Sully the socialite

Dave shot his first deer! He didn't have to wear his camouflage or sit in the cold for hours. Sully cornered it.

After losing Sully for a good 30 min. he was discovered frolicking with a deer just below our house. Now, our German Shepherd likes to play. I mean, he really likes to play. With anything. Cars that run him over, horses that trample him, cows that kick him, squirrels dead or alive, turtles dead or alive and dogs. Dogs that run, dogs that growl, dogs that bite, big dogs, little dogs, blue dogs, green dogs. It matters not the level of aggression he's faced with. Sully will merrily swing his tail with glee at the prospect of a new friend.

Now enters injured deer stage left. Sully happens up said deer and commences to "play" with his new found friend. Play for Sully includes jumping. Jumping on, over, in the face, on the back, between the legs, over the neck, jumping. Not to be left out is licking, welt inducing tail flinging back and forth, tongue lolling in joy, saliva slinging to the four corners of the earth, paws everywhere but the ground.

This spike buck knows not what to do with Sully. Unable to run away he attempts charging our lovable dog who in turn licks the bucks face. After seeing this distressed animal being tortured by our rambunctious pet Dave put the thing out of it's misery. Now before you go running to Fish and Game to put my husband away, know that it appeared to have had an encounter with a vehicle. The vehicle came out better from the encounter I am sure. I will spare you the details of the poor thing. Just know it's in a better place. At least it's not harassed by Sully anymore. If only that held true for the rest of us.

Someone was in a hurry

Dave's personal items are getting shipped to Afghanistan today. His arms were full as he left in a hurry this morning. Our house is in an uproar over the short notice to get the stuff packed. Thus all the gear you see strung though the house. Good times!

Sully ran frantic through the house looking for the birds when I let him out of his room. Sadly for him I had gotten then on their merry little way at that point. He silently watched them, for who knows how long, before I discovered them. A little notice would have been nice. Thanks for that dog!

Sully's Solo Frat Party

Puppy Love

This is for all the canine loving children we know.

4th of July weekend we went camping with a great family. They brought ten puppies along with them. So much fun!

Sully found a unique chew toy while at our campsite. A turtle shell. Thankfully the previous tenant had long since relinquished it's claim to the external casing. I was trying to get a shot of him flinging the shell into the air, catching it with his teeth and then continuing to chew. He wasn't cooperative on that, however. He worked on it for two days off-and-on till it was obliterated.

There were 3 wave runners in attendance. One of which Dave managed to tip upside 3 times. Once with it still running. That was exciting! Even Sully got a ride on one.

On the actual 4th Dave went back to Ft Campbell because the Army had him pulling staff office duty all day and all night. He drew the short straw. It's not like someone is out to get him... maybe. That night I went back too and it was a good thing because there was all kinds of crazy storms and tornado's in the area. Our tent got blown over and filled with water. The people we were camped had a tree fall into the campsite. Thankfully nobody was flattened. And they had a kayak get blown away and sunk wherewith no amount of searching could discover. Lame. But Dave, Sully and I stayed high and dry. When we went back in the morning the party that stayed was soaked pretty good and ready to go home.

One fish, two fish...

Dog Fish!
How to teach dogs to swim.

1. Ask them nicely to swim.
2. Throw something dog likes into the water.
3. Wade into the water so dog can swim to you.
4. Finally admit to yourself that none of these things work, chase down dog, hold by collar, drag into deep water.
5. Pat yourself on the back. Your dog can now swim.

6. Check yourself for leeches.

Room For One More?

Sully graduated obedience school and got to wear this snazzy cap. How awesome is that? He did really good at all his commands and didn't try to eat any of the other dogs until after he passed all his tests. After that he was kind of an embarrassment but oh well, dogs will be dogs. The next day our little graduate amused himself by yanking the DSL box off the back of the house by the phone line wires. Way to go, kid.

Thankfully our internet subscription covers those kinds of things. We had to call the repair man back for the next two days as well. Once because I shot a staple through the internet cable while securing it to the house, and again the next day when I cut through the buried part with a shovel planting a bush. But this post isn't about me.

We've been thinking that we aren't meeting Sully's intellectual needs. He does have a diploma and everything. Even though we walk him every day, he still seems really bored and lonely. I can't spend more time with him outside, and he isn't allowed to come inside (by virtue of the sacred pact I made with Valli when I got him, except in the laundry room when it's stormy).
Recently we were laying in bed talking about what to do about our dog when Valli gave the most best suggestion ever- Get another dog!

So after thinking about it over for a little while we came to these conclusions-

Another dog would double our dog expenses and create a 100% increase in the production of poop.

Another dog would possibly curb Sully's boredom induced destruction sprees.

Another dog would possibly double the amount of destruction sprees.

Sully is fun. Two dogs = Twice the fun!

By the end of the conversation we were agreed that we wanted to find another dog. A grown dog that someone else has already trained, vaccinated, fixed, etc. The next day we found a listing on petfinder.com for Sam.
Meet Sam! Sam is a one-year-old 75 lb German Shepherd Dog. When his daddy deployed, Sam decided that he was the boss of the house and everyone in it. His Mommy decided that to bring peace back into the house, Sam would have to go. I found him listed as free to a good home.
We went to his house the next morning. It was just a couple minutes from our our place. He was nervous and timid and fearful when we first went into the house. We learned that his owner had hired trainers and professionals to help her get Sam under control but she couldn't handle him. She had to keep her other extremely submissive dog separated from him at all times or he would bully her constantly. We decided to give him a trial run and she brought him to our place. Sully was so happy to have company I thought he would explode. Once Sam was out of his comfort zone he became submissive and relaxed almost immediately.

The only problem was Sully. He just wanted to roughhouse with Sam non-stop. We had to separate them for periods so Sam could take a break from getting beat up on. That was when we realized that Sully didn't just like other dogs, he was a bit unstable with other dogs. Even so, we went on ahead and kept Sam. If after a few days they were not getting along well, Sam had a second offer on adoption from the county sheriffs office. But we needn't have worried. By nighttime the two were best buddies. In the week or so we've had Sam, both dogs have had pretty big transformations. Sam is much more docile and easy-going. Sully barks less, tears up stuff less, and never pulls on walks to get at other dogs anymore. I run them in the morning on the same leash and they are well-behaved. So well behaved in fact they've gotten compliments on not only their handsome looks but also on how great they do while leashed together. Then they spend the rest of the day sleeping, stealing each others toys, and beating up on each other. They are two happy dogs, and we don't feel guilty that Sully isn't getting stimulated enough.

Kindergarden

I signed myself and my dog up for puppy kindergarden at Petsmart. Our first day went really good. The other dogs in the class were big breeds too, so I didn't have to worry about Sully injurying anyone elses dog. However, I did have to worry about him injuring someones child. One couple brought their toddler.

I dont know exactly how old he was, but he was just learning to walk and didn't pay any attention to what mom and dad said to him. My dog still greets people by planting both paws in their chest, so I had to keep a really short leash on him. The puppy that the family brought had no immunizations. They had picked him up from the pound a few days prior, so who knows what he might have been exposed to. Nobody could let their dogs off their leashes for fear they would injure the baby walking around, or contract some kind of disease. At one point the trainer must have said something to the family about not bringing the baby with them. They got all offended and made a scene about how they want to talk to a manager. The manager told them the same thing. After they left we had a great time.

Seriously. Who does that? The kid was the smallest one in the room! Morons. And then when someone told them, "hey dude, maybe letting a 20 pound baby loose with a half-dozen 30 pound hyper-active clumsy puppies is not the greatest idea you ever had", they act like they are being picked on.

Otherwise that class was great. Sully really likes the trainer and does whatever she says. It makes him look like a prodigy and makes me feel like an idiot because he hardly ever does what I say the first time I say it. But whatever. We went over all the not's first. Teaching not to bite, bark, jump on people, eat things they aren't supposed to, and crap in the house. Then we started the sit and "watch me". I never heard that one before but it's kinda cool. It's just to get and keep your dogs attention. It seems like it's too easy but it really isn't.

If anyone has or is getting a dog I really recommend the course, especially if you have a big dog. It costs about 100 bucks for 1 hour long sessions over 8 weeks. If your are not satisfied with the results, or think your dog needs to go through it again, you can take it again for free.

I know some of you are thinking, why spend a hundred bucks on something you can do at home for free? The biggest reason was that I am so busy that dog training is sporatic. Another reason is that every day Sully gains about a pound and we have no idea if he is ever going to stop growing. We want to get him in hand as soon as possible, and that includes not turning into a moron every time he see's another dog or person he doesn't know. Going to the class gave him the oppurtunity to get familiar with other dogs and people, and to be obedient even with distractions. So it's still a good deal.

Here he is now at 4.5 months and 45 pounds. Growing so fast!

Parenthood

Wednesday morning we picked up the puppy. He's a big beautiful boy and a real handful. We named him Sully, after Monsters Inc's top scarer. Nature combined against us because the day we got him Tennessee was (and still is) hit by the cold snap. So he is inside in his kennel almost all day because he isn't housebroken yet.

Here are some pics from his first day home. He is 16 weeks old and about 30lb I guess.

He is probably going to be huge. Wish us luck!