Puppy Report: Weekly Update #261

For the past week, Facebook has been giving me those "memories" posts. Normally I
don't linger on them, but I noticed something about all of these that gave me pause. 
They were of Buffaloo. Specifically, they were from the first week I had a Buffaloo in 
my life. Some vintage status updates as well:

Figuring out what Buffaloo knows from his past. So far, I've gotten him to do sit, stay, come, 
shake, and lay down. Walk calmly on leash...not so much. He's also iffy on 'calmly watch 
me eat'. But we'll get there.

I went on two hour-long walks today, pretended to eat from the dog dish, and had a little 
bit of a spat regarding appropriate behavior. But, I hopefully made progress. Now, I need more 
people/people with dogs to introduce him to.

Then today, they shared my old, first post in this blog. The Puppy Report, Weekly
Update #1. The intent was to do that every week. That would have been neat. But life 
got in the way. The first interruption was field season. The poor pup was adopted, then 
immediately passed off to my family. But I came back for him. (I will always come back 
for him, I promised melodramatically).

Then I picked it back up, but as the stress and insanity of those early weeks faded to a comfortable familiarity,
the regularity of my posts plummeted. Then stopped. I picked it back up here and there, most notably a year
or so ago. Although those were generally random ramblings.

Now, here I am. Five years and one week with a Buffaloo. Weekly Update #261, I suppose. Let's see if I can't get some good posts going. There have been a lot of updates in the life of a Buffaloo, and I will get to those in due time. There is the legend of how he hurt his leg, the political activism he has undertaken at our new condo (and we moved, although that story is less amusing, at least vis-a-vis my dog, than [Hyperbole and a Half post]), and how he was an integral (and adorable) part of my wedding.

But like I said, in due time. Today, in commemoration of this auspicious day, let us revisit Weekly Update #1 and see what has changed, and what has stayed the same.

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One week into having a dog, and things are going okay. The little guy is still kind of an ass, but he's learning. I've switched from walking him with theGentle Leader , to just the collar, and now back to the GL. There are reasons, and hopefully the GL will help teach him to A) walk beside me, not dance around me, and follow/keep up/come when I call and B) not go running off towards people. 

Well, he is still an ass. Some things never change, I guess. Although the GL was abandoned. It just didn't work for him. Also, he broke it. But otherwise…this could have been written last week.

At home, he actually has gotten better...I have gotten him to let me brush him, which is another necessity, especially in summer. So, progress there. Going in and out for walks, he is also really good, except that he fights with the GL worst there (and in short grassy areas). But, I make him wait to leave until he sits, and then he enters when I call him. 

Well, I know how rough to be with him. Our main play is wrestling, actually. And he seems to rather like being brushed now, at least to a point. And I can reliably get a sweater or two worth of fur off of him, but it's not like he ever runs out. And his getting-leashed skills are pretty darn good, along with his waiting.

He is also eating more, but I seem to be leaving his food down more and more. I started putting in down more, then left it so he would have it, forgetting once or twice. Maybe he just doesn't like eating in front of me. He also hasn't been doing his beggy thing while I eat (I decided that the growly bit was just him begging, not aggression), or at least much less.

Ah, yes…food. I went to free feeding after this, and he has his regular times. For some reason, he prefers to take his dinner in the bedroom. His morning meal he often waits to eat until we sit down for dinner. And I broke the growly-beg pretty quickly. And this was before the worms in his gut made him poop literally everywhere. Oh, Past Stephen, you will have fun with that.

He's a bitey guy, especially while playful…I've been learning how to be more firm with him, so hopefully he learns quickly. 

HA! Yeah, he's still a mouthy guy, especially while tussling with me. He trained me to wear long sleeves, if that counts. But he did stop biting the couch to get attention, so I'll count it as a win?

He still gets overly hyper when I am home, and I know he want to play, and I do, but he need to learn that grabbing scarves, coats, my sofa cover-all that is a no-no. And to chill the hell out sometimes.

This…took a while. Day by day, he did get better. A few things helped, but in the end it was time. For a while, I had to lock him up in the kitchen every night, just to give him a "time out". Even now, sometimes he'll be vocalizing all sorts of puppy feelings grumpily. Then he'll go lay in the bedroom for a bit and come back out, feeling better. Sometimes, we all need a bit of alone time. We've both gotten better (and older).

That was not the entirety of the entry, but it was most of it. Memories, looking back from the vantage of the 5-year Buffiversary. I commemorated the event with a throwback toy-one of his early toys was Pink Elephant. A Kong stuffed animal, tough enough to last a while (although I think we still have the husk somewhere….). Now, he has a new one, and just like the old one he seems quite taken with it. And so, I leave you all with a picture of that: