Ray and Gregg

I took Ray for a walk early this morning and we practiced our sit/stays. Ray thinks of it more as flop/don'tmoves. I think this may be his downfall. He's a natural at heeling but he never sits. He's either walking around or flopped over. Sitting or staying, not so much. We are also supposed to be practicing front door etiquette but no one ever comes over so it's hard to do.  

When we got back from the walk, Gregg was sitting on the front porch so I turned Ray loose in the backyard, grabbed the paper to read about Michael Jackson (died yesterday), and joined Gregg out front. We chatted about what we wanted to do over the course of the day and I went in to get a cup of tea. Ray was at the back door so I let him in and returned to my chair out front. I was there for about five minutes when I noticed that it was unusually quiet inside. I jumped up and opened the front door. Ray had had only enough time to open one of the bags of roving. I "Bah"ed and he abased himself, feeling totally guilty. I clipped on his leash and took him out on the porch with me. 

Ray thought the porch was very interesting. He picked up a lighter that we use to light the mosquito repellant coils. Gregg "Bah"ed. Ray dropped it. Ray went  lapped my mug of tea. I "Bah"ed and removed my mug from his reach. I thought maybe having him on the front porch wasn't such a great idea after all. I took hold of his collar to lead him off the porch; Ray made a grab at the mosquito coil as we passed, but missed (how does he know where all this stuff is? HE'S BLIND). I "Bah"ed. 
I found myself wondering what our neighbors are thinking of all the 'Bahs' coming from our house. We'll probably get a reputation as being anti-Christmas or something. I could just hear them referring to us the Scrooges next door. 

Ray and Gregg getting Ready for a Run
 (and Ray Practicing a Sit/Stay)

While I stayed home to scrub out cat boxes, Gregg took Ray for a quick jog. He reported that Ray lay down in the street a couple times as they were crossing. Gregg was worried because Ray was panting so hard. Gregg thought that maybe Ray wasn't used to the extreme heat and said he'd take him jogging earlier in the morning on really hot days. 

We left Ray in the backyard and went to run some errands. I needed to get dog food, cat litter, and a new collar for Ray (the one he has now won't stay the right size, it keeps readjusting itself). It turned out to be cat adoption day at the local big-box pet store. There were a ton of kittens, old cats, and all ages in between. There are always lots of cats at these adoption events, but with the economy affecting adoptions, this time the number was staggering. I tried not to look.

The trainer had left me a list of ingredients to avoid in dogfood (did you know corn makes dogs pee and poop more? Neither did I), so I was checking out ingredient lists on all of the food bags when Gregg came in from the Asian market.  
"Did you see the cats?" he asked. "Did you see "Bunny?"
"Yeah, she tried to bite me," I said (I don't blame her, it was very noisy and frightening and someone was sticking a finger in her cage - me). 
"Oh." said Gregg. 

Ray sporting his new Cabana Stripe collar

I wondered what he would have said if I said, "Yeah, she is too cute, let's take her home!"

I picked out some food and we went to look at collars. Gregg picked out one that he thought would complement Ray's Red-Tickeshness. It was called "Cabana Stripe," a good choice for summer wear. I'm sure it's what all the fashionable dogs are wearing these days and I wanted Ray to be able to impress Halle who has a beautiful, wide collar with rhinestones. 

We went home and Gregg took off for the pool while I stayed home to make a plywood cover for the basket that I keep my wool roving in. I hinged the middle so that it opens like a picnic basket. It ain't pretty, but I'm pretty sure it'll keep a certain hound out. 

Ray and I went for a walk around the block and practiced sit/stays some more. For homework, we're supposed to practice 15 minutes a day, or maybe it's 15 minutes 3 times a day, or 5 minutes 3 times a day, I'm not really sure. After the trainer said "homework" all I heard was a buzzing in my ears. 

Ray has the heeling down unbelievably well, although it doesn't work quite as well when we pass another dog or a person. I brought him home and fed him and the cats, then wrapped Moonie in a towel and brought her downstairs. As usual when I go upstairs, Ray stands with his front feet on the third stair, his back feet on the ground floor, and stretches way up. I came down, sat on the second stair (Ray had retreated to the ground floor), held Moonie tight against me and leaned towards Ray. I think he and Moonie touched noses but I couldn't really see. He laid down at the foot of the stairs and looked nervously up. Nothing else. No barking, no sniffing. 

Later that night, Moonie was sitting on her pillow on the couch, Ray was asleep on his bed in the front hall. Gregg opened the front door and went out to get Hugo. When he came in with Hugo, Ray woke up, jumped to his feet and took off after the SCENT. He ran into the wall (when it's dark, and he's sleepy, he gets really disoriented), Hugo shot upstairs followed closely by Moonie. Neither one of them came down for the remainder of the night. 
One step forward, two steps back.