Baby class 1: Baby-ready dogs

I recently alluded to the fact that we've been busy taking some classes to get ready for Baby Awesomerod's arrival. Specifically, we've attended a baby-ready pet class, a newborn care class, and this weekend we'll be attending our childbirth class extravaganza. So, as a service to you, but also as a way for me to keep all the information straight, I thought I would share with you the highlights, Cliffs-Notes style (or Spark-Notes style, if you were born after 1990).

We found out about this free pet class through our friend Mimi who was one trimester ahead of me and therefore a great source of information. We attended the class offered for free through the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which offers one two-hour class per month. The group's intention is to provide the services soon-to-be parents can use in advance to help reduce the number of animals brought to shelters as a result of the birth or adoption of a baby. If you're local, I can recommend this class as a reassuring way to spend two hours of your life while picking up a few hints along the way. If you're not local, check to see if you local shelters, rescues or ASPCAs offer similar services.

Going into this class, I had two main apprehensions surrounding our dogs and babies:

1) Maxwell is perfectly comfortable around people of all sizes...except babies. Of course, his actual interactions with babies have been fairly limited, seeing as we're not going to approach a random baby on the street with our 85-pound dog, nor have there been a lot of babies in our home. Specifically, I've watched Maxwell's baby interactions through his responses to my little niece, and that has only occurred twice. Overall I would say he was too interested in her when she visited, to the point that he almost seemed obsessive.

2) Doc barks (in a really annoying way) if he is not fed the second we arrive home from work, regardless of the actual time. I can barely keep it together when I hear his incredible bark right now, and I don't have a baby. I am sure that when you add screaming baby and barking dog together I could easily lose my mind.

After our brief introductions among the dozen other yuppie couples in attendance at the November class, the two instructions raised their eyebrows (slightly) at Matt and me and said, "Wow, looks like you two have your work cut out for you." Not exactly reassuring words from the people whose job is to try to keep your dogs out of their shelters.

Fortunately, as the evening continued I did take away many practical points.

Before baby arrives
Have lots of high-value treats on hand -- not your typical kibble -- so that the dogs know you mean business when you practice some of the techniques below.  Cheese or bacon divided into small pieces could also work.

Perhaps the most helpful command you can teach your dogs to master (or the one our dogs especially need the most) is "leave it." This command applies to just about everything -- people, objects, food...most importantly, the future baby. One way to do this is to put a high-value treat in your hand, put your hand close enough to the dog that he could take the treat out of your hand, but keep repeating "leave it" while you open and close your hand. Only give the dog the treat when he is relaxed and not lunging for the treat.

Start playing with any baby toys or baby gear that moves or makes noises. Praise the dogs when they are able to ignore the noises and movement.

Play a CD or Internet clips of crying babies. Gradually increase the amount of time you play these at once as well as the volume, and praise the dogs when they ignore the noises and exhibit calm behaviors. Our class came with a free baby noises CD that we need to start playing for our dogs.

If your dogs are afraid of moving objects, such as bikes, skateboards, strollers, take your dogs on walks with your stroller to help desensitize them to the object and the movement.

Start slowly adjusting your dogs' routines so they do not undergo one large, immediate change when the baby arrives.

Avoid aimlessly petting your dogs when, for example, you're sitting on the sofa. The more they expect to get constant attention, the harder it will be for them to adapt when the baby arrives.

Help your dogs find mental stimulation through activities or toys that provide exercise and lots of entertainment. Our instructors recommended the Kong Wobbler (a kibble dispenser) as one way to change up the feeding routine to help dogs keep themselves busy, stimulated and obtaining rewards.

Do not allow your dogs to go into the baby's room without your permission. It's best to make the room off limits (and I'll admit I have not done this...the dogs enjoy sitting on the floor of the nursery while I'm folding baby clothes or organizing the closet or tackling a little DIY project. Oh well.)

After the baby's birth
Here's one that you've probably heard of even if you're not a pet owner: before you introduce your dogs to your baby, introduce your dogs to an object that contains your baby's scent, such as a hat, a blanket, a onesie. Here's the part that I didn't realize: the dogs should smell the item and receive praise and rewards during this time, but the dogs SHOULD NOT tug on the item or try to lay on it.

Before you return home from the hospital, have a family member or friend take your dogs on a nice long walk to get out their energy. Then when you pull up in the driveway, hand your baby off to that person while you greet your dogs. Then hold your baby while you introduce your dogs to your baby.

Always keep your baby positioned above your dogs so that your dogs know your baby is above them in the hierarchy of the family (sorry Max and Doc! You're about to be demoted.)

One concern I raised during the question and answer portion of the evening is what to do if our dogs try to jump on us while we're seated and holding the baby. One suggestion is to train the dogs to sit at a distance from us -- for example, have the dogs sit on a special bed or pillow placed away from the couch. In an ideal situation, the answer is that I should stand and turn away from the dog (though I could see myself breastfeeding and not being able to stand up and turn away that second). Standing up and turning away is the same way to respond if our dogs jump on guests when they arrive (though I realize it's harder for guests to do this than it is for us to do so).

Speaking of guests, guests should greet the dogs first before greeting the baby so that the dogs do not view the baby as something that only takes away attention. Another good idea is for guests to give the dogs treats when they arrive. I think we'll be keeping some high-value treats downstairs so guests can do this as they walk in the door.

The biggest point the instructors wanted to emphasize that is hopefully obvious to you is this one: never leave your baby alone with your pet.

What else would you recommend doing before or after your baby arrives to help encourage positive interactions between pets and babies?

Rug arrival: leash the hounds

Our precious rug arrived in the mail last week almost immediately after we purchased it. I hesitated to unfurl it in all its glory until we made some other adjustments around our house. Namely, I needed to devise a way to keep the dogs from destroying another rug. Given my love for this rug and my dogs' tendency to destroy the items I love, I've erred on the side of extreme caution, which also took some extreme patience seeing as I couldn't wait to display our latest acquisition.

Our townhouse is divided into three levels, and our dogs hang out on the bottom level during the day while we're at work. This area is not a basement, and there is no door separating the bottom level from the rest of the house. Because Maxwell is an odd dog who absolutely despises his crate (and destroys more things when he's inside his crate than when he's hanging outside the crate) we knew crating would not be the solution. A neighbor gave us an old baby gate that we have propped up on the stairs connecting the first and second levels that serves as an easy blockade to keep the dogs contained. We've used this baby gate for years, but there are a couple problems.

Exhibit A: It's ugly

When it's doing its job, it looks like the image above. When it's not doing its job, it looks like the image below, which is perhaps even more unattractive and in the way.

Exhibit B: It's precariously placed
We never got the baby gate properly installed, so it sort of teeters in place, resting ever so slightly against the wall....

...and wedged into the banister

Another problem with the baby gate, which may not be totally apparent from the photos above, is that it's really difficult to keep clean. The black marks that show up on the white plastic every Sunday morning as Matt blazes through the Washington Post has me reaching for my Scotch-Brite Easy Erasing Pads.

And, perhaps the most significant problem is that the old baby gate does nothing to keep the dogs from making another future mess on our new rug. The baby gate is too small to contain the dogs in our downstairs living room.

So, taking a note from our neighbors Joe and Laura, we invested in a gate play yard that can be shaped to fit our space and contain our dogs like one giant baby gate. Specifically, I found the North State Superyard Classic on Amazon for about $50. I showed restraint and waited for it to arrive in the mail instead of seeking instant gratification by purchasing the exact same play yard for $70 at the Toys R Us down the street. The gate itself is a bit cumbersome, but for us we just molded it in an open trapezoidal shape to fit the entry from the downstairs living room to the entryway, and we'll keep it that way until we have some need to move it, such as guests using the downstairs living room.

Now when you open our front door, you'll see this:

 
The other positive improvement with this new system is that it gives us a place where we can confine the dogs when guests arrive. We have fallen out of using the penny can with Maxwell when guests arrive, but Maxwell has also (mostly) gotten better about not jumping. He's still a work in progress.

Of course, as much as I like the new dog-confinement system, I am most in love with the new rug. It is a tiny bit small for our space, but the issue is that we really need a 7' x 10' rug, and those are difficult to come by in the styles we wound up liking. Now that the rug is in our space, I'm really happy I went with the bold pattern choice.

Good dog

Today we said goodbye to someone who has been a loyal member of our household for the past four years. No, not the dog, though Maxwell is about to celebrate his fourth birthday, and Maxwell did play an important role in today's story. Fortunately, today we only had to say goodbye to our entryway rug.

Something has been up with the dogs' stomachs for the past few days. As I was leaving work today around 4:30, slightly later than I wanted to be there, I get a call from Matt saying something along the lines of, "Where are you?" followed by, "Well, I'm going to have to throw away the entryway rug."

Apparently this afternoon our entryway rug entered a small battle with Maxwell, and Maxwell won.

How then, you ask, could I name this post "Good dog"?

Because Maxwell tried so hard to be good. He really did. It is literally written all over his face. After clearly suffering through what must have been hours of intense intestinal anguish, Maxwell tried to dig his way out of our house to relieve himself. He tried to dig so hard that he scrapped all the skin off the top of his nose. He knows how much we value our clean house. He really wanted to be obedient. Kind of like the dog at the end of John Updike's incredibly sad poem "Dog's Death." Look it up when you're ready for a good cry.

 Those eyes really capture the sad puppy we came home to today.

We'll have to monitor both dogs closely the next few days. We called the nice owners of the pet store where we buy the dogs' Avoderm food asking if there had been any other reports about the last shipment being bad, and though the store owners said we were welcome to bring the food back and get our money back, they said the source of our woes might actually be the non-pet-friendly chemicals all over the streets of our townhouse development after Monday night's ice storm. Seeing as our dogs started acting a little funny Monday night, this seems like the best answer.

Although I'm still a little concerned for the dogs, there is a small silver lining, at least in terms of home decor. We bought that rug for about $80 at Home Depot, and the rug had seen better days. It was time to say goodbye. When we're ready to hunt for a new one, I think I'll liven up the space with something a little brighter. We have a lot of neutral tones in our home -- time for some fun, once the dogs recover.

Pledge Pet Hair Remover: just OK

As we march steadily toward November, I am reminded of my three New Year's Resolutions. Flossing in the shower is going great (daily!), and this blog is mostly doing fine, but daily dog Furmination is not exactly fitting into my routine lately. This is, of course, problematic, seeing as we are deeply into intense-dog-hair-shedding season.

One half of the guilty party

While searching for the perfect fridge on the Consumer Reports website, Matt stumbled upon a review for the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair. It's the most highly rated pet hair removal system on Consumer Reports. I trust these people. So, during my last Target run I picked one up.

Now after having used it a few times, I have to say, I am not thrilled. To use this product correctly, sweep it from side to side. Unfortunately, I had to put more vigor into my sweeps than I'd like, and even with the extra elbow grease more dog hair than I'd like remained on our couch.

Consumer Reports says this product is reusable, even though Pledge does not make the same claim. I generally agree with Consumer Reports that this product should be reusable -- you should be able to remove the rollers and then remove fur that has built up in the handle. I say you should be able to remove the rollers because after removing the rollers twice I broke ours. Why did I break it? Probably because the product is not designed to be reused. Oh well. I generally dislike the idea of a disposable plastic product.

The best solution to keeping pet hair off our furniture and fabric? Continue to vacuum our furniture every week. I don't think there's a product on the market that works better than the old Dyson used frequently.

Gosh, mom, could you stop talking about how much I shed? It's embarrassing.

How to spot-clean carpet

It looks like dog-shedding season and dog-vomit season in our house have intersected. First it was last week, when Doc threw up at 3 a.m. and my killer reflexes caused me to bolt up in bed, groaning and annoyed. Then it was this morning at 5:30, right after Maxwell ate breakfast and threw up not once, not twice, but a solid SIX TIMES in a row. If I didn't know my dogs, I would think there was something terribly wrong with them. But, they occasionally throw up, kind of like cats and babies. Even our vet sees no cause for alarm.

So, I monitor the little guys and what they put in their mouths, and I come up with a plan for cleaning up the mess.

Back in my not-so-green days I would use Spot Shot for cleaning carpet stains. In my experience, it really does work well, and I was happy when, a couple years ago, I could buy some non-toxic Spot Shot (and a double-bonus for the non-aerosol bottle). But then I decided, people have been cleaning carpets way before Spot Shot entered the picture, and Spot Shot doesn't last long and it's pricey (when you have two big, pukey dogs).

I'm happy to announce I've found a solution!

This rag, this measuring cup, and this book have become a bit of an institution in our house.

Here's the procedure (slightly adapted from Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts)

1. Mix together a solution of half mild detergent and half lukewarm water. (I used my homemade laundry detergent; the point here is to use a non-bleach detergent.)
2. Blot the stain using the detergent solution and a rag. DO NOT rub the solution farther into the carpet.
3. Mix together a solution of one-third white vinegar and two-thirds water.
4. Blot the stain using the white vinegar solution.
5. If you're still not satisfied after you give the area time to dry, try sponging the area with clean water.

Penny can update

A few weeks ago I wrote about how we're trying to teach our big dog Maxwell to stop jumping on our house guests by using the penny can method.

We've had a chance to test out this new method with real, live house guests this week. The good news is that Maxwell did virtually no jumping the two nights this week that we had friends and family over for dinner. I should add, though, that all the house guests we entertained this week are dog-friendly, and most of them are also readers of this blog, so they knew exactly what they were in for when they rang the doorbell.

Still, in these fairly controlled circumstances, Maxwell is learning to better control himself. He really does not like the sound of the penny can, so he seems to be trying hard to avoid having to hear its brazen rattling.

I am happy to reward some good behavior with some Frosty Paws dog ice cream.

Our next dog training, scheduled a week and a half from now, will involve having Maxwell meet up with some big "stranger" dogs in a public space. These dogs are strangers to Maxwell in the sense that he's never met them, but this is all being prearranged by our dog trainer, who will bring all these dogs she's working with together for a morning meeting. He'll have to see if he can control his other bad behavior, namely being too aggressive around big dogs he's never met.

Even though I face that dog meeting with some apprehension, I am proud of the fact that these pricey training lessons seem to be paying off, at least a little.

Penny can: correcting dog jumping

Last week we experienced private dog training, round 2: a class targeted on curing Maxwell of his jumping habit. When I say cure, I realize that it is an exaggeration. This is probably a bad habit we will fight until Maxwell is too old to jump anymore -- the dog trainer even said so. I went in hoping to cure, but now I am realistically hoping to lessen the jumping, and as for myself, freak out less when guests arrive.

The dog trainer's solution is a penny can, used correctly. More on that later in the post. To understand this story, though, you need to understand what we've attempted over the years.

A short history of Maxwell's jumping:

When Maxwell was a new puppy, he would excitedly jump when the doorbell rang or a guest entered the house. At this point, he was small enough that visitors would hold his legs, which probably assisted in egging on this bad behavior.

Then Maxwell turned into a full-grown dog over night. Not only does he weigh 85 pounds, but he's unnaturally long as well, to the point that when he jumps on his hind legs he easily comes up to my chin (I'm 5'3").  Maxwell jumps because he wants to be in a person's face when he greets. He wants to be loved, but he goes about it the wrong way.

Maxwell, black dog, is freakishly long. Matt calls him The Bullet.

One time he attacked our friend Jamie as she was walking up our entryway stairs and "made out" with her, as Jamie says (this is probably apt). Soon after, when meeting my sister-in-law Amy, the perfect storm occurred and Maxwell went in to jump at her just as she was bending down, bruising her nose on the first day of her one-year anniversary trip with my brother. I was absolutely mortified (unlike the owners of another dog who shrugged and said, "Sorry," when their little hellion bit my leg).

It was time to get down to business. 

How do you train a dog to stop jumping?

Solution #1: Penny can #1

Matt, an intrepid online researcher, much like myself, read that the best way to get a dog to stop unwanted jumping was to create a penny can. We love Eclipse mints, so we took an empty can, added about 20 pennies, and we would shake it anytime Maxwell jumped. We also shook it anytime he grabbed a throw pillow, one of his bad behaviors that he (mostly) stopped.

Here were our mistakes with this solution:

1) We shook the penny can like a baby's rattle, vigorously, too long and too often.

2) We used the penny can to correct two different bad behaviors.

Solution #2: Tempt Maxwell with cheese

We wanted our guests to enter our house like normal people whom we can greet, take their coats and then direct them upstairs for a drink instead of having to battle our giant beast, the guardian of our house, upon arrival. We thought by having pieces of American cheese in front of Maxwell, we could entice him/reward him with a high-order treat so he could ignore our guests.

Here's the problem with this solution:

Maxwell would ignore them as they entered, eat his cheese and then run upstairs to jump on guests, who were by this point likely drinking a glass of red wine. Awesome.

Solution #3: Keep Maxwell on his leash

We would put up the baby gate we have at the top of the entryway stairs so that guests could enter the lower level without Maxwell attacking them. I'd have Maxwell on his leash, and I'd keep it short so he couldn't jump. Guests would greet him when they were ready, and Maxwell would (mostly) not be able to jump.

Here's the problem with this solution:

If Matt and I are entertaining together, this solution could work. But if I'm entertaining a group of girls and Matt isn't around, I'll inevitably drop the leash in order to be a good host, and ironically by dropping the leash I turn into a bad host, as Max goes after the weakest links, the people who most clearly dislike dogs in general and Max in particular.

Solution #4: Train our guests
We've tried leaving a sign on our door when expecting company, something along the lines of,"Please ignore our giant, scary dog. Do not make eye contact. Do not pet him. If he tries to jump, turn your back to him and/or knee him in the stomach. You won't hurt him, trust us."

Here's the problem with this solution:
As with previous solutions, even if Maxwell managed to not jump on guests as they arrived, he would find a way to seek out the anti-Maxwell guests and try to win their love in the worst ways.

Current solution #5: Penny can #2
Last week our dog trainer asked us, "Have you tried...?" followed by all the items listed above. Yes, yes and yes. We have researched, we have been moderately creative, but we've had limited progress.

She spent some time getting Maxwell to jump on her. Fortunately, it worked, and first she tried grabbing his feet and pinching him between his toes when he jumped. He hated this, but the issue is that realistically our guests, particularly those who don't like dogs, are unlikely to agree to pinch our dog.

Then she brought out her secret weapon, her penny can, used correctly. We were thrilled when Maxwell jumped on her again, she gave the penny can a quick shake, and he cowered on the floor. She tried to get him to jump again, and he wouldn't.

Here are the rules you must follow with the penny can:
1)  Make your penny can correctly -- When creating your penny can, use an empty aluminum can approximately one-third full of pennies (throw in a couple nickels and dimes to add to the sound's intensity).

2) Be prepared -- hold the can tightly with one arm against your chest.

3) Prepare your guests -- Before friends come over, tell them: don't look at our dog; don't bend down to get closer to his level; I will be holding this loud penny can and staring at my dog's paws, so please don't think I'm being rude...help yourself to the beverages on the counter.

4) Be alert -- The second your dog's front paws lift off from the ground, you must give the penny can one immediate, fast shake. It should create a loud sound that scares the dog.

5) Don't put the penny can down too quickly -- In the case of Maxwell, if he doesn't get you in our entryway, he'll get you when you walk upstairs. We will have to keep our penny can with us and our eyes on Maxwell's front paws until Maxwell has completely settled down, which could mean not being very good hosts at first, but hopefully our friends will understand.

6) Don't use the penny can to correct more than one bad behavior -- In the same way that "sit" only means one thing, the penny can command can only mean one thing, "paws on the ground." We are allowed, though, to use the penny can if Maxwell tries to jump on guests when they're seated, or when Maxwell (rarely) tries to get on the sofa, as both instances still follow the "paws on the ground" rule.

The issue with the penny can #2 is that it can work great when Matt and I are working together, but if either one of us is alone it creates a range of difficulties. So, future house guests, be advised: the can of Fresca in my hand is not for you.

Dog training (and the belly of the whale)

Yesterday we had our first official private dog training lesson for Maxwell. I know I haven't mentioned the fact that we were planning this until now because, frankly, thinking about this was getting me pretty emotionally worked up. Now that we've conquered session 1 of 3, though, I can say that I am happy we went ahead and chose to work with this specific dog trainer, and I feel a little better about Maxwell's behavior already.


But to understand why we're having Maxwell take some private training lessons we have to go back in time...

Puppyhood
When we adopted four-month-old Maxwell he was energetic but generally great. He loved all people and all dogs, and at the dog park he would run around with the best of them, and the big dogs would appropriately put him in his place and get him to calm down (a little).

Maxwell's first night home

A month later we enrolled Maxwell in a puppy training class (called "Puppy Kindergarten," kind of pathetic, I know) where he got along with everyone, met his buddy Bailey, and generally followed the rules. He also learned his basic commands (sit, stay, leave it). He did well.

During that summer we walked that dog like nobody's business. We took him out on at least three legitimate walks a day, not just your average trip outside to use the bathroom. We made sure to socialize him with all types of people and all types of dogs. Everyone loved Maxwell and Maxwell loved everyone. He was a friend to all.

Older puppyhood
When Maxwell was about a year old we enrolled him in a dog obedience class, beginner level. This was another group class where Maxwell did OK, but more importantly, he got along well with all the dogs, from the annoying little ones to the cute little ones to the dogs his size and larger.

Fast forward: Third birthday
Over half a year after we adopted Doc, and as Maxwell got close to his third birthday, he started showing signs of aggression with dogs his size and larger. Occasionally on our walks Maxwell would spot a dog from a distance and start baring his teeth and making a guttural growl. Now, we are talking about a small minority of dogs that would cause this reaction, because there are few dogs we encounter on our walks that we don't already know and that are Maxwell's size or larger (he is, after all, 85 pounds and unnaturally long). I got worried, but Matt usually walks Maxwell, and these bad encounters were rare, so we decided not to take immediate action.

See, Maxwell listens MOST of the time...here's his birthday cupcake cookie resting on his paw before we allowed him to eat it.

Three weeks ago: The belly of the whale
Picture this: Three weeks ago I'm all dressed up and ready for work, running a little late but not worried because I don't have any students coming to my classroom that morning. So, I put the dogs on their leashes and take them outside for a two-minute walk to let them pee one last time before I drive off.

We enter a common area of our neighborhood across the street from our house. Another dog, an unfamiliar boxer that is about Maxwell's size, turns a corner with his owner just as we are entering the area. With full force Maxwell pulls me (and Doc) toward this other dog. I am holding on to Maxwell's leash for dear life, envisioning a vicious fight followed by a lawsuit should I let go. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the scene concludes with me getting pulled into a tree, a tree that ends this scene, and a tree which had just the night before been surrounded by a pile of fresh mulch. I plummet face-first straight into the mulch with my arm wrapped around the tree. I am bleeding, I am bruised, I am stunned, and I am wishing the other guy and his dog would walk away. They do, and then my rage comes out full force.

I pull Maxwell (and Doc, who is quietly going about his business) into the house. I traipse mud throughout every floor of our house as I start crying somewhat hysterically. I call Matt and say, "We are getting a dog trainer, and if that does not fix this dog, then..." well, the rest was kind of mean.

I was picking mulch out of my hair and my ears (I wish I was kidding) for the rest of the day.

I could not tell this story without getting really angry, so I kept it to myself at first and then started slowly telling some friends, who shared their own dog experiences.

Starting training
In the meantime, Matt asked the owners of our favorite local family-owned pet store for some trainer recommendations. After contacting each person recommended, we decided to go with the lady who charges the least per hour, even though her hourly fees are greater than Matt's hourly wage and mine combined.

I'll share more in upcoming posts about the progress (or potential lack of progress) we make with Maxwell through these training sessions. Right now the trick of the training game, in a very Dog-Whisperer-type way, is for Matt and me to display confidence as we walk Maxwell, and to somehow physically convey that confidence through the leash. Now on our walks, instead of Matt walking Maxwell and me walking Doc, we're trading off halfway through the walk so we each practice with Maxwell. So far we are off to a good start, and I feel a little better.

Now if only I can come up with some ways to get paid as much as a dog trainer.

Dog rescue groups: the good and the bad

Today's post throws me off my blogging schedule (yes, I can tell you at least a week in advance what I plan to write about) but I feel it's necessary and an important story from my recent history. I got a voicemail today that reminded me that I've never written about dog adoption, or, more specifically, two rescue groups I'd recommend and one I'd recommend you avoid.

So, here are the key details for today's post, and if you'd like to read more, continue below the lists:

Two dog rescue groups with which we had excellent experiences:
1) A Forever Home -- this is where we adopted Maxwell on June 5, 2007. He was exactly four months old and the last of his litter to get adopted. We went in wanting to adopt an eight-week-old puppy, but Maxwell's enthusiastic nature (ahem, understatement) and brown paws won us over.

A Forever Home wins the award for most thorough background checks. They spent a lot of time interviewing us, and they even conducted a home visit the week leading up to our adoption. They also followed up with us post-adoption, too. Grade: A+!

Matt's first meeting with Maxwell at A Forever Home adoption event

2) Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation -- this is where we adopted Doc on May 4, 2009 (yes, yesterday marked one full year we've spent with Doc, and we designated it his "birthday"). As we were walking up to the PetSmart where the adoption event was taking place, Matt went inside the store to use the restroom, and I had reminded him, "Don't fall in love with the first dog you meet!" Then, literally 10 seconds later, I met Doc and totally fell for him. Granted, we'd spent many months prior to this meeting other dogs that didn't work out, so it's not like adopting Doc took no effort.

Lost Dog was not as awesome as A Forever Home, mostly because they seemed more in a rush to get their dogs out the door. We met Doc and adopted him on the same day, whereas with A Forever Home there was a required waiting period, which is probably a good thing so potential adoptive families can really think it over. All in all, though, we dealt with honest and helpful people, and we got the type of dog we were looking for. Grade: B+!

Doc's first night at home

One rescue group I would not recommend:
K-9 Lifesavers -- this is where we adopted Shelby on August 31, 2008. Oh wait, you say you have never heard of our dog Shelby? That's because she was hardly our dog. We had her for 36 hours. And this is why I recommend avoiding this rescue organization. Grade: F.

Shelby's first night (of two total) spent in our house

Why am I writing about this today?

Because today I got this voicemail, "Hello, this is [so-and-so] from [so-and-so]. We're calling about Shelby...[my heart skips a beat -- did someone find her???]....we're wondering if she's still lost so we can update our records."

Thank you for the call. Yes, Shelby is still lost, very much so.

Shelby is this shy, most likely abused dog who was about a year old when we adopted her. She weighed about 45 pounds and had beautifully colored fur.

Here's what happened: on the first day of the school year last year, Matt and I took Shelby and Maxwell on a big walk. It was also a big success...she finally went to the bathroom outside. Victory! Then, an hour later, we needed to go to the grocery store, so we open our front door, and out she runs, never to return again.

The following ensues:

• Matt runs after her
• I run after Matt
• I get Maxwell on his leash and run around, hoping she'll approach another dog
• I get Maxwell in the car with me and drive around
• I then realize this is not working, so I go home while Matt is still running around and call the K-9 Lifesavers people from whom we adopted this dog. When I try to say [between sobs], "She ran away," they say, "Again???" Turns out the dog had a history of running away, a history that was not revealed to us during the adoption process, and a key detail that, had it been mentioned, could have saved us some heartache. Rather than using our front door to exit the house, we could have simply gone through our garage, checked that the garage was clear before opening the garage door to the outside.
• We print about 500 posters and put them in plastic sleeves. I think about the negative environmental impact this will likely have, but proceed anyway because I am determined to find this dog.
• We make a Craigslist ad every day (yes, I realize Craigslist doesn't like that, but we did it anyway).
• We call, email and visit every animal shelter within about 100 miles. Everyone has our number and our poster. Everyone is on the lookout. We contact them multiple times each. We visit their websites multiple times a day for the latest dog updates.
• We spend about 2-3 hours every day walking and driving anywhere this dog could have possibly run. We do this for a solid three months until it's too dark and too cold and hope is virtually lost.
• We field lots of calls from well-meaning dog lovers who want to help and think they have a lead. None materialize, though we go to the site of every single potential sighting and comb the area.
• Neighborhood children ask how they can help find our dog. Everyone knows about this dog that hardly anyone even had the chance to meet.
• The rescue organization hires a dog tracker. It winds up being unsuccessful after a three-hour and six-mile jaunt through the woods. The organization says it will pay the bill when it decides to hire the dog tracker. Then when it's time to pay the [incredibly expensive] bill, they try to get us to pay it. We decline. [Side note: that dog tracker charges so much money that it better be able to do more than just track dogs...it should be my accountant/lawyer/doctor/maid/travel agent.]
• In mid-October I get a call from a woman who saw my number on a flier, asked me if I had put up more than one flier (yes, thank you), asked if I had contacted local animal shelters (yes, thank you), and asked if I had looked on lost animal websites (yes, thank you). Then she literally yelled at me, saying that I was not doing enough to find this animal and that there's probably some sicko out there conducting tests on Shelby in some basement lab while I sit on my butt. I can't believe the bizarro universe I'm currently living in.

No, we never got Shelby back. Am I upset at the rescue organization that Shelby ran away? No. I am upset that they possessed crucial information that they failed to reveal. I am also upset with how they displayed some dishonest practices during this process, such as agreeing to pay for a service they hired and then trying to get us to pay their bill.

From this experience, we learned the importance of researching not only the dogs you plan to adopt, but also the rescue organizations from which you to plan to adopt. We took a risk on a new rescue group, and it caused us a sad number of months.

To end on a happy note, though, we are thrilled that we have Doc in our lives, a dog we would never have met if Shelby had not run away on that fateful day. Yesterday Max and Doc celebrated Doc's year with our family with a seasonally appropriate snowman cookie.

Tip 52: Quiet dogs

Our dogs don't make too much noise, which is a blessing considering they're so big that they could make a lot of noise if they really wanted to. But in the last six months our dogs have gotten even quieter thanks to...

Tip 52: Silence your dogs' tags from rattling around by bundling them together. Our preferred method is the Quiet Spot.

When our dogs move or scratch themselves in the middle of the night or the early morning, there can be a lot of rattling around. Imagine someone shaking a set of keys next to your ears (along the lines of a "key play" football moment) and you can guess that it's not pleasant at 4:30 a.m. At first our solution was to take the dogs' collars off every night before going to bed. But then we'd forget. And our dogs' collars can only be removed by pulling them over their heads, so it takes a little more work.

The Quiet Spot is a way to keep your dog wearing his collar with all its tags, but to keep the rattling from disturbing you. This product is a little neoprene envelope that fits over the dogs' tags and secures itself with velcro in the back.

Here's Doc sporting the red Quiet Spot last week at the beach. (We were in the Outer Banks, our designated beach spot, and next week I will present a restaurant guide to Duck/Kill Devil Hills, so get ready vacationers!).

And here's Maxwell's blue version

This product has withstood wear quite well, and it has never come off. Our dogs basically ignore it. At first I thought they might get annoyed and try to bite it off, but now I think they view it as part of their collars.

We bought our Quiet Spots at a local family-owned pet store (we want to keep them in business!), but it retails for $7.99 and is sold on Amazon.

This is, without a doubt, the single best purchase we've ever made for our dogs.

Doggie sickness: The aftermath

I was going to write about the latest issue of Everyday Food today, but I haven't finished reading it and, frankly, so far it is not too inspiring.

Instead, let me give you the conclusion to the week of dog sickness: Today I came home to a big mess. I will spare you the details, but it came in several piles, and it was not pretty.

And then there was blood too.

So apparently Doc got the end of his sickness out of him, and Max is the one with a bloody nose. How did that happen? I have no idea. But when I got home there was lots of tail wagging and too much barking from Doc.

Ugh, the barking.

Ninety-nine percent of the time you would not know we had dogs, at least by sound. They make hardly any noise. Occasionally Max lets out a deep guttural growl at a passing dog outside our bay window, but most of the time our dogs look like this:

Or they're just so cute, like this:

 

 

I want to hug them and have them put their heads on my lap when we're hanging out on the sofa watching Lost (did not enjoy this week's episode, by the way), but I HATE it when Doc barks. So today I said to Matt that we have to figure out how to get him to stop barking. He barks twice a day: once at 5 a.m. (only on weekdays, but nevertheless awesome) and when I get home from work. To remedy the latter I have tried taking him outside the second I put down my bag, but even then it's not over.

Which leads me to my next question: How do you deal with a screaming baby? A barking dog has put me near my wit's end. And I need to nip this habit in the bud asap.

And then there's the mess part. So I grabbed the Spot Shot (the new non-toxic kind that doesn't come in an aerosol can and it works just as well, so three pluses). I got the mess up almost immediately, though I will probably reapply another layer of Spot Shot when I finish writing. As you no doubt know if you've read this blog for more than a day, I am pretty particular about my home, cleanliness and general organization. When my friend Sam, owner of large and fury dogs, found out we were adopting one dog and then another, asked, "How are you going to handle that? Dogs can mess up your house." Yes, yes they can.

How do I deal with it? I get sad for a minute, and then I try really hard to clean it up immediately and not think about it again until the next incident. When we came home to some destroyed pillows, a destroyed blind and some destroyed base boards after a trip in November, I cried for a solid 30 minutes. It's one of the few times I think I've cried in over a year. And then I bought new pillows.

I care about my house because I put time (a lot) and money (not as much) into it, and I take pride in how it looks. I grew up in a house where we were rarely allowed to have guests over because it was always "too messy." So I never want to live that way again. This is why my heart breaks a little every time my dogs do something to mess it all up a little.

OK, your turn: How do you deal with having animals in the house and the messes you made? Do I just need to suck it up and chill out? And, if you have successfully broken a dog's barking habit, I would love to hear your tips. I am ready to call in the big guns (metaphoric, of course. Don't worry.)