Exercise Buddy

In order to keep my fitness routine interesting and not get burnt out so easily, I'm mixing things up.  Instead of creating unrealistic goals or fitness binging, I'm aiming to exercise around 3 times a week.  And also to help, I'm doing different types of fitness on each day.  There's trusty water aerobics, also dependable pilates and/or my elliptical machine, and now I'm tossing in speed walking / jogging.  Obviously I have to build up to the jogging, I don't last long now but who knows what the future holds.  I do have some inspiration & motivation behind this, 1 being my old bestie has transformed into a marathon runner (check out her blog), and I'm already daily in the woods with my dog, so why not jog along with her.  She really seemed to enjoy it when I started running along next to her, she was jumping all over the place and really encouraging me, thanks Maggie!  If this new routine is manageable I should be able to eat whatever I want... have I ever mentioned how much I looooove food?

What's your realistic & manageable fitness routine?

(Maggie is Wheaten Terrier, she normally has long curly hair, but I recently shaved her to help with the tangles, hope the breeder doesn't see this pic, ha-ha!)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Guard Dog (not!)

Last week, in the middle of the night a sound somewhere in our apartment woke me & the dog up.  Not unusual, but this time my husband was away on business.  We both waited a moment, heard nothing else and fell back asleep.  (And yes, the dog sleeps in our bedroom - on the floor.)  Again about an hour later we heard a sound again, this time it sounded like something in the sink or a basket shifting.  I couldn't place the sound, and neither could my dog (Maggie - Wheaten Terrier).  Since my daughter was in my bed that night (missing Daddy), I didn't feel the need to get up and go check her room.  But when Maggie wouldn't relax I grew a little concerned. 

Normally if she hears a concerning sound she barks and takes off to check the doors (like last night when she nearly gave me a heart attack).  This time she didn't go anywhere, but did occasionally let out a threatening (well, to others) low growl.  But yet she wouldn't leave her little bed.  Now was when I needed her to check the house, and my guard dog (not!) was letting me down. 

If we say, "who's there?" she'll search the apartment... but this time she still wasn't budging.  "C'mon," I complained, "do your job... who's there?"  She at least stood this time, all the while letting out little sounds here or there.  I nearly had to force her to go and check.  It was her reaction that luckily made me laugh and relieve all concern.  Instead of darting off like usual, she nearly crawled to the bedroom door, it was ridiculous.  Others might have been twice as concerned, but I was embarrassed for her and it made me laugh out loud.  She eventually made it to the bedroom door and sniffed around, but she never went and checked the house.  With a chuckle, and a, "thanks," I had to go look around for anything unusual myself.  Luckily, all was well!

Obviously Maggie's a lover not a fighter.  You can see that in the pics of her & her best friend (Joep - Jack Russell.)

 

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #61

Link up here for Wordless Wednesday!

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

That's My Dog

Yesterday while walking our dog through the park I couldn't help but notice the colorful flowers and thought I'd stop and take a picture.  Between Wordless Wednesday & Instagram, I'm always needing new and interesting shots.  I told our Wheaten Terrier, Maggie, to sit so I could take a clear photo.  She did as requested, and I snapped a few shots.  But when I went to walk out of the shrubs and back to the path I realized there was no tension on the end of the leash.  I looked down to see the leash still around my wrist, but no dog on the end.  Somehow the leash had unhooked from the harness and she was gone.  I looked toward my tot who was oblivious to the dogs whereabouts.  We have a special call/whistle we use for Maggie, so I called her name and whistled.  Here she came like a bat out of hell.  She darted by and continued on.  The way she was running around the park you'd think it was her first taste of freedom.  (In reality, besides normal walks on the leash, she also gets to run free through the woods quite often.)  In and out of the bushes & flowers, out of sight, across our path, her legs spread using all her might.  Yelling "here" and whistling only caused her to dash by, she was in no mood to stop.  So my tot & I walked on, knowing she'd eventually follow after terrorizing the park.  Sure enough she rejoined us after a 5 minute spree, needless to say I wasn't pleased.  But I have to admit at one point while she was running like a mad woman, I had to laugh... "yep, that's my dog," I thought to myself.  This was not the first time it's happened, nor will it be the last.

I wish I had taken a photo of her while she was running passed but that was the last thing on my mind.  I did force her to sit next to flowers afterward for a shot.  It's not her best look, but that's because her hair is still growing back.  And of course I included the lovely serene picture I was taking before the escape!

Puppy No Longer

Yesterday was our Wheaten Terrier's 1st birthday!  It's hard to believe she is just one yr old and that she has only been in our home 9 months, it feels like we've had her forever.  We've had our ups and downs with Maggie, she is very energetic and doesn't listen well outside of the house, but no matter what she has won our hearts over.  Despite how many times I get mad at her, eventually we always make up.  Plus my husband and toddler adore her, according to my toddler they're best friends.  As I mentioned in previous posts I'm not big on b-days but my tot is, she was prepared to throw a birthday party for our dog and was disappointed when I said no-way!  But I did agree to at least buy her a couple birthday presents, this made my toddler happy again.  We set out to the store, I was going to buy one toy and next thing I knew I had spent way more than our usual b-day budget.  Dogs are expensive, don't kid yourself!  I must say I am pleased with our purchases though.  And yes, most of the supplies were more for us than her, oops.  For those of you with over-excited dogs you know how difficult it can be to walk them when there are other animals or people around.  We live in a big city so it's nearly impossible to avoid contact with others.  The basic collar just wasn't working for us anymore, so I decided to buy her one that fits around her chest instead of just the neck, and I am over the moon.  I have so much more control over her out in public now, at this rate walks might actually become pleasurable!  And the harness is a 2-in-1, it can also be used to fasten her in the car.  In The Netherlands there are not yet laws about buckling your dog in the vehicle, but in some adjoining countries the dog is required to be fastened in while riding in the car.  And since we briefly mentioned a summer car trip with the family it'll come in handy in the future.  Besides other basics like shampoo and a replacement pink collar, we of course bought her a toy.  When I saw it there was no doubt it's perfect for her.  It's a large ball that can't get stuck under the furniture, it's hard enough she can't tear it up in 2 seconds, and you can fill it with treats!  The combination means she'll be entertained for quite a while and hopefully work off some extra energy.  Both her and the tot were happy when they opened the snack ball yesterday morning.  It's been a big month for Maggie, we decided to trim her ourselves (not a success, will tell you about it another time), she was fixed a couple weeks ago and basically recovered, then she had her big 1st birthday.  Let's hope she matures some this year, so that other dogs actually like her, she's welcome more places, and learns to overall tone it down!  Happy birthday, Maggie!

Puppy Class

Like most responsible pet owners, or those of us with naughty dogs, I've enrolled us in an obedience class at Hond en Gedrag.  I went into it with great hope and high expectations and walked away with a much different impression.  My husband says I'm overdramatic and blow things out of proportion, but feelings are feelings (and I am a story teller, of course my wording is elaborate!)  I do my best not to let the Dutch language hold me back, but it can get challenging at times.  I attended toddler swimming and water aerobics in Dutch, I did all of my driving lessons and examines in Dutch, I even used to work 40hrs a week at UPS in Dutch, and now puppy obedience class.  With every new situation new words apply, this may seem strange to someone who gets to speak their mother-tongue all day but those of us speaking a 2nd language you understand.  Your vocabulary grows with each new activity.

Back to puppy class, here I am foreign and already a bit shy about speaking Dutch in front of a group of 10-20 Dutch people and of course I had the worst puppy in the class bringing a lot of unwanted attention to myself.  Maggie, our puppy - a Wheaten Terrier, is a different dog inside and outside of the house.  At home she listens for the most part and follows commands, outside of the house she is a hyper and excited wreck.  And of course she didn't let me down at class.  She continuously tried to get away from me, she jumped & flopped all over the place, and even took a dump in the middle of the group (the only dog that went #2).  She barely followed any commands, even ones she was accustomed to.  I couldn't get her attention to save my life, everything was more interesting... the other pups, the people, the rabbit poop, the grass, my toddler & husband, the sheep, the kids playing soccer in the distance, you name it.  The trainers have you work in a circle and if a puppy is too distracted (or distracting to the group) they ask you to step back a little.  By the time the last exercise came around the trainer actually asked me to go outside of the fenced in area to work with Maggie, it was that bad.  This is great for a foreigner, I could barely hear what was going on, luckily my husband heard a few key things I missed.  After class I was mad, mad at myself for not being able to take control, mad at the dog for acting like an idiot, just plain all around frustrated.  If I could have found a way to quit right then I would have (even though this isn't in my personality).  At that point I knew I had to get a hold of myself, all of this was my fault, I watch enough Cesar Millan to know my attitude and reactions drastically affect theirs (this is also common sense).  Besides the periodic comments from family that if the dog is too overwhelming we can get rid of it, I knew I had to prove myself.  I'm stubborn, I'm not a quitter, and when I set my mind to something, watch out!

Over the next week I worked with her as often as I could, but I was still nervous about class.  When class day rolled around my mother-in-law gave me a pep talk and a few simple instructions and off we went.  This time just me & Maggie.  I approached it with a different attitude, I knew she was going to act up, I knew she was going to embarrass me, and I knew this is what the rest of the class expected also.  It could only get better from there.  When we entered I let her greet a few dogs even thought the trainers complained, she needed to get it out of her system.  When she pooped, I made sure to have a baggie this time.  And I was better prepared in general, baggie for the treats, outside toy, and I did my best to relax and take it all in stride.  Between each command I would give her a break (tip from the M-I-T), let her eat the grass and rabbit poop then return to training.  She was focused, she was ready, and she made me proud.  What a difference a couple of adjustments can make.  Of course she had her moments, during one exercise they were off the leash and supposed to come when called, she took off.  Apparently I left too much distance between us, she realized she wasn't on the leash and high tailed it around the fenced in training area.  Maggie had the time of her life, finally she could greet the other dogs and check out the training area, I couldn't help but laugh (she wasn't the only pup that took off).  I left the class with a smile and pep in my step, let's just hope I can get out of my own way next class.  (Surprisingly a tip I picked up from my husbands golf training audio book).

I've included two photos of Maggie, one from about a month ago, and one now that she's almost two times that size and after a hair cut.  We asked for a puppy cut and ended up with something else, maybe next time my husband should go with to the groomer.

Puppy Maggie

We did it, after a lot of debate (which I even blogged about), we bought a puppy!

She's a 12 wk old Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, and we named her Maggie.  Maybe we're crazy, we're not out of apartment yet and we have a toddler (almost 3 yrs old) running around but we did it.  The drive to the breeder in Belgium took about 1.5 hrs, so I was a bit worried about the ride home, but she did brilliant.  I was worried about her 1st night here, the breeder said she heard back from other new owners that their dogs whelped until 1AM, but she did fine.  (I'm a worrier.)  Maggie was up at 6AM, but since she slept through the night I couldn't really complain.  I must say, she knows very little yet and we have a lot of training ahead of us.  I haven't mopped so much in my life (even while potty training our daughter)!  Just because there's a puppy in the house it didn't stop my daughter from wanting to head to the playground, with or without Maggie.  I decided to give it a shot, we walk everywhere and she needs to get used to it.  At 1st I put the puppy in the stroller with my daughter, but after she leapt out near the fire station and scared us all, I decided she would walk from there.  Halfway to the park I seriously considered turning around, but this is how they (all of us) learn what to do and how to act.  Of course the park was packed full of kids, which was very exciting for the puppy, I could barely keep her in one place.  And my daughter was having trouble grasping why I couldn't go on the seesaw with her, but once the dog is trained we'll get back to playing together like before.  Or we'll just leave the dog at home.  My husband is a real softy for dogs and tried to get her to sleep in our room last night, but I said if our baby handled her own bedroom alone on the 1st night home, so can the puppy!  We did end up sleeping on the couch for a while, just to make sure the dog fell asleep, and in all fairness it worked quite well.  Besides the excitement of the puppy we added a small hangover and bad weather to the situation.  The night before, our daughter stayed at her aunt's and we headed into town, we knew if we bought the dog we might not get nights out together for a while and took full advantage of it.  The headache followed me all day, and I was ready to fall asleep by 9PM, but luckily everyone in the house was exhausted!

The plan was for me to drive home from the breeder in Belgium but the weather and hydroplaning on the highway made my husband nervous and he decided I should pull over and he drive (men)!  Once we crossed the border and the weather toned down (the photo is the tail end of one of the storms) he finally let me drive again.  Actually it worked out nice because the puppy had time to cuddle & bond with both of us on the drive.  Wish us luck, because we've just entered a new phase of our lives!  Next phase, get a house.