Fetch!

I've been working with Marcus on learning how to Fetch - or rather, learning how to bring the ball back once I've thrown it, because he seems to prefer just tossing it up and playing with it by himself. I got a short video of him playing Fetch this afternoon - he normally runs after it a lot faster, but the Hamsters were awake and he really, really wanted to look at them instead. Still, here a video of his cute little ears flopping about as he runs back with the ball.



Marcus didn't really have that much interest in the Hamsters until a few days ago, when I put the cage down at a level that he could easily see. Now whenever the Hamsters are awake, it's the Corgi equivalent of Must See TV - he just sits there in front of the cage, completely engrossed in them.

"A Tired Dog is a Good Dog"

We're following the policy that a tired dog is a good dog with Marcus. That has included lot's of park visits, frequent walks (I swear we walk him 6-8 times a day), and a ton of indoor fetch. Marcus seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of the process, and he also doesn't get in trouble as much on days that he gets out a lot. My office is right across the street, and we have big fields outside, which makes it easy for me to walk him over there and let him play in the fields a bit.

Last night, he got a special treat. My boss had been wanting to meet Marcus since we got him, so after things settled down in the evening, Aaron walked him over to the office, and I took him up to meet everyone. Minus being a little afraid of the elevator door, he had a great time, got lots of petting and got a bit more time with me than he normally does on a work day.

I've been trying (and failing) to get him to eat vegetables, primarily because when he gets neutered, I want to be able to get him to eat rice, boiled chicken, and veggies if he is nauseous afterwards. I realized last night that I was approaching the problem in the wrong way. I assumed he would want vegetables at a temperature that is palatable for a human. On a whim, I tossed him some frozen vegetables since he loves ice cubes so much, and sure enough, he devoured them quite happily.

I took a short video of Marcus' "Happy Broccoli Dance" because I thought it was cute.

Sometimes, My Dog is a Brat

Our strategy for handling Marcus recently has been simple. If we tire him out with walks, park visits, and indoor play, he shouldn't have the excess energy to cause trouble. The problem with this is that some days I have things that I need to do. Like today's agenda was to go to the pet store, get some writing done, and do my laundry so I have something to wear to work tomorrow. Marcus got up early when Aaron got ready for work, but he came back into the bedroom after he'd gone off to work. Recently, he's been a bit whiny at me when I try to sleep, and today was the exception. He curled up in bed next to me and fell back asleep. I should have know that this would doom me for the rest of the day.

I awoke at 10am to find that he'd realized he fits under the bed, and that he's pulled out everything underneath it that he could reach. Deciding this was my cue to go walk the dog, I did. We had a nice peaceful walk, he got his business done, and I decided he'd calmed down enough to go to the pet store. I had some difficulty getting him into the car because there was a strange man standing next to my car smoking a cigarette, and Marcus didn't want us to get in the car while there was a stranger around. Fine. Picked him up, plopped him in the back, drove to the Pet Store. He was so good on the drive over there, even though it's a bit longer than what he's used to.

We arrived at the pet store, the ladies who worked there marveled at how cute he was and how pretty his fur was, and how he wasn't a bit overweight. He kept trying to pick up a few treats and a particular chew toy and take them out of the store, but since they seemed to be good for him, I picked those up as well. While I'm getting his food, he meets a little poodle puppy, picks her up by the harness, and carries her over to me. Fortunately, the poodle is no worse for the wear, and her owner thinks Marcus is cute, so he gets away with it.

We managed to get home without further effort, and after lunch I started on my laundry. I was sorting my laundry into piles and chucking the socks/underthings into a pile to be done. When I turned around, my sock pile was unexpectedly smaller than I had thought. Marcus was doing his best at trying to look innocent. However, when I walked out into the living room, I found a scattering of socks, suspiciously covered with drool. After I gathered them, I came back into the bedroom to find him chewing on my bra.

I decided to close off the bedroom while I finished sorting my laundry, and then came back out to the Living Room to find that Marcus had been playing with the carpet while I was distracted.

Perhaps more walks are in order today.

Marcus Playing with his Toys

Took some videos of Marcus while he played this morning because he was being super cute!

The Park: Part Two

Since Aaron was off today, and I go into work late, we decided to take another trip to the park. We're trying short, happy trips to get him over the car anxiety that he has over the trip home/vet trip. While he wouldn't willingly jump into Aaron's car, he didn't act scared once he was put in. He was willing to jump out of the car though, which is making progress.



Since there were two of us there, I was able to take pictures of Marcus at play. GO GO ACTION CORGI! It's hard to take good shots with a DSLR in one hand and a leash in the other! Marcus is such a great subject to take pictures of. He has the sweetest face, and always smiled at the camera. Unfortunately, this makes it nearly impossible to get an pictures of his cute sad face :-(



I was also FINALLY able to get good pictures of his cute bunny butt. Whenever I try to take one at home, he turns around to look at me!


With a butt that cute, who needs a tail!?

Going to the Park!

After the "oopsie" with the garage door, and the trip to the vet, Marcus wasn't necessarily happy with the concept of Aaron's car. it didn't help that his car is rather high, and that Marcus is somewhat strong willed. If he wants to get somewhere, he'll get there himself. He doesn't want you picking him up and helping him. He was a bit rambunctious today, even after going after 3 walks, so I decided to see if I could get him to jump into my car. My car is lower to the ground, and has more of a "step" for him to push up on. It also is out in the parking lot, and has more space on either side of it.

We've noticed in the past that Marcus can overcome fear by motivation. We'd got him steps to climb up to the couch (which I thought was too high for him to jump on), and he hated them until I blocked his access to me with a table, so the steps were the only option. Then he magically got over it. I didn't want to bribe Marcus with treats to get in my car because he'd gotten a lot at the vet's office (not to mention the big bully stick), so I put him on his leash, lead him to the car, and got inside the back seat. All I had to do was pat the seat once and he was in with me. Then I just slid over and got out the other side. I took him for a slow drive the one mile to the nearest park, and then we ran around on the walking paths like idiots until it started to rain. On the way back I got him up into my car the same way, and he was rewarded with Ice cubes (his favorite treat) when we got home.

I need to go back to the park with Aaron so he can hold the leash and I can take pictures of Marcus out in the wild!

Leaving the Pupster :-(

It's really, really hard leaving that cute little face and going to work every day. No matter how he's feeling, no matter what he's doing, the moment I walk over to him he wants to love me.

I thought before we got Marcus that I'd prepared for absolutely everything that could have gone wrong.I was not prepared for him to come back from his walk with Aaron and to have stuck his face into some nasty plant that made him itch to high heaven. After finding really varying responses online regarding how much Benadryl to give Marcus, we called a friend of ours who got us straightened out. At the same time, I made a vet appointment just in case he happened to get worse.

The Benadryl knocked him out, but it didn't seem to help. He would wake up every ten minutes and scratch the heck out of his face, then fall back asleep. So off to the vet we went. While he wasn't initially that phased by car rides, we'd accidentally scared him regarding the garage (we opened the door after he got in there, and it was very loud, and he ran back into the house), wo we had to carry him into the car. He was fine at the vet's at first, until he heard the other dogs whimpering, and then he started giving me this look like, "What the heck have you brought me here for!?"

Despite being fearful of the exam table (which was too high and too slippery for his tastes), and needing to hide in my armpit, he was surprisingly good with the exam. He didn't whimper or bark even when he got his temperature taken with a rectal thermometer, and he barely even flinched when he was given the cortisone shot. And any fear that he'd had at the vet's was gone the moment he returned home. He was still a bit groggy, and a bit clumsier than usual from the Benadryl, but he still happily played with me when I went over to him, and perked up when we went for our walk.

After all this was said and done, I began to realize how paranoid of a dog mommy I am. I literally watch his every behavioral nuance to see if there's something not right with him. "Oh, he didn't stand up when I came over to pet him, he just lifted his head and put it on my leg. There must be something wrong!" I'm really glad that I got a dog (who seems to be fine with me worrying over his every need), and not a child!