Timothy Callahan

Wet dog

There is an improv game called Wet Dog. It's pretty fun and it helps get rehearsals started in a good, positive way. Basically you shake your left hand and count down from 6 to 1, then you do your right hand, then your left foot, then your right foot, then you do it again only you count down from 5 to 1. Eventually you count down to 1 and bounce around like a spaz. (Most improv games involve you bouncing around like a spaz, which is why I like them.)

That really has nothing to do with this entry, I just couldn't help thinking about that game while Jeffery was shaking all the rain off his coat as he ran into my bedroom this morning after him and my girlfriend got caught in a downpour on his walk. Needless to say a very wet dog jumping on you shaking for it's worth is more than enough to wake you up and get you motivated to get out of bed, especially when said girlfriend, who is also soaked, throws you a towel and orders you to dry him off. Which is really hard to do cause he would not sit still! He was in full Jeffery play mode and once he goes there it's really hard to get him out of it.

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I'm really kind of surprised no one has ever tried to impersonate me. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a famous person but I do sometimes have a strange cadence in my voice. I. . .tend to . . . stop talking. . .for a beat. . .before talking really fast or at normal speed. I do this because, when I was a teen, I used to say the word "right" or "like, um" before continuing to talk so a story would sound something like this:

"So, Debbie was walking Jeffery this morning, right, and um, it started to, like rain, right? So, she got, um, caught the rain, right, and like, um, her and Jeffery got wet, right? So Jeffery comes running into the room, right and, um, shakes all this water off onto me, right? Then, he, um, runs out and Debbie throws me a towel, right, to like, um, dry him off, right?"

I tried to get it under control and I found the best way was to notice when I would say right, or like, or um, and just pause because I read that we say things like, Um and like and right to allow our minds to catch up with our mouths. So, I pause to let my brain catch up then I start again.

It's still a work in progress, if I'm not thinking about it or I'm nervose I still throw a few um's and right's in there, sometimes silence just makes you look dumb, right?

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Fightening night at the dog park

Scary night at the dog park last night. It was pretty normal until about five minutes before I planed on leaving. The park was packed (no pun. . well okay, it was a pun) with dogs, at one point we had about 7 running around playing cheerfully. Jeffery was his normal self, playing good with all the dogs and having a great time.

There was this little dog who was very playful and really wanted to mix it up with the bigger doggies. So, she runs up to Jeffery and they start to play. Now, I always try to stand close to Jeffery when he plays with a smaller dog, he's normally really good with them but sometimes he can get a bit rough so I watch him to be sure everything's okay.

Well, this little dog does something I can't stand. He grabbed Jeffery by his collar and started to pull. Right away I tried to get this dog off Jeffery, who at the time fell to the ground and started to roll, which he does when he plays, but this time it seemed different. I then noticed that the small dogs bottom teeth had somehow gotten tangled in Jeffery's collar, chocking Jeffery. By this time the owner had come over and she tried to pull her dog off, not realizing what had happened. To be honest I wasn't sure what was happening, I just knew the collar was too tight around Jeffery's neck and he was chocking. It was then that the owner noticed the teeth being tangled in the collar, it looked like the collar had actually twisted and tightened in the dogs mouth. The dog was trying to let go but couldn't and the collar was getting tighter.

I was really trying not to panic, my first thought was to cut the collar but I didn't have anything to cut it with. My second thought was to try and unbuckle it but it was too tight. While I'm thinking about this the dogs owner and myself are still trying to get the collar untangled from the dogs teeth.

Just then the other dogs owner managed to get it untangled and Jeffery bolted away as if he'd be shot. His tail shot between his legs and he somehow seemed smaller, his was looking around very scared, very wide eyed as if to say 'what the hell just happened?"

I ran up to him and checked him out. He was scared but otherwise okay. He gagged a bit, then laid on the ground for a few seconds, I guess to collect his thoughts. The dogs owner looked concerned and apologized. I said it was okay, no need, he was fine and it was an accident, no harm done.

I placed his leash on him and together we walked out, both a little shaken up by the ordeal.

By the end of the night he was back to his normal self, getting into things, playing rough with Kenseth, chewing his bones, so he's forgotten about the whole thing whereas I haven't.

On of my friends suggested I get a collar with a snappy thing (forget what they're called) so if that happens again all I need to do is unclick it. He had one of those at one point but I didn't like it too much, kind of hard to adjust and it always seems to get loose after a few days but, for our trips to the dog park I might just have to consider it. I never want something like that to happen again.

*****

Had my first improv show in a log time on Sunday. It was a good show and if I ever get a chance I'll post some clips. I want to upload them onto Youtube but youtube does some strange things to the files during compression and the quality of the video isn't that great to begin with. There's too much light in front, not enough in the back and everyone is kind of shinny. I'm still working on fixing that but it's kind of weird.

Anyway, the show was a blast. I haven't enjoyed working with a group of people like this since my first year with the Ninjas. We're talking about keeping it up, forming a real group, which is really kind of cool.

Doggie Daddy

Well, it took a while but I'm going to be a new doggie daddy! We found a dog that seems to fit well, one that didn't seem to bother Kenseth too much and one that, with a little training, should be a good addition to the family.

It's been a frustrating couple of weeks but I wasn't going to rush it, I knew we needed a dog that all three of us got along with. The most important being Kenseth, our other dog. Now, I do know that the way a dog behaves in a strange place is not the same as the way it'll behave at home but you can get a good indication on how he will react to another dog. The new dog, who we're going to name Jeffery (his name now is Boo Bear and I refuse to have a dog named Boo bear!) and liked Kenseth, kept sniffing him, kept wanting to play with him and was very interesting in what Kenseth was doing. Kenseth, for his part, pretty much ignored Jeffery. He let him do anything he wanted with the checking him out, Ken let Jeff sniff him all over, let him follow him around without a problem. There was an issue when Jeffery wanted to play, Kenseth didn't want anything to do with that and gave him a small nip, nothing aggressive, just a sort of "no, leave me alone" kind of thing. Hopefully any issues they have will be worked out quickly.

Out plan for integrating Jeffery into the house is a pretty simple one. When we're not home and when we're in bed he will be caged until I feel he can be let out without causing any damage. That could be in a few weeks, a few months, or never, I don't know yet, it's one of those gray areas we need to figure out. I don't think it'll be forever, I give it six to eight months at the most. With Kenseth is was more like 4 months before I let him have the run of the house but he wasn't a very active puppy and, except for some accidents and some chewing issues (mostly blankets) he was okay to leave out.

Also, lots of nice long walks with Kenseth in tow. I know dogs bond better when they walk together so that's a must. Both dogs will be leashed at all times! There is no getting around that. Kenseth's not much of bolter, he was when we first got him but now he's not, but Jeffery needs to learn the come command, and even then I probably won't let him off the leash unless we're in the doggie park.

Speaking of which, the doggie park. Might not be able to do that for a while, at least not until Jeffery is older. He's about a year old now so there will be plenty of time for him to learn how to play with other dogs, hopefully Kenseth will teach him that.

Appointment with the vet right away is a must! I'm afraid he might have Kennel Cough and worms, hopefully he doesn't and the SPCA said he probably doesn't but he might since a lot of the dogs they bring in have both and it's hard to get rid of. Don't really like that too much but it's just something I need to deal with.

Lets see, what else? Well, training of course, teaching him to go in the yard, teaching him to eat his own food and not to touch Kenseth's, teaching him not to jump on people when they come in, teaching him how to sit on command, teaching him how to walk properly (something Kenseth still needs to learn, he's a stubborn dog sometimes.) It's going to be a lot of work but in the end when I have a well trained, well behaved dog that I rescued it'll be worth it. I'm a new doggie daddy and that's something to be proud of!