fire and control

I got the day off from work on Sunday (Father’s Day) so obviously I opted to drag Dad to our little unofficial Dog Park:

Despite our drive being an hour instead of 30 minutes (I got about a block from the Mexican border… so clearly I had passed the elementary school) Mackenzie and I made it to the Elementary 15 mins later than we said we would, but still 15 mins earlier than the classes were going to be getting there.  So things worked out perfectly.

She behaved better than I ever thought she could.  After whining and bouncing around the car for the hour it took to get there I figured she was going to act like the crazy hyper dog she normally is.  Well she did, for a while right when we got there and I was signing in and showing them our Delta badges and she became fascinated with the water fountain.  After a few minutes though she realized we were ‘working’ and she started to behave much better.  She knows exactly what I need out of her and exactly when I need it.

She was calm and quiet (besides a few little whines because no one was paying attention to her) when the Teachers were talking to the kids and she was totally ON when we were asked to do tricks (for 3 classes in a row).  Every class first asked to see her do a back flip.  Then they would want to see classics like roll-over, play dead, jump was a favorite, dance, shake hands, they LOVED ‘wave’, and they got spin, limp, spin/twirl, bark (by accident), sneeze, and ‘cover your eyes’ a few times.  She was so totally awesome that in the middle class she did the entire trick routine with no treats (thank you delayed reinforcement training) until she was done.  Everyone was real impressed with that.  She loved when all the kids would come up to her and pet her and talk to her.  And she really loves the trick “give her/him five” where the kids put their hands out and she runs up to them and gives them a paw.

One kid was really sweet.  Like I mentioned yesterday the whole reason we were there was as an incentive for the kids to read more over the summer.  Well in addition to that, what they were doing today was offering the kids a little “store” in which they could use the points they’ve earned from reading throughout the year to buy stickers, notebooks, dinosaurs, etc.  Most kids had around 30-60 points with some having as few as 15 and some as many as 180.  So once they bought their little goodies they would come back and play with Mackenzie and/or Tinker (the other dachshund in WAGS- she’s a b/t).  So anyway, this one kid used his points on a little Spiderman foam ball.  He and his friends sat in a little circle to play with Mackenzie and he asked me if she would play with the ball.  Of course she would!

Actually, she was NUTZ for the ball.  She was catching it in the air, kicking it with her paws, growling, chasing, and shaking it all over.  Everyone had a great time throwing it in the air for her and watching her chase after it.  Finally I told the boy that he better take it back because she might rip it or mess it up.  He took it back in his hands for a little while and thought about it and handed it back to me and said “I want her to keep it.  She can have it.”  It was so sweet, I told the supervisor and she told his teacher and they all said it was a really nice thing for him to do.  Especially since he used his only points for that ball.  He walked out of the library grinning from ear to ear watching Mackenzie with her little ball.

As we were leaving the woman in charge of the whole thing told me “Wow, she’s a star.  Ya’ll wanna come back in the afternoon too?”  I said we had been planning a big party for our other dog’s birthday and we couldn’t.

But yes, Mackenzie is a star.  She’s got that special something that you don’t see everyday.

She is an incredible dog and when you meet her, you just know she’s a star.

The other day at work Mackenzie and I were walking around talking to people and I looked down and saw something shiny on the floor.  It looked almost like a silver paw but as I picked it up and inspected it further it appears to be a silver “brass knuckles” pendant.  I put it in my pocket and continued talking to my friend.  I pointed out to her that the bully sticks that her dogs adore are actually made of bull penises.

To which she replied, “Oh My God.  I’m gonna yell, can I yell?  I’m gonna yell!  OH MY GOD, I’m yelling.”  It was great fun.  After she left (after yelling about bull penises for a while) I went to the bathroom and added the brass knuckles pendant to my silver chain.  On the necklace are the three most important things to me.  A peace sign, music notes, a “dog lover” charm, and now… brass knuckles.

It seems that after I found the brass knuckles Mackenzie was more “on” than she’s been in a while.  I worked her heel, figure 8s, stand/stay, recall, and she was doing quite well.  Of course that’s got very little to do with finding the brass knuckles but I’ll probably keep wearing it on my chain for a while.

Tomorrow morning at 7:15AM Mackenzie and I will be venturing out to Sam Houston Elementary, the southernmost school in the McAllen School District.  Obviously being that far south, it is in a very low socioeconomic area (very close to the Mexican Border/Reynosa).

Once there we will participating in an incentive program for the kids to read more.  They are offering the top readers at Houston Elementary an opportunity to read to a WAGS team (for example Mackenzie and I) at the beginning of next year as well as receive a “pawtographed” book from all of the teams.  They are hoping this will motivate the students to read more over the summer.  It should be fun.  We’ll be there hopefully from 8:00AM – a little before 10AM since Clementine the Therapy Bunny is getting there at 10AM.

And Mackenzie the Therapy Dog meeting Clementine the Therapy Bunny is NOT something that small children should witness, EVER.

At 4:00PM we will be meeting several clients/friends of mine at our nearby park to have a birthday party for Spencer’s 3rd birthday.  I bought Pooch Pops for the dogs, and Ice Pops (you remember from when we were kids) for the humans.  We also bought party hats, I made goodie bags for the pups, we’re going to have frisbees and various toys for the dogs to play with as their “party games” and of course I will try and take lots of pictures.  I’m totally giddy about it.

Just thought I would do a fun little post about some of Mackenzie’s favorite toys:

1. Hide-A-Squirrel Junior (JUST the squirrel):

She’s never actually played with the whole thing.  But she is absolutely infatuated with her little squirrel whom I intelligently named Chip (as in Chipmunk, duh).  He stays in the car permanently and every time she hops in the car to go to work or the park or wherever, she viciously attacks him.  If we are driving and I am not interacting with her she will put her two front paws on my leg and drop Chip onto my lap.  If that doesn’t work she will wedge her head in between my body and the steering wheel and make sure to drop chip to the floor near the gas pedal so that I will have to fish him out of there while driving and play with her.  This is by far her favorite toy of all time.  We are currently on Chip #2 (the original Chip was the bigger one and he is still around, he’s just in retirement).  For the record, Chip #2 is in near-perfect health (besides minor surgeries to fix holes and re-attachments of his tail).  He has also been de-squeaked by Dr. Mackenzie.

2. Wing-A-Ball (are we seeing a trend here with the names of her favorite toys?):

It’s a ball on a rope.  Seriously, how exciting could it possibly be?  I bought this toy for Mackenzie in the hopes that she would at least take a slight liking to it so that possibly we could use it as her training reward tug.  Little did I know she would LOVE it to death.  It is now nearing retirement since she has decided to rip it to shreds.  Mackenzie is the type of dog that if you are not interacting with her while she’s got a toy, she will proceed to rip it up and most likely ingest the materials.  So clearly it is better to play with her… all the time.

3. Nylon frisbee:

Now this one is a total surprise.  I got the large size (as show in the picture) for Spencer.  On a whim I decided to get an additional one in the smaller size joking to myself that perhaps one day Mackenzie would enjoy frisbee.  Sadly, Mackenzie is not going to be my next disc dog in training, but she has very much enjoyed this toy.  She has enjoyed every inch of this toy.  Again, Mackenzie will take a toy that she likes, make a HUGE deal of it, and if you don’t join in on the fun she will show you why you should have played with her by destroying the toy.  So this frisbee is pretty much ripped in every seam possible and the plastic circle is almost totally chewed up.

Did I mention that Mackenzie is the least destructive of our dogs?  These toys that I’m describing to you are her absolute favorites of all time.  I could do another list of 100s of toys that she has NEVER even popped a seam or de-squeaked.  So don’t be thinking that Mackenzie rips and destroys every toy she gets, quite the contrary.  These three are at the Top of their game.  The cream of the crop.  Mackenzie only destroys the very best of her toys.

(Mackenzie and Mr. Wing-A-Ball at the beginning of their love/hate relationship.)

At 7AM tomorrow morning we are scheduled to arrive at the outpatient center for Dad’s knee surgery. I can’t accurately put into words what goes on in my head whenever Dad has health issues. Just two sentences and I’m already getting choked up and teary eyed about it.

I’ll try and write more later.

This is what Jen’s days off look like:

9AM: Woke up

10:20AM: Leave for Dentist’s Appt.

11:00AM: Apparently I grind my teeth/clench my jaw so hard at night that I have severe trauma to my tongue and I’ve broken two of the four fillings I’ve gotten in the past year. So not only do I need to get the two fillings replaced, but they want to fit me with a mouth guard for when I go to sleep.

12:00PM: Some light shopping – bought some clothes for my Webkinz.

1:00PM: Went to South Middle School to vote in the Democratic primary.

1:30PM: Veggie burger from Burger King since I was in the neighborhood.

2:00PM: I’ll probably take a nap.

4:00 – 5:00PM: Spencer and I have a FRISBEE date with Dr. Charlene and Matilda at Trevino Elementary Park.

I met with an Employment Specialist tonight. Just the addition of the word “with” makes that sentence sound so much more meaningful than it actually is. In actuality, I helped an Employment Specialist find something to help her dog’s breath not smell, and then I helped her carry a 50lb bag of dog food to her car. The whole time we just happened to be talking and she asked how I became a dog trainer. I said I had been doing it my whole life. She said “That’s what I try and tell people all the time. The job comes from within. For some people, there is no job for them. You may never find the exact right job for you. You might have to figure it out for yourself and make it happen.”

Last night talking to Tori already got me all into the subject, but then meeting this woman today got me to thinking about it even more. At some point in our conversation she mentioned crate training and I talked about taking Mackenzie to college and how crate training saved my life, and taking her on plane rides between here and NY etc. Somewhere in there the woman’s face dropped and she asked where I went to college. Once I finally got to throw in the word Cornell, she got that same goddamn look everyone gets when they glance from my shirt, up to my face.

“So… did you finish? I mean, did you actually graduate?”

“Yea. I graduated in 2006. I have a degree in Communication. And here I am.”

If I knew what it is that I wanted to do, I would have a much better answer to all these questions. But I don’t know. I want to do what I’m doing, but on a much larger scale. I think I know that much. Other than that, No. I don’t know what it is that I want to do. Just like another woman asked me which dog food would make her dog’s shit not stink. The day I find the answer to either of these questions, I’ll let you know.

I had a mild headache all day and nearly everyone I spoke to asked what happened at some point.  More than one person at work thought it was a bad makeup job until they got up close to me.  It hurt like a fucking truck at the time and is still currently sore even though it doesn’t look as bad as it did earlier.

 It kinda looks good with my other scar in the 2nd picture.

Dad was in the attic getting down some more boxes of Christmas decorations when he decided that Mackenzie just HAD to get up in the attic with him.  So of course I passed her up to him and said “Just don’t let go of her or she’ll get scared and she might fall.”

Knowing Dad, of course he lets her walk around the attic.  Then Mom and I start screaming to bring her down and grab her and “OMG she’s gonna fall”, etc.   I guess all the screaming freaked Mackenzie out too, because when Dad grabbed her to hand her back to me she decided to take a flying leap through the air into my arms from 12 feet up.  Instead of catching her with just my arms, it seems I caught her with my face.

So now, just in time for Thanksgiving, I’ve got a red, swollen, laceration from across my right eyelid all the way to my hairline.  I’ll take a picture of it to show you later.  For now I have to go to work and explain this all over again to everyone who asks.

Always an adventure in my house.