Improvement

When Emmett and Daddy arrived home late afternoon and we all stood around the driveway, Guinness was enormously good. He tried very hard to not jump on Emmett. When it was more than he could take, he jumped on me instead. He looked down the driveway as if he was considering going to see what or who could be down there, but, with my reminder, stayed where he was. Before Emmett left, he did his “happy dance” of running in circles as fast as he could go around Emmett’s car. He certainly had the freedom and opportunity to run away, but he did not! In fact, it almost seemed like he was a bit skittish about running on the far side of the car as that was approaching the barrier line.

Good Morning, Mom!

This morning I was awakened at 6 AM by something warm and furry with stiff, somewhat prickly things mashing into my face. It happened twice before I opened my eyes and jumped up. At least, he didn’t lick me. He simply pressed his face into mine.

Bark Busters

www.barkbusters.com

Scored Survey Results Survey Score: 75

OK... He needs some training... (surprise, surprise)

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A Score Of:	Means:
19 - 27 = A	This dog is extremely well-behaved. Congratulations!
28 - 50 = B	Dogs in this category are typically wonderful family dogs with a few rough edges. This dog could easily move to the "A" grade with some training.
51 - 85 = C	While these dogs need training, frequently they don't receive it because their annoying behaviors are "just not bad enough". It's unfortunate because "C" dogs can improve quickly and bring great joy and happiness to families. And, with training, the owner can be assured the behaviors will only get better -- not worse.
86 - 139 = D	This category of dogs has issues that can be serious if not addressed soon. Owners of these dogs are constantly being annoyed and irritated by their behavior and are beginning to think "Something has got to be done." Fortunately, dogs can change their behavior quite easily, so these owners should seek help immediately.
140 - 200 = F	Most people with dogs that rate an "F" are desperate for change, but many don't know what to do. These dogs are out of control and serious problems can arise if they are not trained. Owners of these dogs sometimes consider putting them down. However, the vast majority of dogs can be saved with training, eliminating the owner's grief and guilt.

Bunny

There seems to be a growing population of rabbits in our area. When we first moved here, we rarely saw a rabbit. Now there often is one in our yard when we go outside. While I was cleaning up sticks in the yard, Guinness was chasing a rabbit. I was standing in the garden, behind the plantings, next to the wooden fence tossing sticks into the woods on the other side. The rabbit was trying to escape by running the perimeter of the yard next to the fence. He tore past me brushing my foot!!! He obviously was less frightened of me than of the big brown dog. Guinness seemed to be confused about where the rabbit had gone. He probably did not expect the rabbit to have run past me either. Clever rabbit.

Crazy Boy

I went to pick up Guinness from Holly’s Pride this morning. He has been there for 10 days. While we were away, I found a golf outlet store and shopped for a left golfer’s glove with open fingers to wear in the summer while walking Guinny. It is pink leather with a mesh back to avert suntan lines. Hopefully, wearing such a glove will prevent me from losing layers of skin again. I put it on when I arrived at the pet hotel, because my finger is not healed up yet, and I certainly cannot handle Guinness without some protection on that wound.

As I entered the office, two couples were waiting to pick up their dogs. First, two great danes came out for the one couple. They were very excited to see their masters AND me! There were jumping on me too. After they left, while we were waiting for the other couple’s two Goldens to appear, I mentioned that the great danes were just as excitable as Guinness. The girl at the desk said, “Well… no one is as excitable as Guinness. He wins the prize for being the craziest.” What?! After paying out bill, I asked if the “mattress” we had improvised is still working well. She said that it was a fabulous idea to do that. “He doesn’t lie on it until bedtime, though. He spends his day lying at the door watching everyone go by. Then after 6:00, he will get up on his bed and lie down.”

Before bringing him home, I had unpacked most of my suitcase, sorted piles of laundry, and had stacked things in different places to be put away. First he found a washcloth in a laundry pile. Next he took some tissue paper that had been wrapped around new clothes. The third thing he stole was a shocker: my blue jeans!!! They were folded up into a neat square; he grabbed them and ran.

The crazy boy was exhausted! This is how he spent his day. We did go for a promenade around the property late in the afternoon. The glove works like a charm! I let him run loose dragging his leash in the yard while I cleaned up some things. I neglected to check if the landscapers had left my jerry-rigged fence intact when they mowed last week. Without warning, he dashed through the fence, as it was not all put together, to get to the street sidewalk! A man was walking his labradoodle. By the time I caught up with him, they were happily dancing around each other and the man was holding Guinness’s leash.

I have been contemplating finding a personal trainer, and now I need to call fence companies tomorrow to see if we can do something more sturdy than my flimsy fence.

Paint Swatches

A painter came today to give an estimate on doing our 3 levels of hallway and foyer. She left a ring of paint swatches for us to decide on the color. When she gave it to me, I set it on the kitchen counter and forgot about it after she left. Yep! You know what happened. I had to chase him around the house. By the time I removed the slimy pages from his mouth, he had managed to mangle one of the swatches and several others were bent a bit. I wiped off the pages and set the blender on top of the book to make the damp pages lie flat. It worked! They looked pretty good after it was all dry. In fact, the painter said that it was fine and I did not need to give her $30 to replace the book.

Near Disaster

My normal way to walk Guinny is to put him on a 20 foot cotton web lead connected to a heavy leather leash which I loop over my right wrist and use my left hand to control him. Since he is pretty good about “leash respect,” this system works well to allow him maximum room to roam on his own and have some fun rather than have to walk at old Mommy’s pace. Tonight we did a prom on the long lead in the back of the property, but, when we come to the front on the sidewalk near the road, I have to loop up the long lead and hold the cotton lead in my left hand with no room to roam. He must have seen a bunny or something, because he uncharacteristically bolted from the sidewalk towards the road. I screamed and tried to hold the cotton leash, but it was cutting through the skin of a finger on my left hand. He stopped short of the road, and I felt like my index finger had been sawed off at the second joint. Many layers of skin were gone, yet it did not bleed. Fortunately, we are going to FL for a week and he goes to the pet hotel tomorrow, which will give that wound time to heal before we venture out on a walk again.