Lola is doing much better.  She spent several days sleeping and not eating very much, but now she is eating like normal and is back to playing with toys.  Which I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.  It’s good because it means she’s feeling better, and I don’t want her to be sick.  But I got really used to her just lounging around all day.  Now this energy and exuberance is kind of hard to get used to again.  Not that she’s bouncing off the walls or anything, but it’s still a big difference.

She has been really good about her stitches (actually I think it’s just one stitch).  I’ve even been able to leave the wrapping off of it when she’s inside the house.  Occasionally I see her lightly licking it, but as soon as I scold her she stops.  The only time I wrap it now is when we go outside to play because the yard is kind of muddy.  Every time I bandage it up she acts like her leg is about to fall off!  She could be running and jumping moments before, but put that bandage on and she forgets how to walk.    But once we get outside and she gets to run around she forgets all about it and starts walking like normal (and before anybody says it, I know she’s not supposed to run around with stitches, but she’s either going to run inside or outside, so I’d rather it be outside).
And I do put the cone collar on her when I go to bed at night.  Everytime I get it out she looks at me with those big puppy eyes and I feel like a really mean mommy, but it’s better then her chewing at it and hurting herself more.

She still acts like her but hurts her when she goes to the bathroom.  I think I’ll have the vet look at it when we go in to have her stitch taken out on monday.

So overall she is doing much better.  After monday I hope not to see the vet again until she needs her shots.

Keep your fingers crossed!

I know I haven’t posted in quite a while.  First I was busy, then it just became habit not to write.

But lately I’ve been feeling the itch to write again.  So I’m going to try to post more often.

Quite a bit has happened since my last post.  Lets see, what to start with….
I lost my job a couple weeks ago.  They had been downsizing a lot, first with a dozen or so people in the shop, then with several people in the office, so I wasn’t all that surprised.  I was still technically a temp, even though I had been there over a year, so when I found out they were letting long time office people go I felt it was only a matter of time.
So now I’m on the hunt for a job again.  There aren’t that many prospects, so it might be a while.  But I enjoy being home.  In fact if it wasn’t for the money issue I would probably never leave my house.

The other thing of intrest has been my dog Lola.  She has had an on going problem with Mange, which is a mite that affects the skin.  Apparently dogs always have this mite, but when they are in poor health from a disease or lack of care the mites explode in number and become a big problem.  They burrow into the skin and cause itchy and flaky skin and then the dog starts loosing hair in patches.
I noticed a skin problem when I first got her, and asked the vet about it.  She thought it was ringworm (which isn’t actually a worm but a fungus) which I guess is a common mis-diagnosis.  Once she wasn’t getting better we started looking at other things and found the mange.
So for the last 5 months we have been treating that.  The vet has wanted to see her every 3-4 weeks for an update, so we’ve been there quite a bit.  But now in the last couple weeks I’ve seen real improvement, so much that the skin is almost all better!  So I thought that we we almost done going to the vet all the time.
But then this past wednesday she went out in the yard and came back in bleeding.  It wasn’t really bad, but it was more then just a drop or two.  I don’t know how she did it, but somehow she cut herself on the back of her leg right underneath the dew claw pad (the dew claw is that toenail that is higher up on their front legs).  It wasn’t bad enough that I thought she needed the vet right away.  I had some stuff that’s made for when you trim their nails to short and they bleed.  Being that it was bleeding about like that I decided to try that.  After I held that cut-stop stuff on there for a while the bleeding stopped, so I bandaged it up (so she didn’t bite at it) and thought that was that.  Which it was, until she got up from her nap and started really moving around.  Because that area is at the back of their ankle joint every time she bent her leg she pulled at that area and it would start oozing blood again.  So I ended up taking her to the vet where they gave her a stitch or two.

Then I had to go back to have the mange rechecked on saturday.  Her regular vet wasn’t there when she went in for her stitches, so we weren’t able to combine the appointments.  :(
After I got her home from her stitches I noticed that every time she went to the bathroom she acted like it was uncomfortable.  Then she didn’t really feel like eating, which being that they gave her an anesthetic to work on her leg I wasn’t surprised at (she takes a long while get over drugs like that) but then I noticed her butt was swelled up.  So since we were going to the vet anyway for the recheck I decided to ask the vet about it.  It turns out she had filled anal glands which that needed to be emptied.  Pour Lola really didn’t like that.  Not that I blame her or anything.  I wouldn’t like it if someone stuck a finger up my already sore butt either.  But the good news is that the vet thinks her mange is all gone, so she no longer needs to take meds for that.      Which is really good because she hated that stuff.

So now I have a dog with a cut on her leg (which needs to stay wrapped so she doesn’t rip the stitches out) and a sore butt.  What’s concerning me is that she sleeping all the time, still isn’t eating all that much and she hasen’t wanted to go to the bathroom because it still hurts.  I don’t know if that’s normal or not.  She isn’t dehydrated, and she’s still eating some, so as long as she does those things I guess that is alright for right now.  She was a tiny bit on the chubby side so at least she has some reserves to draw on.  I have to take her back to the vet (yes again!) later this week to have her stitches taken out, so if it’s still a problem I’ll ask about it.

So that’s what’s been up with me lately.  This last week has mostly been all about Lola, but I’m hoping that everything will get back to normal pretty soon.

Things aren’t going as well as I had hoped.  Over all Lola is still a pretty good dog, and she has definately improved, but she is really used to getting away with stuff and she is constantly trying to push my limits and see if I will catch her in it.  Like jumping and pulling on the leash and “little” stuff like that.  At one point this week I really wanted to get my hands on her previous owners and just strangle them.  It is obvious that she is smart, and that she learns pretty quick, but she does need a firm hand.  Otherwise she will just run all over you and do whatever she wants.  But if someone had taken the time when she was young to teach her she wouldn’t have all these bad habits.

Part of the problem is that it is so cold out that she isn’t able to go outside and play like that first week.  This morning it was in the single digits.  So we’ve pretty much been just going out for potty breaks and a really quick walk at night.

I think I’m going to have to find something to do inside to get all of that energy out.  I’ve heard that training tires them out almost as much as “physical” exercise.  So maybe I need to just do something like that.

I’ve come to the realization that I really need to use treats as rewards more often.  Even though she showed initial response with just a vocal command, she now tends to ignore them if she wants to.  It’s been frustrating because she knows what I want, but she just doesn’t want to do it.  Like she knows how to sit on command, but now she’ll only do it when she wants to or with a reward (although I don’t even have to tell her to sit when it’s time to go outside, she just does it automatically).

So for the time being I think I need to carry treats around and use them every time I want her to do something.  Because until she understands that when I tell her to do something, sit for example, that she needs to do it when I ask, not the tenth time or when I force her to.  Until then I’ll need to bribe her to do it.  And I’ll have to do it every single time.
I can understand some of it, like when we are outside and she doesn’t want to sit on the cold ground or snow.  I get that, and I’m not asking her to put her butt all the way on the ground, but she needs to at least attempt to do what I ask.

Dealing with all of those little things is really tiring.  More mentally tiring then anything physical.  The good thing is that she falls asleep at about 7 or 8 at night, but by that time I’m just totally exhausted from continually telling her “off!” or ”no don’t do that” or “stop pulling!”.

I think in eventually she’ll be a great dog, once she learns that I won’t let her get away with bad behaviour and she gets over all this puppy energy, but until then I think I’ll be pulling my hair out on a daily basis.

 

Sebastian has been doing better.  He still won’t come out by himself when Lola is out, but if I bring him out and put him on the back of the couch (his favorite spot to hang out) then he is fine.  Some times he will even stay out when I take Lola outside rather then making a mad dash for the bedroom right away.  He’s even taken to stretching out and falling asleep on the back of the couch.  So that tells you how relaxed he is, or how trusting he is that I will protect him.  He is still sometimes scared if Lola is running around or doing something active, but he doesn’t run he just watches with wide eyes.

It has now been a full week since I got my dog Lola.  And what a week it has been!  I thought I’d give the over all report on how things have changed, and boy have they ever.

Lola was really good the first two days I had her (saturday and sunday the 15th and 16th), she just slept most of those days.  But starting monday she got really wild.
1 – She already knew how to sit, but that was the only manners she had.  She would also race out of the door every time I opened it.
2 - She would mouth everything in sight.  Me, the leash, carpet edges, my coat, my hair (yikes!) and anything else she could get her mouth on.
3 – She practically ripped my arm out of my socket when we went for a walk.  Every time I would pull her back she would just lunge ahead again, choking herself in the process, which caused her to have coughing fits even when we were just sitting around.
4 - She had to go potty within an hour after she ate or drank something or she would have an accident in the house.  Thankfully I noticed most of the times when she seemed like she had to go, and she only had three accidents.
5 - She would not only just jump up on me, but she would actually lunge for my face.  She would also try to jump on the couch (or try to sneak a paw up on it) whenever she thought I wasn’t looking.

She was constantly doing one naughty thing or another.  She seemed to have more energy then I knew what to do with.  I was exasperated, and I was feeling like I would have months and months, and maybe even years, of pulling-my-hair-out frustration before I would end up with a halfway decent dog.

My cat Sebastian was spending all of his time hidingunder the covers in my bedroom.  He would only come out when Lola was in her crate for the night.  And then he would only walk around in my bedroom.  He was constantly shaking withfear and tended to walk close to the ground.

 

Things have really changed in just one week!
1 – She knows that she has to sit every time I take the leash on or off, before I feed her, and when waiting to cross the street.  Some times I don’t even have to ask anymore.  Like when she sees the leash come out she will instantly go by the door and sit.  She now walks out of the door quietly and stops to give me time to close the door before we go on.
2 – She now knows the phrase “no bites!” and she normally hesitates before trying to nip me or anything else on my person (yay!).  She is getting better about not chewing on things she is not supposed to as well.  She only reaches for the leash a couple times, and most of the time I can stop her with a quick ”no bites!” before she even gets her mouth on it.
3 – Most of our walks are nice quiet affairs.  She will still pull when she sees something like a squirrel, another dog or sometimes a car, but other then that when she starts to pull all I have to do is give the leash a little tug and tell her “no” and she will stop.
4 – She now can go with only going to the bathroom 4 times a day.  6am when I get up, 7:30am before I leave for work, 5pm when I get home, and 10pm before bed.  Some times she asks to go out at around 9 something at night, but I don’t mind that.
5 – She knows the word “off!” really well.  I can now tell her to get off something from across the room and she will do it about 85% of the time.

Lola is well on her way to being my “perfect” dog.  She still has some issues to work on, but some of that is just being a puppy.  She spent most of the weekend sleeping.  And she relegated the bouncing-off-the-walls behaviour to playing outside, and stayed quiet inside.  I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that tunnel is a lot shorter then I thought it was.  If she continues at this rate I will have a perfectly behaved dog by the end of the year!

Sebastian is now getting back to his normal behaviour.  He still stays in the bedroom and bathroom while Lola is out, but he is no longer hiding under the covers.  He and Lola have even gone nose to nose a couple times!  I’m keeping their meeting sessions short and sweet, and I make sure to end them before Sebastian tries to run or Lola gets hyper-excited.  I even have evidence that he is going into the kitchen during the night.  He has this annoying habit of opening the kitchen cabinet doors and I have found them open several days now.  Which means that he has to walk past Lola to get into the kitchen.
I don’t necessarily need them to be best buds, but I would like Sebastian go get comfortable enough with Lola so that he can come out when she is around.

 

So as you can tell we have had lots of progress in the past week.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things just keep getting better from here!

Lola was much better last night.  She still tried to grab onto the leash on our walk, but would stop when I told her to.  She didn’t spend most of the walk pulling, which was really nice.  I still had to correct her, but she didn’t pull all over the place.

I took her for a 2 block walk (they’re pretty big blocks) and then let her play in the yard for another 15 minutes before we came in.  She was still pretty wired for the first hour or so, but she got sleepy about 8pm and spent the rest of the night in her bed.

She’s still not eating as much as I think she should, especially for a growing pup on the skinny side.  She’s eating about 2 cups a day (1c at each meal), which is about half of the “recommended” amount listed on the bag.  I’m actually putting the whole 2 cups in her bowl at the beginning of the day, and she only eats about half of it.  I’ll talk to the vet about it on friday and see if she has any recommendations.

 

She was pretty good this morning.  She only tried to grab the leash a couple times and would drop it when I told her to.  She was pretty well behaved on her walk this morning.  She still pulled, but not nearly as much, and we had quite a bit of nice loose-leash moments.

The only problem this morning was that she didn’t go potty before I left.  She went when I first got up, but not later after her breakfast.  Which means she has to hold it until I get home.  I’m hoping that she’ll be able to do that.  Although it is totally her fault, because we spent 15 minutes outside in the yard after our walk.  But she just wanted to play, even though I kept telling her to go potty.
So keep your fingers crossed that I don’t come home to a mess tonight.

 

Sebastian was much better last night.  He actually spent most of the night out.  He was still in the bedroom, but he wasn’t hiding.  Lola now knows that he is in there though, and she keeps going to the gate to look in there.  This morning Sebastian stayed out until Lola went to the gate and barked at him.  Then he hid again, but I did pull him out before I left.  I’m hoping that in a few days he’ll come out when Lola is in her crate.  It would be nice to see him great me at the door when I come home.  I’ve missed that.

 

So all around things were better then Monday.  I think it’s pretty good that things are getting better and I’ve only had her a few days.  Lola still needs a lot of training, but I think it shouldn’t take all that long to get the basics down.  I’m hoping to have no leash biting by thanksgiving and no jumping or chewing things she shouldn’t by christmas.

Yesterday was a little bit of a bad day with Lola.  She was just always doing little naughty things, one thing after another.  It didn’t help that I was already tired from a rough night of sleep the night before.

The first thing was that she thinks it’s fun to grab the leash and play tug of war when we are walking.  Every time I got the leash out of her mouth she just grabbed it back up again.  The good thing is with the harness the leash hook is further back on her body, so she can’t just turn her head and grab it, she has to truly turn around to get it.

And when she is excited she jumps up on me.  Which I know is a typical untrained dog thing to do, but it’s still frustrating.  I’ll have to think about how I want to get her to stop doing that.  If I just push her off she thinks it’s a game and lunges right back.  I tried pushing her down until she was laying on the ground and holding her there until she stopped squirming.  That seemed to work ok.

Then she wanted to run around the house like a crazy lady.  Which I kind of understand because it was really cold outside and she didn’t want to run around outside.  So I spent some time throwing toys for her, which was ok.

Then she kept on wanting to jump on the couch.  Which I have decided is off limits for the time being.  I wouldn’t mind her on the couch if she would behave, but I don’t want her jumping around up there.  So I would push her off the couch and say “OFF!” and a few minutes later she would try to sneak back up again.

Then she kept on trying to chew the carpet.  Or the edges of an area rug.  Every time I stopped her she would stop for a few minutes and then start back up again in a different area.

And then she had an accident in the house.  Again, it was kind of my fault, I knew that she had drank alot after we came in from our last potty break, but then I forgot about it.

By the end of the night I was physically and mentally exhausted.  I’m sad to say that I snapped at her a few times.  I was just so tired and I just wanted to have a nice easy night.  But that didn’t happen.

 

This morning was much better.  She was pretty calm and would listen to me when I told her no.  Last night she started whining after I put her in her crate for the night, but after a few minutes she stopped.

I decided (for now at least) to use the term “no bites” whenever I want her to drop what she has in her mouth.  So when she picks up the leash, or if she is chewing on something she shouldn’t be I say “no bites!”.  It worked pretty well this morning.

I’m also working with her on the idea of “mine” and “yours”.  I think that will help with the leash grabbing too.  What I do is take a toy of hers (one that she isn’t playing with at the moment) and call her to me.  I ask her to sit and then show her the toy and say “mine”.  I slowly bring if closer to her and keep saying “mine”.  Every time she reaches for it I pull it out of reach and tell her no, and again say that it is mine.  When it is an inch or two away from her nose and she isn’t reaching for it then I’ll say “yours!” and give it to her.  By teaching her this way she gets used to “mine” and “yours”, and then it will be easier when I start training her to let me take something away from her.  Eventually all I have to do (in theory at least) is say “mine” and she should leave alone or give up whatever she has.

 

Sebastian was better last night.  I bought the Feliway before I went home and plugged it in right away.  He still spent most of the night hiding under my quilt, but one time I went in the bedroom and got him out so he could see Lola, who was waiting at the dog gate a few feet away.  Unlike all the other times he didn’t seem terrified of her, but he didn’t want to be near her either.  He spent most of the night above the covers either on the spare pillow or curled up to me.  Until he went exploring and woke Lola up around 5am.  Then he came running back and hid.  I ment to pull him out before I left, but I forgot.  I’m hoping that he will take the time when Lola is in her crate to come out and explore.

So that’s how everything went since yesterday.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a better night tonight then last night!

The reason I didn’t blog much last week was because I found a puppy!  I went to the humane society on tuesday and totally fell in love.  I thought I would just look, but it didn’t turn out that way. 

So my new puppy, who I’ve named Lola, is a female german shepherd mix with a white chest and four white paws.  She is 7 months old and she is about knee height.  Because she is so small it is obvious that she isn’t full shepherd, but she has to be mixed with something smaller.  I’m thinking beagle maybe?  She totally looks like a shepherd, just smaller.

Like I said I met her on tuesday, I spent about a half an hour with her in one of their “meet and great” rooms and I decided to go home and think about it.  The are closed on wednesday, so I went back on thursday and submitted my application.  She had just been spayed, so she was a little sleepy.  I spent about an hour with her, and most of that time she was curled up on my lap with her head under my arm.  Because she had just been spayed I wasn’t able to take her home until saturday.

But that turned out to be a good thing because I had a lot to do around the house to get ready for her.  I made sure I picked up everything below waist level that she could chew on.  I had to make sure I picked up all of the cat toys that I’m sure she could swallow (or at least try to).  Then I vacuumed really well and washed all of the floors (which I hadn’t done in far to long).  Then I had to get a few last minute things like food and a leash.  I had gotten everything else (like toys and beds) over a year ago, so I was just missing a few things.

Then the big day came on saturday.  My appointment was at 1:15, so that gave me the morning to make sure everything was ready.  Before I left I blocked off my bedroom and bathroom so my cat Sebastian had a “dog-free” zone.  Then I got there and I had to do all the paper work, and then about a half an hour later we were on our way!  She was pretty scared about the car ride.  So she spent most of the ride home with her head on my lap or tucked under my arm.  But I guess I’d rather have that then have her bouncing all over the car.

When I got home I took her out to the yard right away and let her get some energy out before I took her in the house.  I kept the leash on her while she took her first look around the house.  But after that I let her go wherever she wanted.  Which thankfully is wherever I am.  The good thing about that is that I don’t have to worry about what she is doing in another room out of eyesight.

I was surprised how good she is.  She didn’t tear around the house, she played nicely with her toys, and she even knows how to sit!  And she didn’t have an accident in the house.  Part of that was because I was taking her out every hour or so that first day, but it’s a good thing no matter the reason.  She actually spent most of the day sleeping.  She would run around and act crazy when I took her outside, but she was quiet inside the house.

She didn’t eat much supper, I think she is used to having access to food all day long and eating whenever she wants, but after a half an hour I picked the bowl up so that she knows that if she doesn’t eat when the food is given she doesn’t eat at all.
When it came time to go to bed I had to kind of push her into the crate, but once she was in there she quieted down and went to sleep.

Yesterday was pretty good as well.  I was happy to find that she didn’t have an accident in her crate during the night.  I was taking her outside about every two hours and she is very good about doing her business right away and then she’ll come over to me to say that she’s done.  Which is really nice if I just want to run out for a quick potty break and not stand out there for a half an hour.  She did have one accident in the house, but she had just woken up from a really long nap (about 3+ hours I think).  She just got up and peed right outside of the bed.  So I think that was more my fault then hers.  I should have woken her up to take her outside.  But now I know.

I took her for two walks yesterday.  She has really bad leash manners.  She spends most of her time pulling on the leash and then choking because she can’t breathe.  So that’s something I’ll have to work on.  I’m thinking I’ll go to the pet store tonight and try to get a harness for her.  That way I can correct her without worrying about hurting her throat.

She didn’t eat much again yesterday morning, but last night she ate pretty well.  Still less then I think she should eat, but at least she is eating.  I’m thinking (so far at least) that she is eating about 2 cups of dry food a day.  The food bag says she should eat 3-4 cups.  But I can’t force her to eat.  She is on the skinny side, so I’d prefer she eats more, but I guess maybe she knows how much she should eat.

Last night was pretty hard.  She cried several times during the night whenever she heard me moving around.  I think that’s mostly because she can’t see me.  If I told her to be quiet she normally settled down.  I think I’ll leave a radio on during the night and hope that helps.

So over all she’s been pretty good so far.  The only problem has been Sebastian.  He is terrified.  He spent the whole weekend hiding.  When I went to bed last night he curled up to me and just shook.  At one point during the night he must have went to check out the rest of the house, which just happened to wake up Lola, and she got up and started whining and that sent Sebastian flying back into the bedroom.  I’m going to look at getting a product called Feliway which is a pheromone that calms cats.  I’m hoping that will help.  Lola isn’t helping much because every time she sees him she gets all excited, which just terrifies Sebastian and sends him hiding again.  I’m hoping that after a few days he will get better.

So that’s how my first few days with Lola have been!  I’m sure you’ll be hearing lots more in the next couple days.  I’ll try to post a picture of her so that you can see what she looks like.

I just realized that I haven’t let you know how the move of my two new Black Ghost Knives, Blake and Devin, into my big tank went!

So here’s what I did to prepare:
I did a big water change in the 55gal, like 25% or more.  I also removed about half the water in the 10gal (where the two new BGK’s were) and replaced it with water from the 55gal.  I didn’t do this all at once, but I slowly added that water into the tank to allow acclimation time.  Similar to the method that you acclimate newly bought fish by adding a little of the new tank’s water to their bag.  This way is just doing it for the whole tank instead of just one bag.
Between adding new water to the 10gal I went about reorganizing the 55gal to make new caves for everybody.  Before I started there was a big cave on the left side of the tank as well as a large floating log for my current BGK Cole.  When I was done there was two caves on each side (4 total).  Now I had taken the caves from the 10gal to put them into the 55, so the little BGKs were left without caves.  But they did have the smaller floating log and the clear “ghost tube” where they hid until it was time to move them.
By then I had added all the water into the 10gal, so I was able to refill the 55gal with new water (I only have one bucket, so I couldn’t refill the 55 until I had emptied the 55’s water into the 10gal).

I let all that sit for several hours.  I wanted both the tanks and the fish to have time to settle.

After 3 or 4 hours I went about transferring the new BGKs into the 55gal tank.  My big worry was how I was going to net them with as little trauma as possible.  It was actually easier then I thought it would be.  Because both of the hiding places they had left (the floating log and the ghost tube) were both round cylinder shaped I was simply able to place the net over one side and slowly lifted it up out of the water until the fish were in the net instead of the tubes.  The didn’t even notice much until I actually lifted them out of the water.
I decided to move Blake, the calm but curious one, first.  So I got him in the net and took him to the 55gal (which is only 3 feet away)  I put him on the same side of the tank as Cole (the left side), which turned out to be a little bit of a mistake.  He ended up going right into Cole’s cave.  They were both quite shocked to find another fish there!  Cole is only used to small zebras (which I think he is starting to eat now) and Blake was quite surprised at finding a fish of Cole’s size.  There was a little tussle (Blake wanted to both hide and also investigate the cave and Cole refused to give it up) but eventually they sorted it out and even ended up sharing the cave for a while!  Eventually Blake, the curious fish that he is, decided he had to investigate the rest of the tank and left Cole alone.  He eventually found the cave right around the corner from Cole’s and stayed there for a while.
After Blake was settled (it only took maybe 20-30 minutes) I got ready to move Devin, who was always the more aggressive of the two.  I got him in the net the same way as Blake, and put him in the opposite side of the tank as the other two.  After a little bit of frantic searching he found one of the caves on the right side of the tank and settled right in.

After a little bit Blake started investigating the rest of the tank in detail, and the was a little fight when he stumbled across Devin’s cave, but everything was fine once he moved on to do more searching.  Once it got dark out Devin came out and he would pick a fight with Blake if they ended up in the same area.  But one time he stumbled across Cole and went running (well quickly swimming anyway) in the opposite direction.  After that he has been much more subdued.  I have never seen Cole be aggressive in anyway, but apparently his large size is enough to put Devin in his place.  Whenever he sees Cole coming he will quickly get out of his way.  It kind of reminds me of when a soldier will move aside when someone higher in rank is coming down a hallway.  It is a subtle way of saying “you have the right of way”.

 

In the week since there have been only a few really minor arguments.  I hate to even call them that.  It’s mostly Cole telling Blake that he is being to pushy and to BACK OFF!  It’s really subtle (almost like a cat swatting another with it’s paw) and for the most part everyone gets along.  It turns out that Cole likes one of the smaller caves, the one that Blake picked originally.  It barely  fits him, but he seems to like it that way.  Blake has taken the large cave (Cole’s old one).  It’s weird to see the small fish in the large cave, and the big fish in the smaller one, but if they like it who am I to say different?  Cole sometimes views both his new cave and his old one as “his”, but Blake has been great about just calmly going to the other cave when Cole decides to change locations.  Devin has kept his original cave choice and pretty much doesn’t leave his cave.  If he does he avoids the other guys like the plague.

One thing I will say is that I’m really going through the fish food with these guys!  They eat bloodworms which I feed in cube form.  Cole gets 1 or 2 cubes a night, and each of the new guys are getting one every night (which is slightly over feeding them, but they were really skinny when I got them), and I normally give all of them one night off a week.  That adds up to about 20 cubes a week.  Each pack has 30 cubes, and costs about $5.00.  So it’s not going to be cheap to keep these guys well fed.  But I knew that before I got them.
I plan on getting several different kinds of food to try to give them a more varied diet.  From past experience Cole only really likes the bloodworms (and only the San Francisco Bay brand), but I’d like these new guys to have more variety then that, and maybe after a while Cole will like something different as well.

So that’s what’s up.  All in all it was pretty easy.  I was afraid that Cole would become aggressive when faced with his own kind, but he has handled these changes with his usual grace.  And the cherry-on-top is that Devin has become more subdued and doesn’t pick fights anymore.

My two new Black Ghost Knife fish, Blake and Devin, are still fighting.  Some of the fights are getting pretty nasty.  I haven’t seen any serious damage, but there are ripped fins, which I would prefer not to see.  Last night they spent most of the night fighting.  They will chase each other (actually Devin will chase Blake) and then they will just entwine themselves around each other and nip and bite.  Then they would take a rest for a few minutes and then they go back at it.  It reminded me of a boxing match.  The way that the two fighters will dance around each other for a while and then they actually come together and fight, and then they each go back to their respective corners before they start all over again.
In some ways it is very beautiful the way they dance around each other and entwine themselves, but it is also very violent.

I’m thinking that I need to move them over to the big tank sooner rather then later.  I’m not sure if I should move them over one at a time or move both together.  Part of me says that I should move Blake (the non-aggressive one) first so that he can establish “ownership” and maybe get a leg up on Devin.  But on the other hand I would rather move Devin first so that if something goes wrong (like a big fight between Cole and the new fish) I would rather that Devin gets hurt then Blake.  On the other hand (if I had three hands that is ) I think it would be better to move both of them at once so that they are both on equal footing.

I’m hoping that when I move them Cole will end up in charge.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that that will take Devin down a notch or two.  I know that some times “alpha” animals will become submissive when their pack is changed.  That was the case with my cat Sammy.  When it was just her and Shadow, she was the dominant, but when we got Smokey the order went Shadow, Smokey and then Sammy.  That was a hard transition for her, going from top dog (or cat in this case) to being the bottom of the totem pole.  And it was weird that the addition of Smokey left Shadow in charge, but that’s the way it worked out.

But anyway, back to the fish:
I’m nervous about how the introductions will go.  Cole hasn’t ever had takemates other then the zebras he shares this tank with.  He has never shown any aggression towards the zebras, and I’m hoping that it will be the same with these new BGKs.  But he’s never been around his own kind before (well since I’ve had him anyway) and I don’t know what his reaction will be.  And I don’t know if Devin will take it upon himself to fight with Cole, who just happens to be almost twice his size.  It could be that everything will go fine, and all this worry will be for nothing.  But it also could be that I could end up with fish that are hurt or even dead.

So here’s what I’m thinking (as of this moment anyway): I’m thinking that I’ll move both of them over on Saturday morning.  That way I have the whole day to watch how they interact with each other.  I think I’ll also rearrange the stuff in the big tank.  I need to create room for the two new slate caves anyway.  If the two of them got along I would have just put the two caves right next to each other, but with the way things are now I want them to be as far from each other as possible.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well!

I got two more Black Ghost Knife fish this weekend, which is the start of my hopeful breeding program.  I called around and found a store that had 10 or 15 of them.  Most places only have one or two, so that was a really big deal.  I had to drive an hour and a half, but it was worth it!

I took about 10 minutes to watch the behavior of all of the fish before I chose the ones I wanted.  You can tell I’m used to a smaller town.  I was so shocked when the guy who caught them got exactly the ones I asked for, which being that BGK’s are almost identical isn’t easy.  I’m so used to people that really have no idea what they’re doing.  My local pet store has some people that are completely clueless about fish.  So much so that I have offered to net the fish myself because the are having such a hard time (not to say that all of them are that way, the manager and the assistant manager are both great fish people).

Both of my new BGK’s are about 4 1/2 to 5″ long (it’s so hard to get a accurate measurement when they keep moving!).  And I measured my current one, Cole, at 8″!  I can’t believe he’s gotten so big!  Anyway- I set the two new ones up in my 10 gallon quarantine tank.  I’ll keep them there for a couple weeks to make sure they aren’t carrying some disease.  The last thing I want is for Cole to die from something they might have.
I made up lots of hiding places for them.  They each have their own slate cave (one on each side of the tank), which is a piece of slate leaned up against the corner of the tank (making a little lean-to or pup tent type of space).  They also have a “ghost tube” which is like a PVC pipe, but clear, and made for a fish tank.  And I gave them the small floating log, which used to be Cole’s before he outgrew it and I had to get a bigger one for him.  I also put in a fake plant for a little decoration, and as another hideout.  So that means 5 hideouts for two fish.

I’ve named them Blake and Devin.  I chose those names because they are kind of unisex.  Blake is more masculine, but could also be female, and Devin could be both male or female.  Because I don’t know the genders for sure, picking ones that could be both just kind of make sense.  Just like Cole could be Cole (male) or Cola (female).

Here’s what I’ve noticed about their personality in the past couple days:

Blake – this is the most active BGK I’ve ever seen.  He (I’ll use he for lack of a better pronoun, it just sounds weird) spends most of his time swimming around and checking stuff out.  He is always darting around for some reason or another, even in the middle of the day (when most BGK’s are hiding and/or sleeping).  He doesn’t seem to have one “favorite” hideout, he’s rarely still long enough to have one, but the slate cave on the left of the tank is kind of his home base.

Devin – this fish is really complicated.  On one hand he is quiet and prefers to stay in his cave rather then investigate.  But on the other hand he is very territorial and will attack Blake if he ventures into “his area”.  And some times “his area” is anywhere in his vicinity, even when he is out and about, so he’s not just protecting his cave.  He’ll attack Blake if he thinks he is getting to close (which Blake does quite often because he wants to investigate everything!).  Devin’s favorite hideout is the slate on the right side of the tank, but he sometimes likes the floating log.

I don’t think the fights they have are major, as I haven’t seen any damage from it, but it’s still something I’ll need to keep an eye on.  It could be that they just need to figure out who’s in charge, and once that’s done everything will be fine.  And it could be that Devin is acting out because he doesn’t like change.  I know I can sometimes get cranky if a change is forced on me, so maybe that’s all this is.  But it could be that this is his personality.  Either way I’ll need to watch them to make sure that no one (mostly Blake) is getting hurt.

I’m not sure what I’ll do when I move them to the big 55 gallon with Cole.  Part of me wants to divide off part of the tank so that they can all get used to each other without having direct contact.  And part of me says that they will either get along or they won’t, and that it doesn’t matter how I introduce them.
I have a couple weeks before that happens, so I don’t need to make that decision right away.

Once I get them moved over I’ll think more about breeding.  But for right now I’ll just injoy having two new fish!

My cat Sebastian is one of the most trusting cats I have ever met.  Even if he is really scared of something, if I tell him it’s all right he will do his best to face it.
One example:  EDITED (because I thought of a better example )
Sebastian had a surgery about a year and a half ago.  He had a long line of stitches (over 6 inches!) in a very sensitive area.  For 3 weeks I had to clean it twice a day with hydrogen peroxide and then put on a salve.  Needless to say Sebastian didn’t like when I put the peroxide on that raw skin (then again neither would I).  And the first couple days he really fought me about it.  But then I took a different tact.  Rather then trying to pin him down, at the start of each session I took him on my lap and explained to him that this was the only way to make his big owie better.  I kept telling him that momma loves him, and that I would never do anything to hurt him unless it was absolutely necessary, and that if he trusted me I could make his owie would go away.  I’m sure he didn’t understand all of what I said, but he does know the phrases “big owie”, “all better” and “trust momma” and when you put them together they get the point across.  Once I started doing that he would lay down on the floor in front of me and let me clean him with out struggling, I didn’t even have to hold him.  I’m not saying he liked it, but he let me do it because he trusted me.  The trust we grew during those weeks has made it possible for me to do just about anything to him or around him, I just need to say “trust momma” and he’ll do anything I ask of him.

Now for my current problem (frustration?):
Sebastian has developed a sudden fear of my bed.  He has always slept with me, and when he is scared he always hides under the covers.  The bed is his safety zone.  It always has been.
But now for some unknown reason he won’t come on the bed.  He isn’t even all that comfortable being in my bedroom.  He’ll come in if I coax him, but as soon as I stop actively petting him and telling him that everything is fine, then he’ll high tail it out of there.

He was fine on sunday (when he woke me up at 4:30 [AM!] with a mouse he caught), but something happened sometime on sunday, and he didn’t come to bed that night.
The only thing I can think of is that the guy who mows my lawn came on sunday afternoon, and that is what scared him.  He is always scared of the lawn mower, but recently he has been really brave and has stayed out rather then hiding.  But on sunday he hid.  I didn’t think much about it (he only started staying out about 2 months ago), and he came out, like usual, about 15 minutes after they were gone.  I’ve tried really hard to think if there was anything unusual about him when he came out, but as hard as I’ve tried I haven’t been able to remember anything strange.

It took me 15 minutes to get him to come into the room last night.  I sat on the edge of the bed and petted him for a while, but as soon as I put my feet under the covers he left and didn’t come back.

This morning I did a little bribing.  He loves it when I read.  He sees a book come out and he runs over so he can cuddle up to me while I read.  So this morning I get my book out and sat on the bed.  It took him a few minutes, but he came in the room.  Then he paced around on the floor, whining because he wanted to be with me, but he didn’t want to be on the bed.  After about 15 minutes, much to my surprise, he jumped on the bed.  But he was only there for a few seconds before his fear took over and he jumped down and retreated to the doorway.

I kept telling him that he was being a very silly kitty.  Every time I called him silly he would look at me and blink his eyes.  Which is universal kitty-talk for YES.  So he knows he’s being silly.  But he’s still scared.

He has always been a scared of unfamiliar and new things.  So I am used to dealing with that.  If I see that he is scared of something I’ll slow down and let him sniff it and tell him that it is alright.  And like I said, he is supper trusting, so most of the time his trust in me is bigger then his fear.  But this time his fear is big.  And I’m at a loss to figure out why.

I know that eventually he will be fine.  The fact that he came on the bed, even if it was just for a few moments, was proof of that.  It may take a week or so, but he’ll get there.  I’ll just have to take it one step at a time.

The reason that he and I work so well is that I am always aware of him.  No matter what I’m doing, part of my brain is always keeping an eye on him (and all my animals for that matter).  So I know the instant he is afraid of something.  And I also take active steps to avoid him getting scared in the first place.  Like if I’m about to make a loud sound I’ll say the word “noise!” first.  Then he knows it’s coming and he doesn’t have a problem with it.  And if something does scare him I just tell him that everything is fine, and to trust that his momma.  And then he relaxes enough to investigate whatever scared him.
If he wasn’t so trusting, and if I wasn’t so patient and understanding, I think he would be constantly hiding in fear.

So the next couple days will be spent trying to reassure him that the bed is in no way scary.  I think I’ll try reading in bed again tonight.  Maybe that will help.  Keep your fingers crossed!

My cat Sebastian caught another mouse this morning.
I wonder if mice are really active at 4:30-5:00 in the morning?  That or maybe Sebastian is active around that time?  He normally either catches them at night (after dark, but before I go to bed), or right about 5am.

It was another young one so I, yet again, woke up to that wonderful high pitched squeaking noise (more of a screeching really).

Sebastian has this habit, when he gets tired of chasing the mouse he will lay on top of them.  It normally works really well, but this morning he didn’t notice that when he put the mouse down it scurried away before he actually laid down on it.  So I’m telling him to get it, and he’s looking at me like I’m crazy (“mom, I already have it!”).  Until I actually pick him up and he finds out that there is no mouse under him.  He started frantically looking around the living room (I don’t know why he insists on bringing them into the living room, there is so much stuff for them to run under!).  So he’s crying and pacing around trying to find it.  Well I had seen where it went, so I started moving the stuff in front of that.  Thankfully if I ask Sebastian to come over by me and look, he will.  So I told him I found the mousie and he glued himself to my side.  I finally got back to where the mouse was, but I think it was so scared that it didn’t move.  Until I accidentally dropped something, and then it went off running.  Thankfully (again!) Sebastian quickly dove after it, and with seconds he had cought it.  I swear that cat is one awesome mouser!  And he is fully declawed too!

So then I picked it up and went to go throw it (more like place it down gently) outside.  But Sebastian didn’t see me pick it up, so he started searching for it again.  I had to actually show him that I had the mouse.  Well then he wanted to follow me to the door (he normally keeps clear of the outside doors).  So I grabbed his collar and opened the door (that’s actually hard to do when you have a mouse in one hand, and are bent over holding a cat’s collar in the other) and placed the mouse outside.  Now most mice will run as soon as their little feet hit the ground, but this one just laid there.  So I let Sebastian stay there and watch him for a few seconds.  But then, when the mouse still was just laying there, I pulled Sebasitan back and closed the door.

Now, of course, I am fully awake and don’t feel like going back to sleep.  So I stayed up and read again.  I like how much reading I’m getting done, but I would much prefer to get that extra hour and a half of sleep.

It looks like this day is going to be FUN!!!!!!!!!