Some like it hot

 

This is mommy's favorite tug toy!  It's one that Ember has good purchase and an easy way to avoid getting her teeth on Mommy!

It's soft on Ember's mouth, and ventilated when mom tosses it for a retrieve.  Slowly, between the two of us, we are learning to play tug and learning how to end a game of tug.  This particular toy, with hand loops on both ends and that ventilated soft plastic in the middle, makes it suitable to both tug and fetch, so that the reward for Ember letting go ("Thank you") is for Mom to toss it for her to chase.

This other tug toy has a problem.  A loop on one end (braided rope) is what Ember generally chooses to hold.  The tassels on the other end are not easy for Mom to grip.  And the middle is just a little too thick for Ember's six-month-old mouth to grip.

So not as good for tugging and tossing.

Can you tell I'm developing opinions about the various toys we try out?

Then we have "toys on the cheap".  There is more than one way to recycle.  This way is called "repurpose".  That's a milk jug she's chewing on and it cost me nothing.  Well, I bought the milk inside it for $2.88 and the jug came along to hold it.  I reuse milk jugs, plastic pop bottles, toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls.  

We are still under heat advisories here.  Yesterday it topped out at 103℉, and so far today, it's already 98, on its way to a predicted 101.

Now that Ember has poked holes in the second puppy pool and resisted my efforts to fill the pools with water, I'm not putting a lot into that particular heat relief.  

The "thou shalt not mess with mommy's bandages" version of "ItsYerChoice" went well this morning.  I only had to put the treats up once.  

The "let's see if we can get you to accept mommy's hands in gloves without showing your teeth" effort is just beginning.  You see, someone on the forums for others studying dog training with my mentor suggested trying wearing gloves to prevent her messing with the bandages... and I got the giggles!

Remember the first few weeks of having Ember?  How she stripped my garden glove and buried it?  It was "cute" as a puppy but would not be so cute if she did this to a workman or at the vet's office, for example.  My avoiding wearing gloves and whipping them away from her has not helped her become desensitized to them.  In fact, that turned it into a game and reinforced the undesirable behavior.  So that's on my list of "things to work on".

My list is growing, but so is my confidence that these things can be dealt with.  I just have to work on me being patient and consistent!  Believe it or not, with the whole house pretty much transformed into a limited space for the dog, and limited places for me to sit, it is easier to establish clarity of what I want Ember to do, and for her to do it.  I must introduce challenges gradually, not all at once.  I do believe that has been my biggest problem, trying to push her too fast because I'm the one in a hurry.

I'm already noticing things like her conscious avoidance of getting her teeth on my hand when tugging, and her conscious avoidance of running into me with a body slam when she's racing around the yard.  When she finishes such a sprint and skids into a sit at my feet... that's awesome.

Life is good in Emberville.  Spark on!