Fungible Convictions

I was doing some research this morning on Gatsby’s family tree. It traces all the way back to an Amish industrial town on the Main river: Püp am Main.

Ah, laser pointers. Is there any more entertaining way to mess with your dog?

When we first started playing with the laser pointer, we felt kinda bad, like we were breaking Gatsby’s brain. But then we realized she knows exactly what’s happening and just enjoys the fruitless chase.

My aunt and I have been doing some digging to figure out where exactly in DC this photo of my great-grandparents was taken.

But I’m too easily distracted. In trying to find a match for similar buildings in Google Street View, I came across this gem on a photo of 16th St., NW.

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Really, it’s the guy staring down at the dog poop that makes it for me.

And in case you’re wondering where the “Optimum pooper!” post title comes from…

(And in case that video no longer works, it’s also available here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=117774159573.)

And yet, it’s still more dignified than this:

I’m happy to say the photo at the top, of her under the bed, is a result of being too warm, not of being scared. We’ve been dealing with Gatsby’s socialization with other dogs, specifically that she freaks out, barks, and lunges when she passes dogs on the street. While it’s limited to that—she’s fine with dogs in houses and in parks and off-leash in yards—she’s really uncomfortable on the street.

This afternoon we had a nice breakthrough, courtesy of our friends Jen and Eric and their two Australian shepherds Indigo and Azure. They volunteered to bring their dogs over and have us meet them outside, and after a very brief barking fit, Gatsby calmed down around them. Now, we understand that Gatsby will probably never be the kind of dog that sprints up to other dogs, sniffs, gets into play stance, etc., but with Indigo and Azure as role models, she quickly learned how to be calm around other strange dogs.

We—Jen, Eric, their baby, and our three dogs—walked around the neighborhood, down Mass Ave. to Shepard St. and on to Radcliffe Quad and back, and we came across a total of four dogs. The first one, a small gray guy, started barking at us right away, and Gatsby initially barked back. But in a lesson for all owners, the man walking this dog wasn’t the owner and agreed to stick around for a few minutes while the dogs got used to each other. That’s the key after all: to show dogs that barking doesn’t result in the other dog going away.

Later, walking down Mass Ave., a woman came by with a black labradoodle, and the interaction was completely uneventful! It was the first time ever that Gatsby met a strange dog on our busy local street and simply sniffed and said hi.

Then on Radcliffe Quad, there were two pugs, and the result was the same. They all sauntered over to each other, sniffed, lingered for a minute, and then parted.

So all-in-all, thanks to Jen and Eric! And Azure and Indigo! You helped us and The Gats so much today.

That’s right. It’s me. With big headphones I don’t actually have. And my dog, with a tail she doesn’t have. And we’re playing hopscotch.

When I showed this to Lindsay, she ignored my entertaining lack of talent and, instead, immediately yelled via IM:

WHERE AM I?
you left me out
you drew our dog and left out your wife

So I rectified that:

I may be dumb enough to forget to draw my wife. But I’m not dumb enough to actually try to draw her and let her see it. I mean, did you see how badly I drew myself? I have wooden knees.

(Click photo to see it without blog’s frame style)

Digital photograph made to look hand-developed from film

Film grain effect on photo = slight. 2 grain; 0 highlight area; 1 intensity

Black rectangle one layer down, used for border

Paper = one shade darker than white. 0.2% noise, gaussian, monocromatic

Drop shadow = 40% opacity; 1px distance; 25% spread; 4px size

Photo itself and frame both rotated -0.2% and set off-center

Tested roughing up the edges of the paper but was a little distracting

It’s also incredibly easy to swap in other photos:

Gatsby picked up lying down pretty fast. She still won’t sit or lie down outside—that’s going to take some time, what with the distractions and equation of outside = walking + poop. Outside ≠ work.

But the fact that she learned how to do lie down…and will sometimes do it without an actual treat in my hand…makes us very happy.

(btw, look at that tongue in the first frame of this clip.)

Overall we’re thrilled. She went from knowing nothing a few days ago to know “sit” and “down”. She’s still picky about what treat we have to start with (peanut butter-flavored Zuke’s Mini Naturals), and we’re assuming obedience class this Thursday will be too overwhelming for her to repeat in front of her teacher. But still. Totally cool.

We [heart] our dog.

Lindsay and I took Gatsby to her first obedience training class on Thursday, and the three of us looked like idiots compared to the other owners and dogs. The other dogs must have gone to puppy school as well because they all knew how to sit and lie down—and their training probably went better because THEY’RE NOT SO DAMN PICKY ABOUT TREATS.

We actually had to pull the teacher aside and ask if the class would be a waste of money: if all the other dogs were more advanced, we would understand if she catered the class to them, even if that meant leaving Gatsby behind. I left in a really bad mood. I felt exactly like I did in Physics class when I sat behind a guy who went on to be a scientist at Stanford.

It didn’t help that The Gats was nervous being around so many other dogs for the first time.

But we kept up with the basics the last few days, trying to train ourselves too. Lindsay and I needed practice being consistent with our commands, terminology, and reward-delivery. For example, it should go:

1. “Gatsby.”
2. “Sit.”
3. Butt hits ground
4. “Yes!”+Treat

But too often it comes out as:

1. “Gatsby. Here. Look’it.”
2. “Si’down. Sit, girl. Sit.”
3. Butt possibly hits ground.
4. “Good! Alright! Good girl.”
5. “Andy, grab me a treat.”

Today is the first beautiful day of the season in Cambridge. So the three of us went with our friend Elizabeth to walk around Fresh Pond, which is a big, big dog-walking destination. Gatsby was great. She sniffed butts without barking. She walked without pulling. She even stuck a toe in the water.

We got home about an hour ago and gave her a bath. We dried her off. She shook water everywhere. We stepped back into the hall. And then for kicks, Lindsay said, “Gatsby, sit.”

AND SHE SAT!

Lindsay walked a few steps back and Gatsby followed.

“Gatsby, sit.”

AGAIN.

Then I did it a couple times, and for the third time I had Lindsay record this:

Margie at New England Dog Training Club: we’re aiming to knock your socks off next week!

The last couple weeks with Gatsby have been a little too eventful. Poor kid needed minor surgery to drain an abscess on her paw, and the vet (whose specially is animal dentistry) thought it would be fun (for him) to take out two loose teeth at the same time.

But today the Gats was back to her old self, sprinting down the sidewalk (despite being leashed), dancing and spinning when we walk in the door, and making great faces.

To that point, I finally got around to posting a handful of videos of Gatsby, including this one:

And this one, which, if you like peanut butter, you might not want to watch: