Fridays are Golden

I'm still mad at her. So today I'm posting photographs of Lucy (AKA Lucifer) in order to try to appreciate her sweet qualities, and recognize that she is still an adolescent. Most of all I need to keep in mind that just because my back and shoulder muscles are quite stiff and sore this morning, Lucy has no idea why and certainly not that she had anything to do with it.

When we are out walking, I put the dogs in a "sit/stay" whenever we encounter other people on the street. They remain in this position until I release them. Only then are they allowed to approach other people. After all, some people do not want to be approached even by the friendliest of dogs.

Our neighbors often stop their cars to chat for a brief while and the girls go into a "down/stay" and do not approach the car at all. Yesterday a red car approached us and stopped. The dogs were at a "sit/stay" when the man got out of the car. Abruptly and forcefully Lucy broke the command and lunged forward to meet the man. I was totally unprepared for this and was pulled forward and twisted. It was George and Lucy was so happy to see him that she forgot all her training and went to greet him. George is our dog walker who walked the girls daily when I couldn't leave our injured player for that long. He is wonderful and the girls just love him and hadn't seen him for a while.

When I recovered my balance, I grabbed Lucy and pulled her right back to the position she had before she bolted. I carried on a conversation with George without allowing either dog to break the command. Once again, poor Ellie had to "suffer" from Lucy's bad behavior.

Today, I will take her out and we will do some practice sessions. I'll have one of my friends approach and speak to Lucy, even calling her while she is in the sit/stay. With some corrections and some treats, our training will be reinforced. We'll do this every day for a while.

When your dogs are well trained, it's so easy to forget that one of them remains an adolescent more intent on her own desires than any desire to please you. Lucy is a dog. She will occasionally break the rules. And I will still love her. But I really wish she were as obedient as Ellie.

Lucy manages to position herself in ways that look so uncomfortable. Here she is leaning against the chair with her neck bent in an awkward position.

Here she is on the chair rung. How can she sleep like that?

And she does have a thing for shoes. Canvas ones:

or leather:

I do hope you have a wonderful weekend. Life will be relatively quiet around here as we plug forward toward normalcy. Oh, I have a new favorite phrase: "This is a big f**king deal."

And I must congratulate all the winners remaining in the basketball tournament, most especially BUTLER UNIVERSITY in Indianapolis, my son's alma mater and the recipient of a lot of tuition money from our family. GO BULLDOGS!

Have a safe and wonderful weekend, everyone.