Las Vegas

Last Tuesday we decided to go to Las Vegas. I has work until 7 on Friday though, so we were gonna leave after that. My brother refused to watch our dog while we would be gone, so, luckily there was room, I boarded him at work. When I left ruff house without him, he would not be quiet. He was so upset, and I nearly cried. I drove home and we left for Vegas. Our hotel messed up our reservation, so they gave us two suites for the price we had paid through travelocity(cheap rooms etc.) Nice! Linz and I shared our suite and each had a room to ourselves. Both of us were missing Poli though. Anyway, we were ready by 9 am Saturday for the hotel's breakfast, in the casino. Wouldn't you know it, this hotel doesn't enforce the no smoking rule, so I could hardly breathe as we waited in line for food. We left and went to the Paris's buffet instead. It was amazing!!!!!!! Afterwards we walked theh strip for a while and, being exhausted, I slept on a small couch while my dad had a meeting and Lindsey looked for a nail salon and my mom just sat. And Yata, yata, yata, we drove back home.
We got home at 12:30ish and went to bed. Sunday I could hardly hold still through church. I wanted to go get my dog! Ruff doesn't open on Sundays until 12 and closes at 3, so I left Relief Society, finally, a little early to go get him. When I got there I went into the back to get him, since I work there, and the big dogs who remembered me from Friday surrounded me. Poli was too scared of them to get close so he whined his hardest. When I finally got him to the car he jumped in. I closed the door and he freaked! He may have thought I'd leave again, but I entered on the driver's side and he couldnt' be happier. We drove back to the church to pick up lindsey and waited. When she finally came out I said, "where's Lindsey?" He jolted alert. When he finally found her he started whining, and when she started jogging over he went, again, berzerk. It was adorable.

hike...

So... I love the mountains and wilderness. I've been wanting to go hiking (walking slowly, with many breaks, up a mountain) for a few weeks with Napoleon. So today I drove up to dry canyon, only there is a sign saying something like, "no motor traffic beyond this point." You can't even see the parking lot. Whatever... so i parked there and walked all the way up the PAVED ROAD to the parking lot with, wouldn't you know, CARS! By the time I get there I'm already exhausted, but I haven't even found the trail head yet... then I find the different trails and take one with steps into the canyon. It was beautiful, but I went very slowly. (Of course this is the point where at least three athletic people finish different hikes and see me slowly going up a trail since I'm already tired...) Anyway, Poli did pretty well; He would sniff around when I would pause, and jump up the "big" steps. Don't worry, it was at least a 30 degree incline at least 80 percent of the time. Anyway, we got to the one shady area, and it had lovely squarish rocks on top of each other. Perfect place to rest and listen to Mo. Tab. while looking at God's creations. (the two sides of the canyon making a frame for the valley) Poli rested too. we kept going a little ways, but soon turned around and came back.
On the way down, we passed two old men coming up and a kid later. Poli tried to guard the trail as they passed. He would not leave the center of the trail... he's totally crazy. We eventually made it to the paved road again and went down, down, down. (after going down, down, down dirt and rocks, watching every step so I wouldn't fall to my death) We saw this:
And yes, I do believe it is a half eated moose leg. It gets better. It was about 50 feet from my car, and the subdivision where I parked. Yum.
Anyway, I gave Poli water when we got to the car and I had some too. When we got home though I walked in, and about 10 seconds later, heard poli plop down on the tile floor. He wouldn't move either... he was exhausted;) Then, of course, I had to bathe his feet. the end.

wow. it's been a long time...

So I did have things to talk about and pictures to show, but the pictures were on Lindsey's camera. so, now we have them... or not. she erased them. But... Poli did great on Feb. 14 at work. He was still a scardy cat, but did much better and even approached a cocker and others. Of course, the moment they wanted to play he ran away...

Skip to this week... Poli has been getting resistent. Everytime we tried to leave he would stay away from the kennel so we wouldn't leave and he wouldn't get stuck in there. Then I decided to teach him to stay in the house. I love to watch "It's me or the dog," and she suggested a kong for the dog to play with for the first few minutes while the owners are gone. I filled his kong and Monday nad Tuesday we left him for over three hours. He did great. He is still learning, but did much better than I expected.

So, we all know my obsession with Native American Indian Dogs, right? Poli got into linz's asperin and I became worried, obviously. I know a great deal of his mess making is because he's bored. Reading articles and letters of people with NAIDs etc. I think one of the best ways to help this would be to get him another dog. I realized that getting that second, a NAID, dog was not just for me anymore. I realized that I wanted to get him one so that he would be happier... I thought about what I would be willing to do to get that dog. I thought about what would tempt my dad to get us one... of course! I made a deal with him. We are both happy with it. I lose 35 pounds and he buys me my NAID. I've been doing well so far this week. I'm eating WAY LESS and we go exercising everyother morning. I also hiked a mile into the canyon for a class today. I definitely think I can do this. Not only do I want that do REALLY bad, but I know I need to lose weight and be more healthy. This will be great!

doggy day care...

So, I got a job at RUFF house doggy day care a few weeks ago, (www.utahruffhouse.com) but it's been so slow that I had only worked once. So, today when my dad took me to get the suburban safety inspected, and were gonna go for a walk while waiting, I brought Poli. We were right by my work, so I took him there. I also wanted to see if I could come in, and I wanted to ask if i was allowed to bring my dog to work. Something you should know is that even though I try to train Poli and make him AWESOME, he's got some problems. Other dogs would be one of them. He is terrified. It's so stupid, but that's Poli. So I walked him over to RUFF House and said "hi" to my boss etc. She had me bring Poli back and he went crazy. He ran as fast as he could away from the other dogs and whinned the whole time. She told me to ignore him because I'm his owner and it would help teach him how to behave... Basically he did badly, and pooed, and stayed right by me, but Terra told me to bring him to work every time and he'd get better (I'm going in again tomorrow at 3). So, three problems solved: Poli will get the socialization he NEEDS, I can bring him to work, and I am going to work!!!! Yay! Another reason to love this twelfth of February...

HOORAY

One year ago today I drove with my parents and sister to pick up my brand new puppy. He was perfect. Although it was a rough week or two teaching Napoleon not to whine in his kennel and then to not pee in my room at night when he slept on my bed, it has all definitely been worth it! I have noticed, and I've talked to my family about it, but having a dog completely changes me. I am all around happier and I have someone to distract. I have always known I would be a dog person, and I thank my Heavenly Father for one of the best blessings I have. Although I'm allergic to many things, dogs have never been one. There was a time when I thought I may have dog allergies, but it was just grass. I have worked with MANY dogs the past year and can say with all confidence that I am not allergic, and I am definitely meant to handle dogs. Poli is the greatest blessing in my life, and I love him so much. Thank you Mom and Dad for giving him to me, and thank you everyone else for dealing with my ranting and crazyness about my dog.
And now, without further adu... Poli as a rug... or, at least he looked like a bear rug and I thought it was funny so here it is:

This is where Poli decided that the couch wasn't enough, or a pillow on the floor. He actually moved the pillow into position to lie down on it on the couch. He certainly seemed content. Happy aniversary!

biology...

I had a big biology test yesterday that was all free response, and misspelling lost you points. It was incredibly nerve-wracking. Today in Biology we went on to the Phylum Annelida...worms My favorite was when we learned about the class Polychaeta. They look like this: These suckers are generally 1.6 meters, but can be about 3 meters long... The picture he showed us in class looked fake. That thing looked like the perfect monster. All I could think of the whole class period was "Tremors." Remember that movie? Yeah, I barely remember it, but that's all that I could think of;)Now I really want to watch that movie!!!

crazy dog

so, last night, when I about ready to go to bed last night, I found Napoleon lying on top of Lindsey in my dad's office. He was chewing on his "bone" and loving it. I grabbed it and he started jumping on Linz. so funny. we decided to film it (even if we couldn't capture his initial crazed energy).







So I've been looking into therapy dogs: dogs and handlers that go to hospitals or rest homes etc. and help the patients. I really want to do it, but I highly doubt that Poli could ever do it. I'm rather upset about it.

On another note, last semester my family not only went to Boston for my nephew's baptism without me, but my closest cousins went on a cruise. I didn't go on either incredible trip because I had no money, I had school, and I was (am) trying to keep my scholarship - yeah, like that's gonna happen. Now, my parents, and sister, cousin, and maybe brother, are going on a Mediterranean cruise(yeah, one of my dream vacations). I would like to go, but I don't have the money, and I'm strangely practical for a college student; I don't see the point of going when I could use that money to do a number of other things(including buying another dog), but I don't have money anyway... so that's my sob story even though it's not really sad at all.