Shadow Jake, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

Jake’s a bum today. He’s been sleeping on the floor, right in in the sunlight.

yum, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

My silly, web-footed dog. See that red dot by his front left paw? He was chasing a laser level beam around the house like a mad animal… I thought it’d be fun to get a shot of him running around chasing it, but when I snapped the photo, he looked up and licked. =) This was a way better photo.

sniff, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

My dog never just lets me take his picture… This is what I see every time I get close enough to him to take a close-up picture.

curtain, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

I got an up-close and personal look at the shower curtain tonight, so I thought I’d share it with you as my photo today.

When we went to West Virginia over this past weekend, we had to kennel Jake. We took him to “A Home Away,” the boarding place run by Jake’s trainer from obedience classes. It’s a nice place – new and clean – but that doesn’t stop Jake from coming home stinky and smelling like a dog. (He doesn’t normally sport Eau d’Dog.)

So. Today we gave him a bath. But because it’s so cold out, we had to bathe him inside. In our tub. It was… a hassle. The poor dog was trembling from the second he walked into the bathroom, even though he’s never been in that room before. Ever. (We haven’t ever allowed him upstairs.)

I ended up showering with him so I could wash him and make sure he didn’t jump out of the tub in the middle. Then, I scrubbed the tub like a maniac – because GROSS. My dog was in my shower.

So, rather than showing you what the bathroom looked like after, I thought I’d just show the pretty shower curtain. Enjoy.

We’ve been waiting for two months to adopt a girlfriend for Jake from the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue, and I just found out tonight that the owners decided not to let us adopt her.  Instead, they’re passing her to some friends.  =( 

Anyone know of any young female ridgebacks for adoption? 

A couple of pictures from our family reunion, recently uploaded by Dave’s brother and his wife:

Tara, David, Randy, originally uploaded by rauke1.

Jake and Tara, originally uploaded by rauke1.

I just enjoy the first picture – I love having a big brother!  And the second photo…  Imagine that dog trembling – he was TERRIFIED of the water.  See how taut his muscles are?  He was very, very tense, and leaping about from rock to rock so he wouldn’t have to touch the water.  =)  We had a large audience up on the bank.

… are they for humans or for dogs?  Jake and I had a disagreement about that this morning.

On school days, David leaves the house earlier than I do.  Sometimes, he leaves while I’m still abed - like this morning.  He let Jake roam around, giving him the run of the backyard and house. 

Typically the dog does well on his own.  Except some times.  Those days, he smells something interesting in the trash  – there’s one can he can get into, and David and I are good about using it only for papers and mail.  Friends and family, however, don’t always remember the rules for that trash can, and then Jake has a hey day – all over our dining room.

Today, I was dozing before the alarm went off and heard a crash and a thump.  I threw on my bathrobe and ran down the stairs to see what was going on.  The box of miniwheats sitting on our counter was too much for him.  He just HAD to have some.  All over the dining room and the backyard.

At least this time I caught him in the act – you can’t correct a dog for something you don’t catch him doing, even if you know he did it.  He’ll forget within a few minutes that he did anything, so smacking him (lightly) or timing him out – even the old wives’ tale solution of rubbing his nose in it – won’t do anything but scare and confuse the dog unless you catch him in the act.  Today, Jake knew exactly why I was upset – he still had miniwheats in his mouth!

My dog was the most miserable dog in the world yesterday.  Or so he would have you believe, what with the “why would you do this to me?” face and the “My life is so awful” eyes…

We gave him another bath.  =)  He *hates* it.

We went to the bark park with Dave and Claudia and their Kaiser after work yesterday.  Jake was hot and miserable (it’s very warm and muggy out) and sweaty.  We let him cool down a little on the 20-minute ride home, then we grabbed his short leash (the one we can’t use to walk him with because he constantly trips us), hooked his collar to it, looped it around this mysterious pole sticking out of the ground in the backyard (NO idea why it’s there, but works find for this purpose), and grabbed the hose and dog shampoo.

Once the hose gets turned on, he freaks out.  He knows what’s coming and really hates to be wet. 

After a few minutes of *really* hard struggling, he just gives up (as long as I’m holding onto him and he can’t get away – and by that, I mean straddling him and locking him down with my knees as I scrub).  That’s when he turns on the misery faces – he’s so morose, it’s almost comical.

(btw, Tom, good call – he doesn’t shake off as long as I’m touching him.)

I was struck, as I was torturing my dog thus, with how much his background must affect his happiness.

Kaiser, Dave and Claudia’s dog, has never known anything but loving touches, security, fun, and comfort.  They’ve had him since he was a young puppy, and before they got him, he lived with a family who took good care of him.

Kaiser loves water (he’s actually really ridiculous about HOW much he loves water).  He loves other dogs.  In fact, he loves everything.

We adopted Jake from a breed-specific rescue.  Before they found him, emaciated and starved for attention and affection, in a pound, he had been a stray.  Someone had lost him or thrown him out – whatever the case, all he knew for a long time was hunger, cold, and other horrible things.  I’m sure the only wet he really remembers is being soaked in the rain and not having a warm place to dry off…

No WONDER the dog doesn’t like to be wet.  No WONDER he is so mean to other dogs who want to love on us.  No WONDER he freaks out when we leave him alone for any long period of time.  I think that, as he gets older (he’s only 1 1/2) and as he lives with us long enough to forget some of being a stray and long enough to trust us like Kaiser trusts the Ebersoles, he’s going to be happier.

After we dried him off, we gave him extra loving to make up for the misery we’d put him through.  He’s back to normal – happy and goofy – again today.

I am so excited!  This is the summer of home improvements – in our first home.

We moved into our house in October, so it was too late in the year to do any gardening, and too cold to do any real improvements to the inside (most of the inside work involves stripping wood or painting) or outside of the house.  But now it’s spring.

David has started going through a [rather long] handyman list.  He’s got some sort of schedule for the summer and has started going through it this week by:

• Installing screen doors onto our deck from the dining room
• Replacing the light fixture above the sink
• Hanging MANY picture frames
• Getting someone to build steps from our deck down to our yard (we had a small set at the corner, but now we have a deck wide set across the entire front)

I’ve been working, but I try to jump in and contribute, too.  I’ve started a couple of things that will take a while to complete:

• Stripping the wood in the bathroom (painted a hideous dark yellow – over GORGEOUS wood)
• Brushing rust from a second-hand wrought iron table/chair set

Also, we’re spending a lot of time outside – which makes me insanely happy.  I love the spring and summer!  We’ve had people over for cookouts, we’ve done some gardening (David doing the heavy duty weed digging and tree chopping, me doing the weeding and planting), and we bought shampoo for the dog.  David says it’s silly to spend money to have someone else wash our dog.  =)  After having done it once myself, I’m not so sure he’s right.  I did enjoy the experience, even if Jake HATED it.  It was funny – very funny – but I ended up SOAKED, and smelled like dog shampoo for a long time.

Anyway, the reason I’m not posting much is that I’m enjoying outside.  I spend all day in front of a computer – it’s good to get outside while the weather’s great.  =)

I’m getting ready to call it a night.  The house is clean and David’s winding down (he usually stays up later than me, but tonight I’m waiting for him). 

We had Pastor and Daisy over for dinner tonight – what a sweet time!  I love those two so much, and have been wanting to spend some time with them for a while (personal time – not time in passing after church or during a big event with folks surrounding, but honest-to-goodness quality time).  It was good timing, too, I think.  For us and for them. 

It’s been a rough week.  Janet, this funny, sweet old woman from church, died Wednesday.  It was unexpected, and we’re all missing her already.  The funeral was sweet – was joyful, in many ways – but it was still a funeral, a goodbye.

I was glad to have Tom and Daisy here – it was a chance to relax, to be in quiet fellowship - and to laugh!

—

We just moved the dog’s crate into the basement (it had been in the dining room, but I hated it there, in the room where we eat and have company) and tried to get him to go down and get in it, but that didn’t work out.  At first, he wouldn’t go downstairs.  Then he whined and whined.  Then it dawned on us stupid humans that the poor dog probably thought he was being punished.  Dark, quiet, alone… this is the most effective time-out environment for dogs, say all the books.

So we moved the crate back upstairs – now, it’s in a corner next to the piano.  Still out in the open, which I don’t like, but nestled into a relatively unobtrusive spot in our least-used downstairs room.  We’ll see if he likes this any better (I’m betting he will – he’s never really liked the basement).

Wish us sleep.  We may not get any (because we’ve changed Jake’s sleep environment).