Howie Wants to Play!

We were very proud of rudy over thanksgiving! Howie gave him many reasons to be angry but rudy never tried to bite him, shared all his toys & even let howie chew on his many bones! Howie just wanted to play, and generally rudy wanted nothing to do with playing with howie! He just barked at him a lot -- in this video you gotta listen for howie's little "barks" :)

EAR!

holy crow! get a look at this! not his most photogenic (sp?!) moment, but look what the ears may look like one day! ahaha i'm so glad i love him to death already :)

Growing Howie!

a rundown of new pics: howie fighting sleep!! just a profile pic. the next, howie looks a bit evil here! some perspective of just how small Howie really is. Howie got distracted by something in the movie i had playing! Next, Howie sneaking a look out the corner of his eye! Today, I got Howie 2 new beds (1 for now and 1 for after he destroys this one!) and they had these funny pillows for pretty cheap so i figured I'd give it a try! He hasnt destroyed it yet, but he's happy to have something like his bed to play with. And yes, it is bigger than he is :) Howie and his tongue! He licks his lips a lot! After that, just another cute one! Then a mid-play picture (um, no, just because you see all those toys doesnt mean I spoil him!!) Then, his new bed in his kennel. he likes it a lot! sometimes he sleeps with his head on the edge like that, other times he likes to curl up so that you cant even see him!

Apparently today it's an enemy

Howie is certainly acting odd tonight. I'm glad I caught this on video because I thought it was funny -- Howie was scared of his reflection before, but more recently he hasnt given it a second thought. But tonight, apparently the reflection was an enemy not a friend.

Music Recognition

So this was cute. Friday night I was watching Pride & Prejudice (the newer version w/ kiera knightly). Howie is sitting with me, chewing on his bone, when during one of the scenes, this classical songs starts playing and howie freezes, and starts looking at the screen, tilting his head from side to side. I realized that the song is one that's part of the classical CD i always played him when I left for work during those first few weeks! I think he recognized the song!! I've started playing that CD again a lot! I think its relaxing to him :) so cute!!

picture update

a few new pictures. matt came over today & helped puppy-proof the porch! howie LOVES it out there! probably b/c he gets so many snacks... i may never have to sweep again! that may not be a good thing!! next is howie being beyond silly in his cage. he doesnt get to play with his bed outside the cage, so he's pretty content to go in there! here, he'd crawled between beds (well, the white is really more just like a mat at this point, but it used to be rudy's bed), then rolled on his back & was digging up at his bed! when he realized i was watching his face suddenly appeared between his back legs looking at me! so funny! after that - i never thought of myself as a "pet name" type of person, but i call howie all sorts of things besides howie! this is where i call him my spider monkey. he oddly likes to climb up me & sit on the back of my neck. [dont worry, he's always safe - this is like the one place he doesnt dare jump from!] the next picture is a perspective picture - he's trying to get his ice cube that went under the table here...the table bottom being 3-4 inches off the ground. next is just one i think is cute of howie playing with his "baby" toys! and last, one more perspective pic - the purple exercise ball is like 15-18 inches tall

Can you hear me now?

I feel like I've gotten lucky the past 2 days - they've been good days as far as Howie is concerned. I don't know if it's because he's around me all the time, but Howie in general does not respond when I say his name - not even a sideways glance with the eyes! It was to the point where I actually wondered if maybe his hearing hadnt full developed. [silly me. remember at the hotel when he froze at every little sound he heard outside! duh. of course his hearing is great.] so, I'd accepted that he just doesnt respond to his name. [it is interesting trying to communicate with something that cannot speak back.] But last night, Howie just thrilled me! We were playing late after I got home and with two different toys - I said 'Howie, where's hippo?' and he went and found hippo!!! and the same with porky - 'Howie, where's porky??' and he ran to porky! now, of course, with both toys, Howie is practicing what we in the Rau family call anger management (hysterical that Howie does this just like Rudy!!). I think the next step I need to focus on now that Howie is starting to find toys by name, he sits on command and is starting to understand Shake, Release, and Get Down - I want to figure out how to master Come Here. I've tried several different words to see if he responds initially to one better than another, or if a certain hand movement helps, but no luck so far :) I've kind of given up on discipline regarding biting...I'm pretty sure that when he's biting or throwing his mouth my direction, he's not actually "biting" (though it may feel like it!). In reality, it just happens to be my fingers or chin or ear or toe or pant leg that's nearest to his mouth! The stern no makes him race away from me but then come running back - I take this to mean he thinks its a game. So instead of the stern no, I've been working to have toys nearby to always grab one so that we have something to play with that's good to play with, and then tell him good boy when he goes and finds a toy he'd like to play with. At least while it works, all is well on the homefront with Howie!

Howie & I Survived Roswell

Words cant describe how good it feels to be back in Little Rock - to be home, to have Howie home. We got back today around noon after spending the week in Roswell, New Mexico. Day after day, it never ceases to amaze me how different life is with Howie. Not a bad different or good different, just different. He rules how I spend my every minute. When I go to bed, when I wake up, how much time I spend working, and how much time I spend doing anything else. Or at least, it does for now. Its interesting, not knowing what life will look like in a year, after Howie's grown up a bit. And at the same time, since I'm a person that lives so much in the moment, there's a lot of temptation for me right now to be scared and stressed thinking about the next year. Though most of the time I actually do enjoy the work I do, the travel has never been the best part (even if it does mean extra money). And even though I know Howie will adjust to all the moving around, this first trip to Roswell has put a lot of hard thoughts in my head. We started out at the Days Inn. I've stayed at decent Days Inn before, so I thought we'd be fine. But this place... the toilet was clogged & they couldnt get ahold of anyone to come fix it, nor did they immediately offer to move me (that was more of a last-minute move on their part). Also, the floor was disgusting - my and howie's feet were black after just spending a short time there. Luckily, the La Quinta Inn & Suites also allowed pets and so Howie & I moved and it was much better. Last night coming home, we stopped in Oklahoma City - stayed at a La Quinta Inn [not and Suites - makes a big difference!]. anyway, i guess i'd had it in my head that hotels that accept pets arent as nice but i didnt equate that with them being dirty. or moreso filthy. So last night, for example, I was extremely preoccupied with everything Howie was finding on the hotel room floor. eek. sooo, yeah. lots to think about. on the up side, Howie's teaching me a lot right now. Trying to learn how to take care of him, how to pay attention to what he needs and, even as a dog, is trying to tell me. He's changed the way I look at life, and the future. Other than my family, he's the first thing to come into my life that I know for sure will be here for at least the next 10 years. that makes me think about the future of my job, my life-marriage, kids, etc. He kind of has me looking at things differently - who would've thought a pup would be part of wanting to settle down. odd how people change as they grow up. not that i can think of specifics, but i remember even just 5 or 10 years ago, thinking i didnt understand why adults acted certain ways, but now i'm starting to see certain things.. just need to find some time to actually come up with specific things :)

i just thought this was too cute. i'm still trying to figure out what habits are good and which are not, and then how to cure the bad ones, but in the meantime, i'm glad there are definitely lots of moments that i just love this pup like crazy - they completely outweigh the times he's being a bad, bad dog!
(and the pics above... the first is howie with a new bone - he was excited; if you look closely, you can see his tongue out to the side! he was licking his lips :) the next is a rare shot of howie sitting still enough for me to take a picture of him sometime other than when he's sleeping! and the last is what normally happens when i try to take a picture of howie awake!

hello from Howie!

hi everyone, Howie here, what's up! momma thinks i have too much free time so she started this blog for me. she thinks i'm napping now but instead i wanted to tell you more about myself on here! boy, do i have her fooled! she does play me classical music during naptime and i do like that.

so my full name is Howard Johnson Rau, but please dont call me Howard. yuck. call me Howie! I was born in Columbia, Missouri on July 14, 2009. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My brother is furry like me, but both sisters and mom & dad have short hair. mine's softest though, so ha! i do miss my family.. i was the last to leave home and boy was i scared when that happened. i cried and cried and cried but it didnt work. momma loves me lots, though, and gives me TONS of treats, so its not so bad. she talks to me a lot too, not that i understand what she's saying... i'm not even 3 months old! sheesh! she keeps repeating something; i wonder what she's trying to say. she doesnt seem to like me going to the bathroom but its not my fault my bladder's the size of an acorn! what does she expect!

yesterday we went to the vet - boy, were they mean. sticking stuff IN where stuff's only supposed to come OUT! not cool, vet. not cool at all. i found out there that i weigh 4.2 pounds right now. everyone keeps telling me i'm going to be a big boy and that i dont look like a chihuahua. i'll show them - soon my ears will pop up and i'll figure out these stairs we have to take to get outside so i can burn off this puppy fat.

i used to sleep in this nice little cage, it was nice and safe and cozy, but then momma moved all my stuff to a bigger one. it's kind of scary, but i have more space so i can stretch out lots.

momma keeps bringing home new toys for me, too. that's pretty great. my favorites are my green ball with the bell inside [although it scared me at first!] and my hambone plastic toy - i chase it in circles, its pretty funny. i'll see if momma can show you guys sometime. and yesterday she took me outside with my tennis ball and we played and watched cars. i hope we get to do that again soon. and i have like 4 bones! its awesome! my only problem is figuring out where to bury them! i keep trying to dig into the couch and blanket. it doesnt work, but boy does momma get upset about that!

well, i'm actually starting to get pretty tired. i really like sleeping but try not to let momma know that so she lets me keep playing with my toys! hope i get to meet you guys soon!

reflections

okay this is TOO cute!! howie clearly does not understand the concept of a mirror! and while i was best friends with myself as a baby (sat in the hall in front of the mirror with my toys! somehow there was always a friend there to play too!), howie does not like the dog in the window!! you gotta listen for his puppy growl!

capturing howie's typical ways :)

howie likes to sleep on his back a lot :)

sleepy howie... you know, i think he's much cuter than the pictures let on!

howie apparently wants to go to work with me. i'd like that!

energetic howie - amazing what taking his collar off did to his personality

Howie's First Friend