Temper Tantrums

Iris has come so far since I first adopted her. Sometimes I really can't believe she's the same dog. But she does have one lingering bad habit I'd really like to work on with her.

Whenever I leave Iris in her crate, she throws a "temper tantrum." I really can't think of a better way to describe it. I'm pretty sure she's barking mainly out of frustration and not anxiety (although there probably is some anxiety too).  She barks and barks and scratches at the crate and then barks some more.  I think this goes on for about 15 min or so. Then she settles down and is quiet for the rest of the time I'm away. Living in a condo, I do really worry about her bothering the neighbors.  I generally try to time when I have to leave Iris for when I know my neighbors are at work, but sometimes that isn't possible.

A few things about the situation.

• The barking is specific to being left alone at home.
• She'll bark regardless of how I contain her at home (I've tried an x-pen, different crate, gated in a bathroom).
• She does not bark if I crate her in the car and then leave her alone in the car, which is why I think it's more of a frustration issue than an anxiety issue.
• When I come home, she's completely silent (when I first adopted her, we did work on not barking to get let out).
• I've tried leaving her with a kong.  She won't touch it.  I might be able to get her to chew on it if I was right there.

Iris MUST be crated when I leave.  She's gotten herself in some really weird (and dangerous) positions during a seizure while I've been home and able to help her.  If she has a seizure when I'm not home, the crate is the safest place for her.  I don't generally leave her for long, usually only 1-2 hours.  Occasionally, I'll leave her for longer, but that's unusual.

So any ideas?  For the next couple weeks, I don't think there will be any days when I have to leave her home.  It seems like it would be a good opportunity to work on this issue.  I'm just not sure quite how to start.

Bedtime

I'm a bit of a night-owl. Iris is really not at all. She usually goes upstairs and gets in bed around 9:30pm. Around 11:30, she comes back downstairs and refuses to go up to bed unless I go with her. She's ok with napping upstairs by herself, but when it gets to be bedtime, she can't go alone.

Sometimes she's adorable.

Peanut Butter Face

Ok, a quick post just for Raelyn....  I know I'm way overdue for a real update, but for now you'll have to settle for a few photos of Iris enjoying one of her favorite activities - making strange faces at the camera.  :-)

Iris really is such a weirdo.  Does anyone else have a dog who can bend their face that way?  Iris' best faces happen when she's enjoying her favorite treat - peanut butter! And since she gets peanut butter with her pills 3x a day, I get to see plenty of funny faces.

(click on above for larger view)

"So all you want me to do is sit here and eat peanut butter?"

Iris thought this was the most fun photo session ever.  The thing I love most about this dog is that she makes me smile every single day.

Watching - 33/52

One of the things that I love about Iris is just how expressive her ears are.  Here she was so serious.

Watching - 33/52

She surprised me by deciding to wade in the water.  Usually she does a pretty good impression of the wicked witch of the west when it comes to water.  Actually her wicked witch impression in general is pretty good.

Missing Summer

Turning the clocks back last weekend really made me start wishing for summer. Sunset at 4:30pm is just too early!  Since I just realized that I never shared these photos here, I thought we could all use a taste of summer.

One of my favorite summer walks with Iris is the Cranberry Bogs.  It really is a gorgeous spot!  Plus it's right down the street, which made it so easy to head over there after I'd finished working for the day.

The Bogs - 28/52

I don't know what it is about this next photo, but I just love Iris' expression here.  I'm not really sure where she's going with this "one ear up, one ear back" look.  She is such a goof!

One Up One Down - 29/52

Because it's such a beautiful spot, we always see other people walking their dogs.  The bogs are so open, you can see folks coming from a ways off so it isn't really too much of an issue.  The funny thing is, I know Iris well enough that I can tell how close someone is just by watching her expression change.  In the above photo, there was no one around at all.  She was nice and relaxed.  If you look at her expression in the next photo, you can tell that she's watching someone else and their dog walking on the path.  She's just about hitting the point where I have to stop taking photos of her and get her walking again.  And all that without me ever turning around to look!

Guarding the Path - 31/52

In this next one, Iris isn't actually looking at anything in particular.  She's just sick of looking at me!  Eventually, she gets really annoyed with the camera and won't pose anymore.  Such a diva!

Look Away - 32/52

She just doesn't understand the point of sitting around when we could be walking.  Or running.  Or sniffing things.  Or staring at other dogs.  If the possibilities are endless, why bother sitting around?

Learned Something New

I learned something new about Iris this past week. I guess after 4 years of living with the red dog, I thought I knew her pretty well. But I suppose there's always something new to learn!

Last Saturday, New England got hit with a very early snow storm.  We lost power on Saturday night and didn't get it back until Wednesday. The combination of a wet snow and most of the trees still having leaves meant A LOT of downed trees and branches.  Most of this area was without power.  For me, four days without power meant the house got down to about 50 degrees (I actually started opening the windows in the afternoons to heat the house up a few degrees).

October Snow - 37/52

So what does this have to do with Iris? Apparently, Iris hates being cold. I just assumed that with her coat, she wouldn't be bothered by it. Not my princess! She likes her comforts. I supposed I should have guessed. I mean, this is the dog who sleeps on the couch with her head on a pillow.

Red Pillow - 27/52

I love showing off how well trained my dog is.  She's really not supposed to be sleeping on the red pillows.  Any other pillow in the house is ok, but since the red ones are definitely the most comfortable, they're supposed to be for humans.  Iris knows as long as she looks really, really cute while she's doing it, she can get away with quite a lot. Spoiled much?

Now, there are 13 reptiles currently living in my house and I have to say, losing power for four days with that many herps is really pretty stressful.  Luckily, we have a gas stove so we were still able to use the stove-top for heating water.  All 11 of the Crested Geckos were moved into shoebox size enclosures, the ball python was moved into a pillowcase (which she loved!), and the Bearded Dragon was moved into a smaller enclosure too (he was ultimately taken to my roommate's office, which had heat).  I kept all of the enclosures under a pile of blankets and heated them with hot water bottles.  Actually, I was really impressed with how well the hot water bottles held their heat.  As long as I was reheating the water about every 4 hours, I was able to keep everyone at the correct temperature.  Really tired after waking up every 4 hours to reheat, but worth it to have everyone safe and happy.

While I was very worried about the herps, I wasn't too concerned with keeping Iris warm.  I figured as long as the temperature was tolerable for me, the red dog would be fine too.  Iris really did not agree.

Focus - 38/52

She was miserable.  I was sleeping on the couch to take care of the reptiles, and Iris needed to sleep curled up with me.  This is the dog who will jump off the bed if I'm moving around too much.  Not while it was cold!  She curled herself up as tightly as possible, snuggled up with me under the blankets and was happy to stay there all night.  When I'd get up to reheat the hot water bottles, I'd move Iris off the couch to rearrange the blankets.  Then she'd stand there staring intently at the blankets until I'd invite her back up.  I didn't know this before, but if it's chilly out, Iris really likes sleeping under the blankets.  So much for being a working dog.  She'd rather sleep under the blankets with her head on the pillow.

October Paws - 39/52

All of the reptiles survived the power outage just fine.  So did Iris, although I think next time, she'd really like to have her own hot water bottle.  Or at the very least, an extra blanket.  Yup, she's a diva all right.

City Dog - 26-27/52

For all of her issues, Iris is actually really good about walking in a city.  Back when I was doing a lot of night photography in Boston for the virtual tour company, Iris and I did a lot of city walking.  She relaxed about negotiating crowds and not at all phased by city sounds and smells.  She greeted everyone she met very politely (something about her seems to attract attention.  Maybe because she's a merle?  Everyone asks to pet her).  The only trick is that I do have to cross the street to avoid sharing the sidewalk with another dog.  Because I was photographing storefronts, even that wasn't too much of an issue.  We really only encountered a few other dogs when passing through more residential areas.  Other than that, she handles cities like a champ.

Repetition - 26/52

I thought it would be fun to take Iris into downtown Lowell for some photos.  She loves getting to explore new places.  She was in her element, and she even got to stop and visit with a group of elderly women sitting on a park bench.  I think Iris made their day and Iris, of course, was thrilled to be the center of attention.

City Slicker - 27/52

She was less excited about having her photo taken.  Definitely not as much fun as walking!  You can tell because she started making funny faces at the camera.  Just to make her point.