Our Nightime Stroll

Taking a breather on the bench

I came home tonight and Hero was way too active for his own good... which signaled that it was time for a good walk to tire him out. It's actually quite an ordeal for us to go on a walk, which includes the following:

• me getting dressed
• making sure I have enough goodies in my pocket to last our whole trip - I usually cut his treats up to make them last longer... I don't want a fat dog!
• putting on his paw protector cream (he hates the shoes right now and the ones I have don't fit him properly)
• putting on his harness
• putting on his parka followed by his leash
  
• packing up poopie bags, keys, phone, ipod, etc.
  

We made it all the way to the Queens Quay post office before Hero had to take a dump... and then he got tired so we headed home.

Resting with mommy

Ah, then after heading in there's more work:

• taking him to his pee pad right when we get in
• getting water
• removing his leash, clothes and harness
  
• cleaning his paws - and his butt sometimes too if he poopies

Tonight, he got a piece of crap stuck on his butt because he sat down right after doing the deed, so I had to give him a semi-bath. He definitely wasn't a happy camper, but he's not too bad in the sink!

Hero in!

He looks like he's smiling!

Hero's a MAN!

I was rubbing Hero's tummy right after he woke up this morning... and, and, and... he got his first erection! *gasp*

My baby... oh my gosh. He's a man now!

I'm traumatized.

Hero, the Troublemaker

Looks like Hero is going through puberty... he's at the human equivalent of the "terrible twos." He's been barking a lot lately and his attention span has really dwindled. I caught him inside my closet searching for goodies to chew on (aka my shoes) and even worse, look what he did tonight!

Oh Hero!! You're lucky you're cute... GRRRRRRR...

Hero's Going Back to School

I just registered Hero in the Family Dog course at Who's Walking Who... so Hero's going back to school! While he does have the basics, his skills need some fine tuning because he's not listening all the time. Thus, we shall work on it in this new course taught with a more mature dog in mind. See course details here...

Apparently, there's a couple of small dogs in this course... including a 16 month old female Shih Tzu. She better watch out! Word on the street is Hero is a ladies man. ;)

9 Whole Hours!!

I hope you don't think this is mean, but I had a conference today so I had no choice but to leave Hero at home in his crate. As I mentioned previously, I've revoked his freedom.

He lasted the whole time with no accidents! Yes, I know it's a long time, but he got to go at 3 am and at 8am in the morning so it was like his nighttime sleep. Good job Hero!

Of course, when I let him out, he had the two biggest pee pees I've ever seen, but it's all good! =D

Paying for it...

Ok, so usually I'm a really tough doggy momma, but I think I let my guard down a little too much over the past couple of days because now it's past 3 am in the morning and I have a crying pooch.

I've decided to revoke his freedom given the fact that I really shouldn't be leaving him out or trusting him at such a young age. Plus, he seems to be going to the potty a lot more than when he gets crated - probably because he can, but I don't want that since I need him to be able to hold his pee.

Actually, last night wasn't Hero's first night sleeping out of the crate. I forgot that my sister let him sleep outside too, so the two nights have already spoiled him. It's kinda back to square one with the crate.

SHOOT!

Pushing My Luck

I figured that since Hero did such a great job with staying home the other day... that I'd try it again. So this afternoon when I left to visit uncle Ryan in the hospital, as before, I gave Hero access to the tiled area by gating off the rest. I was gone for about 6 hours and when I returned, the picture was definitely not as pretty as it was last time...

Hero dragged his crate away from its regular location and I also happen to use the crate as part of the block off since the gate isn't loPublish Postng enough to cover the entrance to the living area... which meant that he got access to the whole place!! He even managed to pull out his doggy blanket from inside the crate and he took a big pee pee on my entrance mat.

I'm not a happy camper, but I guess that's what I get for trusting a little puppy so soon.

Hero's First Sleep Out

Alex is leaving for Columbia really early tomorrow morning - boo. In light of the fact that I was sleeping early and I somehow got lazy, I let Hero sleep outside of his crate for the first time.

I woke up in the morning and thought it was a complete success minus the sock that I found in his dog bed. I can forgive that... but then upon further investigation in my travels around the condo throughout the day, I discovered 2 dried up puddles of pee pee by the window on my wood floor.

Not good at all.

Overnight at the O'Learys

Auntie Ami is away for the weekend... she went to Tremblant for some snowboarding, so this weekend is going to be a difficult one since there is no one here to puppy-sit Hero. To compound the problem, Alex bought me a sweet dinner and hotel package at the Old Mill as a Valentine's Day present so Hero needed an overnighter.

It's tough sometimes because you don't know who you can trust with your dog... I don't even want to imagine how difficult it is with a baby. I searched around and the only people I could think of that would take him on a Sunday night were the O'Leary's. So off Hero went to spend the night with Auntie Phan, Uncle Paul, Cousin Philip and Patch!

Unfortunately, Patch isn't very fond of little Hero since he continuously torments him by trying to sniff his butt and yes, lick his balls - yuck! I never knew Hero swung that way, but apparently he does... well, he's probably just a curious little puppy. In any case, Hero ran around the house like a maniac, peed on the carpet a couple of times, and he dethroned old Patch from king of the O'Leary house. He was a handful to say the least.

I ran late the next morning since I had two back to back appointments... so instead of picking Hero up in the morning which I said I would, I ended up getting him at around 4:30pm to the dismay of Auntie Phan. She left me a really funny voicemail saying that it wasn't even morning in Vancouver anymore and that she cooked Hero for dinner (saying he didn't have much meat on him either!). I guess Hero wore out his welcome there... =(

Freedom!!!

It's been a difficult and busy couple of weeks for Mommy Jo because her best friend, Uncle Ryan got into a head on car collision. He was hit by a drunk driver and is injured pretty badly, so he can't walk and will be in rehab for awhile before getting back on his feet. I've been trying to balance visiting him with working, seeing Alex, and taking care of Hero. It hasn't been an easy feat.

Sooooo... I succumbed to the guilt and I let Hero have some freedom in my absence. I gated off the living room area leaving Hero access to only the kitchen, foyer and washroom - basically the tiled area in the condo. I made sure to close all the closet doors and only left out the absolute necessities being food, water, pee pad, bed/play pen and his toys of course.

It was a really gut wrenching experience leaving him for the first time because I couldn't stop thinking about what he was doing. I was so afraid that he'd pee and poop everywhere because he was upset with me for not being there for so long.

I came home and he was surprisingly good... except for the fact that he ate his poopie again. Uggg. Oh and when I ungated him, he ran around the condo like a maniac. Good boy Hero!

Hero's Graduation

*drum roll please*

Join me in congratulating Hero for graduating from Kinderpuppy!!

*sniffles* I'm such a proud mommy!! Congratulations my little sweetie. =)

Oh and thanks to Renee, the instructor for such a great class... we learned so much. And thanks to Brandi (on the right w/ Brix) for the pictures and Auntie Ami for being there for support. Good luck to the graduating class!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hero's in Puppy Love! Her name is Brix and he met her at Puppy School... ooooooh! Well, it was a classic tale of romance and actually, I'd say Brix, who is probably 3 times Hero's size, is the one that pursued Hero... from chasing after him, barking at him, getting on top of him and running him into his crate, she finally got him!

Hero and Brix sitting in a tree (well, a stage in this picture), K-I-S-S-I-N-G (more like licking each other's butts)! See, who said size matters?

Picture perfect puppy-love... Hero and Brix

Well, of course afterwards, it was Hero's turn to woo Brix-y on Valentines Day, so he got her a special gift: a Valentine card, a Bone, and a whole box of treats! What can I say? Hero's a hopeless romantic!

P.S. Thank you to Brix and Brandi for being so generous and giving Hero all those potty pads! We have enough to last us awhile now -- especially since Hero's pee pee's aren't very substantial. hehehe... =D

P.P.S. Check out this cute Valentines Day puppy!!

OMG, I'M DEVASTATED!!!!

Hero just humped my leg!!! *gasp*

My innocent eyes and leg! I thought puppies aren't supposed to know that stuff? He's only 3 months and 2 days old!!!!!!

*double gasp*

Alex, the Puppy-Sitter

Today is the first time I've ever left Hero with Alex... I had to go visit uncle Ryan in the hospital. I was a little skeptical about leaving the two guys together since Alex always calls Hero a 'terrorist,' but I didn't have too much choice.

They survived... good thing it was Alex's day off, but if Hero acts strange afterwards, I'm going to kill Alex!!!

Chinese New Year & Hanging with Peanut & Auntie Bonnie

Hero was all decked out in his February holiday outfit (both Chinese New Year and Valentines day) to go and meet the entire Duong family for the very first time. I was pretty nervous because I wanted to make sure that he was on his very best behaviour. As I mentioned before, our previous dog Patch blazed a pretty ugly trail for my family when it comes to pets since he used to pee all over the house!

The entire Duong family (minus Patch)

I had to work that day, which made it really tough for me to organize things. My appointment was up in North York, so it made no sense for me to come back downtown to pick Hero up, which meant that I had to get a puppy-sitter for Hero. I called up my pet friendly friends in North York (Rob and Bonnie) and Bonnie ended up agreeing to watch him for me while I worked. I was a little worried since Peanut (Bonnie's Hot Dog) might not take very well to Hero, but he has to learn to get along with other dogs somehow!

Boy is Hero a clever little pup. He knew Bonnie would protect him and reprimand Peanut for being mean to him, so he took full advantage of that. He would tease Peanut and once he got a reaction from him, he'd run right into Auntie Bonnie's lap for safety. He also barked a lot, which wasn't nice at all. On the bright side, Hero used his pad to pee and poop - but he got Peanut so excited that he did it on the carpet in the house for the first time in ages (sorry)!! Thank you so much to Auntie Bonnie and Peanut for taking care of Hero.

Next stop was a visit to Uncle Rob's new sexy pad in North York... he was originally going to watch Hero, but he already had plans and we felt bad having him cancel. Plus, Auntie Bonnie was more than happy to take care of Hero! Again, we had a really good time hanging out and showing Uncle Rob all the tricks Hero knows. Not bad for a young puppy huh?

Finally, we went to our last destination at Grandpa and Grandmas for Chinese New Year dinner and to celebrate Uncle Foon's Birthday... it was a smashing success! Again, Hero only went for potty on his pad and he played happily with all the kids in the family. I'm sure that it helped that he ran around Auntie Bonnie's place all afternoon so he was pooped by the time we got there. I'm very proud of little Hero for being so brave and well behaved on our outing. If only he could be like this all the time... =)

Happy Birthday Uncle Foon!

Hero giving Uncle Foon a Birthday KISS!


Grandma, Grandpa & all the Grandkids!

Return of the Poo-Poo Eater

He did it again... Hero ate his poop again tonight and I'm completely disgusted. I wonder if his love for poo has anything to do with the fact that he's a Shih-"Poo" hehee... just kidding. Seriously though, that turd stank! I have no idea how he could find that appetizing at all.

Well, I caught him in the act and stopped him promptly. There's really no one to blame for this one but me... I wasn't paying attention to him because I was busy on the computer. Serves me right. Again, on the bright side, he pooped on his pad without me taking him there... he went by himself like a big boy! Hero is so smart sometimes he makes me wanna cry.

Oh and tonight was also our second last Kinderpuppy class... awww... it was so much fun. Can't believe it's already been 5 weeks since we started. Not to brag, but Hero is quite the smarty-pants and a charmer too. Renee, the trainer is absolutely thrilled with his progress and she said you can really see his personality starting to develop. Hero is the youngest and smallest in his class, but he's also the smartest... see, who said size or age mattered was wrong!

Surpise Pictures!!

I was starting to worry that this blog was getting boring without the pictures, but Auntie Phan came through with pictures of Hero on his first visit to her house on his very first weekend home. Just look how cute he is on all of baby Philip's little toys!!!




Holy, he looks sooooooo much smaller in these pictures! He's grown quite a bit since I got him, but I think a lot of it has to do with his hair. It makes him look a lot bigger than he actually is... well actually, compared to cousin Patch and even Philip, he's puny!



Man, I still can't believe I lost my camera... I'm sad beyond belief. =(

Goodbye Camera

I'm extremely, extremely distraught. I lost my digital camera... along with tons and tons of pictures of Hero. I don't know if I'm more sad about the pictures or if I'm sad about the camera... equally about both I think.

So until I get a new one, there will be no more pictures of Hero... *sniffles*

Mr. Smarty Pants aka Hero

I have a self proclaimed smarty pants in the family and his name is Hero. My puppy is less than 3 months old and he already knows how to follow quite a few commands and even do some tricks! Here's the running list of things he knows:

• Hero: he knows his name! Oh and my parents call him "Ying Hung" which is Chinese for Hero.
  
• Go Potty: where to pee and poo on his pad in the washroom (most of the time)
• Sit: well duh, sit! I must add that he sits in front of all doorways before going through though
  
• Down: he lies down flat on the floor
• Give Paw: he offers his right front paw while standing up
• Stay: he doesn't move... until you say "ok"... well actually, that's still a work in progress
• OK: the release command from a stay... but will eventually be the release for anything
  
• Go Get It: he runs after whatever you've thrown that he has interest in
  
• Off: drops the toy (or sometimes yuckky things) that's in his mouth and/or he backs off what he's trying to bite, chew or jump on
• Come: he'll run to me... but he's still not doing it 100% of the time, so I'm going to have to only reward him all the time when he does come
  
• Go Inside: he runs into his crate and sits or lies down in there
• Go Here: he runs to where I'm pointing while saying it.
• Let's Go: to continue walking despite distractions
  
• NO!: he kinda stops doing what he's doing
• No Bite: yeah... this one he hasn't completely perfected yet, but we're working on it

I'm not sure if I'm missing anything there, but yeah... I'm very proud of him to say the least. He's learning at lightning speed and I'm trying to add to the list, but it does take a lot of time, persistence and patience to train him. The lessons do help, but most of the work is done at home.

I am noticing that his attention span is starting to dwindle a little bit as he ages... I read that it's normal though because the puppy's hormones are starting to kick in. Ah well, that'll be taken care of in a couple of weeks when Hero gets neutered!

On with the learning though!! I want a smart super hero of a puppy! =D

Bitter Yes!

Ok, so it worked... I drenched Hero's crap with the bitter spray and after he took a wiff, he steered clear. Thinking of him eating his poopies is just way too disgusting for me to stomach... on the bright side, he's been pooping consistently on his pads now! YAY for that!