tracks of my tears

 The old poem ‘when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid’ comes to mind often throughout the day. Lupa turned into a little terror last night, possibly all wound up from lack of sleep. Nothing would distract her from digging in her bed or trying to chew it to bits. 

In retrospect I should have popped her into the puppy pen but since she’s not acclimatised to being locked away from us it was probably for the best. Today I put her in for a few short periods with me getting farther and farther away. She’s there now quietly chewing on a toy. I did have to remove the little carpet but in fairness the frayed edges do look like a rope toy.

Sometimes it pays off to be a bit of a hoarder! I lost out on having towels available for dog beds as I’d given them all away, but I didn’t give away the giant pack of puppy sized bully sticks. That’ll surely help when I’m desperate.

That’s the bad… now for the good. She’s getting pretty good at sitting and is doing a decent job of down if I’m low to the ground. She’s also learning to ‘touch’ my hand with her nose. I’ll be able to direct all sorts of behaviour with this skill :-)  She learns quickly. Adia hangs around and participates as much as she can - the treats are so tiny that they disappear in her mouth but she doesn’t seem to mind. It is extra hard for Lupa to learn with another dog getting treats and taking my attention (and hard for the trainer too!) but she’s (mostly/sometimes) able to focus.

She’s become more food motivated which will make so many things easier.

Sitting here in the quiet, little dog asleep beside me while I look out the window, I am suddenly, without warning, overcome by the grief of missing Spike. (If you look closer, it's easy to trace

The tracks of my tears - Smokey Robinson). I know that it will ease with time but I thought (hoped) that I’d be distracted enough by Lupa to avoid the feelings of immense loss.

Awesome!

“Lupa going to the front door when she needed to go outside”

“a puppy that pees as soon as she hits what will be the grass - no poking around looking for trouble”

“Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog;

but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog.”

― Douglas Malloch