Wish us luck

We just signed Levi up for an AKC Canine Good Citizen test training course through the Humane Society of Missouri. You may recall that we have graduated from all the levels of obedience training offered by the HSMO, with Levi earning the moniker "Superdog." Well, we think Mr. Superdog would benefit from the CGC training for a variety of reasons. First, he loves going to class because he gets to see other dogs and essentially gets treats stuffed into his mouth for an hour. Second, it's a really good way to reinforce the bond we have with him. Third, going to class and having "homework" forces us to work with him during the week, something we haven't been doing as often as we should be. Finally, having a pit bull that has earned the CGC title is really important to me. I want Levi to be an outstanding ambassador for his breed and since I don't think being a therapy dog is in his future, the CGC title will be the next best thing.

So, what is this test all about? Basically, there are ten tests that your dog must pass and your evaluator has been specially trained and certified to give and judge the test. And you can't use food to reward, which might be challenging for us. But, you can offer praise and talk to your dog throughout the test.

So, which ones do I think Levi will ace?

Test 4: Out for a walk (loose leash walking). I don't think we'll have a problem with this. I've mentioned before that we have the opposite of a pulling dog-a stubborn dog that you have to pull and coax when he wants to sniff.

Test 5: Walking through a crowd. We should be good here too. We take Levi to all sorts of events and live in the city and walk through the crowded CWE with him all the time. In other words, we've had a lot of practice.

Test 6: Sit down and stay in place. He has to sit and down on command. The only thing I'm concerned about is that he is so spoiled that he doesn't like to lay down on hard surfaces. That's something we'll have to work on in case they don't roll out the red carpet for him. He can stay in either the sit or the down (it will be sit for us) and you walk away and walk back while he stays in position. We practice this a lot, so I think he'll do okay.

Test 8: Reaction to another dog. Basically, you walk up to another person with a dog and shake hands, exchanging pleasantries. You don't want your dog to totally spazz out at the sight of a potential friend. I think we'll be okay on this. We practiced this in Superdog class and he was fine. It kind of depends on the energy of the other dog, so hopefully there won't be a spazzy dog doing the test with him.

So, which tests do I think will be the hardest for him?

Test 10: Supervised separation. Basically, I hand the leash over to a stranger and go out of sight for three minutes. Levi can't act overly nervous or whine or bark. Since Levi doesn't love strangers as it is, I don't know how he will do with this. They recommend practicing by putting him in a stay and leaving his sight for a bit, working up to three minutes. Hopefully we'll get some more tips in class.

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger. Like I said, Levi doesn't love strangers. In fact, he loves very few people and he has to know you very well to love you. We will be lucky to have a female "stranger" since he's more accepting of women than men. As long as the person isn't doing anything "scary" like swinging his arms around or yelling, Levi should be okay. He can just be fearful with some people.

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting. Well, this goes along with Test 1. He did great at Petsmart yesterday when a girl was kissing him and going crazy over how much she loved him. Again, we'd love a female stranger for this test.

Test 3: Appearance and grooming. Again with the strangers. They look him over to make sure he's healthy (to simulate a vet visit), look in his ears, and pick up his front feet. And then they brush him. Hopefully we practice this one a lot in class!

And there are two that could really go either way.

Test 7: Coming when called. Levi does not have the best recall in the world. And since we can't have food, I'm not sure how this will go. He didn't like doing this in class because the trainers would hold onto him and I think it was more him trying to get away from them than him coming to me. But then again, sometimes he's great on the recall, so who knows?

Test 9: Reaction to distraction. Basically, they tip over a chair or roll a dolly by the dog to see if he reacts. I think he will be fine with this because he's not fearful of things like that, but more of actual people he perceives as scary. We worked on this in our other classes and he did really well. But then again, I also had an unlimited supply of hot dogs and cheese, so we'll see.

It looks like there's a test on 3/14, so we will probably take it then if we feel like he's ready. Or, we might continue working on the various skills and take it in June. If you fail, you can take it again, so that's comforting. Anyone out there have a CGC-titled dog? What was your experience?

Surely all I have to do is show them this picture (our 2009 Christmas card) and he will pass with flying colors, right?

Why do I do this to myself?

So, I'm pretty much the biggest wimp ever when it comes to anything remotely scary. I'm going to admit a lot of embarrassing things here, but it's only to illustrate just how much of a baby I am. I think it all started when my parents justified letting me see The Exorcist as a child because of its religious themes. I couldn't see any R-rated movies, but The Exorcist was educational in their book. Basically, it scared the bejesus out of me and paved the way for me to be utterly terrified by scary movies for the rest of my life. I can't even think about the previews for the anniversary edition of The Exorcist that came out a few years ago without getting scared. Oh, you know the scene I'm talking about-CRAB. Gulp.

Then, I saw The Ring when it came out. Big mistake. It was released after I moved back to St. Louis when I was living with my parents. So, I was about 23 or 24. And I slept on the couch in my parents' room for about a week. No joke. That movie scared the shit out of me.

But the movie that is still with me after all these years is The Blair Witch Project. Dear. God. If you haven't seen it and plan to, stop reading because I'm going to talk about the ending.

Okay. You know how the last scene is when she's in the scary house in the woods and she sees her friend in the corner facing the wall? That image will pretty much haunt me for the rest of my life. I STILL get scared thinking about that scene. We are not lucky enough to have a master suite, so when I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, I have to go out into the hallway. And every night, I think about that scene and I literally RUN back into the bedroom and jump into bed. I'm so terrified that Jason might be in the corner behind the door. In fact, that's why I have to sleep with the door either completely open so that I know nothing's behind it or shut and locked. Except that Levi falls asleep on the couch and likes to come in during the night, so I'm forced to keep the door open, practically inviting the Blair Witch herself to stick Jason in the corner while I'm in the bathroom.

So, when I heard the early buzz about Paranormal Activity, I really wrestled with whether I could handle seeing it or not. I can at least try to rationalize that the Blair Witch can't get me because I don't roam around the woods, but when the ghost/demon is in your house, you cannot escape. So, even as everyone raved about it and it grossed millions of dollars, I just couldn't do it. Until tonight. I'm staying at my mom's to watch her cat while she's out of town and thought, "this will be a good night to watch Paranormal Activity." And did I mention that this house is big and old and creepy and haunted? Well, I can't prove that it's haunted, but let me tell you a little ghost story.

When we were kids, my dad used to sing this song to us at bedtime. The song goes something like this:

My grandfather's clock was too tall for the shop so it stood 90 years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself, but it weighed not a penny weighed more.

It was bought on the morning of the day that he was born and it was always his treasure and pride.

But it stopped, short, never to run again when the old man died.

Nice kids' song, huh? So, my mom decided to tell me a little fact a few weeks ago. Apparently, the grandfather's clock in their foyer would stop from time to time after my dad died. Even when it was wound. And then it ran like normal for a few years. Well, my parents' anniversary was January 26th and I shit you not, the clock stopped. She said it was the first time it had happened in a long time. Is that freaky or what?

To make things even freakier, I'm pretty sure Levi sees ghosties out in the foyer area. We'll be sitting in the porch area watching TV and he will be completely fixated on the foyer. I tell myself he's just waiting for my mom's cat to stroll down the stairs, but it's like he hears or sees imaginary things and cannot take his eyes off that area.

Before watching the movie tonight, I made Jason promise me that if I have to pee in the middle of the night, he must not only accompany me to the bathroom, but also inside the bathroom. He could be in a corner when I come out! That's the price he has to pay to be able to 'enjoy' scary movies with me. Here's hoping that I hear no bumps in the night, see no footprints on the floor when I wake up, and don't end up outside sitting in a chair at some point tonight. Jason has told me that I do (or have done a handful of times) weird things in the middle of the night like stand outside of bed and I'm completely out of it. I guess he's the one who should be scared, right? I mean, am I the only person out there who worries that their partner will be in a corner or possessed when they come back from the bathroom in the middle of the night? Anyone?

Odds and Ends

1. Is anyone else incredibly pumped about Survivor? I've been a huge fan since the beginning (with the exception of boycotting for a few seasons for what I considered to be unnecessary killing of baby birds in nests-I'm looking at you, Ozzy). Well, I'm a little annoyed that some people get to keep coming back over and over again (I'm looking at you, Amanda), but I'm still soaking up all the drama and we're only one week into the season. I don't even know who to root for! Let's see, I love James, Rupert, Stephenie, JT, and could even root for Russell, but cannot stand Cirie, Parvati, and Courtney. Who are you rooting for? Or against?
2. School has been incredibly stressful and crazy lately, but I can't really go into many details. For those of you who know what's going on, I thank you for your support. I think I'll just leave it at that.
3. Although I spent a lot of time working at school this weekend, we still managed to sneak in some V-Day fun. I got a Snuggie from Jason (don't laugh, I liked it) and a card from Levi that made me tear up, of course. Oh, and I got Jason nothing if you're keeping track. But I got him a Christmas present and he got me nothing, so we're even. We also ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Terrene. If you haven't been there, you should go immediately! I had the best scallops of my life and several cocktails made with fresh ingredients. After the hellish two weeks I'd had, I needed several cocktails.
4. I wrestled a lot with the idea of heading down to Mardi Gras, but just couldn't do it. Jason had made our Terrene reservations several weeks back and I knew I'd be down for the count early if I went to Mardi Gras. I'm pretty happy with my decision, but maybe next year...
5. How did it get to be the middle of February? Seriously, that stresses me out like you wouldn't believe.
6. I just can't get into the winter Olympics as much as the summer Olympics, though I did enjoy the men's figures skating competition last night. The anticipation of what Johnny Weir would wear was certainly drawing me in.
7. I'm proud to announce (or is that embarrassment?) that I have reached the highest level in Wizard 101. Luckily, the game is designed to keep you sucked in even when you can't get any better. I would feel like a huge dork, but I keep telling myself it's a way to relax, like watching TV, which I have hardly been doing, except for 24, Survivor, and the Olympics.
8. And finally, I'm getting fat. Ugh. The stress of school has really gotten to me and I've been going home way too many afternoons because I'm extremely upset rather than going to the gym to let off steam. My half-marathon training is not where it should be, but I'm trying to get back on track, as well as trying to get back to my normal eating regimen. I know there are a lot of people in my boat that are trying to lose the pounds, so I'm right there with ya'.

That's about it. My life is pretty busy right now, so I don't have anything noteworthy to write about. I might start inventing things to blog about pretty soon :)

Barkus Pet Parade 2010

Ack, I accidentally published this before I finished it, so apologize to my Google reader people.

On Sunday we attended the 17th annual Barkus Pet Parade in historic Soulard. You might remember that we attended last year for the first time. Although this year Levi didn't wear his "Judge the deed, not the breed" t-shirt because Jason declared him "too handsome" to be covered up by a piece of cotton, no matter how important the message. So instead, Levi donned a red bandana, in memory of Fay, one of the hundreds of pit bulls rescued in the largest dog fighting bust in history. She was the "face" of these dogs, and what a face she had; her lips were gone from either fighting or being cut off following a fight. The wonderful local rescue group Mutts n' Stuff took Fay in (and others), but she passed away in December. I tear up every time I think about her and if you look at their blog, you will see her greeting fans at Christmastime in an elf costume. Not exactly the vicious killer that many people erroneously associate with former fighting dogs. We wanted to show our support and march with Mutts n' Stuff to bring awareness to the horrors of dog fighting. The color of the day was red (we wore red under our coats) and you can see the turn-out was pretty awesome.

And just like last year, we saw dogs of all shapes and sizes and in all kinds of crazy costumes. Levi is obsessed with the very large breed dogs (and my bias might be evident by which dogs I photographed). Maybe because he thinks, "hey, there's something that might be slower and bulkier than I am! If we play, I will be able to catch him!" Here are some of the dogs from the day.

What could be more awesome than a giant dog wearing a wee hat?

How about a winged bulldog and a pony?

Or an Avatar-themed dog float?

Or a preview of the debauchery to come in the area during this Saturday's Mardi Gras celebration?

What about the most embarrassed dog at the parade?

And some more dogs:

This dog's outfit says, "50% pitbull, 100% lovable."

For you small dog people:

And for you x-large dog people:

But the best dog of the day was definitely this doberman. First of all, he sat in this cart and didn't move-it was like he was a statue. Every time his person would blow his whistle and motion with his arm, the dog would presumably bite down on the bone in his mouth, which would cause the party favor to uncoil. It was highly entertaining and impressive.

I think there were more people here this year than last year. Anyone go to both? What do you think? It seemed really crowded, which was awesome since all proceeds benefit the Open Door Animal Sanctuary.

I know this all too well.

Jason was in charge of holding Levi for the day and he might have a permanent imprint of the leash as a result. Levi is normally not a puller; in fact, we usually have the opposite problem-stubborn as a mule. But he couldn't contain all his excitement, and we were excited to see him so happy.

But the best part was when Levi came face to face with his puppy Ozzie. We have met Ozzie's people before because they are active with Stray Rescue as well and foster dogs. But this was the first time Levi and Ozzie came face-to-face. I can't say either was overjoyed, but we got a huge kick out of seeing the resemblance between the two right before our eyes.

Isn't Ozzie the cutest? His people are awesome too.

If you locals haven't headed down the parade, you should consider doing it next year. You won't believe some of the costumes and of course seeing all the dogs is really fun. We plan to be there next year and hopefully we'll have a second dog by then to take with us!

I'm Live Again

I had to go incognito for a bit to go over some past blog posts. Thanks for the kind words from people who told me they would miss my blog and asked to be added. Apparently some of you enjoy my little journal, even though it seems like all I do is complain and write about my dog. Speaking of Mr. Levi, we had a rather momentous day yesterday. He met one of his puppies for the first time! I'll be sure to post some pictures soon. I hope I didn't lose too many readers!

School update and Minnesota

This is going to be a loooooooong one, so you might want to settle in.

So, remember how I was trying to figure out what to do about my dissertation (and the rest of my life)? Things weren't going well with my original project and it was just wearing me down. After many tears, endless amounts of playing out timelines and scenarios, and talks with various people, I have decided to move onto my Plan B project. The decision was not an easy one; I have worked for years on Plan A. Years. The problem is that even if I got the one thing working that I was having trouble with, there's no guarantee that the other technical protocols would continue working. After all, the step I was having problems with is theoretically easy, not to mention the fact that I've done it thousands of times. But the other stuff? Not as familiar, even if I did have it all up and running. I would hate to get to March and realize I couldn't make another step work. I thought it was best to just cut and run.

Plan B project is not nearly as cool, is not groundbreaking, and will not showcase my skills and talent to potential future employers. But, I cannot keep plugging away and feeling like a colossal failure when I could be collecting data and getting out the door. Luckily, my committee meeting a few weeks ago went well and they were all supportive of my decision. It's not easy to stand in front of five people who have been mentoring you for years and tell them you just can't make it work. We brainstormed on the Plan B idea I had, discussed additional considerations, and finalized the research questions. I know how much you all love me talking about guppy sperm, so you'll be happy to know I will still be stripping sperm from males. At least that's something interesting, right? And I won't be throwing all the techniques I've developed out the window. I do take some consolation in that fact.

Anyway, onto more fun things. I was afforded the opportunity to travel to Minnesota last week to help out with a research project involving gray wolves. Because I deal with sperm and have some working knowledge of computer assisted sperm analysis, and because I did a project involving Mexican gray wolves, one collaborator thought I would be a good team member for the week. I'm thrilled that she asked me because I had a fantastic week. I cannot tell you how fan-freakin-tastic it was to get away from school for the week, to actually touch animals, to be around positive and genuinely nice people, and to be involved in an exciting project that I feel is making a difference in the conservation world.

We spent our days at the Wildlife Science Center, which is an independent non-profit facility that houses a variety of species and is actively involved in research and education. I feel fortunate to have met the founder and executive director, Peggy Callahan, and her amazing staff. I have only wonderful things to say about everyone I encountered at the facility. My job was mainly to assist a vet by preparing sperm samples for him to read. I put my OCD to good use because we would have to read samples from different males at certain time-points and it could get hectic at times when they overlapped. But I was Queen of the Timers and even though it doesn't seem like much, apparently I was somewhat helpful.

This paragraph will be a little science lesson, so feel free to skip if your eyes glaze over at the word "science." Just a little history on the gray wolf. Since humans suck, the once widespread gray wolf is now limited to areas where humans aren't, or at least aren't in abundance. A subspecies of gray wolf, the Mexican gray wolf, was completely eradicated in the wild due to government-sponsored extirpation programs. Luckily, seven wolves were brought into captivity and all living Mexican gray wolves are descended from those seven founders. So you can imagine that conservation of Mexican gray wolves is critical for their survival. As part of a captive breeding program, wolves are assigned a mate based on (mainly) genetic factors. Instead of moving animals around every year for the breeding season, "we" (as in scientists involved in captive breeding) are trying to develop and perfect artificial insemination techniques. It's a lot easier and less stressful to move gametes rather than animals. Hence, the need to study sperm, sperm preservation methods, etc. And since the generic gray wolf is not (now) endangered, they serve as a good model to practice these techniques for the endangered Mexican wolf. Does that make sense?

So, onto the pictures. If you don't love animals, you might not make it through all these pictures. But you cat people will be happy to know that for once, I will prominently feature felids on my blog rather than just canids and the occasional avian post.

One of the most exciting parts of the trip is when I got to interact with hand-raised wolves. Apparently they are little thieves, so we put away our mittens and entered their enclosure. We were with Peggy the entire time and she knows these wolves well, so it was a very comfortable situation. And wow, they were gorgeous close-up. Just amazing.

This one was totally into me. He gave me kisses on my face! Wolf kisses!

I must thank my new vet friend for taking those pictures. Here's one of the good Doctor with the wolves.

Did you notice anything about the pictures? I'm so happy. Those are real, genuine smiles and I'm doing something related to school! I've been so bogged down with PCR contamination, making and treating enough water for the fish lab, trying to keep fish alive, etc., that sometimes I lose sight of why I'm doing all of this. It's because I love animals, I'm committed to conservation of animals, and I love being around people who have similar research interests to mine. I was seriously on Cloud 9 during this encounter, people.

But before I move onto the felid pictures, let's look at dogs! Peggy and her husband are obviously huge animal lovers and they have a sizable dog pack, all rescues with individual sad stories. Of course I couldn't resist taking pictures of them. It gave me my fix while away from Levi and my weekly volunteer duties.

This beautiful Newfoundland, Chelsea, was rescued from a puppy mill. She was as sweet as can be. Isn't she lovely?

And I couldn't leave out the only pit mix, a little girl named Gingersnap.

But this guy really stole my heart. Dober-MAN! He has a deformity and Peggy said that when she met him, he couldn't walk and was emaciated. She didn't know if he would live or die, but she decided she would give him a home for whatever time he had left. He's doing great though! He's cold all the time, so he's the only dog in the pack to wear a sweater.

But it wasn't all play. We worked too. The sperm analysis team extraordinaire at our work station.

The Doctor and I were even dressing alike by the end of the week (by accident).

Just a few close-ups of these majestic animals.

Now onto the kitties! You can read more about these mountain lion cubs here. Basically, their mom was killed and Peggy was asked to keep them at the facility to live out their days. They were five-months-old during our visit and as playful (and cute) as can be. They weren't very into us like the wolves were; they were more interested in playing with each other.

I also want to point out that it was cold as fuck in Minnesota, hence my resemblance to Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. I took a bazillion pictures of these guys because they were always on the move and hard to capture. Some of these were taken by another person, so I can't claim credit for all of them.

I have lots more of all the people I was with and stuff we did, but am not sure if I should plaster it all over my blog. All in all, I am so glad I went, even though I missed Levi big time. And Jason too, I guess;) And Monty. But I freely admit I did not miss the ever-hormonal Lola. Now it's back to the grind and guppies and water. They're almost as charismatic as wolves and mountain lions, right?