One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

That's what it feels like sometimes living with a puppy. I do still think of Oscar as a puppy, even though he's over a year old. Some days there is progress in his training and behaviour, and other days it's back to the same bad habits. He's not really backtracking though, so I suppose maybe it's one step forward, one step back.

Today I was very pleasantly surprised when I took out his harness before his walk and he sat still and actually let me clip it on without fidgeting at all. I don't remember that ever happening before! I was so proud. He did still try to chew on it a couple of times, but he has gotten so much better with it than when we first put it on him. He chewed through the first one we got, but this one has been fine so far.

On his walk, he started out pretty excited, so unfortunately he did bark at a few people that he passed, which he hasn't done in a long time. I did notice that he was much better with watching me as he walked, though, and didn't pull nearly as much as usual. I was actually quite impressed with how often he looked up at me as he walked.

My excitement about his progress with loose leash walking didn't last long. As soon as we got back to the yard and I tried to unclip his leash from his harness, he started struggling and crashed straight into some weeds that have tons of burrs on them. I guess that's what I get for being lazy with yard maintenance. So while he looked pretty pleased with himself when he got home, he ended up fighting me for ten minutes afterwards as I pulled burrs out of his fur. It was a bit of a struggle, to say the least.

Making trouble makes him happy!

The two burrs on his back were just the beginning.

There must have been 40 or 50 of them and I got to
pull them out one by one as he struggled. What fun!

Pesky little buggers.

I guess that's the charm of living with a mischievous and clever little schnauzer. I have to say he keeps me on my toes!

It's Been A While...

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged! It has been a very busy August so blogging kind of fell by the wayside. We just got back from a few days in New York City, but we came back ahead of Hurricane Irene. I heard that the storm downgraded to a Category One when it hit land, which is better than they expected, but it's still scary stuff so I hope everyone on the East Coast stays safe this weekend.

While we were in New York, Oscar stayed with friends of ours and he's settling back in. He's already gotten back to his old habits. We picked a cucumber from our garden this morning and left it on our counter. Oscar managed to snag it and started snacking on it before we noticed. I took it back and cut some pieces to train him with. He's allowed to have cucumber, but only on our terms!

Not sure if he gnawed through it or it broke when it fell.

Oscar isn't looking very apologetic at all!

You can have some cucumber, but only if you work for it.

The Kong Wobbler has taught him to
paw at things when he wants them.

As for his paw licking, unfortunately I don't have a good update, because his paw licking hasn't stopped. He was groomed and we made sure to ask for the hair around his paw to be cut short. We've also been taking him to the dog park and on walks. My sisters came for a visit too, so he got plenty of attention. The grooming and lack of boredom didn't keep him from licking his paw. His paw pads on that foot don't look any different from the others, and I still haven't noticed anything in his fur or skin, so I think it's just become a self-soothing habit.

On another note, we actually were quite happy with his last grooming session. I think it's the first time we've brought him to the groomer where we were completely happy with how it turned out. I could tell right from the start of that session that it was going to be better than usual, because the groomer we got asked lots of questions, and I also told her exactly what we didn't like about previous grooming sessions. He came out cleaned up, but not shaved. Perfect!

He still looks like a schnauzer - unlike the last time!

I'm going to try to catch up on all the goings-on in the pet blogosphere this weekend. Happy Saturday everybody!