The weather has finally cooled off. We've actually had Fall weather. The dogs are Very Happy!! Ever since Mikey arrived here, its been too hot in the middle of the day. Since it has cooled off, I find myself coaxing him to come outside in the middle of the day. "Come on out, Mikey, its not horribly hot..." At first he wouldn't come. I'd have to put a leash on him, and bribe him with treats. He's getting over his belief that it is painful to be outside in the middle of the day. Poor thing, he sure did hate it. In fact today, I looked around and wondered where Mikey was, and there he was outside. All by himself, outside in the early afternoon.

It is always amazing to watch Mikey growing. Growing and Growing. He's not so clumsy as he was at 2 1/2 months, always falling down. Now, 2 months later, he doesn't fall so much. I was just thinking this morning about this fact, as we were outside walking. Just then, he took off running, and tried to jump over the Cocker Spaniel who was in his way. Crashed to the ground. It didn't seem to bother him. And he's not reluctant to cry if he's hurt. The Cocker looked at him and went trotting away, and a couple of minutes later, the same thing happened. Cocker in the way, 4 1/2 month old Great Pyrenees running, and jumping...crash. He lays there calmly looking around, gets up and goes lolloping down the path again.

big, borrowed ladder

I borrowed a 20' ladder the other day from friends. (They even delivered it!) Because of this I was able to trim the tree branches that have been brushing the roof all around the house. And it was so easy!!!! I have a 6' step ladder. I've always had to make a platform with concrete blocks, set the ladder on it and then climb up onto the roof. Boy, I was so excited to just set the ladder up and climb up there and trim those tree limbs. What is it they say about the right tools?

Mikey and training

I keep putting off training sessions with Mikey--now 17 weeks old. It always seems complicated, and I can't think what to do with him. A few days ago, I came home from work, determined to give Mikey a bath. After the bath we would go visiting --some friends, and then PetSmart for a Nylabone. Guess who is teething? On my chair, on the wall, on the edge of the doorway... I decided, further, to try to get him to walk up the ramp to the bathtub. {raised bathtub in the groom room} He wouldn't walk on that ramp. He didn't want to and wasn't going to, so there. No exclamation points with him, just: "the answer is no". So I finally lifted him into to tub. I'm thinking "I can't do this for much longer, I'm going to have to work with him". A few days later, I get out training treats, the ramp, a leash (etc). and took him outside to the car. Put the ramp up to the car's rear bumper, steered him around to the ramp. He went around it a couple of times, he could see the treat in my hand and was trying to get to it. I finally got him at the foot of the ramp and patted it. He immediately walked halfway up, and tried to take the treat from my hand. That's really all it took. I put another treat inside the back of the car, and he walked right in. (I had him go up and down about 3 times all together.) Now it'll be easy to get him into the bathtub. Once I've shown him something and we've done it a few times, he doesn't refuse anymore. That's nice. He now weighs 48 lbs (as of Thurs Sep3)

Puppies for Dummies--helpful book

Mikey is only the third puppy I've raised. i've gotten most of my dogs 'used'. After this Great Pyrenees pup had been here a few weeks, I panicked. Couldn't think what to do for training, or anything. He's not a retriever and doesn't care about fetching a ball, so I didn't know how to play with him either. I went to PetSmart and then to Half Price Books, The best thing I've ever seen in print...Puppies for dummies. Really. Step-by-step descriptions of how to teach the dog whatever it is you want to teach him. Multiple solutions for common--and uncommon--problems with puppies. You know, like housetraining, chewing on things...etc. And none of the solutions are mean. Other training books, and classes I've been around talk about training with kindness and treats, and then the first thing I know they're advocating something mean, and explaining why this isn't a problem. Anyhow, really really really good and helpful book. Mikey and Topaz would like to thank the nice lady who wrote it.

some more hot weather

We've had some lovely fall weather for a few days, and now the temperature is creeping back up into the 90's again and I feel like whining about it. nights are fairly cool though. That's a happy thing. A weather man was talking yesterday about how few days over 100 degrees we had this August. Yeah, but we had record numbers of them in May and June and July instead. Statistics are ok if you keep them in perspective