Markie Castle Markie Castle

Progress?

Cardiff is learning so quickly, you can see prime examples of “sit” and “leave it” below

She is really enjoying getting out on walks, and we’re working hard to get better and safer at it. She likes playing on people’s lawns, and checking out the different grasses. I’ve chosen to not water my front yard, so it’s dirt and weeds for the most part. But no foxtails. not all yards are created equal, however. We were just 3 houses away when she stuffed her snozz into a bunch of dry weeds faster than I could react. Looking up at me, I could literally see the foxtail hanging from her nostril. Everything went into slow motion and I jump toward her saying “Noooooooooooo” only to have her shaker her head and sneeze mightily.

And what happens after a sneeze? Big inhale.

Zoop, up it went, as I tried to grab the little trailers on the back. See the detailed diagram below for the complex calculus resulting in an Emergency room visit and $525 to remove said foxtail.

Zoop!

I can’t say the experience was an enjoyable one for either of us. After getting home after midnight and a lousy few hours of restless sleep for both of us, she was raring to go, but I’m dragging a bit. The big bonus was her scheduled vet visit to complete her vaccinations this morning. Yay!

This dog is going to bankrupt me.

In other news, the lifting of the in-house restrictions is going well. I’ve removed the stairs’ barriers and started to put some rugs back in place. I’m hoping the trend continues and things don’t suddenly get chewed or peed on.

On a completely different topic, I received a text letting me know my NT#FL!X:053356 Subscript!ons need to be renewed. Yeah, I’ll get right on that.

The Casita is mostly packed in anticipation of the upcoming overnight trip this week. I’m trying to figure out the bedding situation, which is crazy-making. The bed is full-sized, but there are cushions that take up needed space to tuck the fitted sheet in. Am I expected to just let the fitted sheet flop around like an animal? Do I just use flat sheets? Seems like it’s harder than it should be.


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Our private outside

As I’ve previously posted, my backyard has been positively affected by all the time I’ve been spending with Cardiff there. Today I was doing the now regular cleanup with the leaf blower. She’s so used to it that she chases all the debris as I move. She then also does this really great thing standing or laying in front of me to be blasted by the full force of the blower. It’s so helpful to getting the area clean (not).

You can see her standing in front of me and laughing. The one on the right she’s cosplaying Batdog in the Batmobile.

Because she’s received another round of vaccinations, Cardiff can go on walks in the neighborhood. Still no intensely close contact like dog parks or doggy daycare, but walking around where other dogs have been is now is within reason. We haven’t gone far, but she’s catching on very quick to how the walkies work. She tends towards the sidewalk, and doesn’t yank when there’s an interesting yard. She even saw some lawn ornaments in front of a neighbor’s house and looked back at me like “What the heck are those?” instead of running off. This checking in behavior is great, and she was rewarded with getting to go see them.

She put her nose up to the solar-powered pinwheels and decided they weren’t a threat. The cutout of the snowmen she growled at and shyed away from. I don’t blame her - I don’t like Christmas in December - let alone July.

Being able to go out in public now is a huge deal. We made a couple trips to places, and she loves meeting new people. Of course, she’s the cutest dog any of them have seen.


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