Champion of My Heart
True tales, brags, and whines about my life with a rescued border collie named Lilly
Champion of My Heart
Weekly Training Update (May 16)
I totally cried at the end of our class on Sunday. And, not from happiness. I was shook up and exhausted. I ranted Sunday about the final straw, but here's the rest of the tale.
You'd think early Sunday mornings might make for a lighter-than-average amount of activity in a creekside park in Boulder, but that's not the case ... especially on Mother's Day. It was a zoo. Initially, Lilly did fine despite the environment and despite the fact that there were a bunch of new, very young, super-silly dogs in class. In fact, a sweet homeless man approach me to say that clearly Lilly was the best trained dog in the group. How nice is that? So, I made sure he knew that she also is 4 years old, not 6, 12 or 18 months. She's simply had far more practice.
As class got going, we did our best to steer clear of the wild pups and keep our protective bubble of space, but we did have a few accidental face-to-face encounters with a couple of the new pups. I'm happy to say that Lilly took it well. I suspect the fact that theses dogs are quite small helped.
Lilly even gave me a good case of leash burn, when she got excited about some ducks and squirrels, but the confidence faded when a classmate let the trashcan lid slam. The noise flipped a switch. Apparently, there was much to toss away and many people needing the port-o-potties because lids and doors on both slammed the entire time we were having class. Bang. Smack. Bang. Smack. Bang. Smack.
I had some operator error on one exercise designed to get your dog to move out of your way because all it did was make Lilly paranoid. That's when I knew she was off her mental feed, and that the collective noise was getting to her.
But, we did our own thing and worked our relaxation program as best we could. She continued to work, even though her tail was firmly glued to her tummy.
While we waited our turn to do some recalls, however, some guys on skateboards whizzed by, banging the front of their boards back and forth. Not good. Then, a pack of guys behind a big pine tree started ranting and talking really loud about the war or some such. Since Lilly is super-sensitive to tone of voice, this put her over the edge. She was literally quivering in fear. So, I moved her away and sat on the ground to hug her. I just rubbed her butt and kissed her and repeated over and over. "You're not alone. I'm right here. You're fine."
She did two tremendous recalls. Fast, straight, focused, but I suspect it's because she just wanted to get back into my lap. So, I dropped to my knees and cheered her in the entire way. Then, proceeded to have a big kiss-fest.
As we made our way back to the parking area on the paths, she gave wide berth to the loud-talking men and flatly refused to work to my right, even after we passed them. She was in panicked-flee mode, so I did my best to make our way along the busy path.
When the rest of the group lagged behind and broke off in other directions to get back to their cars, I chose to keep walking straight and cross a later bridge. There was a wide open section of trail. I could let Lilly reel out a bit on her leash and have some freedom to relax. She seemed to let loose with her posture a bit, so I relaxed too.
I often use our classmates to block loose dogs, but I never imagined I'd need them to block a loose child. This little girl scared the holy crap out of Lilly who was already emotionally spent. She basically ran straight at us, arms up high. She was tiny enough to put her face right at Lilly's mouth level. Trust me, I know that stressed dogs have very low bite thresholds, so we basically turned and ran, but this child kept coming, so I finally yelled at her mother to grab her, that my dog was afraid of kids, etc. Terrible incident averted, but it still took it's toll on me.
I probably should have continued my retreat and walked back to another bridge to cross over, but Lilly just wanted to go home, and she could see my car. So, once the child was contained, with her mother alternately glaring at me and laughing at what her daughter had done, we crossed over.
Lilly literally crawled on her belly past this family. Not funny people. Imagine some lunatic scaring your child into a catatonic state.
It was so sad, and I was so amped up from the scare that tears felt like the most reasonable outlet. My thanks to Chester's family. (I don't even know their names.) He's a new classmate. A blue-eyed corgi with some leash aggression issues. They sat with me until I collected myself enough to drive. They let me vent about stupid people. They sympathized and offered perspective.
As I often do when we've had a tough day, I took Lilly to a favorite trail on the way home, and we went for a long walk. I just let her unwind and relax, but we ran into a few scares there too, including a pack of Tween-Aged girls running around and flapping their arms at Lilly as they circled us. Since they were big enough, I just said, "Hey, gals? She's afraid of kids. Could you give her some space?" And they apologized and backed off. I'm pretty sure their mothers also shot me looks.
Then, about 100 feet down the trail, we passed a young Aussie on a flexi. We got past no problem, but then I heard the distinct whir of a the leash reeling full-out. I turned to see the dog max out and snap back about a foot from Lilly's butt. We kept walking, and Lilly was fine. But, holy cow!
Food is my outlet of choice, so Lilly and I went to our favorite middle eastern cafe and shared a bowl of hummus on the patio. It was sunny, warm, quiet, and we had a nice relaxing lunch.
Once we got home, Lilly took up residence at the top of our hill and watched the world go by all afternoon. She needed down time, as did I. When we finally came inside for dinner and such, she pried open the basement door and disappeared into her crate for the entire night.
P.S. I'm sorry to subscribers who got a couple test emails last night. Tech support was working on a video insert problem for me. That entry will post for real on Sunday.
You'd think early Sunday mornings might make for a lighter-than-average amount of activity in a creekside park in Boulder, but that's not the case ... especially on Mother's Day. It was a zoo. Initially, Lilly did fine despite the environment and despite the fact that there were a bunch of new, very young, super-silly dogs in class. In fact, a sweet homeless man approach me to say that clearly Lilly was the best trained dog in the group. How nice is that? So, I made sure he knew that she also is 4 years old, not 6, 12 or 18 months. She's simply had far more practice.
As class got going, we did our best to steer clear of the wild pups and keep our protective bubble of space, but we did have a few accidental face-to-face encounters with a couple of the new pups. I'm happy to say that Lilly took it well. I suspect the fact that theses dogs are quite small helped.
Lilly even gave me a good case of leash burn, when she got excited about some ducks and squirrels, but the confidence faded when a classmate let the trashcan lid slam. The noise flipped a switch. Apparently, there was much to toss away and many people needing the port-o-potties because lids and doors on both slammed the entire time we were having class. Bang. Smack. Bang. Smack. Bang. Smack.
I had some operator error on one exercise designed to get your dog to move out of your way because all it did was make Lilly paranoid. That's when I knew she was off her mental feed, and that the collective noise was getting to her.
But, we did our own thing and worked our relaxation program as best we could. She continued to work, even though her tail was firmly glued to her tummy.
While we waited our turn to do some recalls, however, some guys on skateboards whizzed by, banging the front of their boards back and forth. Not good. Then, a pack of guys behind a big pine tree started ranting and talking really loud about the war or some such. Since Lilly is super-sensitive to tone of voice, this put her over the edge. She was literally quivering in fear. So, I moved her away and sat on the ground to hug her. I just rubbed her butt and kissed her and repeated over and over. "You're not alone. I'm right here. You're fine."
She did two tremendous recalls. Fast, straight, focused, but I suspect it's because she just wanted to get back into my lap. So, I dropped to my knees and cheered her in the entire way. Then, proceeded to have a big kiss-fest.
As we made our way back to the parking area on the paths, she gave wide berth to the loud-talking men and flatly refused to work to my right, even after we passed them. She was in panicked-flee mode, so I did my best to make our way along the busy path.
When the rest of the group lagged behind and broke off in other directions to get back to their cars, I chose to keep walking straight and cross a later bridge. There was a wide open section of trail. I could let Lilly reel out a bit on her leash and have some freedom to relax. She seemed to let loose with her posture a bit, so I relaxed too.
I often use our classmates to block loose dogs, but I never imagined I'd need them to block a loose child. This little girl scared the holy crap out of Lilly who was already emotionally spent. She basically ran straight at us, arms up high. She was tiny enough to put her face right at Lilly's mouth level. Trust me, I know that stressed dogs have very low bite thresholds, so we basically turned and ran, but this child kept coming, so I finally yelled at her mother to grab her, that my dog was afraid of kids, etc. Terrible incident averted, but it still took it's toll on me.
I probably should have continued my retreat and walked back to another bridge to cross over, but Lilly just wanted to go home, and she could see my car. So, once the child was contained, with her mother alternately glaring at me and laughing at what her daughter had done, we crossed over.
Lilly literally crawled on her belly past this family. Not funny people. Imagine some lunatic scaring your child into a catatonic state.
It was so sad, and I was so amped up from the scare that tears felt like the most reasonable outlet. My thanks to Chester's family. (I don't even know their names.) He's a new classmate. A blue-eyed corgi with some leash aggression issues. They sat with me until I collected myself enough to drive. They let me vent about stupid people. They sympathized and offered perspective.
As I often do when we've had a tough day, I took Lilly to a favorite trail on the way home, and we went for a long walk. I just let her unwind and relax, but we ran into a few scares there too, including a pack of Tween-Aged girls running around and flapping their arms at Lilly as they circled us. Since they were big enough, I just said, "Hey, gals? She's afraid of kids. Could you give her some space?" And they apologized and backed off. I'm pretty sure their mothers also shot me looks.
Then, about 100 feet down the trail, we passed a young Aussie on a flexi. We got past no problem, but then I heard the distinct whir of a the leash reeling full-out. I turned to see the dog max out and snap back about a foot from Lilly's butt. We kept walking, and Lilly was fine. But, holy cow!
Food is my outlet of choice, so Lilly and I went to our favorite middle eastern cafe and shared a bowl of hummus on the patio. It was sunny, warm, quiet, and we had a nice relaxing lunch.
Once we got home, Lilly took up residence at the top of our hill and watched the world go by all afternoon. She needed down time, as did I. When we finally came inside for dinner and such, she pried open the basement door and disappeared into her crate for the entire night.
P.S. I'm sorry to subscribers who got a couple test emails last night. Tech support was working on a video insert problem for me. That entry will post for real on Sunday.
Missing My Penelope
We're approaching the fourth anniversary of my first dog's death, and it still catches me off-guard. While cleaning off some old patio furniture cushions the other day, Tom found a bevy
of Penelope's white hair in the creases. And, it totally made me cry. ...<< MORE >>
Schwag? What schwag?
OK. So, it's not like it matters to me really. However, Lilly and I are sans schwag, completely without. Our invitation to take part in that videotaped interview recently included a
promise of stuff. That's totally NOT why we did it. But, it was promised and not delivered, which I find a bit amusing considering how such media machinations typically work. ...<< MORE >>
Birthday Love
We don't really know when Lilly was born. Sometime in spring 2004. But, we do know when Ginko was born, so we pretend like both have the same birthday — May 13. Today, Ginko is 8, and
Lilly is 4. I can't believe it. ...<< MORE >>
Adventures in Dog Biscotti
As a special treat, I attempted some dog-friendly biscotti this weekend. It's mostly peanut butter and whole wheat, and it looked pretty easy. I ended up making 2 batches because the
first one didn't turn out so hot, and I'm pretty good in the kitchen, so here is my advice. ...<< MORE >>
A Bit of a Mother's Day Rant
Dear Clueless Mother:
Perhaps you don't realize how close you came to spending your oh-so-special day in the emergency room. You need to pay far more attention to that precious little one of yours. You see, the fruit of your loins chased us quite a ways before you tuned in. Was it my yells that finally broke you out of your brunch-induced stupor? I'm not the bad guy here. Remember, we were the ones making a hasty retreat.
...<< MORE >>
Perhaps you don't realize how close you came to spending your oh-so-special day in the emergency room. You need to pay far more attention to that precious little one of yours. You see, the fruit of your loins chased us quite a ways before you tuned in. Was it my yells that finally broke you out of your brunch-induced stupor? I'm not the bad guy here. Remember, we were the ones making a hasty retreat.
...<< MORE >>
Spring 2008 Wildlife Update
The hummingbirds returned a week early this year. Just 2 days after I cooked up some hummingbird juice for the feeders, we saw our first one of the season. They usually stay in our
valley from April through October. Very cool. I've even learned how to get one to sit on my finger. I'd love to get video of that someday, but it takes A LOT of patience. The elk are also back. Check
out this photo we shot last weekend.
...<< MORE >>
...<< MORE >>
Weekly Training Update (May 9)
Lilly had two run-ins with dogs this week, but I'm happy to say that her responses were somewhat measured and appropriate. ...<< MORE >>
What I tried to say ...
I really have no idea if I gave useful answers during our interview last Friday. But, here's what I remembered to say. ...<< MORE >>
Have you seen this one?
The second part of our video interview was more about gathering footage of Lilly playing (or whatever) that they can use (I'm assuming) with audio from me talking about her. Since
regular readers know that it's hard to get Lilly to "play" in public, I decided to go with tricks instead. ...<< MORE >>