Saturday adventures or not

 

Let us begin with the glory of sunrise, over the neighbor's roof.  Ember had slept through the night.  I was still holding out hope for the lake outing with Carl, his paw-rents, and the other side grand-paw-rents.  I mainly wanted to give Donna and Bob a hug over their lost birdie.

The Prisoner was in fine fettle, having spent the night inside, and ready for his own outdoor adventures.

He's alert, keeping an eye on the sliding glass door to the deck, lest Ember decide to "come say hi".  Ember, in fact, has grown leaps and bounds in the area of "let the kitty get away".  We don't see the big "grooming" sessions anymore.  I don't know how much of this is Prisoner getting his licks in, how much it is Ember knowing Mom will defend the cat, and how much of it is she's just learned it's not all that exciting.  She will still chase him up onto the rail, but then she lets him be.

Ember, meanwhile, was examining the reconfiguration of a "gate" at the bottom of the stairs.  She quickly figured out the towel situation, managed to slide the gate section enough to retrieve a towel, and of course it all fell apart.  While she cooled her heels outside for a bit, I got some empty milk containers from the recycle bin and used them where the towels had been.  This lasted even less time than the towels.

The milk containers became chew toys in short order.  But she did not violate the gate.  My next configuration involved lashing the one end of the "gate" to the newel post with the 18 foot long line. Might as well use it for something, right?

In any case, I don't remember the exact order of events related to the reconfiguration and my thoughts about going on our usual morning walk.  But Ember did not wish to cooperate with getting her harness on.  I was "done" with dealing with teeth and decided to play "ItsYerChoice" for the harness.  You don't want the harness on?  OK, you have chosen NOT to go for a neighborhood walk.

Instead, I took her out in the backyard for games of ball-toss and a little bit of tug with the air-bumper.  She got her exercise, then was wiped out and ready to nap by 8 a.m.  This was about the time (a little before) we would have to leave for the lake adventure.

Given the behavior, I decided to forego the lake trip.  I messaged my DIL that we weren't coming and why.  Secondary, I think since this is Carl's first off leash outing since his injury 3 weeks ago, he really doesn't need Ember distracting him from his own fun.  

I chose instead to reconfigure the X-Pen to protect the rest of the furniture and give Ember a more open "play area".  One that I can gate off when needed.  Here she is, chilling in it, with the "door" removed.

Note the big crate is inside the X-Pen.  She seemed quite content after her nap to chew on her chew sticks inside the pen.  I left it open to let her adjust to it, and when it came time for puppy nap #2, I put her to bed in the big crate, inside the pen.

But before we got to this point... I got a text message from my youngest sister.  Typically, there was no forewarning:  "Just an FYI, I am in Lincoln.  Would love to meet Ember if we can figure out a time that works."  This is my extroverted youngest sister's style.  Very opportunistic, not a plan ahead kind of gal.  Often when she shows up, I'm already fully committed or fully exhausted, one or the other.

Today, I welcomed it.  Ember loves having people come and fawn over her, and I'd just deprived her of the opportunity of a lake trip (although she didn't know that).  I texted back that anytime between then and noon would be fine for a visit.

Thankfully, my family are big on making dogs keep their paws on the ground to get attention.  Jen (sister) also helped me with a few restrained recalls, some of which turned into tug games or fetch games.  I still need to find a more consistent way to deliver the layered training that is supposed to be part of the purpose of this game.

Ember slipped a tooth off the toy and got my hand, so the game ended with me bandaging up again.  She's starting to understand that tooth on mommy in tug ends the game, so I could tell it was not intentional.  I can tell she's being more careful, but she still sometimes has those "oopsies".

We came back in and demonstrated the IYC game with cheese.  Jen told of the therapy dog at her workplace whose handler can put a treat on her nose.  The dog then flips the treat up on cue and catches it in the air.  Awesome, but we are not at that level.  Yet.  Maybe someday.  Or maybe not.  

Jen looked into Ember's eyes and saw some of what I see:  a dog who really wants to be a good dog, just still figuring out all the rules.

I got caught up on family happening... and sis left to go visit her youngest son and his girlfriend at their new apartment.  Always good to get sister-hugs.

Ember and I had our lunch salads, and now she's down for puppy nap #2.  You know, we really needed a quiet day today!

Life is good. Spark on!