Happy Gotcha Day Luke!!

It’s been a year today since my boy came into my life. I can still remember waiting at the airport for his flight to come in….seeing them bring him out and looking into those big brown eyes with those wrinkles I fell in love with. I remember the drive home, wishing the stupid cab driver would let me take him out of the crate so I could just hold him in my arms. I remember the moment we got home and he just seemed to know what stairs to go up to get to our house. I remember the feel of him the first time I held him, the smell of him, the absolute joy and happiness he brought to my heart for the first time in my life. What a journey we have had together so far! I wish I could freeze this time forever….how I miss those puppy wrinkles and being able to ALMOST pick him up and hold him lol. Now he’s a young man, so handsome..so perfect in every way. I still wake up with his jowls on my cheek and wonder if it’s really true..if he’s really here with me, or if I’m still dreaming the dreams I had of him for over 20 years before he came to me. I’ve had a lot of animals over the years, a lot of dogs, a lot of PEOPLE come and go….but no one…nothing has compared to what I have with this boy. I know a lot of people don’t understand it, and I really don’t expect them to. There are times in our lives where things happen, that make no sense. All I know, is that no matter what happens from here on out, I will always be grateful for the time I had with Luke….Every second with him is a blessing, a gift I never take for granted. He’s special. I know everyone says that about their dogs, but he truly is…almost out of this world, like he isn’t quite dog, not quite human, yet something much more. I know he’s more to me….he’s my world, and I could not love anyone or anything more. <BR>Thank you for being with me….for the fate that led you to me. May we have many more years of fun and love and joy to come. <BR>Mamma loves you!

 

 

 

It was a nice day….after I got home from shopping with Mom, I gave him his treats. A pig’s ear, some all natural treats he LOVED, and a new tug rope. He LOVED this toy for some reason. He usually doesn’t carry toys around the house and beg me to play with him, more like he’ll get them, and then when I happen to go sit on the couch or on the bed he’ll tell me he’d like to play…but this time, he got all happy and wanted to play real bad lol. It was so cute! While I was gone, he dug my bra out of the laundry, and had it on his pillow on the couch. Such a man! I traded it back for the toy lol. Then we went for a nice long walk where he gathered his usual following of admirers. Walked through the Tim Horton’s drive through and got a plain timbit His head rested on their window…it cracked everyone up. The whole store was over as close to the window as they could get looking at him resting his head there waiting for his treat.

What’s New? I’ll tell ya!

Hmmm…let me think of what’s been happening in my life lately. Well…My Nanny got a new puppy a couple of weeks ago. Mom gave her a BIG talking to since the pup was taken too early from it’s Mommy…and with everything going on in that household, no one has the time or energy to deal with a brand new puppy. Mom has always been the one to train and look after all the dogs Nanny would keep getting, and this time is no different.

Mya, is a Shih Tzu. Cute as a button but BAD BAD BAD!! She BITES! Hard! Mom says she has definite aggression/dominance issues, and really needed to be trained, so Nanny volunteered us to do the job. I met Mya last week at Nanny’s for the first time. I could hardly believe how small she was! Mom wouldn’t let me meet her any earlier cause she was just too small but even now she’s tiny!

Here are some pics from our first meeting 🙂

Ahh Mom these girls are sooo BORING!

Wow a new friend! she’s kinda tiny aint she?

OWCH kid! That hurts!

I like your kisses better Momma

Ohhhh I smell TREATS on da fireplace!

Aww thanks Aunt Leah..I love treats!

Nanny says I’m not allowed on the furniture…does dis count??

 

Soooo…today Mya came over to stay for a week or two. I have been a VERY good boy! Mom says she’s very proud of me. Not only am I being extra gentle with the little mop, but I don’t eat her when she jumps up, grabs ahold of my jowls and hangs on! OWWWWWWWWCH! Those needle teeth sure do hurt.

 

Pssst::I think I can convince Mom to make the little mop head go home soon. After all, I AM the Greatest Dane, and she DOES have to keep me happy! I don’t want to share MY Mom! Sure, it’s nice to play with a new friend for a while, but she can’t stay here, nope, no way!

Mom is using the clicker thing to teach her new tricks, like sit. I admit, she is pretty smart for a tiny girl :)- She caught on to the sit word pretty fast. But I was better. And faster. And more reliable. So there!

And you know what? Mom’s giving her MY treats! Imagine that! And making me share my toys. I got told off when I growled at the mop for trying to take my toy. Mom says I have to learn to share nicely. Hmmph…why should I? It’s MY toy. Mom’s can be dumb sometimes..but don’t tell her I told ya that or she might give ALL of my treats to the little ankle biter.

Here she is….the little intruder

 

Just so you know? Mom doesn’t really like small breeds but she says “I can’t help but think she’s cute”. Hmmph! I’m still cute right?

 

Ok enough about her….I did a bad thing the other night. Mom keeps laughing about it though, even though it’s not real funny. See, Patty came over for the night and after we watched a movie together, we all passed out on our bed. Well….later on Patty tried to crawl over me to go to the washroom, and I got startled. I jumped up, with Patty over top of me, sending her flying up and off the bed, down to the floor face first! Oh dear!
I almost re broke her hip…that wouldn’t have been good..Nope. Patty’s nice though, she forgave me, even though I kinda just looked down at her, and went back to cuddle up with Mamma as if it was ok I pushed her off the bed. After all, she WAS taking up space on MY bed. :)-
I’m glad I got some cuddle time with her before that happened lol.

 

“What do you mean this is uncomfortable?!!”

 

So I’m laying right on your broken hip…what’s wrong with that? I’m protecting it for you 😛

 

So…that’s about it…I gotta head to be with Mom now. I’ll post more adventures with the mop later.

Bye!

Luke and the Crate

You would be surprised how many people are shocked when I tell them that Luke is not crate trained, in fact never was. That he is left alone to roam free in the house, with absolutely no problem. The looks of "REALLY???" I get are almost funny….but I understand from my research before ever getting him, just how many Danes have to be crated when left alone, or else their owners are looking at thousands of dollars of damage not to mention the danger to their dog should they get into something harmful.
As I said, I did all the research….I knew that crate training is the new thing. Mind you, with all the dogs we’ve had over the years, only one of them was ever trained this way..and yet we never had dogs that used the bathroom in the house after puppy hood, nor do I remember any of them being destructive. How did we manage that without a crate? I can’t even remember lol.
So I went into this thinking I would crate train Luke, even though I figured I could do just as well without one…I lived in an apartment that I did not own so if he was going to be a destructive little bugger I had no choice. I bought the crate. The people I bought it from arrived at our house, set it up for me and Luke ((at this point was about five months I think)) and he went right in it. He loved it! Knowing that his crate must always be seen as a positive thing for him, I made a HUGE deal about it. He got treats and praise galore whenever he went in it. I slowly started working in the part where I closed the door and left him in it. Of course Luke being Luke…he didn’t like that part but at first, he actually went along with it. I again praised and treated like crazy because I truly wanted to get to the point where I’d be able to leave him without getting a doggy sitter for him. ((which is what I had been doing from nine weeks til this point whenever I left him, which wasn’t often because we both kinda suffer from "I don’t want to leave you syndrome lol"))
Anyway…he was doing fine, until this one day…BAM. No more crate! He simply REFUSED and I mean refused, to go in it at all. I tried everything. Every toy, every treat, every food item, to get him to go in it. Nope…ain’t gonna happen. I tried leading him into it…NO WAY MOM!! I even went in the stupid thing myself with a pillow, laid down and hoped he’d come in with me..Nope. He stayed outside the crate pawing at it and severely telling me off for being in that thing without him but no way was he going to join me.
I got the puppy he loved from upstairs to come down. She went in it no problem because she’d been crated since the day her owner got her. Nope…no way was Luke buying into that trick.
So here I am, with a dog who cannot stand to be out of my sight for five seconds, will not go into the crate no matter what I do….and I at some point HAVE to leave my house without him! What to do???
Then came the day that I had no choice. I had a dentist’s appointment to make arrangements for surgery and I had no one to come stay with him. I had to go. So off I go, terrified, literally shaking at the thoughts of what that boy was doing while I was gone. I sat in the office toes tapping, fingers shaking, thinking omg the landlord is going to KILL me. I bet I have no house left. What if he’s howling non stop?? OMG!
Well…I came home an hour or more later, to a VERY happy boy. He was so happy to see me he was almost doing somersaults..lol…but guess what? Not a thing had been touched! I couldn’t believe it. It was like a miracle..a gift from God. Something, but definitely not what I’d expected that’s for sure lol. I went next door and asked the old folks if he’d made any noise. Nope…never heard him. I was ecstatic! This meant that Luke could be left alone without being crated! No more babysitters!
I slowly acclimated him to being alone for longer periods of time. I’ve never been gone more than 7 hours though, and frankly even if he were fine for twelve….my heart can’t take being away from him for long. I miss the little bugger ten minutes after I leave him for heaven sake!
So I sold that crate.
I do recommend crate training to a lot of people though, especially those who don’t have the kind of time to literally be with their pup side by side twenty four seven. Especially during the potty training phase, because once a pup gets used to going in the house, your work has just gotten a heck of a lot harder. Luke though, was totally trained at nine weeks. When he came home to me he already knew to go to the door and whine/scratch to tell me he had to go. If I was sleeping he’d kiss me awake and talk to me til I got up to take him out. He still does this today. I think he had 2 accidents the whole time I’ve had him and both were my fault.
I must say he has been the easiest of dogs to train…and I’ve had many over the years. I can’t claim the potty training reward though because he was already trained when he came to me, but he learned how to walk properly on a leash, sit, stay, leave it, and down all by 1o weeks. He’s brilliant in one way, kinda well….I won’t say it but…slow, in others. No…its just that he doesn’t have a big attention span. He gets bored with training excersises very fast and easy. So we have to make them short and fun…make the most of the time we have his full attention and then move on.
I shudder to imagine a half grown Dane going in the house..but I know there are people out there with this problem who are frustrated and at their wits end.

Oh and I must share that when I mentioned in other forums that I had decided not to continue trying to force Luke in the crate, I received some interesting comments. A couple people told me that by letting him win that way and by not making him do it, I would have an out of control dog that would never respect or listen to me. Um…wrong! The whole point of the crate is for them to see it as a positive place, a safe place, a den of sorts. It’s hardly going to be seen as such, if I am forcing him to go in it against his will, even if I COULD physically force a dog who at that point was already stronger than I was. Why fight with him over something that isn’t going to be a problem? Just to say I won, I’m alpha, I’m the top dog? No…I want my boy to be happy, healthy and secure. Forcing him to do things that make him uncomfortable just to prove I’m boss is not my idea of getting that result. I KNOW this dog…I know how he thinks, how he’s feeling and I KNEW that no matter what I did, I could never change his mind on that crate. He would forever see it as the obstacle between us. The thing that kept him from being able to get to me. Kept him from touching me, seeing me, following me. He never would have seen it as a safe den trust me. So I went with what I knew about HIM, not a dog in general, not the breed, but LUKE…and I’m glad I did.
Sometimes, you just have to know your dog very well, and know what works with them and what won’t. When you do, it’s easier to find what methods of training will have good results and what ones will be useless.