Right now, I feel a bit... unnerved. I'm in the middle of some discussions with a series of work-type people that are all offering a variety of awesome opportunities, all at once. IF everything falls into place, all at one time, there will be much hard work (but much very interesting work, and some work very different then what I've been doing recently, but would really enjoy) but there will also be substantial financial reward and we will, quite possibly, as a family, achieve financial security for the first time in ages.
I can't talk too much about it. It's making me nuts, but of course as soon as I know more I will share with all of you.
I'm also trying very hard to not put all my eggs in one basket -- or, frankly, any eggs in any baskets at all -- because all too often I've had promising ventures or opportunities dangled in front of me and then whisked away at the last moment. But I've had other things actually come through; I'd say I have about a 50% success rate (but often the things that work out are not the things I want most). So it goes.
But in the meantime, as details are hashed out, and options offered, I'm kind of a wreck, waiting to see how it all plays out in the long run. (This should all be resolved by next week. God willing.)
Egads. Kindly allow me to distract you, and me, with an update on the dog.
Tank (as we've pretty much settled on calling him, although we often call him "Hank" so that could end up his name, dunno) is working out remarkably well. It's been a whopping four days, and things are beginning to feel comfortable with him. Sort of. He's just so... DOG. And so BULLY DOG.
By that I mean, he's stubborn as all hell, he's bossy, and he needs training. Not a terrible shock, of course. It's not like he's a puppy -- not at all -- but he's a rough-cut full grown adult dog that is going to take serious work to make into the right dog for us.
Somehow, whenever we talked about Hammer, The Best Dog Ever we manage to remember that he came to us in perfect condition, with perfect manners, and perfect behavior. The truth is, Hammer was in terrible condition when we found him; emaciated, riddled with worms and other parasites, and he had serious muscle damage because of his starvation that made him weak as a kitten when we first got him.
But he was also a "bully" breed, a strong, tough, stubborn dog that was largely pit bull. As he got healthier, he became challenging. He'd also run off (he tried to leave with other people all the time). He attempted to dominate the other dogs all the time (it was especially bad when he felt somewhat better but was not well enough to actually neuter yet), and we had to teach him leash manners. We also had to do "dominance downs" with him constantly in order to make it clear that he was NOT in charge (dominance downs are a technique where you gently encourage a dog to submit to you, by getting the dog to roll onto his side and expose his belly; this doesn't work with every dog and with every breed but I've had success with it with the strong dominant dogs that pits often are). Hammer also required a massive amount of exercise (a long walk in the morning, mid-day runs around the yard, and evening time at the dog park playing with other dogs) to be mellow.
As he aged, of course this all changed. The pack order in our house was well established, he got older and needed less discipline or exercise, and by the last five years of his life was the absolute perfect dog (although he never, ever, learned to give up toys to us, and if he got more than one toy in his mouth at once he became sullen and stubborn).
I suppose much in the same way that women who have difficult labors go on and have other children anyway (thinking, "eh, it wasn't THAT bad"), we've landed ourselves a full grown dog again that needs work. It's exhausting, in many ways; dealing with a stubborn dog that needs to learn manners is almost exactly as frustrating as taking a toddler to three stores in a row when you simple MUST SHOP for some reason and the toddler hasn't had enough sleep.
But man, this dog is SMART. He's already responding very, very well to the dominance downs with me and Charlie, rolling over for us with little prompting. We have Tori come over and participate in these exercises too so that he knows she is also his boss, and he needs to let her be in charge.
We also got the killer dog collar (no, it is not cruel -- he barely registers it, yes, we could have done a gentle leader but they make people think he's muzzled, and pit bulls don't need that kind of publicity) to teach leash manners, and he's already much better. Not trustworthy enough to let Tori walk him (Tori could walk Hammer, even though Hammer weighed 40lbs more than Tank, and Hammer never, ever pulled her) or anything, but the pain in the middle of my back between my shoulder blades is starting to ease.
We also got a key to a local dog park ($20 for access), and took him there this afternoon when it was pretty quiet so that he could run (it's a double gated, completely fenced in park that allows off the leash time). There were three other dogs there, including a five month old puppy, and Tank was great with all of them. He certainly tried to dominate them (he literally just bowls them over and stands on them; he's so low to the ground that he doesn't even have to lie down to hold them), but he backed off when they wouldn't have it.
There was a moment, though, before we left; another pit mix was unhappy about leaving, and unhappy about giving up his toy, and when Tank came to investigate they all got a bit snappish. No one was hurt (although the other dog's owner got a tad muddy) and I'd smartly suggested putting Tank in his harness before we'd left, thank God, so we were able to grab him easily, and we got him out of there. But we're learning (note to self: when other dogs are preparing to exit the park, hold Tank until they go, as him loose + them on leash = not good).
But last night he slept in our room all night on his dog bed, content. Today Sarah and her husband were nice enough to lend us a crate for him for a few months, so he had a place to hang out in while we were out at Tori's dance class today (yes, Charlie and I both go to each of her classes, for no reason, except it's fun and we can). He's amazingly tolerant with Tori, although we have to constantly remind her of proper dog manners as well (we were pretty slack with Hammer since he was so easy).
I think it's going to take a while, but in the end I think it's going to work out wonderfully.
There, are you distracted now? Cause I was. For a minute.
Sigh.
