Lessons: Presented by Huey and Jack;8ui

So I know I've been kind of blogging a lot, but that's what happens when you have a husband who takes the car, it's too hot to play outside, you don't have too many friends in your present locale, and with the pets you have scrapbooking and knitting become way more difficult (especially when the cat's food and water dishes are on your scrapbooking table because the dog will eat kitty's food otherwise). Blogging provides me a way to get my creative juices flowing, since I have always loved writing creatively. I started writing books when I was in elementary school and it continued all the way through to college, even. I never finished any of them, but they weren't all that good or serious. I have since started this blog, where I find it much easier to write about my life experiences, which admittedly is rather boring, but hopefully my lovely rhetoric and caustic wit keeps everyone entertained (not likely, who am I kidding?!)

Anyways.

I know have a cat. You know this. But I have never had a cat and a dog at the same time. And since I'm still learning about all this dog stuff, these last few hours have been entertaining to say the least! I'm getting to know my animals pretty well, and I must say, even with as little time with these two as I've had, I'm beginning to understand that the cat vs. dog stereotypes are kind of true.

Let's begin. Little Huey is tiny. Extremely tiny. Right now, I'm guessing he weighs less than 2 pounds. He might not even weigh a pound. Needless to say, my twenty pound puppy is a little rough on him. But even though my kitty is only 8 weeks old, he's already your typical cat! I swear, this cat is egging the dog on, and when the dog gets too rough with him, he wants me to rescue him! Granted, the dog did start shaking the cat's head like he does with his stuffed toys so I did have to stop that immediately (poor kitty!), but I think it's mostly the cat's fault. But the dog gets in trouble. Poor Jack. Don't worry, we don't punish him for playing with the cat, we just have to say "NO!" when he gets to rough and then we put the cat away on his side of the house so Jack can calm down. And to give the little kitty a rest. I don't want them always stressed out so this works great.

Jack is a sneaky and smart little dog, but Huey is even smarter. We have a chair in our living room that Huey can get under completely, but Jack can now only get his head under. The cat will poke his head out and lure the dog over to the chair, then duck under. Well, Jack of course follows him, and moves around the chair whenever the cat moves positions. When Jack pulls is head out to move to the other side of the chair, the cat takes advantage of this and shoots out from under the chair and goes and hides on one of the dining room chairs. Jack, then, gets confused and tries to find the cat under the chair. Sometimes I don't think he realizes that the cat left!

I also think the cat likes to jump on everything right now because he already knows the dog can't get him! Granted we haven't corrected where he can and can't be yet, but with the puppy, I'm willing to look past the lounging on the dining room table since I know that's one of the places where the dog can't get him. And besides, he's a cat, so he might never learn that he's not allowed up there, at least when the humans are present.

Another lesson. Puppies get very, VERY distracted with a kitten in the house. I assumed this, but Jack will no longer play with any of his toys when the cat is present. Dude, his toys aren't nearly as exciting as a moving tiny speed monster! So we'll have several times a day where the cat will be on his side of the house so we can focus just on Jack and try and focus his energy into more training, since we still have a few things to learn. Training's probably going to get a little bit harder because of this, but thank goodness I am home all day and don't have anything else to do. Might as well train the dog, right?

I would also like to say that I've calmed down my worries with the puppy training. I'm one of those people that's such a perfectionist, I would rather quit while I'm ahead than continue on with something just to find out I'm no good and fail at it. I know this is crazy, but I'd rather be a quiter than a failure. I've always been this way. There were a few times these past weeks where I have gotten really upset with myself (and the puppy, I admit, although I never, EVER showed that to him) and wanted to give up training before I found out I suck at it. I just want my dog to be a good dog, I don't want a dog where all my friends and family refuse to come to my house because I have an insane dog. But I have finally figured it out. I AM a good dog trainer and my dog is SO smart. Let's face it. We have only had Jack for 3 weeks and he is already mostly potty trained (he does know to go to the door, but we still usually have at least one accident a day, that's usually our fault, but sometimes when he's super excited he gives no signal and just let's loose, lol), he sits and waits for food (we're working on the annoying barking he does prior to this when I'm filling his food dish), he can sit, lie down, high-five, shake, stand, and roll over, and he already walks really well on the leash! He knows "drop" when he has a leash in his hand, but nothing else, and he kind of knows leave it, and we're working on making his recall a lot better. So I can do it and I WILL continue to do because it's quite rewarding. Just keep the coffee coming in the mornings!