She's chewing on his nose

This morning Marley is quietly mauling Charlotte again.  Today, in addition to wrapping her "arms" around his neck and grabbing his legs and so on, I looked over and saw her chewing on his muzzle.  Then she worked her way down to his nose ... she must be chewing gently because he didn't even really react.

Things are looking up

We're finding pee & poop in the litter box every day.  She's not bothered by one of us being in the room.  Yesterday she came & jumped in the box while I was at the washbasin; today she was in the box when I got up and went in to use the bathroom.  If she keeps it up, she has a "forever" home.  But, she'll remain on probation for a while, just to be sure.

Marley has started showing signs of his training and maturing starting to "take".  A little tug on the leash when he starts to pull works around the house, worked somewhat in the Home Depot yesterday.  Trying to get him to calm down when greeting people is starting to show a little improvement.  Once he even sat without being told to when a person approached.

Charlotte turned a year and 4 months on the 14th of December.  Marley will turn 8 months old on New Year's Day.

The mock battles continue.  I think it's just the way they get along.  They're both young and full of energy.  It's a reasonable way to work out the excess.

So far ... so good

We are now on day 3 of finding "goodies" in the litter box with the clay clumping litter.  Whether it's the open top she prefers or the clay litter over the walnut litter we may never know.  As long as it's working ... that's what we'll go with.

Marley continues to gently maul Charlotte.  Trying to keep him from mauling her is a losing proposition.  She starts at least a quarter of these sessions.  In fact, this morning I saw her pull hard enough on the side of Marley's mouth that I could see she was pulling ... a nice little "tent" near his mouth.  We've seen her leap up and grab him around his neck or grab a mouthful of his back leg. 

I think they like each other.  It's hard to tell, though, if he sees her as a playmate or as a toy.  She will occasionally make an unhappy sound, but will continue to "fight back".  She could easily go to the top of some furniture or into the guest room to get away from him, but only seems to do so when she wants a long undisturbed nap.

Ah Hah! Snowballs!

There's only so much snow shoveling we're going to do.   So, a time will come each day that we run out of snow on the deck or desire to shovel it (or both).  Marley will have to get over himself when that happens.  So far, he's been OK after we've had a session of "snow in the face" and go back in the house.  But, now that it's winter and has happened more than once ... it's become, in his head, "what we do" as part of the daily routine.  And he'd like it to happen around 10 or 11 in the morning. 

I had been thinking that if he can't easily find a chunk of hot dog or a dog treat in the snow, I sure didn't want to throw out the Chuck-It ball once, never to be seen again until spring.  Then the light bulb came on.  Why not make snowballs that fit the Chuck-It!  He doesn't have to bring them back, there's plenty of snow to make more of them, I can fling them with one arm. 

It was an instant hit.  In fact, I had to change the direction I was "chucking" the snowballs because some of them went over the fence!  (Side fence, not end of the yard fence)  He tries to get under them, but the trajectory is so much bigger that it's harder to anticipate where they'll come down.  And once they've hit the snow, they're hard to find since they're the same stuff as what they land in.

I probably tossed 2 or 3 dozen snowballs and he had a blast.  He runs further out for them, so he gets even more exercise.  I get a different exercise, but no lifting or other motions that irritate my arthritic hip.  Another multi-layered win.

Good news Bad news

Well, the good news is Charlotte doesn't have any health issues.  The bad news is she doesn't have any health issues, so there's no quick fix for her inappropriate elimination behavior.

We're on a watch and see basis right now.  If she goes back to using the box, our biggest concern is her getting lost when we're on the road.  If she continues to use the couch (or any other spot she shouldn't) we have to consider finding her a home with no other pets, with people who will let her in & out frequently.

She's really a sweet kitty.  She tolerates what the vet needs to do.  She puts up with Marley treating her like another puppy.  She even starts some of the "play" sessions.  She sometimes sleeps between us for a while, under the covers.  She sometimes gets some lap time - with or without Marley.

But, she wants to be outside and she wants to be inside.

We'll keep thinking, hoping the perfect solution will come along.

Marley was out of sorts all day yesterday.  It was like he wanted/needed something but didn't know what it was.  We babied him a little (more than usual), but he just had to deal with it.

Now that Charlotte's back home he really wants to play with her.  She really wants to check all over and make sure home is still the same as it was a few days ago.  It is, except there are now 2 litter boxes in the bathroom.  The covered one with the walnut litter and the tall one with the fine clay litter.  We like the walnut litter because it clumps as well as the clay, but doesn't develop an odor like clay does (you scoop often but it starts to smell like pee) and it's biodegradable, unlike the clay.  But, we'll use whichever she chooses at this point.  

SNOW! Let it SNOW! SNOW! I want snow!

Marley was acting "off" this morning & early afternoon.  I thought it was because Tom was out plowing and the snow was sliding.   He gets a bit nervous when Tom is out and there is strange noise.  Later, we found out what it really was.

Tom had shoveled the deck, but the roof had dumped more snow on the deck.  I went out and started shoveling.  As soon as I started he started barking at me because I wasn't throwing the snow fast enough.  He delights in catching the snow as it flies from the shovel. 

It doesn't matter how big, or how hard, a lump comes out of the shovel.  He's there to catch it on his chest or in his face.  Sometimes he gets too close and we have to be careful not to hit him with the shovel.  He leaps clear off the ground, twists and runs.  We all get exercise.  My FitBit says I got 39 minutes of active exercise between shoveling the deck and pulling snow off the roof.

Video - Brave Little Kitty

I took a video the other day as Charlotte and Marley were playing.  Sometimes it seems he's just mauling her.  Other days she's the aggressor.

Keep in mind, she weighs about 10 pounds and he weighs well over 50 pounds.  He's as rough as he can get away with, yet doesn't hurt her.  She attacks, but has never laid claw or tooth on him.

He's a good puppy

It gets easy, in the middle of a frustrating situation, to think Marley's being "bad".  But, when we step back and really look at him and his behavior, he's a really good puppy.

The main things we really need to work on (we've been too easy on ourselves) are:

COME - he needs more practice so he won't choose to ignore it until he hears a "magic" (bribe) word

Loose Leash Walking - he really likes to pull.  I've got a "slide whistle" leash training aid on the way

Greeting People Politely - he's got to learn to sit/down and let people pet him without "participating".  That means "training" strangers to not pet him unless he's being polite.

When we stop and think about the things he's chewed up ... well,lately  most of them have been things that have Tom's smell, that were left within his easy reach, and when he was frustrated (neither of us wanted to get up as early as he did).  Before that he "killed" and "gutted" his stuffed toys and other toys he could destroy.  We still have all our couch cushions, pillows, blankets, etc.  We still have the cat.  And we still have things he could have destroyed but chose not to. 

I think we're doing something right, most of the time, anyway.

Pen Puke

Marley is pretty unforgiving when he decides it's time to be up.  It doesn't matter what time or how much the humans would like to get a few more winks.  He will "entertain" himself if left wishing his people would get out of bed.

It happened again this morning.  I'd let him out about 6:15.  He took quite a while and didn't come back to the door until I opened it to see if he'd gone turd hunting between the deep roof-slide snow and the side of the house (the last bare ground for Charlotte to poop in without going to the garage across the property).  Since it was so early we went back to bed.  By 7 (I'm guessing) he wanted me up.  He came back and whined at least 3 times before I gave in.  By then it was getting close to 7:30.  Before I even got from the bedroom to the bathroom I could hear him bringing something up.

By the time I peed & got my robe and my morning meds, he'd brought it up.  Until I actually looked at it I was assuming it was something more or less "edible".  When I did bend over to examine his leavings it took several seconds to decipher what I was seeing.  At first the black pieces seemed like they might be part of a plastic fork.  But they were too sturdy.  Then I saw the fine little spring ... he'd eaten a ball point pen!

I'd seen it on the floor behind the recliner and meant to pick it up on one of my trips past the chair.  I should have.

When Marley is bored because no one is up to be with him and start his morning routine of fetching his ball (or other toy) he makes sure we'll be less reluctant to roll out of bed.  So far in the last couple of weeks he's eaten half of one of Tom's sheepskin slippers, the heel out of one of Tom's shoes, the cuffs of Tom's work gloves, and now a ball point pen.  Some of the items are just chewed and strewed, some, like the pen and shoe heel, he actually ate.

I don't dare ask the inevitable question ... because we'll find out way too soon.

Oh, by the way, he got his graduation certificate yesterday.  Lots of work still needed, and the next class will start some time after the first of the year, but he got his Level 1 certificate.

Ice Cube Feet

Charlotte is trying to get used to the snow on the ground.  She often goes only a couple feet from the door before coming back in.  But, sometimes she does go further out.  Last night she was out for several hours.  When she came back in about 3:40am - because Marley had to go potty (or wanted me to let her in) - and after a quick snack, she warmed her feet the best way she knew how.

A little while after coming in, as I was still trying to find the most comfortable position, she came to the bed and to the top of the covers.  She comes to the top to request I lift them a bit so she can crawl under with us.  Sometimes she snuggles her full body length along my belly or butt.  Not last night.

Imagine if you were almost asleep, warm & snug in bed, when suddenly someone sticks 4 little ice cubes against your back!  Yeah, that's what it felt like  Needless to say, the drifting off to sleep process had a bit of a setback.  Lucky for me she warms quickly.  Soon the ice cubes turned to tiny heaters. 

That's why I let it happen.