Straw Yard

The precipitation this winter is rain, not snow. The temperatures are warm, but not warm enough to evaporate our water soaked lawn. I have spread two bales of straw over the mushy and muddy areas to prevent dirty pawprints from entering our house. Yesterday, I ran out with Guinness in the rain, skidded on the soggy grass, and slid to a resupine position in the muck. I had to strip at the washing machine right down to my undies!


Guinness has discovered, in his adolescence, that he has choices to make when given a command. He is making the wrong decisions forcing us to keep him on leash. That is annoying for both handler and dog, plus he cannot run and play. I pulled out our cable, which was useful last summer before he learned the boundaries of our yard, and tethered it to a tree. Our longest leather leash is too skinny to be a satisfactory training leash, but it is perfect to usher him outside and attach as an extension to the cable. We can even play games of fetch!