Tired paws

That’s shredded car tires under those webbed toes.

Life is all about choices. Stuff happens and most times there’s nothing to be done about that.  Our attitudes and how we choose to deal with the stuff makes all the difference of how satisfied we are with our lives.

Agree?

Right, so I could choose to continue on in this happy state of mind that includes three amazing dogs in my life. Or I could decide to deal with the fact that Yaxley will be matriculating into Advanced Training at CCI in five weeks. So, that old character flaw of mine rears its procrastinating head to smile its toothy grin at me.

Queen of da Nile or Master of my Fate?

Naw, it’s ok.  I’m all over this one. I’ve hitched up my pants, cowgirled up and all that. We’re gonna get this pup ready to rock the world.  Because it’s not about me, is it?

A shared a checklist a few posts ago (Goal is a Noun) on some things to work on with Yaxley to prepare him for CCI college. Socialization topped the list. And bottomed the list. It’s a pretty important part of this puppy raising business. We want to reinforce confidence when faced with new experiences.

Last summer we took the dogs to Myrtle Beach. The young Yaxley was very unhappy to find sand shifting under his toes. The ground is moving! he cries. That ain’t right!.  But a good sensory experience for him and he eventually was able to process this through his puppy noggin just fine. In fact, he’s developed a fascination for cat litter, but I’m not sure if these two things are truly related.

We don’t know if he’ll encounter a sandy beach again when he begins his new career, but it is likely he’ll be asked to walk over grates in sidewalks and other odd surfaces that aren’t smooth under the paw pads. So it keeps me on the lookout for unusual surfaces to walk upon.

The photo at top is a playground with a shredded rubber ground cover.  Even I found this rather, oh I don’t know, creepy to walk on.  But with a Let’s Go, we did a smooth transition from lawn to concrete to rubber and back.

And here on the playground equipment, the steps and the landing are grated surfaces. A solid Sit/Stay and I release him before his bottom starts to dimple.

We go all out and bump it up a notch by practicing a few commands in this funky environment. The Up command is to put front paws on a surface (park bench, stone wall, big red plastic slide) and hold until released.  Some Sits, Downs, and Unders has Yaxley looking like the working dog he’s learning to be.

A couple of errands to run this day as well. Yaxley grants an audience to his fan base at the local library while I pick up a couple of books on reserve. I admit this isn’t new for him. We make regular trips here, but we still walk around to discourage curious sniffing of shelved books and small children.

Lessee . . . V. . . W . . . X . . . ah, here. Y. This is where my bio will go. Right next to Yeager, Chuck.

Ok, this one is new.  Somewhere I get this genius idea that I can make my own dog bandannas. You know, like customize them using whatever fabric I want. And maybe even be cheaper than the ready made store bought ones.

Jeezey Pete, where the heck did that thought come from anyway?  I don’t even have a sewing machine. And even if I did, I’m completely clueless as to how to use one. Ah but no matter, we pop into the fabric store anyway to look around. 

Winnie the Pooh fabric, you say? Sounds like he’s got a serious problem to me [snort]

I did find some cute fabric designs and bought a couple yards. It’s right here on the dining room table looking at me. With a cat on top of it.  I should start a pool to see how long it will sit here on the table until I stuff it all back in the bag and put it in the drawer with the rest of my inspired craft ideas.

Or I could use it to line Bodine’s cardboard hillybilly cat bed!  That would jazz things up, wouldn’t it? 

Hey Yaxley, I gotcher Winnie the Pooh right here, buddy.