Another miscellaneous photo update. I’ve got a bunch of photos I’ll be posting over the next few days. Some have a theme; today’s don’t.
Chester got adorned with one of our dwarf crape myrtle’s flowers here — right on his nose! Dwarf my eye; that thing is as tall as our house.
This one and the next one are not my most flattering photos by a long shot. But they’re still cute.
When I go out in the mornings with Chester, I sit and read for a while, and then we train for a while, and we repeat that pattern a few times. Anytime Chester comes and sits near me, I reward him with a neck rub. My husband thought my “guard dog” was cute and snapped this pic.
We went to visit our friends on July 4th. As you can see, they have two Westies.
The Westies were on the couch next to me, and Chester was off somewhere, probably looking for a toy or a rawhide. Apparently he couldn’t take it, though, when he saw me surrounded by dogs. He’s frenching again.
While most dogs do like me, every once in a while one will take an immediate dislike. When visiting a friend, once, I foolishly reached over he dog’s head to pet her, and from then on she just avoided me like the plague.
I often talk about how Chester likes to sunbathe. Apparently it’s a common characteristic in Chihuahuas.
Even though the temperature often reaches 100 degrees here in the summer, Chester still asks to go out around noon. Sometimes he needs to pee; sometimes he just wants to lay in the sun.
He particularly likes to curl up on this corner of our patio. I assume because it gives him a pretty good view of most of the yard.
Just a good view of Chester’s glorious tail. Who would have thought that rat tail would turn into something so beautiful? I just adore feathered tails.
Many behavior books warn you against the evils of playing tug. If you let the dog win, it thinks it’s the leader, or so the theory goes.
Many books on positive training methods think it’s perfectly okay to play tug, as long as you control the game. If you ask for the tug toy, the dog must give it up. If the dog tries to initiate the game on his own, no go. And if teeth contact skin, game over.
Look at how much fun Chester is having! Before Chester’s surgery, I would use a game of tug as his reward for training, sometimes, instead of a treat. It took a while for him to really get into it, but now he is. We’ll play some tug, do a little training, then play some more. It’s a great way to practice “give” or “trade” or “drop it”, too. I wouldn’t recommend it for an aggressive dog, of course.
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