Did you ever know a dog that was afraid of the dark?

I'm not being all goth girly or wicca here, why would I want to highlight those eye bags and creases, warm glow of candle light my ass. It's just damn winter and the power is out again.

So I was able to get some dog practice in yesterday morning, even though it meant I didn't get a couple of horses done before it got too wet and rainy in the afternoon. Sorry horses! I did work all day on my last day off. With horses and no covered arena, work schedule kind of goes away and I work as much as I can when there is dry and work less when there is wet.

Since their dog run at the ranch turned into a horrible murky swamp, the dogs are currently living in one big dog crate all day under a tarp. They have the door open and a little xpen around it so there is a little more room, but they all just huddle in there in one little black 6 beady eyed heap and stay warm and sleep. This may just be how they spend the rest of the rain season until they get a dog run back. Sorry dogs!

It's all about compromise.

Practice yesterday, quick practice because rain was coming and horses were waiting, was teeter day. Otterpop worked on doing her teeter all by her lonesome, far, far, far away from me. She will do anything I ask when we practice. A teeter at 30' away in the big scarey dog show ring with the Judge Who Clearly is a Dog Slasher nearby and terrible things like Photographers and Spectators who could be armed and dangerous robots, that is too much to ask. But someday, she is going to get that Gamble with a Teeter. She still needs that ONE Advanced Gamblers Q to move to Masters Gamblers. But we are a little cursed in that department. We rarely get to do Gamblers on Sundays. And one time, the time with the nice tunnel to a-frame, was the time I ran into the judge. Sorry Jim HIbbard but you were standing Right in Front of the Jump EVERYONE was using to head into the gamble! And one time I just messed up my opening timing, that time had a nice set of jumps and tunnels in the gamble. And one time, a teeter, no dice. But today, I was sending her out to speedy nice teeters and onto hard pole entrances from almost miles away. Kudos to Otterpop!

Ruby worked on nice fast teeters and just nice fast things sequences with lots of tugging or getting the toy. Far distance with toy thrown out, and close tight turns in and getting the toy. I am trying to get her less food frantic during practice and keep her motivation up with toys and see if we can somehow skew that into faster runs when she is bored out of her little skull from sitting all day at a trial or whatever causes her to slow down by the end of the day. Thus eventually becoming faster weave poles. So goes my theory. So she is just practicing having fun.

Gustavo is learning to run speedy fast up the teeter and flip into his down while I set it down slow. That is all he has to do for a long time. He just needs to learn to fly up that board and not get scared and always hit his down. So that's what he does. He needs to do everything a lot of times before he gets it. That is how he learns. I get it! So that's what we do. I am doing lots more clicker tricks with him, lots of fast, fast, fast repetitions and he is getting things. I can't ask him to do too many things or let him go to Spring Break in Puerto Vallarta of the Mind. So now he is learning a little through the legs move to my right and revisiting hand touches. Easy. Right? Your dog learned it in 5 minutes. My other dogs in a couple sessions. Gustavo, few weeks. He is fast, he is talented, he just learns more slowly so I get this now! We gots no hurry vato. We got all the time he needs.

And we got to practice in the light. At our house, we had no power last night. Tiresome. But who would have thought dogs notice? It's just nighttime and dark right? Not for little Gustavo. Power goes out, he runs to a crate and hides and won't come out. Power on? Out of crate, a-ok. Power out? Panic, scrambles off to crate. He's a fraidy cat! I'm getting him his own flashlight.

I don't even know what to call this except let's just say it's cranky.

In times like this, we just have to smile and take a nice cleansing breath.

It is possible that the whole team has an issue of boundaries. Curious. Whilst I was at the STORE last night (those allcaps connote HINT OF IRRITATION, right?) one of my dogs climbed up on the kitchen table and was meandering around, dirty feet on the tablecloth. Looking for important paperwork to toothily shred no doubt. In full view of a human adult. Who is very capable of using the Voice of Non Benevolent Dictatorship which did indeed cause this small dog to instantly leap off of the table. But it was reported when I got home that it has no boundaries. This is possibly the same dog that, the other morning, whilst visiting our friends, crawled through some kind of rat crack in their fence, escaping to a neighbor's house. And pleaded the case starving stray dog to the nice neighbor, causing her to feed him 2 whole bowls of dog food before calling my number off his dog tag to have him rescued, one house away after an absence of 5 or so minutes. All the other dogs were happy to hang out in their lush and grassy backyard, but not Gustavo. No boundaries, no borders. It is all a frat party of joy and sloppy beer sloshing under the big lucite feet of the strippers.

So at the STORE last night, it was perfect to work on Boundaries. I was a customer, so I worked on customer service from the customer point of view. You know sometimes, it is crowded at the store, it is a tiny store, full of expensive foods with omega-3 flax and hemp and your grocery bag will total $40 no matter what you do? And in the crowds, perhaps the power is going off, causing cash registers to die. And in the crowds, perhaps they do not open extra cash registers in such a way that moves you up to a more great and powerful position in a shopping line. And in the crowds, perhaps a lady with bright pink hair except her bleachy roots and purple stripey leggings all a-sag has all her groceries in a jogging stroller fit for the hugest walrus baby ever even though she looks like an ancient haggard witch with a tie dyed head and has 2 rail thin teenagers with her that look as if their arms and were sewn on by blind crazy plastic surgeons and their necks are on weird angles? And no giant walrus baby. And in the crowds are hippie girls with flowing, molting thrift store coats and giant skirts with their little faces not yet grown to show any wrinkles of frowning framed by their fluffy snow hats? And they are all too close and yammering about the delicious pears and having patience and I am thinking bad, black thoughts to them then remember the customer service.

So to offer good customer service, from a customer point of view no less, I have to pretend I am not here in this tiny store where really all I needed was some salsa and the boundaries and borders are pressing on me too tight. Think about the good customer service how I could be working to improve the Boundary-less Dog's nose touch to make it sturdier and more substantial like that of Ruby who practically breaks hand bones of her love of a nose touch to hand. This before knowing what kind of boundaries he is pushing climbing around on a table and what kind I am using to keep my mouth shut when flowy skirt to the floor buying all the foods of health and flax and hemp and sweet potatoes asks me about how much do I love pears and I think for one second about customer service and my tongue stays right there in it's place, not flying off it's frying pan like sometimes it does just because I do hate all pears and also her and also everyone near but perhaps one day she will have her own border collie and lovingly teach it nose touches so I just smile. Wearily, and nowhere near Gen-u-ine, but, it is a little step of customer service.