... isn't it basically the same thing? It's been a while since I wrote something: I guess I just didn't have much good to say so I rather said nothing but right now I need to give myself some permission to complain. The past week I have been really struggling with the very simple obstacles in life and because it has made me so negative it's like the little issues are even bigger and more debilitating. I feel overwhelmed, trapped and sometimes almost paralysed by the shadowing gripes of everyday life? Am I depressed... or just very disappointed that life isn't quite playing along with the rules of my game? One thing I can say is that things seem much harder than I had anticipated and at times I'm losing hope and enthusiasm for all the things I'm attempting to find time for.
Number one on my list is the very unexpected difficulty in raising and training this little (8 month old) hooligan puppy of ours. Jenni is starting to drive me insane: she does this little growling thing and sometimes barks when she wants to play or muck around, which is ok at home (where I can just turn my back on her and pretend not to hear), but she seems to have her own special sense of humour (which for some reason just escapes me)... and she knows just when NOT to behave! I have put a considerable amount of honest effort into training, draining and entertaining her, but it appears that she is starting to get fit and the more time I afford her the more she demands. It's really getting to me! Last weekend at our 3rd show she was SUCH a little hooligan! She did her little play growling when I was trying to show her, during the class, jumping around and biting the leash while I'm trying to "show" her. :(
You can't exactly do a big dog shout at her while in the ring, so I unsuccessfully tried to coax her into something hardly resembling a trot. She is just being completely impossible and I really have no clue how to discipline her without being over-aggressive? It might have looked hilarious from the sidelines but it was very frustrating and I was very close to just giving up on the whole idea of ever having an obedient "lady"dogchild. All that training and then all she causes is trouble. I felt so disappointed in both of us...
You can't exactly do a big dog shout at her while in the ring, so I unsuccessfully tried to coax her into something hardly resembling a trot. She is just being completely impossible and I really have no clue how to discipline her without being over-aggressive? It might have looked hilarious from the sidelines but it was very frustrating and I was very close to just giving up on the whole idea of ever having an obedient "lady"dogchild. All that training and then all she causes is trouble. I felt so disappointed in both of us...
At home Jenni isn't much better and has been digging up quite a few expensive plants despite being supervised almost constantly while outside. And I will rather not mention the 2 cellular phones she has "eaten" already (damaged almost beyond repair) even though we were right in the same room with her. I can't take my eyes off her and it's making me feel hopeless.
I honestly cannot remember any other dog we ever had being this demanding on one's time. Maybe it is because I am almost solely responsible for this one, but I honestly don't remember our previous dogs being this determined to drive me insane. :P No, this one is definitely different and so damn persistent. She will chew on the same shoes and dig in the stationary bin for old tissues (she has a thing for tissues and toilet paper?) a hundred times even after a strong reprimand and even while we're in the same room. She just doesn't stay entertained with any one thing for much more than a few minutes... and there are many of these (minutes) to fill a little puppy-dog's day!! I don't think our previous dogs had half the amount of toys this little lady does! I donno? She will be outside for literally one minute and start scratching in my garden beds. When I go out to reprimand her she stops but will be right back at it just after I turn my back - what the hay, man!! This is mentally exhausting!!
Sometimes she still doesn't want to eat her food (Royal Canin pellets and Woolworths pets mince) despite being on the thin side. And she does get a lot of stimulating exercise - usually much more than just a 30 min walk on the leash, she gets to run loose around 2 big paddocks at the stables, digs in the sand, plays with other dogs, goes along weekends to farms with a ton of space where she "hunts" off-leash or runs around at least 40 min. a day, etc. We take her to the beach, she goes to showing classes, goes to shows, basically everything I can think of. None of our dogs ever in their life had this much regular exercise, socialising and interaction, so why am I struggling so much to get this puppy to behave herself?!!
It is tiring my soul to try and maintain some sort of routine between the dog, work, the garden and our horse (who has also been 'neglected' since we've gotten the dog). This is quite an issue for me as well: I'm just not getting enough time to spend with our horse. On most days I have to decide between exercising the dog or riding (which can take anything from 1 to 3 hours a day!). Besides that our mare is being much more spooky than I'd like her to be, even when I do get to work her regularly. There aren't enough opportunities to ride out with other people so we have to ride out on our own, but then she is 10 times more tense and spooky at the most simple things not to mention the flying leaps into the air at the sight of something really scary - like a moving bird... which makes it really hard to train properly in the little time we have. It's not possible to arrange others to ride out with in the week so we have to go out alone otherwise we won't be doing any riding out at all and the arena's too wet most of winter even though it hasn't even really rained much.
I honestly cannot remember any other dog we ever had being this demanding on one's time. Maybe it is because I am almost solely responsible for this one, but I honestly don't remember our previous dogs being this determined to drive me insane. :P No, this one is definitely different and so damn persistent. She will chew on the same shoes and dig in the stationary bin for old tissues (she has a thing for tissues and toilet paper?) a hundred times even after a strong reprimand and even while we're in the same room. She just doesn't stay entertained with any one thing for much more than a few minutes... and there are many of these (minutes) to fill a little puppy-dog's day!! I don't think our previous dogs had half the amount of toys this little lady does! I donno? She will be outside for literally one minute and start scratching in my garden beds. When I go out to reprimand her she stops but will be right back at it just after I turn my back - what the hay, man!! This is mentally exhausting!!
Sometimes she still doesn't want to eat her food (Royal Canin pellets and Woolworths pets mince) despite being on the thin side. And she does get a lot of stimulating exercise - usually much more than just a 30 min walk on the leash, she gets to run loose around 2 big paddocks at the stables, digs in the sand, plays with other dogs, goes along weekends to farms with a ton of space where she "hunts" off-leash or runs around at least 40 min. a day, etc. We take her to the beach, she goes to showing classes, goes to shows, basically everything I can think of. None of our dogs ever in their life had this much regular exercise, socialising and interaction, so why am I struggling so much to get this puppy to behave herself?!!
It is tiring my soul to try and maintain some sort of routine between the dog, work, the garden and our horse (who has also been 'neglected' since we've gotten the dog). This is quite an issue for me as well: I'm just not getting enough time to spend with our horse. On most days I have to decide between exercising the dog or riding (which can take anything from 1 to 3 hours a day!). Besides that our mare is being much more spooky than I'd like her to be, even when I do get to work her regularly. There aren't enough opportunities to ride out with other people so we have to ride out on our own, but then she is 10 times more tense and spooky at the most simple things not to mention the flying leaps into the air at the sight of something really scary - like a moving bird... which makes it really hard to train properly in the little time we have. It's not possible to arrange others to ride out with in the week so we have to go out alone otherwise we won't be doing any riding out at all and the arena's too wet most of winter even though it hasn't even really rained much.
All these things I've created for myself to do is rather exhausting to be honest. And lets not mention the friends we still haven't invited for dinner (since moving to the new house 8 months ago) and all the little corners of the house that still have unpacked boxes or disorganised piles of old junk. It feels like a never-ending battle to create some sort of order in our life and then I'm also trying to make a massive career change! Anything but an easy task!
Not to mention that I actually want to get us a few organic chickens to assist in removal of some garden pests. But I know I really shouldn't!!
Perhaps I'm just trying to juggle too many time-consuming things at one time? But it can't be just that!?
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