Whole Lotta Stuff

It rained for a long, long, long time....6 days.  I had to make Dhali put on the raincoat.  It actually fit him!  Which is crazy, because it doesn't fit Tibby anymore.  It just goes to show all his height is in his long legs.  Tibby has a longer back and is built differently.  Dhali's bone structure is more delicate.  I can tell this by feeling their heads - Tibby: square and heavy,  Dhali: thin and light (and tiny too).  He has a tiny head.

Anyway.....these pictures were taken on the day he turned ONE!  Then we went shopping.  I forgot to make him wear the raincoat into the store.

Dhali shopping!  Isn't he cute?!?  He loves to go shopping.  I didn't get a very good video of it, but he is rubbing himself on the racks of bones - just like a cat.  He LOVES to rub up on stinky stuff. 

 I took him to a race on Sat.  We watch (and cheered) for my Mom.  After the race we had to stand around FOREVER waiting for the awards.  Dhali did AMAZING.  He sat and stared at me or laid down on the ground and rested.  He was totally relaxed - even though we were surround by tons of people.  My biggest fear was the someone would step on him, because he was being so good and invisible.

Anyway....a man was squatting down in front of us and I wasn't paying attention.  Dhali apparently thought the guy smelled AMAZING and tried to rub the glorious stink on himself.  LOL!  That was his one silly moment.  I don't think the guy realized that he was basically sitting on a dog until Dhali stuck his cold nose into he man's leg LOL!!  I had to laugh at that :)

Oh and P.S.  I didn't have a treat on me and Dhali was still amazing.  

I'm working up to our SUPER AWESOME lesson with Loretta Mueller....so hang in there! 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Loretta at her place.  It was so long ago since our last time up there - 9 months!   A lot happens in 9 months    This was Dhali's First Lesson.

I had forgotten how looooong the trip is.  It takes forever.  The trip wasn't so bad until about 40 mins from Loretta's place I got behind 4 cars that were stuck behind a truck going (at the fastest) 40 mph!!!!  If you can't drive the speed limit - pull over!  I was trying to stay relaxed and calm, so I wouldn't arrive at the lesson all stressed out, but I think I failed :P  

Dhali really liked Loretta's sheep.  I was trying to get him to potty (ha,ha,ha) and Dhali was more interested in the sheep.  "They run away!  Yay!  Let's chase them!"  Um, no.

Dhali was a little nervous for the first 10 mins. inside the barn.  I think that was pretty normal - totally new place with a new person (Loretta) and he did a little sniffing around.  Once he figured out we were there to play - he was great :)  He likes to play!

My favorite parts were when Loretta was handling him - he did so good with her.  He gets it - I'm the one who needs the work!  It was really beautiful to see him running.  Wish I had a video!  

I got a lot of good information to work on and Loretta said I've done a good job with him (Yay!).  After his little nervous bit at the beginning he worked for the entire hour - really hard too.  We were both out of breath most of the time :P  

It was so worth the long drive!

P.S.  Dhali ate like a pound of meat treats at the lesson and then came home and ate his dinner - he also wasn't tired.  I was though!

Working on some of the sends Loretta taught us.  I need to look at the jump and not cute little Dhali!

And this is Dhali's channel work.  This is his 3rd time on the channel and his first time outside with it.  I think he is doing really well.  He's fast.

Dhali Peed!

Just a quick brag:  We went to puppy agility class tonight and Dhali peed outside during our break!  Yay!  It's the first time he has peed some where new.  Whoo hoo!  I was so proud LOL!  I also got lots of nice video of him, but I'll have to post that tomorrow.

Volunteering At A Trial

Dhali and I went to an agility trial today.  By the end of the day we had both decided it was fun.  Well, I thought it was fun.  Dhali probably thought it was boring.

I think everyone, that is interested in agility, should volunteer at a trial.  It wasn't easy or fun in the beginning, but it's so much better to separate the difficulties of a first trial into 2 different experiences.  

So for anyone that is interested in the experience here it is:

The trial site is 3 hours from my house.  So I could have hit the road at 4:30am to be there when the doors opened and tried to find a crating spot.  I was tired and I didn't feel like driving in the dark again after driving to and from class Friday night.

I got to the trial at 12:30.  After getting lost on the way and having to go through a detour, because of a (looked like) bad accident.  So I go in and find the person in charge of everything and she says they have enough volunteers, but maybe they will need me later.  Then I try to find a spot to crate Dhali.  It's not really possible.  Lots of crates full of dogs and no one around to ask if I can sneak my crate in next to them.  Happily I ran into Laura (from The Dogs Are Really In Charge) and she showed me where Loretta's husband's crate space was and that there was a little room.  Andy only charged me $25 dollars to crate there LOL!  Just kidding - I bought a WAO shirt from him.

Sadly, Laura was going home.  :(

So then I watched some agility, which is fun, but not what I wanted to be doing.  Dhali was being fussy in his crate and I was just starting to think, "This was such a waste of time.  Do I even want to do agility?  It's so hard and I'm never going to get comfortable with all this."  'This' meaning - all the people, the noise, the dogs, the confusion of people moving around, all the things I didn't understand that were going on (but that I understand now!).

Then I got a job!  Yay!  Ring crew/bar setter.  At first it was kind of confusing.  I was near the end jump with the timer, so I had to change the timer when the jump heights changed.  I really didn't want to mess it up!  Also, I couldn't hear when they said the jumps heights - to change them, so I kept asking, "What height is it?"

But eventually I got it!  And it was fun.  I like having a job to do.

Then I got to be a course builder.  Not my favorite job.  One person had a map and everyone else was confused about what we were doing.  But it was interesting to see how they move the courses around and how carefully they set them up.  

I was ring crew a lot - re-setting bars.  Best place to watch agility.  I got to watch lots and lots of snooker.  And I learned that after the whistle gets blown you can go out to re-set the bars, you don't have to wait for the dog to stop the timer.  Also, snooker looks very tricky to play.

So I did lots of ring crewing (word?) and got into a kind of routine.  A new course meant I had at least 10 mins. to take Dhali outside or play with him, because they had to set up the new course, walk it for 5 mins. and then 5 mins. for first dog to the line.  

At first Dhali was complaining in his crate, but by the end of the day he was completely quiet.  Yes!  One thing we've got going for us!  That is a big deal for me, because it is very difficult to have a dog that can not relax in a crate.  Trust me, I know.

Dhali is still refusing to potty away from home.  He went from 6am to 9:30pm without going potty.  I was hoping today would be the day where he would potty away from home.  Nope.  He held it.  Ok, whatever silly head!

He played with me a little bit, but every time we would really start playing a dog would bark at him from one of the crates near by.  He didn't like that and I didn't want him to start associating play with snarky dog barking.  One time, when almost everyone was walking a course, I went to use the warm up jump with him, but there was someone else with their puppy there.  He was a good boy all day long.  We ran around outside some and he liked that.  He got better, by the end of the day, of walking with me and not trying to smell every crate and person that we walked past.

At the end of the day, when almost everyone had left, I got to be leash runner and scribe sheet runner.  As leash runner, you don't get to see very much of what is going on in the ring, but you get to move around more which is nice.  You also get to see everyone's leashes.  I'm nosey,  I liked that.  As scribe sheet runner, you get to see all the dogs' names.

Most people crated around us had left and I thought the crate next to Dhali was empty.  It was a big soft crate with a cover.  So when Dhali started doing his "I'm a cat" rubbing his face on the floor next to the crate I didn't stop him right away. Turns out there was a big black dog in that crate that wasn't too impressed with Dhali being a cat .  Oops.  Sorry!

At the very, very end when almost everyone was gone I got to measure Dhali with the measury height thing.  I wasn't even sure what the wicket would look like.  He measure 16.3", but he wasn't standing straight AT ALL.  Leaning and trying to get away from it.

It was a fun day.  I would do it again.

Tibby likes the shirt I brought back for her.

"My brother went to a trial and all he brought me was this shirt."

Oh *@#(%

We did not have a very good class tonight.  Dhali ran off twice in class.  Once he jumped the ring gate and the next time he jumped through the gate.  You know those white plastic folding ring gates?  Yeah, he can jump through one of the holes.  Skillz.

So he had a bad night for whatever reason.  Maybe I was acting weird, he didn't like the slip lead, he was thirsty, he's a 7 month old male with bity balls, he didn't feel like doing agility.  Whatever the reason, it should be fine, one bad night, but....that little voice in my head starts saying, "Oh, *%#@#.  Wow, now you've screwed up 2 dogs.  Great job with that."

He wasn't doing zoomies or acting stressed.  No yawning, panting, ect.  He would play with me - hand wrestling stuff.  But he REALLY wanted to go out of the ring and see the other dogs.  No he did not want to do the tunnel.  No he did not want to do the chute.  Yes, ok he would do the teeter a few times and then run off to do it again just for fun.  No he really did not want to run around and go through tunnels.  No thank you.  He ate treats and did tricks, but if we went close to the gate he was checked out.

I had a nice long drive home to think about it.  Stupid little voice - SHUT UP!  

So I was very sad, like why am I screwing this up yet again?  Am I just wasting my time?

Then we stopped at Runnings and Dhali was happy, confident, cocky little bad a**.  He rubbed himself, like a cat, over everything he thought was awesome.  Leather gloves and treats and a random toy on the ground. You know how cats rub up against stuff?  That's what Dhali does.  It's very cute.  We saw a guy on a motorized scooter and Dhali was like - "Wow!  Amazing!  I need to see that up close!"  

He's not scared of anything, so at least I got that right.

It was just one bad night.

Drop In Puppy Class

I took Dhali to a drop in Puppy Agility class on Friday night.  It was SO much fun!  I hope we can go again. It's really nice that it is a drop in class, because I work every 3rd Friday, so a traditional 6 week class would not work for us.  We would end up missing the 3rd and last class!  Also, this place is 1 and 1/2 hours drive away and with the unpredictability of winter weather it's nice to not have to worry about missing a class if we can't get there.

There were 2 other puppies besides Dhali - a cavalier, 5 months, old named Lincoln and an aussie named Trip, who is about the same age as Dhali.  Lincoln was such a fun puppy!  Her people hadn't done any agility training before, but Lincoln was having a lot of fun, not scared of anything and did really well.  Trip was kind of sad.  He has been coming to class for a few months and obviously his person has done a lot of obedience training with him.  He wasn't a very fun puppy, but he was very obedient (except when he ran away to see the other dogs).  Sometimes I think Dhali reminds me of an Aussie - jumping, barking, nipping me in the butt - but Trip was not that kind of Aussie!

So how did Dhali do???  Awesome!!!  He was fun, fun, fun to play with!  I don't care what he does, but if he will play with me, that's all I want!  He thought meatballs were - ok and chicken was - ok and peanut butter was - ok and hotdogs were - ok.  But his mitten toy???  SO EXCITING!  Let's play!  He was chasing me and tugging.  Jumping around and we were wrestling.  Just like we do at home.  Once I got the mitten toy out he was very focused and ready to play agility!

Going into the class I didn't have any expectations for him.  Basically I just wanted him to get exposed to some new people, dogs and see a new place.  If he would have sat in his crate for the 45 mins. I would have been happy.  I did put him into the crate while we were waiting for the 2 other puppies to take their turns.  I think it's important for him to be able to take a break.  It also let me pay attention to what was going on.  I learned that from having to manage Tibby through an hour long class.  It can get VERY exhausting.  Especially if you are playing vs. popping a treat.  Playing = tired.  Mental break and rest time in the crate is good.  Dhali was fine with being crated.  I walked away several times and was out of his sight - he was fine.  I think at first he was relieved when I told him to take a break in the crate.  It was a busy place.  There was a Beginning agility class on the other half of the building.  A noisy class!  There were even 2 people with big cameras taking pictures of the other class.  I also didn't want him to practice lunging toward the other puppies.  He was interested in them - butt sniffing if they got close enough, but not crazy obsessive trying to get at them.  He even was off leash a few times.  He did go visit once, but the teacher brought him back and I don't think he wanted that to happen again.  I made sure to keep everything fun and happy.  I was probably annoying to listen to, but Dhali liked it.

Class started out with a few times through the tunnel and then we did some restrained recall type thing through some jump uprights.  Dhali wasn't a fan about being held by a stranger OR running toward a stranger.  When I ran with him he was a lot happier - like, "Duh Mom that's how you do agility."  

Then there was a little teeter that the dogs walked over.  Dhali didn't have any trouble with that at all.  The teacher didn't know what the bang it game was.  Then there were 'weaves'.  5 orange cones set up for the dogs to 'weave' through.  I really didn't care how Dhali did them.  :)  Then we did a little sequence of tunnel, jump, jump, jump, turn a corner jump and then the little teeter.  Whoa!  big steps!  The 3 jump,jump,jump were waaay too close together.  So what did we end up doing?

Well, first I had Dhali wait in the crate.  He did pretty well, but I asked for a tiny bit too much and he came out of the crate, so I put him back in and released him really fast.  He shot out of the crate and I wasn't ready for him!  But fortunately he has a good send to the tunnel (when did that happen???) and I said "GO TUNNEL!!!"  He dove into the tunnel and I raced him to the first jump, he took it and came in to me.  We haven't trained 2 jumps or a send ahead yet - totally understandable that he would come in to get his reward.  Also, I was carrying THE MITTEN and his brain was all about the mitten.  We skipped the next 2 jumps, turned the corner and he actually wrapped around the jump upright when I frantically pointed at it.  He came into me and we did a little wrestling/tugging on the way to the teeter.  I asked him to "waaaaiiiittt and ready?"  He sat down and gave me his little bark.  Sent him to the teeter - boingy, boingy he went onto and over the teeter and our turn was done.  We tuggy wrestled back to the crate and then he got into the crate.  

I was so, so, so happy that he played with me.  The environment was not at all like home - noisy, other puppies standing a few feet away, strangers and noisy dogs banging teeters and barking behind a half wall.  He was really into playing too!  All I have ever wanted was a dog that would play with me and yay!  I have one!

At one point he wanted to see what was behind the fence/wall making the funny sounds, so I picked him up and let him see all the dogs and people.  I think that helped him know what was over there and not be worried about the sounds.  I remember being really worried about Tibby looking at anything besides me when she was a puppy - No only look at me!  Watch me!  

At one point Dhali did his flat dog in the middle of everyone, while the teacher was talking.  He just relaxes and stretches out, puts his head down and chills.  

It was fun.

Dhali is awesome.

Crate we used in class.  There was also a little tiny Toller puppy crated above Dhali.  It was tiny and it screamed for a lot of our class.  Tiny, but big lungs.

Show Day

Our first real dog show!  What a day.  I'm tired!  It was fun and I met a lot of nice people.  I learned so much.  Dhali was a super good relaxed boy.  He put up with tons of fussing/grooming for hours and thought all the people and dogs were OK.  While we were waiting to go into our ring he laid out totally flat on the floor, put his head down and just chilled in the middle of people and dogs walking every where around him.

He is such a good even tempered little guy.  Later he decided to lay down on his side a take a little nap in the middle of every thing.  If he can relax at a dog show - he can relax anywhere!   It was crazy.  Very over whelming!  I'm glad there was a little Tibetan camp set up and I could meet some other TT people.  It would be very scary to be all on your own at your first show.

I know flooding isn't always a good training idea, but I don't think today hurt Dhali at all.  In fact it made me realize that all the work I have put in to taking him places has been worth it!  Really proud of my little man :)

I told him this morning - I don't care what happens.  I love you no matter what and you are perfect and the best puppy in the world.  Let's just have fun. (and I gave him a bunch of kisses on top of his little head)

And we did have fun.  Maybe not the most amazing showing in the ring LOL!  The judge said Dhail, "was really sweeping the floor."  Dhali was basically sniffing the floor the whole time and I was trying to get his head up and dragging him along in the process.  The judge also said,  "Practice a lot with her (him)."  Oh well!  We did it and it was a good experience.  The judge kept calling Dhali a girl- not sure why??

Now 15 or so pictures and then more writing at the bottom.

Little bit of snuggle time.

He stood and leaned into me for the longest time.  A little zen in the chaos.

Dhali's cousin Sweetcorn.

Dhali's brother Nickle.

Dhali is smiling!  

That's Dhali's daddy in the crate behind us.

Dhali was a little bit tired from the whole experience :)

Good job little Dollar-boy.

This is the dog of the woman who was really nice and helped me at the open show in Oct.  She was set up across the isle from TT camp.

 "What?!?"

Well, That Was Disappointing!

I had these big plans to take Dhali to a handling class tonight.  We got all loaded up and hit the road.  I'm not sure what happened, but I couldn't find the place!  I had the address in my GPS, but it took me to a residential area.  It was probably right there, but it's pitch black by 6pm and I couldn't see anything that looked like the right place.  Or even a driveway or any lights......it was SO DARK!  I drove around a little bit trying to see if I could find a sign or something, but nothing.  Then I got on the wrong road and almost drove to Loretta's!  LOL!  I was really lost.  I hate my GPS.  I swear it is trying to kill me by taking me on the most round about way to get to my destination.  

All was not lost though, I went to Chipotle for dinner and took Dhali to Petsmart.  I had a $5 giftcard from filling out a survey, so I bought the pups a few new toys and Catty got some treats.  I don't write a lot about Catty, because she's a cat and doesn't do too much.  She's getting older and has decided that the only thing she wants to eat are a certain type of treats.  So I bought her 2 big bags.  

When I checked out the girl asked me if I had a dog and a cat.  At first I couldn't figure out why, but then I realized that I was buying a bunch of cat toys and cat treats.  Yes, I have 2 catdogs and a full breed cat.  The 99 cent furry mouse was a big hit with the pups.  Tibby LOVES it.  It is her precious.  Dhali chewed its head off.  I also bought a blue holee roller.  I was hoping this would end the fighting over the red one.  I stick little pieces of chicken jerky in them and the dogs try and try to get the treats out.  The final toy is a big purple jingle ball.  It's a cat toy too and Dhali has been chewing on it, but so far it has held up.  I wish someone would design some dog toys that my dogs would like.  Durable, but not THAT durable.  Softer and with jingle bells.  Then I wouldn't have to buy cat toys for them!  They have almost every toy that Petsmart sells in their toy box, but there are only a very few that they actually like.  I'm getting better at figuring out what it is that they like in a toy.

Dhali was a good boy in Petsmart.  I think it must be one of the most difficult places to visit with a dog.  First of all, to a dog, it must reek of dog pee.  Dhali sniffed every single end cap, post and crack in the floor.  Hmmm, wonder why he did that?  Then it smells of every delicious cat and dog food and treats and raw hide, ect.  Then it smells like mouse, rat, birds, rabbits....  There is music and announcements in a man's voice at random times about sales that are going on.  The floor is super slippery.  There are walls with an overwhelming array of everything that a dog could imagine blocking their view.  People and dogs suddenly appear from behind these walls.  For a dog it is a weird, weird place.

My favorite parts were when we played a couple times.  Just silly wrestling with my hands and Dhali jumping and being funny.  It just showed me that he was feeling pretty comfortable and let him get rid of some stress. He liked it.  Chased after me down the aisle.  Then we played around with the big crates in the back of the store a couple of different times.  Dhali was very happy to jump in and out of the crates for treats.  Considering the huge level of distractions in the store he did really good.

Dhali with the mouse tail hanging out of his mouth.

Tibby with the mouse.  Her precious.  She's hiding underneath a chair so it doesn't get stolen.

2 holee's are better than one.

Red!  and     Blue!

Cabin Fever Is Here Again

Now I remember why I remodeled the basement - winter is nasty.  It's dark, all the time.  It's wet, all the time.  It's cold and wet and dark.  I would like to see the sun again!  It's dark when I go to work and dark when I get home and then it gets darker.  It has rained/drizzled for days and days.  I can't remember how long!  That's a long time.  

So it was good to get out of the house tonight with Dhali and go shopping at Runnings again.  We just wandered around and eventually bought some puppy food which conveniently was both on sale and something I needed to get.  Dhali was good, which I sort of just expect from him now.  He got to meet some people, a man and woman that asked to pet him.  He was soooo good.  He sits right down and snuggles up to them and then he wanted them to rub his belly.  He thought the man's cowboy boots smelled really, really good.  LOL!  The check out girl remembered him from one of his first visits when he was a puppy.  They are pretty nice to us there :)  Some of the customers are surprised to see a dog in the store - I had one weird reaction from a woman when Dhali was a tiny baby and I was carrying him, but the store employees are all pretty relaxed about seeing us in the store.

It was nice to be able to walk around in the light and not be rained on.  I am starting to feel like I live in a dark shoe box with two furry WWF fighters.  Bitey games are fun, but not when they go on for hours.  If you have somewhere to take your dog weekly and train - well you are lucky!   It's going to be a long winter of cabin fever for us.

In Runnings we did some 'look at that' Control Unleashed sort of stuff.  I don't really understand the whole game, but Dhali was looking at weird stuff and then I would say, 'yes!' and give him a treat.  Then he was offering looking at weird stuff (tractor parts, chicken feeders, hoses, other farm stuff that I don't recognize) to get his treat, so I think he is starting to understand the game.  We've worked on the beginning steps at home, which are sort of boring and Dhali gets too into it and wants to run at the object or do something like hit it with his paw. 

I made the mistake of wandering into the brush department.  Dhali LOVES brushes, brooms, sweepers, anything with bristles.  He was trying to pick out his favorite one and then he found one he liked and tried to carry it away!  I would have bought it, but it was almost $20 and he has a ton of toys already.  I would like to find a cheaper one, that he likes, to use as a playtime/training toy.  Also, a smaller one would be good too :P

One thing that is good about the rain and mud - Dhali has learned to wait.  I taught him the same way I taught Tibby (and she has a pretty good wait).  After he gets his paws washed off in the bathtub I let him jump out and then I dry him off.  Then he has to wait while I open the door, shut off the light, walk out of the door and walk around the corner.  Then I come back and release him with 'okay'.  He runs out of the bathroom like a shot!  Very cute.  We worked up to all those steps - he gets his feet washed a lot, so lots of practice!  The next step is to lengthen the time I'm out of sight and then I come back and leave and come back and leave - 'ya know proofing stuff.  He's generalized this to other things too - like waiting while Catty drinks her milk snack and then getting released to clean up after her.  

I was drying his feet tonight after a wash off and a tooth popped out of his mouth!  It was a big side tooth.  It just shot right out on to the floor!  His canines are still all there and I wish they would fall out already!  They look so weird.  He doesn't seem to be bothered by his teeth at all - chews bully sticks, bites on Tibby and tugs the same.  I try to be careful when we are playing that the toy doesn't get caught on his teeth.  I don't want him to stop tugging or associate pain with tugging!  

Happy Rad Tech week!  I celebrated with my co-workers today and we had a potluck.  I brought Cha Siu Bao - Chinese barbecued pork.  It cooked slowly all last night and the puppies thought they needed to check on it multiple times during the night.  I swear, Dhali woke me up and I let him out of the bedroom and he ran directly to the oven and stared at it.  I also made the regular recipe for the buns, but I pretzel-ized them.  OMG!  I love pretzel buns now and they are so easy to make!

This time next month we will be getting ready for Dhali's first real dog show!  Very exciting!  If you are in St. Cloud Dec. 8th or 9th come and visit us!    

Hello! Slam!

I took Dhali with me today when I got my hair cut in Hutchinson.  He got to walk in a real downtown, with actually people walking around and lots of traffic.  He liked it a lot.  His favorite part was jumping (of course), but his 2nd favorite part was looking in all the windows.  

Imagine the scene:  You are sitting near the window in a very expensive restaurant.  As you cut into your free range something with organic something and rustic something else - BAM!  A tiny furry head pops up beside you!  It was SO FUNNY.  I laughed so hard. 

  Besides looking in the cafe and restaurant windows, he thought the 'lady' wearing the pink feathered dress should get up and come outside to play. Pink feathers!  The only thing he didn't like was a display of pumpkins - scary pumpkins!  So round and bumpy! 

Dhali got to wait in the car on a noisy, busy road while I got my hair cut.  And it was dark.  Then he got to meet my hair stylist.  He was a little surprised to be woken up and taken out to meet a stranger, but it was ok.  Then we stopped at a gas station and he walked around, but did not potty.  He jumped a lot though.  Jump, jump, jump!  So cute.

And I almost hit 3 deer and then got rear ended by a semi on the way home.  Almost.  

Now a video of Dhali cuteness and Tibby too.  My Mom asked me not to teach Dhali this trick, but I taught it to him anyway.  Tibby follows people around closing doors.  It's great unless you want to get something out of the cupboard.  Then Tibby is like, "Um, hell-o?  I just closed that."  Wham!  "Now it's closed again.  Well, you should have moved your hand faster!  I was obviously closing the door - since it's my job and all."  

  

The Franken Leg Day

The last few days have been busy.  We had a craft/bake sale at work on Friday.  I sold quite a lot of stuff, so yay!  I also bought quite a lot of stuff too.  :P

Here is my little spot in the craft sale.  I didn't have a great spot, but oh, well.  We each had 30 inches to display our things.  

Dhali thinks he is a cat now.  He's been able to do this for a few weeks now.  He just jumps.  Straight up and onto the top level.

I stuck him in the middle level, because it was funny and he doesn't care.

Today I took Dhali to an indoor agility trial for some socialization.  He did SO SO GOOD!  I was so happy with him.  It's very relaxing to take him places, because I don't have to be constantly managing the situation.  He sat and did tricks and watched me it the middle of everything going on around him.  He looked at dogs and people without lunging at them.  He saw dogs outside pottying and he didn't lunge at them.  He did not potty the entire time.  

Such a strange little guy.  I never had to worry about Tibby pottying.  She goes a lot and goes any where.  Any way, I'm tired after the 5 hour drive and I didn't actually DO anything.  Can's imagine how tired I would be if I actually ran a dog!

One funny thing he did, "There was a man standing next to us and he had a camera with the strap hanging down next to him.  Dhali tried to reach up and grab the strap!  But I caught him just in time.  He's pretty brave!

Now on to the franken leg.......Sooooo I wanted to pluck Dhali's ear hair last night and he didn't want me to.  He hasn't had a good ear plucking yet and he's getting bigger.  It won't get easier, so I drew a line last night - so ear fuzz was getting plucked.  Dhali ended up with one hair-less ear and I ended up with a little bit less skin.  He got my leg really good and little on my arm and one swipe on my face.  The leg is the worst.

Right after it happened.  Ow!  It hurts so much, but doesn't look too bad.

A couple hours later.  Ow!  Still hurts, looking worse.

Today.  Not looking so great and still hurts, but not too much.

Dog scratch fever?  I hope not.

It was a slightly traumatic experience, but apparently didn't do any lasting harm, because Dhali brought me his tug toy afterward and wanted to play for a long time.