We are having Glazed Ham and potatoes , the kitties are happy with their temptations and nicer weather , Mingles is happily playing jumping up in the air ,playing while I walk outside ,
Family is cooking and talking .
All in all nice day

Lots of dogs where we went for Thanksgiving dinner (a relative's "hunting camp") -- came home and our collie boys could barely tear themselves away from sniffing me long enough to eat their own dinner!

I hope everyone had a good day

Whew at that playing , new people , and food ,, too , too , much excitement ,,
Time to chill

Yup, Jim, that is one seriously stressed out cat!

Took Lily too the dog park today. We stayed until the rain came so we were there for over 2 1/2 hours. Lily got to see many of her doggy friends and got to play.

It was sightly muddy. So I get home and wash off her feet. So funny that I do her front feet and then she just by herself picks up a back foot and sticks it out for me to wash.

Just sitting here listening to Sound Scapes music on the TV and looking at her new, not decorated tree .
The music is actually more saddening than calming especially as if she puts the tree where it is at now it will be the first time in 32 years the tree is in a different location.
It will be the first time in 18 years Ringo will not be sleeping under the tree .
In the fourteen years before Ringo one cat always slept under the tree, and a couple tried to climb it.
Rocky loved those little glass balls. Even years after Rocky left us I would find one in some unlikely corner of the house, unbroken.
Now that Ringo is gone, the boys do not sleep under the dining room table any more, another place where you would look and well over ninety percent of time see one or two snuggled between the legs.
I never knew that one old friend leaving could change things so much; the boys rarely go outside and all our cats used to charge outside when the door was opened.
I would go down into the basement to wash clothes and one or two would come down, nosy around and then go lay under the plants under the grow lights, now that no longer happens.
Life goes on but some times you wish it would stand still.

I'm so sorry RpR. It's all the "firsts" after we lose a loved one. The first time we leave the house & they aren't there. The first time we come home & they aren't there. The first morning we wake up & they aren't there. The first night we go to bed & they aren't there. The first Thanksgiving & they aren't there. The first Christmas & they aren't there. The first time we go to the basement & they aren't snooping around. The first birthday of theirs after they have passed. A thousand firsts we go through.

"Life goes on but some times you wish it would stand still."



yes.

Lily and I spent over two hours at the Dog Park again this afternoon.

I am sure that Lily thinks it is great fun to go to the dog park. She gets to sniff and run and play.

We'd all probably enjoy that. katie

I am so pleased with the way my little Lily listens and pays attention to me even in what I would say are difficult distracting circumstances.

I mean the dog park. A dog that listens and recalls from a far distance even when she is in the middle of a pack of other dogs there is a good listener. And that is what she does. I can call her from the far end of the dog park when she is with a bunch of other dogs and she will immediately come running to me. Good girl!!

I also like to take her walking around the park. This would be on the outside perimeter around the dog park fence. With lots of dogs inside running and playing. She will walk with me, stay with me even under those distractions.

When I first got Lily after she bonded with me I used to take her to this open dog friendly park. It had other dogs but was not fenced like a real dog park. That is when I learned she had no recall!!

If she saw another dog across the field off she went and totally ignored me. I had to run after her and she did not want to stop chasing other dogs.

I know many of you will remember I took an on line training course with her called Recallers. Lots of learning for the dog thru playing games. Makes the bond totally strong, makes the dog learn to Recall under difficult circumstances.

The first time I took her and she stopped running after the other dog to come back to me I was thrilled.

So first time I ever took her to the real dog park all the people, back of dogs, sights and smells must have been too much. I felt she had forgotten her Recallers that day. Wouldn't come, got totally deaf, ignored me, refused to be caught. However next time she did listen even if not perfectly and now she listens under lots of distraction even better than she ever did.

Yup, I swear that Recallers training was the best, it really works.

Nice to have a dog that comes when called, even under distractions and totally loose. I am proud of my little sweetie.

And you should be proud of yourself, too, Rita - for making the bond that clearly works so well.

You should be proud Rita! You worked really hard with her doing all the Recallers training. Looking back on it now, one can't help but think the cost of the program & the work you put in was a tiny price to pay for an entire lifetime of excellent recall!
Good job! Both of you!

It was an expensive course and an exhausting one. The reason I did it was Recall. I take it for granted now that she will Recall at the dog park but if you look around many (or is that most?) of the dogs are difficult to catch or don't listen when it is time to go home.

Yes, very nice to have a dog that will listen.

Good for both of you.

Today I gave each of the dogs a small dog biscuit and appreciated that whatever their other failings might be each of them is totally gentle in taking the little biscuit from me. Even Sugar, who can be such a trial.

I left a potted tree where Sugar could get it and she did. I have it soaking now and hope it will survive. She just wants to play with everything. She did share a plate of supper with Inky Dink. Very cute as she is so much bigger. The other dogs vary in their willingness to share and tend to play a game of musical dog food bowls, somehow sure that someone else has something better and never noticing that they're always wrong.

katie

I totally agree with Mika and Ann, Rita -- you've done a wonderful job with Lily, which makes life more enjoyable for both of you!

Weedwhacker said:I totally agree with Mika and Ann, Rita -- you've done a wonderful job with Lily, which makes life more enjoyable for both of you!

Thank you all. Lily is such a joy. A happy and social and mostly confident little dog. At the dog park her tail is always up and she likes to be in the crowd of people and dogs.

What a difference from when I first got her. She was afraid of everything outside. It took me weeks just to get her confident enough to walk on the sidewalk in front of the house. Months to get her to be relaxed enough to take a treat outside anywhere other than the back yard.

She would try to run away from people and other dogs at first.

I just kept walking and working with her.

Honestly I put a lot of socialization work into her way before that Recallers class and then when we took Recallers it was a lot of training work.

She turned into the most wonderful little dog.

My training is really just for her to be easy to live with and listen in the real world. I could care less if she doesn't walk at heal or do other perfect obedience things. I like her the way she is.

There is an old saying you don't get the dog you want but get the dog you deserve. Meaning put some work into it to get that "perfect" dog.

Under the rug . behind the couch ,, I will find those presents and treats "You can't hide them from me "!!!




" Still testing whether claws or drills work better " However playing John Henry was not really all that interesting "



However " The Hallway of ""My Space"" Big

Still working on taming Baby Girl here. We can pet her like crazy as long as it's in front of the food bowl or on the rug in front of the door. Anywhere else she'll run or smack you. I was petting her tail a bit earlier today and she wasn't in the normal spot for me to do it. She realized it, turned around and smacked my hand and glared at me. I smacked my hands, pointed, said bad girl. She stalked away from me and decided to try and catch a bird instead. An hour or so later she was back to normal. Crazy cat.