gee, they just came off of the tree and I thought I'd sit here to guard them. Yeah, that's it. Right after this picture he swiped a ribbon and took off with it into the back yard.



Then he came back to the scene of the crime, plopped down in the pile of ribbons, this time with my sunglasses case. I put the ribbons back up, but left the bottom third empty so Ninja wouldn't have quite the temptation

Short Circuit

Friday, May 2, 2008

To add to an already harrowing week, last night my car shorted out. And of course, Ninja was involved.

We were on our way back from DS' baseball practice. Since it was a cool evening and there wouldn't be a lot of time waiting in the car, I let the puppy tag along. Aussies are such devoted dogs that they would go with you everywhere if you let them. It's sweet, but it's sad when it's hot and you know it's not safe to take him, and you hear him yelping at the door, as if he is really in pain to have been left behind.

I find that it cuts down on my destroyed shoes considerably to let the pup come along. He rarely tears up anything in the car, but when left at home he'll drag stuff down from the kids' room and shred it, get into my closet and take my shoes, find a skein of yarn and pull it apart. . . you get the idea.

So on the way back DS was munching on chicken strips. Ninja wanted one. Ninja had eaten two already, but that wouldn't stop him from wanting another. Ninja climbed up on the center arm rest and begged. DS commanded him in a firm voice, "Back seat, Ninja!" which normally would have worked, but he made the fatal mistake of waving his hand to the back seat with a piece of chicken in it.

Instead of getting in back, the pup jumped forward to grab the chicken. . . and knocked my iced tea over into my center console. At the same time his paw came down on the passenger window power button. The window went down and stopped. It would not go up. Neither would the drivers' side window. In fact, most of the buttons on the center console don't work now. Not the power windows. Not the power mirrors. Yet the power sunroof and the sunshade in the rear window work fine.

The windows are even now stuck rolled down. When I got home I armed the car and went inside. DH was out for the evening. I went back to open the trunk later to get a bag out of it and the key now had no effect on the car except putting the alarm into panic mode, and it just keep going. It was a fun evening. The car is now parked in the garage waiting for DH to look at it.

Is this Ninja's fault? No, not really. But was he involved? Well, of course. So much for my week calming down. I'm just thankful that tomorrow is another day, and hopefully things will start going right!

The Neighbor's Fence

Thursday, May 1, 2008

This happened back in November, before Ninja "learned" how to open the gate. . .

My family went to Wal-Mart for a few minutes last night. We got home about 8:30 and usually Ninja is at the door to greet us. No puppy. Typically if he's not around, he's gotten into something that he shouldn't have (like my shoes) and he knows he's in for it, so he stays outside. But even that doesn't always stop a joyful reunion. One of the happiest things for me is to see him at the door, little behind wagging furiously. As much as my family loves me, it's not quite the same thing as that complete and total unconditional love that a dog has for someone he's bonded with.

We called him, we looked around, nothing. We all went into the back yard and called him and we kept hearing his collar jingling. Finally we heard a little bark and the saddest whine ever.

It sounded like he was next door in the neighbor's backyard. Sure enough, Ninja had dug under a board in the fence and gotten it loose enough to move through, but it only went one way so once he got in the neighbor's yard he couldn't get back. (I told DH it was like the roach motel. He could in get in, but . . .)

Luckily the neighbors have a Jack Russell Terrier and were totally understanding when I was knocking on their door at 9pm and asking if I could have my wayward dog back. Their dog, Bingo, was inside or it might have been interesting. Bingo is a sweetie, but he gets a bit territorial and I don't think he would have liked Ninja barging in to his yard (very few dogs would!).

I got my pup back and then barricaded the fence with a couple of block wall bricks we had. Our neighbors (who are awesome people) had put a new piece of wood in the fence before I even got up in the morning. They are what I call "born organized." I'm always sidetracked. What was I saying? Oh yes. Ninja.

I think Poor Ninjie had really spooked himself, because he was glued to me all night (even more than usual). I think his time in the other yard had scared him and he was convinced that no one was going to come and rescue him.

I would like to say this taught him to stay in his yard, but we know that he "learned" how to operate my gate and went adventuring again in April.

The Dog Catcher

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Last Thursday the gate to my back yard wasn't shut all the way and Ninja decided to go adventuring. Someone called Animal Control. I would rather my pup be safe and not hit by a car or hauled off by someone, so I am assuming that the person who called was well intentioned.

My very kind neighbor saw the dog catcher and had a feeling it might be Ninja. So she ran out and found him, called him and put him back in my yard. The dog catcher saw her and demanded to take him to the pound. She was very nice and told him Ninja lived here and she would make sure he didn't get out again.

After a lengthy discussion, the Animal Control guy walked my yard to make sure Ninja couldn't get out, then dragged a bench from my porch in front of the gate. Now, the best part. The nasty note he left on my door stated that the dog could open the latch on the gate (it's a door knob). This is a real animal expert, let me tell you. The gate is hard to shut (that's why it was open) and really tough to get open. I have to pull with all my weight to open it (it's wrought iron). My 9 YO son can't open it. But my 40 pound dog can, according to this guy. Ninja must have opposable thumbs that are hidden to everyone else but this guy. Yep.

I posted the story at another forum and got lots of responses about how they hope Ninja has "learned his lesson" and will stay home. I hope so too, but let's face it- he's a puppy and dogs are curious. If the gate is open, out he'll go and I might be facing this situation again. I'd hate to see him in the slammer! I've heard lots of horror stories about the pound.

I can only be grateful that my neighbor was there and cared enough to keep him from being abducted by the brilliant Animal Control guy. There I was at work, oblivious to the life and death struggle that was going on in my own yard. OK, so it wasn't life or death, but it was freedom or doggy jail. If she hadn't been there, I would have come home and had no clue where my poor pup was. It would not have been a good night.

So the gate is now locked and will remain locked. Consider it puppy insurance. :) So in the last week Ninja has had adventures with the dog catcher and rat poison. Let's hope this week is a bit calmer.

Ninja and the Feather Duster

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Before Ninja was house trained he lived in his kennel during the day. Well, sort of. . .

Once upon a time there was a beautiful puppy named Ninja. Everyone who saw him exclaimed what a beautiful and sweet puppy he was. Since he was a little puppy and was learning the ways of his human family’s household, he had a special kennel in the kitchen with a soft rug and all the toys he could want, and he stayed there while his human family was at school and work. Every afternoon his human brother would come home and let him out and play with him. Ninja loved that and would bark and play, little (very little) tail wagging excitedly every time he came out to play.

One day, his human brother had baseball practice and had to leave in the late afternoon. He carefully put Ninja in his kennel with a dog biscuit and hurried away, bat and glove in hand. After a few minutes in the quiet, Ninja began investigating the sides of his kennel. With a little pushing and pawing, he realized that he could just squeeze through an opening where the clip wasn’t quite closed tightly. Soon he was running around, investigating the family room where his human family watched pictures on a screen every night, nosing around the kitchen where there were delicious smells, and chasing the black and white cat who wasn’t much fun anyway.

It wasn’t long before he made his way up the stairs and into a large room with a big square thing that had lots of room to play under. And under it he found a wonderful dog toy! It was a stick with some really soft, fluffy feathers on the end. Ninja seemed to recall seeing his human mom wave this toy over some things in the house, but she surely wasn’t having as much fun with it as he was. Soon he had torn nearly all of the feathers off of the stick, and then he thought what a grand idea it would be to show his human mom all the cool feathers, so he dragged some of them down the hall and the stairs. He pushed some of them off of the stairs and watched as they lazily floated down to the bottom. And then he brought a few more down and put them with his toys to have to play with later. All in all, there was a trail of feathers from his human mom’s room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, and everywhere in between.

Ninja was very happy with his afternoon’s work, and was quite eager to see how much praise and love he would get when his human family would get home and see how industrious he was. . .

(There are still feathers under my bed from this adventure.)

Rat Poison

Monday, April 28, 2008

Last Sunday I was cleaning out the hall closet which is right by the garage. I had a number of boxes of papers from earlier scrap booking adventures. As I was cleaning out the closet, I saw signs of shredded paper and, well, other nasty signs of a rodent. It never dawned on me that the rat was in there at the time. Well, guess what? He was.

As I pulled out a bag in the corner of the closet, out came this grey thing with a long, pink tail. The ensuing ruckus was worthy of a cartoon. I could not stop screaming- after all it launched itself at me! I know now it was a panicked attempt to get away from what proved to be a crazy lady. I must have screamed for a full five minutes. If there had been a chair close I would have climbed on it. My husband came running with a baseball bat. The kids came running and couldn't quit laughing. Ninja came and wagged his little fanny (minis have their tails docked, so they wag their whole behind).

Apparently a rat had moved in to the closet. There are no signs of a hole, so my thought is he just came on in one day when the garage door was open. After my panicked screams, the rat ran off somewhere, and I don't think it was outside. Ninja has a dog door in the sliding glass door, and bits of the insulation have been shredded and are on the floor every morning. There is no way Ninja is responsible for this. After all, it's not one of my shoes. But that's another story.

Fast forward to this Saturday night. DH decides the best way to get rid of the rat is poison. Fine, but don't let the dog get it. We put it behind the china cabinet in the kitchen where he can't get to it. Guess what? He got to it. How, I have no clue. Perhaps the rat dragged it out to share. They must be friends by now- there seem to have been many nights of the rat chewing on the insulation with Ninja watching. All I know is that Sunday morning when I began playing with Ninja, I noticed he had blue goop in his teeth. . .the same color as the blocks of rat poison.

I rushed to the Internet and read what I could as quickly as I could. What I read was not pretty. This poison works on an animal's blood and causes a slow, painful death. After reading that I don't really want the rat to die that way. There were many suggestions, but the bottom line was that acting quickly was they key.

I called my local animal emergency clinic for advice. 15 calls and every time the line was busy. I then called Poison Control. They were amazing. They weren't the least bit phased that I was calling about a dog. The gentleman asked me the breed and size of my dog, what he ate, how much, and how long ago. Since it happened over night, I wasn't sure if it was 5 hours ago or 1 hour ago or something in between. The reason he asked me this is because if it was within a couple of hours, inducing vomiting could get it out of his system. "Could that hurt him?" I asked. He told me no, and told me to give my pup 1/2 ounce of straight hydrogen peroxide every 10 minutes until he vomited. He also told me that I could wait to take him to the vet until Monday as long as there were no signs of bleeding.

In the yard, I called my pup over and had him lay down. I scratched his belly, the took the cup of peroxide and poured it down his throat. He was not happy with me, and I can't blame him. 10 minutes later I enlisted DH's help, since Ninja wanted nothing to do with me after the first round. We got a bit more down him. About a minute later the poison came back up. He threw up three times, and the first two were blue and the third was clear. It looked to me that he had emptied his stomach.

I watched him closely all day and he seemed just fine. He ate as usual, he drank normally, and was his usual mischievous puppy self.

I followed up with the vet this morning. He examined Ninja and said he showed no signs of blood poisoning. He also gave him a vitamin K injection just in case, which is the antidote for this type of blood poisoning. The vet told me that I did everything exactly right and my actions basically saved my puppy from a very severe medical situation, if not death. All I can say is thank God for an amazing Poison Control Center.

As I type, he's curled up at my feet, with no clue how close he was to . . . well, you know what I mean.