Raining and training

Hey blogaroos. Happy Manic Monday! From soggy Nova Scotia. Holy moly we had a wild wet weekend- and we have more rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow. Yesterday was especially yucky – it was freezing rain all day. ALL day. It’s weird all the kinds of rain – freezing rain is kinda like regular rain except when it hits the ground – BOOM – it freezes. So roads and sidewalks and trees get icy. Our deck was icy with crunchy rain bits and our trail to the lake was a combo of crunchy bits and water. The Boss was in total depression. He did NOT want to go out. Meanwhile, all day long, the Coyote would, every few hours, scratch at the door to go out and do a walk about in the pelting rain. He would wander around, do backyard property patrol and come back in, at his leisure, crunchy and soaking wet. The Boss just rolled his eyes every time he did it.

The Warden and I did our obedience work- and I was wild. We were playing tug and oopsie – she now looks like a pin cushion.

We are having some “challenges” with my dumbbell work. Sure- I’ll bring it back – NO problem. BUT – I spit it out when I bring it back. So we’ve gone back to learning “hold it.” And THIS is where I become just a tiny, little itsy bitsy bit stubborn. I’ll take the dumbell, and the Warden will tell me to hold it. Pitewy – I spit it out. She will gently hold her hand under my chin – and if I hold it for even .001 second, I get a treat. But holding it any longer – nah. Now if you throw a tug toy and I bring it back – I’ll hold on for dear life. Dumbbells- not so much. Mind you – I would be happy just to eat them. But apparently, chewing dumbbells is frowned upon in the “rules.” Who makes these rules anyway? I think dumbbells are just foolish. I mean look at the name – they don’t even look like bells. And I’m not even sure that the word “dumb” is even politically correct. These things need new branding. Maybe then I’ll hold onto one.

Training me for obedience work is SUCH a puzzle. The Boss says “Wojtek” and “obedience” don’t really go in the same sentence. Sure – I have moments when I LOOK obedient- but I’m really like an actor – playing a role. And if the salary isn’t good enough, the performance is not exactly Oscar material. By the time the Boss was my age, he already had his Novice Obedience title. Mind you – his first formative year was not during COVID. That’s my excuse- and I’m sticking to it. The Warden says she loves a challenge- so I figure that’s why she loves me!

After I did my work, all three of us got to practice our sit and down stays. The sit is for one minute and the down is three minutes.

As usual, the Coyote likes this game as he doesn’t have to do much except stay in place. Half way through the sit, he decided to lie down. Now if I do that, I’m told to sit back up. The Warden tried that with the Coyote, and he acted like a wet dish rag that had never heard the word “sit” before. The Warden conceded defeat with him and let him stay down while the Boss and I completed the sit. Which we did quite successfully. Then it was time for the down stay. The Coyote was already down so he didn’t need to do anything which was fine by him. We all stayed in place for our 3 minutes. And we all got a treat. Nothing like getting a treat for doing nothing. It’s boring – but not exactly taxing.

The Boss isn’t training for any competitions but he still likes to work out. In the photo, he’s showing me that he can hold a dumbbell. Good for him. But can he ricochet like me? I think not.

OK. Almost time to see if the rain will stop for a few minutes so we can get out for our walks. Then I’m coming in to work on building the ark.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.