The last 2 1/2 weeks

Mochi is good despite the huge wrench thrown into his life. I've started to write this blog 3 or 4 times, the puppy is quite demanding of my attention! And if not, then there's some fire that needs to be put out somewhere and then my husband was finally home for a week last week!

So the first week was a bit tense. Mochi really wanted the puppy to know not to mess with him so they were kept completely separate and we played lots of look at the puppy, get some good food. For the most part he didn't have super dilated pupils and was, for the most part, able to calmly deal with the puppy as long as they were separate.

Week 2 was much better, I graduated into having the puppy on a leash with Mochi in extremely controlled situations. My husband being home helped a lot, he could help me manage the two without much weirdness. When I'm solo I have to make Mochi wait inside while the puppy goes outside to pee then I let him out.

So last weekend I decided to start going outside on leash with Mochi out with us. It went a lot better than I expected. Mochi mostly wants to be near me but without the puppy in his face. Helo was interested but quickly learned to give him his space.

On Monday we graduated into the puppy on leash in nearly all situations with Mochi. It was going well so today I tried off leash. They're both doing very well! Helo has been taking himself outside to potty with no fuss from Mochi, they've passed each other quite a few times with no incident.

The only tense moment was at the front door when the dogs thought someone was coming in. When Mochi was a puppy, he got his head stuck in the baby gate that used to be stationed to the left of the door and so the area puts him on edge. He lip lifted at the puppy and started towards him just enough for the puppy to go "oops sorry!" and back up.

The most interesting thing to me in this has been Mochi's desire to cuddle. He had gotten pretty cuddly by week 3 of prozac but he definitely seeks out my company with the puppy around. Luckily the puppy just goes and sits with Arya and waits for Mochi to be done. I make sure to give him lots of love and a few nights ago I pulled him on the bed. He fell asleep in my arms almost instantly and two nights after that he slept in his crate.

I think a few more weeks and Mochi will start to trust the puppy not to hurt him and calm down even more. I amazed in just 2 1/2 weeks the progress we've made for a dog who is intensely afraid of other dogs.

Helo Update

Helo is getting used to the house rules well. I haven't yet tried to integrate him and Mochi, but there are signs of improvement!

Mochi chose to lay like this, Helo was passed out. Mochi was falling asleep until I pulled the camera out and snapped 2 pictures. 

Helo was brilliant at my in laws and charmed them and my sister in law. He didn't even need his pen, get him tired enough and give him a soft place to land and he's good. My father in law took him out back and played chase... oh thank goodness. It was nice to have someone else play with him even if just for 20 minutes! Arya came with us and was awesome, of course. If ever there was a dog to trust with puppies, Arya is definitely it. 

He crashed out towards the end of dinner. We headed home and played some more, people ended up not being able to make it for TV shows, so he got to learn to chill while Mom watches some TV. It doesn't happen that often, but I would like him more calm while I play on the computer!

Monday was a big day for the little man! We got up and played for a few hours, I had lunch and then we ventured out to Petsmart. We worked a lot on the way that if you stay calm and don't scream, you get liver lips. I think I counted 7 people that he met, 4 dogs that he saw but didn't interact with and several more people plus walking around the store and seeing all the stuff. After that we got gas, which was an interesting experience for him. 

He was quite restless but seemed to realize that this stop was different. I tried to pick the lane to the side to minimize the gassy smell, of course being Costco even if you go during the slow part of the day you still have to wait a little! I couldn't hear any whining while I was out. 

Finally we stopped at Discount Tire. By this time it was around 2pm and he was starting to fade not having had a nap yet. They let me bring him in while they rotated my tires. One of the guys commented I could leave him when I left and I laughed and said, "don't be fooled, he's just tired." Of course we're going through mouthing (though honestly it's not nearly as bad as Mochi, Helo is quite gentle most of the time), all that guy needs to do is come see the nip on my face, neck and arms. I'm actually almost exaggerating, they're really not that bad. I have one that is less than a cm of ripped skin, the rest are all superficial and heal quickly.

After that we came home and I tried to give him some down time. Didn't really work after his nap! So we played again and then headed off for the dog club. Monday was our board and general meetings. Helo got to meet some of the club members and was already pretty tired by this point. He played a bit in the board meeting then fell asleep half on the table and half off. During the general meeting he got a little burst of energy and then passed out on the table I was sitting next to. He met at least a dozen people, I didn't count. 

Unfortunately, he did nick one of my friend's chin. I feel bad! I will be more careful until we get this thing better under control. He's stopped biting my face/neck as much so there's progress. 

I spent a while chatting after the meeting, so he got to play on the gravel outside and then passed out in Mama's arms for a while. I will miss when he's small enough to do this! According to his weight gain from Saturday-Monday, 9.4 pounds to 10.1, that will be really soon. Sad! Someone give me a shrink ray!

Some things the Helo monster needs to learn: morning routine and crate games. I have my sights set on beginning crate games today. He's still doing great at night, he was so tired he slept 6 hours straight before asking to go out. He got a little excited as I was getting up and peed, but that's not a big deal. Our normal morning routine is dogs out, dogs in and fed, dogs out/on their own while Mom responds to emails (or in today's case, writes a blog). 

He wants to play with me right away! He'll get his wish.. after he potties and eats some food! He's a very light eater, so I'm still just filling his bowl and letting him decide how much he needs. He likes to play, eat then play some more and eat. This morning he's doing a pretty good job of self entertaining between snacks, so yay progress.

Today we have agility class which I am assisting and he will just hang out in, then another agility class tonight that I am in and he will need to hang out for a little bit more than an hour. That should be interesting. The good thing is after we get past the initial "MOM YOU ARE SO EVIL FOR NOT PLAYING WITH ME AND CUDDLING ME ALL DAY" he's pretty good. He just goes about his business. I'll be sure to take his 2 favorite toys and both the antlers.

Finally a quiet moment..

Well, a mostly quiet moment. The puppy is not happy I'm asking him to be in his pen alone and nap. I really need to get him a bed for the pen, I wasn't sure exactly how big he'd be so I put off ordering one. Now all the beds we have are too big!

The first picture, he was so excited this was the best I could do till he crashed!

Da baby is very good. I took him to the hotel on Thursday morning and we played all day with lots of potty breaks. He slept on the bed and if I didn't have to worry about Mochi I might have just skipped sleeping in the crate, lol. He's really good and loves to cuddle.

Sleeping in his breeder's arms

Friday morning we were up early to get to the airport. He screamed the whole way in the car because he had to be in the sherpa. By the time we'd gotten there he'd peed (again) and then he puked a little. Poor kid! We got through security fine and I went to the bathroom to clean him up and give him some cuddles. The first flight was largely uneventful, he was a little whiny but settled down during the flight.

At the hotel, despite all the toys I brought the plastic cup was the favorite!

Unfortunately, we were a long ways from our next gate when we landed in Detroit. Our connection was only 30 minutes, but we were early! I thought we'd have time to run there and take a break... but I was one of the last passengers to board. From all the running (with him in the bag), he puked as we boarded. Poor baby!

As we got to our seat, the lady in front started complaining, "what is that awful smell?" I apologized and said he'd just puked but I would clean him up once we got in the air. No, I had to clean it up NOW and she whisked off to try to get me thrown off the flight.

Ok, a few things - he's in a bag and there's no air flow.. and he was right next to your head when you smelled him. Ya, it smells but it's mostly in the bag and he'll be under the seat. Also, no air flow in the plane. She mentioned something about paper towels before she took off, so I said fine and pulled the bag open, asked someone to ask a stewardess for a trash bag and did my best to get it and him cleaned up. It smelled worse, of course it did because I opened the bag!


There is unfortunately one more embarrassing aspect to this story. I wasn't sure if I should share it, but I figure someone should get a giggle out of my misery! I happened to grab my jeans that do not have a top button because it was sewn in incorrectly and I just haven't fixed it. I had to wear these because my other pants were stinky. In the panicked rush of cleaning him out, I had managed to unzip my jeans.

I had to put my stuff 6 seats ahead and when I hopped up I realized I was flapping in the breeze. I said aloud, "well, this is embarrassing" because hey, everyone was already staring I might as well give them a show and zipped them back up.


We finally got going and he was quiet. After we'd gotten in the air, could move around and they had served drinks (I got him some water), we ran into the bathroom. Thank goodness they make provisions for babies in there. I was able to pull the baby table down, Helo stood on the stainless steel ledge like a pro while I cleaned up. I picked up the remaining nasty bits and soaped what I could and went about getting him cleaned up.

Feeling better, we went back to our seat. He was not happy I'd done this but eventually went back to sleep. The flight was turbulent and I have motion sickness. Let's just say, when we landed I was probably more relieved than everyone around me.

The last flight was fine, a short hour and change. No one complained about the smell and the guy next to me was nice. Luckily to turbulence so I felt ok when we landed.

Hello Tri Cities, I have never been so glad to see you!

In the car

We got home and he played in the backyard a little bit then we let Arya out to say hi. Mochi came out and was mostly good. They have been separated and we've been playing lots of look at the puppy/give calming signals and get a cookie. That first night he was great, went to sleep in his crate after about 15 minutes and woke me up at 3am to pee, then back to sleep in under 15 minutes and up at 7! We had crashed at 10, not bad considering we're 3 hours behind his normal schedule.

Saturday we played most of the morning. By the time it was time to go to the vet at 1pm, he was ready to crash but unfortunately for him, he had a vet appointment. After that, we met Grandma and Grandpa. He wanted to sleep in the grass so badly by this point!

We also ran over to Petco for a new collar, tag and an airline crate for car travel.  Came home and I did my first day of couch to 5k. My goal isn't a 5k, but I would like to be able to run Helo when he's older and be in better shape for agility (and frankly, life). I have local friends who are helping me stay accountable which is very helpful!

Some cute pictures from last night!

Water bottles make great toys!

I know, this won't be possible for much longer. I wish he could stay tiny because he's so cuddly!

He was starting to crash for the night

Just kidding, ZOOM TUG!

And finally crash, I finished up what I was working on and we went to bed. He slept midnight - 5:30, out for pee and then 5:45-8:30. Not bad! We spent the morning playing, cleaning up the house and now he's crashed out in his pen. We head over to my inlaw's for Easter dinner, over to Petsmart for something I forgot and then tonight we're having people over to watch Once Upon a Time and Game of Thrones!

Arya is doing well, she went on my couch to 5k first run with me yesterday. She is a bit weirded out by the puppy because her attempts to play (stalk/chase/dramatic playbow) are met with a scared yelp. Poor baby! He is very interested in both dogs, though he's totally separated from Mochi he gives Arya lots of little kisses and they're starting to get to know each other.

Mochi will get an update in his journal since we've got behavioral stuff to log as soon as I get more time to write more. I started his entry and then got distracted. This afternoon is the longest I've had to sit at my computer yet!

New collar!

I'll get a photo of it on him later, I didn't have time before I had to dash off for class. SO CUTE! And it looks really good on him!

Get, dinosaurs monsters for the Mochi monster? Hehehehe....

Bridging from walking away to staying in work

One of my huge goals when I decided to put Mochi on prozac was to finally counter condition and desensitize nail trims. I'm even super nice about it and use a dremel, not the traditional cleaver. It doesn't matter, Mochi would head for under the desk whenever the dremel came out. Clearly copious cookies during nail trims was not working.

I think it also became a trust issue. Any time I sat on the floor, I could be doing his nails. Mochi's nails grow ridiculously fast. While Arya could get away with a month of no trims, Mochi really shouldn't. However, when I made that decision I also... stopped trimming his nails. Dun dun dun. Frankly, they're embarrassing to the point I want to get a sedative, knock his butt out and do them really quickly. At least then he wouldn't get a negative experience.. but not exactly realistic.

He's doing great with approaching the dremel and nose touching it, whether it's on or off. Today we started tackling phase 2, getting into position.

I prefer to do their nails with the dog on it's back. It's easier for me to see the nail and do it quickly. So today the plan was to have the dremel with me and get Mochi to get on his back in front of me. Except that he quickly put 2 and 2 together and said "I don't THINK so!". Thankfully I called him back when he walked away and he turned around, gave me a look and walked back. We did some nose touches, getting really close to my body. Then I started asking for down in front of me.

We progressed this so that I was going to start doing his lured rollover (how he was originally taught). No go. So we worked on not trying to sit up when Mom's hand comes near your head. He very quickly caught on to the game and by the end of the session (10 minutes and 3 cheese sticks!) he was starting to shift his weight to the other side to prepare for a belly/rollover.

3 cheese sticks is probably more than I should have given him, in truth he was supposed to get half but things were going so well I didn't want to stop him! Arya had to suffer through yet another training session with boring Charlee Bears. Good thing she's food motivated!