Whew, I know many are wondering where did Luna and I disappear to after getting home? It’s been busy along with sick! Um for me not for luna. That little pocket rocket of mine is doing just great!
settling at home:
Well, my little pocket rocket, Luna moon settled into the house like she’s been with me for years and we were just away on a small vacation. The only minor issue at first was getting her to park in the backyard, but I figured out why that was an issue. It’s mainly dirt/mud back there and she didn’t like stepping in it, lol. So I started alternating between the front yard and the backyard and things seem to be better for now. When it rains however it’s definitely the front yard and hope I don’t miss something.
She hasn’t tried exploring the bathrooms and drinking out of the toilets which is great since we never remember to close the doors. She most certainly has not trying stealing things from trash cans that she shouldn’t. Again another good thing since I forgot the ones in the bathroom aren’t dog proof!
I’ve already switched to off leash time at home since she settled in pretty well. The only time she goes on is if she gets too excited and forgets how to listen, if she hasn’t done anything outside for me yet or the first time we had company over. Just to keep her on the calm side.
playtime with Luna:
OMG, if I thought this girl was nuts at Leader during our playtime…that was nothing compared to how it is here at home. Maybe that’s because she has *loads* more space than we had in the rooms. Man, she runs around the house like her tails on fire. Nope, make that she *gallops* around the house. It’s rather amusing to see and I’ll try and catch it on video one day.
talk talk talk:
Sheesh, Jessica are you sure you gave me a lab? Luna just won’t shut up! *chuckles* this is the first lab I’ve ever met that loves and I do mean *loves* to talk, and she does it just the right times to.
Carleton University:
The first time I took Luna to campus it was just a quick show her where my classes are and make sure I showed her the right paths we had to go down to get to the doors we needed and into the tunnels. I have to say that showing her just once she completely blew my mind by getting it *absolutely* correct the next time we did it. She didn’t hesitate, she didn’t look at me funny when I forgot to give her a treat at one spot because I was too proud of her for not taking us off the wrong direction that it took me a while to realize *whoops* forgot to treat her there.
The first walk she was a bit nervous on going even half our speed because of all the people. Way more than the college we practiced at at Leader, but maybe like that horrible mall we went to near the end. However after she realized that they weren’t going to move for her and just kept jumping in our way, she just runs them over hahaha, but shhhh don’t tell!
Tuesday wwas actually suppose to be our first full day at Carleton, but for whatever reason that day luna just didn’t want to be at school and I really should have taken my cue from her since our morning class that day was a movie and was completely *boring*
So we ditched the second class and came home, lol.
Again, Luna moves around Carleton likes she’s been doing it with me from the beginning. No challenge for her. What a trooper!
Shout Sister Choir:
Luna is now our *new* Shout Sister puppy and everyone absolutely loves her! I took her to practice with me on Thursday October 16th and just like home and school she laid on the floor and didn’t move one bit. Well, until someone dropped their water ball on her head, *whoops*
I was told she gave the person a dirty looked, whimpered and then moved to the other side of me, hahahahahah!
With Shout Sister Choir you don’t have to stay in one section all the time. You can sing high for one song if you like and then some other song maybe sing in the low section. It’s pretty cool…and we don’t sing boring songs either, just saying! So, the reason I brought this up is because we got to a song where there’s lots of section changes, people going here and over there. I pretty much stay in lead except for one song, which we’re not doing right now, but ah well. Luna however decides that she wants to get up and move to another section *snickers* Think she was trying for the high section. Then again maybe she just wanted further away from the person that dropped the bottle on her head. She kept giving her looks. Bad news for her was she couldn’t go far, she was attached to my belt loop.
We decided that since Luna is a black lab and during shows we wear all black, she definitely needs a shirt to stand out. I mean, how can she be the hit of the show if you can’t see she’s there? hmph!
We had our first show this past Thursday and I’ll write about that in another post. It definitely had an amusing moment.
distractions:
Ah, now Luna and distractions. Definitely have to take a step back and work on those, but not as far as working goes. No no, her distraction now is when she’s not working and we’re doing obedience and she knows her toys are around someplace. Lots of *grumbling* on her part, but I don’t listen, ha!
As for squirrels. She’s seen those a few times as well both in and out of harness. She’s not pulling my arm off like I must have those now now now, but for sure holds her attention. What I found works so far is I just stop and stand there and let her look at them. eventually she gets bored and no longer excited. I only do this at home of course because I no the little buggers are there and it’s not all the time. I only do it when she’s overly excited and my guess is there’s more than one or two nearby. Other times she ignores them and up to the house we fly!
Working on squirrels at home as I said is great because I know they are there and I can take the time to stand there and correct her if she pulls for them or stand there and treat her if she stays still and most certainly when I can get her to focus on me and not them and we can go inside.
I believe there’s squirrels around my college campus as well, but since I’m not always near the area where they are it’s hard to test to see if my method is working. *sighs*
What’s next on our list? Luna and I will be heading to Toronto on Wednesday. First greyhound trip. Lets see how this goes.