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. …
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.
…
New Year’s Day hoopla bores me. All the hopes, all the resolutions, feel too much like a mate who acts like an @#$@# all year long and thinks flowers on Valentine’s Day or diamonds at
Xmas makes up for it. I don’t buy it. But, it’s not that I don’t believe in new beginnings or new goals. I simply think that every day is a fresh start … for that matter so is every hour, every
minute. …
It finally stopped snowing here around 10 pm last night, so we got off the mountain today after plowing the driveway. The canyon was snow-packed and icy for sure, but not terrible. We
got Ginny home safely, but we did NOT do any after-xmas shopping … other than to pick up some bags of wood stove pellets since another storm is coming tonight into tomorrow. …
While sorting through some archived photos, I came across this one of Ginko from March 2003. We’d had an incredible blizzard that dumped like 5-6 feet of snow very quickly. We were
stranded at home for about a week. That’s how long it took to clear our football-field-long driveway. …
Tom swears that the pads on the back of Lilly’s forelegs are oversized — like thumbs. Since she *is* good at gripping things, opening things and general dexterity, I’m inclined to
agree. If we don’t watch out, soon she’ll be climbing ropes, scaling ravines and other mischief. Check it out. …
Tom, my hubby and Lilly’s most excellent daddy, was voted 2007 firefighter of the year. Since he joined the fire department 5 years ago, he has won 3 big awards, including rookie of the
year and firefighter of the year twice. I’m always proud of his hard work, but it’s especially nice when others recognize it too. It’s super-duper nice when other firefighters (yes, men) go out of
their way to tell me how much they think of Tom. …
Last weekend, we had a prolonged storm, where snow kept coming for several days in a row. Since the roads were somewhat clear Sunday afternoon, Lilly and I ventured out to class in
Boulder, which for us is a pretty long drive. On the way home, we narrowly missed getting in a VERY BAD car accident. …
One of the challenges of training a dog to run agility is teaching her that having something move beneath her is fun (or at least fine). Since Lilly still won’t do a full-height teeter,
I’m certainly no expert. However, I thought these tips on training that motion is OK around the house might help. …
