Well, after my blogathon brain dump this weekend, I can hardly think of anything to say. Luckily I'm never at a loss for words. Well, hardly ever.
Scout has been a very Good Dog today. She's developed this nasty habit of rolling in cat urine/feces in the yard and then trotting into the house like nothing is wrong. This has led to several baths and on the not-so-bad days, a good wiping-down with a wet washcloth. Well, today (yesterday too!) she went outside unescorted, spent some time out there, and came back clean! Well, as clean as a dog is who lays on the hot pavement and soaks up the sun. But there was no rolling! Good Dog!
Scout's other habit of late is letting me know when it's time to feed her--an hour before I usually feed her. I normally feed her at 5, but starting around 4 she begins to let me know it's food time. She starts scratching on things to get my attention, then runs to the kitchen and paws her empty bowl around in case I missed the message. This happens every day. So my approach has been to give her a time out in the crate when the scratching starts. Then after sitting in the crate (and thinking about what she's done) for a little while, I let her out and feed her. Well, today she started her usual scratching at 4, which I ignored. By 4:15 the scratching stopped so I figured she went back to bed. At 4:45 I wandered into the kitchen to find Scout waiting patiently in her crate for me to feed her! So I did. Good Dog! Hopefully this latter will become a habit and instead of scratching she'll just go in the crate and wait there.
Second-to-last session of Kaplan tonight.
There's a spider who lives very close to my computer. I see him occasionally on the wall, always when I'm too helpless to do anything. This time he came within reach so I swatted at him with my folder. No good. He fell to the floor but was still alive. He was trying to hide behind the paper shredder so I put the shredder on top of him. I have no idea if he can escape or not but it makes me feel better. I've got the major heebie jeebies and every time I feel the slightest bit of tickle or movement on my skin I freak out. Let's hope we'll find his little body under the shredder later.
PS. Here's another plug for my vacation photos.
Posted by Shelby at August 11, 2003 05:16 PMUh, could you come have Scout teach Jimmy a trick or 2? Jimmy is sometimes absolutely insatiable/incorrigible. I wish he hadn't grown so much that I don't have room for a crate in the house. Second thought, maybe I should just get a bigger house! He does love his outdoor crate, and when I come home from work, he's invariably in the crate sleeping. Most recently I found one of my leather work/gardening gloves in the crate with him. Wonder where the other one is....
Posted by: Tori at August 11, 2003 05:53 PMI don't know how you live with that spider. You're much braver than I would ever be.
Do you have Pet Wipes? I have a can of Nature's Miracle Pet Wipes for occasions when the cats need some spot cleaning. Might be good for Scout. They sell them in lots of places, but here's one:
http://www.petguys.com/-018065051470.html