Halloween!

This year was the first year we've lived in our house, so the first year for trick-or-treaters! Also, it was Tyson's first Halloween.

I was planning on having him outside with me with his costume on to give out candy. Then I read that thats not such a great idea, because dogs might get scared of weird looking children and people in costumes, so its best to just keep them away.

Well, I wanted to give it a try, especially since we had such a cute costume for him!
It also has a hat with devil horms, but it wouldnt stay on. Every time he shook his head, it fell off.

The first TOT's (trick or treaters) rang the doorbell, which set him off barking at the kids through the glass storm door. But they werent scared off! haha! they wanted their candy!

Then I was outside when my neighbor and his little boy walked up. Tyson started barking a little because he allllllways barks at the neighbors. I think Tyson thinks that his property is like the Lion King- everything the sun touches is his Kingdom. :)

But after that, I stood outside with the bowl of candy (there were sooooooo many kids!!!) and he watched through the door, no barking or anything!!

Watching the kids outside.

He was soooo good!

I think I get too paranoid and too aware of all of his bad behaviors. I have to stop and realize that most dogs have the same bad habits. He really is a very good dog. I was reading people's status's on facebook, and a lot of people were saying the same thing about their dogs, that they go crazy when the doorbell rings. It sounds like Tyson behaved even better than some of the others!!

Im so proud of him :)

The No-No Can

We have implemented a new behavior modification strategy and it IS. WORKING! We have heard of success with a can full of pennies or a water bottle to deter dogs from bad behavior, but it hadnt worked before. He kinda liked the water spray bottle and would lick the droplets from his nose. The can of pennies would scare the cat and make him run, resulting in Tyson chasing him. Not good.

However, Tyson has been really into sniffing our food while we're trying to eat it lately. So, when he tried that tonight (apparently my homemade chili smelled really good!), I went and got the can'o'pennies and shook it at him twice. He tried to come over again, I shook it again. About 5 minutes later, he tried Matt's. I shook it at him again. He ran away, and stayed in the kitchen while we were eating in the living room. wooooooooooow!!!

When he was little, he thought the can was great fun and enjoyed barking at it. But apparently now that he's older, he respects it!

YaY! Even when we were done eating and still sitting on the couch, he didnt want to come over to us. hoooooooooray.

cabin fever!

These rainy days have not been good for us. We do not like being cooped up in the house! Can't go for a walk, cant run around in the backyard, can't go to the dog park....man!

So instead, Tyson is annoying us by bringing us his toys, dropping them in our laps, and waiting patiently (or not-so-patiently) for us to play with him. He is pacing in front of us (note: there is not much room for a 90 lb. dog between the couch and coffee table), stepping on our toes, and almost knocking the tv tray table over. He likes to drop his tennis balls under the table and then army crawl under and get them back, not caring what is in his way (feet, tray table, cat, etc.)

Or herd the ottoman. Yes, you heard right. We are herding the ottoman now. I guess its the only piece of furniture that he can push around. He wedges himself between the ottoman and the chair (usually to try to get a toy he lost under it) and then walks around it, herding it this way and that, until he has a good walking space in the middle of the living room.
This is problematic because I.....oh, I dont know...like to put my feet on the ottoman?! troublesome, when your dog is using his whole body to move it away from the chair.

Who. knows. Grrr.

This is what you get with a herding dog!!!

Well, its off to make some chili. This cold rainy weather is permeating my bones!!!

First post!

Well, I would love to blog about my dog all day long, but unfortunately, people would get bored. So I created a separate blog juuuust for my baby boy, Tyson :) This way, I can write just about him and you don't have to read it if you don't want to!

I can use this to look back at patterns in his behavior, or hell, just to relive old memories!!

For the first post, I would like to post a variety of pictures from when we first got him until now. He has really turned into a great dog. We knew it from the beginning!
This is my husband holding him on the way home from the breeder's house in Charlotte. I guess I should pause here and say why we got a German Shepherd. My grandma always had German Shepherds. My mom had them when she was younger, and I have been around at least one at a time since I was born, until my grandma passed away when I was in 9th grade, and her dog passed away not long after. Matt, my husband, has wanted a German Shepherd since he was 12 years old. He met some of his uncle's girlfriend's GSDs, and never looked back. He got a "shepherd mix" puppy from the pound, but all that dog had was shepherd coloring. He looked like a dashchund with long black and tan hair lol. So when we got married, we decided that we would get a German Shepherd Dog. We got Tyson just before Thanksgiving break, so I could stay at home with him during the break to train him. We couldnt bear the thought of getting a puppy and then leaving him in a crate for 8 hours.

This is Matt's favorite picture of Tyson. His first night home :) He was a SOLID puppy! Look how thick his legs are!

This is my favorite picture of Tyson. Well, favorite puppy picture. This was his second day home, when I spent the whole day with him and he became *mine*.

Look! His ears are starting to come up! To this day, the one on the left is up really firm, but the right one is up, but still flops at the tip when he runs.

Tyson with me and my two Columbia besties. Well, make that Columbia bestie and Oklahoma bestie :) His markings are so handsome. Look at those ears, trying to get up, but flopping to the side!

Can you believe he is only 4 months old?? He was gaining 10 lbs for every month- he weighed 40 lbs.

This is in February, on the snow day. I made a snowball off the patio table and he enjoyed tasting it.

Haha what an awkward teenager! See that left ear(his left) still isnt up all the way!

And all the sudden he looks grown!

The following are my favorite pictures of him...They were taken on my iPhone while he was calmly laying on the ottoman (while I was sitting in the chair). Then a bird calling outside made him look out the window...gorgeous.

I think the last one really captures the beauty and majesty of this breed. He is so intent on what he is listening to, yet if I called his name, he would look at me and do what I commanded.

He just licked my face...here is the good picture out of this photoshoot:
And I'll leave you with one more series of pictures, taken on our new Canon EOS Rebel- put it on sports mode and kept on clicking while my brother was playing frisbee with him.

Okay so maybe just one picture. That one took a long time to upload, since that camera takes such high-res pics.


To sum it up, this dog was supposed to be for my husband. I was never a dog person until we got Tyson. Now I am obsessed with my sweet boy.

There are great and not-so-great things about owning a German Shepherd Dog...but I'll have to go into more detail on the next post.

See ya around!