Remember when I said that having a random work schedule made it difficult to figure out what day it was? That the weekends had no meaning and I was always checking the calendar to figure out where I was supposed to be and when? Well, let me tell you, being unemployed is even more confusing. With nothing at all scheduled I have no place to mark time. So I’m just going to have to fill up the space, organize some organization into my days, get myself going. Or not. It’s taken a couple of weeks, but I’m beginning to like this feeling of not knowing what day it is – and not caring anyway!
Katie and I do have the Monday drop in competition obedience class…but I don’t have to go every week. And last week I did start her in a Rally class on Thursday mornings. So I guess there is some semblance of organization and purpose in my life. Or in hers anyway. We went to Obedience last night. Twenty-four dogs (at least) there. Way too big, we had to do things in groups and wait while other groups were working.
Katie and got there an hour early so that she could acclimate to the building. We sniffed all around the edges of all three rings. Looked at the agility equipment piled in the corner of the building, caught our reflections in the mirrored wall…sniffed all the dog crates. And suddenly as I was wandering with her I realized she was heeling and looking at me expectantly! All by herself! And we were only 10 minutes into our hour! What a girl! So we did some practicing of our own in the empty rings. Heeling, staying, coming, more heeling. She was spot-on. Of course after all that I still had 30 more minutes to fill before class began.
We met three other shelties, and I got to have a long talk with the owner of one of them, a small breeder, about sheltie attitude and shyness and what they (the breeders) were doing about trying to be careful not to breed shyness into the dogs. Mostly though I waited my turn to get a little ring time. Katie is not a patient dog, and was barking when she had to hang around too long. Another sign she was acclimated and feeling her oats, the fact she’d bark at instructors and other dogs.
This week she waited when she was supposed to and didn’t follow me out as we were doing recalls. And she was perfect on her long sit. We were doing long sits and downs near the end of the class and a large group of people were gathering (maybe for another class) in the waiting area. They got louder and louder until it was difficult to hear our instructor. There were lots of dogs waiting as well, and Katie, sitting near the edge of the ring had her back to all this activity. She was doing a pretty good job of ignoring it all when suddenly two big dogs, waiting with their owners right in back of her, got into it. They growled and barked at each other in anger, and Katie went straight up into the air then began running toward me on the other side of the ring. I was already moving fast toward her and we met in the middle. I led her back to her spot, put her back into a down while the dogs on either side of Katie were struggling with their owners, refusing to go back down. Katie just sat and watched each of them, her ears flat. One of the instructors came up behind me and said “Good recovery. It’s OK to go back to her tell her she’s a good girl and come back out. They all need a little reassurance sometimes.” So I did.
That was the end of our class and Katie was glad to leave. I think she won’t need as long to get into the training mode now, and we won’t have to be there so early. She really was ready to go home about the time the class began! And it’s just way too big. So when our 8 visits are over we probably won’t go back. The Rally class is much smaller, the building is more quiet, and she gets 30 minutes of obedience which is just about right for her. So we’ll enjoy that more I think.
On the other hand, when we got home she still wanted to play and brought out some of her favorite toys to entice me. Silly dog, she should have been worn out. I know I was! But she’s still ready to go Go GO!
On this beautiful fall day I traveled down to Ann Arbor to have lunch with a friend from school. I was in AA last weekend, when we went to the concert at Hill Auditorium (pictured above with the UM bell tower), and my husband asked me as we were leaving town if I missed campus. I can honestly say that yes I do. I don’t know if it is the campus itself, the sense of being involved in something new and exciting, or the feeling of belonging that I missed, but I do miss being in Ann Arbor.
So I was excited to go down to campus again. I planned the trip so that I had time to ride the bus into the center of town. That makes parking cheaper (as in zero) and saves me trying to drive in a town which is overrun with students, cars and buses. Driving in AA totally stresses me out. Plus, if you’ve read this blog long enough you’ll know. I LOVE riding the bus! In a multicultural university town like Ann Arbor you get to see and listen to the most interesting people while riding the bus. Today I listed to a conversation about quantom physics and another about how different antioxidents work on different part of the cells in our body. Riding the bus is an education in itself. I was pleased to note that old traditions continue, like students getting up out of their seats and offering them to older riders, and everyone calling a “thanks!” to the driver, accompanied with a wave, as they depart.
Over in West Hall, where I went to school I ran into my favorite professor. She and I were walking through the undergrad library at the same time and actually bumped into each other. We had a moment to talk, which was really nice. She says she’s going to retire. I said sure she is, she says that every year. But this year she just may. She wants to travel the country and visit all her students in all those libraries. Sounds like a plan to me!
New classes are starting this week at the dog school Katie and I have been attending. I noticed there was an agility class, and as I’m not working I thought it would be fun to go. Then I saw a rally class starting, and reluctantly decided to enroll Katie in that instead. I was a bit nervous about taking her into a building she was already agitated about, then introducing her again to equipment that has frightened her in the past. Plus she’s not that focused yet. So, though I think agility would be more fun, I think rally is a better match for her where she is right now. I think we’ll be able to gain our rally novice title if we focus. Well, if I focus and she just follows along. You get to talk to them in rally which is very different from obedience, so we’ll start there.
Tonight was another Monday night class in the big building near the noisy airport with all the other big dogs. We got there an hour early and I let her sniff all the scary corners of all the rings and watch all the other dogs arrive. About 10 minutes before class she accepted a treat from me without spitting it out. So I knew she’d focus on me because now she was interested in the chicken!
Yesterday was a day filled with family. Well, filled with Aunts anyway. Husband I spent the morning helping his 94 year old Aunt put her apartment back together. She’d had to empty her kitchen and bathroom so that the building management could have all the apartments sprayed for bugs. Of course being the independent soul that she is, she didn’t tell us this was happening, and spent part of each day unloading drawers and cupboards on her own for several days until we accidentally happened to find out. She was totally exhausted, to the point of near collapse, by the time we arrived to help finish the process.
Later that afternoon my husband and I drove down to Ann Arbor for diner cooked by my 75 year old Aunt and a concert by the University of Michigan bands at Hill auditorium. The meal was lovely as it always is and we listened to her travel plans, several major trips in the next few months, and stories of her children who are coming home for the holidays.
