Christmas with Jake

Well, here it's February and I'm just now posting about Jake's second Christmas with us. Either we've been very busy or Jake just hasn't been that interesting. I think, mostly we've just been very busy.

Jake's first Christmas last year was kind of like having a toddler around. He didn't really get what was going on. A tree was in the room but he didn't really even seem to notice it. This year, Jake was the equivalent of a 4 year old. He saw the tree, knew something was up, and he was all nose and paws around it. He couldn't help himself, he just had to check it out!

When we first put the tree up, Jake walked by it and would take a quick side glance at it. He made a circle around the room and walked over to it again, this time a little closer to the tree. By the fourth lap, he actually rubbed up against it a bit but kept walking. I didn't say anything yet, I wanted to see where he was going with the next lap. The next time around, he kind of crouched down and walked under the tree. I didn't know what was up with that. Then, one more lap and he tried to crawl all the way under it. I don't know what kind of dog instinct led him to do any of this but it was interesting. All in all, it took him about 5 minutes to make all these laps.

After the tree was fully decorated and we started putting the presents under the tree, Jake got a little more bold and nosey. We would occasionally catch him running up, grabbing a present and running off with it. So fast! Then we would chase him around the room yelling, "Leave it!" (the command we learned in doggie school....he still doesn't know what it means) and eventually we would pry the slightly soggy gift out of his mouth. I only had to rewrap one present this year. On the other hand, he stole several ornaments and destroyed 3 of them. We would walk into the living room and see part of a snowman here, some pieces of felt over there. We would eventually figure out which ornament it used to be. Years ago, I bought a metal ornament shaped like a Christmas tree and had 5 glass bells hanging from it. I would put it on the bottom center branch of the tree so I could hear if Abigail was getting too close. She never did. This year I put it up so I could hear if Jake was getting too close to the tree. Even though he still snagged a few ornaments, the little tinkling of the bells usually sent one of us running and we saved many more.

So on Christmas morning Jake got to open a couple of presents too. Abigail insisted on buying him a couple of new toys and she did a pretty good job picking them out. The first one was a rawhide that's about as big as his leg. We thought it might keep him busy for awhile. She also picked out this rubber toy with a rope through the middle of it. Two of his favorite chewing items. I can report that he has chewed the rawhide in 2 but he still has both parts around here and he's working on them. The rubber toy no longer has the rope through it. He managed to chew the knot off and pull it out, but he still likes the little rubber thing.

The day after Christmas we took the ornaments off and put the tree up. I think Jake is still pouting about not having that little corner of entertainment in the living room. Next year we're going to save ourselves a lot of trouble and just put up rawhide and chew toy ornaments.

Jakey Boy Rock

It's Christmas. You know, the most wonderful time of the year! I love everything about Christmas. I love that it's when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. I love the food....maybe a little too much. I love the lights. And I love the music. I usually whistle "Jingle Bells" all year long. (Well, that's what I call the sound that comes out from between my lips when I blow. Jeff just calls it annoying) Anyway, Abigail and I love Jingle Bell Rock and one day we just started adding our own lyrics to it. Eventually, we came up with this song. And, let's remember, Abigail and I are NOT professionals. So, making it's debut......

Jakey Boy Rock
(sung to the tune "Jingle Bell Rock")

Jakey Boy, Jakey Boy, Jakey Boy Rock
He's our little dog and he loves to chew socks.
Dancin' and prancin' , he gets in our way,
each and every day.

He's a nice dog, he's the right dog,
to chase our blues away.
Jakey Boy dog is a swell dog
to go runnin' in the park today.

Giddy up Jakey Boy pick up your feet,
Skatin' around the block, *
He licks and he tinkles and he likes to eat,
That's the Jakey Boy, that's the Jakey Boy,
that's the Jakey Boy rock!!!

*Abigail added the "skatin' around the block" as a reference to when he would pull her on her skates around the block. They did that until he took off after something once and circled around her, causing her to fall and we ended up in the urgent care center having her finger x-rayed and splinted. Oh well, at least we got a lyric out of it.

My cousin Stan

I first started this blog in February. I had wanted to do a blog for quite awhile. I just wanted to write something fun about our dog. But the reason I started it on that particular day was to try to distract myself from worrying about my cousin Stan.

I have many, many cousins. Both of my parents come from big families and both were the youngest in their families. I have cousins out there I don't even know. But I have some that I grew up with. Not in the sense that we were the same age and we grew up together, but they were part of my childhood and I grew up with them around me. Stan is one of those cousins. He's one of the sons of one of my dad's older brothers. When I was a kid, we lived in California and that's where this batch of cousins lived. Stan's sister Marlene and her husband Reuben lived around the corner from us with their boys Brad and Terry who were my age. Stan and Marlene's sister, Jolene and brother, Dennis and their families lived nearby also. It was fun growing up with family close by. Marlene and Reuben were like another set of parents, which could be good or bad, depending on if I was doing something wrong or not. We shared lots of meals and holidays and just day to day stuff.

Stan was a single guy. He worked at the VA hospital and he would come over alot on Tuesdays. That also happened to be the day my mom did the baking for the week. When I came home from school on Tuesdays, I could always count on Stan sitting at the bar in the kitchen eating a piece of pie or a cinnamon roll that had just come out of the oven. Since Stan was single and living the "bachelor life" my brother thought he was the coolest.

My family moved back here to Texas but Stan came and visited us. There was a period of several years when we didn't see Stan or Marlene and Reuben but just kept in touch by phone or letters or the family grapevine. After Jeff and I married, I introduced him to Corn, Oklahoma, the center of the universe for all Nikkels. We all met up again at some kind of Corn celebration years ago. I don't even remember what the occasion was but Corn always knows how to throw a great parade. Anyway, meeting up again, it was like we hadn't ever been apart. We all talked and laughed and had a great time and left with an unspoken agreement to stay in touch. I could email Marlene but Stan has never been one for computers. He liked to talk on the phone. He would call here or I would call him but one thing I could always count on was at the end of the conversation, he would always say, "it's nice to hear you voice". I always thought that was a great way to end a phone call.

So, back to the reason this blog is here.....In February of this year, Stan had a scan that showed 2 tumors in his brain. He was having brain surgery so they could do a biopsy. I spent the day pacing the floor and sat at the computer for awhile. As I said, I had wanted to do a blog about Jake for awhile and thought it would be a nice distraction so I sat at the table and typed and waited for the phone to ring.

When the phone rang, it was bad news. Stan's tumors were malignant. The following months were such a rollercoaster ride. He responded well to the radiation and chemo and I thought if anyone could beat this, it would be Stan. He took a bad turn and ended up in hospice. Then he got better and they discharged him. I had never heard of anyone being discharged from a hospice before. He eventually went to a specialist in San Diego and moved in with Marlene and Reuben. During this time, we still talked on the phone and he still always ended our conversations with "it's nice to hear your voice". He always liked to hear Jake stories. I sent a picture of Jake to Stan last Christmas and his neighbor saw it and did an oil painting of him. Stan said it was in an exhibit somewhere in California. Jake in an art gallery. Who would have thought? Marlene would pull this blog up and they would see more Jake pictures and read the stories. My quilting group made him a beautiful black and red quilt and I sent it to him. He knew the kind of work that went into making a quilt and he sent them a huge gift basket filled with chocolates. Even with everything going on, he wanted to show his appreciation. That was just the kind of guy he was.

Then a few weeks ago, he went into hospice again. Two weeks ago, I got a call early in the morning from Marlene that Stan had passed away. He was such a great guy. Quick with a joke and so thoughtful. This past summer he had said he was hoping to be well enough to visit us at Thanksgiving. When Thanksgiving rolled around last week, I was thinking about Stan and I could still hear him say, "it's nice to hear your voice". He will be missed by many, many people.

Harmful Things Your Dog Shouldn't Chew

Today is a nice, cool, lazy kind of day. When I took Jake to the park this morning, the wind was blowing and there was a very light mist. Just enough to make me cold. All morning I've been cold so I thought I would take a nice long, hot bath. Just to warm the bones as my mom used to say. Jeff isn't home, Abigail is in her room studying for a big test (at least that's what she's supposed to be doing....maybe I should go check on her) and Jake looked pretty tired. How much trouble could he get into?
While I was in the bath, Jake was sniffing around and suddenly ran out of the room. Not a good sign. He came back moments later so whatever he had taken earlier, he had either lost interest in or eaten so I went back to relaxing. When I was thoroughly waterlogged, I got dressed and went into the living room. There, right outside my bedroom door, were a pair of underwear, a sock, a new spool of dental floss, and a potholder all in various stages of deconstruction. I was only in there 15 minutes! I didn't see him get any of this. And how did he get a potholder? I keep those in the drawer in the kitchen! After I picked everything up and threw away what seemed like miles of dental floss, I got on the computer and found an email from Dr. Jon.
I keep getting newsletters from Dr. Jon and I don't know why. Dr. Jon is from a website called Pet Place. Somehow I got on their list. I haven't gotten off of it because it usually has some pretty interesting information. But the email I read today was titled: "Harmful Things Your Dog Shouldn't Chew". That got my attention. Let's see what the good doctor has to say.....

He starts by saying chewing is a natural behavior for dogs. But there are certain things that should be off limits to dogs since it could be harmful to their health. Ok, at this point, a small giggle starts. Let's take a look at Dr. Jon's list...

Items that grind away his teeth:
Rocks
Wires
Recreational balls meant for people
Any chew item that can't bend

Hmmm, I wonder if "rocks" includes the little fireplace rocks that Jake likes to sneak out of the fireplace and eat. Fortunately, he's never done it the 3 times the fireplace is actually on during the year, but I'm not going to relax just yet. For the "wires" category, I have to wonder if the razor that he ate counts. I wasn't half as worried about it grinding his teeth away as I was that it would slice his intestines up. But, 3 days of feeding him oatmeal seems to have taken care of it. "Recreational balls"...he has a tennis ball that has seemed to withstood him and his teeth don't look too bad for it. "A chew item that can't bend"...like a hanger, hairbrush, keys, phones? (oh wait, those bend). Nope, after looking at his teeth, I'd say he's in pretty good shape so far. Let's see what else the doctor has to say....

Items that can be swallowed whole and block the intestinal tract:
clothing, socks, gloves
washclothes
strings and ribbons
rubber bands
children's toys (Legos, dolls)

Ok, so according to this, my dog should be really sick. He's eaten everything on this list. Everything. Well, except Legos because we never had any of those but we still have Abigail's old Tinker Toys and he's eaten a few of those so I guess that qualifies.

Items with small/dangerous pieces that can be chewed off and ingested:
shoes
slippers
handbags

Ok, now I'm full out laughing. Forget the small/dangerous pieces that can be chewed off and ingested...Jake has eaten whole heels off of shoes. He's pulled the insole out of every one of Jeff's shoes. Why is my dog still walking around?

So, as I get to the end of Dr. Jon's email I realize what a bad pet owner I am. My poor dog is probably walking around with bad teeth and a horrible digestive tract. He should, in fact, be dead by now. What can I do to save my dog??? Wait a minute, as I get to the end of the email, he writes that the best thing for a dog to chew on is a specific dog toy. A toy that he just happens to have a link to. I click on the link which leads me to another site with a YouTube video of a dog happily running around with his chew toy. Looks like a good dog. The kind that doesn't eat rocks out of fireplaces and dental floss. Forget the toy, can I order the dog?

A Few of Jakes Favorite Things....

Here are a few of Jake's favorite "chew toys". And no, I don't have any pictures of the 2 cell phones he chewed up. Just couldn't bring myself to take pictures of them.....

This used to be a Sonic Kid's Meal toy. I think it was a Frisbee. See the half chewed plastic hanger on the floor next to Jake? I didn't even notice that until I posted it on here. That must have been the appetizer......

This is why I can't mop unless Jake is outside. Truthfully, I don't blame him. I hate that mop too.

This is Jake playing tug-o-war with his rope. He looks just a little scary in this picture.

I used to love these shoes.....

Abigail used to love these slippers.....

Probably the first pair of shoes I ever bought just to match one dress.......

My glasses......I'm now wearing an old pair. So if you see me somewhere and wave to me and I don't wave back, it's because I CAN'T SEE!

This was his favorite chew toy. Abigail named him Limpy because Jake chewed off one of his legs right away. I eventually just tied it at the bottom to keep the stuffing from falling out. Alas, since I took this picture, poor Limpy is no more. All that was left was the little face with the smile. It was kind of creepy looking when we found it.


I could also take pictures of the dining table leg he's chewed on, the laptop, the recliner leg, the carpet on the bottom stair, about 300 pairs of underwear, numerous dishclothes and towels, Jeff's wallet, a few old Polly Pockets and much more.....but you get the idea.

A Walk in the Park with Jake

Jake loves going to the park. Ok, Jake loves going anywhere but he really loves the park. We have a great park by our neighborhood with a big soccer field, a playground and a track. Lots of people walk their dogs there. Usually the other people are walking for exercise and they're just being nice and taking the dog with them. I just walk there to walk Jake. I have a treadmill under the AC and a TV mounted in front of it for my exercise. But, with Jake, a walk in the park is never just a walk in the park.

When I first started this blog, I introduced Jake as a Schneagle. A Schneagle is a schnauzer/beagle mix. Back in the old days (ie, up to about 5 years ago) Jake would have been known as a mutt. Now he's a "designer breed". Really. Just Google "schneagle" and you'll see. When I was reading all the puppy training books when we first got Jake, one of the books actually said not to call your dog a "mutt" in his presence. According to the author, the word "mutt" has a certain negative connotation and dogs will pick up on that. I would love to tell that author that I have a dog that barks at his own shadow so I really don't think he's bright enough to pick up on the negative connotation of a word. But desiring to be politically correct, I refer to Jake as a schneagle. But I digress. I really think Jake is more beagle than schnauzer. He loves to stick his big nose to the ground and follow it. Jeff or I take him to the park just about every morning and every evening. Once we get close to the park, his nose starts working. When we get to the park, his nose goes into overdrive. Sometimes, instead of just making him walk around the track, I give him a loose leash and follow him. I'm sure it looks funny to anyone watching us. A woman following a dog making a crazy, increasingly circular path that always, eventually, leads to a pile of dog (or deer, rabbit, possum, raccoon) poop. After a good sniffing, we can continue our walk.

The other thing Jake likes to do in the evening is play with his friend Trixie. Trixie is another mutt, uh, designer dog, that loves to run. Some evenings I take Jake there, let him loose in their backyard and then visit while he and Trixie run until he's about to collapse. Anyway, when I take Jake to the park, sometimes he decides he would rather play with Trixie than sniff around the park that evening. He communicates this the same way each time. He just stops walking. I'll be walking along, daydreaming, and suddenly there's a tug on the leash from behind me. I turn around and Jake is standing there staring at me. He always looks for a second and, I promise I'm not making this up, he tilts his head a bit in that cute way that says "pretty please, may I go see my friend Trixie?" then he turns his head and looks back to the neighborhood. If I say, "come on", he just pulls back on the leash more. (really, I'm not making this up!) Usually, I give in and let him lead the way. He always goes straight to Trixie's house. I've tried taking a picture of him when he flashes "the look" just to show everyone that I'm not crazy, but I never seem to get it. (Side note: As I sit here writing about how cute Jake is and how smart he is, a very unhappy Jeff just walked in and showed me his reading glasses that had been chewed on by the cute, smart dog. Yikes! Run, Jake!)

So, on the days that Jake decides he does want to walk in the park, we have to go see the bunny. We have bunnies that live around the park and I'm pretty sure they live there just to torment dogs with big noses. When we get to the back area by the trees, I tell Jake to "look for the bunny". There is one huge rabbit in particular that I've named Bruiser. Judging from the size of Bruiser, he must eat small dogs for breakfast....after toying with them a bit. So Bruiser comes out in the evenings and waits for us. Yes, I'm sure he's waiting just for us. Jake sees him, runs a little ways, stops, does kind of a weird crouching position and then runs full blast at Bruiser...dragging me behind him. Bruiser waits until Jake gets within a few feet before he easily bounces off into the woods leaving Jake very frustrated. We then have to spend the next 5 minutes sniffing the entire area and, once again, tracking down some rabbit poop. I'm sure if Jake could, as we walk away he would turn around, shake his fist and say "I'll get you tomorrow!" It's the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote all over again.

But the bunny hunt has changed this past week. Bruiser and his buddies are at the back of the park close to a huge utility pole with big lights on top for evening soccer games. There's nothing special about the lights, they're just big silvery lights. The other day Jake and I were walking and for some reason he looked up at the light. It totally freaked him out! He growled, he barked and then he ran behind me and hid. Thanks, Jake. No birds up there, no squirrels, Bruiser wasn't up there taunting him, just lights. It was daylight, they weren't even on! I kept pulling on him to get past the pole but he wasn't going to walk past those lights. He kept trying to run the other way so I just turned around and left with him. Jeff has walked him the past couple of mornings and he said he doesn't want go to the pole. He said he keeps trying to walk by them because Jake needs to face his fears. I asked him if Jake was smart enough to understand the concept of facing his fears and Jeff said, "No, but I just want to walk around the park and get exercise". (See the first paragraph. And yes, Jeff has access to our air conditioned treadmill but chooses to walk the park with the others. I just don't get it.)

Jake also likes to go to the Dog Park, which I'm pretty sure is his version of heaven. But that's a story for another time.

Dog Show

I have always loved going to the Houston Dog Show. It has a much longer name than that but, it's just the Houston Dog Show. Jeff and I started going to it back when we were dating and back when it was at the Astrodome. Jeff really doesn't care too much about dog shows, but he's always been a good sport about going with me. Going to the show this year felt different. Now that I'm a dog owner I felt like I was one of "them". Of course, I was deluding myself because "them" have very expensive, well trained, well groomed dogs and I have a $50 marginally trained, scruffy mutt. But the dog show is a celebration of those regal canines, those dogs that are true to their breeds. Ok, ok, I know. The dog show is fun but it just seems a little like those little girl beauty pageants. Just a bit over the top. I can't go to the dog show without thinking of the movie "Best in Show". But I still like it. I would really like it if I could take Jake to a show and let him see what these well mannered dogs are capable of. But that would probably destroy his self esteem. Or mine.

Every year I go to the Dog Show, I always say I'm going to take Abigail and her friends one day and go by myself one day. My idea of a perfect Dog Show itinerary would be to get to the show, browse the breed judging and see which breed I want to check out. Since flyball and the agility trials run continuously, I would see those in between. They have something called canine musical freestyle which is dogs dancing with their owners. Sounds silly but I've seen clips of it and I've always wanted to see it there. I can't dance at all so I think dancing with a dog would be very difficult. Anyway, they had 2 dancing dog shows scheduled and I wanted to see one of those. Then, I would go by the "Meet the Breed" area and see which dogs are there. Then go through all the vendors and get free samples and head on out. Yes, that's the way I would do it....if I had been by myself.

This year Jeff and I took Abigail and 2 friends. When we got there, immediately the girls wanted to walk through and see what the vendors had to offer. They all had money in their pockets and it was burning a hole. After walking up and down every aisle and getting all the free stuff we could, the girls decided on their purchases. Abigail's friends both bought something for their dogs. Makes sense. We were at a dog show, get something for the dog. Abigail bought an ankle bracelet. For herself. It didn't even have a dog charm on it. I think the charm said something like "dream" on it. Anyway, we got that out of the way. Jeff took the bags out to the car for us. Next, I thought it would be great to go watch the Jr. Showmanship competition. What could be better than kids showing off their dogs in the ring? The dogs don't even have to be pedigree dogs! Ok, kids, we're going to watch Jr. Showmanship. We went to the ring and sat. They were judging toy poodles (probably one of my least favorite breeds) but I thought they were just a little behind and would finish quickly. We waited 40 minutes....still judging toy poodles. The kids were saying they were hungry and wanting lunch for 35 of those minutes. We finally gave up and went for lunch, spending an exorbitant amount of money for some little pizzas and sodas. After lunch was over, so was the dancing dog show. Ok, well, maybe next year. We decided to go watch some flyball. We watched that for awhile and the girls loved it. Then we went over to the agility trials. We watched 2 dogs go through the course and then everyone walked away. I guess they were done. We heard the music at another arena and decided to get some seats and see what was going on. It was Frisbee dogs. That's always fun. We got through the people, got some seats and watched one guy and his cute Border Collie perform before the announcer thanked everyone for coming. I hadn't even settled back in my seat. At this point, the girls were tired, I was hungry (Jeff and I had split one of those little pizzas) and Jeff was still being patient. I asked the girls if they were ready to go and they were.

As I mentioned earlier, we got some free stuff at the show so I was anxious to try it out on Jake. The market area at the dog show is interesting. They have booths for dog food, accessories and treats, jewelry, teeth whitening (people, not dogs) and the ShamWow. Some of the people at the booths try to talk to you about their products, while others know you're just there for the sample so they're not going to waste your time or their breath. They just hand out the freebie and let the product speak for itself. Those are my favorite booths. One booth's biggest selling point was that their food wasn't made in China. I suppose that would have been a big deal several months ago but I really wondered if that was the best selling point they could come up with. Several places offer all natural dog food now. I think if I wanted to feed Jake all natural dog food, I would just make it myself. Anyway, I came home and tried giving Jake and Freddie (my dad's doxie that we were dog sitting that weekend) some of the samples we received. One of the all natural ones said it was made out of whitefish and sweet potatoes. That didn't even sound good to me. Jake wouldn't touch it. He likes sweet potatoes but he didn't like this version of it. Jake and Freddie's favorite one was from Natural Balance. I had never heard of it before but they ate it up. Natural Balance was "developed" by that world renown dog expert.....Dick Van Patten. Huh? Not Cesar Milan or Victoria Stilwell. Dick Van Patten. He's the guy from "Eight is Enough". I think they had a dog on that show. He and his son Tim came up with this food. They must know what they're doing cause Jake loved it. I was fortunate to snag 2 bags of their food at the show and each time I put it in the bowl, Jake didn't just eat it, he devoured it. The bigger news is that so did Freddie. Freddie is the pickiest eater I have ever known, of people or animals (and I work with 3 year old preschoolers....I know picky eaters). He will only eat if you hand feed him or if it's in the cup holder/dog dish in my dad's pickup. But he ate this food. I think Jake could do a commercial for them. Then maybe next year he would be invited to the Houston Dog Show as a spokesdog. That would be one way he could get in there.