I am Kim, a new blogger and an older; well, maybe we will use the term “mature” student. My children are grown, identical twin girls, one is a nurse and the other is a doctor in her first year of residency. When they left for college, I found I had extra time so I went back to college to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice.
I just transferred to Penn State from a community college and my first semester (fall) at Penn State World Campus went well. I love online classes; they are so flexible. I was surprised that there were no IT problems, and ANGEL works very well.
Pippa’s first day in her new home.
The only issue I had during the semester was the new addition to the family. No, it wasn’t a new baby, but then again, it might be considered a baby by some people, she is a Doberman mix.
My Rottweiler, Maggie, passed back in June and the house felt empty, so I found a puppy at the SPCA in mid-September. I named her Pippa, but most of the time I just call her Pip.
She is not named after Pippa Middleton, but after the Pippa from the movie Storm of the Century, a movie made from a book by Stephen King. It is a one of my favorite movies about a big “perfect” snow storm, a stranger appearing on an island and island people being able to keep a secret. I would say more, but we don’t want any spoilers, do we?
Pippa was 4 months old when I got her and looked so cute and innocent; little did I know that she was a little devil dog. I found it very hard to study at times because she was bouncing off the walls and needed constant attention, nothing like Maggie used to be.
Maggie would lay next to my desk sleeping, listening to me talk to myself or read a paper I had written (she didn’t ever have any comments) and after about an hour or so, she would want a walk, which was good, because I was ready for a break from studying. Maggie was the perfect study partner, and I unfairly expected Pippa to be the same. I had forgotten how energetic Maggie had been when she was a puppy.
However, one day after I had her for about a week, I was listening to a genetics lecture and she laid down next to my desk and fell asleep, which was quite suspicious, but any peace was good peace and I was able to listen to the whole lecture.
Pippa in a rare calm mood.
About a week later, the puppy was still crazy until I put on the next genetics lecture and she went to sleep again. I finally figured out that if I played a genetics lecture, she would lie down next to my desk and sleep, she apparently liked the professor’s voice.
What will I do next semester? I managed to get a lot of studying done using the lectures. Spring semester, I’m taking INART 200, Elvis Presley, is she going to get up and start dancing when I play his songs? This will be interesting.
I must add that she is doing much better now at 7 months, but she still chews everything she can get in her mouth, including my feet and hands, runs around the house like a crazy thing a couple of times a day and doesn’t walk on a leash well, but she is getting better. Here’s a picture of her in one of her rare calm moods, she has discovered that the sofa is more comfortable than her crate. Take note of the glowing eyes.
I believe my next move is to call a dog trainer, because attempting to train her is difficult. I never had a dog like this one who is so “overly enthusiastic.”
Does anybody else have an unconventional “study partner?” I hope I’m not the only one talking to my dog.
About Kim Sterling
I'm a Criminal Justice major hailing from Pottstown, Pennsylvania. I stay organized with my calendar and Post-it notes. Read more about me.
Kim,
Your blog post means a lot to me.
I began my studies at the World Campus in the Fall of 2009. At that time, my beautiful Maine Coon mix, Sam, was my constant companion and ‘study buddy.’ She slept in a cat bed near my desk or would sleep on the arm of the chair I was sitting in while I read my textbook.
After enjoying 19 years of her company, I had to put her down in December 2011. I only lasted about two weeks in my pet-vacant apartment before searching for a new adoptee. I decided on a six month old boy (Jasper), and a three year old girl (Joy). Both are long-haired fluffy cats that were in need of rescue (Jasper was scheduled to be euthanized that same week).
Jasper required a lot of care and a double round of worming, and needed to be patiently nursed back to health. Joy was very mistrusting of people, and spent a great deal of time under the bed. Like you, I had the expectation that Joy would immediately reprise the role of study buddy, and that was not the case.
After many months of earning her trust, one day she jumped up on my lap while I worked at my desk. Little by little, Joy shed her protective shell, and she learned to trust again. These days you can find her sleeping on top of the bed, or napping on my textbook while I try to read. She’s become a bit of a shadow, and it thrills me to no end!
Thank you for sharing your story,
Stephanie
Hi Kim,
I really enjoyed your blog as I can really relate to you and your Pippa (I love that name and that movie!) My Bella (not named after the Twilight girl) was a rescue dog. I still laugh at her first day home because she batted her little eyes and was so cute. I remember thinking, oh what a sweet dog! Little did I know things were about to change.
Bella is a purebred Newfoundland and 86lbs of CRAZY! She came to me when she was 7 months old from an abusive home. She was a walking terror with no manners and absolutely no training at all. After a week of having her I was ready to rip my hair out and ship her off. I laughed when you referred to Pippa as “the devil dog” because that was my nickname for Bella as well. Newfoundland’s are supposed to be these calm gentle giants and that is what I thought I was getting. Boy was I wrong! Bella, just like your Pippa, was high-strung, constantly running laps through the house, hated the leash, and LOVED my flip-flops. I literally couldn’t get anything accomplished.
After about 2 weeks I decided to call a trainer and while she was really good with Bella, she was more inclined to explain her craziness to me instead of actually correcting the problem. Now I will say that Bella is a completely different dog (almost a year later) but I think it had more to do with me being patient and working with her than it did the trainer. We took baby steps with the leash and now she brings it to me when it’s walk time and when she’s being rotten I just leave the room or close the door for one minute (I know it sounds silly but it really works).
Anyway, there were three tips that really helped me out and I thought I would share them: 1. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog. 2. Reward the good behavior and ignore the bad behavior and 3. Replace items you don’t want her to chew with things she can chew. Now I realize that these may sound silly or even obvious but at the time I was so frazzled that I didn’t even realize the simplicity in actually doing them.
Anyways, I just thought I would share a little of my experiences with you and let you know that you are not the only one with an “unconventional study partner.” Oh and I love that Genetics puts Pippa to sleep. Bella likes to bark during my lectures.
Good luck with the rest of the semester,
Sarah
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for reading my blog. We do become quite attached to our pet kids and it is very hard when they leave us, especially after 19 years! I am glad to hear that you found not only one, but two new pet kids. I took a little longer to get another pet kid because I wasn’t sure what type of dog I wanted. I checked the SPCA website every day for almost 3 months but couldn’t find just the right dog and then they posted Pippa and I knew she was the one.
She had been sleeping in her crate, but lately she wasn’t going in at bed time and had to be coaxed. Last night I was tired and just took her upstairs to see how it would work. She jumped on the bed and slept all night with no problems, so I think she will demand to sleep upstairs now.
Thank you for sharing your story also.
Kim
Hi Sarah,
Bella (love the name) sounds like she’s a lot of fun. Pippa appears to not have had any training also and I think whoever had her didn’t know how to train her and that is why they took her to the shelter.
During the first few weeks, I had thoughts about taking her back, but she is getting much better and will make an excellent companion. I think she needed to learn that some things are not acceptable. A few days after I brought her home, my daughter visited and took her for a 4 mile run and when she came back she was not tired at all! I think she just had a lot of pent up energy because now she is tired with a good long walk.
I am still trying to get her to stop chewing, she is an excellent thief. I’ll think the room is dog proofed and she will still find something to take to chew when I’m not looking. I gave her a little sheep toy that makes a weird noise yesterday and it freaked her out. She was running like crazy around the room literally bouncing off the furniture when it made noise. I think this is her favorite toy now.
It was great to read about your experiences with Bella. It just goes to show that dogs that other people think are bad and abandon turn out to be fantastic friends with the right person and a little patience and training.
Thanks for sharing.
Kim