Lola ended up getting adopted into another family because just after I decided to keep her, Maia decided that she wanted her dead. She started staring at Lola and stalking her, and pinning her down and making her scream if I didn’t intervene in time. I did the ‘crate and rotate’ thing for three days until I realized that this was not a problem I was willing to invest time into when clearly Lola was miserable and Maia was completely stressed. The family that Lola went to lives only about five minutes from me. They have another dog already that they wanted a companion for, and apparently they totally get along and hang out together all the time. They have two little girls who are head over heels in love with Lola, and the parents are very dog-savvy. I’ve been to visit her once since she went to live with them, and the girls had drawn me a picture of Lola to put on my fridge. I’m not into kids but holy frick was that adorable.

I’m still seeing the trucker and things are going well with that. I wish that he was in town more but c’est la vie.

I finally, after almost 13 years, quit my job with Starbucks. (That’s the first time I have ever written their name on my blog.) I’m going to work for the local transit company, starting in their call centre but hopefully getting my foot in the door to move into another position after my probation period is over. I took two weeks off in between my last day at Starbucks and my first day at the new job, and I am half way through that time. It’s been really nice to just relax for a few days, although I have also been getting things done around the house that I had put off.

I’ve been looking after my friend’s dog, Justice, since last Monday and while she is a great little dog most of the time, she is noise reactive. And she makes Maia noise reactive. I have spent more time this past week with barking dogs than I have the past month. I keep threatening both of them that I will debark them with a rusty spoon but so far no one seems to be taking this threat seriously. Justice goes home tomorrow and hopefully Maia will relax after that. We need to get out and do some counter-conditioning recapping – she’s getting really bad at going ballistic when she sees another dog/a cyclist/a person in the world and while she does somewhat remember the ‘look at that’ game, I need to put some more time in to her, to keep her stress level down at a manageable level.

I leave you with a very badly shot but hilarious video of Bosco playing with my exercise ball. This dog has come so far from the dog I brought home from the shelter, and it makes me so happy to see him bloom.

Once Maia stopped pretending that Lola didn’t exist, they started playing together. Bitey-face between the two of them is so adorable because Maia lies down on the floor or couch so she is the same height as Lola. And half the time Lola squirms around on her back, open mouthed and tail wagging. I haven’t been able to get a good video of it yet because my camera is never close enough to me and as soon as I move, they stop.

I hadn’t planned on keeping Lola but when I took her to meet a family and see how she got on with their dog, I realized that I wanted her to stay. When I told Emma, the one who brought her up from Mexico, that I was going to keep her, Emma started crying. This was at agility class and Emma was snuggling with Lola, and said to me jokingly that I should keep her. I said I was going to and she just stared at me in amazement and then started crying. It was really cute. She was just so happy that she is going to be able to continue to see the little munchkin.

She doesn’t shake the way she did when I first brought her home. She used to shake if she went outside for even a minute, and now it’s only if I make her walk in the rain. Her coat was very coarse and Emma and I both thought that was just what her coat would always be like, but it is really soft now. Her tail is getting some curlies on it, which is adorable. She is starting to get a recall – well, barely. And only because I have the BEST food in my pocket lol. But she’ll still turn and eventually come running when I call. I don’t make her drag a leash anymore out on the dykes because I don’t need the drag line. She loves to sleep on my pillow if she can get away with it, or right up next to the pillow beside me.

The pack is now complete. (Although only because I’m not allowed to have more than three dogs licensed to me in Maple Ridge.)

Self portrait on my couch.

Sniffing around like the big dogs.

“I do not understand what this ‘come’ word is you keep using.”

Isn’t she SO CUTE? I took her to visit Emma yesterday (who was the one who brought her back from Mexico) and she said, “Can’t we just keep her? We’ll share her, one week on and one week off!”

I decided to see if she could do it from a down. The first three times she moved into a sit and when I didn’t respond at all, she stood. I clicked and treated. The fourth time, she came up directly to a stand. Yay jackpot! She repeated it, too, all the other times I tried it over the course of the evening, except (of course) when I wanted Dana to watch. Oh well – we will keep perfecting it this week and then show it off next week. Proud of my girl!!

I did a Pet First Aid course last Sunday, through Walks ‘N’ Wags. Bosco came along and acted as one of the ‘victims’. He got bandaged and splinted, his vital signs checked, and a full head to toe to tail performed on him, and he was a trooper. He even got his own certificate, stating that he ‘survived a Pet First Aid course’. I’m going to frame it and hang it up with Maia’s CGN certificate. I passed with 98% *toot toot* <- that’s me, blowing my own horn

And I got the chance to buy some extra stuff for my first aid kit, at wholesale prices. I got extra gauze pads and wraps, some medical tape, and a few tensor bandages. The next thing to do is to make a small portable kit that I can take on walks with me. After hearing some of the stories that our instructor had to tell (she ran a dog walking business for 10 years) I don’t want to be caught without supplies! And I highly urge everyone to consider doing the same.

I’ll close this out with some pictures of my handsome boy.

Bosco with his hind foot wrapped.

Getting his ear and head wrapped by Anna, while I laugh in the background.

Graduates, with our certificates! The lens is smudgy on the bottom left because a dog snuffled it. *love*

I took the dogs up to the lake today but I didn’t feel like walking very far so I threw sticks into the water instead. Maia chases the stick and swims out to get it. Bosco waits on the shore for Maia to get close, then steals the stick from her and runs away with it, trying to get her to play tug. He’ll drop it and move away a pace or two but as soon as she gets close, he grabs it up again and takes off. Eventually he gets bored with this and drops the stick for good, and then Maia swoops in and retrieves it, and brings it ‘back’ to me. In quotes because she generally drops it ten feet or so from me. It’s like she feels that I should have to fetch the stick as well!

Bosco is hilarious when he does actually go swimming. Generally he likes to stay where his feet can touch the bottom but sometimes he will swim after the stick. He reminds me of a toddler learning to swim, when they have are very splashy because they haven’t learned how to be graceful in the water yet. His front paws often break the surface of the water like he’s almost treading water instead of swimming. Silly boy makes me laugh.

It’s official that I will be looking after Seven for a week. Emma is excited for her speuter trip and relieved that he can come to me, his favourite auntie who will smoosh him with love the whole time she’s gone.

She’s still totally freaked out by the bang of the teeter. *sigh* Emma is teaching Seven to do running contacts now, so she had the teeter board slightly raised at one end and was having Seven drive off the end after treats. It made a slight banging sound and Maia had her ears back and her unhappy face on when we were doing the 2x2s at the same time, because they were right next to each other. She still was driving for the ball, and I know if I were only giving her treats she would have stopped working, but it’s so frustrating that she has acquired this HUGE fear of the bangy board.

Anyway, now I’m home. I just ate my second fast food meal of the day, I’m sore all over as if I have been doing strenuous work (but I haven’t), and oh yeah – I split my pants at work today so I have to go pants shopping tomorrow.

So flippin’ cute. The Boston is like, “I play bitey-face!” and the cat is like, “No, I wash your face. Stay still!”