SNIP - SNIP

So, unfortunately we had to get Sanders neutered today. Tony took him into the vet to get it done, so he and Sanders could talk about it on the way. It made Tony feel pretty bad taking him in there, but what had to be done had to be done. Late last week, he (Sanders) was running around the living room, all ramped up.... and began humping the corner of the love seat when he ran into it. Having seen that, we knew what we needed to do.

Since we're not planning on showing him or anything, there would have been very limited chances for him to get his humping tendencies out in a constructive fashion. So in the long run neutering will be good for him. He won't have to worry about wanting to hump anything.

Still, it was a sad day. The vet gave us a list of things to monitor him for (i.e. licking and chewing his wounds). Some of the things to watch for in the coming days is supposedly refusing to eat and/or drink, and... DEPRESSION. I guess dogs sometimes get depressed shortly after getting "fixed".

Sanders did end up wanting to lick his wounds a little after he got home. He didn't do

it alot, but enough that we figured if we left him alone all night he'd eventually end up ripping his stitches out. So, Tony ran out to get him one of the cone-shaped clown collars. It was a sad sight.

BANG!!

We have been noticing one of the biggest questions people are asking us is if Sanders has eyes. Here is proof that he does have eyes...even though they are glowing here...they really are his. I think he was trying to put us into a trance to give him more treats......Instead, we let him outside this morning and forgot that he was out there....He was only out for about 15 minutes.....but guess he was trying hard to get inside, huh?

This is Sanders' latest trick. Pretty sharp, isn't he?




As a reward, we scheduled a visit for the vet next Thursday. He's going to have to get neutered....Tony is sad to see this happen. He made me make the appointment!!

Sanders meets Dungy!

I've got to see Sanders a lot lately... and I've taken him to the dog park a couple more times. We were there on Monday, and someone brought a 4-month old golden retriever puppy named Dungy. As you can imagine, I very much approved of his name. Dungy was an extremely cute puppy, and even at 4 months, he was almost double Sanders weight!! His owner told me he was 42 pounds, while Sanders was right about 22. You sure couldn't tell he was double the size, because Sanders fur makes him look quite a bit bigger than he is. Even so, those 2 got along GRRRRR...REAT!!! I had been almost ready to leave when Dungy got there, but I ended up staying for about another 45 minutes while they played the whole time. Here's a video showing their typical style of playing...Enjoy it while it lasts, Sanders, this dog will have it all over you in a couple months.



I also took him to the dog park the next day. There weren't as many dogs there that day. As a matter of fact, it was empty when we got there, so we tossed around some toys and he ran around. I finally got a good picture of him in a full-on run, too, since there weren't any other dogs for him to be distracted by. A little later a guy showed up with a husky. They tried to play a little, but the husky was much bigger and seemed to not want to be bothered for the most part. Oh well, it was still fun.


What with all that time at the dog park, Sanders' fur was a sticky, stinky, slobbery, debris-filled mess, so he got another bath that afternoon when we got home. He still doesn't like baths, but he's starting to accept them a little better. I bought a detachable shower head to make it easier giving him baths. It's much easier than trying to force him under the spigot on the tub. After the initial getting-out-of-the-tub rampiness (Sanders is always wound up for a few minutes after we finish with a bath, I'm not sure why that is or if that's a common reaction...), everything caught up to him and he was pretty much out for the rest of the night.


















One more thing... Jen and I re-upped for the Bacon of the Month Club and received our re-welcoming package in the mail. It included a fake pig nose that somehow found its way onto Sanders. One-eyed pig-dog. What a creature.

Sanders Loves to Party!

We had our first annual Groundhog Day Party, which was a great success! At first, Sanders was a little apprehensive about all the people coming...as he kept playing guard dog and barking at the first few visitors...eventually he realized all these people were his friends and that they would feed him things he wasn't supposed to have, and they'd all pet him! One of the highlights of the night is that our friend Karen was trying to teach Sanders the command "bang!". Basically, you say bang, and the dog plays dead. He was starting to understand what it was that he was supposed to do by the end of the mini-training session. I worked with him on it a little yesterday...and it is going to be a hard one to master. Here is Sanders with his buddy Karen:Sanders loves the dog park so much! Every time we pull into the drive way, he starts to get super hyper!!! Playing with the other dogs is such a great outlet of energy....and he gets to run at top speed. When he runs...he barely lets his feet hit the ground!We are also going to have to teach Sanders to pick on kids his own size.........And to quit showing off his pearly whites.....
We took this video at the dog park a week ago or so. Sanders made lots of friends. His boxer buddy liked to pin him down....see how much Sanders liked it?