Doggy Style

When we excitedly and nervously took our maiden voyage in #thepineapple, we decided not to bring Blitz along.  Since we had so much to learn and knew we would already be stressed trying to figure things out, we knew taking Blitz would only stress us out more.  His severe separation anxiety is hard to deal with on a normal day, so taking him when we're already stressed would not end well for anyone.

Since that first trip, we have brought Blitz with us every time. He actually does pretty well on the drive. During the travel, he lies right up on the dash, on his doggy bed and sleeps or chews on his bone.

In the evenings, he likes to lie outside while we sit around the fire.  If we're inside (due to the unending rain), we will go up on the dash and sleep in his bed.  When we all head to bed for the night, he jumps right into bed with Dennis & I like he does when we are at home.

One of our biggest problem is he is dog reactive.  Not in the attack way, but in the he wants to smell and play way. It's a struggle to keep him under control when another dog is walking by.

And while he does well in the RV, it's because we are with him the entire time.  If we leave, we bring him with us because I am far too frightened to leave him in the RV for fear that we will come home to this:

I know there are a few chuckles..but he has figured out how to break out of Alcatraz.  I mean...this dog is insanely powerful.
Dennis was outside building a fire a couple weekends ago, while I was taking the girls to the dentist.  I randomly received this picture from him.  This is just the screen door, but I laughed because it was like Blitz knew this is one of my biggest fears!

Ugh...

Overall Blitz is a pretty fun companion...we just really need his anxiety to get controlled.  He's on doggy zoloft and cbd oil, but it doesn't even help.  It's extremely frustrating!  Anyway, we will to continue to camp with our psycho dog unless we know we will be exploring in unfriendly dog territory.


#thepineapple #sdfamilyrvadventures

The Infamous Frank Morris

So, I was so excited that we finally found a crate Blitz could not escape from.  It was so stressful wondering what I was going to come home to, before we got this crate.  One time he ate 4 POUNDS OF RAW CHICKEN!!!!!!  Didn't even have diarrhea .  Grr.

So, imagine my surprise, this afternoon, when I came home from lunch and Blitz's crate was empty.  I was literally confused.  He didn't great me at the door and he wasn't locked up..where was he?  Did he spontaneously combust?! But no, there were no ashes in Alcatraz.  So..I called out... Blitz??

I hear him jump off my bed and he comes running out to me.  I just stood there...staring at him.  He stared back, wagging his tail.

Me: WTF Blitz, how did you get out of that?

Blitz: tail wags

Me: Seriously? How did you do this? (as I inspect the crate)

Blitz: sniffing the cage while i walk around

I shake my head and walk around the house to see if he destroyed anything.  Nope.  Ok..well, that's good.  So I take him out to the bathroom, cuddle with him until I have to get back to work.  I put him back in his crate and head back to work.

I wondered the rest of the afternoon what I was going to come home to.  After getting the girls, we walked up to the door, unlocking it and who was at the door...yes, Blitz.  Ugh.

So, even though he can break out, it seems like when he does break out, he behaves...which leads me to putting him in the crate every morning..even though the girls and I bet he's out before we are out of the driveway...

It appears I have a Frank Morris in my house..

Alcatraz

Blitz can be such a sweet boy.  He loves his girls, he loves us, he's protective of us all..but he's a little a lot crazy!!
We love him, but he really tests our patience.

We've had him since he was 7 wks old.  I do believe he was taken from his mom to early - we got him from our neighbors. 

Even though we are the only family he 'knows', we know his history, his separation anxiety is beyond anything you'd believe!  We were told by a trainer that he is seeing more and more GSD's w/sep anxiety.  He said it's the way they are being bred.  That makes me sad!

When Blitz was little, we had him in an airline crate.  He hated being in there and was able to break out of it.  We zip-tied it, in hopes of keeping him contained, but no, he was able to snap them.
He was young, so keeping him uncrated was not an option. 

We bought a regular dog crate.  After a few weeks, he figured out how to get out.  We zip-tied that one.  He would chew through those and get out.  We bought pad locks.  He couldn't get through those!  He made up for that and started to chew the bars of his metal crate, until he had a hole he could squeeze through.  Yes...he chewed the metal crate.  We went through three different crates.  Finally, after a lot of research, I found a steel crate on Amazon (not the exact one we have, but almost the same).

When it arrived (I was watching the tracking like a hawk), I wasn't home, but I couldn't wait to get there and open it!  As I pulled into the driveway at 7pm at night, there was my large box at the bottom of the porch stairs, in snow.  The FedEx guy didn't even bother to put it on the porch.

Since Dennis was at work and Cadence was at Religion, I had to try and move this heavy box by myself.  And I'm not exaggerating when I say it was heavy!  It's a steel crate that is HUGE.  It was not assembled and I could barely get it up the porch.  Once I did, I slid it across the porch, into the house and it stayed at the door until Dennis got home from work the next day.

He put it together and we both stood back, admiring the durability...but also staring in shock at the size.  It's huge! We couldn't wait to test it out.

Sure enough - Blitz couldn't get out!  He was able to push out the bottom tray, but that was it.  He was unable to chew through the bars!  WOO!! 

We have since dubbed his crate Alcatraz, because our Houdini is unable to escape!