Training Humans

My Moomie gets SO mixed up! She's old you know, but is that really an excuse? She should be better at following instructions by her age. Do other doggies have trouble training their humans? It's been horrible weather here in Michigan today and my feet got cold. When that happened me's needed to warm them up on Moomie's belly, but when Levi---ever so politely---barked my request to Moomie, she put me outside where my feet get even colder! That happened five or six time. FINALLY, me's got her to understand that Levi needed to sleep on her lap while she did her computer work.

After awhile me's warmed up and decided to play with Mr. Froggie, my new buddy. Did you hear what happened to him? His arm accidentally got caught in my mouth and Levi had to chewed it in half. Moomie sewed him back together but his arm got shorter and put on backward. Why did she do that? Now me's have to chew it off again so she can get it on right
side up.

Levi did make some progress training Moomie, though. Every since my pawrents adopted me we've been having this back and forth argument about where my daytime bed belongs. Moomie wanted in the kitchen next to her computer desk but me would drag it into the living room a million times a day and park it in front of the deck door where there is a great view of the bird feeder. FINALLY, after five months of this Moomie got trained to leave my daybed in the living room. Me's nearly cheered out loud when she told Daady last week that she's going to buy me another daybed for the kitchen. Oh, and those branding irons and old cowboy boots of my daady's---they got moved. Something was said about chewing or knocking things over and hurting myself so Levi now has that sunny corner by the desk all to my self.

.

Gold Stars for Good Puppies

Anyone there? Levi has some news. Me's got a new gold star on my 'Good Boy' chart. Well, me don't really HAVE a chart but Moomie pretends that Levi does and she just added a shiny pretend star for OUTSTANDING big boy behavior!

Every since Levi came to live with Moomie and Daady me's been practicing, practicing, practicing like a fire drill in case Daady would fall on the floor. He can't walk, you know. Me didn't really know what that meant to "fall on the floor" but me figured it must hurt like when me rolls off the couch by accident. Anyway, we kept drilling for me to sit-stay out of the 'fall zone' every time Daady transfers in or out of his wheelchair.

Yesterday it happened. Daady fell while trying to sit on his shower bench. It happened so fast! He hit his head and was moaning and acting kind of scary. Moomie was acting all scary, too, checking for blood and trying to pull Daady by the feet so his head could get away from the shower wall. Then she put a pillow under his head and made a telephone call. All this time me was the perfect little schnauzer, still sit-staying out of the fall zone which is right along side of the wheelchair, real close-like to the brake lever should you ever have to learn to do it.

Finally, Moomie scooped me up and put me in the kitchen behind the baby gate. Me's didn't even let out a peep then or when a noisy truck roared up to the house and two guys came inside. Five minutes later two MORE guys came in. Me could hear them all asking Moomie and Daady questions. Daady can't talk much---just one word at a time---but when he said, "Gas" Moomie said, "He fine now. When he starts giving tours of the artwork, he's fine." (The bathroom is decorated with photos of old gas pumps that Daady used to collection.)

Then at night another bad thing happened. The lights went out and they stayed out for four hours. It was getting really cold in the house, too, and me didn't even fight Moomie when she put a winter coat on me. Daady didn't fight when she made him go to bed early either. Poor Moomie. She had quite a time getting Daady out of his electric La-Z-Boy in the dark. She was holding a flashlight in her mouth trying to put the back-up batteries in a thingie. Earlier she had hooked my flashing light on my collar and a clip-on light on Daady's shirt until she got us both where she wanted us to stay until the lights came back on. Moomie said to pretend we're all camping. Me doesn't know what camping is but me's don't think Levi would like it. Anyway, me's got another gold star but it was kind of dumb to get that second one just for not getting lost in the dark. Moomie doesn't seem to know that we doggies can see in the dark. ©

Smell ya later,

Love Levi

.

Busy Little Boy

The windowsills at our house are all very low, only eighteen inches off the floor plus there are three doors with glass panels that are even lower to the floor. A fourth door is solid and it goes to the garage and to a service door that leads to the deck and dog yard. Mom always uses that solid door to take Levi outside.

These past two weeks of house breaking nirvana Levi figured out the best way to tell Mom he has to go outside is to scratch on one of the three glass paneled doors. From her computer wardrobe in the kitchen she can see two of those doors and hear him at the third so it wasn't such a bad plan for my baby brother to devise for himself. Between Mom keeping him on a schedule that fits with Mom and Dad's life style and Levi finally figuring out how to talk to Mom about his bodily urges I'm giving them both A+'s and declaring they can move to the next hurdle in growing Levi into a great furry kid.

Next on the puppy breaking list is biting or grabbing at anything that remotely moves. Bathrobes that flow behind Mom as she walks, Dad's pants as he tries to put them on---you name it, if it's an article of clothing Levi wants it in his mouth. Our dad is right side paralyzed but getting him self dressed is something he learned to accomplish a long time ago. Even so, it's a long process and thus enters Levi to make it even longer. Levi pulls on socks and pant legs as Dad tries one-handed to thread them in place. Mom hears Dad laughing from the bedroom and when he gets to the part where he says one of the few words in his vocabulary---"shit"---Mom goes in to rescue Dad and give Levi a puppy approved toy to chew.

When I was on earth, I had a thing for socks, too. I stole Mom's whenever I could and would take them all through the house. After Dad's stroke I never, ever took dad's socks again even though he always leaves them on the floor. Levi hasn't learned to respect Dad's uniqueness and limitations yet. His dad comes with wheels---doesn't everyone's, he thinks. So along with the regular puppy training stuff, Levi has extra stuff to learn but he's up for challenge. He's a smart little bugger, even if he did cause Mom to 'redecorate' the place now that he's learned how to snatch things off the table tops. Out of the deck he even manages to get himself in trouble. He tries to help with dead heading the flowers only he hasn't got the part about 'dead' right yet and picks the pretty ones instead. But what's really going to get Mom shaking her head is when she figures out that Levi took a snail ceramic off one of the windowsills and "buried" it in the guest bathroom. He's a busy little boy. ©