Jumping again

I had my evaluation at a new barn on Monday. After talking the schedule over with my manager I called today and secured my place in the class. First lesson started today, and boy was it amazing. I remembered that I HATED giving up jumping and every time I watched a class I got a little pang of jealousy in my stomach, but I forgot that feeling of getting it right.

The first three times around were a little rough and I forgot to count about half the times but I got the strides right all but once. About the fourth time around (it was set up with two small X's on a line, then coming around the arena and taking a square corner to a small vertical. X's were probably 12" and 4 strides, and vertical probably 18", and after about 3 rounds I figured her out and it was like being a rock star. I would say definitely far from perfection but I felt something coming back. It was confidence. And it felt GOOD.

I clicked really well with Stella, the mare I rode. It was a little shaky at times but I am certain after another ride or two I'll be in much better tune with her. She jumps really up and round so I snatched her face twice on accident and got thrown forward a couple times as well, but both of the last times around were great and really smooth.

Texas hunter/jumpers, here I come.

Life

I haven't updated in a long time (for me anyway). I've been busy and I've had a lot more energy (probably from eating better and exercising more, followed in my other blog with Mashley) so I've been getting out more. I'm already getting a little tan (in March!) and Oscar is learning "stay," "spin," and we're working on sitting from a down. He can sit, then lay down, or sit from standing, but lying down and THEN sitting is pretty tough for the little guy to comprehend.
He also decided to chew on my laptop cord, and shorted that thing out. Which was probably about time anyway, the thing is constantly losing connection to the internet (where my netbook won't), and randomly turns itself off (even if it's not hot) and also freezes unnecessarily. The laptop IS about 5 years old, though, so it's probably about time. I'm just glad I have a backup and do not need to buy another one right away. I need to get my spending (aka eating out) down and make sure my car is going to be okay before I buy another computer.

Speaking of car, my A/C isn't exactly working. Which down here is a must. I'm going to have to get that fixed ASAP before it starts getting into the 100*.

I also got some MUCH needed cleaning today. My apartment was starting to look like a crazy person's house with clothes everywhere and dishes piled up. I also cleaned the fridge and got my bathroom looking good again. I like having a clean apartment, I just need to get better about having the time.

I have an evaluation tomorrow at a somewhat fancy jumping barn tomorrow. I met the woman who runs it and I think I'm really going to like it. I got the impression she knows how to run a business, and also really enjoys it. She was honest, asked frank questions and genuinely listened.

More on that later, right now it's time to go to bed. I am exhausted.

Dogs are sometimes cute

but not all the time.

So Oscar got into the trash a few days ago. I thought I had picked everything up, then went to take a nap and found 2 english muffins (stale, which was why they were in trash) buried in my bed. There originally was 5. I found one on the floor, two in my bed, and assumed he ate the other two.
Wrong. Just found the 4th hard-as-a-rock english muffin buried in my love seat. Naturally by "found" I actually mean Oscar decided today was The Day to eat said English muffin and removed it from between the cushions. (sidebar- "cushions" looks WEIRD when spelled out. I had to dictionary.com it to make sure it was actually spelled right because I didn't believe my Google spell-check (sorry Google.) I digress).

NO telling where bagel #5 is. due to the mass amounts of stomach gurgling over the last few days and yesterday and today's diarrhea my guess is THAT one he did eat.

I have been cleaning crumbs out of my couch for the last two days and now will need to spend the next several days cleaning them out of the love-seat. Thanks, Little Guy.

On a completely different topic, I watched "As far as my feet will carry me" and was thoroughly impressed with it. Netflix has been recommending it for me for weeks and I've ignored it until tonight. Definitely a good foreign film, and it helps that I really do like runaway/chase movies. There are still parts that thoroughly puzzled me but it's probably something I missed somewhere in the translation, or something that would make more sense the second time around.

Today

Today is one of those days...
Wait.
No, this week is one of those weeks where I hate my job. Fifty percent is me being a whiny baby and the other fifty is me being sick and tired of men feeling they can push me around. Not physically of course, but here is the issue.

I see this in many jobs I've held where I work predominantly with men. I share a similar sense of humor, but I have boobs. I'm also a sarcastic person, so often when i'm genuinely complaining it doesn't always register; I'm probably just being sarcastic.
I also am generally someone who has a hard time saying no, even when what is being asked of me is stretching me thin. I also generally feel it is my responsibility to be the ever reliable one. So when everyone else is taking their lunches and not offering to stay late or not showing up for a month (yeah I mean no big deal, right?), I am the person who is called upon to pick up the slack.

Well I finally put my foot down after working more hours than anyone else in the store this week. And probably last week. So when I put my foot down and say "NO, I'm already scheduled 50 hours this week and 6 day. Not to mention I was here and running errands on my one day off, I'm not going to stay late I don't care if Michael Jackson comes back to life for one more appearance in my store, I'm not staying late (which I did anyways) the general response is "well you're a leader in training, get used to it."
And that makes me want to turn violent. Because usually the follow-up comment is "this is retail, didn't you know that?" And that makes me want to throw sledge hammers and squish people into tiny piles of goo that I can burn and turn into tar and roll over with a steam roller on the hot roads. I spent about 7 years working in the hospitality industry, busting my ass, while in high school and full time college. No one else in my store including my managers are working 6 day weeks, yet I am, and I'm expected to just keep on keepin' on because "it's retail"?

No sir. No Sirs. No more throwing Kara's business cards away, or pushing shit off on me last minute so you can leave by 5:15 and I can stay an extra 2 hours. I am putting my foot down and if I have to stomp on someone in the process, prepare to be crushed. We were told we have a "communication" issue. Well I'm about to start communicating and earning some respect Aretha Franklin style, giant knockers and all.

That being said, I still like my co workers and I still like my job and the people who come in every day, even though sometimes I want to strangle everyone.

I just need a big, fat vacay.

Teddy's 3rd visit

This time Teddy found me. He came running up, wiggling and clearly happy to see me. I never had to tell him to come, he followed me around my apartment complex and straight up the 2 flights of stairs, stopping only once to lift his leg on a bush and check out the downstairs neighbor's plant.

After calling the police for my legal duty and an animal hospital for my civic duty, he's currently whimpering in my bathroom.

I have a connection (albeit weak) at the local ASPCA that I'm hoping will overlook his collar for a day and get him neutered. At least. I might be able to "lose" his collar for a few days as well. He's clearly not healthy and far too friendly to be wandering the streets. Especially with usable, procreationing balls.

Am I being a bitch? Probably.
Am I probably not abiding by law? Clearly not.
Am I benefiting society, and the little dog? I think so.

Oscar's progress

Well I've officially had Oscar about a month. I cannot begin to explain how fantastic this little dog is. I am a very lucky dog owner!
Let's recap:
When I first got him I tested out all the basic commands and got absolutely no indication of any understanding. Not a flick of an ear or a thought directed towards me. Even small changes in my voice led to little response from him unless it was very harsh or very excited. He would crawl into my lap at any chance and slept the majority of the first week. Vet cleared him health wise just said he as a very exhausted terrier. Approx. 1-2 years.
He pulled at the leash a lot and scratched at the door. Lots of jumping and play-biting. Some playful snaps at the face, which was quickly reprimanded.
He throws himself around and generally ends up in a twisty pretzel while I'm attempting to snap his leash on. He flails and submits and wiggles and thrashes instead of standing on his two feet. Also likes to lay down at the bottom of the stairs and give the sad eyes.

A month later:
Commands:
Come is 100% at home. 90% at the dog park. We're still working on come while in the middle of dog play time. I usually can get him to at a minimum look at me, but actually overcoming the excitement of playtime is still a work in progress.
Down: Unless food is involved there is usually a stare-down involved. But generally if I wait it out for about 5-10 seconds he flops down quickly.
I've slacked of extremely too much in sit and stay, but he's done well in the little we've worked with it.
We had a week long stint of dumpster diving (aka getting into my trashcan and spreading it all over the apartment) but I caught him in the act twice and I very firm no and mean looks seem to have stopped that behavior.
Stopping the jumping/scratching/flailing at the door is a major work in progress, but I'm doing a couple fake-outs a day and today he sat almost long enough for me to snap the leash on and got HUGE pats for that.
He has a big dog bone that seems to have helped limit his enjoyment of dragging my clothes all over the house.
95% of the time on the leash he doesn't pull. Still working on this around other dogs and going down the stairs, but he's figuring out pulling means we just stand still or move backwards and that's definitely not what he wants.
Overall he's been super easy. Another 5 minutes a day actively training and I'm certain I'd have an exceptionally trained dog. But I'm lazy and I'm pretty happy with adequately trained dog.

Good Samaritanism and Dog Adoptions

I've felt like quite the good Samaritan the last few days. First the return of the perpetually loose dog, secondly I managed to NOT eat the granola bar I keep in my purse for more than a day and gave it to one of the guys that stands in the intersection begging for food/money/"anything helps." I generally keep one or two to hand out but I often eat them before giving them away (bad me). The little old man said "god blesses you" and even though I think that's a bunch of BS (it's going to take a lot more than giving a granola bar to a beggar for god to bless me!) the smile he had was pretty durn genuine and worth it.

Then today at the dog park I met a lady who is an adoption advocate and goes around trying to adopt dogs out of the shelters, or find foster homes for them. She asked how old Oscar was and where I got him and when I told her she asked how long I'd had him. She works mostly out of the Montgomery County Animal Shelter where I got Oscar and she said she remembered him! After walking through the process in my head when I was there, I remembered talking to her and telling her I didn't know if I should get Oscar or not. She said "don't worry about the other dogs, the little guys find homes fast, just follow your heart." Cheesy yes but in a dog shelter, with all that sadness, it is perfect advice. She seemed quite nice and I'm hoping to get involved with her and help work some of the events. I've been looking for some volunteer opportunities and since living in an apartment makes fostering dogs difficult, I figure helping find other people may be beneficial.

THEN as I'm sitting down to get my Netflix on I checked one of my social networking groups and a guy had sent me a message. After a bit of rambling about being from Michigan and how crazy Houston drivers are he goes "..oh and I noticed you have horses, I have 4 of them now and very new to the whole horse thing! Any pointers????"

At which point I of course tried to scream, claw out my eyeballs and pull my hair out. Since that didn't do any good I'm going to try and talk to him and see what the situation is, and either convince him to get rid of 1 to all of them, at least educate him in minimal care, or find out where the hell he lives and call HSPCA on his ass. My exact words were "my best advice to you is to find homes for at least 3 of them" then softened the blow by stating "even people with the best intentions can get overwhelmed with ONE horse, I can't imagine how tough 4 is."

Anywho, the woman grilled me on Oscar and seemed beyond thrilled with how well he's doing. When I told her he hasn't had a single accident or chewed anything significant up, or caused any general disasters she was impressed. When I explained sometimes I have long work days she asked if he was crated or if I took him to a pet-care and I said neither and she was SHOCKED.

I am too, really. I mean first- terrier. second- puppy (1-2years) third- TERRIER PUPPY. Hello?! My apartment should be a disaster.

I am pretty lucky to have such a good little guy. Who spent 2 hours at the park today and is currently passed the EFF out. I think he's going to get groomed tomorrow.

When should a dog be removed from his home?

Okay.

So the week I got Oscar I met this small light tan colored, short haired mutt similar in size to Oscar. SUPER sweet dog, running loose in the apartment complex, complete with collar and name/phone number/address tag. I didn't have my phone so I picked him up and carried him to my apartment, got my phone and my spare leash, and called said number. Since it was dark outside and I got him inside to better light I realized he was VERY skinny. As in not healthy dog skinny. But due to his disposition and the tag I thought perhaps he was older or had a health problem. In addition I am not one to judge as the dog I recently got was also quite skinny. Still is, but he's looking better.

The lady acted like it was a non-event, and goes "yeah he does that some times" and seemed torn about what to do because she was "all alone with an infant who was sleeping and couldn't leave him." Again, not being one to judge (who calls their child "an infant"? I thought the general parental term was "my baby" or something less scientific) I offered to bring him over. Turns out it's somewhat far, however the dog probably took a shortcut through the neighborhoods and hopefully not along the main road. Which is busy and lacks sidewalks, or a lot of space off the road to walk on. And is right next to a major freeway.

So.

Brought the dog over to her HUGE house with castle like qualities and fancy twisted brick arches over the driveway which led to a MASSIVE garage. I pulled into the driveway in front of the white escalade, and she came out and picked him up and said thank you and he wagged and trotted up the sidewalk. She told me he was their "Ike find" (I didn't realize hurricanes were like garage sales, but perhaps I have much to learn) and went inside. P.S. A middle aged man (presumably her husband) was standing at the bay window watching... alone with your infant? really?

Today, about 11:15 after watching Letters from Iwo Jima I took Oscar out and between two parked cars saw a familiar tan dog. He came walking up to me and growled at Oscar a little then wagged his tail and followed me down two apartment buildings and up two flights of stairs, and walked right into my apartment. He's just as skinny (it's been about 3 weeks probably) and had diarrhea smeared in his fur. I offered him some food and water (refused both) and called. Again. This time she came to pick him up. He saw the car and wiggled and I let him off the leash and he ran up to the car happily and jumped inside

I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying mean things. I wanted to drill her on her ability to care for the dog and threaten her with all the bad things that could possibly happen to Teddy, and threaten to take him to the pound. And demand they neuter him. But I didn't.

Why? Well for one, he was clearly happy to see them. And maybe he is just a really amazing escape artist. There's no excuse for the lack of neutering but I didn't have anywhere to keep him overnight without risk of an all out dog brawl, or diarrhea smeared on my couches.

And there really is no way to guarantee a better alternative. I can take him to a pound/adoption place where they'll probably just send him home anyway, or hopefully find him a better home, but there's no guarantee. I sure as hell don't need another dog although he's quite awesome.

But the reality of it is, he's running loose to get hit by a car, spread disease and make unnecessary puppies. So next time... what would be the best course of action?