A Sidney Christmas

Christmas was great this year and I really mean it. I never had much luck with the holidays but this year made up for a decade. There was just five of us for Christmas dinner. The same five we had for Thanksgiving. And of course, Sidney. Our meal consisted of lasagne, baked ham, green beans and Greek dishes that Steve's mom made. Well, to make a long story short, the wid was very, very, very bad. It was before we reheated the spanakopita (spinach pie). I let it sit on the table cause the stove top was full and the oven was not yet available to warm the lasagne and the spanakopita. I went upstairs. I forgot for what but I heard Steve yelling. When I came downstairs to see what the commotion was, I realized that Sid had eaten the spanakopita and some of the baklava. Steve was furious. I wasn't. I almost snicker sometimes when he's bad, I'm not sure why. I love him when he's being naughty too.

Voice of Sid: *rolling laughter; holding belly* Wooo! Guys, I had the best christmas dinner ever. All day long I was getting yummy treats. Things I'd never tasted before like the spinach pie I stole off the table when no one was looking. I'd been policing the situation for hours and when the girl went upstairs I knew my chances for getting at the pie had doubled. I got the hollering of my life when the guy found out. I ran all the way into the living room and hid behind our guests. Guy was so mad. *snicker*. But I got some pie :) *lick lips* The guy wanted to throw me out of the house but the girl wouldn't let him. She put the leash on me and brought me to the spare bedroom. They left me there for hours. It was dark in there and not much to do so I caught some Zzzzz's. It was a good, refreshing nap. If that's all the punishment I get then I'm gonna do this again! Yeah!! :P

Please do not read any further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: It was a first for me yesterday. I'll just say it. Sid shit a mini monument. It's base got lodged in the snow and so his log was standing upright. It was so funny. It was like the tribute one. Most of his piles have been composed of dark nuggets. Not too bad.

Pink Frisbee

We picked up a few things from Petsmart just hours ago. Steve got the two fishes, gold fishes. He's been wanting them since I got him that aquarium for his birthday. He's so excited by them. And though I will most likely not blog about fish poop, I would like to take part in the observation of them. Perhaps in the future they can become occasional featured stories like if they do something spectacular like crap the rainbow or something. Anyway, we picked up Sid's Christmas toys. Two things: A pink frisbee and a christmas ee long'ish dog I think. Just like I let Steve open his birthday present up early, I let Sid have one of his. I gave him the pink frisbee.

Voice of Sid: *nibble* Hi! *nibble* *rip* (Voice of Grace: Sid isn't thinking at the moment. He's just gnawing on that pink frisbee like there's no tomorrow. There are bite-size marks ripped off the side. He's being very possessive of it. Very. He won't even bring it to me. And this boy tried to play with him but he wouldn't let go of it. It wasn't a pretty seen. His prey drive is sooo strong!)

*Please do not read any further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: Yesterday, Sid made six doodie mcnuggets. They didn't even melt through the snow. They're still sitting on top of the snow. Picture that.

First Snowfall

It's this year's first big snowfall. I always look forward to it because Sid loves it so much. I love watching him run around in circles and all around like a maniac. He gets snow on his nose and on his coat. He looks amazingly cute. If it's possible to swoon over a dog's delight, then I'm definitely swooning. Steve & I haven't let Sid run free yet because we were worried that he'll take off. Unfortunately, I left the really, really long leash in the trunk of the car that's completely buried in the snow. Sid will have to wait until we're physically and mentally able to take him out. You have to be prepared for anything. A chase, serious anxiety provoking coaxing. Jumping around trying to get his attention. And scream at him if he starts doing icky things.


Voice of Sid: The cold, white stuff is falling from the sky again. It feels nice when the flakes drop on my nose. It smells so fresh and clean. My humans fell asleep for hours and didn't take me out. I had to hold it in for a really long time. When the girl finally came downstairs, I flew to the door. I peed in the walkway because the girl wouldn't come out of the doorway. I had no choice. Then later, I made a nice pile in the cold snow. The cool of the snow touched my bung hole. A ha ha ha! *arruff*

*Please do not read any further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: I had the pleasure of watching Sid take one in the snow. Though I didn't see it, I just know it steamed up as it hit the snow. It melted the snow instantly. I couldn't see it laying in the snow. It was buried far beneath. I'll know to avoid the area based on his paw tracks. I'm going to try to get a better look at his mass tomorrow. I fed him pizza crust the other day and I wanna know how he makes out. Concerned parent or not!

In My Face

Steve came home and farted in Sid's face.

Voice of Sid: The guy came home and farted in my face.

*Please do not read any further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: Mostly balled nugs. If they were perfectly round like, hmmm..what animal? Guinea pigs poop pellets. I think rabbits or is it deer that poop balls. Anyway, if they were smooth balls, I'd be very impressed and proud of my boy. I'm still proud of him. No matter what, he makes a minimum of two piles per day. He's a good bowel eliminator.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

We always manage to go to the laundromat when it's raining. Usually we get lucky and it breaks up just as we're putting the laundry into the car and then again when we come home. Tonight we weren't so lucky. It was raining hard and the top layer of clothes got wet. Then Steve couldn't find his blackberry and he freaked out. I had to take Sid out for the night so I put Steve's big, black jacket back on and headed out with Sid on the leash. I wanted to let him out alone, but Steve was afraid he'd run and get hit by a car. And he does have a bad track record for running away during the rains. (It's because we used to let him out alone when we didn't feel like getting rained on.) So there I am, Sid on the leash, telling him to go potty and all he does is stay very close to me. Perhaps trying to take cover under my big, black jacket. Well, we both got pelted. He was all soaked when we came back in. I felt bad cause I could take my jacket off but he couldn't. He looks cute all wet. Reminds me of how much he loves swimming and how great it is to witness. Well, Sid didn't do anything outside. He'll have to hold it in until tomorrow morning.

Voice of Sid: Weeeeee! My human took me out in the rain and I got soaked. Why did she do that? *exhale* I didn't give her the signal to go out. She and the other guy came home from *sniff* the laundromat and she said 'outside, let's go.' So I went even though I didn't really want to. I sorta had to go but not bad. And what's with the leash in this rain? What did she think I was gonna do? Run away? *snicker*. I feel good. *aaarrrufff!!!* Yes, it feels good to be a wet, stinky dog. Mom kept petting my wet fur and then sniffing her hands. And I heard her say, Mmmmmm as dad complained about how disgusting wet dog smell is. *ahhh roor!!!*

*Please do not read further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: I remember saying to myself. Grace, remember this. Remember what it looks like. And I can't. I think it was impressive enough for me to want to remember. I don't mean to keep track of Sid's daily outputs but it takes up many minutes of the day, every day. So I started observing more and more and made notes to myself. Next thing I know, I can't stop making mental notes. So, sorry there's no update today. I'm too pooped to remember. Pooped. Ahahaha. Get it? Of course you do because you have a brain.

I'm So Spoiled

It's true. I spoil Sid. I really shouldn't unless they're healthy'ish treats but I love feeding him. I usually give him a little human food mixed into his dry food which is Nutro natural choice. Then I have Nutro maxx mini bones biscuits and freeze-dried liver treats. He goes crazy for that stuff. We jokingly used to call it puppy crack when we used them to train him. We got the idea from our vet. They keep cookie jars full of the stuff. And at every visit, Sid gets treats for being a good boy. We've been using it as a tool to keep him still while Steve clips his nails. Anyway, I give him those treats and they're considered good. If I give him carrots or apples or watermelon, I don't feel bad. But if I give him a tortilla chip, I don't feed great about doing that. But I get pleasure out of watching him eat it. *crunch*. This morning I had to give him a little plop (like 1/4 cup) of 1% cottage cheese to get him to eat. Yes, he does that now. He won't eat his dry food unless there's something to go with it. He's been known to eat his dry breakfast at 3pm. So yes, I'm a spoiler of dogs. I used to do the same thing to my dead cat Graham. He loved to eat. Absolutely loved it. From fruit to veggies to meat to pizza. He loved it all and had a great appetite. Most of his life, he weighed over 16lbs. (He was big boned *giggle*.) Back to Sid. He's eating a napkin right now and I don't feel like dealing. I'm going to ignore him for now.

Voice of Sid: I'm slowly training my human. She gets better year after year. When I was a young pup, I never got to eat human food. My dad said, dogs eat dog food so I didn't get spoiled even though my mom wanted to. Maybe it was because I had so many belly problems then. Everything gave me diarrhea. Sometimes uncontrollable. As I got older, mom would sneak me treats and I savored every moment with delicious human food. They get to eat that while I eat this dry, dry, dry and hard stuff. Now my humans know. I refuse to eat unless it's supplemented. *nose up in air*

*Please stop reading further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: He's been pooping little balls lately. They're about the size of Planter's cheese balls. Remember those? They used to come in a can/container. I loved them but I can't find them anywhere now. Okay, the piles. Last night he made one at the edge of the lawn and a nug rolled onto the driveway. I was horrified. Well maybe not horrified but I pictured tires rolling over it or worse, a shoe stepping on it and it smearing all over the place. Then the person who stepped on it has to deal with cleaning it. And the stink is so terrible. I haven't stepped in dog poo in a while but I remember it clearly. Now that I've talked about it, I'll probably step in some *sigh*.

Morning Routine

I remember when Sid was just a puppy. We used to have to take him out like fifteen times a day and he'd still have accidents, frequently. He didn't get fully potty trained til like a year. He did, however, improve greatly after six months. Anyway, since his puppyhood, he has demonstrated excellent bowel control. I usually take him out twice in the morning. Once before he eats and once again afterwards. He usually takes advantage of both opportunities. There are times, however, that he fakes me out. I'll take him out because of the signal gives me. ( He puts his front two paws on the chair closest to the door - elevating the top portion of his body - when he wants to go out.) We trained him to do that so we wouldn't have to bend over to put his leash on. When he wants to go out is the key. He usually doesn't try to use this tool to his advantage and go out like ninety times a day. But sometimes, it happens when he wants to go out and not necessarily when he has to do the deed. It takes a trained eye to tell the difference. When I take him out and he does nothing, I get frustrated. Especially when he does the lingering thing when it's raining or otherwise precipitating.

Voice of Sid: Oh man, I had to take such a crap this morning. I was giving her the signal but she kept ignoring me. So I ran back into the living room and played around. Sometimes when my human takes me out to make my piles, I wait for a really long time 'til she gives up on me and wants to take me back inside. Sometimes I let her and sometimes I go as soon as I sense that she's getting mad at me. I fight at the door to stay out and she lets me have my last few moments that I use to poop. I especially love the way my human gets when I do this when it's freezing and/or raining out. She gets mad and she says: Inside! And I hop into the house, put my paws up on the chair, she takes off my leash and then I get a treat just for coming inside. My human is so well-trained. I am proud of her :P

Please do not read any further if you find fecal matter offensive!!!

Doodie Update: I've been feeding Sid less human food and more dry dog food in hopes of getting his GI tract back in shape. It's working. His outputs are more uniform and his segments are well-rounded instead of torn. Today's featured a very little taper piece. (That would be the last segment to exit his anus.) It looked like a large, lightly colored chocolate chip. Are you ready to dry heave? :)