Condo stuff, doggie dental

Catching up after days of "Say, what--?" and head swivels around while I try to figure out what just happened.

The front of my condo used to look like this:


(I think I was taking photos of the sky. I can't figure any other reason I'd have photographed the roof--unless this was just after they reroofed the building.)

The back of my condo used to look like this:



At present, the front looks like this (with less stuff in the yard):



And the back looks like this:


(Not only did they wrap the windows--they wrapped the back door. I can't get the door open.)

Between normal and plastic wrapped, we had this in the back:



Normal Wednesday morning. Stripped by Thursday afternoon. Plastic wrapped by late Saturday. They'll be back Monday morning at 8am.

I'm getting off lucky on the repairs. A couple of windows I was worried about (that back window on the lower floor would cost $3,166 to replace) can be repaired without being replaced. There's no sign of termite damage and minimal water damage. My cost for repairs will be $337, and $125 of that is for new outdoor lights and a mailbox. (I think we might be getting a floodlight on the back patio.)

The dogs have been fine with the noise. (And my god, has there been noise. At 8am every day. They warned us to take down pictures on the walls because of banging and vibrations.) I've managed not to laugh at the workmen who dive for cover every time I come outside with the dogs and Tigger does his OMG! Pet me! lunge at them. 68-pounds of assuredly friendly is hard to take, and these guys aren't so sure of his lunging, open-mouthed temperament. The dogs are consistently disappointed that no one wants to pet them. The workmen are nice, young, and very polite. Their English is limited, but I think I've finally convinced them that they can't plug their compressor into my carport outlet without tripping the circuit breaker.

* * *

Tigger did the Marietta Farmer's Market meet and greet Saturday morning. Silver had a R.E.A.D. session at the library (where we're filling in because the regular handler is on maternity leave--it being awkward to get a pregnant body down on the floor with the dog and the reader). We had a good kid Saturday--a girl who really likes dogs and dog kisses. Silver was happy to oblige.


Waiting for a reader


Blanket side 1


Blanket side 2

We have one more month of filling in at the East Marietta Library. Then in June we start at our own library: Mountain View Regional--which isn't as close but will be all ours. ;)

Silver has to have a dental on Wednesday, though. I've lost two female greyhounds at the age of 8--one of them from a blood clot under anesthesia--so you can guess I'm not happy about putting 8-year-old Silver under. But her teeth need to be cleaned, she's not getting any younger, and she's having some trouble chewing. The vet thinks she may lose a couple of molars, but she was unhappy with his explorations in her mouth, so he said he'd wait and see what was what when she was under anesthesia. I gave him a printout about increased potassium during anesthesia being a danger in greyhounds (he's calling Tufts to get dosage info in case he has to give her calcium), and I'm going to pick up a prescription for Amicar tomorrow because Walgreen's will have to order it. A greyhound's blood clots just fine, but the clots fail easily, leaving a greyhound hemorrhaging from something as simple as a tooth being pulled. Amicar helps strengthen the clots...which seems strange to me, since Oreo died of a blood clot we didn't want. And Silver didn't do well after she was spayed--the anesthesia made her nauseated--so we also have that to try to plan around. (Her vet was calling the SEGA vet who did the spay to see what protocol he used.) Anyway, we've taken all the precautions we can take--Silver had a full "senior lab panel" done last week. I just need to try not to cry on her (or panic) between now and when I drop her off Wednesday morning. I've arranged her therapy dog schedule so that she has this week off.

Hurrying along...

Okay, I haven't blogged here in a while, although I've blogged about my cooking efforts and about my foster dog.

I have yarn I haven't photographed, but I need to sort it, wind it, enter some of it on Ravelry--and I can't stop long enough to do it because I've got lots of knitting to get done. I'm still working on the baby blanket, I have a cousin expecting a baby in November, I have hats for charity to do, dog stuff (also for charity), and Christmas stuff. And I have to work and earn a living (sorta). And SEGA has had meet and greets at the Marietta Farmer's Market in the Square nearly every Saturday. This coming Saturday is the all-day Harvest Square, and Silver and I will be hosting SEGA's booth from 1 to 3.

And, because things weren't nearly hectic enough at this time of year, I've started getting the ball rolling for Silver to be a therapy dog.

Actually, we'll be a therapy team, Silver and me. It'll be my job to watch out for her--make sure nothing frightens her or hurts her while she's working. What we want to do is the R.E.A.D. program--where kids too self-conscious to read to adults read to dogs instead. There's an evaluation she has to do (this next Saturday, I think), then three visits that have to be observed (two to medical facilities like an assisted living home). At that point, she and I will have liability coverage with Therapy Dogs, Inc. Then I have an all-day seminar on the R.E.A.D. program (November 2), and we have to make a couple of supervised library visits. If all that goes well, we'll be working for the CAREing Paws group. In addition to hospice/hospital/nursing home visits and the reading program, CAREing Paws teams do stress-relief sessions at colleges at exam time, and other special requests.

Since some of our visits will be to an assisted living location, where patients might have breathing issues, therapy dogs need frequent baths to get rid of loose hair and dandruff. Silver got a bath at a do-it-yourself dog wash place that's nearby. We'll be going there once a month.



When you do the R.E.A.D. program, you look for things you can give the children as souvenirs: a bookmark, a sticker--something with a photo of your reading dog. Lisa Poole, who's a therapy dog partner with a couple of her own dogs, snapped some lovely photos I can use for Silver's souvenirs.

Picking Up the Pieces

That photo was the source of the avatar I've used everywhere for nearly two years. It's being retired--replaced with a photo of Silver.

For now, Silver is an only dog. She's enjoying longer walks than we used to take when Sam was around. She's adjusting to the idea of only two meals a day instead of the four meals she and Sam got when he needed to take lots of pills, but I think she misses having someone else's food to steal. She's sticking close to me. She doesn't seem to miss Sam (Sam never missed Jacey or Oreo, either), so that makes things a little easier. She thinks she should get to come with me every time I go out--as though she only stayed home in the past to keep Sam company.

She went to her obedience lesson last Saturday. She's minutely better about working on things in class, but she'd still rather stand there and watch to see what the other dogs are doing. We've worked some at home, and she's getting more reliable about down, although stay is still something she does only when she's too lazy to get up right that second.

But she's not dumb. She wants to run to the door when I go out to get groceries from the car. I tell her to lie down on the beds in the living room, and she tries to sneak to the door behind my back. So I stand there next to her crate and say, "Kennel up or go to bed," pointing in the appropriate directions. She runs to the living room and hunkers down on a bed, ready to cling to it and protest if I insist on the crate. At least that means I can come and go with groceries and not have to worry about her trying to sneak out. (Sam never wanted to follow me to the car. He wanted me to go to the car while he checked out the contents of the bag I'd just brought in. He'd usually steal something and carry it to his bed in the living room. Ben & Jerry's Dublin Mudslide was a favorite.)


31 July 2002: Sam's adoption photo. He was 2 years, 2 months old.

Silver eventually will get a new sibling. At present, I'm thinking I don't want another two-year-old (as Sam was when I got him); if I get a dog that lives another 10 years, I'll be in my 70s, and that'll be a little old lady trying to care for a big old dog. It might be feasible if the dog is smaller than Sam (who, at 65 pounds, was a small boy), but I just can't cope right now with a crazy young male dog. (And there's no telling what Silver would do to a male dog with more energy but less sense than Sam.) But before I adopt another dog, I want to get my finances in better shape, so maybe I'll just foster for a while. We don't take foster dogs to meet-and-greets and other events because it can be stressful for them; also, their just-off-the-track behavior might be unpredictable; and while they're still sporting track coats (and track behavior), they don't always show to the best advantage to eventual adopters. So a shy, happy-to-stay-home foster might be perfect for us; Silver would still get to do all the meet-and-greets that she enjoys, and I could try to get my finances straightened out while caring for a dog whose vet bills would be SEGA's responsibility. (When I adopt again, I want to be sure I can afford vet insurance.)


December 2003: Crazy young Sam was 3

Before I bring home a track-fresh dog, I'd need to do some dog-proofing. The last track-fresh dog I brought home was Jacey in 2006. Since then, I've gotten more casual about items I leave out based on what my dogs have been interested in. Sam never cared about my knitting or yarn. Silver has only liked wool yarns, and she's never messed with a project on the needles--wool or not. I can't count on the same behavior with another dog, so I need to straighten things and rearrange some yarn storage. And when you foster, you're expected to be more careful of how you handle a foster dog (and your own): don't let a foster on the furniture or your bed for fear of teaching a behavior that the eventual owner will have to correct. And if the foster and your dog(s) are out of the crate, they all should be muzzled to prevent any snarkiness from escalating to bloodshed. I've got the crate Silver doesn't want to go in, and I think I'd also set up an ex-pen so that the foster could be in the pen in the living room with Silver and me, but the dogs could be separated by the pen and thus not need muzzles very often. And I think I'd want to move the crate from the breakfast room to the dining room, so a crated dog could see Silver and me in the living room. Lots of stuff to consider and work out. SEGA is getting in 10 dogs this Saturday. I'll meet them when I help bathe the new arrivals at the kennel. But new arrivals will need neuter/spay surgery and other vetting before they're ready to head to a foster home, so I have time to do some work around here. And I don't feel the urge to rush into getting another dog right away. It's pleasant to realize I could take Silver and go someplace for the day and not have to worry about a dog at home needing food or a potty break.


December 2003: Watching for squirrels. And cats.

And another thing to organize around here is the dogs' ashes. I got three containers yesterday at Michael's. When Oreo died, I neatly stored her ashes, muzzle, collar, photos, notes, etc., on the bookshelf in the dining room. When Jacey died, I put her stuff on the shelf, but I never organized things, or made a CD of her photos, or anything like that; after fighting to save her over four days at the ER, I didn't want to deal with the results, and Silver came here the day after Jacey died, so I could concentrate on her and just leave Jacey's stuff alone. But now Sam's ashes are home, and I need to deal with that stuff. I got a case--it looks like a small, theatrical suitcase, black with white slogans on the side, and the slogan on the front is "DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING"--and it's large enough to hold Sam's ashes, his old, beaten-up muzzle (I had to get a new one earlier this year, but I kept the old one), collars and tags, photos, and more than 10 years' worth of vet paperwork. The boxes for Jacey and Oreo are smaller and prettier. They don't all match each other: the dogs were all very different. I need to sit and organize a CD of Sam's photos. I also want to print condolence messages to PDFs and save them on the CD as well. There's a mountain of vet paperwork in the corner of a kitchen counter; the paperwork goes back at least through Jacey's days because it usually was easier to just add papers to the pile, rather than try to straighten things out. I'll go through all of that, too, and maybe make a CD of Jacey's photos. I can get prints of some favorite photos and get a couple of those little 4 x 6 albums to go in the boxes with the ashes.


21 June 2006: Sam (by Amy Romanczuk)

(My sister has orders about what to do with the ashes when I die. I promised the dogs we'd be together forever. I prefer cremation for myself, and all the ashes can just be combined at the end. After that--well it seems my sister (and my BIL) and I are of one mind about disposing of ashes. Bury us somewhere, throw us into the wind, toss us on the water. We're not fussy about how or where.)


27 August 2011: A few days after Jacey died and Silver came home

Today is the first day I haven't burst into tears over Sam. It's been those frustrated, temper-tantrum sort of tears, where I bang my fist into the pillow and wail, "I want my Sam!" The tears spring up all of a sudden.


6 December 2006: Sam's drooling. I said the word "Cookies!"

Sam had a whole routine he followed: He'd wake up from a nap, struggle to his feet, wobble until he got his balance, then smoothly stretch (as if he hadn't just been wobbling and about to fall). Then he'd go from the living room to the dining room to get a drink. He'd shuffle across the dining room--it's a hard floor and I think he was worried about keeping his footing if he moved too fast, and sometimes he'd knuckle a back foot, so just sliding his feet across the floor was safer--he'd shuffle over to his empty food dish and give it a lick. Then he'd move into the kitchen, which is long and narrow, with doorways at either end. He'd move slowly, checking the floor and the counters for spills or forgotten food (although it's been years since I was silly enough to leave food on the counters). At the far end of the kitchen, there are folding doors to the closet that houses the water heater and the kitchen trash can. He'd poke those doors until they opened (they squeaked, which is how I knew what he was up to), stick his head in and flip up the lid on the trash can. He'd root around in the can, licking anything that looked promising. Then he'd wander out that end of the kitchen into the breakfast room, shuffle through there, into the foyer, down the hallway, and back onto the carpet in the living room, where he'd come settle on a bed in front of the box fan. He's done this over and over for the past couple of years--every day and often during the night. So every time I hear a noise from the front of the condo--the AC switching on, or someone outside making a noise--I look toward the foyer to see if it's my boy coming back to the living room. When I realize it isn't him--isn't ever going to be him again--it's hard to take.


9 November 2009: I'd let him lick the nearly empty jar--until he started trying to eat it.

But picking up the pieces means getting back to normal. I've done a minor bit of freelancing (and I need to invoice my big client so I can bank a little money). I've started knitting a baby blanket for some friends expecting their first (a girl) in mid-September (one month!). I'd like to enter the blanket in the North Georgia State Fair, and the entry deadline is about mid-September, too. (The fair is 19-29 September.) Yesterday, on the same trip to Acworth to pick up Sam's ashes, I stopped at an LYS in Acworth and bought a lot of cotton yarn from their half-off bin. It should make some nice chemo caps for Halos of Hope. I also bought some good wool Monday at a different LYS; that will make two hats for Hats for Sailors. Lots of hat knitting after the fair; then Christmas knitting to do.


12 November 2011

Meanwhile, Silver has obedience classes the remaining Saturdays of this month. SEGA has new dogs arriving Saturday. Football season for the Pope High School Greyhounds will kick off 30 August with an away game; their first home game (greyhounds invited) will be on 6 September. There are greyhound events of one sort or another every weekend in September and October.

Lesson 2b--Back to Basics

An earlier post that Silver was improving in the obedience department was wishful thinking.



She's still adorable and charming as all get-out, but when we practice the obedience lesson--and we practice twice a day--she clearly doesn't get it and just stands there. She looks off in the distance in the classic I know you want me to do something but I don't know what it is so I'll just stand here until you get a better idea attitude.

I've emailed her instructor. Jen has an agility competition with her dogs this weekend, so I'm not expecting to hear from her right away. Meanwhile, Silver and I will do the Marietta Farmer's Market Meet & Greet tomorrow: she knows how to work a crowd.

I think there's probably a parent-teacher conference in my future next week.

Meanwhile, folks, don't forget that there's an auction to benefit the adoption efforts of SEGA over here.

Lesson 2a--We have lift-off!

Maybe. I'm all happy and pleased because Silver played touch-the-cup in our pre-lunchtime training session.

The real trick will be to see if she remembers the point in the pre-dinnertime training session. And can she branch out? If I move the cup to a less-obvious and easy-to-reach spot, will she still make the effort?

(Sam definitely will. He got so excited during his attempt he kicked the cup across the patio, then lunged to reach it.)

And Sam is better today. His problems yesterday were all my fault. After a training session with both dogs, I came in and gave them lunch...and forgot about the lunchtime meds. By supper last night, it had been more than 9 hours. He can go longer than that overnight, but not during the day, when he's moving around more. So last night I loaded him with all the pills he could safely hold and let him sleep off the whole load. By this morning, he was on his feet (unassisted), and limping much less. Trust me, he's had breakfast meds and lunch meds today.

And this really-need-to-work day hasn't gotten off the ground yet. I've screwed around on Facebook, Ravelry, Greytalk, Twitter, and on the website for SEGA's auction. (Auction ends 4 August, and all the auction items haven't been uploaded yet. But there are a couple of greyhound hats and a snood...I'll post about them later.) I'm still blaming allergies for my inability to get any work done in the morning. I'm in such a fog when I first wake up. Grass pollen is still high.

Lesson 2--Back to the Drawing Board

Silver was awful in class yesterday. Not a big deal, but she's learned that if she's confused and doesn't know what I want, she should just lie down, chin on the ground, and look all pitiful. She knows I won't fuss at her when that happens.


Silver does "down" when she wants to, but not when I ask her to.

She'll make eye contact, for which I click+treat. Then we tried touch-the-cup, but she wasn't playing. I could put a treat on the cup and wait for her to touch it, but she turned around and laid down. (On today's practice, I kept her moving around so she couldn't lie down.) She still doesn't touch the cup to get a treat, and if she doesn't learn that her behavior dictates when treats occur, she won't get the hang of clicker training, and I really don't see her being willing to engage in any other kind of lesson.

Then, in class, it was time to practice down. You don't teach down by putting any physical pressure on the dog. You use treats to lure the dog into position, and you use something called "shaping"--where you don't wait until the whole trick is performed before you click+treat; instead, you click+treat when the dog even starts to perform the desired behavior. So we started the training, Silver lowered her head in the direction of the treat, and I clicked. That startled her and she jumped back and wouldn't try again. She didn't just lie down; she stretched as far away from me as she could (4' leash), turned her back on me, and then laid down. (While lying down is the behavior I wanted, she needs to learn to do it in response to a command from me--not because she's mad at me.)

We have two weeks before the next class. We'll keep working on this. She's not dumb--she's just confused. Once she gets the idea that she's controlling the treat dispenser (aka, me), I think things will go better. We can practice two or three times a day, just before mealtime, when Silver's hungry enough to be more cooperative.



When I tried to train Oreo before I took Jen's class, Oreo's reaction to training--and I wasn't doing clicker training--was much like Silver's reaction now. Oreo would give me a sad look (Poor fool human, I don't do this stuff), cross the room, lie down on her bed and refuse to look at me. So although Silver's behavior is frustrating, I know enough to realize this isn't going to be her behavior forever.

◊ ● ◊ ● ◊ ● ◊

In scary news...Sam's having a really bad day today. He's not walking well; his left rear foot is knuckling, and if he puts it down correctly, he's limping--and he won't lie down and stay down, which makes me think he's in pain. (The foot-thing might just be that the foot fell asleep the last time he was sleeping.) About 90 minutes ago I gave him his usual evening pills; and just I threw in an extra tramadol and gabapentin for him. He's lying down now (but breathing more heavily than I think he should be), and he'll get more meds later tonight. We'll see how he is tomorrow. Poor baby.

Trivia--
--Working on the orange thing. I'm not as far along as I thought I was. The skein of remaining yarn was loose and floppy, and I think part of it must have been dangling off the scale. But I've rewound the yarn into a snug ball, and when I weigh that, there are more grams (36 of them) than I wanted there to be. I'm knitting tonight (and planning to stay up late because I slept all morning). Tomorrow needs to be an all-work/no-knitting day (so I can earn some money).
--Tomorrow also needs to be a grocery shopping day. I'm getting low on almost everything.

Lesson 1b--Making Progress

A happy girl: "Mom's not shooting that clicker at me!"

For a couple of days, I clicked while in the kitchen and waited for the dogs to come running. I did this just before lunch time or dinner time, when the dogs were doing their "Feed us--we're starving" routine. At first, if I clicked, Silver would flinch and draw back (and Sam would lean in for the treat--after all, he heard the clicker, too, and he knows what it means). Eventually, I stood there with a handful of treats, let Silver try to poke her tongue or teeth between my fingers to get the treats, and I just clicked away. Silver started ignoring the clicker.

This was a little risky. I don't want Silver to ignore the clicker. I just want her not to be afraid of it.

Today, before lunch, I took Silver out onto the patio and we worked on touch-the-cup. She still doesn't understand what she's supposed to do--and if she gets frustrated, she'll just lie down--but she has learned that she'll get a treat when she hears the click. If she touched the cup, I clicked and she turned toward me to get the treat. This is something she should have figured out last week, but at least we're on the right track.

So then I took her for a walk on a 30-foot lead so we could work on recalls. She came right away when called and I praised her a lot, but she was not so deeply involved in what she was sniffing at for this to be any indication that recall training is working.

So then I put her in the house and let Sam practice. He came out the door onto the patio and went and slammed his nose into the cup. Click-treat. He knows the drill, but at least this time he didn't lie down with his chin on the cup. After a few more click-treats, I took him for a walk on the 30-foot lead. He doesn't stick to my side the way Silver does, and if he's interested in sniffing at something when you call his name, well--you'll just have to wait your turn. We'll keep practicing, but his recall skills will never be reliable.

Both dogs have had their lunches and are sleeping now. Actually, Silver had about half of Sam's. (Some things never change.) They're sleeping soundly, as if they've actually worked hard. The training sessions were less than 5 minutes per dog. Greyhounds don't have a long attention span.

It's time to chop up more treats. Today they finished off the abundance I cut up before last week's class. Another class tomorrow morning, then we skip a week, so I hope Silver can catch up.

On the knitting front, there's not much to report. The long, orange triangle is still orange, still a triangle, and a bit longer. I'm more than two-thirds of the way through the yarn on this never-ending, knit-till-you-run-out project. I'm put in mind of Penelope, weaving her shroud by day, unraveling it again by night--except that I'm reasonably sure no one is unraveling this (except for those times I've had to frog a few rows to fix a glitch). Anyway, I really want to get this finished: I've figured out what pattern I want to use for my next project (a baby blanket), and I have the yarn, and I want to get it started!


Shawl to enter in the fair

The North Georgia State Fair runs 19-29 September. Fair entries in the craft divisions are due 14-15 September. I have one shawl I'm planning to enter, and I'd like to enter the baby blanket in the fair, too. (The shawl is the same pattern as the orange triangle I'm making now. The photo above doesn't do justice to the color, and the actual shawl is super-soft and very warm.) The baby is due 15 September, but the blanket could be delivered a bit later than that. If I remember correctly from past years, the fair gets lots of crocheted baby blankets entered, but not many knitted ones (and knitting doesn't usually compete against crocheting except for "best in show" awards).

The remodeling at my sister's house is nearly, nearly finished. Everyone is looking forward to the conclusion, and Mother will finally be able to get settled. She's been sleeping in my sister's guest room since early January, and she doesn't have her craft supplies or anything like that in places where she can get to them. (Half her stuff is still in the storage unit. The rest is piled in my sister's living room, dining room, and den.) Also, pollen counts (grass) have been really high lately, so Mother (and I) have been groggy and drowsy and prone to napping the days away. I think if she really had something to do, Mother would be a bit more mentally alert than she has been lately.

Lesson 1a--Click! (flinch)

I do not believe this.



She's afraid of the clicker. Every time I click, she flinches. She doesn't run; she's not terrified. But she flinches.

The red clicker above was furnished for the class. It's a nice, crisp, fairly loud sound that will carry well if your dog is a little bit away from you.

The blue clicker is one I picked up at PetSmart or PetCo or something. It's a more muted sound--and she flinches from that one, too. She flinches even if I hold it right in front of her so she can see my thumb move. Click. It's hardly the trumpet of doom.

But this fear might explain why, this morning, I could click and she wouldn't turn to take a treat until I called her name. When I tried again this afternoon, I stood in front of her (with Sam standing beside her) and I clicked and treated and didn't let her turn away. (I'd click and then treat both dogs, Silver first. I let Sam stand there as a good example--and because it would have been mean to treat her right under his nose. When I need to work with her alone, she and I can go on the patio to practice.)

This morning, Sam wasn't standing nearby, so I don't really think he's part of the equation. I'd click and treat, and she'd turn her head away and lie down as soon as she got her treat. She never once tried to sniff the clicker or poke at it or my hand to produce a click. She didn't watch me to see if I'd make it click again, and if I did click, she'd only turn back to me if I also called her name.

At this point, I'm reminding myself that this is the girl who had to be taught to eat a turkey neck. The first time, she took the neck out of her dish, put it on the doormat, licked the empty dish, and laid down beside it. Later, when I put the neck in the dish right under her nose, ostentatiously ignored it.



But that lasted just a couple of times. Soon, she was ready to grab her turkey neck and chow down (which she won't be doing anymore since she and Sam both suffered disastrous digestive mayhem from their last turkey necks). I'm betting she'll get the hang of click + treat pretty soon. Tonight, I'll keep a clicker in the kitchen. When I go in there to get ice or something to drink, I'll click and wait to see how many dogs show up. Whoever shows up will get a treat. And I'll hold treats in my closed fist and make her sniff at that before I click again and let her have the treat.

If that doesn't work, I'll have to look for another signalling option.

Silly goose.

Lesson 1--Saturday

I've started obedience classes for Silver with trainer Jen Bachelor.


Oreo

My first greyhound, Oreo, took classes from Jen. Oreo was a good, food-motivated student, and forever afterward greeted Jen by diving nose-first into Jen's right pocket. The things dogs learn by accident... Oreo took the classes, and I came home and did homework with Oreo and Sam.

After I adopted Jacey, I used the same lessons to work with her--with Sam getting some additional training as well. Jacey tried hard, but she never managed a decent sit, and stay was not a syllable she ever was willing to hear. (Oddly enough, Sam was better at stay--at least, after you'd said it three or four times.)


Jacey sits (more or less)

I've had Silver for nearly two years, and I haven't tried any lessons with her. For one thing, she's more independent than Oreo or Jacey ever were. For another, while she's food-motivated, she's only food-motivated on her own terms. She'll happily push in front of Sam to eat from his bowl, but sometimes she'll turn her nose up at treats (treats she happily eats at home) if there are distractions. (Nine other dogs in her class = nine distractions.) But I'd like to get her certified as a therapy dog, and that requires at least a tiny inclination for a dog to do what it's told; I'm hoping the class will teach her that doing what I say for a food/praise reward isn't a bad idea. And I'm teaching her through class so I've got an expert's input on any issues with her.

(I'm not going to give away Jen's lesson plan. If Jen wanted to give away the info for free, she could post it on her blog. So I'll talk a bit about the goals or theory of a lesson, but I'm going to avoid the actual how-to steps.)

Our first lesson was this morning. Silver spent most of her time watching the other dogs and didn't show the first sign of interest in lessons. (The treats--chopped up turkey franks and sticks of string cheese--were fine. But I was just supposed to shovel treats into her mouth while she watched the other dogs.)

The lessons involve clicker-training. The idea is that you click to signal the proper behavior. First you have to teach a dog that the click-sound means treats. Then you have to teach the dog that she can make you click by doing something you want her to do. You do this by getting the dog to touch a target, then clicking and rewarding for the touch. The first few times, you may have to lure the dog into touching the target; at some point, though, the dog is supposed to make the connection and touch the target on her own.



So we practiced this afternoon. I'm not 100% certain that Silver understands click = treat, so we need to work on that without complicating the training by adding touch-the-target at the same time. When we tried touch-the-target, Silver would touch if I lured her into it, but otherwise she'd stand there. She'd sniff my hands to try to squeeze out a treat, then she'd give up and stand and wait for something to happen. We started working this outside on the patio, but when Silver lost interest, we went back inside.

Meanwhile, poor Sam is absolutely beside himself watching this. He remembers touch-the-target. He excelled at it when he took lessons with the other girls. Sam's all, Me! Mom! Me! I can do this! Me! Let me, Mom!


From earlier this year: the old man is still as food-driven as ever

So I took pity on him. I put the target down where he and Silver could both see it. I put a treat right on it, and Silver lunged in for it. I clicked and treated and waited. When another treat didn't show up right away, Silver walked off and laid down. I moved the target toward Sam, but I didn't put a treat on it. Sam touched the target immediately (click+treat). If I moved the target to the side a bit, and he'd reach over and get it (click+treat). That smart ass actually laid down and put his chin on the target! I let him finish off the treats I had in my pocket. Perhaps Silver will learn by example, and I'll work with her on click = treat, too.

While we were outside, I worked with Silver on recall. I put her on a 30-foot line. The idea was to walk her, let her get distracted sniffing something, I'd sneak a little distance away, then call her to me. But the little stinker glued herself to my hip! I'd try to sneak away, turn to call her and find her right on my heels! We're going to have to work on this.

Trivia:
--BOMC book arrived. I left it with my mother. It's crocheted blocks, and Mother is doing some craft stuff for her church where she makes blocks at home and donates them to the church. Now she has some extra patterns to choose from.
--Order from Joann's arrived: yarn and needles.
--Drs Foster & Smith has shipped the heartworm meds and Missing Link.
--I signed up for more Craftsy classes. (This makes 4 classes I've signed up for, and only 1 that I've taken.) Craftsy is having special offers with reduced prices for classes, so I signed up for a couple of sweaters-that-fit classes.

A Warm Wednesday in July

There's been knitting.



That's the hat for the Halos of Hope / Buffalo Wool Company collaboration: they asked on Facebook for 25 volunteer knitters who could knit hats and get the hats back to them by July 31 (for presentation at Stitches Midwest). I got the yarn on June 21, and I had the knitted and blocked hat out in the mail on July 1. The pattern is the Brier Toque--nice, mindless knitting.

(No, I never remembered why I knitted a stitch marker into the hat in that spot. I just cut it out before I blocked the hat.)

And there's the finished Wee One Elephant (available in a Craftsy Class) for Sean and Joey's little girl, due in August:



It's a seamless piece. You start with the head. Then you pick up stitches on the head to knit the ears. Pick up stitches on the neck to start the body. Put arm stitches on waste yarn (like a top-down sweater) as you continue the body. Afterthought legs. Finish the arms. And pick up three stitches on the backside to knit the tail. Nothing sewn on, nothing to pull off.



The pattern has three different heads (elephant, hippo, bunny), one body, three different sets of finishing (face and tail). I used very practical Red Heart Super Saver: the whole thing can go through the washer and dryer.

I've also been working on the shop sample of Curiosity. Nothing to see here, though: a long scarf in orangish yarn is a long scarf in orangish yarn--early pictures look much like current pictures. I'm about one-third of the way through the yarn.

There've been dog issues.

I've been feeding raw turkey necks: I'd cut necks in half and each dog would get a half one day, then the other half two days later. The dogs were fine with that for weeks.

So Tuesday I gave both dogs a whole turkey neck each. Silver's been fine, but this evening Sam's backside exploded. (I was planning to go to tonight's SEGC meeting to hear Dr Kellogg, but Sam got sick two hours before the meeting.) For the better part of three hours, Sam whined to go out every 10 or 15 minutes. (Bissell Little Green Machine. Really. Especially if you can get to the stain right away.) The poor boy finally fell asleep about 8pm. I didn't give him any dinner--and no dinner or bedtime meds. We'll see what happens in the morning. I have a package of two turkey necks in the refrigerator. Silver can have some, but I don't think I want Sam to have even a little bit.

And Silver's been having problems: yelping when she tried to stand up after lying down. She saw Dr Bird last week and did a week of Rimadyl, as well as Methocarbamol and Tramadol snagged from Sam's stash. She felt better but I still asked Dr Tison for x-rays yesterday. I wanted to be sure there wasn't a problem that a chiropractor could make worse, and x-rays now will give us baseline films. Mostly, of course, I wanted to be sure there was no sign of serious trouble (like cancer): I've lost two greyhounds, both girls, both 8 years old, and Silver turned 8 in May. (Oreo broke her leg and threw a blood clot in surgery. Cancer didn't show on her x-rays, but why else does a dog break her leg standing in the living room? And Jacey died of immune mediated thrombocytopenia.)

Silver's x-rays showed signs of arthritis in her left shoulder and at the thoracic area of her spine. (Sort of at the back end of her shoulder blades.) This is exactly where Sam's trouble started, although the two dogs have very different backgrounds: Sam never raced, although he has spent years doing the stairs in my condo and getting on and off the furniture; Silver, meanwhile, had a racing career, but hasn't done stairs or climbed on furniture in the two years she's been with me. But Silver now has prescriptions for her very own supply of Methocarbamol (aka Robaxin, a muscle relaxer) and Tramadol--the same meds Sam takes.  (But no Rimadyl. Potential complications from NSAIDs are scary, so I want as little to do with them as possible.) I bought Silver a microwavable heat pack today. I'm concentrating on brushing the teeth of both dogs--since giving the dogs turkey necks is turning out to be a problem (again), and I've signed Silver up for Jen's obedience classes. She's very good with people and might be excellent as a therapy dog--if she'll ever decide that she wants to do what she's told.

(Silver is usually a wuss at the vet's about anything painful, so I was surprised that she didn't let out a peep when Dr Bird was stretching her legs out last week during the exam. But Silver got payback: she nearly nailed the poor vet tech who tried to take her temp on Tuesday. I put Silver's muzzle on her when she went back for x-rays, and they gave her back to me with the muzzle still in place. They're no fools.)

Trivia:
--The router died this morning. I bought a new one and installed it. Netgear advises you to stick with the network name they've pre-assigned your router. Of course. It advertises their product. (And I so wanted to name my network "NSA Surveillance Van.") I've tried to register the router with Netgear, but they insist I've got my email address wrong. Really? I have a request in for tech support. Their email acknowledging the support request said there'd be a second email with a password for me to use online. That email never arrived. I'm considering joining the Luddite movement.

--I looked into getting a new phone and a new phone service: I like Sprint, but I'm tired of losing phone calls at home because my signal reception is so bad. (And when your router dies and your phone can't find a wifi network as a substitute for the mobile signal, you're really screwed. Luddite.) Anyway, the phone contract was up 7/1/2013. The Sprint contract isn't up until 9/29/2013. I put a note in my calendar to remind me in September.

--There are issues with getting Sam a heartworm test--namely that (a) he hates car rides and stresses to the point that his breathing and heart rate get scary, and (b) he's currently suffering from explosive diarrhea. So I've got a written prescription for Silver's heartworm meds, and I'm going to send that to Drs. Foster & Smith, ordering meds just for her, but sharing them with him. He'll get his heartworm test the next time he has to be at the vet's for something else. I'm also ordering some Missing Link Joint and Bone Health formula. Let's keep Silver as limber as possible as long as possible. I have to snail-mail the written prescription to Drs F&S, and I have no stamps. I never have stamps. I pay all my bills online, and every time I buy a book of stamps, the USPS ups the rate immediately afterward. (By refusing to buy a book of stamps, I've single-handedly kept your postage rates down.) I'm going to dig around and see if I can find a couple of old 37¢ stamps to slap on the envelope to mail this out.

--I'm a member of Book of the Month Club. Actually, it's BOMC2. It's no longer the old deal where they'd threaten to send you a book you didn't want unless you returned the reservation card in time. Now there's a plan where you can get a book for $9.99 every month--including postage. You just keep a reading list on their site, and once a month they send you the top book of your list. This is how I've gotten craft books on the cheap for a couple of years. Currently, the website says my next book will ship on June 28. 'Scuse me, folks, but it's July already. (The book on the top of my list is patterns for granny square blocks--500 of 'em.) I emailed the website people and asked what's up with their shipping. They said they'd respond within 3 days. Their 3 days is up late Thursday.

(I'm back-dating this post so that it appears to be a Wednesday night post. After all, that's when I started typing it. I don't want to change the title just because it's now Thursday morning.)

Saturday

Silver and I did the meet and greet this morning in the Marietta Square. Silver has a fan club, and one little girl showed up about 8 o'clock looking for Silver.

I showed up at 9 o'clock.

We had a good crowd. Silver was her usual charming self, and she and Lily Moran have learned to get along. (Actually, Lily is much better mannered than she was last year.)

After that was WWKIP Day. We had a small turnout, and it was hot. I worked on my BSJ--and I got sunburned.



Lovin' Knit has started carrying Barbara Benson's patterns. Pat (store owner) wants some samples to display, but they need to be knitted with yarns she carries. That requirement rules out my Curiosity in Rios:



But my Golden Lion Throne in Classic Elite Bam Boo is okay:



And my No Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die will work--if I can get it finished. (I haven't pushed on this because it's going to be a Christmas present.)



But for the short-term, I'm going to knit a hat for the Hats for Sailors group. I'll use Barbara's Cross Stitch Mock Cable Hat pattern and a ball of Liberty Wool:



I'll loan the finished hat to Pat until November, when I'll need to send it off to the Hats for Sailors group.

Trivia:
1--Just 2.5 hours of freelancing tonight. I've now completed both the jobs due this weekend. More work, please.
2--Poop is good, so we'll try a second round of turkey necks tomorrow. I may just give Silver hers in her crate to start with (but take the bedding out first).
3--Red fingernails!

Really?

If you look very closely, you can see that Sam is holding something in the side of his mouth.



It's a turkey neck. And he's holding it--not eating it. You'll have to ask him why he held the thing for ten minutes before he decided to eat it. He's had turkey necks before. He knows what he's supposed to do with them.

Silver, on the other hand, may not know. Certainly, she didn't appear to have a clue. She took the neck out of her bowl and put it on the doormat. Then she licked her empty bowl and laid down next to it.



After Sam finished his neck, I put him in the house, in case she was feeling intimidated by him (although he was tethered 10 feet away from her and she's never--ever--been intimidated by him for even a second).



That didn't work, so I moved her forward to the comfortable mat where Sam had laid (and which I now needed to wash).



Finally, I brought her back in the house and put her in her crate. She was appalled when the turkey neck joined her.



But I left her there, and within 5 minutes I heard crunching. Less than a minute after she started, she was finished.

I let her out. I let the bedding from her kennel join the other mat in the laundry, and I ran their bowls through the dishwasher. (I only ever run the dishwasher to clean dog dishes. I can just hand-wash my own.) I'm hoping the next experience with turkey necks (probably Sunday) will go a bit smoother. Honestly, though: who'd have expected greyhounds to have such a hard time figuring out food?

In July, Craftsy is having a mystery KAL for a pattern by Stefanie Japel. No idea what the project is, except that the come-on called it just complicated enough to keep your interest, while still being portable, easy to pick up, and easy to put down without losing track of what you're doing. $14.99 for the class, pattern and some scrumptious yarn. This is not remotely an accurate color representation of the most lovely blue-green fingering weight Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn in the 5655 Como Blue colorway:



(Even the photo here is inaccurate. The yarn is closer in color to the Jade (5627) sample.) I'll get pattern info about the beginning of July. It's good to have a project for July: most of what I've got going now is due in June.

I got the restarted BSJ far enough along that it's mindless knitting for the next 20-something rows, so I can work on it tomorrow afternoon at our local WWKIP gathering (they're long rows). Silver and I will be at the Marietta Farmers Market meet-and-greet in the morning. I had about 4 hours of freelancing to do today, so I didn't get a lot more knitting done.

I'm about to do the fingernails. After that, I have freelancing--one project that's all here and ready to read, another that I'm waiting for feedback on. They're both due sometime this weekend.

Not Catching Up

I'm not going to try to catch up on this blog. That would be silly. I'm going to try to jump back into blogging and pretend I haven't posted just 4 times in the last 18 months. I'm also going to start blogging absolute trivia. Trying to wait until I have something momentous to say is why I've posted just 4 times in the last 18 months.



Want to see some adorable greyhound puppies? Check out the live feed here. (The feed is live for two or three hours at a time, three times a day. Sign up on U-stream and officially "follow" the feed to get an email notice of when the feed is live.)

The mom is Carlee. On May 4 she arrived at a southern California greyhound rescue looking a wee bit pudgy. On May 31, she had five boys and one girl, delivered by c-section. At this point, the puppies are too young to do anything but nurse and sleep. (The white with black pup nurses like a fiend, falls asleep exhausted, then heads right back to the milk bar.) The puppies are cute, but they inspire no desire in me to adopt a puppy. At my house, mealtime lasts only moments, sleeping lasts hours, and that's the way I like it.

No freelance work today. I have some fill-in stuff I can do later, but today I took advantage of the quiet to get some knitting done. The baby blanket is nearly finished. When I finish the blanket, I'm either making a blue bunny (from the Craftsy pattern) or making a blue BSJ with the leftover yarn. It's been quite a while since I made a BSJ (finished my most recent one in January 2012). I worked on the baby blanket while watching Pride and Prejudice on my laptop and watching (muted) the Braves-Pirates game tonight. (Braves 5, Pirates 4 in 10 innings.) At present, the blanket is 36" x 31"; I'm aiming for approximately 36" x 36". I'm also aiming to not be knitting on this thing for the rest of my life.

(Wondering why the photo is at the top of this blog post? It's there so it will show on blog thumbnails that appear elsewhere--such as Ravelry.)

The dogs are well. Silver hates being on a diet, but she's really not starving to death. (Thank goodness she doesn't have her own blog to contradict me.) She's been eating too much of the food in Sam's dish. Sam is wobbly, but still able to get around on his own and is eating well. Lots of panting in the heat until he gets settled in front of the box fan.

Trivial notes (even more trivial than the above):
1--Nice weather. Not too hot.
2--Advantage Multi on both dogs today. Should be soaked into Silver's coat and invisible by Saturday.
3--Solid poop from both dogs ('cause you know you were dying to know).
4--I don't like this pale gold nail polish, but I'll change it another day.

Going to watch the second DVD of P&P again and stay up late knitting...