Plume went for a walk in the Laurentians yesterday, with some friends recently returned from France. You can tell she’s artistic from her wonderful sense of colour.
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Fall puppy
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
School
Plume and I went to school for the first time last night. It was everything I’d hoped for, though I might wish their expectations weren’t so high. Between now and next Tuesday we need to have push-ups (sit-down-stand) with both hand signals and verbal cues, which means we need to practice at least 50 times. Also we need to learn to play dead. And on walks we need to practice dogs sitting nicely beside bosses. And we need to practice our recall. I’d already been working on recalls, but I didn’t have the whole thing: the dog doesn’t get the treat until you’ve touched their collar. So we’ve been practising that this morning.
We have six weeks of this but the fee would have been worth it for just this course. I learned how to walk Plume on a relaxed leash. She’s a puller, so one of the first things we got her was a Halti collar (basically a bridle) so that we could walk her comfortably. Last night I learned how Plume could walk on an ordinary short leash with an ordinary collar without pulling. And this morning that’s exactly what we did. Crikey. We aren’t perfect yet, but the goal is so close as to be looming over us.
Twelve years ago I took Poupoune to a local dog school that used dominance psychology and praise. They gave me big leather gloves to handle her with. She hated class. Last night Plume started barking as soon as she got to class. I was told to move her away from the distraction. I did this several times until there was nowhere else to go, and then we had to stand and watch some very distracting exercises with dogs running back and forth demonstrating recalls. The instructor showed me how to give her a treat every time something exciting was about to happen so that she’d turn to me when the action started instead of jumping around and barking. This kind of behavioural work is exactly what I had been hoping for.
But walking without pulling… that’s just… crikey.
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
more Plume!
One of the ducky things about a beloved who works at home is that you can receive cheery mid-day pictures like this one of Plume in her bed next to Mark’s desk.
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Ducks!
Plume and I were walking through the park at 6:30 this morning, arguing about whether it was better to plod slowly along the paved path or bound gaily through the pond of snow-melt that takes up a good part of the park at this time of year. In any case, we were getting a good look at the pond of snow melt and the many, loud, associated seagulls. And then a pair of ducks waded into the pond and started swimming.
In case you’re wondering what’s so special about ducks, take a look at my neighbourhood:
Ducks might be nothing special for you, but they are very special for me.
Thanks, Plume! (Without whom I would have been reading the internet instead of going for an early-morning walk. With ducks.)
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Disruption
Came back from Toronto at midnight last night and discovered an e-mail from Plume’s rescue organization saying that it would be a while before their local vet could spay her, so would we mind very much taking Plume right away and getting her spayed later by one of their vets closer to us?
Hee! We’re going to pick her up tomorrow morning. She still has a cough and she hasn’t been dewormed, so we’ll have to keep her somewhat separate from Poupoune for a week or so. I called our vet and confirmed that Poupoune’s bordetella vaccine is up to date, and scheduled Plume for a general physical and deworming on Monday.
I haven’t had to live with a bouncy young animal in about twelve years. Back then it was Poupoune, who was a quarter of the size of Plume. It’s going to be disruptive.
Good.