Mutt training.....week 2

The pooches are doing really well. They have their moments when they forget where they are supposed to sit and stay, but for the most part, they are eager to please and are doing what we ask of them.

Boo, aka; the runner, is really responding to the off-leash walks. Today, I took them to the barn and Boo stayed with me the entire time. Normally, he'd have been gone within the first 30 seconds. I see the joys of this already. Sometime soon, we will be playing and enjoying the dogs' company anytime we go outside. This is good.

All the great outcomes of the training isn't without it's challenges. They need exercise, and while I wholeheartedly agree, time and upcoming Ohio winters are not on our side. Once Max starts school, he will be getting on the bus or I will be driving him to school anytime between 6:50 and 7: 20 am. Then, Jay and Al will need to be heading out to the bus between 7:50, or we'll be piling into the suburban around 8:30. All this while getting breakfasts, running after the maniac, dressing, organizing lunches, homework, etc. I get up at 6:00 to start my day and although I will gladly take the dogs for a run with me, come winter this chick will NOT be running in 20 degree weather. Do I bundle up Viv so that I can walk the dogs in freezing temperatures? No. I'm contemplating training the dogs to run on the treadmill, but I'm not sure that's the best plan, either. As much of a challenge exercising the dogs is, and will be, especially with a toddler who cannot be left alone for even a minute, I'm sure this is one of those things that will work itself out. My "planner brain" has a hard time not stressing about how I will figure this out, however. I am grateful that this is all taking place at a time when the kids are home to help out in these early stages. They have been a huge help, as usual!

And so it continues.............(Mutt training week 1)

Like I need MORE responsibility in my day. That being said, I know that the dog training will pay off. I really do. The whole family is excited for the days when the dogs are very well behaved and we can do so much more with them. However, I struggle to get through a day with just the kids and horses, so the added time and energy for dog training can be almost overwhelming.

Tuesday night, we got them home and I immediately started to work with them. Recognizing the bugs and working through them is half the battle. That night, all I wanted to do was go to bed. My day was sooooo crazy that I realized I hadn't even had time to eat or....well, use the "ladies" room all day. I wanted so bad for the day to be over. Jay is still having problems falling asleep and that is a whole other issue for another day. But, I didn't lay down in bed until 1:00 am. Then, Gracie starts barking. She's in her kennel and with the new environment, she was letting us know she wasn't happy. She barked every 30 seconds - 1 minute for a good half hour-45 minutes. I eventually fell asleep, only to be woken at 5:30 am by...............................you guessed it, Gracie. I thought, maybe, she needed to pee, so I got up and let the dogs out. I was up, so I took them on a run. That afternoon, I tried to do a little one-on-one work with the dogs, so I left Gracie in the kennel and started throwing the ball to Boo, outside. He was doing fine, until he caught sight/smell of some critter in the bean field. He took off. I started to shock him via his collar and kept turning up the heat. I'm calling, "Come!" and he's ignoring me. Soon, Ally comes out of the house and tells me that Gracie is yelping in her kennel. I had the collar turned to the WRONG DOG!!!!!!!! I immediately yelled for Max to go get Gracie out of her kennel. (He was closer, and I just wanted her OUT, so I could apologize!) I was weak in the knees. Max brought Gracie outside and I melted on her. I kept saying how sorry I was and that I was sooooo stupid. She politely agreed, but seemed to accept my love and apology. It was then, that I burst into tears. How on earth can I manage these dogs, the kids, the horses and the house every day, all by myself??!?!?! Things will continue to change around here once the kids go back to school and those left behind start to figure out how the routine works. I don't mind getting up at 6:00 am to start my day, as long as the bumps and bruises are kept to a minimum. I'm sure it will all get easier. We learn new things every day. I learned today, that Gracie cannot handle a 2 mile rollerblading/jog. She has been gimping around all afternoon. Why is it that Gracie is the sole beneficiary to all my mistakes?? It's because she is loving and merciful. She's my "grace from God", hence the name. She was given to this family to serve a purpose and she has far exceeded her mission. This whole experience reminds me of an email I got a while back. It was from a vet who had made a house call to a home where the dog was to be euthanized. I am paraphrasing in my interpretation, but it went something like this; The vet asked the young boy of the family if he understood what was happening today. The boy responded by saying that he knew that dogs were sent to earth to learn unconditional love, just like humans. But because dogs learn it so much faster, it means that they die sooner. The email is so much more poetic, but the message is so profound. Dogs know the kind of love that many humans never get. They are so happy to see you each and every day, no matter if you ignored them the day before or pissed them off 2 weeks before. They don't hold grudges and their whole purpose is to please you. This is why we are spending the money and time on our precious partners. They deserve it.
I'll keep y'all posted.

How about a summer recap? Too bad, here it goes.

We had two wonderful vacations to places that were both islands. No Bahamas or Caymans, but islands nonetheless. We did a little camping, which brought out the realization that I am not the camping kind of gal. Maybe one day we will want to pack up a small house worth's of stuff to go sit by the water, somewhere, only for me to still have to cook and clean and run after a baby. But for now, we'll stick to traveling for our getaways.

Max has a decision to make about baseball. This summer was fun because he was playing a sport, but he also missed out on quite a bit, having to attend a game, tournament, etc. He loves baseball, but doesn't LOVE baseball so much that he's willing to give up 75% of his summer for it. We'll see what happens, but he may decide the local rec ball is a better fit.

We didn't get in on any cowboy mounted shooting this summer due to above commitments. Each weekend there was a shoot, there was also a planned vacation or baseball tournament. Maybe next summer, we'll have a better schedule.

We spent a lot of time outdoors, as you can tell by Vivian's tan lines. The girl loves to pick apples off the tree, ride in the EZ-Go and run around the yard. We'll see if the snow is as much of a draw for her. What will I do with this girl all winter???

We got Boo and Gracie back from the trainer yesterday. They were there for 19 days! Why so long? They are old dogs and the trainer was attempting new tricks. The trainer has worked with Cesar Milan and Cesar's right hand..lady. He was offered a job with Cesar, but opted to stay in Ohio. He's extremely good at what he does and if anyone could get through to my two mutts, it's him. We felt we were really doing them an injustice by having to cable them when they were outside. We couldn't take them anywhere, they'd jump on people who came to the door....blah, blah.....good dogs with bad behavior. Now, we can take them outside, to the barn, for walks, all without leashes. Inside, they have their own "place" where they sit and stay so that there's no funny business going on while I'm bathing the baby or doing laundry. We have some bugs to work out, but we are confident that this will provide them with a better quality of life.

Now that school is getting closer, I am seriously considering going back to work and putting Viv in daycare part-time. We'll see how she and I do on our own without her favorite toys, Max, Jay and Ally. When the older kids were babies/toddlers, I stayed at home with them, and there was nowhere I'd rather have been.....most days. Now, I am less patient, more mournful of a life I looked forward to leading, and no longer in "mommy-only mode". Viv will be fine. She needs to be around kids her own age. Aside from one other person, I know of nobody that has a toddler. My friends, here, are either working full-time or have kids who are at least school age. So, once the Ohio Board of Nursing grants me a license and I find a daycare that I am comfortable with, things around the Schreiber home may become vastly different. I am growing more sure of this decision, but once the day arrives for me to drop my baby off at the house of a stranger, you can call me, puddle, I'm sure. This new venture may not work for our family, but we'll never know until we try. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For now. Unless I change my mind. ;)

One of the first things on the schedule after vacation was Ally's horse camp. Our realtor Becky, has a teenage daughter who, along with a friend, put together a wonderful camp for kids. I was proud of Al, because she is cursed with a sometimes debilitating shyness. She was nervous at first, but since she was "in her element" around the horses, she did very well. The first day, she informed me that she didn't really learn anything because she already knew most of it(shocker). However, she did get first place in the horse show which was basically riding around the arena. She was the only girl to get the horse into a trot(Need for speed, that one). The next day when I picked her up, she began to cry. I knew she LOVED camp and thought she was sad to leave. Turns out, the kids were allowed to gather an egg from the chicken coop. The kids took care of the eggs the rest of the day, with Ally building it a nest inside her riding helmet. One slip of the elbow and the egg got, well, crushed. So was Al's spirit. She thought the egg would hatch if she kept it warm and safe. The hard reality was that since there weren't enough eggs for all the kids in the coop, Becky grabbed some from the fridge to set in with the hens. The eggs weren't going to hatch. Al seemed relieved that she didn't actually kill her chick, but was still very sad. Eric and I have talked about getting chickens for quite awhile, but never got around to the action of building a coop and researching how to care for chickens. Now, with the promise to feed and care for them, herself, Al may have started the ball rolling on the chicken adventure.

My brother offered up a couple design plans for a DIY coop.

LOVE this one, but since the kids have been begging for a tree-house, I think it would be unfair to build the chickens a tree-house instead.

Now THIS is more our style. Here in Morrow County, our ingenuity would be admired by all the chicken-owning rednecks.

We'll see what we come up with. Perhaps this chicken adventure will fade away as we realize we have more than enough to deal with with the dogs and horses. However, there's nothing better than farm-fresh eggs!!

"Good morning. Got any carrots?? It's ok, you go find some, I'll wait here."

Cousin love.

While my brother and SIL claim they were delighted at the influence the older cousins had on their son, I fully expect a phone call. That conversation would start something like this, "Do you know what your kid taught my son?!" Just teasing. I think he had a blast, as did all the kids - there's just nothing better than hunting hermit crabs.

We are now trying to get back to normal. We drove through the night to get home and it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be, but it still takes a toll on the (aging) body. We now dive right back in to the routine, while still savoring the last days of summer. My BIL is an awesome photographer and I look forward to seeing some of the moments he captured. With his permission, I might be sharing some of them in the near future.....the beauty of the beach!!

I mentioned the deer and crabs, but I can't forget the alligators. This was just a baby, so we approached for a better look. There were others that were much bigger. Since Viv would have been a nice little snack, we didn't attempt this proximity with the others.

This is the family on the way to get ice cream. We rented two golf carts this year. As the true men that they are, Dad, Eric and Dave tried to "soup up" the horse power, but it didn't work. We putted along as slow as molases. I guess speed isn't what vacations are all about, anyway, right?

Since the condo had wi-fi this year, the computers came ....OUT! You were hard-pressed to find an open area that there wasn't a laptop. I've heard of dueling pianos, but this is ridiculous!

Max and Nick cooking dinner. Each family had a night to cook. This year, since Max requested Toscana Soup, Uncle Nick enlisted his help in making it. I think Nick was impressed with Max's talents in the kitchen. Since Nick is a fireman, we had some pretty high standards set for him. The soup was delicious!!!

Fripp Island, SC - 2010

The Miller family got together for another family vacation on Fripp Island. Although Viv had already been to a beach, this was her first trip to the ocean. Other than a quick, spontaneous, dip under the waves, she had a blast running up the beach, tempting the waves and finding shells.

A jellyfish ball Jay found. Of COURSE Jay found it. A couple days after this beach trip, a lady at a local shop told us a horror story of a man-o-war attack on her daughter. Add that to the warnings of sharks and stinging jellyfish and it's a miracle any of us went back in the water!! The only casualty was my sister stepping on a crab. Oh yeah, and I slipped in the kiddie pool and scraped the shit out of my arm. Nobody got eaten by a shark, so you have to call it a successful vacation!

Fripp Island is a private island that's features are the golf courses and wildlife preserve. The deer will approach you like your friendly, neighborhood, dog. Now Viv will be confused as to why the deer in Ohio run away from you instead of coming up to your driveway to get a "treat".

This really is my daughter....a true water baby!! The ocean did not disappoint, it greeted me like an old friend. I truly believe there's a healing nature within it's massive power and although a family vacation isn't truly a "stress-free" vacation, I felt a fair amount of weight leaving the perch it had on top of my shoulders.