Ms. Days Ease RV Life #186 10/4&5/20

Good Morning COVID-19 Warriors!  Day #186 for me (note the blog post is the same number!!!!!!).  I only have 4 more states for my 50in50in50.  I have MS, WY, FL & MI.  I’ve got FL & MI covered.  Mississippi and Wyoming are problems.  I’m going to look on the the Marathon meetings to try to find those States.  I’ve tried their local Intergroups, but the ZOOM meetings need PW’s and the sites are not updated.  (Note to Bill S – I’m sure Naples Intergroup would not have that problem!!!!).  

Just did a rookie thing……..didn’t save my work so I have to redo this blog.  Not sure what I had on here beyond a video I took of Buster on the porch this morning, so I’ll add that here:

I will continue this tomorrow.

So I’m a REAL Alcoholic.  I’ve overspent on Buster even though I thought $55 was a bargain.  After buying things to “puppy proof” the house, I am way over my budget for gas for camping by 2 or 3 months.  Well, he will give me at least 15 or more years of love and companionship so I guess we could prorate it and make it feel better – oh yea, is that rationalization!  See what I mean?

Another cute picture:

He loves sleeping on the tile (linoleum) rather than the rug.  I’ve discovered that he doesn’t shed – at least right now he isn’t leaving hair on me and I haven’t received the brushes yet.  I did get this today:

You can see that I put Metaxa’s food and water on the washer to keep Buster from eating her food all day.  The car seat is surprisingly light weight!  So glad about that.  I’m going to store it away until he’s housebroken, although the cover zips off for washing.  It feels like light weight styrofoam underneath it.  I can put this is the pantry where the cat carrier/crate was being stored.  Then once the new crate comes in, I’ll need to put the plastic one somewhere.  Maybe on the shelf in my closet.  I still have room there for things – or maybe just on the floor in there – behind the closet door.  Plenty of space there, too.

So my final “straw” that made me “put the brakes on from spending was the training I signed up for on line.  I’ve been watching Michele Lennon on YouTube and I signed up for her video series called:  30 Days to Puppy Perfection.  I really like the way she does her videos – they are short – only around 10 minutes.  I’m also looking at other YouTube videos and I’m following 2 other dog trainers.  They all have something to offer to this totally clueless puppy trainer – realized I have NEVER trained a puppy – what was I thinking??????  Anyway, all kinds of friends are giving me lots of advice.  It’s great that Jennifer just got her own puppy about a month or 2 before me and we’re texting one another a lot.  Here is a picture of her doxie Sammy and her daughter’s rescue dog, Dasher:

I love his ears – Jenn says he looks like a bunny!  So cute.  If you remember, this was the first picture of Sammy she sent:

They sure grow fast.  Did I say that Buster has gained 5 pounds since he was weighed on the paperwork for his neutering?  Here he is flat as a pancake on the floor:

Holy cow – I can’t get over how really sweet and cute and wonderful he is.  Now if he would just pee and poop outside.  Patience is power.

GOOD NEWS!  I called Benson Animal Clinic today to set up an appointment for Buster.  I spoke with Tammy.  What a nice woman!  She asked me about Buster and she mentioned that she thought she groomed him the other day (before I adopted him).  So I’ve found my groomer too – all in the same place.  She just bought an RV to convert to a mobile grooming unit.  Funny coincidence.  I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:15 to have his staple removed and his toenails clipped.  He hasn’t had rabies shot yet and they like that to be done before they bring him in to the office, but she said she thought it would be ok.  I’ll find out tomorrow.  If it doesn’t work, that’s OK because it will give him some experience riding in the car anyway.  He’ll be in the crate in the car tomorrow.  He got weighed – 10lbs 8 oz.  They clipped his toenails and pulled the staple.  NO CHARGE!  I love living in Benson.

So I learned a cool trick (from YouTube) to get him to like the crate.  Open the door and throw a treat (his food pellet) into the crate and have him go in and “get it”.  That way, he’ll get more comfortable walking into it on his own.  It worked!  I’ll try it again later.  It seems about 5 minutes of training is about the amount of time you should spend on training at a time.  He is so little that I can easily pick him up and put him in there, but it will be better if he goes in on his own so he isn’t afraid.  

I just got a notice that tomorrow I should expect the shampoo, the treat pouch and the brushes for him.  YAY!  Now I can brush him.  I did mention that he isn’t shedding right now didn’t I?  I’m pretty happy about that.  I’ll probably learn more about him tomorrow after the “Vet” visit.  OMG – it’s going to be Christmas tomorrow.  Just got a notice that 3 more things are arriving tomorrow from Amazon.  The grassy pee pad YAY!!!!!, the treat pouch and the pee pads I need for Metaxa.  Life is GREAT!!!!!.

I took a video of Buster playing in his crate and messing around.  I was listening to a video in my dog training class about crating:

Well, I think that is all for today.  I’m going to make my “wrap” sandwich and have lunch on the porch.  It’s 92 here so I won’t be out there too long.  I need to feed Buster his lunch too, but he is resting and doesn’t seem that interested (at least he isn’t showing me) in food.  I’m feeding him 1/4 cup of food 3 times a day.  This morning – although we got up at 3:45, I didn’t feed him until 6.  Now it is 1 so it’s time for lunch.  I may or may not be back today.  More will be revealed!