dog watching

Boy, you just can't please some people (me, for instance). Now that I'm off the Lexapro, my energy level, such as it is, is back, and the brain fog has lifted. These are good things. However, my anxiety level has shot back up because now that I can think again I am once again aware of how teetery my financial position is without being able to find a way of overcoming it. So I'm short-tempered, irritable, and weepy, and doing nervous eating, which I would prefer not to do since 3 back-to-back bouts of IBS had me down 2 pant sizes and I was hoping to keep going, but I've never been able to break the nervous eating.

And my new printer at work is a cheap piece of junk that won't last out the year. How the mighty have fallen.

So, having got that off my chest, on to the T stories.

First, the amazing Ms. T cleared a 3 foot high 30-inch wide jump the other day, which isn't all that big, but since it is taller than she is (she's 27" at the shoulder), and the highest she's jumped is about 18 inches and the widest about 12 inches, I was impressed. I have 3-foot wide 6-foot long plastic lattice panels on either side of her favorite tunnel, because she likes to bash her ball into it, and I'm hoping to get another year out of this tunnel. The tunnel itself is about 24 inches in diameter. The other night she somehow flipped her ball over the whole set-up, and instead of going around, she just gathered herself and did as pretty a jump as you'd ever want to see. I was like "wow!" Then I felt guilty because she has the potential to be such a great agility dog, and there are no training facilities in Forgottonia, and anyway I'm so freaking lazy. But with the right training and handler, she could sure burn up a course.

Timber was up on the bed with a ball the other night, asking me to play with him, which I was doing. Jealous Taenzer really hates when I pay attention to anyone else. His ball is called a Cuz ball and it has little feet on it, so he can grab the ball and I sort of hook my fingers around the feet, and we tug (he's very careful with his teeth). So he's standing there tugging, and Taenzer eases up to him--if she'd been in a cartoon, she'd have been looking all around and whistling--and puts her head over his shoulders.

This is a sort of "I'm the boss of you" gesture, and of course, Timber instantly got out from under, then brought his ball back. Taenzer sort of stood there a minute, then looking off to the side ("I'm not doing a thing, nope, not me, I'm completely innocent"), she did it again. (Actually, turning the head is a calming gesture in dog-speak, so I guess the message was "I don't really want to make a big deal of this, but I just want to remind you who runs this place, you little pipsqueak.") Timber reared and shook her off. She looked over her shoulder at me, then shifted her weight forward, and Timber dropped his ball and they started wrestling. On the bed. With me right there.

They each have their favorite holds. Taenzer likes to go for forelegs and ruff, and occasionally an ear. Timber prefers back legs and bitey-face. It looks and sounds so ferocious, but being 6 inches away from it I could see clearly how very gentle they are. There's no pressure exerted, and hardly even any wet fur. Very impressive, and very fun to watch, as long as I'm careful to keep my arms and knees up!

And last night she flipped her ball into the compost heap, which mean instant removal of ball. So she trotted around a little bit. Rolled in the grass. Tried to take Timber's jollyball. He growfed at her. She play-bowed. He declined. She play-bowed and barked a very high-pitched bark. He declined again. She gave a little demonstration of what she wanted--ran in a 3-foot circle, ending in a play-bow--and he looked slightly interested, but didn't take the bait. So she went and got the other jollyball, and then Timber started chasing her. When she can get him to chase her, they just fly, and barely notice those little 12" and 18" jumps.

My conclusion is that training and socializing one dog is easier than training and socializing two, but two dogs are endlessly fun to watch.