Perpetual Ruminations

Discombobulated Day

Today has been another scrambled day, which is only fitting since it's been an out-of-whack week.  I know life is topsy turvy and we never know what each new day will bring. Weeks and days like today really do mess with Max, however, and it makes training a bit difficult. He does well, surprisingly well, in fact, but disorganized days do affect him.

Monday school was out, so we had two teens distracting him. They do pretty well, but they can only resist a cute, new puppy for so long. It's not that they should, Max is a family member and it does him and them good to interact. Unfortunately, it seems they show up just as our training is getting going, or right when he gets relaxed and ready to nap.

My wife's aunt passed away earlier this week, so she left for the funeral this afternoon, which has him messed up. He looks forward to her return from work and spending some play time with him, which he didn't get today. Our daughters are adopted and did not know Dorothy and I only met her a couple of times, so I'm staying home with them and Max, who wouldn't do well with a puppy-sitter and wouldn't handle that long of a drive. It only makes sense, but I still feel bad not being there to give support and comfort to the rest of the family. Max seems to pick up on this as well; he doesn't understand it, but he picks up on it.

I'm a bit disappointed that we weren't able to go out walking for his leash training, it's been tough with the weather, and he needs a lot more time walking on a leash. I'm hoping tomorrow we can spend at least fifteen to twenty minutes walking, and maybe even get out twice.

On the bright side, since the day was messed up and his training schedule was altered, I decided to spend our school time (training session) teaching him a new trick, shaking hands. He struggled with it, but received a lot of love and praise, along with treats, even though I had to show him each time. After ten minutes of working with him, he was tired and getting bored, so we went outside and played a bit, then when he came in, he took a nap.

After he woke and we went out for him to go to the bathroom. It's our routine, when we come back in, for him to come over to my chair with me and do the tricks he's learned. First, he sits and gets a treat, then talks and gets another treat, and just a few days ago, learned to gently press his muzzle to my lips (kisses) for another treat. I thought I'd try and see if he would work a bit on shaking hands, so I told him, "Shake." He lifted his right paw and set it in my hand. Yes, he figured it out and does quite well for it being the first day with this new trick.

Tonight we had supper and then I took him out. He usually plays a bit before falling asleep around nine, but tonight he really fought going to sleep. He does this some every night, like a little child he just doesn't want to go to sleep and will try and do anything to stay awake. But, tonight was worse and I spent almost an hour trying to get him to lie still and relax. I'm sure it's because his "mom" isn't here.

Tomorrow should prove interesting since he gets up when she does, and she won't be here until later tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to stay positive and hopeful that we will still have a productive day. Fingers crossed and all that mumble-jumble.