Modern Dog Blog

Oh, little Miss Teak. Teak was born on May 20th of 2003, and came to live with me on July 6th of that year. Her life has always been somewhat of a 100 mile per hour frantic blast into whatever is happening next. I had made a deal with Redwood before she died, that she would come back to me, and that I would like her to come back as a little black pug. We could do more fun stuff and I could carry her everywhere and dress her in little pink clothes. Redwood seemed ok with this idea and even helped pick the name Teak. She liked it better than Gwen. (And so we have “Redwood’s Miss Teak - say it fast like “mystique” get it, get it?) I looked and looked after Redwood died, found some breeders with puppies, but was discouraged by the price tag and the fact that I couldn’t take any of them home until they were 16 weeks old. That, for me, is just not ok. I’m a trainer, I want them young - get ‘em started right away! Eventually, I gave up, who needs another puppy anyway, it’ll just die someday - I didn’t want the pain again.

And then there was Teak. Holy cow. I had Rowan and Jester at a PetsMart Independence day party and a guy stopped to pet them and said he had pug puppies at home. Really? I asked. Any girls? Any black? Why, yes, all black and we’ve got four girls. I went after work to see them. I knew I’d met my puppy when I walked in and saw her curled up in a patch of sunlight quietly sleeping. I didn’t see her sleep again for a long, long time.

I was going to buy two, one for me and one for my mom, so I picked out the two I liked and said I’d pick them up whenever they were ready to go. Turned out Mom couldn’t have a puppy yet, so when I called with that news, I discovered that my puppy, being a dare devil, had broken her leg jumping off the couch. Of course. This became a theme in her life. I brought Teak home two days after her leg broke, completely pathetic with her little purple cast, but still willing to stump along after a ball, and already a little piglet. Could have hung a sign around her neck then that said “Will work for food!”

I raised Teak like a little working dog. She spent a lot of time in her crate initially while her leg healed, and tragically I taught her to play with Jester while I held her, which taught her it was ok to become completely aggressive and evil while in my arms. Woops. She went on all sorts of field trips to all kinds of places. She learned to ignore all kinds of distractions in favor of a cookie. Teak accompanied me to work every day, where I was a trainer teaching daily group classes. Her obedience started early, at about 8 weeks, and by the time she was 4 months old she had much of it down pat and was helping me as a demo dog to teach classes. People got quite a kick out of watching the amazing, focused little black dog. And she was wonderful there, but when at home, she was often crated because she was such a nightmare with her housebreaking.

This dog challenged me like no other. Peed on my bed, many times, on my couch, peed on ME one day. Seriously, I could take her out and 10 minutes later she peed on something! It was horrible. I started telling people that “No, actually I don’t know how to housebreak dogs.” She was a great worker, would jump over and climb under things to retrieve her ball, ignored pretty much all distractions - but let her loose in the house and you were just asking for trouble. She ate poo as a puppy. Yes, poo. She would run up under Rowan as soon as Rowan started to “go” and well - you get the picture. Brings all new meaning to the word “sh*!head”. It was just gross and no matter how much I yelled, screamed, threw things, she still did it, and looked at my like “Whaa?”

My little maniac is not “obedient.” She listens and “performs” when it suits her. She just has no respect for me or anyone else. She firmly believes she is the princess, and will often answer to that. Teak spent her first two years just going going going, all her baby pics are of her lunging at the camera, I could never catch her napping. The broken leg, and further training had taught her when you are in the crate - sleep and play with your toys, when you are out - go go go go! She’s slowed down enough now to enjoy a nap on the couch, but she’s still over the top.

Teak will work as much and as long as I ask her to. She started agility young and loves it. She’s too fast and blows her contacts, but is a crowd favorite for her enthusiasm. She yelps the entire course. That’s why we call her “Squeaker”. She’s now playing flyball, and will work at it longer and harder than my lab. She’s pretty slow compared to the other dogs, but the heart is there. Teak is still a decent obedience dog, although not getting worked every day has made her a bit sloppy. Her house manners still suck. She climbs in the bird cage and eats all Pixie’s food, she climbs over the cat boxes to eat cat poo, (she’s stopped eating dog poo, but cat poo - well, that’s good stuff), she barks at every little noise, and I caught her on the kitchen counter the other day - up there via a dining room chair, the table, over the pony wall, and onto the counter to eat the cat food. I don’t even get mad any more, I just sigh and clean up the mess.

The problem with teaching her to think fast, find hidden treats given to her in many different toys, and building up her confidence enough to go flying over agility obstacles and run with dogs four times her size on a flyball team - well, I’ve created a monster. She listens to me when she chooses, if it’s convenient and fits in her schedule, but pretty much she does what she pleases. Somewhere along the massive poo eating events, I realized that there was no way that my beloved Redwood was packed into this terrifying little creature. Redwood would NEVER, and I mean NEVER eat dog poo. Cat poo, rabbit and horse poo - sure, but Rowan’s? Toxic waste man. I have this feeling that Redwood sent Teak to me, to keep me on my toes after Redwood died, and to remind me every day to laugh. Teak has made me tear out my hair and bang my head into the wall in frustration, but she always makes me laugh. In a way, I admire her brashness, her “devil may care” attitude. She’s fearless, tough, and driven, and pretty brilliant. While I’m sure that Redwood looked down and giggled with glee the times Teak would come running in with Rowan poo on her chin (ever seen a flat faced dog eat something mushy? Ya, that’s what I thought), I’m glad that Teak came into my life when she did. She brought color, life, and vibrance. She shook up our little world, and made us all smile. Here’s hoping she brings insanity to my world for many years to come.

P.S. The baby black pug in the pics with Teak is her half sister, Piper, who belongs to my mother and brings just about as much insanity and joy to her house as Teak brings here.