Mike's Doghouse

…was canceled due to possible bad road conditions. We got a decent snow Tuesday/Wednesday and while the roads were clear, there was the threat of ice forming after it got dark. And with it being the last class, the instructor felt it would be nice if all the dogs could be there so we’re doing it next week.

We are to work on getting the pups out to new places and new things. I may be getting My Truck back today so hopefully Mike and I (and Joella) can go somewhere. Mike’s not been to the dog park yet.

Meanwhile, Mike is doing good. He SITS and WAITS until released when we put his food down. He sits and waits when we take his leash on and off. He’s not grasped DOWN yet, though. He is good with his RECALL although I’ve not worked that much with him on it. Same with STAY.

We had to run an errand today and we took Mike with us.

First stop was Waffle House in Weaverville. It is our version of “Cheers” ’cause everyone knows our names. We took Joella’s cape and put it on Mike. Funny as heck! It sat way back but, surprisingly, didn’t overlap underneath all that much. We took him in and sat in the chairs against the window. Basically it was to just immerse him in the situation, to see how he reacts, and to have fun. He wanted to go everywhere and see everything and everyone so I had to keep a grip on his collar. He did very well. He actually laid down at one point but got right back up again. We were really surprised at how well he did. But he is only 5 mos old, ya know, so he was only inside for a few minutes. We’d brought him a chewy snack for while he waited in the car.

Next up was Home Depot. This was without the cape just so he could be a puppy in a new situation. We let him explore and experience everything. Lorna took him for longer walks around the store and he did great. We need to work on “loose leash walking”.

Finally we went to PetSmart. We needed to get a portable bowl for the car (that and Mike had been panting heavily in Home Depot) and we wanted to see what they had for Callie, our oldest cat. She needs a bed to lay on in front of the stove. Anyway, Lorna had Mike’s leash for almost the entire time we were in the store. Mike was feeling braver and definitely wanting to pull on that leash. Holy cow, that pup is strong! Definitely need to do more leash work.

Speaking of strength, when we were at the vet’s Friday, we weighed Mike. He was, if we remember correctly, 35.6 lbs! That means he gained almost 4 lbs in just two weeks. Good boy!

Currently, Mike’s photos are kept at an odd place, URL wise. I didn’t think about it when I set it up and, technically, it shouldn’t have worked. The address is photos.mike.holyroller.org. HolyRoller.org is my original website and hasn’t been active for a long time (since 10/2006). I need to re-do that, I know. Anyway, this site (where you are right now) is a sub-domain. My website host offers “one-click installs” and the gallery is one of them. In the options for set up, it is assumed you would make the gallery a sub-domain of its own. Normally, that’s a good thing. However, I accidentally made it a sub-sub-domain. I can’t get to there from here. I can do the admin stuff from the site but I can’t get there via FTP. It doesn’t show up anywhere in the root directory even at the topmost level. It is annoying as heck. And yes, I have control issues.

I know, I know, who cares, right? Without FTP, I can only upload via the admin section which limits me to below a certain size. There’s some other stuff that I won’t bore you with that has to do with the look of the gallery (which I hate).

So, to end this long story of a short beginning, I am going to be moving the photo gallery. I love the software, ZenPhoto, but I want it somewhere else! That’s why there’s been no photos recently. When I get that set up, I’ll let y’all know!