Cats and dogs

 

Ember:  Let's play!

Mom:  Be gentle with the kitty.

Prisoner:  Really?  Really?  You call this gentle?

The Prisoner has been incredibly tolerant of puppy Ember.  I have to believe that he never would have let the puppy version of Carl "play" this way.

Saturday morning's angel puppy appears to have vanished.  On Sunday morning I was dealing with the demon version of Ember, who was fighting everything!  She wants out because the cat is outside.  She doesn't want anything to do with either harness, and when mommy tries to do "what mommy needs to do" to clip it on, the jumping and nipping version of Ember is showing up.  I finally ended up saying "Mommy's done," and put her into a time-out with a pupsickle.

On Saturday she got two leash walks and a back garden play time with Barnaby.  I'm not sure what we'll end up with today, unless the time out does something magical and angel puppy decides to cooperate with the harness when she comes out.

Later:  well, she didn't exactly come out pure angel, but we got to the point of getting a leash clipped on, and we exited through the back door, because the front door routine was failing, still.  No harness, just collar and leash.  That means a bit more of an upper body workout for mom, but that's one of the reasons mom works out!

We made it around our "normal" morning walk route, about an hour later than most mornings.  But we made it!  Ember needs this, and she expects this, but mom is adamant about manners during the important "get ready" phase.  And MOM needs cool-down time after an argument over it!

Ember went back into her crate long enough for Mommy to go grocery shopping.  I'm stocking the basics for the full day of "clear liquids" a week from Monday.  Plus of course our normal food for the week.  

When Ember came out after my grocery trip, she let me put the "old" harness on, and we went for a walk in the other direction from our usual morning walks.  As is often the case when there has been a big rain, there were windfall branches.  And she loves the big ones.

By the time I took this photo, she had already trimmed the big branch down a bit, as well as carried it across two streets.

She sat on other people's lawn gnawing on it for a while.  Teething, teething, teething. Eventually I enticed her away from it and on to home, but not without an "episode" of jumping/nipping.  I resorted to "treasure hunt"/"search" game scattering treats on the sidewalk, then asked her to sit and delivered a treat as instructed by the trainer.

The gnawing on the cat tree, the gnawing on her teething toys, probably even some of the nipping on me... can be chalked up to a teething puppy not having total control over her need to soothe herself and her gums.

Puppy naptime number two had me outside taping up a grid cap on one of the vents (not sure what it's venting from, but it needs a grid to keep critters out).  Ember had managed to remove one of the grid caps and break it while she was at it.  The one I ordered online didn't quite fit right, thus the duct tape "for now".

Puppy naptime number three was spent outside the crate, but she was truly "out of it" enough for me to do a few human things.  She seemed to be angel puppy after that nap, and waited patiently while I loaded up her snuffle mat and puzzles for her supper.

We are now into the "mommy's supper until ready for bed" part of the day.  Tomorrow the tub/shower conversion continues.  Onward!

Life is good!  Spark on!