they have to be good!

http://www.myspace.com/thefrisbys

goats smell, but so do new cars

Phil talked about this, which pointed me at this, which is something I never really wrapped my brain around (or at least haven't been able to indefinitely internalize).

This aid on the wikipedia page helps me the most.

factoid

As a child, I identified with Simon.

will of the gods!

I just had four standoffs in a row with Jupiter.

1. Turning right on the leash. It took about 15 minutes of a circle for him to give in, and I didn't even actually wait until he was preventing any leash tension, just until he significantly improved.
2. Shake. Before we go in the door, I make him sit. He was really reluctant, so I commanded him to shake also. That took about 10 minutes.
3. Down. Then, before feeding we do a series of commands. He already sat, so I said down. That took 35 minutes.
4. Sit. I wanted to make sure he didn't go down just because he gave up on sitting (because he was starting to doze off, which was kind of cute), so I said sit. I gave up after 25 minutes and shuffled into him (I had gone down to my knees a while ago – standing for 50 minutes got boring) in order to make him do it. Then he shook, down, sat, shook, stood, sat, shook, and stood with quick responses but very slow movement. Then I let him eat; he hopped to that.

These commands are all normally immediately and quickly obeyed. Recently he's been testing me, but tonight was just ridiculous. It was 2 hours from walking out the door to him eating! Sheesh. Working on the turning right was new tonight, so I think that put him in a disobedient mood.

I don't feel great about entering standoffs, but I'm trying to reinforce that my commands are absolute and that it's more him choosing to obey that I'm looking for and less me physically posturing him. Instead of "sit", waiting, and then putting him in a sit with the leash or by tucking his back legs with my arm, I've been waiting until he obeys. That has been a matter of seconds, especially once I move to be right in front of him (he's usually looking out through of the glass door).

I hope this incident doesn't repeat itself, gods willing.

but this amazes me more

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4496695

Rooooock Chaaaaalk Jayhaaaaaawk. Kaaaayyyyy Uuuuuuu.

Keepin' it G, y'all.

This still amazes me

Olny srmat poelpe can raed this. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the r ghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt.

(I told Tyler I would post more to my blog, so expect a more generous filter for a few weeks.)

190,080 inches

Oh yeah. I ran with Nikki, who is famous. Sorry, Nikki – she wouldn't appreciate that I mentioned that. But I'm name dropping here. Give me a break; allow me to bask

Anyway. For those of you who forgot to wear your calculator watch today, that's three miles. We took it nice and slow. I was haunted by the same-old leg ghast, so she graciously stopped with me twice for a couple minutes to (attempt to) stretch. I still, after all these years, don't really know how to stretch that sonbitch, particularly not without taking off my shoes.

Pushing your running limits is rewarding (I wasn't expecting to best a mile), but, as I discussed with Jeff (not yet famous), it is very frustrating for something other than stamina (e.g. misbehaving muscles, sleeping feet, burps, other bodily functions) to curtail your run. So the gauntlet comes down: I'M COMING FOR YOU, PERONEUS PIPSQUEAK.

Jupiter is 6 months

8 March 2009 + 6 months = 8 September 2009

Forgot to take these in the daytime, so please forgive the lighting.





His old photos are on Flickr, too.

I kenneled him last night because Adam Bennett was in town and the actual event was on pretty short notice. He was tuckered this morning, and then we went to Mutt Run, and now he's passed out on the couch.

This was the first time at a dog park, and it was great. He interacted very well with many dogs until he got very tired. The owners were attentive. He tried joining up with other dogs that were being taken for a walk a couple times, so I had to catch up and walk him back. And there was a Chiuaua that didn't mind that Jupiter was 50% playmate and 50% predator, but he responded very well to me telling him to tone it down.

Most is well in Jupiter land. He's not peed inside in a long while – I'm far more trusting now. Still tries to eat too many things: plastic, rocks, and toiler paper. Oh, toiler paper.

The separation anxiety is still strong. This is a difficult behavior to train him out of as my presence is the issue. He's plenty happy in his crate when he sleeps, but he panics when I'm not accessible (crate or no crate). Whining, drooling, barking, and sometimes peeing. Weighs heavy on me still, not knowing what to do. I work at home sometimes trying to increase the distance he can relax with the door to my room open. Once he's calm I start moving out of sight for minutes at a time; working our way up. This issue makes me lose my cool with him sometimes, as it's so restrictive of my freedom; that's something for me to work on. And sometimes he tries to walk in front of me on walks, but it's more his attention on something causes him to speed up – regardless: that's the other thing that can frustrate me. Calm is good. Calm is good.

He's otherwise healthy, happy, and friendly, even with the bigger dogs. Sometimes he's shies away pretty hard, but mostly he's making himself small asking for play or chasing and mouthing. And goodness, he loves people.

We get our first lure coursing practice soon! There was one I've missed because I was out of town, so we're looking forward to this one. And the second puppy class starts next week. We're both excited.