Puppy love

The other night we were all laying on the couch - Daddy reclining, Mommy laying on Daddy's leg, and Mochi on his back, curled up next to Mommy. Now Mochi generally doesn't sleep on his back but for some reason he sustained this position for a long time. From time to time his front paws would twitch as if someone had hit a reflex. This was pretty amusing to Mommy and Daddy (but of course we could sit and watch him for hours anyway).

The best part: he obviously started dreaming pretty intensely, and all of a sudden his tail started wagging at hyperspeed - all while he was laying on his back - so it was quite a sight to see. We've seen his tail twitch from time to time while he sleeps, but nothing like this - full on wagging. Just the sight of such tail wagging made us pause and reflect on how much we love him and his cute little quirks.

Demon dog

aka - more fun with flash



He really likes retrieving the small dog-hardened balls we found at the pet store.

Monkey - part 2

No really, stay away from my monkey.

I don't like collars - part 2

Why yes, that is a Coach collar. And yes, he did try to chew through it again, just like he did with his last one.

Score one for the collar - Mochi can't quite chew through the leather. :)

Whodunit?

Picture story time!

Exhibit A: There's normally a pair of slippers in the second row. Where did they go?


Exhibit B: Hmm, how did the slippers move over there? And why are they separated?


Exhibit C: Possible clue - the monkey in the curtain?


Exhibit D: Who moved the mat? And where is the liner that normally goes underneath it?


Exhibit E: Another clue - one of the liners are on somebody's ottoman


Well, we have a lot of evidence pointing to Mochi. Just as we were about to accuse him, he claimed to have been spending time with his monkey. Wait, wasn't that the same monkey that was in the bedroom?


Then his cuteness made us forget why we were looking for him in the first place. :)

Mochi & strangers

My childhood dog, Husky, had no problem with people. He had no problem with family, friends, and random strangers coming up to him and petting him. He was never good with other dogs though. When he was younger, he would make somewhat aggressive movements to other dogs when we were on walks, even if the dogs were bigger than he was (which was often the case, since he topped out around 20 lbs).

We didn't want to have that problem with Mochi, so early on, we took him to a training class at the local SPCA and frequent the local dog park. That, combined with his early interactions with Joey, Buddy, and Jax, resulted in him generally being comfortable with other dogs, or at least those bigger than him.

Unfortunately, ever since we got him, he's never been comfortable around human strangers. He barks at nearly all men, and occasionally some women and children when we are out. He even sometimes barks at people he's already met (e.g. my old college roommate, my sister's boyfriend, etc). The barks aren't particularly aggressive, and his body language seems more defensive (tail up, I think) than offensive. We've tried distracting him, giving him treats, throwing treats at the feet of the strangers, and having the person he's barking at give him treats, but so far, nothing seems effective. Well, he does eat the treats, regardless of where they are or who is giving them. :)

We're still getting him out more to increase his exposure to other people, but we're otherwise not sure what else to try. Random blog reader - do you have any tips?

Updates!

Yes, I haven't posted in about a month. I finally uploaded some pictures and got off my rear, and then back on my rear to resume blogging. There should be new posts every other day or so for a couple weeks. I'm publishing one today to whet your appetite. Or something like that. After that, we'll see what happens. My audience of one (me) isn't particularly demanding. :)

I don't like collars - part 1

A few months back, Mochi was terribly resistant to collars. We caught him chewing a few times, which wasn't so bad. Then we started coming home from work to find our poor little guy with his collar stuck in his mouth. It seemed like he had been stuck that way for a while since his neck would be wet from drool. :(

So then we removed his collar before leaving the house, and putting it back on when we got home. Tracy got tired of this after about a week, so we started to leave the collar on all day again. His "gagging" sessions seemed to taper off, so we thought he was settling down. And then we came home to this:



A few points, in case the picture isn't clear.

1. He managed to chew through his collar in more than one place.
2. Possibly purposely, the collar's remains were left on one of his indoor potty pads.
   

Score:
Mochi/Butthead: 2.5 (two because he ended up chewing through two collars. Add 0.5 because when we picked him up from the shelter, he was missing the collar that we put on him the week before. We suspect, but can't prove, that he chewed through that one as well)
Collar: 0