Husband and I were working in the yard last weekend moving some plants around and keeping them watered as we went. Apparently there was a small pinprick leak in the hose. And of course Katie noticed right away.
It just had to be investigated. Such fun to pounce on that little spray of water!
Surely a smart Sheltie can get that water to stop spraying…just one more pounce…
Game ending score? Sheltie zero. Hose 10.
I think some of you need a Katie fix. Just because you haven’t seen her in a week doesn’t mean she hasn’t been doing her homework.
We’re working on weaves out in the backyard.
She’s got the general idea, the weaving in and out.
It’s just those darn entries that are difficult. So hard to remember where to start Mom!
I’m using her frisbee as the “treat” at the end of the weaves. Sometimes she gets so excited getting ready to run that she pops out one weave too early.
We’re working on it.
For our challenge this week Katie and I went on a photo shoot. Our tiny little town is having what they call Heritage Days this weekend. For a couple of weeks now I’ve noticed scarecrows, each wearing a different outfit being placed along the road heading out of town. First one, then another. Then last night I was at the library and saw a picture of “their” scarecrow, dressed as a woman reading a book. Turns out local groups and businesses dressed scarecrows, complete with pumpkin heads and entered them in a contest. They are all numbered and you get to vote for your favorite.
During the weekend there were tours of a local historic barn, houses and other historical sights. Early Saturday morning the downtown was getting ready for the tourists, setting out sidewalk sale stuff, sweeping the walk, watering the planters. Everyone was very busy as Katie and I strolled by.
Katie and I went early that morning, because I love taking pictures in the early morning sun…and because Katie was already awake; she’d been barking at the sound of duck hunters on a nearby lake since 7 a.m.
The challenge for Katie was to sit quietly while all sorts of activity was going on around her. Lots of cars and trucks driving by, up close and personal. Many of them had extra noisy trailers hooked up behind, hauling trackers, antique and new, up to the big barn at the top of the hill.
Those trailers were the worst for Katie to sit through; they make so much noise! And a few times she just couldn’t handle it and would lunge and bark. But for the most part she sat when I asked her to, though her head was swiveling around keeping track of all the people and traffic.
I took pictures of her sitting near some of the scarecrows or in front of pretty displays. She got to sit next to her very own tractor. It took a bit of persuasion for her to sit so near that tractor tire!
You can almost see the scarecrow sitting on the tractor seat. The sun was just moving over the top of a building and the light kind of obliterates his head…anyway Katie is prettier and a better focus.
Here’s the library staff’s contribution to the contest…
…and the one in front of our local yoga and meditation studio…
…and Lady Harriet Heritage herself!
…where Katie says “GEE MOM!!! How many more of these do I have to sit for? And can I have another piece of CHEESE?”
All done now sweetie….wait…how about one more! In front of the historic Candle Factory! This will be my FAVORITE!
All in all, though she wasn’t perfect, she did sit when I asked her, most of the time, and only lunged at two trucks. Well, maybe three. She isn’t as good at heeling when we’re around all this interesting stuff and lots of people, so we need more practice there. And of course we always need practice not barking and lunging at cars. So we’ll be doing more of this.
Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful weekend! Katie sends kisses.
I went to bed early last night exhausted from nights of sleeplessness. But it was another restless night. As husband slept, and dog slept I watched the clock. Finally early morning, maybe 2:30 a.m. or so I got up. Naturally Katie did too. And as soon as we ventured out to the living room she starting running around barking. As I’m shhhhing her, afraid she’d wake up the husband, I turned on the floodlight in the backyard. There, right near the house was a little rabbit. A terrified little rabbit looking for somewhere to run. I turned the light off and tried to distract the Sheltie.
We went out the front door, she sniffing the ground, then wandering around till she found the right spot to do her job. I sighed as I shivered in my pjs, wondering why I, the only one with a job, was standing outside in the middle of the night waiting for Katie to finish. Then I urged her back to the house, posted the this mornings wordless Wednesday entry and tried to go back to bed.
Nothing doing. Katie had to go out AGAIN! Seems I rushed her inside too soon. She has a persistent bark that means I’m not going to get away with ignoring her. So out we went again. Maybe 2:45 a.m. now. We wander around until she finds a new perfect spot. I sigh some more, watching the stars, which were heavy and low in the crystal clear October night. To me the Big Dipper represents Dad, and Orion’s belt is my Mom. Mostly because those are the only two constellations I can recognize. Still, I talk to them regularly while Katie and I are out in the dark.
And then, just as Katie began to do her thing, the biggest, brightest most wonderous shooting star arched across the sky right above me. It was amazing. It was beautiful and it shot through the sky for a full second or two. Katie didn’t notice it.
But I did, and right there hugged my baby-girl for making sure I was outside on a chilly October morning so that I could see such a beautiful thing.
Way to go babe!
This week we took our cue from Oreo over at Sara’s blog. We’re working on the vacuum cleaner!
Ever since she was a little tiny puppy Katie has hated the vacuum cleaner. I don’t know if she thinks she is protecting me, or if it’s a game, but she barks and growls and pounces and bites the vacuum. She’s so vicious I am afraid she’ll break a tooth. So mostly I put her outside when I do the vacuuming, and frankly I don’t vacuum as often as I should. Which isn’t such a bad thing when you stop and think about it. Sort of liberating actually.
But wait. I digress.
I can’t even touch the handle of the closet door behind which lurks the evil vacuum without her spinning in circles and barking hysterically. To actually drag the hose out creates mayhem. And turn it ON? Unthinkable.
So one day this week I put her in a sit/stay and opened the closet door! If she barked I closed the door and walked away. No treat. I tried again later. Eventually she sat while I opened the door and she got her treat.
Next we tried MOVING the vacuum hose. Same deal. Sit, don’t bark and you get a treat. I’ve left the hose and the vacuum heads sitting in the middle of the living room floor for a couple of days now. She doesn’t have a problem with that…
…until I move that evil vacuum head…it’s not even turned ON yet…then she gets all crazy again.
Sigh. So much more work to do. Of course we haven’t put in the hours and hours of relaxation work that Sara and Oreo have done. Just goes to show…if you don’t do the work, you don’t earn the treat.
My treat would be to vacuum in peace. I think.
Earlier this summer husband built Katie a dogwalk and a full size teeter! And right about that same time I hurt my knee and was spending most of my days reclined with ice on my leg. I tried running with Katie on her brand new equipment, but that really aggravated my knee. So all these weeks Katie’s new stuff has been in the garage. Waiting.
Last night Katie’s dad put the dogwalk and teeter up, set out a few jumps and the weaves and when I got home from work Katie and I played for awhile.
Remember when she was afraid to walk on the board when it was flat on the driveway? And when putting the board up on bricks freaked her out? It was only a year ago when she would run the other way to avoid running over the board as it sat on a 2 inch pipe! Silly girl.
Now my biggest problem is that she runs up and over the dogwalk and then turns around and runs up and over it again! And regardless of what obstacle I think we’re going to do, she’s doing the dogwalk first!
And maybe all those weeks in agility school working on the dreaded teeter was worth it. Because look at this!
“I’m not afraid of any ole teeter Mom!” Watch me! Watch me!!!!
I’m watching Katie-girl. And I’m in so proud of you!
Change Is Hard 