Gerry

Annual Couch Day means – pictures of me on the couch!!!

And for anyone still wondering, see last year’s post for the history of Couch Day:

http://gerry.tripawds.com/2011/01/  (Also features more pictures of me on the couch!)

I still have a gazillion toys from my ampuversary and Christmas…

So, my Adoption Day present was a trip to the park…

Hey all!  My adoption anniversary is coming up this Monday.  That must be why it’s a holiday weekend.  Anyway, Mom put together a video of my last year (though a Gerry year goes from November to the following October, so that’s a little different, haha).

Here’s this year’s video:

This was last year’s:

Nothing else to report at the moment, but Couch day is coming soon too!  Here’s last year’s entry on the history of Couch Day: http://gerry.tripawds.com/2011/01/  It’s not nationally recognized yet, but one day…

Wow – making new friends is exhausting…

Not much of an update.  Just wanted to share Halloween pics!

Mom used to say that she’d never dress me up for Halloween unless she stumbled across a really cool pirate costume by accident.  Mom’s roommate though is really into dressing up her dog and she sold Mom on borrowing this awesome Sheriff’s costume:

I’m not a fan of the hat, but I like putting on the rest of it.  It reminds me of putting on my harness, and, like my harness, most of the time when I put it on, I got to go somewhere.

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

So, Mom wanted me to learn to use a ramp for the car just in case.  I get in and out just fine on my own, but she says I have too many years ahead not to take precautions.  Also she stumbled across a ramp at the pet store that was 75% off, haha.  Mom made a video of me learning to use the ramp – of course.  It’s edited for length, cause otherwise it’d be really boring, but she tried to keep in some of our awkward moments and not let it look easier than it was! She also asked me to spell out a few tips for other tripawd pawrents who might be trying to teach/learn this.  Oh, and so you know, she didn’t come up with any of these tips on her own, they’re all stolen from training classes we took, and books she read, and the instructions that came with the ramp itself

1) Take it slow and in the beginning.  Give treats even for simply coming near the ramp.  Practice in short increments over time, so neither of you gets frustrated and you can keep the mood fun!

2) Lure your pup (with treats or toy or whatever works best) across the ramp while it’s laying flat on the ground.  That way they can get used to the weird feel of it, without the added challenge of going up and down.  You may even want to have them sit or lay down on it, again, just to get used to the feel.

3) Then do the same with the ramp raised at higher elevations, as gradually as possible until ready for the height of the ramp to the car (or whatever you’re going to be using the ramp for).

4) While you want to use something your dog LOVES (treats, toys, etc) to lure them up and down the ramp, keep in mind that if your dog gets too excited about the reward, he or she might forget to pay attention to where his or her feet are.  So, while you want them happy and having fun with it, you don’t want them too riled up either!  (So it’s not just your tripawd who needs to keep his or her balance with this activity, haha)

Alright, that’s all we got, we think.  Hope you enjoy the video!

Mom, I and our housemates (human and dog) went up north this past weekend to help a friend of a friend and his mom clean up some of the debris from bad storms that hit earlier this year – and to enjoy ourselves.

My roommate Biggie and I, being too young and cute to work, did mostly the latter.  Mom made a video, as usual.  Except for the song being a little too sad-sounding for a super fun vacation, it fits pretty well.  Some bits of the video may require some explanation.  First, Biggie is a mama’s boy, that’s why he has his face pressed up in the crack between the driver’s seat and the car door – his mom is driving – on our car ride up there.  The blue doggie preserver is actually Biggie’s, but he shared, so you’ll see both of us wear it.  I only swam briefly when we first arrived and Mom wasn’t ready to film it and then (as you’ll see in the video) briefly again on our last day there.  Biggie’s mom shadowed me way too closely as I swam.  I didn’t need help!  But I know she only did it because Mom was worried and couldn’t be with me and video me both at the same time.  Oh, there’s also a point at which I find and eat some tasty ants.  Ummm… I don’t think anything else requires explanation.  I liked the lake a lot, but I’m not sure Mom is outdoorsy enough to take me again.  The tics freaked her out and also she, I and Biggie all got some kind of rash or hives from somethin’.  Mine and Biggie’s seems to be fading, but hers is just getting started.

But the important thing is:  I swam!!! (Mom’s never seen me swim before, if you didn’t already guess).

And here’s some pictures of me enjoying the sunshine and scenery:

Hoppy summer everyone!

Hey all,

Mom’s doing her best to keep me busy.  We’re still visiting my friends at the nursing home nearby.  Met some new friends there last visit too – mega-dog people!  That was cool.  Mom is always very cautious about not letting me approach people who aren’t waving us over.  I think I can convert people, if she’d just give me a chance.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose.  OH!!!  And guess what!!!  They have birds in a big glass box at the nursing home.  I didn’t notice them until a couple visits ago.  I WISH Mom would let me sit and watch them, but she says they are for the residents to enjoy, not me, and I have a job to do and… she knows I’d never want to leave.  You never know, one of those birds might find a way out.  Or I might find away in muwhahaha!

Mom wishes she had pictures of me at the nursing home, hanging with my friends, but she doesn’t want to make the residents uncomfortable.  Like I said – she’s super-cautious.  Maybe some day down the road after we’ve been visiting longer.

We do sort of have pictures though from the two events she took me to recently.  The first was a Bark for Life walk in Oregon, WI.  But she didn’t have any human pals available to come along, so she couldn’t get any good pictures at the event, but here’s one she took of us after:

Mom wore her Tripawds Rocks!, Team Tripawds jersey, inspired by Trouble

And then there was the first annual Dogs on the Square, which was a fundraiser for Capitol K-9s, which is a non-profit for the Police K-9 Units.  It was really hot (windy too).  I loved all the attention from strangers, but I did kind of worry Mom with how much I wanted to lay down.  There was a lot to watch, that’s all!  Still she’s gonna make me go to the vet, whatever.  I get a lot of attention there too   Here’s a picture of me soaking in the sun an scenery.  Oh and there’s the mounted patrol in the background of one.  I didn’t even realize there were horses right there.  Huh.

And here’s one more picture for good measure – me sunbathing in the backyard today:

Wow it’s hot!

And, by the way, we’re hoping for a midwest tripawd pawty (or two) this year.  Mom put up a post about it in the forums: http://tripawds.com/forums/tripawd-parties/midwest-2011-pawty-possibilities/#p58411

Stay cool!

Gerry

Well, it doesn’t look like we’ll be done marching at the Capitol here in Madison any time soon.  Mom says a lot of people are busy marching to meetings and to places all over Wisconsin to spread the word, so the Capitol Square wasn’t as crowded the last time she took me, which I like better.  Fewer people means more squirrels on the Capitol lawn!  Mom made sure that this time my sign said something that would encourage other protestors to come say hi to me, cause last time she noticed I was kinda bummed that people weren’t paying attention to me.  But I actually didn’t get many more people to stop and pet me – and that was definitely partly because I was monitoring squirrel activity!  (They’re spies for the DOA after all).

After probably four or five laps around that last time, we went to a local pet store right off the square that has expressed solidarity with public workers – rhoohoo!  So Mom picked me up some more fish treats to use for my CGC class that just started.  Lucky for me Mom signed us up for that before all heck broke loose here, or who knows when we would have gotten around to it!

Here’s a little bit of me protesting and then heading off to the pet store!  It was a little too tricky for Mom to videotape me and march at the same time: