Yesterday Paige jumped from a standstill up to my eye level (I'm 5'5")! I was carrying meat out to feed her and Sheba which made her very, very happy. But I was still shocked! Later that evening she was still in such a good mood she played "chase" with me! That means that I play-tag her and she runs in a h-u-g-e circle furiously! That went on for 5 or 6 rounds. So while Paige still won't chase a ball, she seems to understand playing.
A few days ago the dogs started to pick up something on their paws that would not brush out. Added to the little green burrs that Paige gets covered in every single day, I couldn't take it. I had to bathe her off. She's still not crazy about the bath but is soooo much better. Sheba came in to check on her (and then got out of the way so as not to encourage a bath for herself!). Turns out the black stuff was soot and ash from some huge tree limbs my husband cut off and burned in the way back of the property. She's nice and clean and under my desk now. I've never been so manic about clean dogs but here in FL the ticks are horrible and I'd rather bath and make sure the dogs are tick-less than just treat with toxins. I do treat them with a preventative, but I would need to apply it twice as often it to make sure it was working.
Another break through with Paige is that for about 10 minutes she ate out of my hand. I have some kibble that was given to us as a sample for the Kennel. I don't feed kibble to my dogs so the only time it gets used here is if a boarding dog has run out of food during its stay. So I opened it up. Both dogs loved it! And it kept Paige at my side. These are the treats I'm going to use for the next few days. I hate feeding kibble, but I'm going to look at it like Halloween candy - not great for you, but it won't kill you once in a while!
Last night was had some excitement: the dogs were out in the yard for "last call". Sheba started barking furiously. I could see Paige was running between Sheba and the back door when I looked out. I went out and realized that they were after some critter in the bushes by the pool. They came in right away as it was too dark to see anything. I went out to the pool area after just to see (who knows why) and there was a SNAKE! I hate snakes. I only got a quick glance. When I looked it up it was one of 2 possibilities. Either poisonous or not. Great. I think it's the non-poisonous one since it was out at night and the explanation said this snake was active at night. I hope so. When I head into the house for lunch I'm going to have a "look-see" and then again tonight. Actually, tonight I'll have my husband look. He's the one who's going to have to kill it anyway! Yuck. I wish I could teach these dogs to signal a snake but leave it alone. But that would require working with a snake, no?
Well, off the find the snake!
