Ranger's Bad Day

Just about the time I figured that we have hit a place in this puppy raising that feels comfortable, like you can take a breath and not feel like wondering what's next, the third shoes falls. Gracious, but having a puppy is a full time mom position. If we want to have a good dog, we have to invest in his training. I think training children is easier, mostly. It's probably because we speak the same language and get to use corporal punishment. With dogs, and other animals, you don't speak any words the same and you have to use food or joyousness rewards to get them to do anything.

One of the things this dog does is lick the dishes in the dishwasher. That drives me nuts. My mom's dogs live in the dishwasher, that drives me nuts. So Naomi and I have been trying to keep the darling dog out of the dishwasher, but when I turn to the sink with the door to the dishwasher open, I hear the "clink-clink" of dishes or tableware being cleaned off by the dog. I scold and use the "correct" words to get him to leave it alone. It doesn't work, he sneaks. Yesterday, while sneaking a lick, his collar got caught on the lower basket and when I saw him, I scolded him and he took off, dragging the basket along with him. It was crashing and so noisy! He was trying so hard to get away from it all, and it finally released, he dashed out the back door. Thankfully, there weren't any breakable dishes, just loud ones. I laughed so hard, but he still hasn't come close to the kitchen. Maybe that worked better than anything else at changing his behavior.

But the day was not over, yet. Since we can't take him to the Dog Park, we've been taking him to the bay to walk. It's not the same, but it is fun and he gets to bite the seaweed. We walked with him a couple of miles and then decided on the way home to stop at the drive through Starbucks and get a cuppa. When The Man drives, he drives a pick-up, and coming from farm country, every dog has to ride in a pick-up with the window down. When this happens, I hold the leash tightly to keep him from jumping out the window. He's not done that before, but I am always cautious. While driving to the Starbucks, he was acting a bit weird, sort of worrying the window a bit. So I kept an eye on him. We pulled into the parking lot at Starbucks and were still moving when the Dog takes a leap out the window. I was hanging on to the leash, still, and yelling for The Man to STOP, STOP, STOP, THE DOG IS HANGING! He stopped pretty quick and I opened the door to see the dog hanging there looking a bit scared. Don't think he ever reached the pavement, the leash was too short, but I hauled his flea filled carcass into the front seat of the truck and was concerned that my heart would explode. In the end, the dog was fine, but if Starbucks sold anything harder than caffeine, they may have been able to make a venti sale.

So that ended my week, today starts a new one...I just wonder what surprises are instore for the new week.