Saturday

We took Toby on a sunrise walk on the causeway before his training class this morning. It was cool, quiet, and refreshing.

On the causeway you get to see the sun rise and set over the water. Do you see the eye in the clouds on the right?

Toby enjoyed being back on the causeway. He was banned after eating parts of a petrified snake on three consecutive days!

Toby starting learning combination commands, wait, and “come” command. We got told to get more firm again. She says we’re too nice.

She told a story about a dog getting loose in the parking lot and taking off towards highway 19 and almost getting killed. That’s when you need a strong “come” command. John whispered “sshhsh. Don’t say anything,” thinking I might volunteer our loose dog experience last week. I told him later: “Are you kidding? She already thinks we’re push overs. I’m not going to give her more reasons to doubt us.”

Week 4 and Toby finally laid down on the floor. His classmates were all chillin’ the first week!

One of our classmates asked us if this was our first dog after the trainer again said we were being too nice to Toby. We answered, “No, it’s our third . . . and they’ve all been bad.”  We both said, “I think it’s us.” The woman replied, “I think so, too,” with just enough ambiguity that she could have been talking about her and her wife and their loud hound, but the context made it sound like she could have been throwing us some shade.

Our trainer felt bad about being so tough on us, but we told her that our last trainer told us the same thing. 

We learned that Toby was bad yesterday because he didn’t get enough brain stimulation. She said people exercise their dogs and think that’s it. She said if you don’t give them mental stimulation, they will invent their own games and you will not like what they come up with. It’s true. We exercised him yesterday, but we didn’t use his brain games. She reminded us: “what is your dog like after class?”

The picture above is Toby one minute after getting home from class. Fast asleep with Mr. Turtle in his mouth.

Yesterday, John moved the hydrangea on the left to match the one on the right. He removed several peace lilies that were always getting burnt by the sun. The ADT sign is going bye bye.

The new plants are looking good.

The low plants make it possible to see the architectural interest of the house.

Fruit and veggie bowl for lunch

Turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch

 

John gave Toby a bath using some medicated shampoo for his skin rash. Toby’s liking his dog bed more.

I vacuumed and washed the car and cleaned up our filthy garage floor.

Then it was back to pursuing my Moby Dick—the big ass stump! I was able to saw off another four inches.

That’s enough to get it to ground level and hide it. The hydrangeas to the right will need to be moved because there’s no longer enough shade for them here. John will get something.

John picked us up a Publix sub for dinner.

Miles walked: 6

Miles biked: 0