Riley is Potty Trained!!

Oh my goodness I never thought this day would come. After two long weeks of cleaning up pee and fighting with him and crying and him crying and him having melt down after melt down, we can finally all enjoy some peace. For most of the month of February Riley was showing interest in using the potty. He is a very strong willed stubborn child, and I thought we would never be able to get him to go potty. We bought 2 potty seats one for downstairs and one for upstairs and we got out the jelly beans, chocolate chips and race car stickers. Jesse got him to go while he was still in diapers. He would get out his ipod and show him little clip shows that had toy story characters or cars and would play the little clip telling him to show woody he could pee or show buzz he could poop and he did!! I couldn't believe how simple that was. Of course only daddy could get him to go by using that trick. I had do some bribing in different ways like get him a treat or a toy from the dollar store. More towards the end of Feb he was going about half of the time. On Feb 28 we made the scary decision to get rid of the diapers and to put him in underwear. A few days before we took him to Walmart and let him pick out some big boy underwear. He picked out some Winnie the Pooh, Cars and Toy Story underwear. He seemed sooo excited he kept saying underwear underwear all the way home. So Day 1 with no diapers he had about 6 accidents and I didn't feel like I could do this anymore. The thing that started to work was that he got really sad when he peed his pants and I had to take them away to wash them. That devastated him and he started telling me he had to go more often. Day 2 he had 3 accidents, Day 3 he had 1 accident and Day 4 he had no accidents. I am sooo proud of him. Of course Jesse and I were so proud of ourselves for training him so fast we thought we were the best lol! A week later he started peeing his pants again and then refusing to go, then we thought were weren't so hot lol! Now we have no problems with him, he even wakes up dry and goes as soon as he wakes up. So I am just happy that we got him trained during the day and even through the night before he is 3.

Way to go Riley!!!

We got him a potty training book to read while he would sit and try. That seemed to be the only thing that would get him to sit there long enough to try and have something happen.

RIP Max

Some of you that I grew up with in Cardston might remember my family's dog Max. He was a bichon Shitzu dog.We got Max when I was only 12 years old, we still lived in Magrath at the time. Now I am pretty old some of you know how old I am and other's don't and I am ok with that lol! For those of you who know how old I am, you know that Max is a pretty old dog. Okay, so I will tell you how how old Max is. He was 16 years old! He started getting sick at the beginning of this month. He wasn't eating, he was losing teeth, he had problems with one of his eyes and he just grew really weak. He couldn't hardly walk and he just sat in his bed all day long and didn't do anything cuz he could hardley move. On Thursday night I got a phone call from my mom telling me that on Friday they were going to be taking Max to the vet to be put to sleep. They said it was the best thing to do for him because he was suffering and unable to eat so he was basically starving himself, they were not sure why he wouldn't eat and they tried many many times to get him to eat. They even tried giving him cheese which he loves and as soon as one of us would get cheese out and start cuttng it, he would come running. It was just better to take his pain away and let him rest I guess. I was so sad and I still am. Max had been in my life for a long time. He was mostly my sister Becky's dog and she was devastated. My parents were even sad and I didn't think they would be. They always thought he was so annoying and couldn't wait to get rid of him after we all left home, but they never did, they held on to him because all us kids loved him so much. Growing up dad would always joke every year and say that this Christmas he was going to be getting Max his coffin. On Friday Dad really did build him a coffin. I didn't think he would but I think it was sweet that he did. After Max was put to sleep he was wrapped in a blanket that was used in his bed. In the coffin were his favorite toys. I wasn't able to be there to bury him but my parents, Becky and Jon buried him close to my Grandma and Grandpa McMurray's house in Beazer. It was a sad sad day and I am kind of grateful I wasn't there to see him so sick and weak just thinking about that was enough to make me burst into tears. He was a good dog, we all grew so attached to him and will really miss him.

Some of my memories of Max were when we always included him at Christmas. He had his own stocking and Becky wanted us to include him as well in the family Christmas draw, and we did every year. Everyone always wanted to get Max's name. One year I didn't know what to get him and dad told me to get him this rubber bone (I was about 13 or 14 years old). This bone cost $9 which was a lot to me then. Max hated it and wouldn't even touch it, and I always would bug dad year after year saying "Nice choice dad!"

I also remember dad giving him funny hair cuts making him look like a buffalo, or a lion, giving him a beard.

I also remember one time when we were camping, Max was about a year old and we were at Beazer swimming in the creek and Becky asked dad if Max could swim and he said 'lets find out' and he threw Max in the water lol! Becky was so scared thinking Max would drown but sure enough he swam right to the edge and was able to get out.

We also taught Max many tricks and Becky was having him jumping throw a hula hoop, she built a bar supported by two pillows for him to jump over, he would shake a paw, dance and roll over.

Sorry if I am boring you guys to death but this write up is mainly for my family to read our memories and for me to have a record of it.

Rest in Peace Max you brought so much joy to our family for 16 years, I will always remember you and you will be missed :(