NaBloPoMo: At An End

Well, it is finally here! The END of NaBloPoMo! I enjoyed this little endeavor, but I am also glad to have it over. There were days and nights when I looked forward to writing another post, and just as many days or nights where I was at a loss as to what to blog about. Maybe when this rolls around next year, I will be ready to give it another go, but for the time being, I think I will enjoy going back to my random blogging history.

Caleb DID get to go to Doggy Daycare today, and I managed to get the house decorated for Christmas. I will post pictures of Caleb under the tree soon.

Thanks to everyone who followed me this month while I explored the wonder that is NaBloPoMo. I enjoyed following you, as well! I will not take it personally if I do not hear from you for awhile, as long as you do not take it personal if you do not hear from me for a bit. ;-)

NaBloPoMo: Christmas

When is it time to decorate for Christmas?

I have friends who make it a tradition to decorate the day after Thanksgiving, but that is just too much for me all at once. I mean, I am still in a turkey coma, and you want me to start thinking about Christmas? No thanks.

Last year, I waited until a week or so before, and that seemed a little too late.

I have one more day off, I'm considering doing it tomorrow; but then the question becomes: what to do with Caleb? Between going in a out to put lights up outside, opening all the doors a hundred times with various boxes of things, and trying to get the tree and ornaments up, I think I would rather he be elsewhere.

Maybe there is a trip to Doggy Daycare in the future for Mr. Caleb.

NaBloPoMo: The Bed Wars Continue

Today, Boyfriend, Caleb, and I piled in the car to head to Boyfriend's house to wait on a new mattress delivery. The delivery folks said they would be out between nine and noon, so I was desperately trying to light a fire under Boyfriend (who was with me at my house) to hurry up and get ready so we could be at his place, about 30-45 minute drive from where I live, right at nine.

As is frequently the case, this did not happen.

At 9:10, we were still 20 minutes away from his house and halfway through the "The delivery guys never show up on time" spiel from Boyfriend when they called to announce that they were on their way, and they would be there in half a hour.

I will have you know, I did not utter the dreaded phrase "I told you so". Points to me!

Even though we thought that we would just make it, they still beat us there, and had the back of the truck open and were standing around looking confused at why nobody was there. Boyfriend jumped out to let them know we were there, and I kept Caleb occupied while they were traipsing up and down the stairs.

Once the bed was delivered and the old mattress hauled out, we decided the place was in need of a good scrubbing, so we scrubbed and Caleb followed us around supervising until it was time for lunch. We decided we needed a pizza.

I should note that at this point, the mattress was on the bed, but there were no covers on it yet because the thing STANK to high heaven. I hate new mattress / new carpet / new furniture smell, so I had every window open trying to air it out. When we left, though, we decided to keep Caleb in his bedroom, because we don't have an area cordoned off with baby gates yet in his living room.

We had pizza and ran a few errands and did not really think about it until we were walking back up the first flight of stairs when Boyfriend said, "I'll bet he's on the brand new bed". So we initiated ultra sneaky mode, and tiptoed up the rest of the stairs to the bedroom, then flung open the bedroom door...

To find Caleb passed out in the middle of the brand new bed with no covers on it.

I guess with all the corgi hair, the new bed can consider itself initiated into the family. I think Boyfriend has realized that he is fighting a losing battle when it comes to Caleb and beds, and just sort of shook his head and mumbled, "I knew it!"

NaBloPoMo: Dog Park Dreams - Delayed

We had grand plans, this morning, of avoiding all shopping centers / stores / places where angry mobs may be and instead enjoy some quality time at the dog park near Boyfriend's house...

But then we woke up to the rain.

We thought maybe it had just rained overnight, and that it would dry up soon enough, but no. It started raining right after we got in from our walk.

So we played fetch in the house with his stuffed piggy, pulled Caleb's favorite neon green squeaky ball from underneath the couch so he could play with that for awhile, and tried to tire him out that way.

I guess it worked, he is snoring behind my chair. We will try to make it to the dog park tomorrow, as long as it stops raining, I can deal with the mud.

I think.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving, everyone!

NaBloPoMo: Cranberry Stealing Corgi

I was in the kitchen this evening, preparing the cranberry sauce for tomorrow, when I hear boyfriend pipe up from the living room and say, "I don't think Caleb can decide whether or not he likes that cranberry you gave him."

"What?!?!?! I didn't give him a cranberry!"

I ran into the living room to get it back, but Caleb knew I was coming, and quickly decided that he DID like the cranberry, and that he would scarf if down before I could get it back.

I guess I lost a cranberry in the rinsing process. Caleb, being such a good little helper, found it for me.

The world's most finicky Corgi eats whole, fresh cranberries.

Crazy dog.


Happy Day Before Thanksgiving, friends!

NaBloPoMo: A Couple of Hams!

In preparation for this years significantly toned down Thanksgiving festivities at my Mother's house, it was my job to acquire a small ham from the Honeybaked Ham Store. Since I hate traffic and crowds I decided to sneak out of work for about half an hour today to pick it up in the middle of the day and avoid both. This plan worked great; I got the ham, got back to the office, and found a place in one of the refrigerators to hide it.

Then I got back to the office and realized my error. I brought Caleb to work with me. This meant, come closing time, I would have to finagle my laptop, giant purse, honeybaked ham, and ham-loving Corgi into my itty bitty truck. Oh, my head.

It took a bit of doing, but I was ultimately successful in getting everything in the truck. I was mostly successful in keeping Caleb out of the ham. He had his head in the bag for most of the ride home, but it was wrapped well enough that all he could do was sniff...and sniff he did! I think he may have been trying to inhale the ham, in its entirety. Not that I can blame the poor guy, I love ham, too.

Just a few more days, Caleb. We just have to leave the ham alone for a few more days.

NaBloPoMo: God and Dog

NaBloPoMo: Royalty

I love this photo. He looks so majestic, I can imagine a tiny corgi sized crown right between those glorious ears of his. I can definitely see why Corgis are the dogs of royalty, they certainly have the attitude for it.

NaBloPoMo: Awaiting my Call From Wellness...

Dear Wellness,

I really cannot stop saying good things about your products. Yesterday I found yet ANOTHER flavor of Wellness treats that Caleb-the-unusually-picky-Corgi will eat! HOORAY! This is truly a Nearly Thanksgiving/Not Quite Christmas Miracle.

Perhaps you have noticed I have a blog. It is quite popular you see, and I plan on celebrating in much the same way Kelly of Corgi Butts did when I hit my next milestone of 100 10 followers.

Perhaps you have also noticed the overall lack of advertising on my blog? That is because I am waiting for you, my dear Wellness corporation, to call/write/email/smoke signal/carrier pigeon me an offer to trade my AWESOMELY FANTASTIC ADVERTISING SPACE for free Wellness dog food.

Because, really, your food is expensive. I mean, really. All of the wellness canned food / yummy treats that I bought for my Beloved Corgi last night fit in one regular sized plastic bag, and it cost me 50 bucks.

5-0. Fiddy. Half a Benjamin. Or, if you will, one Grant.

I eagerly await your offer, Wellness, because at this rate I may have to start selling organs on the black market to put dinner in the bowl, if you will.

Or I will just keep whining and shelling out the money, because I am a sucker and Caleb has me wrapped around his picky, picky little paw. One of the two.

Warmest Regards,

Julie

NaBloPoMo: Standing Post

Caleb is still adjusting to our new office, but it looks like he has chosen his new post:

As you can see:

1. Nobody can enter or exit the office without acknowledging the Corgi.
2. I cannot move more than one or two inches backwards without running over the Corgi (Note the arm of my desk chair in the bottom right corner of the picture).
3. His nose is strategically placed though the gate to catch the first whiffs of any dogs passing by.

Oh, and that extra large, super comfy dog bed that I had to frantically rearrange the office while my office mate was out just so it would fit...lies empty. Of course.

NaBloPoMo: Ooooh! A Contest! And My Blog Post For Today!

I am still not feeling so great, but I am determined to do this whole NaBloPoMo thing if it kills me. Imagine my surprise, then, when I checked my dashboard and discovered MY ENTRY FOR TODAY HAD WRITTEN ITSELF! Oh thank you, Lord!

So...Kelly at Corgi Butts is having another awesome contest to celebrate having 100 FOLLOWERS! How impressive is that? See never seems to run out of neat ideas AND she has 100 followers. She is our blogging hero (Yes, this would be the shameless schmoozing portion of the blog...I could really use an awesome custom blog header)!

Now, go to her blog and check it out! I am going back to bed.

NaBloPoMo: I Do Not Run, I CHASE

I am not feeling so great, although thankfully I think it is turning out to be a mild whatever-it-is, and I do not have a fever, so it looks like I can rule H1N1 out. Which is fantastic, although I have to admit I was having fantasies of walking into work coughing and hacking and oinking, just to see if people would run screaming in the other direction. I know, I know, evil. I managed to keep my sarcasm to myself this morning and am just hiding in my office waiting for my meetings to be over, so I can go home.

Boyfriend was around this morning, and was kind enough to take Caleb out for his morning walk, although "Mr. I Run Marathons" decided to mix it up a bit and run with him this morning instead. When they got back he said he could not understand why Caleb looked miserable the entire time and did not keep up a constant pace, even though Boyfriend was jogging very slowly for the sake of his small legs.

I realized he had yet to learn what Caleb taught me a year or so ago, so I laid it out for him. Caleb is crazy fast, much faster than you would expect for someone with stubby little legs. But he does not run for the sake of running. He chases. He does not even seem to mind if he catches, he just wants to chase. So running for the sake of cardiovascular health is not going to be his idea of a good time. It is why I gave up long ago having Caleb for a jogging partner. To get him to do it and enjoy it, I have to coax and flap my arms and yell for him to catch me...the entire time I am trying to run. Which is exhausting...and makes me look crazy.

Now that Caleb has Boyfriend on the same page, I expect they will go back to the normal routine of brisk walking and lots of sniffing. Although, Boyfriend running down the street flapping his arms and yelling for Caleb to catch him DOES make a funny mental image. Hehehehehe.

NaBloPoMo: New Friends at Work!

Caleb is meeting all sorts of new friends at work! The building we are in is one in a set of three, a few blocks away from our main campus, so we are sort of like an island to ourselves. Well, this island is turning out to be DOG ISLAND! I've seen more dogs in the past two days than in the previous six months at my old building! Hooray! There is even an awesome Aussie Shepherd a few offices down from us. He came over to say hello and massive play time, bitey face, roll on the ground fun ensued. It's so nice to have another herding dog so close by, especially since his owner is also very awesome and really seems to understand how our dogs play and interact. It is great not to have to keep repeating, "He is a herding dog, and he plays by chasing, he is not trying to eat your frou frou dog, honest".

NaBloPoMo: Caleb is Back at Work

Hooray, it is official; Caleb is back to work with me in our new office! I did not think it was possible to have a smaller office than the one I had before, but it turns out that it is! At the rate my offices are shrinking, the powers at be will be shoving me and Caleb in a phone booth, before long. Which is still better than a cubicle, let me just say.

I even managed to snap a halfway decent picture of my camera shy furry child from my iphone in our new office! I sure hope bribing him with the last bit of my tuna melt sandwich will not come back to bite me later...

NaBloPoMo: SQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAK!

What is about dogs and the squeaky ball?!?!? Here I am, trying to spend a lazy Sunday morning reading the newspaper and playing computer games, and Caleb decides he needs the neon green squeaky ball that is currently hiding under the couch. So I get him the neon green squeaky ball.

He promptly rolls it underneath the entertainment center. So I retrieve it from the grips of the entertainment center and throw a blanket on the floor, so he cannot get it stuck under there anymore.

Caleb rolls it back under the couch. I repeat the same procedure involving retrieving and blankets, and go back to my computer.

So Caleb rolls it under the rocking chair.

Really, Caleb?

So after half an hour of crawling around on the floor retriving the now slimy neon green squeaky ball, getting covered in dog hair, and shoving blankets in every conceivable nook and cranny in the living room...Caleb decides he is bored and curls up behind the rocking chair for a nap.

I really should not complain, he usually saves the neon green squeaky ball antics for when I get on the phone to my mother. *sigh*

NaBloPoMo: Holiday Picture Time!

Today I took Caleb to Downtown Dogs to get his holiday portraits taken. As much as I love to take pictures of His Furriness, His furriness does NOT like the camera flash. Consequently, I have many, many pictures of the side of his head, and of his disapproving "Not the camera AGAIN" look. The great thing about Jen and all her awesome photography gear is that none of her lighting flashes, so Caleb is a much better sport for her sessions. She is also awesome in that she can make a cacophony of noises which dogs find fascinating. Caleb is pretty easy though, all you have to do is ask him if he wants to go for a walk, and he looks right at you and the ears perk up and she can snap away.

I should hear from her in a week or so, I can hardly wait!

NaBloPoMo: Friday the 13th!

...and nothing interesting happened today.

Not that I am even remotely inclined to believe in such things, but hey, I need a blog title.

In other news, Boyfriend and I are discussing the possibility of adding a SECOND CORGI to the insanity! I want three dogs in total, and one of them has to be a German Shepherd. He, unfortunately, is going to have to wait until I get a yard, but with it looking more and more like I will be moving in with Boyfriend within the next couple of months or so when my lease runs out, he ever so coyly brought it to my attention that the couple hundred extra square feet his place has over mine could be put to good use with the addition of a second Corgi! AGREED!

This time, however, he wanted some input on the name. Which is fair enough, last time I came home and announced I was rescuing a corgi, and his name was going to be Caleb. This time, I figure we can at least discuss the matter.

So, after much discussion we are thinking 'Riley'! We both love the movie National Treasure, and Riley Poole (Played by Justin Bartha) is one of my favorite characters. In the movie, Riley is the goofball sidekick, and just kind of reminds me of a corgi.

We shall have to wait and see whether we wait until I move in with Boyfriend to find another rescue corgi, or I jump the gun and start looking RIGHTNOW.

Gosh, which one do you think it will be?

NaBloPoMo: Where Are You, Interwebs?

I do not tend to branch out of the realm of things related to Caleb and my interactions with him on this blog, but today is going to be an exception.

Because I am two steps away from being paranoid enough to don the tin foil hat, I do not talk about my personal life, work, or friends and family by name here, but you sort of need to understand the environment in which I work for this to make sense.

So, without naming names, I work for a company wherein we work on and are connected to the interwebs at all time via our laptops. We are so in love with our connection the the interwebs that we even drag them along in bags and backpacks to conferences, like the one we went to yesterday, that was held in a hotel in a nearby city.

I will admit that the company I work for is usually fantastic at thinking everything through down to the last detail, which is why I CANNOT help but think this was not an oversight, but rather completely and utterly intentional. Which would have been fine, had they sent out an email saying something to the effect of, "HEY! We actually want you to pay attention to these people who love to hear themselves talk and not tune them out while you read emails, do work, or (not that I ever do this) play Farmville on Facebook, so leave your machines at home, because, we're turning off the wireless Internet access.

Alas, no such email was composed. So I, and everyone else, schlepped our laptops to this painfully long and boring conference only to the discover that the interwebs would elude us this day. GRR. I had crops to harvest, too.

But fear not, because I actually learned something very important, nearing on life changing, because of this lack of interwebs:

I learned my iphone will let me play Toy Story Mania for eight whole hours before the batteries die!

More awesome Caleb adventures tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo: Whose Side of the Bed?

Boyfriend and Caleb had an interesting interaction, tonight. When Boyfriend is not around, Caleb sleeps on his side of the bed. Caleb is not a cuddle bug, and usually sleeps just out of arms reach, in case I get any bright ideas to sneak in a cuddle. He also wanders during the night, and almost never stays on the bed longer than a couple of hours.

Tonight, I decided it was time to go to bed and read for a couple hours, and Caleb decided to help, so he jumped up on the bed and made himself comfortable. About a half an hour later, Boyfriend came in to see what I was doing, and saw Caleb on the bed. He told him to move so he could take over pestering me for attention while I was trying to read, and Caleb ignored him. Thinking he would be cute, he said, "Fine, I'm just going to sleep right here then," and promptly scooted in the middle of the bed and started scooting closer and closer to Caleb.

Caleb would not move.

Boyfriend decided to scoot right up next to him, so that there was actual Boyfriend to Corgi contact.

Caleb would not move.

Boyfriend threw one arm around Caleb's body and put his other arm under his head in what can only be described as a full on cuddle...

Caleb would not move.

At this point, I had to stop reading to watch this standoff unfold. Boyfriend did not move. Caleb did not move. I laughed. Boyfriend elbowed me and whispered: "I think he's cuddling!" Caleb did not move. I took pictures. The standoff continued for a few minutes.

Finally Boyfriend gave up, muttering something along the lines, "You win this one, Caleb" and slunk off to play more video games.

I swear, I saw Caleb smirk.

NaBloPoMo: Caleb and the Case of the Misleading Scale

We had to stop by the Vet's office yesterday morning to get Caleb's Bordetella vaccine; his Daycare is appropriately strict about keeping everyone vaccinated and they will begin to hound you starting a month before it is actually due. So, I figured the sooner we got it taken care of, the sooner I would stop receiving ominous little red pieces of paper warning me of the imminent lapse in vaccination coverage.

While waiting for the Vet Tech, I decided to poke His Furriness on the scale to weigh him. Six months ago, he was at 24.5 pounds, and I was nervous about giving him the 25 - 50 pound dose of heartworm meds. Once they explained that it would not be over medicating him, I was fine with it, and he is on it currently, but I was still curous to see if he'd gained or lost any weight.

The scale said 28.4 pounds!!

I thought my head was going to explode. There is no way Caleb is that heavy. He gained 2.5 pounds in an entire year from when I first got him to six months ago (Which he needed, 22 pounds was too skinny for him), there is no way he suddenly packed on the pounds with no changes in meal portion, number of treats, or amount of exercise! I was tryng to think up a rational explanation for this when I looked back at the scale, and realized that it was vascilating between 1 and 1.5 pounds, WITH NOTHING ON IT.

*Whew*

If their scale can be off by that much, it is probably off by more, so now I am trying to think of another way to more accurately weigh Caleb. I'm wondering if the Humane Society we went to last week to get Caleb microchipped has a scale out front in their lobby. I did not notice one, but then I was busy worrying about Caleb, not taking in the scenery.

NaBloPoMo: Doggy Daycare!

Doggy Daycare is really the best thing since sliced bread! I never thought I would say that, or that I would become one of those dog obsessed folks who take their dog to doggy daycare, and yet here I am...with a dog blog, no less!

Caleb went to daycare all day today, and was asleep before I even got on the freeway to go home! He even went to bed without me, which almost never happens! I had to get up and look for him around 8pm when I realized he was not in any of his usual living room spots. I found him in my bedroom curled up on his pillow asleep in the dark. I guess he has a busy day!

I was sorely temped to snap a picture of him passed out on his pillow, but I just could not bring myself to disturb his slumber.

At least I know that I will not be assaulted the second I walk in the door tomorrow after work by a crazed corgi. If he rolls over to look in my general direction this evening, I'll be amazed.

Five days and counting until I move to the new building and can bring Caleb back to work with me!

Nablopomo: Contextual Learning, or Teenage Antics

My mother looooves Caleb.

Caleb walks all over my mother, literally and metaphorically.

When I travel and Caleb stays with her, I get updates on the new culinary experiences she has allowed my puppy. Waffles ('Just a bite!'), Avocado ('I wondered if he had ever had one!'), Salad ('He looked like he wanted it...I think he just wanted the Ranch Dressing!'), the list goes on and on. He has even picked up a bad habit or two from her Boxer/Mastiff mix, Scout (Scout taught him how to sit in the kitchen next to the counter with the puppy biscuits on it and look pitiful until someone offers him one, *sigh*.)! What about good manners, you ask? Forget it, at Grandma's house, we don't need no stinkin' manners!

This afternoon I got one of the best examples of contextual learning I have ever seen. My Mom came over to play with him and he was hysterical to see her, as always. I took some treats out of his treat jar and put them on the coffee table, so I reward him for NOT dancing all over Mom when she sat down on the couch (an effort made much harder when she obviously enjoys being danced on). Caleb was in between us on the couch when he realized there were treats on the table.

Normally, he does not have to think twice, when he sees something on the coffee table he wants, he looks at me and gives me a nice down. But I soon realized we were not in the context of, 'I am at home, where we have rules and regulations for how everything is done around here', he was in full 'GRANDMA MODE', which basically means help yourself and look cute doing it, and you are safe.

Caleb jumped off of the couch put his front paws on the coffee table, and snatched up the treats. Three things happened in quick succession: My mother burst out laughing so hard I thought she was going to break something, Caleb realized he had committed two major NO-NOs in my presence and started running, and I shot off the couch to catch him and retrieve the treats that were not given to him. I was on him so quick I do not think he realized what was happening until it dawned on him that I was holding the soggy treats that were once in his mouth.

My Mom joked that it must be his teenage rebellion acting up, but I was quite sure it was because he was in GRANDMA MODE and thought he could get away with it. It is interesting because this is the first time the context was so clearly a person, not a place. For example, he always performs his obedience tricks MUCH better when we are at Downtown dogs, he has learned that in the DD training room, he has to settle down and get to work. He is always hysterical when we go to DD in the morning and head for the playroom door, because he knows he gets to PLAY CHASE, HIS MOST FAVORITE GAME EVER all day long. When we get to my office, it is time to chill out and wait for my coworkers to show up to pay homage to the furry one, rather than run around the office like a loon.

It is also interesting that he thought GRANDMA MODE trumped the normal rules associated with being at home, in my presence. If my dog goes this crazy when Grandma is around, what is this woman going to do to any human offspring that come along in the (distant, not-any-time-soon, so do not get your hopes up, Mother) future?

NaBloPoMo: My Garden Does Not Stand A Chance

I live in an apartment. This is not ideal for a number of reasons, the most important one being I want a backyard for Caleb; the second most important reason being I like plants and would actually enjoy putting them into the ground, rather than in pots.

But then, there is this to consider:




Apparently my apartment complex shares the space with an number of interesting smelling creatures that live underground. Caleb would like to visit with them...by any means necessary.

My future backyard garden does not stand a chance.

NaBloPoMo: Thank You For What You Do

Can I tell you a secret?

Shelters break my heart. I mean, I am sure they do to most people, right? But it is different for me. I walk in one and it feels like I cannot breathe. I tear up. All I want to do is take them all home, right now, so they will be wanted. The lost and the unwanted have a special place in my heart, and an animal shelter is the epitome of such. They make me feel overwhelmed and hopeless. They make me squall. I avoid them like the plague.

It really is a bit ridiculous; the shelters in my area are great, there is even a brand new state of the art shelter seven minutes from my house! But it does not mater how great the place looks, I know some of those dogs and cats will die, for no other reason than they are unwanted, and that makes me lose it.

So I adopted Caleb from a rescue organization, and successfully avoided anything even remotely close to a shelter.

For the past year, I have also successfully avoided getting him licensed and microchipped, because doing both requires not one but TWO trips to two separate animal shelters. The Animal Services Center that is responsible for licensing is also a shelter, and the best place to get him microchipped is the new animal shelter right by my house.

It has been bothering me for awhile, not having Caleb microchipped and licensed, not to mention incredibly hypocritical (I mean, I blog about minor celebrities giving up their dogs like they have committed murder, and Caleb has no microchip? Eeesh...). So I decided today would be the day. It took an hour and a half between driving back and forth from one end of town to the other, and the trip to the Animal Services Center nearly sent me into hysterics when I watched the shelter employees turn away a stray dog that two boys brought in because it was too sick, but I got Caleb licensed with the county and microchipped.

I tell you all that, to tell you this: If you work or volunteer in a shelter or for a vet: Thank you. Thank you for doing something that would reduce me to a blubbering idiot in the corner. Thank you for taking the precious time to make the lost and the unwanted feel wanted, if only briefly, something I would give anything to be able to do myself. 'Thank you' is not adequate enough to convey to you how much I appreciate what you do.

On the way out of the shelter with my newly chipped corgi in tow, I did the only thing I could do, donated the rest of the cash in my wallet. I pray that my small donation will help to make the work that I cannot do a little easier for the amazing people who do.

NaBloPoMo: Target Locked On

This was taken last Saturday at the Corgi meetup in Mountain View. There were not many non-Corgis on the little dog side, and the ones that ventured into the chaos did not stay long.

I cannot imagine why.

NaBloPoMo: Rollover and Such

Since I have not been the greatest on differentiating between 'drop it' and 'give' with Caleb, and a lot of the tricks I am really excited to get started on in 101 Dog Tricks build on, or at least combine, one or the other, I thought I would warm up with a few tricks that we have a better grasp of.

So we started with sit, down, place, shake, paw, and rollover. All of which he did very well on, so I thought I would start introducing the trick 'bang' (play dead). At first, I thought this would be a piece of cake, since he spends half of his life on his back with his paws in the air, and already knows rollover. What could be so hard about getting him to stop mid roll, right?

Well now.

It took all of about three minutes for Caleb to get frustrated with me and stomp off. Luring did not work because he thought he knew what I was asking and just rolled over and then pouted at me when I would not hand over the treat. The book suggests stopping him with a hand on his midsection if he tends to roll all the way over, which sounds easy enough, but for some reason I just could not keep the treats and clicker ready in one hand and guide him with the other. I think maybe I need to work without the clicker until he gets a vague idea of what I am asking him to do, so I no longer need to keep my hand on his midsection. I really like using the clicker, though. I need to mull this one over a bit more.

I did manage to get Caleb to come back and we reworked the tricks he is consistently successful at, so as to end it on a fun and happy note. Then we ended our little session with a nice game of chase the laser pointer. At least I got that part right. :-)

On a side note, I found out today that Caleb will be able to come back to work with me by the end of the week!! The short version of the story is this: The company I work for is very dog friendly and owns many of the buildings we work in, but they also lease space in other buildings that are owned by other entities. I work in one of the leased buildings, and last week we got an email stating that due to a dog related incident, dogs we no longer allowed in my building effective immediately! There are only a handful of employees who regularly bring their dogs in, and we all know each other. So immediately we got together to try and figure out what happened. We all decided that whatever happened, it did not involve any of us (As we would have been informed by HR that our dog was no longer welcome at work - if they knew who the culprit was). It took me the whole week, but I finally found someone who knew what had happened. Apparently, someone walked into a conference room and found a large pile of fresh dog poop, with no dog or owner in sight. This means one of two things, either the dog was being allowed to roam (which does happen, but is very rare) and found an unused conference room to do his business, and the owner never realized that an accident had occurred, or much worse, the owner knew their dog had pooped in the conference room, and for some unfathomable reason, did not clean it up. Whichever it was, they ruined it for all of us. To make matters worse, we are all sure it was someone who does not bring their dog in regularly, because, and I'm sorry there is no delicate way to say this, it was a big dog poop, and all of the regular office dogs in this building are small to medium sized (Caleb is the biggest at 26.5 pounds). The dog ban is still in effect in that building, but I found out today that my team is moving to a different, company owned, building!! We move on Friday, so Caleb will be back to work next Monday! Hallelujah!

On yet another side note, I manged to get my html badge on the side of my blog where it belongs! Hooray!

NaBloPoMo: 101 Dog Tricks!

Well, I may not have figured out how to get the HTML Badge into a gadget on the side of my profile, but I may have a theme for this month: 101 Dog Tricks!

I could not help myself; a couple of the blogs I follow mentioned buying this book to work on tricks with their dogs, so I decided I needed to give it a shot as well. Especially since Caleb has not been able to come to work with me lately (I think that will be a post for another time, but suffice it to say we are both having a tough time with the transition) and he can use all the mental stimulation he can get right now.

The book came in the mail this evening, and I had admittedly forgotten that I had ordered it until I noticed the package on the table. In reading the first couple of chapters, one thing is abundantly clear: We need to re-learn "drop it" and "give". I had been using the two interchangeably, and to do the kind of tricks she is teaching, we need to be solid on the differences between the two, and we are most certainly not. Corgi Momma Fail #764 (But who is counting, right?).

So, you can look forward to reading about the trials and tribulations of trying to learn the difference between "drop it" and "give"....and maybe by the end of the month we will have learned a new trick or two.

One can hope, right?

NaBloPoMo: Well, that did not take long, now did it?

By day two, I've managed to mess something up. I guess I hit save, rather than post last night...

*sigh*

But at least I found a nifty NaBloPoMo button! We shall see whether I ever manage to get it over to the side of my blog, where it belongs.

Oh, and I see that Betty is also doing NaBloPoMo! Yay, Betty! You will have to stick around for another month! I am relieved!

NaBloPoMo? Oh No!

When I started this blog it was really just to have another medium to gush about my adventures with, lessons from, and complete love for Caleb, because I was starting to think that if I did not tone down the madness, my friends and family were going to have me committed. As it turns out, the vast majority of the population within my vicinity does not, in fact, need hourly Caleb updates (Who knew?). So, I went in search of like minded folks and found them on Mycorgi.com and later on Blogger.

For months, I poured out my soul without ever publishing my blog, and secretly followed blogs related to all things corgi. Just knowing you were out there made me feel less crazy.

Then to celebrate Caleb's one year with me in San Jose, I decided to do a countdown to the anniversary, and was so excited about it, I posted a quick blurb on MyCorgi.com letting folks know about my little blog.

That was the beginning of the end. In a good way.

I am not going to admit how many blogs I follow daily, but I will tell you, I have met so many wonderful people and puppies through your blogs, I feel honored to share in your adventures with them. Thank you, my fellow dog lovers, for sharing your stories and hearts with me, and giving me the courage to do the same. I enjoy it so much, I have decided to participate in NaBloPoMo. One blog a day is definitely going to be stretching it for me, not because I run out of things to say, but because I seem to lack the ability to write concise blogs and I do not want to scare away the handful of faithful readers I have! Ha, ha!

So, here's the official first entry for NaBloPoMo! I promise I will try my very hardest not to write a novel every day, and if you are one of my faithful readers who comment all the time (First of all, corgi kisses to you!), please do not feel obliged to comment on my daily rants; I know you're out there, honest!