Charlie, a 9-year-old, female, border collie from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, needs a new home. Her family asked me for help. So, I’m asking all of you for help. Please spread the word in any way you can. Below you’ll find photos, a video, and a detailed Q&A about her.
Last week, we got about 5 feet of total snow from three different storms, spaced 2-3 days apart. Tom plowed some pretty big snowbanks after the third blast, so Lilly and I used them as poor-girl’s dog agility A-frames. This slow-motion, snow-motion video shows just how athletic my lithe, sensitive girl truly is.
For your Wednesday viewing pleasure, a trio of Lilly photos that chronicle a bit of last week.
Some days, my brain buzzes with larger, more philosophical sides to dog training. In part, this happens because of items I see in dog world news such as this dog training summit. At some point soon, I may rant a bit on that very topic since I’m not shy about the fact that I’m no fan of “He Who Shall Not Be Named.” But, today, I wanted to share a distinction I think will help.
Answer me this: When your dog responds to cues or offers default behaviors or just generally behaves like a civilized canine citizen, do you feel a sense of power or pride?
A lack of attention and concentration resulted in a comedy of errors, involving laundry, a game of fetch, and a somewhat famous border collie girl who spins when she gets excited.
Ginko and Lilly express their expectations differently. The more I ponder yesterday’s Signs Point to Yes, the more I realize that the disparity in their responses to disappointment or anticipation reflect their formal (and not so formal) dog training.
Last Friday, I accidentally pulled a terrible trick on my sweet Lilly. I rushed around in the morning before an entire day of eldercare efforts, and I didn’t realize what Lilly assumed based on various visual clues until I stepped toward the front door to leave.
Yesterday, while I tried to occupy Lilly as I worked, she destroyed her 2009 x-mas present — the Twist n’ Treat. Since it had issues with being too easy, I’m not all that bummed about the ruined toy, but she tore off three pieces, and I can only find TWO of them. I fear she swallowed one.
Here is our new blog design for Champion of My Heart. Snazzy, yes? It took more work than you would imagine. Seriously … 14 tries until I got the new header image to work, including getting the ropes to line up (or close enough). And, that’s just one of oodles of customizations I made in the php and css on the code side of the blog. I still have much work, and many glitches remain from the change over in design, platform, and hosting switch, but I’ll get there — eventually.
I took Lilly for an in-town outing for the first time in doggone ages last Sunday. We mostly ran errands and such, but she did get her first chance to visit my mom at the assisted living place. It wasn’t a perfect visit behavior-wise, but it wasn’t terrible either. I kept it short (10 minutes). I rewarded the heck out of every tiny confident thing. Looks like we have a few challenges to train, if indeed Lilly would like to continue these visits.
