On another remarkably warm Sunday afternoon, we again made time for class. While Lilly did not stay calm from start to finish, she bounced back better than she
would have in the past from seeing lots of new dogs and from firecrackers. Yes, firecrackers in @#$@ November. Still, I ended up with a fat lip, after Lilly decided to jump her jitters out when
I wasn’t looking. Rather than face photos that reveal Lilly’s mood by ear position …
First, it was a ham sandwich, left unattended while I took Lilly for a walk. Then, a
couple days later, Ginko went after bigger kitchen game. Yep. While he isn’t as book or training smart as Lilly, Ginko certainly learns quickly when food is involved. Especially forbidden food.
…
This is another thing I came across on Twitter. It’s a site called I’m Tired Of … that sells a bunch of different bracelets (made from recycled tires) and t-shirts that help promote various causes. They donate some
of the proceeds to charities. In addition rallying against diseases (like breast cancer, diabetes, etc.) and cultural issues such as discrimination, they have some that say
During what proved to be another distraction-steeped week, I found this when I went into the kitchen to get some lunch. Big thanks to Lilly for providing perhaps
the day’s only laugh. You’ve heard of raccoons washing their food? Well, it’s a habit Lilly
learned from Ginko when it comes to dirty toys — balls in particular. I was going to call this How Clean Are Your Balls? But, I feared that would attract icky spam. …
Even as the weather turns colder, we have a hard time keeping Lilly inside. Any time a door opens, she slips out like a little canine ninja. The difference,
compared to summer, is that we have less trouble getting her to come inside. So, she’s in. She’s out. She’s in. She’s out. One of her favorite things to do is “help” me hang out laundry. She
makes it pay off by convincing me to toss sticks while I …
I took Lilly to class for the first time in seven weeks on Sunday. She did great, even though we did not know the majority of dogs and many of them were young and somewhat wild. She did snark at one dog whose self-control is still under construction, but that’s no surprise. This pup was straining at the end of the leash, hopping around and looking right at Lilly. …
Really, Ginko? You ate the entire ham-and-cheese sandwich I made for your Daddy? It was on a plate, on the counter, which surely does not look anything like your bowl on the floor. And, neither of us were around to give you the green light to have people food. Are you in on this conspiracy to ruin my mood after a nice walk? What a knucklehead! …
These days, you’ll find me squished somewhere between my goal for things to get back to normal work-wise and to give Lilly more than just what’s left of my time and energy. That means balancing three veterinary trade magazine deadlines this week and life. To that end, I used my “lunch” time yesterday to take a long walk with Lilly up the road and back. …
As you likely heard on TV and from other Colorado bloggers, it snowed for three solid days last week and resulted in about three feet of snow around here. Unfortunately, the storm coincided with my first real week of work (after nonstop family medical drama) in a while, so Lilly found herself feeling more than cooped up. So, for your amusement, I present to top two signs your border collie has cabin fever. …
While we’re revisiting our behavior modification and training plan for Lilly, it seems like a good time to revisit some of what got us here in terms of our long absence from formal agility training — group, private, or otherwise. I made many mistakes because I didn’t fully understand how fearful Lilly was and how many things contributed to her negative reaction to an agility course (and the monsters she thinks live there). …
