The Prisoner's vacation is over

This was actually a pretty sweet little "grooming" of the Prisoner as administered by Ember.  "My favorite interactive plaything is back, now I'm home," she seemed to say.  The mouthing was gentle, and only at one point later did the kitty even turn his head and give Ember "a look".  Then I told Ember to "let the kitty get away", and with a little leash pressure, she did.

Ember wasn't hungry for her supper, but then she'd had treats on two walks, plus three chewy kinds of treats, a whipped cream kong bribe, etc.  No wonder "kibble" isn't terribly exciting.

After the "pack walk" we went on with Aunt Alicia, Alicia went off to her own pack (including Benji) and Ember napped in her den for a couple of hours.  I got her out at 6 p.m. and she then consented to nibble on the kibble, but she still didn't eat the whole portion.  I then put her back to bed only to go down to give her a potty break before 11 p.m.  I was willing to bet she'll be plenty hungry for breakfast.

This turned out not to be the case.  I think being boarded taught her a couple of things.  One was timing of the meals.  I think they feed at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.  That means that I've been feeding her earlier than the times they have set.  Yesterday afternoon, she wasn't ready.  And this morning, she wasn't ready, either.

Ember wanted to go out for her walk at about 5:30 a.m.  I told her we have to wait for the sun to come up.  We have to wait until at least 6 a.m.  I do like going between 6 and 6:30 in the morning, because it's just the garbage men, us, and the occasional person who works early enough they are leaving their house in that time frame.  She gets lots of chances to sniff, she is not distracted when I cue her to "leave it" or "leave the human things alone".

We had one incident of teeth before the walk this morning, based on Mommy not being dextrous enough with the harness snap.  Sigh.  But we got calmed down, and after a ten-minute timeout, we got out for the walk.

Thursday morning, based on the Wednesday afternoon experience of her shredding a styrofoam cup that someone had tossed out of a car window (people!  Geesh!), I took her across the street.  Unfortunately, on the other side of the street, she found a Monster (the drink) aluminum can in the bushes, and got it into her mouth before I could pull her away and cue "leave it".  

Let us be brutally honest:  I don't have good enough treats in my goodie bag to make her drop that big a prize in her value hierarchy.

She immediately looked for the fastest route home, wanting to return with her prize.  I humored her, but had to enforce the "If you pull, Mommy has to stop" rule multiple times before she decided to follow Mommy's pace the rest of the way home.  Even so, in the house, it took about 3/4 of an ounce of cheese to retrieve the can from her.

I cooked my own breakfast, hand-feeding her enough kibble to fill her belly.  She'd had so many treats she wasn't going after the puzzle dish at all, but she happily took kibble "breakfast" from mommy's hand, even doing her "stations of the sit" cues for it.  Then she collapsed in a heap on the kitchen floor and I put on her Dog TV gentle music, and we have a puppy nap!

The hardest time to entice her into the crate is for the morning nap.  But once she's there, she settles down.  I left for the grocery store and she was snoring when I got back.  So I did some human stuff, quietly, including typing this up.  And now I hear her stirring, so I'll wrap it up!

Something she learned at boarding:

• Sometimes one doesn't have to "work" for meals, they just come in a bowl!

Life is good!  Keep on Sparking!