Tuesday

John got this shot of a water turkey swimming around hoping a fisherman would throw him something.

On our Toby walk this morning, Toby wallowed in some manure of some type, so our causeway walk got delayed as we put him in the shower for a full shampoo. (He likes showers more than baths. Go figure.)

When we came home for lunch, he took a sun bath in his bed as he surveyed the back yard. He was a vision in white, as you can see above.

After lunch we took him downtown to do some training with distractions. He did pretty well with heel, but he really just wanted to poop and sniff.

Then he found a very dirty spot near the Pinellas Trail and down he went again!

He had just greeted a couple with a polite sit, and the woman said, “His coat is so white. It’s really beautiful.”

Ten seconds later, he was wearing this dirt scarf.

He got hosed off in the driveway upon his return.

Training is a process, so we’ll take our successes. 

Our trainer has helped us to understand what barking/whining in the house at people, dogs, and random noises outside means. She says he’s on alert or scared and he’s protecting his pack. Heretofore, we’ve just let him whine and run around, thinking his whining was funny.

Now, we understand that he’s doing that because we are not stepping up to reassure him that we will protect him. It doesn’t matter that we know there’s no real threat. He needs to know that we have things under control so he doesn’t have to take action.

This insight on his thinking has been eye opening. Knowing that he is safe with us will help him to bond with us and help him to relax. The added benefit is that when someone is invited to come to our house he won’t go bezerk—in theory.

Now, when he starts to whine at people, dogs, or noises outside, we distract him and get him to focus on us. Because of the foundation we’ve built, we can actually get his attention. He then let’s go of the threat, assured that we’re up to the task.

Lunch was huge!

Apples, bananas, cherries, blueberries, beets, cauliflower, raspberries, red grapes, boiled egg, Greek yogurt, and cottage cheese 

Dinner was from New Bamboo, egg foo yung with a side of vegetable low mein.

Our last walk tonight around 6:30 felt like fall. It was 82 degrees with 52% humidity—almost cool.

Miles walked: 10.3

Miles biked: 5.38