Comedy of Canine energy

 
Ember and I trekked up the road to the state park, where the young people were hanging out at the sledding hill.  This first photo was taken by my DIL before I got there.  You can see the blow-up snow disc they were using for a sled.  I understand it expired a short time later, and by the time Ember and I got there, son had gone and acquired flat plastic ones, that can't "pop".

Ember was over the moon at all the people wanting to pet her.  She happily hung out with DIL and her mom while I went off in search of a restroom I could access.  By the time I took care of that chore, the "kids" were done with sledding and ready to head back to the cabin.

At the cabin is where the canine comedy begins.

I'm going to paint it in words, as nobody had cameras out, and it's a darn good thing because it was an "all hands" situation.

First, I got Ember out of the car, on her leash, and I became concerned about the melting snow/slushy footing and of course her ability to pull me around when she so desires.  I at least got her directed to follow my son and DIL toward the cabin.  But then Carl detected Ember's presence and ran out the door of the cabin with no leash or anything.  Ember wanted to follow Carl, of course, but I found a tree and wrapped myself around it, legs and arms, clutching her leash and hanging on for dear life.

It did not take long for son and DIL to corral Carl, and they got him into the harness, but when I let go of the tree, Ember dragged me over to greet Carl, and the leashes got tangled, and I was doubtful of the plan for a parallel leash walk because I knew I was not strong enough to control her by brute force, and she was too distracted to listen to me.

Son to the rescue!

My big strong offspring took hold of Ember's leash, untangled the two of them, and took charge, walking them both together.  She immediately recognized him as Carl's alpha human and fell in line.  I followed along.

Son continued walking both dogs for about a third of the distance we hiked, then I took over her leash and we continued the walk the way I had originally hoped.  She did not drag me around, but it did require alertness on my part, and I picked my footing carefully.

I chickened out when we got back to the cabin, put Ember into the car, went inside to hug all the people, and took my leave.  Having second thoughts later in the day, of course... but it was pretty chaotic in the house with just kiddo and ONE dog, Carl.  I think bringing Ember in would have just escalated the chaos!  But then again, once the chaos of greetings is over, she might have settled down and accepted her place in the pack.  So that's me, the "socially sensitive owner" as opposed to the "socially sensitive dog".

Topsy-turvy Sunday

Welp, after all the turmoil in Ember's week, she didn't make it through Saturday night, but whimpered in her crate at 2:30 a.m.  I had made the attempt to sleep the night in my own bed... oops! 

I went downstairs in my snowboots and PJ's, and only had to clean up the crate floor and one towel.  I let Ember outside for the beginning of this, then let her back in, and tried to complete cleaning out the crate floor on my hands and knees.  At this point, she decided those snow boots were attacking me or something, and she started "rescuing" me.  I managed to get her contained in the X-Pen, then endured her complaining while I did a few more human things.  I deliberately took off the snow boots, exposing my bare feet, right beside where she was in the X-Pen.  I went upstairs and put on day clothes even though it was 3 a.m., bringing the shoes back downstairs to again put on right in front of her.  At some point she has to adapt to mommy changing clothing!  

I let the cat in and fed him, dashed upstairs to take my morning meds, etc. then let her out of the X-Pen and got her calmed down with some games, then fed her chow in the 5 a.m. hour.  I reassured her that mommy still loves her, she's still my precious puppy.

We had some "odd" / "extra" nap times as a result of this super early start.  Ember was pretty quiet today... a little bit of fetch, not much tug, and some chew toys, but a lot of couch puppy time.

During one of her crate naps I went out and did poo patrol and shoveled some of the rapidly melting snow off the patio.  And before feeding her supper, seeing that it was 54℉ and the sidewalks were dry, I took courage and put her in harness and leash, and we walked outside, around a block.  Pretty decent manners, and it wasn't so cold that I feared frostbite, so it was a good, short walk.  We encountered other folks walking dogs and she went into the sit, or down position and waited, hoping to greet, but I negotiated with the other walkers and we opted not to take that chance.  

Supper, some outside time, and a final couch puppy session before she decided it was crate time 'til last call, and that's where I am as I type!

Life is good.  Keep on a-Sparkin'!