It was 67 degrees and cloudy this afternoon. The forecast was calling for rain, so I drove to Weaver Park to exercise. After about 45 minutes, it started to sprinkle, but that was enough time for my second workout of the week, pretty good considering the weather and house projects. Since it was Saturday, the little kids outnumbered me 6:1.
Today’s house project was to move the stick vac hanger from the bedroom wall into the closet, where it should have been installed all along but the closet was too full and I wasn’t thinking.
It used to hang here. I was able to route the cord discreetly under the closet door. I had some white cable clamps that hold the wire in place. I was going to touch up the wall repair but our paint had dried up in storage. I’ll need to get a quart on our next Ace trip.
We muddled through pet training this morning. The worst dog in the class was absent (skin issues), so we took over that role indisputably. The other two dogs are taking the advanced class for the first time; it’s our third. Those dogs were able to stay down at the front of the store with lots of distractions for 2 minutes. Toby popped up several times. He may have made it 20 seconds. In this level of training, we have to do all the commands without treats. Toby waits after every command to see if he’s going to get a treat. Sometimes he’ll go along; sometimes he’ll just stare off into space. It’s hard not to compare your dog to the other dogs. Every dog is different. Our trainer keeps telling us her dog was a super slow learner.
We did the hated “come/STOP” command which Toby, John, and I find confusing, but the trainer is adamant about us learning. It’s used to call your dog and then stop him in his tracks, like if he’s crossing a street with oncoming traffic that you didn’t see when you first called him. Whatever. We always find a way to mess this one up: too loud, too soft, too late, too much body movement, not enough body movement, body movement in the wrong direction . . .
Our trainer said that dogs pick up the energy of their owner. If the owners are crazy, the dog’s going to be crazy. She illustrated the point with a story about a dog she boarded for the weekend in her home. It was a hyper doodle that was bonkers in training and at home, according to the owner. Our trainer sent her dog away for the weekend so that she could manage the crazy dog without it messing up her dog. The trainer said the dog was great all weekend: calm, obedient, and sweet. That story made us feel a little hopeless. Some crazy we just can’t help. But we have both suspected that our energy and attention might be too much. We’re going to work on being calm and talking to him less. The trainer says dogs tune out their owners when they talk all the time because they don’t understand the words. Then, when we give a command, they’re used to tuning us out.
We’re looking forward to warmer weather the next six days, with highs in the upper 70s.
Miles walked: 7.3
Enjoyed your blog. Toby’s training session seems scary. We had a pretty day for a change. In fact we took the Christmas lights off the outside tree. It drew a few neighbors. It was easy. We used a broom the lift the top lights off. The remainder was easily done from the ground. I completed our pantry organization today. Next is my makeup items. Love to all.
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