One Dog, One Owner

One bored puppy looking for action!

My husband has the wonderful opportunity to crew on a trimaran in a rally down the west coast of Baja. This is the 17th year for the Baja Ha-Ha event. There are 196 boats—mono-hulls, catamarans and tris—participating. What an event! There is a software application that pinpoints the boat regularly in the Pacific, so I can track where they are. For a worry-wart, this is the best thing since sliced bread.

For the puppy, this is really, really boring. I go off to work and there's no one to play with during the day which means our sweet girl is sequestered in the kitchen. She's fine with that as this has been her routine since she was a baby. However, it doesn't make it interesting. I'm finding myself busy in the evenings too because of various obligations. Poor Bella! This is not what an active, smart puppy signed up for. She's still getting two long walks plus her "chuck-it" time. Additionally, I'm trying to do inside things (as our weather is so terrible right now) to keep her entertained, but I know in two days, her patience will be tried, she'll push the envelope, she'll be put into the "nothing in life is free" training phase and then, thank heavens, a Noseworks class will occur. Whew!

I Love My Puppy

Sometimes I'm just overwhelmed how much I love Bella. She's not "perfect," but she's close to that in my book. For 11 years I was on "high alert" for any loose dogs while walking Lucy. My walks were limited by safe routes where I knew there probably wasn't going to be an issue. I couldn't go hiking with new friends who had dogs she hadn't met, yet I didn't feel I could not take her, so I wouldn't go.

After 16 months of living with Bella, a loose dog still puts me en garde—unfortunately! I am getting better about squelching that reaction and can imagine how hard it is for returning soldiers to stifle the knee-jerk reaction to loud bangs. Yesterday, Shari and Amber joined us on a couple of fun treks. There were loose dogs and barking, fenced dogs. Bella was oblivious to them. No reaction. She's diffused a stiff-legged, hackles-up Akita and enticed an unneutered, full-of-himself pit bull to play.

Bella is teaching me to relax. I feel like my years of vigilance with Lucy are being rewarded with smart, funny, friendly Bella.

Noseworks

Noseworks. You may have heard of this class which is for all dogs of all abilities. It seems to have hit this area recently with a bang. The media has been busy promoting it and many training centers are now offering it. Everybody with a dog is talking about it. And we're finally taking it!

My friend, Shari, and I have talked about taking dog classes together and this one in particular. When we finally found a class nearby and fit both of our schedules, we decided to go for it. She got in, I didn't. My email got bounced by a spam filter. Big frown. But the great people who teach this class at Seattle Agility Center bent over backwards to fit us in.

Diana, one of the owners of the center, offered to give us a private, introductory session so that we could join a class that had already started without being behind. What an opportunity! So Shari and her dog, Amber, and Bella and I had our first class last night. What a hoot! This is going to be really, really fun.

Diana warned us that even though the class is only an hour and our "nosework" sessions will be divided among 5 dogs, we'd return home with a tuckered puppy. Bella crashed the minute she walked in the door. It was great. Plus with our weather turning rainy, this will be a wonderful inside game that allows Bella to do exactly what she wants to do (sniff and eat!) and always, always win. No leash or verbal corrections. This is a fantastic dog game. I only wish it had been around for the old, nose hound, Lucy.