Charlotte's a VERY TIRED DOG!!

Sorry, I HAD meant to take a ton of pictures today, but our camera really sucks, and the battery ran out.

So... Here's what happened to Charolotte today.

She slept like a log all night long, never a peep, never a snore. When I got up, I let her out of her crate, and immediately took all three dogs right outside to go poddy. Charlotte went outside and did her business. I have to say, she's had three pee accidents in the house, but our house was owned by ladies who raised puppies, so the carpet is kind of like written permission. I took her outside every time I thought of it today, and as of 11pm tonight, when I'm writing this, she has actually gone out on her own with the other dogs to do her business unsupervised!! What a smart wonderful girl!

Anyway, Charlotte got to play with Elise for almost an hour when we first woke up this morning. They had the most fun with the squeaky bone pillow - Charlotte keep chewing on it to make it squeak, and then tossing her head against Elise to get Elise to grab it back. They had some fun with the long rope, but the kitty who makes smooching sounds was an early casualty - Charlotte dropped it in the water bowl, where it stayed for a while. I didn't notice it until it gave me a huge scare. I was listening to something I couldn't quite make out - it sounded like a weird, garbled, high-pitched voice repeating something over and over. I got goosebumps, I got images of horror movies in my mind, and after about five minutes of sitting perfectly still trying not to freak out, I realized the sound was coming from the water bowl! It was the talking kitty, saying "smooch, smooch, smooch, I'm wild about you" or something like that. I picked it up by one leg, and the water just ran off it. I busted up laughing and set it on the counter to dry. Much later on that night, I heard this strange crackling noise, and again, it scared the crap out of me. I frantically called my husband into the room, thinking we had a short in the kitchen electrical and the house was going to burn up, until we both finally realized it was the smooching cat, whose talk mechanism was by this time on its very last legs. I finally gave up and threw it out, figuring Charlotte hadn't noticed it yet, so she probably wouldn't care too much. So far, she hasn't really paid too much attention to any of the stuffed animals, except the rope teddy bear, which she played tug-of-war over with Elise. She's been more interested in the animals that make squeaky noises, or the crackly bottle, or the rope toys that she could play tug-of-war with, or her dinosaur-thigh rawhide bone.

So anyway, Elise and Jeff went to lunch with some friends, and Charlotte and I went out to run errands, and go to the in-laws' house in the Saratoga foothills. Charlotte helped me water plants and chop up tree branches, and she got scared by crows (I think the whole concept of "Nature" was a bit trying for her) and she barked at the neighbors. She was noticeably jumpy the whole time we were there, which wasn't surprising - new people, new pack, etc... Her confidence level isn't what it will be as she gets older, and she needs more reassurance.

Okay, so then Charlotte and I came home, and I took a few minutes rest, then Elise and her friend Wynter and I all took Charlotte on a walk. We walked to a nearby playground where the kids played, and Charlotte sat down next to me and fretted a bit more about the wind and the kids running around and the planes going by overhead and the other dog that walked past. She barked at every dog we passed, but by the end of the walk, she was only barking once, and she was stopping when I asked her to.

We got up, left the park, and walked back towards our house, only we stopped in the grass "circle" at the entrance to the park, where we met a couple of different friends who happened to be walking there. Charlotte got to say hello to my best friend's kids again, and got to meet a new dog, Cici, and her owner Sue, and Sue's friend Debbie (whom I know from working with our Renters Association) and got to sniff the grass and edit the doggy newspaper on the bushes there. We were there about 40 minutes - I'd get ready to leave and some other friend would walk up, so we'd have to keep talking. By this time, it was about 8pm, so we walked to take Wynter home, then we walked home ourselves.

Right now, I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing this. Charlotte has had about five cups of kibble and is collapsed under the table, utterly exhausted, poor baby, but she seems pretty happy. She conquered a lot of new experiences today, and I think this is just going to get easier and easier for her. She's still awfully young, no matter how huge she looks, and like any baby, there are a lot of strange new things she'll have to deal with - she'll eventually learn that crows arguing in a nearby tree are nothing to be worried about, or that when something rattles through the dry grass, it's almost certainly way too small and harmless for her to bother about. She'll learn that she shouldn't chew on the kind of dog brush called a "rake" (she jumped about a foot when I first came towards her with it), because the teeth are too sharp and will prick her in the gums, which hurts, but that if she sits still to be groomed, it will feel really nice and will pull all the nasty dead underhairs from her coat. She'll learn that it's really not necessary to jump and start barking at every dog she meets, and that she'll get nice praise and petting for calmly watching the OTHER dog jump and bark.

Okay, one more time out to go poddy and then we're off to bed. She's been following me around the house all day, even waiting outside the bathroom when I go, which is a good thing - it means she now sees me as the pack leader. That means she's ready to trust me, and now all her doggy instincts regarding the pack leader can be used to help smooth her way into our household and build her confidence.

Example: since I'm the pack leader and I go first all the time, she can relax, because she doesn't have to make the decisions - I do. Since I'm the pack leader, when she encounters a scary situation, she can look at me to get clues how to act. I won't be nervous about whatever it is, so she'll do what I do. When she does something wrong, I'll correct her instantly, and praise her just as quickly, so she never has to worry that she's doing something wrong or that she's going to get into trouble. She'll trust me to let her know how to respond.

She's giving me the serious "Come ON, it's time for bed, I want my crate" look, so I'd better sign off.

Just Another Manic Monday

Actually, that's a lie. We're not at all manic. We're whiny, temper-tantrum-ie, head-achy, lethargic, wanna-sit-on-our-butts... but manic? No, not manic.

Ok, there we go, I just had to bust out my mommy-voice. I hate it when I have to do that. It always means tears and recriminations. I told Elise four times, "I know you hate it when I yell. Can you please just go do the thing I've asked you to do?"

Apparently not. All of the whining and the tantrums and the sitting around pretending we didn't hear what Mommy just said (twelve times) is because of the homework situation.

The problem is that we're going to move Eliseto a different school next year, and I'm just about 100% certain that she'll be behind when she gets there.

She's been going to George Mayne school in Alviso. We've tried everything to get her out of there - we've been denied transfer three years in a row. We've been told that the transfer school is full, and then met a parent whose child goes to that school, who told us that the second grade was so empty they had to close one of the classes and redistribute the kids to the remaining classes.

Dunno about you, but I don't appreciate being lied to.

So we're done with this freakin' school district. Anyway, the point of this whole diatribe is that I'm homeschooling Elise this summer to be sure she's going to be up to the standards of another school. Right now, however, Elise is having a tough day. We've already had one temper tantrum, and when she finally DID get some work done on her math homework, most of the problems were wrong, because she was really focused on getting to play in the park.

*sigh*

Part of what I'd like to teach her this summer is how to control herself and control her emotions a bit, because she just gets so out of control, and it takes an outside intervention to get her back on track. I realize that some part of this is just the normal workings of an 8-yr-old, but still, might as well get a head start on the concepts, right?

OMG... She's discovered Hulu, and old episodes of Flipper.




What's worse is that I'm going through Hulu now looking for some of the stuff I like. AAAARRGGGHHHH! Just when I thought we'd gotten rid of cable TV.

Oh well. Today is the first official cleaning day for Charlett's homecoming next Saturday. Better get back to it.

It's Official - Charlett's joining the Hiatt Family

Meet Charlett, Dog of Destiny!









Charlett is 9 months old! That's right, she's going to be a gargantu-puppy! Eden, her current owner, is a wonderful lady; we talked for about an hour on Thursday afternoon, during which time we discovered that we have a lot of the same thoughts about animals in general. Eden loves Charlett very, very much, so much, in fact, that she's decided that her house is not the best environment for Charlett, who, while being a very calm dog, still needs more time and attention than Eden has available. Hats off to Eden for making such a tough, painful decision, while simultaneously allowing us to adopt Charlett into our lives.

Eden posted the ad for Charlett on Craigslist after much soul-searching, and I saw the ad literally about ten minutes later. I emailed her instantly! It was incredibly serendipitous.

I've always known that we were going to get another dog after Jake died, but I loved Jake too much to rush into anything. I spent months researching dogs, to have a better idea who I wanted to bring into the house. At one point I considered a wolf hybrid, which is a kind of dog I've always wanted, but it turns out they have a very bad track record where children are concerned, and are less ready than a dog to accept a human as alpha. Because of this, it's much easier for them to see a child as potential prey, or as a threat to their place in the pack. For a dog, if you know what you're doing, and you know about pack mentality and architecture, you can be sure a dog understands that your children are the offspring of the alpha wolf, and therefore to be protected and deferred to. As I found out, you can't do this with a wolf hybrid, so that was the end of that.

I'd also looked into Aussie Cattle Dogs, until I found out they're really high-energy, high maintenance dogs, so again, that was out. I'd pretty much settled on a Rottie, as I've always loved their temperments and their size, but we have a problem in that we have two cats, two dogs and a kid. If we wanted a rescue dog, we'd have a huge amount of possibly fruitless training ahead of us to be sure we didn't wake up one morning to dead cats, or worse yet, an injured kid. I wasn't going to go to a breeder when there are so many dogs desperate for good homes, and puppies almost never wind up on the rescue adoption list because they're so cute.

Jake was a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix, and I loved his temperament, his loving manner, and his unflappable calm. If I could have found another dog like him, I would have taken him or her in a moment.

Charlett is a German Shepherd/Bull Mastiff mix.

Check Wikipedia's entry on Bull Mastiffs - they're brilliant dogs! Calm, loyal, low energy, fearless, naturally great with and protective of children, but not terribly aggressive, so if they encounter a bad guy, they're much more likely to pin the bad guy or back him into a corner and hold him there, rather than actually hurt him, which is BY FAR what I prefer in a dog. Yes, they're huge - Charlett may well get up to 120 pounds - but they're calm and they can do well in an apartment setting, provided they get a thirty-minute walk every day.

Now, of course we'll be giving Charlett a lot more time outside than that - I'm hoping she'll come with me to Morgan Hill when I go to write, because Holly the Rottweiler Puppy who belongs to my in-laws' tenants, would dearly love to have a play companion, and it would give Charlett someone her size and age to play with. I've also been walking an hour at least most days, in an effort to lose weight, and taking Sophie with me, so hopefully I'll be able to walk Charlett with Sophie.

Anyway, long story short, Charlett sounds like a sweet-natured, wonderful dog, and we're working hard to get ready for her. Eden will be bringing her over next Saturday, and I can't wait to meet both of them!

Okay, so it's way late now and I need to sleep. Ciao!

My letter to Charlette's owner

Hi There - I just tried to write you a big long email re: why we'd make a great new family for Charlette, and the email got returned because craigslist only allows a measly 150 kb. I thought about it, and I decided to just post the email to my blog so you could read it directly.

.....................

Hi there;

I have to admit, your ad was nearly the first one I checked, so maybe this is serendipitous... I took one look at Charlette, and thought, 'OMG! THAT's the dog we've been looking for'.

First, I'm a dog rescuer and fosterer, so it sounds like we have something in common. I've had dogs all my life, I've rescued, fostered and placed twelve dogs in the last 17 years, including the three we kept over the years. I just lost my "old man" Jake in January of this year, so my husband and I had started talking about finding another big dog. Jake was a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix who weighed 80 pounds in his heyday, and the most wonderful guy. I've always loved German Shepherd crosses, as they have so many great traits and they tend to have great, easy-going personalities. Charlette sounds like she's got that same wonderful attitude - and 'gargantuan-bouncy-puppy' does not intimidate anyone in my house. :) Everyone in my family has always owned big dogs, and the two dogs we have now, both under 15 pounds, are something of an oddity for us.

Our other two dogs are also rescues - my "old lady", a very old Chihuahua/Corgi mix named Zazu who's now blind and deaf and maybe a little bit senile :), who's lived with us the entire 15 years of our marriage, and our newest addition, a young spaniel-esque teenager named Sophie who tries to get Zazu to play with her but would REALLY love somebody closer to her age to expend some energy with. I wanted to introduce a new dog to our pack as young as possible, and fairly soon, so that Sophie would have a friend and a pack mate to help her when it's time for Zazu to go to the Rainbow Bridge. I've always tried to have two dogs at a time, as I feel like the dogs are just so much happier with some doggie company. No matter how hard we try, we humans don't speak the same language, and sometimes a girl just needs another girl, ya know?

We own a single-wide mobile home with a decent yard in north San Jose, right next to the Milpitas border, and we have a lot of family nearby that own dogs, so Charlette would get to meet and play with Holly the Gargantuan Rottweiller Puppy on an almost weekly basis in Morgan Hill (and Holly's mom and dad will certainly appreciate Charlette coming to play, as Holly is rather lonely right now - her only companion is another Sophie, Sophie the Rottweiler, who is far too old to play and just grouches at her all the time. Holly is another sweet soul who's too big for her own good, and also 9 months old).

Our dogs have ALWAYS been inside dogs, and we don't even turn the dogs out in the backyard unless they ask. They stay in the house when we have to go anywhere, and we have family that will dog sit if we have to go on vacation and we can't take the dogs, which won't happen often as my favorite type of vacation is camping. Our family also does not believe in leaving dogs outside ever.

Sophie the Spaniel-esque gets a daily walk, but Zazu's been too old for more than a walk around the block for some time now. I'd love to do more hiking, and so would Sophie, but before now, I haven't had much time.

Here's the other thing that makes this a very serendipitous situation - I just got laid off :) Ok, so that doesn't sound quite so good.... But let me explain. I would never dream of bringing a new dog into my pack, let alone a puppy, unless I was going to be there 24 hours a day to help him or her adjust to life in our family. My husband works from home, and I'm going to be present a lot more. I work in web design, so I'm not anticipating finding a job any time before 6 months (not that I'm really looking that hard right now, as I'm enjoying being a mom to our 8-yr-old daughter) and yes, in case you were wondering, we have excellent finances and no bills, no credit cards, no car payments, not even a mortgage, so money is not going to be an issue at all. We've been seeing a nearby vet, but I'm thinking of switching back to the BRILLIANT vet we used to see when we lived in Fremont, at Mission Adobe. Those guys were freakin' wonderful, and I haven't found anybody I like half so much where we live now.

I know it's tough to think of giving up your girl, but it reflects nothing but good on you that you're looking at your situation and recognizing that it may not be the best for Charlette. I'd love to get together and talk about whether our family might be a good fit for her.

I'm sending a second email with some pictures of Jake and Zazu, along with my nieces and nephews - just because I'm a sucker for cute dogs and kids and I operate under the occasionally mistaken belief that others are too...

My name is Ericka Hiatt, my cell phone number is (sorry, edited out for the sake of my personal sanity. Email me at tygrhaus@yahoo.com, and I'll send you my cell#). I can even provide references as to my level of experience and ability to care for and train Charlette, if you'd like to talk to some of my friends and family.

Thanks for considering us!

:) Ericka

Tuesday PM at Starbucks again

Hey Happy Campers;

Tuesday pm, and I'm at the Starbucks in McCarthy Ranch in Milpitas. This one's ok. I've got a nice spot by the window, and an outlet to plug into, and tuneage from Tiny Bob, my laptop (don't ask - I don't even know why he's named Tiny Bob; it's just something Elise came up with, and after all, it IS Elise's world - we just get to trim the grass in it. Oh, and make the mac 'n cheese), and when all's said and done, what more can one ask of life than a good spot by the window and decent tuneage?

Although I admit to being a little disappointed by the tuneage I just purchased from Corvus Corax; well, disappointed SO FAR. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet. It's a bit more mundane than I expected. I've just now gone back and downloaded a few more from some of their more traditional albums: very medieval, very tribal, and very suited to one or two of the works I've got going on right now.



The above video isn't one of their best, but it lets you see their live sound...

What's going on right now in the real world: both Jeff and I are looking for work, but we're both anticipating a hard time of it - Jeff because he doesn't have an actual college degree, which he's always felt to be a point against him, and me because I'm a woman, I'm 45 and I'm overweight, and I work in a very young-male-dominated field (IT and desktop support). It's frustrating to me because I'm actually very good at what I do, but there's no way a hiring manager will consider me... I've told Jeff I honestly believe he has a much better chance of finding something before I do. He doesn't believe it, but I guess the proof will be in the pudding. Luckily, we have no credit cards, no car payments, our rent is only $1500 per month, we already paid insurance for this year, and we can actually survive on my unemployment and what he makes from painting miniatures, at least for a while.

So, that being the case, I've also decided to spend some time this summer home-schooling Elise, and I'll explain why.

As you know, because I've talked about it in the last few posts, I've spent some time volunteering in Elise's classroom the last few weeks. I've come to see that there just is no way a second grade teacher can handle a classroom like Elise's without a teacher's aide, which I've tried to be. There are so many high-needs kids in her classroom, that - sadly - a few kids, through no fault of their own, and no fault of the teacher's, are taking up all the teacher's time and attention. It's just insane!

Elise is likely going to be going to school in Saratoga this coming year, and given the income level and educational level of Saratoga in general, I just KNOW Elise is not prepared for the third grade there. I'm contemplating having her stay back a grade, because honestly, she wouldn't be hurt by an extra year to mature a bit. She'd be starting in a place where no one knows her, and she'd have the chance to catch up, especially physically, without the stigma of "oh, you had to be held back". I'm not completely decided; Jeff and I need to talk it over and maybe have her see a counselor at her new school to be evaluated. In any case, I bought some math books for her, and we're going to do some homeschooling this summer. The one thing she needs the absolute most is help with her penmanship, spelling and reading! There are a couple of girls in her class who have perfect penmanship and spelling, and it was a shock to see the difference between her writing and theirs.

Okay, anyway, enough of that. I need to start on my writing now, so I'm signing off.