In a two animal household

In safe places, both of them.

Ember knows that she must "let the kitty go".  Some days this message is stronger than others, and I do keep a wary eye on their interactions, for sure.  The past few days have unfolded much like this picture.  Ember shows interest in the kitty (who is on the other side of the door).  I open the lock, which alerts the kitty to get to high ground.  He heads that way.  I open the door a crack, exposing Ember's nose, and the cat completes his journey to a spot Ember cannot reach.

They remain within sight of each other, but Ember does not charge out the door or after the kitty.  Slowly, The Prisoner is winning this battle of "leave it" and Ember is winning the battle of impulse control.

This does not mean I'm going to stop watching over them carefully, at all.

A bright moon greeted us, pre-sunrise.  Sunrise has now retreated to 6:17 a.m.  "Dawn" is about half an hour before sunrise.  I have been trying to start our morning walkies at "quarter to sunrise".

Thursday morning's walk included some pets from a nice man getting into his truck to head for his work.  Ember got the zoomies!  I have no clue for sure as to what caused this particular episode... perhaps her harness got twisted and she was pinched when he bent down and stroked her?  Regardless, she calmed down and we made it home.  

We had a victory over the lawn sprinklers across the street today, walking by them while they were on.  When we got home, we had a brief game of fetch in the back yard for Ember to get a bit of running in.  She needs this faster-than-mom-can-go pace as part of her daily activity.

Another area of progress is playing tug with mom.  I've been using this as a distraction from messing with the slip covers and couch cushion.  First with the towel, and then with the long rope tug.  This morning, she got overexcited and her teeth hit my hand on the long rope tug, and I did just what the trainer said to do... called an end to that game.  For now.  And put the tug rope away.  But the couch remained "safe."

Ember got tired and went down for puppy nap #1 at 7:15 a.m.  This means she was in for 3 hours and 40 minutes by the time I went to my 10 a.m. workout, got home, and changed.  

It was already 86℉ when I got home, so the rest of the day it was short trips outside, fill the puppy pool, and short games of fetch.  We did go for a short second leash walk in the 3 p.m. hour, after puppy nap #2 when it was 94!  

Coming into the house with the AC regularly was a strategy for surviving the heat.  We chilled on the couch, with lots of pets, and she took naps, both in and outside of her "den". 

Summer is back!  It is nearly August, right?

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!