Open House

Today my real estate agent arranged an open house event from 3-6pm, I did not know how big the coverage was, just felt I had to fix a few things around before showing to other brokers or potential buyers. I fixed 4 lights, drilled 2 holes and repaired a bamboo screen outdoor, plus last minute gardening for the entire morning, it was a lot of work to prep the house before showing.

He actually did a mailing for 1800 homes in my community plus the other two golf communities near by, he had over 50 people came to check out the house within these 3 hours, serving cheese, fruit and wine at the same time. Meanwhile, we retreated to the beach during the action with Samson the little dog. I don't think we ever have 50 people come into the house at the same time, I think the biggest group I had for party in this house was 34.

Feedback from the clients are mostly positive, everyone loves the outdoor zen garden, the dining room was a big hit inside the house. I had to hide away all the junks before people come it wasn't funny. In general, this house shows very well, it does not show good on paper / printed material, you would just have to be in the house to feel it. I doubted how many people really know about Zen, it involves a level of energy surrounding you, it brings peace, solitary and pleasure from within. And I tried very hard to deliver this energy through the garden.

There was 2 people who understand this energy, one is a broker and she mentioned her client keep requesting a house with a Zen garden; the other one is a resident inside my community looking to move into a bigger home with more backyard space, he stayed 2 hours throughout this 3 hours open house period of time, could not get over how nice it feels just hang around in the garden.

Now let's get lucky, get an offer then we could take off to go wherever we want to go and do whatever we want to do!

Social test for Samson

Victor's extended family had a shiver call (funeral jewish style) on Wednesday and Thursday, we attended both days and send our deepest condolences to the family members. During the second night's sitting shiver, Victor's elder brother told us to bring the dog with us, because his grand daughters would love to meet Samson. One of whom wants to be a Vet when she grows up later.

I wasn't sure how Samson would react in such a big group, the house had probably 20 adults and 8 kids. Samson actually enjoyed his time to be a social butterfly, running around group after group and begging for food from everyone with his cutest look, you know, one of those big eyes looking at you with a 30 degree head tilt while sitting quietly next to your feet.

While the rabbi was conducting the service and singing in Hebrew, Samson decided to join the rabbi with his awf awf tune, then I had to take him out of the house. That is the only time I felt Samson did not perform quietly, I guess he was just so excited to see so many people, so much smell from the food and 8 kids are jumping on top of him at the same time.

I was afraid there would be some nipping if the kids are rough on him, thank God Samson behaves very well, even 2 kids are very rough on pulling his tail or pretend to ride on top of him, Samson just ran away from them, did not growl or attempt to bite anybody.

Everyone could not get over Samson has only been with us for 4 weeks, every one was keep giving him treats and he was the only dog in the house, there is no other dog smell in the house so Samson did not mis-behave (did not pee inside the house).

He was able to follow simple command such as come, sit and paw; after he performs the drills then he would proceed to get his treat. This is a dog trainer program called "Nothing in Life is Free". It meant to make the dog work for his food / treat, make the dog do something before he gets his share, which makes a lot of sense.

Most children loves pet, some of them just aren't that sensitive to the pet's feeling. There was one girl keep trying to ride Samson as a horse, man he is only 12lbs, if the girl really accidentally ride on him I am sure Samson is going to break a bone somewhere. If Samson is a Mastiff then it is another story but he is just a little cockapoo!

Overall, his performance in front of a big crowd was great, he was not shy and he was not scared. He held his head high and engaging in smelling everybody, try to figure it out who has the best tasting food on their plate, then proceed to sit quietly next to that person. Victor's sister-in-law was trying to clean Samson after feeding him, he just ran away to sit by the next person's feet. She called Samson an "eat and run" dog.

Dog Behaviorist

I like animal but did not have the luxury to own one since I was little, mom and dad did not like animals at all, maximum tolerance I could have in the house were turtle, goldfish, rabbit.... living pets which do not demand a lot of personal care. After moving out as an adult, I had a cat named Brandy, now Brandy is living with my sister and nepthew in Hong Kong, still alive. Back then I was working and I knew I could not commit to a dog which involves a bigger portion of responsibility, a cat is easy, as long as there is food in the bowl and someone to empty the litter box, a cat is happy!

On the other hand, Samson takes a lot more work. A friend told me just to give Samson TLC and everything would be fine, this advice is very far from the truth. 100%of shelter dog have developed separation anxiety, based on the test of an animal behaviorist. (from one of the many books I read lately) Not all of them have problems so be abandoned, some owners move away, some owners get very ill, some owners simply could not spare the time with the dog anymore.... tons of reason, but a very large chance that the dog itself pose certain issues, it could be physical or emotional.

Samson has aggression issue, his actions could be labeled as dominance aggression / possession aggression / territorial aggression. He does not show his aggression to me, the maximum amount of aggression he showed was when I clean his paws from running around on soil / grassy area, he growls when I am cleaning him but did not bite me or showing teeth at me.

Samson also growls at Victor, especially when he is sleeping on my lap while I am reading, when Victor approaches toward me, Samson growls at Victor. Obviously Samson treats me as his possession, I belong to him at that moment on that chair, Victor is coming to get me away from him --- that would be Samson's thought process if I could have get into his mind.

First growls, Victor back off a step. I told Victor do not back off, stand firm and assertive, show Samson that you are the top dog in the household.

Victor steps forward toward me, Samson continues growling, I told Victor to give Samson a command, Samson froze for about 20 seconds then followed Victor's command to sit and stay.

There is no bad dogs, there are stronger dogs which needs stronger leadership; Samson is not the submissive one I ensure you that. But Victor made some mistakes along the way, he did not realize that. I told Victor do not play 'tug of war' with Samson, it encourages Samson's dominance instinct.

Sure enough Victor does not listen well, he played 'tug of war' with Samson when I wasn't watching. And every time if the phone ring or the computer calls, Victor left the playing scene with Samson successfully grab the toy in his jaw and run away. Samson starts to think I am stronger than this guy, I get to win in 'tug of war' all the times!

The wolf instinct in Samson urges him to challenge Victor's position, in order to move up in the packing order of the household. That is why and how it happened this morning, with the growling incident in the family room. I explained to Victor that you have to show Samson you are the top dog! You have to let Samson know there is no way he could challenge Victor's position in this house!

There is no bad dogs, Samson is a very strong dog emotionally and physically, just need stronger leadership to keep his aggression at bay. Victor voluntarily feeds Samson treats every now and then, it is a good move and Samson follows Victor to his office. In the wild, the top dog gets the food first, eat leisurely and finish the food, casually share the left-over with the sub-dominant dog in the pack.

Samson has to know he is the sub-dominant, he does not have to like it, he just needs to comply.

Over-do-er

Over-achiever seems like a very positive word to describe ourselves, both Victor and me; but I come to realize sometime Confucius was right --- do not do too much is good. Which this ancient chinese philosopher believes everything in moderation, it was good for the political control at that period of time, (about 2500 yrs ago) so whatever he said was endorsed by the King of Kings in China. At that time it was not one country of China, the region was splitted by Warlords and local Kings, people enjoyed the freedom of travel but they did not have the right to move away from where they come from / which Kingdom they belong to.

Anyway, I was reading these books about how to take care of dogs, decided I can do certain things to Samson, meanwhile he was taking a nap quietly on my chair, I decided to clip his nail on the dewclaw which is the dog thumb located on the side of the leg, not the actual paw. Sure enough I cut too much, I heard a high-pitch scream from Samson and there was blood on his leg!

I told him --- ok I am sorry, I am not going to treat him as my experiment anymore. I am not going to do too much to him. Just to feed him, walk him, pet him, play with him and clean him, do all the basics.

This one book I was reading was written by a re known Vet of the country, this Vet once approached the pet food companies to ask for funding of a research of chemical and preservatives effect on dogs. He was told "no one in this industry wants to know the answer", in order to achieve maximum amount of shelve life of their products, certain bad stuffs have to go into the dog food. As long as the level is low and not creating problem for most of the dogs then the companies are ok.

I was once involved importing food item from overseas, knowing there are so many codes to meet and the margin of error could be as big as 5%, that means if my label of food product say something, if the actual ingredient do not match it 100% it is ok, the FDA allows a deviation for about 5% after the first initial lab check. Afterward it is random check, could be one item per 5 thousand pieces sent to a lab.

This system is not that safe and give great window for food manufacturer to maneuver the content. My friend's boxer was sent to emergency room for food poisoning effect from eating a piece of chew jerky bought at PetCo a few days ago, the Vet said it was the artificial ingredients or preservative in that piece of dog snack that created all the problem. Well the mentality of the dog food manufacturer is if it hurts 4 dogs out from a hundred, it is ok.

not in my book though, nowadays companies are trying to make money so hard that the basic moral standard has diminished. Don't believe what the world tells you, most of the time you'd find out you'll get screwed 9 times out of 10!

p.s. samson is doing ok in dog food in the morning and home-cook food at dinner.

gourmet dog

I always oppose package food or process food, however, our lives is so busy that baking our own ham is literally impossible, so some process food is ok in my book, such as baked ham or salami. I do not have the facility to air dry my own salami but good news is one of Victor's friend from Connecticut makes his own salami once a year and cure at his basement, lucky me to be able to put in my order every spring.

When it comes to dog food, I feel no dog in the world should eat the same food every day and night, I strongly suggest to make your dog human food with supplement such as multi-vitamin and chewy bones for its dental health. Now the difficulty comes when I have my own dog, I wish I could give Samson my food everyday, realistically it won't work because if I travel somewhere, Samson would need to eat dry food in a boarding or doggy day care facility. To feed Samson all human food now would create potential problem later.

But he wasn't responding well to the Science Diet I chose for him, the food bowl can stay there full for 5 hours untouched. I decided to make a change, after consulting my friends with dog, I was recommended Nature's recipe.

I feed Samson all dry food in the morning, mix with a little hot water to make it warm. 2 nights ago, I cooked a big pot of shredded pork, jasmine rice, pea and carrot, chopped spinach, egg white (left over from using all the yolk for ginger bread cookie dough) and celery chopped fine with some chicken broth and water. Samson possibly knows I was cooking for him, stood right next to my feet while I was cooking that big pot of his wet food.

I saved a quart in the refrigerator for the next 3 days, the rest I divided in small portion and freeze it, I could use a small package and heat it up in the microwave later on whenever I want it.

At night, I feed Samson half of the wet food I cooked and half of the store-bought dry food, he loves it! I also mix 1/8 of a teaspoon of vitamin C powder in his dinner. I noticed a difference in his coat, suddenly the coat becomes very shiny.

I also added equal part of shredded beef at the wet food before I heat it up at the microwave, so there is plenty of protein from the meat source, carbon hydrate from the rice and fiber / minerals from the veggie. Many dog owners was told switching their dog's diet would create diarrhea and upset stomach, Samson seems very ok with the switch, he did not have this problem and seems very happy to eat human food than one dry dog food fits all style.

His all time favourite is my gingerbread man, once I take it out from the cookie jug, his eyes would not leave my hand! Second favourite is Victor's gluten free honey cake, Samson would chase Victor inside the house for the crumb of that homemade honey cake! Too much sugar is no good for dog or human, indulge a little bit is ok for all of us; the less harmful sweet form for dogs are honey, natural brown sugar and molasses. (not for puppy though)

As a shelter dog, one won't imagine Samson is also a cheese connoisseur; his tail would waggle in a very fast pace when he smells Jarlsberg, Parmigiana Reggiano, Mozzarella, Provolone or sharp Cheddar....literally any cheeses.

Perhaps one day Samson could become a dog-food critics, telling other dogs what is good to eat what is not! That'd be funny!