A Quiet Morning in Ember-ville

Wednesday afternoon, Ember and mommy watched dog training videos on the TV together.  Ember eventually decided she had to bark at the dog on the TV, it looked so much like her.  At that point, Mommy ended the session and we went outside to play chase the ball.

Auntie Alicia came over and we showed off our "snuffle mat" skills.  Ember was still full of it, excited to have an extra human to adore her.  She kept wanting to play with Alicia's flowing sleeves (sorry, no photos of that part, or the walk that followed).  But the end result was to try to take her on a "big girl leash" walk.

Alicia tracked the walk outside with her Runkeeper.  We went around a single block, 0.4 mile, which is a more appropriate distance for a 3 month old puppy!  It took 26 minutes.  We stopped regularly to sit and watch the wind blow at a banner across the street, or watch the children being picked up by their parents at a home day car up the block.  One lovely neighbor asked if she could pet the puppy, and of course we said yes.  Ember adored that!  The lady keeps a GSP herself, so she knew not to undermine our attempts to teach Ember proper manners, and she knelt down and petter her chest to help her succeed at keeping four paws on the ground.  Ember licked and waggled her joy at the encounter.

When she saved the recording on RunKeeper, Alicia wrote "Tried to wear out Ember. Didn't work."  But in fact, it did work.  Less than 5 minutes after the walk, the puppy switch turned off, and she willingly went into her den for the "Mommy cooks her own supper" nap time, leading up to bedtime.

I don't want to jinx it by bragging on this puppy, but I do believe that she is starting to "get it" about many things.  This morning, she patiently waited in her den while I got the kitty inside and to his breakfast.  She did her business in the overnight and in the first outing at 5 a.m. without attempting to gnaw on mom's ankles or pant legs.  She did a "pretty good" job with the closet when mom put her rain jacket away.  She still wiggled in to get "stuck" and come out the other side of the sliding door, but she didn't pull clothes off hangers or drag any shoes out.

It probably helps that every time she HAS pulled a shoe out, once I convinced her to give it back, it went up on the foothill of sacrifices, so there are not many left in that closet at the moment.  Once I put them back we'll see how long this good behavior lasts.

Emmy even seemed (cross fingers it sticks) to catch on that we don't pull, tug, bite or try to destroy the new Muddy Mat by the sliding door.  In fact, she seemed to learn that it was a great place to lie down and have a puppy nap, and not have to go into her den quite so soon in the morning.  She lasted all the way to 7 a.m., including sleeping in this spot while mommy cooked and ate her breakfast!  Of course Mommy had to transfer her to the den so Mommy can have some human time after that, because we can't have the puppy wake up and get into mischief, and ruin such a great start to her day!

The bug guys are due between 9:30 and 11:30, and I think I have decided to let them just do the outside barriers, and make sure the thresholds are well covered, rather than actually come inside to treat.  Puppy safety is more important than a few bugs.

Life is good!

Spark on!