i realized today that, technically, i only have 1 pet left. zak has adopted all 4 of my cats (which is just amazing to me), so i guess it's just me and griffin. i am scheduling an appointment with a dog behavioralist to help me figure out how to work with griff so i can start taking him places with me (like my mom's, dan's, and a trip later this summer to columbus.) griffin just needs some training on basic commands and i need some help in learning how to train him without triggering him to remember past abuse. basically, i need to know how to train him in a really gentle manner. he just needs a little help on being calm and not marking his territory when he goes to a new place. and he definetly needs some leash training. maybe i can get him to walk more calm without the harness that makes him look like a retarded kid at the park.
i am up for a promotion at work. i've been here almost a year and they are opening a few positions for some of us to be "lead QA", meaning we would be in charge of a branch of the work. i'd be the lead QA for our multiple location testing, and i'd have 4 or 5 other QA testers on my team, including 1 or 2 people working in india. so this could be interesting! it could also be scary as hell, since this is already a high pressure job. we're working on a product that eventually will go to people in 140 countries. thousands of auditors in these countries will be using this software to audit huge companies worth billions. scary stuff.
i have a confession: i not only love pork rinds, i love pork cracklings. they are even worse then rinds, and are hard as rocks. i almost busted a tooth on one today. i am embarassed to buy them from the guy downstairs and totally ashamed to eat them. i wonder if there's some 12 step program for this kind of problem.
8 comments:
Your hillbilly roots are showing...Not from my side of the family of course...
Have you experienced pickled pork rinds yet? No lie -- they are like pure trailer-park heaven in a jar. Toss them in a taco shell with some cheese, maybe some hot sauce.. Wonderful stuff!
Don't worry Jennifer. Here are some embarassing things I love-
Dolly Parton
Tuna Casserole
Pudding
Doritos
Mary J. Blige
PS Cesar Milan says that if you let go of a dog's past abuse he will move on too.
It will take a lot of time and consistency, but I think when we feel sorry for a dog we exude a woundedness that the dog reads as weakness and feels no compunction to obey a wounded leader.
I know it's a lot of hoohaa from someone whose dog got hit by a car, but Fred had a lot of Griffin's marking and bad leash behavior too, and that Cesar Millan stuff was really improving his anxiety level before he freaked out that day.
I think I got lazy when it was really cold and didn't let him walk until he was relaxed, and that's why he took off. You have a great yard and whatever tack you take he'll do great.
ah SDS, i've made so many small mistakes like that with my dogs. once dixie's collar was a little loose, and on a 6am walk in the dark, she popped out of the collar to chase a cat. she narrowly missed getting hit by a car and i knew we'd barely avoided a disaster. and lord knows you and i both had a few scares like that with miles. so i take any dog advice you have to heart. i am someone whose dogs have "almost" been hit by cars enough to give me gray hair. we just do our best....
the dog behavior guy i consulted is supposed to be great with rescued dogs, so we'll see how it turns out. but i think you're so right about my needing to get over my sorrow over griffin's past abuse.
I have 3 comments, others seem to have missed.
1. You found someone crazier than you to adopt 4 cats at once??? Did he just realize he likes cleaning crap? Or that all his belongings look better under a layer of hair? Or that he wants the feeding expense of an elephant (Hank is NOT big boned)? And, if he loved them this much before, why did he have none?
2. You are going to a dog behavioralist? You have too much money. That sounds like some pretentious yuppie thing to do. The first thing would be to admit he is uncontrollable, then try to make him skinnier, so your whip arms can handle them. And, I think a pet psychic would be more informative, and much bigger a waste of cash.
3. I do not know what a pork crackling is. Although, I do find pork rinds disgusting. I shall not list my embarrassing things for you, because you know there are too few normal ones anyway.
tlm- i just re-read your comment. pickled pork rinds??? i mean, you're being a republican is one thing, but pickled pork rinds??????????? hey, that might make a good candle scent!
UC freak- zakky loves cats. he couldn't have pets at his last apartment, so he was originally going to adopt lucy when he got a new place. then he up and moved in with me and fell in love with all 4 of my crazy cats. hank is zak's doppleganger. opal is just bat shit crazy and matilda is a sweetie. and lucy is finally coming "out of the closet" to see everyone. she runs out of my room and yells at us to pet her.
as far as having too much money, sadly, that is not the case. since april i've had over $2,000 in vet bills (mostly for poor old dixie.) the behavioralist guy is actually just a a dog trainer and he is making 1 "house call". and griffin is getting mellow in his old age. you should come by and see him! (this is not at all a trick to get you over so my 80 pound dog can sit on top of you and lick your face while you squirm around and i take pics.)
Give me a pigfoot and a bottle of beer...
(Well not me personally, but you get my drift.)
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