Hit the blog this morning determined to catch up on posting early, only to find the server was down again. It’s baking day so I just got back to the ‘pooter to find I can finally log on.
Just starting the second rise as I type this. As soon as the loaves come out of the oven we’ll go do chicken chores, and then I guess we’ll find out for certain if the wash ran. Since Landlady chose (wisely, as it turns out) not to come up this weekend, it really doesn’t matter what the condition of the crossing is. I have a 4X4 and so do S&L, so we’ll work it out.
It dawned cloudless or nearly so this morning! After raining all night, all yesterday, all the night before that. Except for a little sun yesterday afternoon it has been overcast or actively raining for four solid days. Nothing cataclysmic, no scary storms, I don’t even think my wash ran overnight. Just rain and plenty of it.
I think the Rufous hummingbirds have moved on; haven’t seen one causing trouble at the feeder in days. All we have left is clouds of these relatively drab green ones, and they’re much less given to drama. The Rufous are entertaining but exhausting to watch; they don’t seem to care as much about using the feeder as making sure nobody else can. Personally I like less conflict during meals.
Laddie’s getting along nicely, though he did show his true colors yesterday when we went to visit S&L. L, true to form, gave Laddie a treat and he decided on the spot that he’d much rather stay with her than leave with me. Guess it makes sense, he lived most of his life with a woman and I wondered how thoroughly or readily he’d adapt to life with a man. Ghost lived with me for eight years and always preferred L or Landlady to me; he stayed with me until the moment he had a choice, and then he left without bothering with a headfake.
I’m afraid Laddie, like Ghost, is stuck with me no matter what he prefers.
I doubt Laddie has a gender preference. He just operates on the “what have you done for me lately” concept, and in his case “lately” is “within the last few minutes”.
Laddie is an adult dog. If no behavioral deal-breakers have shown up yet, you two can almost certainly work out a mutual accommodation. Just don’t expect him to show you the single-minded worshipful devotion that you might enjoy had you raised him from a pup.
Yeah, that’s pretty much the way I read it. Laddie and I are getting along fine, don’t get me wrong, and I expect things to improve over the next weeks as we get used to each other. My only real complaint about him is that he’s such a featherhead outdoors I’m not sure he’s ever coming off the leash. I suspect his only complaint about me is that I’m not Mama Liberty.
With a long enough leash, is his featherheadedness really so much of a problem? Furthermore, does said leash need to be as stout as it had to be for previous best friends? As I suggested a while ago, a long leash can give you a means to encourage him to respond to voice commands. Let him get to where the end of a normal leash would be, and then call for him to stop or back or whatever works for you. If he responds appropriately, praise him. If he doesn’t, then snub the leash and you’ll get his attention. My bet is that even Mr. Booger Brain will get the message before too long. No matter how many lizards are about.
Oh, I made him a long lead right away and he’s on it most times. I am hoping, as you say, to train him to stay close while we walk together. But that never came close to happening with Ghost, who was a lot younger when he moved in with me and never gave much of a damn about my preferences during walkies. So Laddie might be looking at a lifetime of long leads. Not that he really seems to mind the connection.
He’s never outside alone unsupervised at all and never will be until I confirm that he’s snake-averse. Probably not even then: Larger predators traditionally stay away from the cabin but I’m still not sure how much of that is due to me and how much to Little Bear. I lost a cat right next to the cabin, probably to an owl so that might not count, or it might be significant that I shot a coyote near the cabin that seemed to be angling toward the new temporary chicken yard only a few days after Zoe disappeared. Zoe was obviously a lot smaller than Laddie, but still – predators matter, and Laddie won’t be spending a lot of time alone outdoors if I can help it. That and snakes is why I’m so nervous about his impulses to dart off at odd angles.
Do you have a harness for him:
https://www.chewy.com/sporn-non-pull-mesh-dog-harness-blue/dp/131824
or just a collar? Not sure how fast a medium sized dog with short legs can scoot, but you clearly don’t want to injure him when you have to snub him, and a harness can make that work better than a collar…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPuKyeVsfZY
Just think how much faster those Corgis would have been if they had the track set up properly for dog racing. Except with a lizard instead of “bunny”…
}:-]