Dog Trainer's Log

Saturday, September 11

I just had to put the girls in crates for a few minutes to settle them down. Now that they are trying to play with each other, I have to spend more time on manners – no full-roar racing up and down the stairs, don’t play with teeth, and this morning “play quiet!” They were each bouncing up and down into down-dogs, wagging butts in the air, seeing who could bark louder. 9:30am on a Saturday morning – this is not a good way to keep townhouse neighbors happy.

Splash’s personality blossoms more each day. Yesterday, and last Thursday, during morning cuddles she climbed up on the couch, her front legs on my chest and her head under my chin. We met a total stranger on our extra long walk over to the school’s agility playground. Tall, shorts, wearing a ball cap, a guy she’d never met – and she walked right up to him to be petted.

Her favorite toy is Reuben’s huge purple squeaking dinosaur. When I say “Find dino, where’s dino?” she pounces on it, holding it between both forepaws or shaking it in her muzzle. But for all her attention to the various fleeze and soft squeakies, she’s only poked a hole in one of them. Triceratops the dino still has his floppy fleece collar, all four legs, his tail – and his squeak still works.

Secret stealing is her obsession. She moves my shoes from the front room to the living room, piles up all of the toys in a corner, gently lifts things out of open tote bags. If she’s moving from room to room, she’s stealing. She never chews anything up or hides it out of plain sight, respects “ah-ah” and “no” – and yet the kleptomania continues. She has favorite things to steal – my sneakers, my black birkenstocks, pens and pencils.

M. likes her, although she did give her a little snap at the back door last week as they jockeyed for position. At the end of each day, when I get home from work, Splash is definitely ready to get outside NOW. During one whirling dervish turn at the back door, she stepped on M. and M. gave her some more defined space requirements. We’ve been working on a more graceful move to the back door, and Splash hits her trademark down while I attach the leash – a little more civilized all around.

Her down is stunning – on a signal, on a word, on the carpet, on grass. The only place she won’t drop now is the tile floor, and we’re working on that. She plays touch – high, low, either hand. She climbs up and down the stairs. No more pulling on the leash. Not much spinning in place anymore, although she still gets a little crazy when she gets tangled in her or M’s lead. She pays attention to my whistle, comes when called in the house. And this morning, I hand-tucked her into her first sit.

Progress. Now if I could just get a little weight on her without causing diarrhea.