DogDaz Zoo

Just got back from the grocery and it is interesting how Sofie missed me.  I had C put the dogs in back while I was unloading, and, of course, because Sofie wanted to see me, she came right in when called.  Now, how do I capitalize on that?

I really could have used that obedience earlier today when I was walking the girls.  We were walking (as we do almost every morning) with Lulu’s boyfriend from next door, Mojo (this absolutely handsome champion dock diving black lab) and his human. About 3/4 of a mile into the walk we came upon a neighbor’s plastic nativity scene.  Well, Sofie could not make sense of the plastic baby Jesus and she went crazy: barking, pulling away.  Silly me, I think “I’ll take her up on the lawn and introduce her to Mary, Joseph, and the baby and she will calm down,” but oh no, she got so scared and bolted, so I dropped the leash and off she ran, coming back from time to time to try and bite the head of the scary thing in the basket. (No offense meant to anyone regarding their religious observance or choice of holiday decorations.)  Finally, I took Louise off lead and told her to go get her sister (she will go and return her by the leash to me) but no….. Lulu goes and gets Mo’s lead instead (because he is more fun I guess).  Well, finally, I did rangle the whole crew (with the help of Lulu) but it was a crazy 10 minutes.

This is exactly what they had on the lawn.  Maybe it was the fact that the baby is all white.  I know that white things used to scare my CockerSpaniel, Nikki, to death.  Happy Holidays.  I guess I won’t be walking by that house for another month or so.

I forgot to put Sofie on the leash for her final pee before bed and accidentally let her out in the yard, so she ran around for about 1/2 hr playing her usual games before I was able to get her to come in and go to bed.  Lulu goes right out, pees and comes back in to go nite-nite in the kennel.  Got to figure something out really soon because I am tired of the games.  She is so like a little kid that does not want to stop playing with her toys and go to bed.  I guess it is back to puppy square one.  No off leash unless I am willing to let her come in when she feels like it.  And work on the come command 10 times a day.  Never had a dog that I just could not get to do this.  Half the time she won’t even look up when I call her name.  Hey, maybe she has a hearing problem.  Nah… she can hear a person walking in the street with all the windows closed or a dog barking in the next town.  I love this dog but I really do not like her behavior at all.

So I hear all this commotion outside my office window, while I am on a conference call, and V is calling Sofie and then about 10 minutes later C comes in my office, with a bag of turkey scrapes in her vegan hand, to say they left the gate open and Sofie is gone.  So I take Louise, a couple of leashes, and the turkey, tell them to open the back gate, and send Lulu out to find Sofie and bring her back to me.  Good thing I have Lulu or I would never be able to rangle that silly puppy.  Teaching her to obey commands is getting more and more important and harder and harder.  Thank goodness I taught the family that it is more important to stop the traffic when the dogs are running then to run after the dogs.  Glad the family listens. Just another dogdaz morning. ❤

Wish I could sleep more than 2 hrs at a time.  Got caught up in work and did not put the dogs to bed until midnight.  Sofie was so tired she had trouble going to the bathroom before bed (still a baby).  Woke the dogs at 6:33 am because had a meeting at 7.  Sofie was so tired she did not stretch and bolt out of her kennel as usual.  Actually, was a little concerned that she stayed in there with the door open.  Finally moved her along and sent them out the door.  Rained over night but not majorly wet.  I showered quick (as usual) and collected the dogs and was on the phone with India by 7 (few minutes late because they did not include a conference call number).  Feed the animals while on mute.  Luckily I knew what I was talking about so that I could multitask on the call because the animals don’t like to wait for breakfast. The weather is changing from this beautiful November 70 degrees, which is unheard of here in the mid-Atlantic.  Got to get the dogs out before the hard rain comes but on calls until about 11:30 am (currently on with Spain).  Hope the rains wait. Just a regular DogDaz morning. ❤