Friday, November 12, 2010

30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog

Chopper is a great dog - he likes to go on walks, loves to stay home and sleep while I work all day and is always happy to see me when I get home. Chopper also barks at noises outside that only he can hear and is not always the most hospitable host (he is kind of a homebody and would rather that we keep visitors to a minimum).





In my latest effort to continue to reform him and turn him into an even better dog who can better tolerate visitors we have bought Tamar Geller's new book 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog.

Chopper used to go to daycare at Tamar's boarding facility the Loved Dog but after awhile he decided that all dogs all the time was a bit much for him. We are familiar, however, with the methods and totally believe that this is a great way to train all dogs and with some dogs, such as Chopper, who may have been previously or trained not so nicely, it is a necessity.

So while Chopper will continue to bring you his lovable reviews and news of his frequent hi-jinks we are going to also be reporting on our status as we try and complete the 30 days of training. I am not saying we will actually complete this task in 30 days as the holidays are coming which requires that Chopper take some mini-doggy vacations (and aside from caring for Chopper I do have a completely non-related to dogs full-time job) but we will persevere and do the best we can to report on our progress.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

We're Getting a New Dog

My mom informed me last night that we were getting a new dog.  He will apparently not make any messes but will clean up all of mine.  I am intrigued by this new dog and not sure I will be happy when he arrives. His name is "Dirt Dog" and he's not a dog at all but a robot sweeper (the less expensive cousin of a Roomba which is a robot vacuum). 

My mom has been threatening to get one of these for quite some time and since it is the time of year that her allergies begin to act up and I shed a lot she finally got one.  The Dirt Dog is made for shops but my mom read lots of reviews that it is great at picking up dog hair (which is our main problem) so she ordered one.  We'll have to let you know how it goes once we get it.