It finally happened.

Yes, readers. It was bound to happen at some point, and Monday, boy did it EVER.

I lost every shred of my patience with my dear sweet dog.

Now, there have been times where my patience has run thin, to be sure, but in the five months (tomorrow) that we have owned Miles, I had never, ever lost my patience with him. Have I been close? Yes. Have I completely lost it? No.

Until Monday.

Now, the barking has been a problem. A large problem. One that we are working with and trying to eliminate as much as possible, but regardless, still his biggest challenge.

I bring him to work with me on Mondays, and this particular one, I had a webinar. It involved a conference call. One of my coworkers walked by my office, and he started barking at her, right in the middle of said webinar.

He continued to bark until I got flustered, and told my dog to SHUT UP. Then he didn't, so I started yelling. My patience? Gone.

I brought him outside to pee, and was still angry. He knew it, and was upset about it. We both continued to be upset when we got back up to my office, and after a few minutes, it dawned on me:

He's just a dog. He was acting on his instincts (which are particularly heightened when he comes to work with me, what with all of the smells of all kinds of different animals and procedures that are done in our office building), and he's always on heightened alert when he's with me at the office. I need to take that into account and act accordingly.

Readers, I was not doing my job as his owner. I was punishing him for simply acting on his instinct, instead of showing him that there was no reason to be afraid, or redirecting so that the barking would stop, which is exactly what I should have done. I scared him by yelling, and he didn't understand, as he shouldn't have, because he was just being a dog.

I read a lot of articles by Gail Fisher, and she's got a lot of amazing viewpoints. Her overreaching viewpoint in everything that she teaches is that a dog is a dog is a dog. They have certain things built into their instincts (just as humans do!), and that can't be helped. It can be worked on, but in any situation, they will act on their instincts if necessary. In moments of frustration where I don't know what to do, I turn to the articles she writes and it helps me.

Anywho, his "misbehaviors" (I put that in quotations because a lot of people see barking, chewing, etc. as misbehavior when they are actually either instinct or a symptom of a problem like boredom), once I re-thought it and realized that he was just doing what his instincts were telling him to do, made me feel better. So I apologized, gave him a good scritch and a kiss, and he was happy again. Good thing puppies don't hold grudges.

The lesson in this for me is what I try to tell myself at least once a day - Miles is a good boy. He's a GREAT dog. He's smart, he's funny, and he's just a joy to be around, always. It's my job to teach him what is appropriate, and to redirect and try to change those habits of his that are not desirable and redirect into something more situationally appropriate. That's my job, not his. His only job is to be a dog.

Since this moment of realization, I have been markedly more patient with Miles. I don't yell, I haven't gotten impatient even once, and I really am trying to work with him and love him in the way that he truly deserves, and he's responding in kind - no more frightened behavior, and it has brought us closer than any training I've done with him yet. Plus, now that I don't yell or get impatient, he listens. I don't have to be stern, just firm. I don't have to yell, I just have to be sure of what I am asking him to do. Those are not one and the same.

So, this week has taught me a big lesson in dog ownership, and I am really hoping that I can continue this trend, because the closeness with Miles will be worth it. He is such a good boy.

Puppy Hiccups and Barfing...awesome topics, I know.

So, Miles has been hiccuping a lot lately. He also eats so fast that he barfs.

I think that this has to do with the fact that he's growing like a weed currently (I am noticing a difference a little every day, and I think this is his last push before he's full grown). I sat down and looked up puppy hiccuping yesterday, and found that it's actually very common in puppies, particularly when they're growing, because their insides are growing too and they need to adjust to his eating patterns. Everywhere that I read said also that it's only normal in puppies, so if he is over a year and it is still happening, then it's time to talk to the vet.

Miles has eaten very fast since the day we got him. His feeding schedule is 7am, around 1pm, and 7pm, give or take. The only time it really gives him trouble is in the morning, and I think he eats so fast because after twelve hours of not eating at all, he is absolutely famished. So, he totally scarfs his food, whines and absolutely HOWLS for about three minutes, and then barfs. We used to feed him a wet/dry combo in the morning, and when we stopped and did only dry in the morning, the barfing seemed to subside.

Then, I was dropping Miles off at doggy day care early this week, and she brought it up, asking how he was doing with the fast eating. He had just barfed that morning and I told her so, and then she showed me this bowl:

It forces a dog to eat between the rivets and slows their eating significantly. When I say significantly, if this bowl had no rivets and was full of food, Miles would have emptied it in less than 30 seconds. With this bowl, it takes upwards of 3 minutes. He likes to chew on the bowl, and eventually he just knocks the bowl over, which knocks all of the food onto the floor, but he did pretty well with it, his own impatience aside.

It was good for us to get this for him, because it will prevent a very dangerous condition called bloat. It seems like it would be a pretty scary thing, and as diligent puppy parents, we want to do everything we can to make sure he stays our healthy and happy dog.

Speaking of dog, Miles looked like a dog, as opposed to a puppy, for the first time the other day when I looked at him. I mean, seriously - this is what he looked like when we adopted him (taken on the first day that we had him):

Also, when he curls up on the couch, he now takes up an entire cushion. I am beginning to think he's going to be bigger than originally thought. I do love when he still acts like a puppy, and though I posted it on my other blog, here's my favorite picture of Miles that I've ever taken:



He's such a good boy.