Simba seems to have taken to our new chaise lounge immediately. I had to move him around a few times just so I could get a chance to lay down on it.

Gizmo, on the other hand, was way too interested in the reclining part — trying to climb into it. We have a lot of recliners in our house now, and they can be dangerous. This one happens to be a bit larger & more open than the other ones, so we’ll really have to make sure we know where the animals are (but then again, I usually do).

Hopefully Gizmo won’t decide to try to get in there. Or any other animal.

Simba did eventually tear himself away to go sleep in another bed.

Chester, on the other hand, looks a little sad, doesn’t he? He has actually taken to spending a fair amount of time in his crate, of his own free will, lately. Usually when I won’t allow him on me for some reason, or if he knows that a treat is forthcoming at some point (like after the boys eat).

He has become the epitome of a lap dog. He would be perfectly content to lay on my lap all day long, as long as he still got his meals & got to go outside & lay in the sunshine every once in a while.

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There is much to like about walking dogs, once summer is finally over, of course (it’s not over here yet, despite technically being fall). Of course, there are also somethings I do not enjoy about walking my dogs.

The thing I hate the most is that I can no longer make friends with outdoor cats. Not that I should be seeing little kittens outdoors, as I did today, of course. My very first reaction to seeing a cat outdoors is to go over to it and pet it.

Unfortunately, the dogs aren’t always so cooperative. I have, a time or two, put them in a down stay & petted a cat. But their instinct is more often to growl and bark at the cat.

I am also turning this into a training opportunity for the dogs. I used to dread seeing a running cat, knowing the dogs’ prey instinct would kick in. So now I use it as an opportunity for clicking them for looking at cats, running or otherwise, without barking or growling. The hope is that this will translate to home, so that they can be come when the boys are playing or fighting.

I used to make friends with quite a few outdoors cats in our neighborhood. Sadly, they almost always disappear. The outdoors dogs disappear too. They may hang around for a few years, but eventually, they’re gone — hit by a car, bit by a snake, who knows how. All I know is it’s a sad life.

I would love to be able to allow both my cats and dogs to roam free, as nature intended for them. But we live in a world that’s far removed from how nature intended, and the dangers are just too great. So for now, they’ll have to make due with their walks.

Technorati Tags: walking dogs, outdoor cats, training

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Doesn’t it just melt your heart? When they’re cute, they’re really cute. Simba can be such a bully (but not to the dogs, go figure), and yet they can still be so sweet together.

Cats really are so much smarter than people think. My husband was talking about how they always seem to enjoy the things that don’t cost anything (a box) more than the things we deliberately buy for them that are expensive (like the doghouse).

So lo and behold what I found.

Now, Gizmo can often be found in the basket on top of the doghouse. And I will admit, they rarely lay inside it. But once in a blue moon Simba does (obviously).

The dogs never go in the doghouse at all.

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We are slowly (or fast, depending on how you look at it) adding on to our home agility field. I’ve ordered a practice tunnel, although it isn’t here yet. So we used the el cheap-o tunnel I got a while back (remember the weirdest cat bed?).

While quite different from a real agility tunnel, still, it introduced Lola to idea of being totally enclosed.

She was a bit unsure of it, but she still readily went through it without any special persuasion. It doesn’t have the ridges of a real agility tunnel, though. I’m not quite sure what she saw in it in the run-through below, but she reared up like a pony!

And she jumped right through the “tire” without having to click her just for looking at it first. In fact, she did a whole sequence of obstacles pretty well, although she did keep turning to me, looking for her treat.

Chester likes the tunnel

We also added a couple of small hurdles to our equipment this week. I set them low, since Lola has minimal hurdle experience, but you could see from the photos that I can move up the bar. Both of them were flying over the hurdles with room to spare.

Bat ears!

Okay, not the best photo, but the bat ears were just too cute to pass up.

And no tunnels were harmed in this exercise. I brought it back in so that the boys could continue to sleep in it.

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Got your attention, huh? Well, here is what everyone is doing this afternoon.

Notice that Gizmo is laying on our pet scale, one of his favorite spots to snooze on (at least Lola can’t drag that around). Notice also the cat books behind him.

Simba holds down the utility cart

Chester’s a doughnut

And Lola, as usual, has made herself very comfortable. She has a real thing for pillows. I often have to shoo her of my husband’s pillow at night (before he comes to bed).

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What the heck is it about gauge, anyway? I did a gauge square before casting on. But because I couldn’t really figure out how to measure it in the lace pattern, I bought a couple of different size needles.

Today I cast on for the third time — and I think I’ve finally got the gauge right.

I am really loving this yarn (Ambrosia from KnitPicks.com, an alpaca/cashmere blend in mulled wine). It’s wonderfully soft.

I had actually bought the yarn with the intention of doing a bed jacket, but when I saw this knit-a-long I decided to join and use the yarn I’d already bought for this kimono.

Technorati Tags: gauge, casting on, yarn

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I shipped off the dogs to daycare this morning, so that I could have a chance to rest my ankle again today. It did definitely feel much better this morning, but I think one more day of RICE was called for — difficult to do when there are dogs to walk & let outside (and who don’t want to go outside unless you’re there with them).

Now, you would think that the cats would take advantage of this dogless time, wouldn’t you? Not cold enough yet, I guess. Although we did actually have a cold front come through last night, it’s obviously not down to their cuddle temperature yet.

Although shortly after I posted yesterday, Simba did try to get down on my chest, only Chester was in the way.

Simba did come over & spent quite a bit of time laying on top of the couch behind my head while I was knitting, which is unusual.

And Gizmo curled up in the orange bed, something I haven’t seen him do in ages, dogs or no dogs.

Poor Gizmo is definitely happier when the dogs aren’t here, and I can’t help but feel guilty about that. I also feel guilty that I spend a lot of time with the dogs, simply because dogs require a lot of time –walking them, taking them outside to do their business, training them.

Yet Gizmo came here when I already had Puss, and Puss also took up a great deal of my time. I think the difference is that Puss wasn’t chasing Gizmo around or taking over his spot in the bed.

And that is the hardest part of having “so many” animals: trying to give them all the individual attention they deserve. And then there’s the husband who thinks that he comes last in the attention department . . .

Technorati Tags: cuddle, guilty

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I am an idiot. Every seen the movie “Philadelphia”? Denzel Washington plays a lawyer; a personal injury lawyer. He has a potential client who wants to cross a street, but decides to do it just at the point where there’s construction & a big hole — and of course barriers to keep the idiots away. He falls in the hole & breaks his arm. Denzel tells him that of course he has a case.

This morning I took the dogs for a nice, long walk, and we checked out the new park near the trail we often walk on. At the end they were pretty tired, so I had them do a long down-stay underneath the shade of a tree (it’s still quite hot & humid here).

I wanted to work on their stays with distractions. So I did things like walk backwards away from them, run around them, jumping jacks, etc. Chester did great; Lola did okay — she still needs work on her distractions.

There was a small hole near where they were laying. I knew this, having stepped in it a few times. Rather than move them away, tho, I managed to jump right into the hole and twist my ankle.

It didn’t seem too bad at first. I took them home, and then went back out to do my food shopping. By the time I got home, unloaded the groceries, let the dogs out, and ate my lunch — elevating my foot & icing it — it became pretty painful. I can now just barely limp on it.

I don’t plan to see a doctor. I’m not in such pain that I’m moved to tears, and while it’s quite painful to put any weight on it, I think it’s really just a simple twisted ankle that needs a little time resting.

Unfortunately, my husband has late meeting tonight and tomorrow. Chester is supposed to have agility tomorrow. Right now, I plan to put them in daycare. It’s really painful having to move around, and Lola is never real content for long just relaxing.

Although she is better if you’re there relaxing with her. The cats don’t really seem to notice anything’s going on with me, but then again, that’s probably because they’ve slept through it all.

On the other hand, as I laid on the couch with my foot on a couple of pillows, I had Lola under one leg and Chester on my stomach.

I love both my cats & my dogs very much; but I think dogs make better nurses. Although if this was winter, and I had a blanket over me, I think Simba would be helping out, too.

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I’ve been doing agility with Chester for about half a year now. For a couch-potato dog, he loves it! And we’re going to get Lola started soon. I was going to buy a tire jump from Affordable Agility; it was only about $50. DH said he could build one — I knew he could, but I didn’t expect he’d build one in one day!

So here are some photos of the dogs practicing on our home agility field. More obstacles coming soon.

Weave poles are one of the hardest obstacles to train. You can see Chester’s a bit stressed out here; he’s licking his nose.

A bit happier

Lola shows off another stressed symptom while weaving — whale eye, where some of the white is showing. Or maybe she’s just watching me closely. Weaving doesn’t come easily to either of them.

Chester likes to jump

Lola often has trouble learning new behaviors. Here you can see she’s very hesitant about the tire jump — she’s looking away & licking her nose.

She soon learned to enjoy it

Don’t ask me why she closes her eyes!

Technorati Tags: agility, tire jump, dogs, obstacles, Weave poles, stressed, whale eye

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I started on a long post a couple of days ago, about how Lola has come such a long way in the year we’ve had her. And I’ll finish it at some point.

For those new to this blog, Lola is reactive to other dogs when on leash. I have made working with her the goal of my summer. It appears to be working.

We took a walk around a busy hike & bike trail today. Usually, somewhere around the halfway point, I’ll put the dogs in a down-stay for about 5 minutes or so.

I did that today, while I ate some of the popcorn I’d brought with me for a snack. Since it happened to be a very busy spot with a lot of dogs going by, I’d give the dogs a piece of popcorn whenever a dog was walking by. They seemed to enjoy this.

In fact, Lola was so focused on getting her popcorn, that she didn’t even twitch an ear when a large dog came over and sniffed her.

There were still just a couple of places where she pulled or growled, but on the hole, she’s doing so much better.

I am hoping someday I can actually take a walk without her growling at all . . . or without us having to stop after every dog we walk past so I can give them their treat (actually, I’m working on a plan that will help me deliver treats without having to bend over towards them. Keep tuned).

Technorati Tags: reactive, on leash, down-stay, focused

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