So it's been a little over a month since our dog Winston came home.  In that month I took him to the vet to find that he had severe dental disease and shelled out some serious cash to have 5 of his teeth pulled!  It was a pretty dire situation, but thanks to my taking him to Boulevard Pet Hospital where Lorenza works, the vet cut me a ginormous discount for being Lorenza's friend, and probably because I had just adopted a shelter dog, my first dog, and seemed a bit annoyed that no one told me, after having looked at his teeth more than a few times to estimate his age, that there might be a problem.  I find that I get a lot of appreciation for having rescued my dog from a shelter instead of going and buying a dog.  Which I was happy to do, and am so glad I did. 

We've found that Winston already knows a lot of commands, so there's not really any need to take him to be trained.  He's got a couple of bad habits, but who doesn't?  I just need to work on them.  He definitely knows I'm his momma considering whenever I leave the house I have to put him in his kennel or else he pees somewhere.  He only does it when I leave... I could have let him out right before I leave and only be gone like an hour and he'll still do it.  So clearly, he doesn't like me leaving.  At least his pee doesn't stink like the cat's pee.  It's not so bad to clean up.  But GOODNESS, I'll probably never get over having to pick up fresh stinky dog shit.  I've at least learned to take a big breath and hold it while grabbing the poop with the inside-out bag and then twisting the top around my finger to keep the smell inside, so it's not gag-inducing so much anymore.

I can definitely tell the difference the teeth pulling made.  Before that he didn't seem interested in rawhide much or some of the toys I gave him, and after he's all about it.  The vet had said that often they're in more pain with the bad teeth in their mouth than after they're pulled, so there was no need to even change his food or anything.  After a couple weeks with his kennel in the living room and him barking for 10-15 minutes after we we to bed, we wised up that he was barking at the cats taunting him and moved the kennel into our bedroom.  Now he never barks after we put him in there, and even recognizes that when we turn the lights in the living room out and head in there, it's bed time for him too and he follows us.  He sometimes still has to be coaxed with a treat if he's comfy and snoozing on his living room bed... but hell, I ever have to wake Dominic up off the couch to come to bed sometimes, so it's not much different except for the treat lol.

The only real drag so far is that I've pretty much had to cut out working from Panera once a week.  They do have plugs outside and I'm sure the wifi will work just outside, so I did entertain the idea of bringing him with me and sitting outside, but it's been too cold and raining.  And I don't want to leave him in his kennel all afternoon while I go work.  Maybe when the weather is better I can get him some kind of shelter for the back yard and he can chill outside for the afternoon.  Not sure I trust him outside on his own yet.  The closest we've come so far is when I let him out when I get up, if it's sunny outside he'll find a spot on the deck to pay in a sunbeam instead of coming back inside.  But I'm sitting right here and can let him in if the weather gets bad or he just decides it's time to come in.  Maybe I need to find a cafe with wifi that's dog friendly and OK with having the dog inside... but even if such a place exists, it's probably over in Berkeley or doesn't have food I'd like or you'd have to pay for the wifi or something.  Just a thought to look into.

I feel the desire to update with more stuff that's gone on since my last blog post, just life in general, but this is long enough.  So instead I'll leave you with more photos of Winston.