Orion rising

I started writing this Thursday morning, and the photos of the sky are from then.  But I decided I wanted to just do the Spark People reunion blog on Thursday, so you're seeing this one a little delayed.

The brightness of your background may well wash out the constellation in the photo, but trust me, it's Orion.  I have a long history with Orion.  Orion rising marks the changing of the seasons.

Orion rising would fill the car windows to the South as Dad drove us home from Grandma's house.  There would be singing in the car as we got sleepy and nodded off.
Where I live now in Emberville, Orion rises pre-sunrise in September.  Old friends in the sky 

As the sky lightens, the stars fade. Then it slowly gets light enough to play fetch, and to go on poo patrol. 

Among the adventures of Ember on Thursday morning was a session of zoomies, during which she tipped over the base of a birdbath that had been sitting in that spot ever since she arrived at my house in March.

Perspective:  On Friday morning, Ember disturbed a spider web and was then fascinated by the moving arachnid scrambling to get to safety.  It looks like a giant, but the house gable you see behind it is a good 70 feet away.  The spider is much closer.  I swear I have taken this same kind of spider photo before!

On Friday evening, during last call, Mom was the one to walk right into that spider's web.  Ember dropped into her signature "observing" sit, nose pointed at the spider.  I believed she dispatched it, but I was kind of busy trying to get the web off my hair!

Saturday morning, same drill... Mom walked right into the spider web.  Guess Ember didn't dispatch the spider after all.

Friday was a calm day in Emberville as Mommy tried to figure out a way forward with the Crate Games.  She ended the day feeling we had made some progress, after three short training sessions centered around building value for Carl's red blanket as a "hot zone", then shifting the blanket into the crate.

Saturday morning, we had another session with the crate games, and Ember got a little frustrated with it.  Patience, go back to building value for the red blanket.  Tried to end the session with a success, four paws on the red blanket outside of the crate.

Watching her think while we do this is fascinating.  She does offer behaviors, as most dogs will when they don't know what you are asking for with your "cues".  In this case, there are no cues at first.  There is "search", and there is the hot zone, where when they put all four paws on the zone, they get a click and a reward.  There is no cue in such initial "shaping", just the behavior/reward.

Behaviors Ember offered that were not the desired one all offered when I had put the blanket entirely in the crate, or when there wasn't enough of it outside the crate to fit her four paws on, in order.  She tried sitting where the blanket used to be.  Clever.  She tried laying down, which generally earns her treats "just because" mommy likes a calm dog.  Also clever.  Finally, in frustration that these did not work, she nosed and nipped at the crate itself.

Saturday morning started early with the unpleasant scent of a crate accident.  I apologized to Ember for not being there to let her out in time.  Some readers may remember we had some puppy diarrhea, early on.  This was a different experience.  Ember knew the drill.  She headed outside while I cleaned the crate.  A "feature" of this particular dog is that she doesn't vocalize when she needs to go out.

I rediscovered that when I sneeze, it evokes a toothy response from Ember.  First sneeze, she gives heads up attention.  Second sneeze, jumping and teeth. 

We worked through it, got both of us calmed down, and three new bandaids on Mom.  Apologized to each other, long calming strokes to the puppy, careful licks to mommy.  Calm voice explanation to puppy that it was just mommy sneezing, no need to be scared.

But our three-day streak of no bites ended.  Still cogitating on how I might handle it better next time.  Next time I sneeze.  Next time something triggers the little one's fears, although I have to admit that Susan's "bite protocol" has been the best thing for it so far.  It is counter-intuitive to me, to grab hold of the collar and pull the dog to me, but that does loosen the tension if she was trying to tug and gets her in a calmer frame of mind.

Life goes on in Emberville, and life is good.  Keep on a-sparkin'!