Ts, but no socks

Well, I didn't get my socks done. I had to rip out the short-row heel twice. Finally got it last night, so am now onto the foot. At the same time I finished the flap heel on the first Tidal Wave sock and am working on the gusset. Everything's shifted around now--the Old School Tie sock is now my living room sock (it was the puppy pen sock before I got to the heel), and the Tidal Wave sock, which was my bedroom sock, is now the puppy pen sock. I think I should now go back to the Lemonade socks for my bedroom sock.

Timber's allergies are acting up. Something about early fall makes him very very itchy. It was about this time last year that he came down with a hot spot, and I had to clip a big bald spot on his butt to let the air and light down to the skin and heal it up. This morning I gave him some benadryl, and that seems to have helped, so I'll dose him again tonight. I've been attacking him with the comb as often as he'll let me, just trying to get his butt and britches de-thatched. Three minutes and I've got a double-handful of undercoat! It just keeps coming! And I haven't even tried his ribs or neck or shoulders. *sigh* I wish he'd let me use the shedding rake on him, but he really hates it. He'll tolerate--for a few minutes--a comb with long and widely-spaced metal teeth, but he's having nothing to do with the shedding rake. I wonder if it's possible to find anything he likes better than liverwurst, to couple with the use of the shedding rake?

I was watching Taenzer play with him last night. They have two ways of playing--one is very high-energy, lots of noise, lots of teeth--generally she's in the "superior" position of being on the couch and he's coming at her from the floor. That's the game where someone's likely to get too rough and someone else loses their temper. This other game is what they were doing last night. Comparatively, it's very gentle--she lies on her side on the couch or bed, and he stands over her, usually with a toy in his mouth. He tries to stuff the toy in her mouth, and she very gently takes one of his forelegs in her mouth. He moves it away. She takes the other one. He moves that away. She takes the first one; he moves it away... For variety she'll reach up and take a mouthful of his ruff or sometimes, if he has his head down, she takes an ear. But so gently. And it's so interesting to watch them.

I've got to come up with a new puppy pen challenge for her. I watched her tonight while she was playing. She loves tunnels. She likes things she can manipulate with her feet. She likes to bash her ball into things that make noise. She likes things she can drag around. She likes to run diagonally across the pen at top speed (I wish I had a bigger space for them). She likes to play peek-a-boo with the ball. If only I were more clever I'd be able to design and build a great playground for her, something that would challenge her mentally as well as physically, and that could be reconfigured to keep her interested.

Ravelry has a bunch of groups, like Yahoo groups, and I noticed many dog-breed-and-knit groups--but no GSD! I'd have started one but you have to ask 3 friends to start a group, and I don't have three friends yet. I need to remedy that. How could they not have a GSD group?? :)