Still breathing in Emberville

 

This is the "inner" toy from "Fatwing the dragon" (from Bark Box).  Of all the fabric covered hard toys, this is the first one we actually got the cover removed from.  These toys are incredibly sturdy and therefore worth the price IF your dog likes them.  Ember seems to prefer the ones covered in softer fabric, not the slick nylon covered ones (I still have one from her very first Bark Box that is a velociraptor egg, with the nylon cover still intact.  She doesn't like the texture, so doesn't play with it.)

When I finished the job of removing Fatwing's cover, Ember happily carried the inner toy outside, back into her x-pen, etc., making it squeak as she went.  Awesome.

Monday was a busy day for Ember.  We seemed to be past our Sunday "snit", which kept Mommy hopping.  Meals, walks, treats, according to the normal expected schedule, but visits from the bug guy (still working on the carpenter bees) and from "Aunt Alicia".  She got an extra "big" chew stick and kennel cookie during my sister visit.

Then we napped together until supper time and during the CBS evening news, Ember trotted into her crate, expecting her cookie and to be tucked in until "last call".

This was the final casualty of the Sunday snit!  A 44 year old tea-towel that I kind of kept around to wipe my glasses with.  Gone, now.

Tuesday was the usual.  Human tasks while the pup had fun with her canine chums.  We encountered her cousin Benji as we went into daycare.  Benji was on his way to grooming.  

Tuesday afternoon was beastly hot, though, getting up to 93F of the predicted 95.  Summer is rearing its head.

Turns out, it wasn't just a snit!  Ember is entering a new destructive phase. Or her training was regressing.  

Thursday morning found her tearing into the cushions on the couch she hasn't yet completely destroyed.  There had been previews of this.  I blame the flying insects that come into my house this time of year. If she's chasing them and gets into her prey drive... anything can become the target if they land on it.  Couch, wall, carpet, anything!  I had to shuffle her into the x-pen and reconfigure the pen on the fly to protect the couch after I put it back together.  

I have two pens now, one with her puppy toys and such, the other with the couch for Mommy.  Ember is allowed to come in and cuddle with Mommy only when supervised, at least for a while, until I regain confidence in her self-control.

 

I started playing a modified version of ItsYerChoice with Ember and the couch containing x-pen.  As long as she leaves the slipcovers and cushions alone, she may nap on the comfy couch beside me, or with her head on my lap.  If she starts to reorganize the covers, she gets escorted out of the pen and distracted with some other activity.  I have left a soft leash on her inside the house to remind her that she's training. 

Saturday morning's walk was a resounding success.  I was not the only one taking my pup out early, given the predicted heat for the day. 

One lady out walking her 11-month-old standard poodle on the other side of the street paused to compliment how well-behaved Ember was.  She said she'd been watching me walk her since she was small.  

A second lady asked to greet her, and Ember kept all four paws on the ground like a good girl.  

Another block further, as we were trying to figure out what path to take to avoid two other dog walkers converging on the same corner.  A woman coming up behind us asked to meet Ember.  This lady had just had to have her own lab put down in the past few months.  

Ember enjoyed all the attention.  

Another block along, two women and a pup were in need of assistance is the form of a poop bag.  They had got away from home without theirs.  Fortunately, I had a full supply and was able to share.  One of the two ladies came over to collect it and gave Ember pets.  

At the very end of our walk Chad from down the block (has two dogs of his own) made a point of stopping in his solo walk to give her some love, too. All in all, it was a very social Saturday morning walk.

Saturday afternoon we did a little more couch training.  I think we may be getting the idea.  But I dare not brag on her, or I'll see regression!

Saturday presented us with another hot afternoon, and it's predicted to continue warmer than average for the next week.  We go from chillier than average to hotter than average, and back again.  Weather is a safe topic.  Politics and news, not so much.  Shaking my head and avoiding those things as much as possible.  

Prayers for those more directly affected, and ducking from the cross-fire of differing camps spinning away!  One does still have to get along with the locals, and the family, even while hearing the dissonance.

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

Dear Santa

 

Dear Santa:

Please send toys that take a while for Ember to destroy.  The grunting pig no longer grunts.  Many squeaky plush toys have not just lost their stuffing, but also the squeakers.  Fabric woven tug toys have been unraveled and torn up. Would you believe one of her puppy teething ring toys bit the dust under her grown-up teething attention?  But without toys, she'll decide on something else to chew on, for chew and evisceration are in her genes.

Yep, Santa's going to need to refill the toybox for my girl.

Now if she can only avoid getting a stocking full of coal, instead!  Today she swiped a glove again, but this time she did not put any holes in it, just got it all slobbery.  Then mom could not go out with her for a while.  Thursday was the coldest day this week, starting our morning at 13℉.  Friday will be better (weather wise) and the weekend promises phenomenal 60 degree highs, both days.  We shall see how accurate that it, but it simplifies the hat/glove wars when it's warmer!

I notified the family that Ember will not be coming to Christmas dinner with them.  Not a good environment for her at this stage in her development and training, and it's just tempting her into undesirable choices.  This should be a human-kid centered Christmas, anyway.

Meanwhile, Ember's hu-mom is racking up the home repair bills.  Tomorrow the handyman is coming to give me an estimate on replacing the insulation and repairing the part of the house where the plumber had to carve to fix the drainpipe.  A fella named Tim is coming to provide that estimate, then the work can be scheduled, once they have given me a starting figure and I've approved it.  It's not like this is an "optional" project!

I'm being grateful that the weather is being kind to me while my outside "under" part of the house is only shielded by a piece of plywood the plumber had on his truck.  The handyman service thought the work might be scheduled next week.  It looks like the next day with a high under 40 is Tuesday, and the coldest Wednesday with a 32 prediction for a high.  Hope they are on target with this trend, at least until we get the insulation in place.

On the plus side, I did feel well enough to go visit the trainer for a gentle workout.  Later I napped while Ember did, at least part of puppy nap #2.  

Friday morning, already!

And the morning temperature is 21!  Going to publish this then head down to check on things.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Recreating Dickens

 

Please can I have more?  A certain someone in my household has become very good at licking the platter clean.  At one point she was a picky eater.  Now at 10 months, she's finishing both her "chow" and her kibble, and all her training treats.  No more whipped cream peanut butter bones to lure her into the crate!

Today's misadventures had to do with counter surfing and 'fridge stealing.  In my mind, Ember is supposed to look to me to give her approved things, both to eat and to play with.  Looks like I need some revised training plans about "choice"!

Ember got her head inside my fridge while I was making my own breakfast and stole a full bottle of water.  As you can see from the photo, I keep bottled water on a lower shelf in the door.  Naturally, her teeth pierced the bottle, resulting in minor flooding inside her xpen until I got her to bring the squirting bottle out onto the tile floor.  The only damage at that point is an extra laundry load of towels.

Guess that's on me, not managing her environment.  It's also on me because I have put treats inside empty plastic bottles as well as making puppy bombs out of toilet paper tubes.  I have given her these as toys to play with in her X-Pen.

The counter surfing was when I turned my back to do something else. Ember snatched a small scrub brush and proceeded to chew it to bits.  This was a tiny toothbrush sized one, several years old, but still being used.  I had left it out on the counter after its most recent use, and there it went!

On the plus side, all of this happened before we got to the dog park late this morning.  This was the best weather day of the week for it.  We were there for an hour and 44 minutes, working the springs of confinement and inactivity out of Ember, per RunKeeper.  The last 20 minutes or so of that were spent just convincing her to get to the car and get in!  I got assists from three sets of fellow dog-owners and their pups.  Clearly everyone has their own time schedules to deal with, so I was grateful to be able to use the exit of other pups for us to "follow".  Also, a fellow dog-dad whose rescue pup is older and also did not want to leave.  Between us we cajoled both dogs to their separate vehicles to head home.  

I ended up using the strategy of me crawling through the backseat, trailing her on leash behind me to get her into the car.  This time it worked! Ember hopped in after me, I praised her and clipped her in.  Seems that different strategies work at different times.

We got home and she went down for puppy nap #2.  I folded all those towels (laundry) while she napped, instead of napping myself.  Alicia called off our weekly sister visit, as both of us have had the cruds, and she was worn out.  I was fine with this, thinking I'm only just recovered myself.  If I am not coughing horribly in the morning, I expect I'll do my trainer workout.

Now it's not quite 7 p.m. and I shall post this before heading to bed.  Yes, dark outside... the sky is gorgeous with a sliver of moon and Venus shining brightly above it.  Ember went out for her "last call" about 6:15 p.m. and that's when I just savored that sky.

Life is good.  Spark on!

The puppy journey continues

 

We now have slashed hood fabric on a hood that does not detach from my "old" winter coat.  Hmmm.  What triggered Ember?  Similar to when she jumped up on my sister a few weeks ago.  I had tossed a ball for her; she brought it back to me and accepted a treat.

While I was deciding whether it was safe to pick up the ball to toss again, Ember out of the blue decided to jump up on me.  She grabbed hold of the hood and pulled on it.  I fled to the fence, and inched my way along it to the gate, eventually escaping through it, leaving her in the backyard alone.

I was shook up.  Walked to the mailbox, went back inside through the garage to recycle the junk mail, and re-opened the sliding door to the deck to call Ember back in.  She remained calm for a while, but then I made a similar trip around the house in just my sweatshirt to avoid a full-on tussle... over my microwave entree for lunch!  I got my lunch only after containing her in the X-Pen.  She calmed down to the piano music of DogTV, and after I had finished my lunch, she was ready to "kennel up" and take puppy nap #2.

Only later in the day did it dawn on me the trigger:  that hood is fleece lined.  She probably saw it as some furry animal (or one of her fleecy tug toys)!  Even before that thought hit, I had forgiven her, as long as we're both safe, that's the important thing.

This is the result of 3 days of confinement with little exercise.  Some because of the weather, but a couple of days due to mommy not being well.  Mommy was starting to feel better Tuesday and trying to have a "normal" day.  Normal is not to be expected.  The cold weather was causing a wet spot under the house overhang to freeze.  I finally decided a plumber is in order and as Ember napped, I wrote the first part of this while waiting for the 30-minute heads up call.

30 minutes does not give me enough time to extricate myself and Ember from a dog park run, so, that makes today a low-activity day, too.  Sigh.

Photo of a new fetch toy for "Bring Me" game in Recallers program.  Ember got to see it for the first time today and immediately got the right idea, but I've mis-trained her on this part of the game.  She will pick up the toy and immediately drop/toss it.  She then expects a treat.  When I try to extend the period of time she holds the toy, she gets frustrated with me.  That, too, may be a part of the triggering today, frustrated puppy!

The plumber eventually came between 3 and 4 p.m.  The verdict?  Remember this blog from 2022?  That's likely when this problem began.  To be made worse by the freeze/thaw cycles since.

I had a cracked pipe. The plumber had to carve into the wall to fix it.  It was not possible just from the inside, so there was cutting both inside and outside.  He ended up having to chip iced insulation to get to where he needed to cut the pipe!

By 5:30 p.m. he was gone.  It wasn't as expensive as it could have been, and it's not like I could delay having a leak in the drainpipe fixed.  Now I need to get the handyman carpenters out to finish the job by patching the wall and replacing whatever insulation needs replacing.  I also learned something from the plumber about how my house's insulation was installed... there wasn't a double wood piece, there was wood, then Styrofoam, then the insulation!  That explains a lot about the woodpecker problem earlier in the year, too, and the debris that was falling down from where they were trying to nest.

In any case, Ember was a very good girl, as her supper was delayed, and settled right into her crate... no craziness or barking.  During the plumber's visit I walked over every so often and gave her a cookie, for being good and calm in her crate.  You reward what you want to see repeated.

After the plumber left, I warmed up the ground beef to top her kibble, and she "licked the platter clean".  She went back into the crate while I ate my own supper and came upstairs to do my dental hygiene routine, causing her "last call" to be a little later than usual.

Life is good.  Spark on, my friends!

Sick day, learning day

 

Well, whatever this side-lined illness is/was, it was not Covid-19.  I still waved off on the opportunity to go to Zoo Lights with the pandemic 5 + 1.  So still a unicorn, never having tested positive for Covid.

Ember behaved as well as I might expect, given that it's been nasty cold outside as well as her Hu-mom not feeling well.  I slept every puppy nap over the weekend.  Ember has had no leash walks since Friday, when she decided to be stubborn about one neighbor's recycling corrugated cardboard boxes, left out for curb-side collection.  Sigh.  Mommy definitely did not feel strong enough to fight another such leash battle on either Saturday or Sunday.

We are still fighting the battle of hats and gloves.  I should not say "fighting the battle" because battles are like games to a labrador retriever.  When she gets one, I either bargain with her that it's "mine" and Mommy needs it if you want to go outside.  Or I ignore it to get her to realize it is a boring game.  However, if it has a tag to tear out, as the one glove did Monday... all bets are off.

In order to get away with the "boredom" gambit, I have multiple pairs of gloves and a few selections of hats.  That way if she swipes one, I can put on a different one and carry on.

One glove had such an interesting texture that she completely destroyed it.  Now I have only one of that pair.  So far, that's the only destroyed glove. She put a hole in one hat, but the hole can be covered up by rolling the band.  Sigh.  I'm still going to use the damaged one, though, because I can't buy a new hat or pair of gloves every week.  

Anyway, as you can tell, I'm feeling better enough to type up a blog now.  I was better enough and determined enough to make a grocery run today, which was expensive but necessary.  Tissues, TP, paper towels (paper goods have gone through the roof since 2020), then I also bought dishwasher detergent and rinse aid, fluoride rinse and floss, dog chew sticks in two sizes and pig's ears... these things add up in a hurry... and none of them are food!  No hat or gloves in this total.

My online coaching program (Recallers, Susan Garrett's flagship dog training program) is on sale again, along with several of her programs.  The one I'm looking at for later on, Homeschool the Dog, is a four-month program that I'd probably like to add at some point, but right now, the Recallers program is about all I can handle.  It has 40 games in it, lasts a year, and so far, we are only on "Day 9".  And we started in August.

The beauty of this program, though, is the claim that "even if you only get 20% of it right, you will have results".  And that is indeed what I'm seeing!  And if you have any interest, here's where you can find her current live session.

Life is Good!  Spark on!

Day 36 and 37 - Today I am thankful...

Today I am thankful for handyman services.  When I was a kid, we used to troop, along with our cousins, to Grandma's house, twice a year, to put up and take down her storm windows and screens.  Grandma was a widow, so her son and son in law did this kind of thing for her.  Or her neighbors.  Like Grandma, I'm an older lady living alone, and I'm not particularly handy.  So when I need something done, I have to find someone who can do it.

Nowadays, that means the so-called "gig" economy comes into play.  There's not a lot of do-it-yourself.  I'm grateful for having found people at various times to remove a shed, replace a door, etc.  Today it will be making space for the new stove.  

It's raining.  One victory was that I convinced Ember to come outside to do her business, despite the rain.  We did not go on a morning walk, and I cooked and ate my oatmeal before 7 a.m.  The carpenter is not due until 9, so I spent the 7-8 a.m. hour clearing off counters, and clearing out drawers and cabinet shelves of the cabinet that I anticipate will be moved.

I got up on top of the 'fridge to clear off and found about five years' worth of crud underneath all the clutter of things I elevated to keep them away from the dog.

All this done, I sat down to breathe and found that the carpenter did not show up at the dot of nine as I had on my calendar, so I'm kind of guessing this is a "window" of time in which he begins to appear.

Still, within half an hour the doorbell rang, and it was not in fact, the carpenter, it was the guy from the lawn service, come to shut down the sprinkler system for the season.  He walked me through the process, which has multiple steps, and I'm thinking I will probably give them a call again in the Spring and let them do it for me.

The carpenter arrived about 10:45 a.m.  He's going to need help lifting the old stove out.  Once they got the old one out, they discovered that it's hard wired into the wall.  So now we need to have that changed to allow for a 4-prong outlet.  They are trying to get that scheduled yet for today.

Old stove out, waiting to be hauled off when they deliver the new one.

The trick will be keeping Ember from tearing into this pile between now and when it gets hauled away!

Empty space awaiting the new stove.  Note the power box there.  The electrician is due to come within the next hour or so to swap that out for a four-prong plug.

Welp, the electrician guy came, and started working on it, in fact did about an hour and a half, but he had brought the wrong receptacle... so he has to come back in the morning!  

I still don't have a time window for the delivery of the stove and 'fridge.

It's still raining, the backyard is flooding, making a stream.  Ember drinks from the stream and at least does her peeing outside.  Now she's back down for puppy nap #2.

Electrician Mike will come back at 8 - 8:30 tomorrow morning to finish the job on the outlet for the new stove.

Things got worse about 4:30 p.m. when the appliance store gave me a robocall saying my delivery window is between 8 and 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.  The electrician's appointment text says he's not here until 8:15.  Considering that the carpenter was supposed to be here at 9 and didn't get here until 10:45 a.m., I freaked out and called the store.  They told me they could deliver "drop off" but not install, and have the electrician install it?  Yikes, that's no solution!

To reschedule, they were four days out... which hits the same day as my eye appointment!  So that shoves it all the way to Monday.  So, I am rolling the dice and hoping that the ballet works out.  If I ask they to install the 'fridge first, then allow me to transfer the food from the old fridge to the new, then haul off the old appliances, and lastly put in the stove?  Could it work out?  Depends entirely on when who shows up.

So I'm all stressed out.  

Consequently, for Day 37 (Tuesday), my gratitude is for the philosophy, espoused by many, that "things could be worse".  It's kind of hard to argue with that one.  This whole logistical shuffle is such a minor thing in the bucket of life problems, don't you think?

Ember was a good girl all day as people came and went and did things with machines and things got moved around.  I only have to protect those wires from her for a few hours more.

Life is Good.  Seriously!  Spark on!

Day 33 - Today I am thankful...

 

I told Facebook this morning that I'm thankful for my siblings.  Seriously, who else shares the same but different childhood memories?

Since getting up this morning, I'm thankful for Ember "hurrying up" the last three blocks of our morning walk to get home before the dishwasher installer decided we weren't going to show!  We could see the truck in our driveway, and I hadn't been able to answer the phone while holding her leash on the far side of our walk.

I was impressed.  I was thankful that she let the installer hold the leash while I unlocked and opened the door.  I was thankful that she kenneled up for me so he could get to work.  Sometimes you have to be grateful just that you get things figured out and done!

I'm thankful for the support of the folks who read and comment on my blog!  I mean, when I'm feeling discouraged, they lift me up with the hope that it will all come out OK in the end.  Ember will grow into a mature and civil canine member of society and will not be jumping all over or nipping at people, but will settle down, as she did this morning for the installer.

I asked him if he had dogs, he had interacted with her so well.  He said that no, he does not have a dog of his own, but his job requires him to deal with them on the regular.  If he couldn't do this, it would be the wrong job for him, because about half of the homes he goes into, or even more than half, have pets.  I mentioned allergies, and he said sometimes when the pet hair is voluminous, he feels stuffed up.  That reminds me, I'm thankful for the meds that allow those with allergies to function in life!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Day 32 - Today I am thankful...

 

I was having a hard time coming up with gratitude this morning and fell back onto the Anne of Green Gables classic of "a new day with no mistakes in it"...

Then I thought of the Wordle game which took me six tried today and ended up being a word I had forgotten was a word.  Not being a big anatomy buff.

Then when I started to write this blog, and looked for a photo to attach, last night's fiery sunset popped up.  There's always something to be thankful for, even if we are having a hard time.

Looking back at why I was having a hard time, it was related to Ember's regression, or change in phase to adolescence, or something.  Regardless, she was a pill during the rainy day yesterday and has been testing her limits.  And when her Aunt Alicia came over after her work day was over, Alicia tried to interact with Ember and was being ever so good to her, calming the little one, rubbing her belly, etc.  Then when she stopped, Ember jumped her from behind.  Alicia, quite sensibly, decided she had had enough, and left through the house while I contained Ember.

Naturally, I felt like an utter failure as a dog-mom!  My puppy isn't being civil to my human friends and family.  At least she wasn't yesterday!  Sigh.

Thursday is another day.  We woke to frost.  The welcome mat on the deck was frozen to the deck surface.  This gave Ember a "challenge accepted!" moment or sixteen.  She was determined to detach it.  Took her three trips outside before she managed to do so, but she did.

Our morning walk was marred by some evidence of fears resurfacing.  Another big dog accompanied by a similarly small woman... we were trying to negotiate how to keep the dogs separate and safe.  But Ember had been pulling me in both directions (and I'd been letting her direct our route, as I often do).  Finally had to force the issue.  The other lady took her dog off sidewalk into the drainage area.  I convinced Ember to cross the street to a place where there was no sidewalk (the continuation of the drainage area).  And we survived to get home in one piece although my fingers were pretty frozen up by then.

I had my workout with the trainer.  Only one this week.  Turns out the heat wasn't working at the studio, so it was 50℉ inside!  Not bad for working out, honestly.  It got up to 60 by the time I finished my workout.

I came home and got Ember up from her nap.  Took her on a long sniffapalooza in the park, and she got some pets from a neighbor man who'd petted her in the past.  Makes her day when another human not her mom pays attention to her.  But then right afterward there was another little dog being walked nearby and she got one of those fear/reaction zoomie things going.  Calmed enough to get home, let her loose in the backyard, and she zoomed some more.  Big dog.  Little human.  The challenge of the year!

Life is Good.  There is still hope.  It's what keeps a body going!  Keep sparking!

Day 30 - Today I am Thankful...

Today I told FB I'm thankful for service people who put up with the little old lady version of me.  This is because of the ability to laugh at myself on these phone calls to handyman / carpentry folks about making space for the new stove.  They ask questions to which I don't have the ghost of a clue how to answer!

Ember is about 9 1/2 months old.  She may weigh in at 75 pounds but look at those paws!  She hasn't grown into them yet.  Look at the stuffed toy and the towel and how she snuggles.  Change the thought of size, and she still looks like a puppy!  She also acts like one.

In any case, Ember put herself to bed about 8 a.m. and I'm hoping that she lasts through the visit from Jake the handyman!  I really do love that she views the wire crate as her safe and valuable space to go when she's sleepy and she knows "it's time".

In the dark of the morning, when it was 37℉, Ember and I had "discussions" again about Mommy's hat.  This time I was bending over to pick up one of the glow in the dark balls we'd been getting her exercise with, and she jumped me from behind.

Yikes.  I actually went down, this time, phone falling out of the pocket.  I reached for the phone, Ember reached for my stocking cap, and off she went joyfully playing "keep away".  I picked myself the rest of the way up and let her run off with it, declaring that Mommy was done playing.

She took the hat into her X-Pen, and I shut the gate and left her there while I put myself back together again, physically and emotionally.  I got the dog laundry out of the dryer and folded it in her sight while I narrated the rules to her.  I doubt she understands the words, but if not for her, for me, I had to repeat the "no hat, no walk" lesson.  I did not allow the walk to start until Ember gave me back my hat.  I put the hat on, then I did a few "test" scenarios, bending down to attach the leash, etc., to cement the idea that the hat is a part of mommy.  She did not take it again.  This time.  I am grateful.

Two steps forward... 

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Days 28 and 29... today I am thankful.

For anyone who was wondering, yesterday's post about hunting dogs was a bonus blog.  It was not part of the gratitude sequence. 

Yesterday's gratitude was for this Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving tradition of posting gratitude, and how it keeps me grounded in the positive.

Today's gratitude is the classic Veterans Day... For those few who raise their hands to serve.

Status on the appliance replacement:  panicked over the whole "carpentry project" aspect of this, but I accept it just has to be done.  I Googled local carpenter services, picked one, and have a guy coming out Tuesday morning to look at the project (remove old stove and make space for the new), and give me a time and cost estimate.  Here I go again!

I already called the appliance dealer and put the stove and fridge delivery "on hold" until I get the carpentry scheduled.  Projects, projects.  And I canceled the personal trainer session for Tuesday because of the timing.

Oven mitt in the trash after "somebody" swiped it off the counter and eviscerated it.

Replacement oven mitt.  She's probably going to think this one is a toy, too, so I have to be in "protect" mode for it.

Meanwhile, it was chilly enough on Veteran's Day morning that I got out the Winter Coat.  We were doing OK until I tried to take for granted that Ember knew it was me out there picking up her glow in the dark ball.  Oops, tackled by dog with teeth out.  Shut her outside, brought her back in for "desensitizing" lessons (round two or three for coats).  We've kind of got it about gloves now, but we are doing a keep away game with mom's stocking cap.  Today she tried to swipe it when we were getting ready to go out for her walk, and I turned on my heel and said, "no hat, no walk".  She let me have the hat back then, and we went for our walk.

Life is good.  Keep Sparking.

Day 25 - Today I am thankful...

Today I am thankful for "catch-up" sleep.  After the past couple of weeks, between the schedule for the surgery, the disruption of normal routines for the puppy, her side-trip through the vet, my sleeping on the couch, and then of course the "fall back" time change and the election, waking from time to time to see the progress of the count... it felt good to have a couple of "normal" nights to sleep.  And a few short naps, too!

I am thankful for a couple of sunshine hours yesterday, between the cloudy and drippy ones.

Ember got some new toys recently.  I'm starting to learn which ones will be hits and which ones misses.  The one in the photo is a crinkly one.  The strap is like unto a leash, providing a "Mommy end" and the crinkle fleece is the "Puppy end".  We don't exactly "tug", I flirt with her, she chases the flirt, catches it, and chews.  Slowly, she and I develop our own little routines.

Oh, and my kid sis Alicia started training Ember to "shake".  This is something that I never got her to do much.  However, it has come in very handy in administering the medicated wipes on her paws.  Another small thing to be grateful for.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Day 21 - Today I am thankful...

Sunday morning, I am thankful for the soft, foggy pre-dawn hours.  It smelled so fresh.  It was amazingly calm and mild for the beginning of November.

Total training failure this morning, on the other hand.  I was trying to let Ember sniff at the brush.  She managed to swipe it with tail wagging happily, drag in a game of "keep away" into her X-Pen.  It was fruitless to try to get her to "drop it", "bring me", etc. as she's fascinated by it.  She completely destroyed it before our morning walk.

Tony's a lot better at grooming her than I am.  Oh, well!  She's scheduled with him on Monday, thank goodness.

Clocks have now been changed.  And something extra to be thankful for, I slept in my own bed overnight Saturday to Sunday.  Granted it was in fits and starts as I kept trying to get up between the showers to encourage an outdoor jaunt on Ember's part.

Life is good!  Spark on!

Day 15 - Today I am thankful...

 Today I told Facebook that I am thankful I don't have a deadline for when I have to get my gratitudes posted!  Because I'm late posting even over there!

I'm also thankful to have lived long enough to experience life as a retiree.  It's awesome to be able to go to bed and get up with Mr. Sunshine, as I call him to Ember.

By the way, this is a "from the top" shot of Ember from Sunday, in her "We're supposed to go for a walk now, Mom" gate pose.  I may be imagining things, but it looks like maybe her growth pattern has thinned just a shade.  By the way, at the vet's office, when I dropped her off for boarding, I hopped her up on the scale for purposes of feeding guidance.  She refuses to stop growing.  81 pounds now.

Her paws don't show in this shot, but she doesn't look to me as though she's grown into them yet.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking, my friends!

Day 7 - Today I am thankful...

 I told Facebook that I'm thankful for learning, my own and that of others.  Learning has taken on whole new meanings with a puppy growing up under my roof.  

Doesn't she take on the "ash on a briquette" look with the sun shining on her coat in the afternoon on the deck?  This was during a disappointing football game on TV... joy was right outside my door.

What can one learn from the attitude of a puppy?  Lots!  Like that "keeping score is not necessary in life".

We are working on hand targeting and learning to love "unfun" toys... all in preparation for eventually learning a formal retrieve. 

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

Meanwhile, across town

The kids had a new respite foster visit over the weekend.  This was a different six-year-old boy from the last respite visit. It was a shorter weekend; in that two birth family visits had been scheduled for the boy. 

From the photos (that I cannot share), it looks like a fine time was had by all.  By Sunday, the youngster had started to call my son "Dad".

In the hours and couple of days after the visit, son and DIL were approached about their willingness to take this child for a longer time.  Since this would involve separating siblings into separate placements, there are some foster system hoops to be jumped through before the whole plan can be approved, but they have been approved to provide respite for the week of Sunday the 22nd to Friday morning the 27th.

On Sunday the 22nd, we have plans to do a "dog swap", from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  We'll meet at a dog-park, let them play together, then I'll bring grand-dog Carl home with me, and Ember will go home with my son and daughter in law.

Their foster respite child will be arriving around 3:30 p.m.  I will deliver Carl back to them at their house, meet the foster kiddo, and collect Ember.  That's the current plan, anyway.  Then they will have their week as parents to a school child during his school week.

At the end of that week, on Friday morning, I will take on Carl and have a two-dog household for three days while "the kids" and DIL's parents go to a family wedding a state away.  Wish me luck, everyone!

Wednesday's happenings

It was dental appointment day for me on Wednesday.  Pronounced as stable.  Heard about dentist's husband's upcoming run of the New York City Marathon.  I have been living vicariously on her reports of his running for five years now.  

I also learned that my periodontist will be retiring and closing up shop next March.  I have an appointment with her in February, so I'll have my last visit with her then.  The general plan is to transition to just the general dentist (the one with the marathon running hubby) but keep the 5-month cleaning rotation.

Ember has recovered from the runny poos and was full of herself today.  She attacked behind the A/C, stripping off some of the early repairs I paid for in her youngest puppy days.  I had been blocking the access with garbage cans for a while, then she seemed to be ignoring it as "white noise" for a while, and suddenly, the past couple of days... it's back on her radar.

The second thing she went after was a conduit that held cable

and telephone wires going up the side of the house!  Both photos show after repairs were attempted by the homeowner, with assistance from my sister.  Sometimes the blessing is in the timing.  I had Alicia here, managed to get Ember into her crate, and the two women went out and assessed the damage and did what we could.  I believe those cables (the box says "telco access only") are now unused.  I don't have cable, but the wire is still there.  I don't have a house phone, but the wires are still there.

The third "something always happening" looks like I have a leak, possibly related to the underground sprinklers that I just had "fixed" this year.  That puddle seems to be getting bigger, and not just at the times the sprinklers actually run.  It has grown since my sister's visit that ended before 5 p.m.  Photo taken in the 7:30 p.m. time frame.  

I'm not even sure who to call.  I have the appliance repair guy arriving Thursday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.  Perhaps their technician will identify whether I need to also call a plumber, as well as whether the dishwasher needs to be replaced.  Just when I was financially recovering from all the "upgrades".  Sigh.  I might also need to call the landscape guys who did the sprinkler system repairs.

Whatever the details, the saga of home ownership continues.  And the saga of pet ownership, too.

Ember got a nice little leash walk after I got home from the dentist.  She was so good for it!  Yes, we stopped and let her chew on a fallen branch for a while, long enough for her to get bored with it and be ready to move on.  I truly love the lazy walks, where I don't feel the need to rush her along.  I get to find out what interests her.

Here she is with her favorite tug toy, the hose.  She knows the hose has to stay outside while the puppy may come inside the house.  But every morning when we go out, she picks up that end of the hose and proudly pulls it to wherever she's going.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Will it be a good week?

 Monday the 16th

My home-made tug, straps, shoestrings, and drapery ties.  She likes it, and this one she seems to understand which end is the puppy end and which end is the human end.  Short games of tug.

Sleep was short changed Sunday night into Monday, as I was determined to avoid another crate accident.  I had a 9 a.m. eye appointment and don't want anything to interfere.

This photo was taken about 20 minutes to sunrise.

We made it through the night with outside trips at 7:30, midnight, 2 and 4 a.m.  Mom slept on the couch from midnight on, fully dressed, and went upstairs to do the daily meds before the 4 a.m. outing, then laid her head on the table for about an hour after that outing, while the puppy was on door watch.

We did a little training on the subject of "hot zones", introducing the dog beds, with mixed results.  This session was conducted in the family room, which has been gated off for a couple of weeks, ever since the leather couch problems (bitter spray does not work for this dog).

Mostly, she wanted to chew on something. 

Mom's military style "cover" got donated to the cause to avoid her chewing on the crate mat I wanted to become a hot zone.

The raised dog bed got better results, but she's still got that hat.

In the end, she decided she really did want to chew on that mat and did so, while remaining on the raised bed.

We ended the training session when Ember started to get bored and headed for the couch to continue her destructive ways with it.

Monday morning's eye appointment went well.  Prescription has not changed much, but the cataract in the left eye has continued to grow.  I can feel the deterioration. Dr. J. said the question about the cataract is how much it bothers me.  I said I think this one is going to bother me more than the first one, because I know what the deterioration process was like with that first eye (the right eye).  

He made the referral appointment to Dr. S. for cataract evaluation, on the 26th. 

Tuesday the 17th

Trainer day for me, last one for a couple of weeks.  There's only been one a week for a few weeks, as the high school track meets (he coaches at a local parochial school) were scheduled for Thursday mornings due to heat in the afternoons.  They switch to Tuesday mornings in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I have that Thursday appointment with Dr. S.

I finally remembered to go pick up Ember's flea-tick-heartworm dose at the vet's office, on the way home from the trainer.  

Wednesday will be a dental appointment day for me.  Thursday, I have the appliance repair guy coming to see if my leaking dishwasher is salvageable, or if I need to just give it up and replace the 25-year-old machine.

Meanwhile, Ember is getting better with the poo situation.  Monday into Tuesday I gave her "last call" at about 8 p.m., then went down about 11:30 p.m., too, but I went back upstairs and slept in my own bed until 4, skipping the "in between" 2 a.m. check.  Poo on Tuesday morning was still soft but not soupy. This continued in that vein during the day.  I just gave her last call at about 8 again and will check on her in the midnight hour again tonight, just because.

Life is good!  Spark on.

Just the two of us... a photo Saturday

 

Early Saturday morning, gnawing on a formerly rejected chew stick.

Saturday afternoon sunning on the deck.  It was a very pleasant day!  Cool in the morning, and warmish in the afternoon.  I think the high was 76℉, which is a degree lower than what I set my Summer thermostat at.

Ember rolled on her back, showing off her healing hives on her belly!  They really are improving, which is a good thing, since the last pill was for Sunday morning.  The mousse still has plenty in it, and the instructions were to rub it on her affected areas once a day for a week, then "as needed" after that.

Sometimes the toys that are the most fun are the ones that we steal from mom's bag-holder.  Empty poo bags!  But I noticed that in the "tuggers" module of my online dog-training class, an empty poo bag is one of the warm-up toys that one of the students actually used!

This tug toy is one she shakes and plays the "smack da baby" game solo, all by herself!

If this chair is good enough for Mom, it's good enough for Ember!  She looked so stinkin' cute, I had to take her picture!

Sunday report

Things got a bit exciting this morning.  Mornings, pre-sunrise are always a "surprise package".  This morning's surprise was Ember deciding to push her big crate around and gnaw on it, inside the XPen.  She likes big toys, and she chews on anything she finds in her environment.

I got her outside by calling her recall word, and giving her the recall treats.  

We did have one little bite episode after we had played a game of IYC, and I used the sliding glass door to separate us.  I'm concerned that we may have a case of separation anxiety being built.  She seems content to lay at my feet while I eat my breakfast.  Once she's worn out, the luring into the crate for her puppy nap can happen.

It was a quiet day in Emberville, all in all.  She was well fed, got playtime in the backyard, some crate training lessons, some reward zone practice, right in the backyard, too.  And a little bit of hot zone practice, too.  But mostly, we just chilled.  Oh, and she chased a squirrel for the first time!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Around the house

 

Ember scraped some of Stony's paint off.  

Things never seem to stop growing around here.  Thursday's trimmings.

Another of Ember's makeshift toys... a strap and four drapery ties make this one up.  She's fascinated.

She quickly broke the little loops on the ties, so I've reworked this toy already.

This one is a Holee-Roller with the braided shoelace handle... she loves it but wants to play by herself with this one.

Egg carton food puzzle.  She consumes the food, then destroys the carton.

The wall that Ember has been targeting most recently.  It's right outside the bathroom/pantry, where mommy disappears to "go potty", human style.  Sigh.  I need another baby gate.  Her potential allowable spaces keep shrinking.

This may just be Stony's final spot, right by the front faucet.  I can coil a hose at his feet.  And Stony is a "he", btw, you can see this from certain angles!

I think what she is feeling is frustration.  Mom keeps changing things on her, from her nap schedule to her food to how many car rides she's expected to endure in a week.  But that doesn't make it any easier for Mom.

Late Friday morning, I think it was Susan who came to my door.  By the time I got Ember into the XPen and opened the door, she had left.  But I don't have her phone number, nor does she have mine, and I don't even know the exact location of her front door, the way the townhomes are laid out.  What I see is the side of her house and her "back garden".  And being me, I'm a "what if I misidentified the video and it wasn't her?"  I had an appointment to get to, so did not follow up.  I might have done if Ember hadn't had another "episode" of the bites a little after 3.  

I was feeling pretty bummed out end of day, Friday.  Three episodes of teeth on Mom or Mom's clothing.  The first was in the early morning inside the XPen.  Bite protocol seemed to work well in the confined space.

I think the second was on the deck.  I had easy access to separate us by a door, there.

The 3 p.m. one was the worst of the bunch.  I was streaming blood down my arms from several scrape wounds.  It happened way in the back where the shed used to be.  Ember was not on a leash, and the "grab the collar and reduce the tension she's putting on your pant leg" did not apply, although I did try to adapt it.  It wasn't the pant leg, it was my arm inside the sweatshirt, and she had hold of the arm, not just the fabric! 

I shimmied myself out of the sweatshirt, but this did not deter her.  I eventually got her inside, freezing and stepping, and stroking, and freezing and stepping and stroking.  I stayed outside to calm myself down.

Then I reversed our positions with her on the back deck and me inside to clean up. 

I have bloody laundry.  The dog stripped bandages and ate them.  She had "No legs" to get in car to go to puppy class (so mom called us in "going to be absent").  She expanded the damage on the wall.

Saturday morning I woke in a more optimistic mood.  This lasted until the adolescent decided she wanted to use the kitchen trash can for a chew toy.  I took her outside and she started digging up trouble in the old river rock bed next to the sandbox.

I had some idea of what I wanted to train on Saturday.  The plan did not make it to the execution stage.  

At least so far, we have not had a major biting incident on Saturday.  She has shown signs of wanting to, but I have been ready with interventions.  For example if she is focused enough, I give her a cue to do something simple, like "sit" or "hop it up".  I traded her the "magic dust pan" for the lid to the kitchen trash, then moved the trash can behind the gate to the family room.

As I was eating my salad on the deck, she went for my shoes, and I stepped her inside, closing the sliding door.  She settled herself down and was civilized by the time I finished my lunch and was ready to deal with her again.

I diagnosed tired and hungry.  I put her down with a Kong full of kibble and plugged with peanut butter, and she's now down for puppy nap #2.

Life is good, even when challenging.  Spark on!