Thanksgiving

I know it's a little late.. but it is here.

Thanksgiving was a day with Charlie that left me with very mixed emotions.

The day started with a bike ride down the gravel road. Just Charlie and me.

About the time we got back to the farm other people were begining to arrive. My Uncle is a big hunting guy and so is my cousin so eventually they started shooting. The great thing is how insensitive they were when they decided to shoot for a little while, wait until Charlie finally started to relax and start again... throughout the entire day.

Well that was one thing I was not thankful for, still, the day was not so bad.





What did I learn? When Charlie is scared he will go to almost anyone. Including my cousin Andrew who was very confused when he started petting Charlie and everyone yelled "No!" He kept petting. Charlie just sat there.

Sarge

Even though it was almost a month ago, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and when it comes you have a great Christmas also!

Fall :)

He look so innocent...
My pictures lie.

Yes, there is a leaf in his mouth!

Is blue a good color for him?
 I might get him a blue collar...

This picture is nothing special but I took it as I was falling down...
I'm sort of proud of myself...

And Practicing... "Come."

Working on "Stay" next to an adorable tree...

Charlie's picture video.

Here's a video I made of pictures of Charlie. I didn't get the song I wanted and I didn't pick out the best pictures, but this is my first attempt. Attempt number 2 will go better. :)

Jessi

P.s. Don't forget to look at the pictures of my friend's adorable kitten in the last post! :)

Kitten Pictures! :)

I know it's been quite a while, but to me seeing pictures of cute little kittens is worth the wait.

First an introduction on the photographed.

Black and white kitten- Tucker, the new cat in the house, the pictures were taken while he was on his second week in the house.

Gray cat with black stripes and wee bit of brown- Mayzie! Also nicknamed by your's truly as CrazieMayzie. She sort of has the same idea sometimes as Charlie when it comes to strangers, but is also bipolar and occasionally loves strangers. Unpredictable, but cute.

Anyways, here are some unedited pictures of the cats:

And here are three that I edited. The one of Mayzie I'm going to be giving my friend (who owns the cats) framed for her birthday in 4 days and I'm still trying to decide which Tucker I am going to give to her. Oh, and there's a picture of her dog Larry also.

:)

ANYWAY

So much has been happening it's crazy ridiculous.

ANYWAY.
 My friends bought me a 20 gallon fish tank for my birthday, though my birthday isn't for another month and 7 days. (mark it on your calender, I expect birthday wishes...) I've been working on it for a while now and currently have a Betta fish (Harley) in there and 6 albino cory catfish (Cosby, Sharon, Howe, Piers, Ellen and scooter). They are so delightful... i'm not crazy. Jaws is still in his own little 5 gallon tank...


ANYWAY.
Still a vegetarian. I'm only at like... 7 weeks, but I'm pretty proud of myself.

ANYWAY

I got to hang out with my cousin's dog Gypsy. I'm not sure if it is a girl or a boy.. They called this dog he and him but... Gypsy a male dog? And to top it off she or he was a pomeranian, so I still don't know... I've known this dog for a couple years.

Maybe I should ask...

ANYWAY.
I also discovered Cashews dipped in Nutella is delicious. So is Nutella on Graham crackers and pretzels. Next i'm trying Nutella on bananas and then i'm going to do Nutella, cashews, pretzels, and banana slices, on a graham cracker.

ANYWAY

Charlie had a playdate with The overweight, insanely friendly Golden Retriever Larry, the chubby shih tzu Maggie, and a couple random pitbulls, one tried to sit on my lap a couple times, he was named Charlie too! :)  Anyways. My friends who had brought their dogs (Larry and Maggie) knicknamed Charlie "The bullet."

I think it's self explanitory.

(People were playing soccer not far away, and a dog was barking at Charlie like he was losing his mind, and a couple cars and bikers went by. Guess who stayed completely focused? I did! Charlie did too!)

Oh, and the star of the show, Charlie (of course), has some big news.

Ready?

Drum roll please...

HE IS STILL INCREDIBLY ADORABLE! :)

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!

Jessi

P.s. Now that I read it, that anyway is extremely obnoxious. oooooooooooooh well.

P.p.s. I will have the pictures I took of my friend's cute little kitten Tucker up pretty soon!

The Secret Frisbee Dog

When The Trainer came over and she asked questions about Charlie, the toys he plays with came up. I told her about our every other day games of fetch with the tennis ball. When she learned how well Charlie retrieved she asked about Frisbees.

Oh no.

A short while after bringing Charlie home I had a frisbee in my hand. As soon as he saw it Charlie charged towards me, jumped up, took the frisbee out of my hand and immediatly started chewing, cracking the plastic in half and leaving me standing there like an idiot. A similar incident happened at the dog park, with somebody else's frisbee. Since Charlie will drop a ball or any other toy, but not a frisbee I concluded that this was unhealthy and mostly, embaressed the heck out of me. There would be no more frisbees for Charlie. I would avoid them at all costs.

So when the trainer brought up frisbees I immediatly said. "No, no frisbees. Never."

So I continued on like that. The Trainer actually said what I was doing was alright, avoiding the situation. Cause I mean, if I avoid it I will never have a problem, right?

But then I started thinking. When we first got Charlie I decided I was going to do a ton of stuff with him, and at first I had no idea what I was doing and everything was going horribly. You should have seen our first attempts at bike rides and rollerblading. If I was watching myself I'm sure I would have laughed my hind end off. Now, though, we can rollerblade and bike with no embaressing incidents. So when I was cleaning out my room and I found a cheap frisbee I thought, why not? Everything I've done with Charlie has changed since those first few months. Why can't he safely play with a frisbee?

So for the past month of so I've been working with Charlie on his frisbee... craziness.

So after lots and lots of work inside on retrieving the frisbee, bringing it back, and dropping it without chewing on it... last night for the fourth time Charlie and I went into our backyard and I threw the frisbee, he ran and caught it, and he brought it back and dropped it at my feet. And I threw it again.

Success!





P.S. My friend got a kitten :)



I am so lazy.

In the summertime I tend to wake up earlier then my friends, so I usually spend that time walking/biking Charlie. I like to bike him up to the dog park and play some fetch or just let him sniff around because nobody is usually there. Then the rest of the day Charlie is relaxed and just lays around the house.

Tomorrow school starts.

I've always wanted to be that person that woke up early before I leave and walked my dog for 30-60mins so that when I came home he is calmer, but let's be realistic here.

I already get up at 6:45 and I feel terrible saying it but... I don't think Charlie's cute little face is enough to get me up before 6:15. I'm lazy.

However, Charlie still does get a walk/run after school. And that dog is the laziest in the world. When I wake up in the morning he lifts his head, adjusts himself so he's more comfortable and goes back to sleep. He doesn't even get up when I leave the house. Sometimes to get him to go potty in the morning I have to lure him outside with treats and occasionally I just pick him up and set him on his feet. For an regularly energetic dog he is difficult on school mornings.

P.S. School starts tomorrow. Oh did I say that already? Maybe if I stop saying it, it wont ever happen...

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.

Charlie has given up all daytime fly hunting, but apparently he does not like to be bugged after bedtime.

Oh, and excuse the mess, I'm getting rid of the dresser in my room so I took out everything and layed it all over my floor.

Well where do you want me to put it mom?

P.S. I just looked up at the first sentence and realized I put "bugged" (insert crazy laughter.)

Okay, it's funnier if you realize it yourselves...

Terribly sorry.

Things I want...

I was in either PetSmart or Petco (we were in both that day, so I forget which it was) two weeks ago with my mother, walking around looking at all of the cool lizards and other small animals I wish I could take home. Unfortunatly, with Charlie and Jaws I've apparently "reached my limit."

As we were looking at them I stated to my mother that at some point in my life I will own a reptile of some sort, because she can't do a thing about it once I move out. In response my mother says "do you ever realize that everything you want to do in life involves an animal in some way?"

I have friends, I swear.

So I decided for the past couple of weeks to keep a list of all the things I suddenly think of that I want to do in my life that I haven't already.

Here is what I came up with:

Skii- Yes I live in North Dakota.

Touch a shark

Hold a ferret
Get a charictature drawn of me.
Own a reptile of some sort.
Stick my hand through a dyson fan.

Pet a sphynx- type of "hairless"cat.

See a Babino- The wiener dogs of cats.

Go to another NHL game- Okay, yes I've done this one but it was like 5 years ago.

Own a cockatiel- I want one very bad.
Write a letter to the editor that actually gets published- i'm working on my first attempt right now.

Own a Great Dane

Adopt a pitbull/pit mix.

Adopt a cat.

Teach a hamster to go through an agility course.

Hold a bunny.

Have a dog who can do agility and Frisbee- Very well.

So I realized that a majority of the things I want do have to do with animals, but I don't want to be known as the "Crazy animal lady." I'd accept "Awesome animal lady.." Is that wrong?

My friends, thankfully, put up with the random animal facts, and even enthusiastically come with me to the humane society to see the kittens or to adoption days at Petsmart to meet the dogs.

But I think I'm going to have to take a step back from everything I want to do and realize that I can't do it all at once or I am going to become overwhelmed. And that wont end well for anybody.

I guess all I'm wondering now is am I alone with a list like this?

P.S.

I just successfully completed day 8 as a vegetarian.

Becoming a Vegetarian.

I've been considering it for a while now. I don't eat a lot of meat especially recently because everytime I look at my plate I think about the animal that once was. I also don't even know where it came from or how the animal was treated.. how can I support something I don't know anything about?


I have trouble eating that.
Seriously.
How cute can one little thing be?



I'm not saying everyone in the world should stop eating meat. I'm not going to go all PETA on you. I really don't care what other people do, I just can't stand it myself.

So I'm becoming a vegetarian.

After I realized this was something I was interested in I did a lot of research and talked to my friend who is also a vegetarian. I found out there are a lot of health benefits so that was definatly a plus.

Of course, I don't do the grocery shopping, my parents do. I will probably have to start grocery shopping with them every week and picking up my own food because I do not expect my family to follow my choice. I also expect to be preparing most of my own meals, and even bringing my own to school (which I was considering anyways because I do not like standing in line and school food sucks. Seriously. worst. food. ever.)

Hopefully I'll be able to stick with it!

P.S. Charlie will continue to eat his dog food, which contains meat. Mostly because I think a vegetarian diet for a dog is insanity. (personal opinion, of course.)

On a night like tonight... and last night... and at least three out of seven days a week it seems when it is storming and Charlie is panting, pacing, drooling, whimpering, and overall stealing my few precious hours of sleep I like to try and think of how lucky I am.

When I was about to bring Charlie home my dad moved everything important to him to a place where Charlie couldn't reach, he hid his shoes, and everytime Charlie walked near a cable my dad was watching his every move. He expected Charlie to chew everything in sight and destroy the furniture as soon as he walked into the house. Charlie has never touched a shoe, cable, or even layed a tooth or paw on the furniture.



This was actually a day I realized how many stuffed animals I
had gotten when I was 10 and still had..
You can see them to the right.
They've been donated since then.



When we brought him home I made sure I could see Charlie at all times because I was positive he was not going to be potty trained and I'd have to clean up everything. He was completely potty trained. The only times he's had accidents were during storms (if I don't let him out right before they happen) and when he got a small case of the runs.



I have a few stuffed animals I've gotten when I was a child and kept including my giant stuffed gorilla, instead of ripping it apart Charlie slept with him. He completely ignores the smaller stuffed animal even though he will take a stuffed dog toy I give him and rip it to shreds in seconds.

Charlie isn't afraid of wheels either like a lot of dogs, which allows us to do so many things together like bike, rollerblade and skateboard, things that a lot of owner can not do.

Charlie LOVES car rides so it is never difficult to bring him on long rides to the lake or farm.

These are just a few of the things I try to remember on a night like tonight, when I am kept awake and in the morning when I am so sleep deprived I have to strain to complete the simplest tasks.

As much as I love to remember the things that make Charlie such a wonderful dog, I hope I can help him get over his storm anxiety a little more and maybe one day I can sleep through the thunder.

P.S. My friend had to drag me out of the humane society when we went to see the kittens and I think I'll be getting a kitten one day.

Keep Reading!

Just wanted to add a tiny ittybitty post about a blog. This blogger is way better at writing then me and can make anything she does sounds like an adventure.

Even though it isn't a dog blog, check out her blog sometime!

Brain Storm


P.S. Oh and don't think because you read this tiny post you can avoid the next one. That's right, keep scrolling.

What do I do with Charlie when I leave?

I had a tournament in the cities this weekend and I just got back tonight. I entrusted my brothers with the one thing in my house that I would grab if my house were to burst into flames. They were taking care of Charlie.

Now my brothers are older then me and have graduated from highschool, but here's the thing. My oldest brother is, in my opinion, extremely irresponsible. If you ask him to do something he might half try and leave. Unfortunatly he is home all of the time. My middle brother is extremely responsible. He will not, in any situation say he will do something if there is the smallest chance he wont be able to do it. When he says he can do something, you can count on him to find a way no matter what. Unfortunatly he does not live at home. Fortunatly, he lives only a 5 minutes away.

So when I found out I was going to be gone for the weekend I immediatly went to my middle brother and asked him to take care of Charlie. He said exactly what he could and could not do and at what time. Fortunatly he could come home at the times I feed Charlie and he would be able to stay to let Charlie out 5-10 minutes later when Charlie has to fertilize the yard. My oldest brother would be letting Charlie out whenever he could... or would.

So Charlie survived the weekend. Sadly it was without walks, rollerblading, biking, running, and skateboarding, but he did get to play some fetch!

Usually this is how my weekends away go, but I always worry about longer trips or trips when my brothers can not stay home. What will I do with Charlie? I can't just drop him off at any kennel or doggie daycare. He might bite one of the workers, then what?

Charlie gets along okay with my grandparents and they can pet him but I don't think my grandparents see how much Charlie is more tolerating them, not really enjoying the company. They do not understand Charlie's body language and they laugh when he growls. I love my grandparents, but I definatly do not want to leave my dog with them. Not that I doubt he wont be well taken care of, I just don't want Charlie to bite my grandmother or grandpa.

I don't even know how Charlie reacts to strangers outside of our property when I am not there.

Another option would be to take Charlie with us, but honestly think this could only end terribly.

I do not see a trip in the near future that would require me to find a place for Charlie to stay, but I still worry about it more often then I should and I have yet to find an answer to this puzzle.

-

While I sit here, still pondering the question of what I will do with Charlie, here is the latest video of that very mutt. Charlie has tried for endless hours to catch this fly, at first jumping up to snatch him the second he saw the little black dot. In this video you can see the fly walking towards Charlie and Charlie just watches him (i'm not sure if you can see his eyes following the fly).

I haven't seen him try to catch any flies since this video.

P.S. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a rescued dog named Gidget.

Thundershirt Storm Night 1

So if you read my last post you know that I got an awesome Betta named Jaws and he is still doing wonderfully. You also would know that I ordered a thundershirt and it arrived and that, amazingly, it fits Charlie perfectly.



So last night was the first night to test it out. I put it on and Charlie just stood there. I had put the thundershirt on previously and it hadn't effected Charlie at all and he was still walking around like usual, but I'm still wondering if he just froze there for a minute because he was uncomfortable, because Charlie only wears clothing when he is about to go outside in the cold weather. (Which is definatly not the weather we are having recently.)

So after that minute of stillness Charlie began to shake again during the big thunder booms, but he was not panting and drooling all over the place like usual and he relaxed enough to lay down between booms, which he normally refuses to do during storms.

I thought it was going pretty well until the tornado sirens went off at 4am and Charlie started panting and pacing and acting as he normally does during storms.

Overall I think the Thundershirt went better then my expectations because I was just expecting an overpriced, too tight, unnecessary article of clothing for my dog that is just another thing to add to the laundry. Because of the subtle change I noticed I plan to try this shirt every thunderstorm for the 45 day trial time and if it gets better I will definatly be keeping it.

P.S. I can not find Kale anywhere in my city.

It's getting frustrating.