If Lilly is reluctant to do something, if she believes she’s in trouble, if she’s feeling exponentially submissive, she writhes on the ground. The closer you try to get, the more she
wriggles away. We call it “hover-crafting” because she scoots across the ground as if my magic. Well, it turns out other people call it “worming,” and I’m told it can run in border collie genetic
lines. Hmm. …
Last Sunday as a surprisingly nice day up here in the hills, so Lilly and I packed ourselves up and went to class. Sadly, it was actually kind of chilly in town, and things didn’t go particularly well. Even though Lilly did great at the location last time, the higher-than-usual number of dogs Lilly doesn’t…
I’m not sure how she does it, but Lilly can get her tongue way up my nose or deep in my ear in a flash during any of her many kissing fits. Out of the blue, she feels the need to
express her LOVE for me with a flurry of relentless kissing. I’m kind of a little person, so it’s not like my nose and ears are chasms, but she can still fire her tongue right in there.
Ready? Aim. Bloop! Recently, while watching her intently play with a narrow Kong that I’d stuffed with peanut butter and …
Lilly and I skipped class this week, but I did take her into town last Saturday to run errands with me. Her prize for being such a trooper was a nice walk down, even though it was
pretty chilly. Tom was also out running around and happened to drive by us while we were on our walk. He whipped into the lot where we always park and waited on a bench to surprise Lilly. And, boy,
was she surprised!
…
We may never know the full circumstances that led to Meredith Emerson’s death. She’s the young woman, originally from Colorado, who went missing while hiking alone with her dog (Ella)
in Georgia. What did that creepy man do to gain her confidence? Police have since arrested someone, charged him with her death, and found her body. Ella was found safe some 40-50 miles away from the
wilderness area they were hiking. I assume that a friend of family member will keep her, but I have not heard. HOWEVER, I suspect many of you go on outings alone with your dogs, …
Along with the ups and downs of our usual training, Lilly had one agility-like victory this week. Happy dance with me, will you? …
At Sunday’s class at an outdoor park/path along Boulder Creek, Lilly did remarkably well considering the amount of human traffic, including bikes, scooters, and skateboards. And, she
even did OK at first when she noticed the wildlife in the area. …
Last week, I found myself a bit in a wad after someone who doesn’t know dogs at all said Lilly is “hard to train.” She said it like it was a statement of fact, like she was simply
reiterating something I’ve said myself. I quickly clarified my point, which is this. The training work I’m doing with Lilly is hard. It’s hard for me to learn. It’s hard for me to stick to long-term.
It’s hard for me to understand entirely these very detailed (bordering on PhD-level) strategies. Lilly, however, is a breeze to train simply because she’s so smart. …
We haven’t been in class in a few weeks due to weather and the holidays, but this week I continued working on LEAVE IT since that’s an important prerequisite for a whiplash turn recall,
which I’ll start trying to train soon. I also made a more specific attempt to teach the Give Me a Break game from Leslie McDevitt’s book “Control Unleashed.” Essentially, it’s meant to build
excitement for a particular behavior.
…
Since I had to take Ginko down to the doctor today for follow-up blood tests to check his thyroid levels after 2 months on the new dosage, I went ahead and drug him around with me while
I ran a few errands. The snow and cold have kept us fairly cooped up, so once I’m off the mountain, I’d best get a few things done. From our outing, I have two happy things to report.
…
