Deuce comes home

Well, we finally got mr. deuce home tonight and I am so glad to finally have him here. Our trip started out on saturday morning with mostly georgia and OSU fans as they were playing that day. The traffic got better and worse as we went through or near college towns that were playing . We stopped in stillwater OK for some "pit bbq" which turned out to be meat with tons of sauce. They did have some good sausage that I enjoyed and Tony seemed to enjoy his ribs. We call bbq, pulled pork in the south and we have to remember that BBQ in the west is brisket and beef ribs and tons and tons of sauce! I digress, we got to meet the Mobley's on saturday and got to meet the puppies! I love heidi's set up as she has a really nice kennel room on her house with a great pen for the pups indoors and she has concrete floors which I adore! She also had a really nice grooming room with a raised tub and a grooming table. I am so jealous! One day, I will have my dream house or either we need to put an addition on this house. We played with the puppies and talked and then went out for some awesome Texas mexican food. Tony and I headed back to the hotel and crashed. I think all the driving and the traffic really got to tony as he went to sleep around 8 and didn't wake up till 8 the next morning.

Of course, being southern we were very excited to see a waffle house right next to our hotel so we got up and headed over to eat some delicious waffles. While we were there, someone decided that my passenger side mirror needed to be stolen and I didn't notice it was gone till we were on the road to Heidi's house. Why would anyone do that? Anyway, we had decided the best plan of attack was to let heidi wear the pups out before we tried to take them in crates in a car for 8 hours. We loaded up two tired puppies and headed out of TX around 10:30 and had hellacious traffic! People in TX do not go the speed limit at all. I think at one point Tony was doing 85 and people were still blowing past us like we were sitting still. As usual there was tons of road construction which made things even more interesting. We were bringing one of the pups back to KS for a friend and I am very glad we had two puppies instead of one so that they kept each other company. They cried for about 10 minutes when we left, but after that, they played with their toys and each other and slept. We stopped twice, once to get gas in stillwater again and once to let the pups pee and poop. For not being collar or leash trained, they did awesome both times, doing their business and getting back into the crate no problem. We made the trip in 7.5 hours thanks to the traffic going 80 most of the way home.

I had decided to go and get the big dogs since it was on our way and I think I made a mistake. When we got there, of course they were really excited and barking and the puppies were barking back at them. Since it had been several hours since we had let them out to potty, I decided to let them out and let them play a bit at Alice's house. Well, they still weren't too happy about the collars and leashes and I guess when i got Deuce out, he tried to be a fish and buck on the line and his collar tightened and freaked him out. I really think he thought one of the dogs were attacking him and he started screaming at the top of his lungs. I was going to let him figure it out but I think Alice was getting upset so she sat down on the ground and he came to her to be comforted. Once he realized he wasn't dying, he was fine but whenever any of the big dogs came near us, he would growl. I guess he is going to be very brave which is awesome and I am very glad that he bounced back as that could have been a very bad deal. We walked around the agility field with both puppies or should i say tried to walk as they both were imitating fish or bucking broncos on their leashes. Tony and I finally gave up and loaded everyone in the car to get home. I knew that once they were all loose and free of leashes in the fenced backyard, everything would be fine.

Once we got them home, everyone got to run around and play or should I say the puppies ran around and played the big dogs sat on the deck and looked at us like we had lost our minds. I am sure they were thinking, geez, I hope these are just foster dogs. Harley had started asserting himself to the pups, which I don't correct unless I think there is going to be bloodshed or it is totally unnecessary. Harley is the bottom of our pack and previously with other foster dogs he has really asserted himself, sometimes too much. We tried to give everyone equal attention but it is really hard with two very cute puppies. Sherry came from KC to get her puppy and then we were left with one. Deuce had some dinner, two handfuls and then had a great time playing. I could tell around 9 he was really starting to wear out so I tried to keep him going until we were ready to go to bed. Tony opted to sleep downstairs so I could crate train the puppy but Deuce did really good for his first night crated. He cried for about 10 minutes and then settled and crashed. I slept with my hand in the crate so he could lick it or touch it if he needed. He woke up around 2:45 and whimpered, so I got up and carried him out to pee just in case. He went right back into his crate, cried for about a minute and then went back to sleep. He was back up around 5 so I went ahead and got up with him and pottied and fed him. He ate one and a half hand fulls and seemed to be full. He then crashed again and I let him sleep in the bed with me but I couldn't go back to sleep. My brain was going and I couldn't turn it off so I just enjoyed laying there with him and holding him.

We were back up around 6:30 so I took harley and deuce out for a game of tennis ball. Deuce loves to chase his big brother and really idolizes him but harley still wants nothing to do with him and will even growl at him when he gets near him. I think it will take some time but I really do think Harley will come around. I am trying to spend special time with each of the dogs so that they see we still love them and that they still matter to us. Harley got to go with Tony last night for a ride in the truck and to mcds for a hamburger and of course miller gets to sleep with me at night and sit next to me on the couch no matter what. We will have to continue this trend so that no one gets jealous or feels left out. Berry of course could care less as she is in her own little senile world at this point. I am thinking since we are also going to be up very early it seems, we can all go for short walks together in the park since it is so close so that deuce gets use to walking on a leash and he gets to see lots of stuff. That is something I can do with all of the dogs together.

We have an agility show this weekend and am still debating on wheter or not to take him. For one thing, I am going to have to get another crate for shows for deuce as he can't be in the crate with either of the boys yet. Harley has to have a wire crate which is the one I am using for Deuce for his night crate and I don't want to have to take the wire crates out of the car. May have to make a trip to petco today and see what they have. Where is a good garage sale when you need it? I will try to keep this blog updated with news and training that I am doing. I don't think anybody reads other than maybe my mom this but me but it helps to get stuff down so I can see what we are doing and what we need to do.