Small Victories

Last night Timber let me comb him.

Simple statement, but small miracle. I think because when he came into rescue his coat was all full of burrs, mats, feces (he had diarrhea), fleas, and all kinds of awful things, he had to be bathed and combed and bathed and brushed and bathed and clipped and bathed, and the upshot is that he really has kind of a grooming phobia. For a long time whenever he would see me pick up any grooming implement, his ears would flatten down and disappear into his ruff and he would go hide in his crate.

We've been working on desensitization, with short sessions and lots of extra-yummy rewards, and I've been teaching him "lie flat"--i.e., lie on his side. Last night he was on the bed, and I picked up the comb I keep on the "bedtable" (a piece of plywood on top of Taenzer's crate). It has very long, thickish teeth widely spaced. I scooted over near him and very very carefully started combing his thigh. Just a little bit, like 3 teeth of the comb, then move up a quarter of an inch and comb that. Of course, spring is coming and he's shedding like mad, so even with that delicate kind of combing I was getting quite a bit of undercoat. I got most of that thigh done, and here's the best part:

He was relaxed. He was so relaxed he laid flat on his side with his head down. He wasn't craning, waiting to see when I'd pull out his hair.

As I say, small victories. I still have a lot of dog to go, but maybe we're getting to the point where it's not only not a trauma, it's even kind of pleasurable.

On the knitting front, I stuffed the Transitions sweater into a cabinet. I suppose if I'm not going to finish it I should unravel it and rewind it. I just didn't feel like looking at it. And I got the toe of my sock done, decided it was too short, and ripped back to put in another two rows. Usually I do a toe with 3 sets of *decrease 2 st either side one round, knit the next round even*. After those 6 roundsd, I start decreasing 4 st every round, for a very round toe. For some reason I need at least one more set of every-other-row decreases on this sock. I should finish it tonight.