Doggie Do

Patches had a pretty eventful day yesterday.  Dave was home flat on his back while I worked around the house.  Worked in the earplugs-in-my-ears-reading-and-writing-research-sense.  I even put two fans on me while I was reading so the white noise would drown out Buffy reruns my poor beloved used to comfort himself lying on the floor. 

The fans turned out to be not such a good idea.  I was on the phone in the front of the house mid-afternoon, when we heard two very loud and pain-filled yelps in the dining room.  Dave and I leaped over the puppy gates (best we could) to find a very frightened puppy cowering in the kitchen.  He was so upset and he thought we were going to be angry at him---he chewed through the cord of the fan and shocked himself.  He had such a pitiful bad dog look on his face, and all we wanted to do was comfort him.  When I finally coaxed him over to me, he seemed surprised and still didn't trust that all we wanted to do was to pet him and hold him and make sure he was ok.  It was truly heartbreaking that he didn't trust us enough yet to comfort him!  He was especially afraid of Dave--even though Dave was doing absolutely nothing frightening or aggressive.  Again, we think the previous owner must have been a man, and probably wasn't so nice when Patches hurt himself (e.g., his broken leg).

Fortunately, Patches was more frightened than hurt.  We checked his mouth; there were no burn marks.  His breathing was fine.  Both Dave and I looked up first aid for electrocutions and Patches did not have any of the signs of serious shock.  He slept by my side of the bed for the rest of the day and really did not seem himself.  Still frightened and looking like he was a bad dog.  He did perk up when the cats walked too closely by him and chased them out.  We knew then that he would be ok!

We were not going to take him to doggie class because we thought it would be too stressful, but about 7:00 he was really perked up and we thought a distraction would be good for him.  Good call!  He actually did very well until Phil arrived, and then he had to go greet Phil and sniff his butt and pat him on the back and generally jump around.  This was, of course, during the long down stay.  Good dog!  He actually did a little better after he and Phil greeted each other and calmed down until he saw that Phil's mom had brought liver treats.  At that point, I lost him.  Phil's mom would tell Phil to sit or down and Patches would sit or down.   He wouldn't even look at me and my puny little pupperonis.  Me: "Patches!  Down.  Down.  DOWN.  Patches, please down.  Down!!! Patches.  Look at me! Please, just look at me! Patches!  Patches!"  Patches:  "I have no idea who that woman is."  Patches gets so excited over the liver treats that he is wagging is tail while he's sitting down.  He's all twitchy and can barely control himself when he thinks he'll get a liver treat even on the most basic downs and sits.  That should make for some serious bribery in the future!  His first two minute down stay was for a peanut butter filled Kong.  Liver should make him learn to vacuum!

We learned one new behavior last night---the Moving Sit.  We're supposed to be heeling.  I say Sit.  He sits.  I walk away, turn around and come back (he's still sitting), turn around and then he re-heels with me.  He kinda does it.  I couldn't really tell because he was ignoring me during the process.

We're off to Cape Cod this afterrnon for a wedding.  It should be in the 60's and raining the whole time.  Yippee!  It's finally going to be sunny here, and we're going to the cold rain!  Wooohooo!

Last garden update before we leave:  the sunflower has finally died.  It has keeled over in mud and is with us no longer.  It really tried!  The rain, I know, is to blame.

9:14:15 AM