Day 97

The sun is shining, but there is no warmth in the air. One of the day care dogs is in season and her very presence is causing a major uproar. Seems as if I have to have more dogs in lock-up than I have running loose. What a stinker Sanity is. Instead of trying to help me calm things down, oh no, not her. Nope, she has to try and get in there and really stir things up even more. So she got herself banished to the house. Right now she is curled up under my desk and resting comfortably on my feet. Not sure if I think that is comfortable or not. It does keep my feet warm.

Managed to get in a couple of retrieve sessions and by the last one I was able to take my hand totally away from the dumbbell and drop the hold command. She is lunging for the dumbbell almost before I can place it on the ground. That is the good part. The bad part is that after she picks it up, she is still hanging up as to what the next step is supposed to be. That will straighten itself out after a few more practice sessions.

Meanwhile, her interest in picking things up and bringing them to me has definitely started to pick up and move in the right direction. What's interesting about it is that if I remain quiet she will bring the item to me. If I tell her she is a good girl she drops the item. If I call her to me, she puts the item down and then comes to me. Personally, I thing we are at the can't chew gum and walk stage. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Made her really mad at me this afternoon. Left her home and took Val to visit Lauren. We really had to make some sort of a decision about what to do. The size issue looms so very large. Val managed to do everything right and so came back her as Jersey Val. We are going to change her name to Jersey since it is part of her registered name and Lauren, Don and I all like Jersey much better than Val. Should take about a week to complete the change-over.

When I got back home, Sanity was just a'screaming. Seems she didn't think much about this business of having to stay downstairs with all the other dogs and then the greatest cut of all. I took another dog with me and left her behind. Little does she know that that will be a major part of her training from now until she learns way more self-control that she has shown me today.