VegasBlog

J emailed me to say that Vegas was adapting to his new home and had some pix.





and us? We miss Vegas... the house seems bigger without the little carpet.

*BWAAAAAHHHHH* Vegas is gone.

P and his girlfriend came to pick him up for delivery to J. Told him to get J to call me when he got Vegas, so I know that he's arrived and to tell him what food he takes, etc.

Before that I had a good half hour of playtime with him, so he'll be properly tired tonight :-)

Gave the comb and bone... but forgot the bowl *oops* So Princess I'll pass the fence and the bowl back. Shampoo and Beggin' Strips will go to Pocket yay!

I miss the bugger already. Professional!! Hurry up with the pix!!!

Vegas had a terrible night :-)

On our walk, we met another alpha male dog. They spent 10 minutes sniffing at each other and peeing on each others' spots. His owner, a chinese national was marvelling at how much fun they were having. Didn't look like much fun to me. I told her about Vegas leaving us, and she offered to take him in. I told her I'd think about it. Yeah right.

After that we went cat chasing. He seemed to have it down pat until he got tag-teamed. lol. One cat would distract him and another would jump him. So funny to watch. Besides he had a disadvantage - his leash. So after a fashion he'd just give up and whimper. kekeke...

Vegas is leaving us today... J's friend is coming to pick him up at 5pm... I hope Princess gets visiting rights :-) We sure won't but at least we have some nice pix.

So sorry that I can't stay at home to play with him more, he's sitting beside me nuzzling my hand but I have to rush off for a meeting.

Later.

Spoke with Princess yesterday about Vegas going to his new (and hopefully final) owner's house. Let's call him J.

J lives with a big (bigger than mine) family who loves dogs, and more importantly - there's almost always someone at home. yay!

If you can see Vegas now lying right outside my door just looking absolutely bored, you'd know why it's so important to have people around...

Princess wants to go survey J's apartment, and to avoid totally confusing Vegas, to have J come collect him from me directly. Princess if you're reading, let's get this done soon... I'm running out of food for him. Yes - the baggie you gave me lasted till today.

Last couple of days have been routine. Wifey and I took turns to bring the dog out... he seems to have a lot of fun with her around :-) She tells me that he actually chases cats and birds. So... not such a wuss after all huh? So last night during our walk, I set him up and we actually drove 2 cats up trees, mewing for their lives *ebil grin*

The Professional got rear-ended (no one hurt thankfully) and will be a bit delayed on the pix... I think the wait'd be worth it. Stay tuned...

Too smelly!! Decided to bathe him before handing him back... he's drying out in the balcony now :-)

Got teaser from The Professional... nice huh.

In the week we've spent with Vegas, we've learnt to love him so much more. As with almost all dogs, Vegas needs these basics:

1. 12-hourly walks (more or less)
   
2. Food and drink (duh)
3. Play - and loads of it.
4. Twice weekly shower (wifey says)
   

Sat down with wifey for an hour and discussed this at length.

1. The paper training thingy has turned out to be a total fiasco.
2. Confining him in the bathroom for long spells seem a tad cruel.
   
3. The 12-hourly walks dictate that our schedules have to be void of unexpected turns of event.
4. Keeping him at home un-confined beyond 12 hours means risk of tile stains, chewed up newspaper and tissues, etc
5. We have to keep all doors closed, to prevent B&E.
6. He seems to have a bit of a traction control problem on the tiles and laminate wood flooring in the house.
7. We have NO IDEA on whether we DID get water into his ears and eyes :-(
   
8. last but not least, I feel that we aren't able to provide Vegas with the love and attention that he demands.

Sorry Princess... we can't keep him. We love Vegas a lot, but feel that we can't handle the requirements. I hope the family you've found for him can give him better care, and much more attention than we could.

p.s. He'll return with the blue minty bone and will play fetch :-P

p.p.s. The Professional came today and shot Vegas. Like a hundred times. I'll put pix up when I get them. :-)

... and after a good ten shots the batteries gave out.

This is the look he gives me in the morning...

"I don't care about my blue minty bone, or the nice towel to sleep on...
I just wanna pee"

On couch. see the fugly bedsheet wifey draped over the cushion... not that
it'd help - at all.

Want tummy rub - please.

Hung upside down by testicles - joking!!! Just posin.

Sleepy.

Paper Training Day 2: no luck yet... found sample paper torn up - again. He doesn't seem to get the idea...

Glad to see Vegas is getting more comments...

Got this from sis:
Pictures! We want more pictures! =D
I'm workin on it.
Problems: camera drinks batteries like water. Bad lighting. Too lazy to post.

This from anon:
Go Vegas Go!...(NOT! u stupid dog...if u wanna live in a good home u'd better get ur frigging act together!)
That's right Vegas, if you're not gonna listen to me, listen to some stranger...

Headin for stag night. Not mine. This will be precedent for the longest daytime lockup Vegas has had. Wifey will bring him for walk tonight - yay!

p.s. Have some pix already. Shall try to post tonight if I'm not too pissed. Engaged PROFESSIONAL to shoot dog tomorrow (it's not as bad as it sounds lol). WIll have more pix then.

Later.

See what i mean??

The little devil just raided my kitchen trash, and pulled out bits of onion and vege.

Got smacked for that. Now to lock him up for the night. Some fresh "sample paper" in the loo already.

Wish me luck.

Oh... and starting to smell bad again. Maybe we should get one of these instead :-) Then we'd only have the problem of batteries. They aren't quite as cute as Vegas though...

Paper training experiment day 1 was a complete flop. No sign of activity in the bathroom, thankfully no sign of activity in the rest of the house. However, he did pee just outside the door on the way out tonight.

This is turning to be a complete walkover.

Comment from Princess "LOL! good luck man! well, at least he's not ripping up newspaper...yet."

Spoke too soon dudette. Returned from meeting to find "sample paper" all ripped up. I don't understand. Would I put a piece of paper soaked with my own pee in my mouth? I think not.

Can't scold the lil prick coz he wouldn't know what he's done now, so all my aggression goes in this blog. Damned dog doesn't know how lucky he is.

Going out tonight to run some errands... we'll try again then.

Paper training experiment started last night.

Locked him up in the bathroom last night before going to bed. I just knew that if he started whining I'd have a conscience attack and let him out. Thankfully he was quiet.

Made him as comfortable as possible (without moving couch to bathroom). Gave newspaper in a corner, water and blanket to sleep on. Oh and blue minty bone.

Waited till 11am before taking him out. Princess was right, he's used to waiting. The second we got downstairs he unloaded in the lobby. Bugger. Vegas 4, Humans 1

On the way up again, took a small section of newspaper and soaked it in his pee. Brought him back upstairs to the bathroom, and placed it on his fresh newspaper. OK here's something interesting... If you stand in the bathroom and call him in, he's unwilling. If you sit down on the floor, he thinks you wanna play and comes right in. Told him that he was to do his business on the fresh paper. He took a sniff at the soaked paper and seemed to understand. Let's BLOODY hope!

Gave him his food and fresh water in the bathroom as well, and left the gate partly open.

OK here's the plan. As long as I'm at home he has the run of the place. If I go out, he has to stay in the bathroom. Until at least he proves to me that he will do all his stuff on the paper. When that happens he has the run of the house at all times, and my duty would be to:

1. Provide food and water
2. Change the papers regularly
3. Walk him - whenever

Yay! I'm feeling optimistic. Call me stupid.

This does not mean we're keeping him - yet. As I mentioned in an earlier post, wifey has veto. And I'm still waiting on that decision. (she tends to procrastinate on such things) *ebil grin*

Seymour: I don't know. I don't know. I have so, so many strong reservations*

Let's be really really objective and weigh the pros and cons...

Pros
Vegas is lovely. Happy to see you when you come home. Intelligent, charming, eager to please and just soo much fun...

Cons
...when we actually have the time for him. What is he gonna do in the meantime?

Mr. R said that having Vegas (or any other dog) would mean some real lifestyle changes. And I agree.

What if we:
1. wanted to go out late?
2. want to sleep in on weekends?
3. want to go for a holiday?
4. have guests?
5. have to travel for work

Would I want to walk him day and night? Sure. At his or my terms? Mine, preferably. Will he mess up the house? Yeah sure he's already done it.

And what am I gonna to do to prevent that? Lock him up? He already treats the bathroom as a "place of punishment". Paper train? Sounds like a good idea. See link here

It's like having a kid, they say. Yeah sure! Maybe when we had a kid I'd want a dog! ...since it'd mean lifestyle changes anyway...

Look I know I sound selfish. Commitment-phobic. And yes I'd admit that. But don't you think Vegas belongs to a family that's got more time for him? Much more than us?

So 2 major considerations - Whether we decide to take out as much time as possible to have some quality time with him, and whether we can successfully paper train him.

You know, sitting on the fence can be such painful business. My bum is starting to hurt, I'm going to bed.

*Little Shop of Horrors

Brought Vegas for a walk then for a drive this evening. Mr. R had some things for me to collect at his place.

We played with him for a while, and discovered something interesting... he freaks out when you blow onto the top of his head... He rolls around on the floor, shakes his head violently (like really violently) and tries to cover his face with his paws.

Mr. R was hugely amused. Apparently when he's normally bathed, a hairdryer is used to blow him dry... and the dryer is just a lil too hot for comfort... *sweat*

Freaks him totally out. As I'm writing this I'm grinning uncontrollably

Princess, if you're reading: Confirm or Deny? :-D

Heh sis emailed me with this: Haha! doggie poo is one of the inevitables of keeping a doggie.... btw, you got a bloggie fan....me! =P

Yeah well. right. sure. doggie poo. bleah.

New developments: As with most doggies who have the run of the house. Vegas has taken to the most comfy spot that he's allowed on. The couch. Now where the heck am I supposed to sit and watch CSI tonight??

Just came back from his walk... Went out late on purpose, should have been about 2 hours ago. Before this we locked him up in the bathroom and put some newspaper there, with his waterbowl.

Dry as a bone!! We'd thought we bring him out a little late and put him in a confined space to get him to do his business first...

Sigh. Vegas 3, Humans 1

Just before we left for our walk, I left the house to empty the trash. The second the door closed he started barking and howling.

Poor damned thing, I think we're confusing him. He thinks he's being punished, but for what he doesn't know. Hell I wouldn't know.

Chewed up tissue paper and shat on the floor again. Looks like this one needs an unbending schedule...

How to paper train? *sigh*

If we're gonna have to lose all semblence of a life where we can stay out late and go for midnight movies... should we still keep him?