Immeasurably More

Dear Reader, Dog and Pony have been resident with me and LandLady for 4 weeks now.  The local dog trainer asked me yesterday if we were bonding.  My ability to read dog body language is still weak, so it may be...or not. We are having some long heart to heart chats.  This one happened in the car on the way home from her stay at the boarding kennel last weekend. "Dog?" Dog, in the back seat of the car, whines. "Dog it's very important that you listen to me." Dog turns to stare out the window. "Dog, I don't have to keep you, you know.  I can send you back.  If you want to live with me we need to come to an understanding." Dog turns to stare out the other window. "There can't be any more gate jumping.  No more sticking your tongue in the peanut butter jar.  Less restless pacing." More whining. "And you owe LandLady an apology for taking her toast." Dog lays down, rests her head on the seat protector and looks at...

Dear Reader, Dog has a way of expressing sad resignation when she is confined to her crate against her will.  She sighs and lets her head fall against the crate door so it clangs on its hinges.  The more frequently she gets in trouble, the more frequently she gets sent to her "room" and the more frequently I hear ...Sigh...Clang. The most exciting incident of this week was on Tuesday.  LandLady likes to start her days with coffee and toast, and on Tuesday morning, she took the European approach to this classic breakfast by warming the previous evening's Italian bread and adding plenty of butter. Dog, baby gatted in the TV room, watched these proceedings with interest. Dog watches all food related proceedings with interest.  She knows where her food is kept.  She knows where the human food is kept.  She knows where her treats are kept in two different rooms.  And she knows that LandLady uses Pony's crate as a table ...

Dear Reader, LandLady sent me a video of Pony chewing on a rope chew stick.  It's not especially funny or unusual.  Just a big happy dog gnawing on a chew stick. I was not grateful to see this video, because I had bought the chew stick for Dog;  I wanted her to have something non-consumable to chew on since the bits of blanket and squeaky toys she had enjoyed chewing seemed to have unfortunate consequences for her digestion.  But Dog shunned the stick, presumably for the very reason that it is not-consumable.  So it was re-gifted to Pony, who is delighted by it. Dog is, in fact, resisting all of my efforts to keep her busy with non-food based entertainment.  But she is inventing her own games.   Games like "stand quietly just out of line of sight and see how long it takes for MyPerson to come looking for me".  Since I have reasons for not trusting Dog, she usually doesn't have to wait long.  So, fun times for everyone!! One reason I ...