Friday, April 30, 2004




Mojo had a bath today. He was getting a bit ratty, and it was perfect timing.

As usual, he was a trooper. Shampoo #3 really does make a difference, but it makes the hair on his face too puffy, which makes him look funny...you can see for yourself.







Mojo got his anal glands evacuated today. Yeech.

We got our health certificate for travel. It's good for 30 days, not 10, as we thought. He also got his rabies shot, which is good for dogs three months and over. He's 6 lbs 7 oz, at 13 weeks and a day. That's a gain of 10 oz in 8 days.

The vet warned us that his teeth would be coming in soon, leading to more chewing. Oh no, he can chew more? He suggested ice, freezing his toys, etc. The cold helps keep down the gum swelling (and presumably numbs his mouth so it doesn't hurt as much).

We should also pluck his ears, so moisture and such doesn't get in there and cause an infection. To demonstrate, he took some ear hair between his fingers and pulled, and it came right out. Yeow!


We were talking to the 'health team members,' and got some low-down on anal glands. Nothing more than what was on-line, but there wasn't really any reason they get full (or clogged) - it just happens. "Hopefully he'll outgrow this." Yes, we hope so too! When we asked if we could learn how to do it ourselves, she replied "well, it's kind of gross." That's as good as a 'no' for us!

Yesterday nothing of note, except Ela fed him a sugar cookie, which he really liked.



Wednesday, April 28, 2004

An interesting Mojo story from tonight.

We had beef ribs tonight, and decided to give him a bone...supervised, of course. He loved it! He also managed to gnaw off around 1/4 of an inch of it in about 10 minutes. At that point, we figured we'd take in away. We reached down to get it, and...Mojo growled at us! Luckily the bone wasn't in his mouth, so we took it away.

Mojo growled at us, which is a total training no-no. It's one of the first laws of dog ownership, that you can never let your dog do that. Time to do the classic give/take. The idea is you give him something, then take it away, then give it to him, etc - just to make sure (1) he understands you can always take it away, and (2) you are the source of all good things. And, of course, (3) just because you take it doesn't mean that you won't give it back.

After a while I got another bone, and gave it to him, after a 'sit', 'lie down', and 'stay' series. It took him a while to stay effectively, because he was soooo excited about getting another beef bone. He even tried walking, which would have worked in other circumstances.

When I gave the beef bone to him, he immediately skittered away with the bone in his mouth. I started chasing him, then stopped. We actually asked the trainers what we should do if he runs away if he had something, and we came up with trying to get him to sit or lie down. "Sit...good boy. Lie down...good boy."

Amazingly enough, even with the bone in his mouth he obeyed sit and lie down. He made noises about the "lie down," but did it. I moved over to him, then told him "drop it." Boy, he really didn't want to drop it. He looked at me, & I looked at the bone in his mouth. We sat there for a while, looking at each other. I kept repeating drop it, with no result. I could see Mojo thinking it over. Bone? Obey? Bone? Obey?

So he did something else - he turned over on his back and put his feet in the air, still holding the bone! Doh! I rubbed his tummy, then tried the 'drop it' again using a cow hoof as a substitute treat. He pretty much ignored the hoof. Finally, I grabbed the bone and removed it, and he let go. Whew! We both praised him for being a good dog, etc, which he liked, but he liked the bone better.

After a few seconds we told him to sit, and gave it back to him. That was enough, really. He took it over and munched on it for a while, happily. Then we told him to drop it and he did, no problem. That bone was pretty much done for...he had chewed off about 1/3 of an inch already.

In the end, we substituted the bone for some big chunks of hot dog, which he hasn't had for weeks. He traded it happily, but after he was done with the dogs he was kind of sad...like he realized that he made a bad trade. The hot dogs were here & gone, while the bone would have lasted for minutes, maybe hours. Oh well. He didn't really have a choice...and there'll be other bones.



Another first today: Mojo used his nose to locate one of us! Mojo usually uses sight or sound to figure out where we are when we hide-and-seek. This is less-than-ideal, since he's got a nose that's supposed to work better than either one.

When Ela hid, Mojo was kind of wandering around. I sniffed, and he got the idea, sniffed a bit, and went over to where Ela was (behind the door, go figure). Usually he wanders to and fro, trying to figure out where our voices are coming from...which is really funny, especially when he has no idea where we are (he starts whining and barking when he can't find us). We'll see how well his nose develops...

In other news, he doesn't seem to like car rides as much anymore. When we get into the car he complains a bit, then sleeps. That's not a bad thing, but it's different than just last week. Who knows?



Behold, the power of google. One search (dog scooting) led to the anal gland article. Luckily, we'll be heading to the vet tomorrow (or Friday) to get a health certificate, required documentation for any dog that's going on a plane. Maybe the vet can milk those anal sacs for us. That just sounds nasty, doesn't it?

We're almost ready for the trip. He's got new toys and treats, which hopefully will keep him busy for the two-leg flight (3:40 for the first leg, 2:20 for the second). Plus we always have the dingos in reserve, just in case.



Wow, another Mojo happening. Just a bit ago, Mojo needed to poo. We did our normal "watch and see," just to make sure he did the right thing. I saw him in bathroom #2, and was watching. He looked at me and hauled over to bathroom #1, where Ela watched him. Frustrated at our watching, he went downstairs to the kitchen where we had another pad.

Before he left the landing, he looked back to make sure Ela wasn't watching or following...then went over to the pad to poo. Unbelievable. I guess our dog is growing up, and would like some privacy please, thank you. Hah!

He did his scoot thing, too. I'll have to research this more tonight.






Ela made a tote bag, and we wondered if Mojo would fit. He does, sort of.






Here's Mojo stretching out on the tile. It's been hot here for the last few days, and the tile is much colder than the room...as he discovered.







Tuesday, April 27, 2004

We discovered that Mojo's been peeing on our bath mats, which might be the source of some of his bathroom irregularities for the last day or so. We washed the bath mats with his old, washable pee pads, and maybe the odor rubbed off?

So Mojo was in class again, and again he's much better with the other dogs. But he really loves playing with people, not dogs. Though dogs are fun too. Funny, it looked like Mojo was doing some kind of mounting behavior thing with Riley, though he's much too young for that. He does it sometimes with his stuff, though.

Mojo's biting has gotten better since he's gotten the toys. He needed a soft object to chomp on?

In class, we gave him a hoof, and he liked it. They're much better than pig ears (they don't smell), and he seems to like it just as much. We'll try and get some for him before our trip, so he'll be kept busy.



Monday, April 26, 2004

Mojo just had another accident...on the big vinyl beanbag chair. Maybe he does have a thing for vinyl. He used to pee and poo on it weeks ago, but he stopped. I guess vinyl's back in style for old Mojo.

He's also scooting his butt across the kitchen linoleum, which is supposed to be a sign of anal gland issues. Doh!



Another funny thing about Mojo has to do with when Ela and I come back from somewhere. We usually leave Mojo at home when we go places, unless there's a pet-related thing we're doing. Sometimes we leave Mojo on the top floor, sometimes we leave him on the 2nd floor, sometimes we confine him to the kitchen.

But no matter where we leave him, when we come home he's always either at the gate or at the stairs, waiting patiently (or frantically, depending).

We were wondering whether he was really waiting there all the time. One day when we came home we didn't use the garage - we snuck up the stairs. Lo and behold, Mojo was sleeping in his crate! When he saw us, he came out and was all "howya doing" and wagging his tail. Busted!

Now we can tell if he's been awake for long. A telltale sign is if his ears are folded - if his ears are folded up, then he's been sleeping. He also is a bit discombobulated when he first wakes up, but by the time he sees us he's mostly awake.

I guess he really does want to spend every waking moment near us. How about that?



Here's the funny Mojo story of the day.

Right now it's about 90 degrees F here in Portland. It was 80 earlier today. And Mojo, as he does every day, wanted to take a walk. So we went out, as normal. He went maybe 15 feet and started panting. He looked up as if to say "damn, it's hot." We went down to the mailboxes as usual, which is probably around 100 yards away. By the time were were 2/3rds of the way there, he had already plopped down on the grass at least twice to rest. After I got the mail, he flopped down under a tree on his belly and wouldn't walk anymore.

We met Ela there, and rode back in the car (she had just come back from some errands). When we got home Mojo hopped inside and plopped down in the relatively cool entryway.

We went walking again, to see how the pools were, Mojo at our side...for a while. It's hard to walk your dog when all he wants to do is sit in the shade and pant.

By the end, he flopped down on the grass, refusing to do anything but pant. He was really pooped. It makes me wonder what kind of weather Cuba really has. We couldn't have walked more than a half a mile, and he was already beaten down by the sun. What a weather wimp!

When we got home again, he sat in the entryway for about 15 minutes cooling off. Unbelievable!



Strange details: whenever Mojo naps, either in his crate or on the floor (or on the beanbag), he always is in line-of-sight of one of us. If we move while he's napping he'll wake up and move. If he moves, he'll readjust. If he's in his crate and we're awake but he can't see us, he'll whine until we move the crate so he can see us. The latter only happens at night, if I'm working late.

Also Mojo's been backsliding on the poo a bit. If he poos twice, he usually misses the pad on the second poo...or just goes and poos somewhere else (like the bathroom mat). Guess it's time to lay two pads down everywhere. This was in the other bathroom where the litterbox was. According to Ela, there was lots of space left in the litterbox - he just didn't want to go there again?



I've always read that Havs love paper. They love shredding it, playing with it, and can't get enough of it. So we've kept it away from Mojo most of the time.

He hasn't really been into paper a lot, maybe because we haven't let him play with it a lot. He grabs a tissue (bounty) every once in a while, and runs off with it, but he'll always give it up. We've always wondered what he'd do with paper once he got it. When he got something, he'd just shake it and run off with it, or shred it.

Today, though, I gave him a slice of toilet paper, just to see what he'd do with it. He shredded it and chewed it up. He didn't eat it, it was more like gum for him. Now I've got all these soaked chunks of TP all over my desk. Yuck. It sure does keep him busy, though, and he doesn't seem to eat it.

He doesn't like normal bond paper, which is good. But he chowed on a cardboard box we got the other day.



We gave Mojo a bath yesterday with the #1 shampoo. We've been using the #3 with great success, but Ela wanted to try the #1.

Mojo's coat feels finer with the #1. I like the #3 better, because it felt more like hair. The #1 makes his hair feel more like fine hair, or sort of fibrous? Like smooth corn fibers? Or like the polyester fill in fabric stores?

I know those are exaggerations, so I guess I just don't like #1.






Here's an older picture of Mojo walking. Neat, huh?







Today's potty accident was discovered right after I remarked that Mojo hadn't had any accidents lately. It was around 7PM. We had left this big sheet of vinyl (maybe 3 yards by 2 yards) in the office. It originally was in the bathroom outgassing (I'm not sure that's a real word, but it's when you let the fumes 'gas out' of the plastic so the plastic doesn't smell), and before we bathed Mojo we took it out and put it on the floor.

Apparently Mojo thought the vinyl was a really neat, big litter pad and poo'd and peed on it. Doh! Was it a texture thing? Or is this something he'll do with every new material he sees?

Who knows? But for the last few days he's been pretty good at the bathroom stuff. The only problems have been him missing the pad when he poos. I guess this technically isn't an accident to Mojo, since he probably figured it was just a newfangled litter pad?



Sunday, April 25, 2004




We went to Washington park this afternoon, and Mojo walked a mile or two. That's 15 small-dog miles! He was pretty tired by the end of the day, but he really loves being outside and romping in the grass.



He also is developing a new run. Instead of his normal run, which is like a galloping horse, he's hopping with both sets of feet like a rabbit...and getting airborne. How strange.






bite, bite, bite. Mojo is always biting now. It's annoying. It might be the only way he can play and interact with us?

I'm not sure the 'stop everything' stuff is working...guess we'll just keep on doing it.



One thing about Havs in general (and maybe all small dogs with longish hair) is they have tear stains. Some books say it's a tear duct problem, but we've been noticing that Mojo has it because his hair gets in his eyes, literally.

For most of today he wasn't tearing. But at around 11 or so we noticed that his eyes were tearing a lot, and there was a lot of the gooey stuff around his eyes. A closer look showed a hair actually on his eyeball. Maybe when he sleeps or naps the action of lying down pushes a hair into his eye, and it folds down so it's lengthwise across his eyeball.

We're actually not sure how it got there, but there definitely was a strand of hair across his eye..across each eye. Time to give his eye sockets a trim. He's going to look a bit weird for a while, with his deep eye sockets. Better than massive tearing due to hair-on-the-eyeball.



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?