I'm a bad blogger

Stuff has been happening & I haven't been blogging about it. So here's a little catch up.

I got the living room cleaned out, so today was the first day that Linus was left to wander freely around the kitchen & living room as well as having outdoor access while I was at work. Pictures are up on the .Mac photo page for anyone who doesn't believe that I did finally clean up all of the stuff that's been accumulating on the bar for over a decade. And no I didn't just stuff it all into Chris's cubby. I actually threw a bunch of stuff away!

Linus & Einstein were very happy to see me & jumping up and down on the other side of the gate. When I took it down, I was overwhelmed with dogginess. The amazing thing is that Linus joined in on some of the craziness. I was sitting on the floor with 2 bassets wriggling & competing for petting. Then when I was wrestling Einstein around, Linus would dart from the couch or love seat and push his way into it. I made the same excited fussing noises for Linus that I had been for Einstein but dialed the rough housing way back. He looked like he was having fun and then he would dart back to safety waiting for another opportunity. It ended with me sitting on the floor giving each dog ear scrunchies until my fingers got stiff. It was really great to see Linus play like that.

As for the great crate moving that happened yesterday, we did move Linus' crate into the kitchen & we swiped Mom's clock/radio/alarm & set it to a talk radio station. Linus pitched a fit for about 30 minutes (maybe he doesn't like Christian talk radio, maybe we should try KERA tonight ) when we put him to bed but then he settled down. I haven't asked Chris if Linus woke him up this morning or not. Chris took the van so he got up at 5 am anyway. He might have woke Linus up.

Chris bought a ball at Petsmart. He really wants a dog that will play fetch. We bought some training treats. Chris tried tossing the ball & only wound up scaring Linus back inside. So, we got the ball & the treats & sat down with Einstein. We did the touch trick he learned in agility and soon he was pushing at the ball. We tried rolling it between us & saying "touch" but that didn't work but it's a start.

He was great at flight night on Tuesday. We had two long walks - I was just in a walking kind of mood & I had brought my iPod. He walked great! Of course, there wasn't anything around to scare Linus except a brief buzz by a bicyclist. Walking around the neighborhood last night didn't go so well. There were lots & lots of people out. He & I turned back home at the "Corky Memorial Loop" since he was so frantic. Chris & Einstein continued on for awhile. Linus really hates the Gentle Leader. I had been hoping that he would get used to it. I kept remembering how Darwin was afraid of the choke collar (thanks to a bad puppy kindergarten teacher who hated beagles [yes, she did say that]) but came to associate it with walks. Then I realized that Darwin had loved walks, walks were 2nd to food but above everything else. Linus is afraid of walks so I guess we'll just have to deal with life as it is. Chris & I are trying to look at our schedules together to see if we can both sign up for dog obedience classes at Petsmart. Linus needs it & the 3 of us could use a refresher course.

Well, I should be fixing dinner & reading my book for my summer study that starts tomorrow so I'll sign off.
Bye!