ups and downs

The Ups: this weekend Sweets hung out with her new Cattle Dog friends, Lilly and Forrest (Forey for short). Besides the excitement of just having new fur in the house, Sweets embarked on probably her most adventurous trip to date- chasing (and nearly killing) a chicken that happened to live near a public hiking trail (a trauma her mom will never forget). The Downs: Hannah (ferret), Sweet's older sister was buried today. Though their relationship as mostly of the "can I steal your kibble" nature, Hannah was quick to correct her new house mate, nearly 2900% bigger. She was a spunky, joyful girl, michevious, and really seemed that every nook and cranny was a newly discovered day in and day out. She gave us all an appreciation for really "livin" and she will be missed. She was suffering greatly and no doubt lived a long life. We will forever miss her goofiness. Love, Sweets

Jack: part deux

Yesterday, Sweets surely earned her kibble! What a long day it was. Playing with Lib and Stelley in the morning, meeting Miss Boo through a fence to practice her self control around dogs...(especially dogs behind fences). Ok, she did have a nice long afternoon nap in the a/c. Then off to work with Jack and Maria in Old Town.

Jack is a dog that will bark and lunge at other dogs and Maria has been doing great work with him, seeing a reduction in the frequency of his behavior. So, Sweets is there at session three to practice walk bys. We're working on practicing with a 'live target' which isn't hard to come by in Alexandria. However, Jack is keeping it together, as we walk in and out of view. Then we go for it with a nose to nose greeting...drum roll...

And Jack does awesome, no aggression. All that barking and lunging appears to have started with wanting to say hi, not having access to other dogs, and heck, he doesn't look friendly when he's barking. These two walked together, sniffed, rolled in the grass together, went to the dog park to sniff and play a bit. Jack even invited Sweets up for a drink after their date. She gladly drank her water on the rocks and took full advantage of the cool kitchen tile.

So, kudos to Maria and Jack and we're hoping that this positive interaction will carry over and mean more social interaction and doggie friends for Jack. Look for Jack and Maria soon on ABC News Channel 7!

ground hog fight

Yes, it has been quite the dramatic turn of events. Yesterday Sweets (as per usual) was sniffing like a mad woman near the bushes in the back. I saw her point, saw those eyes get big and thought I heard some chirping. Then game on- the groundhog dashed from the den and all I could see were rustling bushes. She chased him into the pasture, then muzzle punched him up against the fence. "OFFFFFFFFFFF!" "NOOOOO!" "OFFFFFFFFFF!" I'm screaming. I jumped over the fence, the gound hog dashed away "WAITTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed. She stopped.

"Wait, wait, wait..." I grabbed her collar and we walked out of the pasture. No harm done to dog or hog, thank goodness. Today we purchased pepper oil deterrent, sonic gopher be-gone stakes and a live trap, if need be. Power to the Porker. Yikes...