Yesterday I took out some soft treats I’d bought at the store and started going through some commands with Zoe. I started teaching her a new one - “touch.” I held my hand just above her nose and when she bumped me with her nose I treated her. Tonight I can hold my hand above her head and she’ll stand up to touch her nose to my palm. Not really sure how that’ll be useful, but I just wanted to teach her something new.

She loves the kong. They’ve managed to lose Zoe’s, yet again, but she’s been carrying around Zeeke’s giant kong. That’s quite a feat for her, it’s huge - and it does indeed slip out of her mouth half the time. She loves how it bounces, and yesterday I put peanut butter and kibble in it. Once she got some of the peanut butter out of the way she figured out she can get kibble to come out by pushing it around. So she has been pushing that kong around ever since. I may have to start feeding part of her meals in the kong, or something similar to it, just because she seems to find it very mentally rewarding. (It’s not so much about eating the food, that’s just a bonus - she really seems pleased when she gets it to spit out kibble!)

She is still fetching quite well. I still have to be wary of claws when I grab the toy, but she’s bringing the toy right back to my hands. I play tug for a few seconds, then tell her to drop it and throw it again. She’s such an enthusiastic little dog, she absolutely loves to please me. She’s very energetic when she wants to be, as well; she’ll run like a nutcase when she’s excited - we were chasing each other up and down the house earlier this evening. “Come” for her is totally exciting - she launches herself onto my lap from wherever she is, to get snuggled and kissed and praised. It’s not really work, with Zoe, but I’ve definitely tried to make myself the most interesting, fun, happy thing in her life. Of course Zeeke is a great playmate and daddy lets her crawl all over him, but mom is the safe haven that will always love her to death and protect her.

So in March Zoe and I will be starting a beginner’s obedience class. Den and I observed one of the classes today and we were happy with it - the building it’s held in is dedicated to obedience classes, with mats and tape marking places on the floor, it’s heated/air conditioned. And the instructor, as Den said, “Doesn’t put up with shit.” She’s very obviously in control of the entire class, very knowledgeable. She knows exactly how to get the dogs to do what she wants them to, no force required. Something I noted is that all but one of the dogs were on flat collars - even an Akita. I really liked the training methods. So I’ve emailed her and asked to register for the March class.

Den and Zeeke won’t be going to the same class, but Den thinks he’ll sign Zeeke up for a different one, later. We’ll have to talk to the trainer about whether he should go into beginners - which he did, and passed, last year with a different trainer, but could still use work in - or in intermediate. I’m hoping he can go to intermediate, because he knows sit, down, stay, heel (needs practice on that one). The reason it’s hard to say with Zeeke is because he *knows* the commands, so we don’t need to teach them what they mean, but some days he just doesn’t listen to a thing he’s told. But either way he’ll benefit, and Den too.

The interaction between the two of them can be very puzzling to me, but somewhat amusing too. They fight about bones and toys all the time… but they don’t get vicious. (I watch very carefully in case I need to step in.) Zoe’s the one who instigates the fights (who gets grumpy first, though it’s usually because Zeeke tries taking a toy from her), but she’s the submissive one. She knows exactly how to appease him - he grumbles and moans a lot… not a true growl, but a grouchy moan… and she stays completely still while he puts his mouth over her entire muzzle and licks his chin when he lets go… but then when he moves towards the toy again she snarls and bites at him again. On and on until Zeeke gives up or gets fed up and just takes the toy. But what I find so interesting is how she appeases him and is submissive while at the same time being bitchy and not letting him push her around, and how Zeeke is dominant without ever hurting her. I also note that as soon as one of them lets go of the toy it’s over. They definitely have a rule about possession.

And then of course if they fight and grumble for too long mommy takes the toy and they both lose. I put it in my nightstand, and Zeeke of course comes over to try to take it back. He stood there for a while looking at it and me, I growled a few low words, and he finally backed off and laid down. Yay. I feel like I’m learning a lot from watching them interact, and applying it to my interactions with Zeeke.

Den has started taking out both dogs at the same time. He’s much more talented than I, because when I tried it they ended up all tangled. Well the two dogs absolutely love it, especially Zoe. She actually is more hyperactive out there than Zeeke, she runs laps around them in glee. Then Zeeke flattens her. Well today Den was trying to get the truck started to warm it up while they were on leash, and I’m watching from the window. He could barely get the door open - when they’re both out they don’t pay attention to the little thing called a leash that they’re on, and tend to hit the end pretty hard, especially Zoe (flat collar). It’s hard on your shoulder. Well he’s starting the truck and they’re wrestling at the end of the leash, then I see Zoe run around the truck into the main front yard. She slipped her collar, while the dogs were wrestling I’m willing to bet. Den calls her name and walks toward the front door, but Zoe runs and runs, towards the side yard. He came in and I didn’t even bother putting my boots on, just opened the door and called “Zo….” - I didn’t even get to finish and she was at the door and scampered in soon as I opened the screen door. That’s my girl. So far she behaves just like Oreo did at that age. I really hope she doesn’t forget everything when she hits teenagerhood! (I don’t recall Oreo ever going through a stubborn phase, but that was a long time ago!)

Mornings now are startingly different from what they used to be. While I was away last year Zeeke caught on to Den’s morning schedule and now sleeps through it. He’ll move to the office bed, but then fall back asleep. And now Zoe is doing the same thing. Both of our alarms go off at 6am. It’s now 6:30 and Zoe still hasn’t needed to go out to pee. She’ll get up when I go to the bathroom, but I sat back down so she curled back up. Of course she still loves a morning greeting of crawling onto my lap and licking us to death, then rolling onto her back for a tummy-rub. She’s very cuddly. But she’s no longer psycho-excited that leads to having to potty immediately. It’s a very nice, mellow time for us all.

Wow, here’s something new:

(from The BC Museum)

Holy moly! I didn’t know that Border Collies come in tan-with-black-tipped fur! That could mean Zoe is a straight Sheltie-BC cross. Here are some pictures of sables from the website:

Yesterday I looked up trainers in the area and did some research. I really like one of them - Sandy Meadow Farm. The owner/head trainer has owned and trained german shepherds and border collies for many years. I sent her an email asking about observing a class, and am setting up a time with her. I’m really excited! Zoe won’t like it at first, but I hope she comes to enjoy it. Mainly I’m doing this for the social experience for her, but I would really love to get into a more advanced level with her.

Today I took Zoe for a walk around the neighborhood - not the short loop either. (We actually did both loops.) Just getting her out the door was a challenge because as soon as I grabbed the 6′ leash she ran and hid in her crate. Apparently she’s associated the 6′ leash with trips to the vet. That’s going to change. Once we got outside and she saw the truck was gone she was fine, though.

We walked at heel today. The extendable leash has gotten her into bad habits while on walks, and I need to re-train her. Because she’s nervous she tends to scoot back and forth, I tripped on her several times. But she did surprizingly well. I was giving frequent little tugs with the leash to stop her from forging ahead (or falling back), but it was pretty minor given that she was only on a flat collar and this was the first time we’d really worked on heel. (And by heel I mean walking at my left side - I am not doing precision heeling here, just trying to get her to stop pulling or tripping me!)

She is definitely doing better around vehicles. We had I think two cars pass us while we were walking, and I just kept going and tried to project a non-chalant attitude. She still was skittish, but she didn’t try bolting or stopping this time.

When spring comes and Den’s baseball games start up I’m going to be taking her with me to some of the games. I really want her to be around people more often. I also talked to Den about signing her up for beginner’s obedience lessons. I don’t really think she or I need the training for obedience (I do well enough on my own), but she could definitely use the time around other people and dogs in a structured environment like that. We’ll just have to see if we can afford to do that.

Zoe took a car ride with me to pick up Den from work this afternoon. She did really well - in the truck, at least. Of course when we got there she refused to get out of the truck without some major coaxing, and then she didn’t recognize Den and freaked out. But he took the leash and jogged around the parking lot with her to get her to relax a little. Then she wouldn’t/couldn’t jump into the truck either (I think it might be a tad too high for her still, but I’m not sure, she has some pretty good legs on her and there were the running boards for her to use), so Den picked her up and put her in the truck. It was so funny looking, she stuck all four legs straight out and splayed in the air as she wriggled - looked like a child trying to grab the doorframe so she couldn’t go in. Goof. But she’s very good in the truck, she just sits or lays down and looks around. No barking, no whining, no getting sick. Randomly she’ll start shaking, but that’s much more rare now.

It was unfortunate I got there too late to take her inside. I wanted to show her off to Den’s coworkers. Another day, I guess!

No more rawhides for these two twerps. I’ve had enough stinkiness and potty emergencies to last a lifetime. Although… Den did grab the rawhides from a different bin than I usually do. I know Zeeke always got sick off of every other brand I tried. It appears they both do. Yuck.

Zoe today had a few major hyper spazzes. I was playing with her on the bed, tryinig to avoid getting clawed by her. (I’m watching her like a hawk… soon as she uses her paw on me I say “bad!” It’s slowly working.) She was totally spazzy, growling and bouncing and kicking and biting my hands. I played for a while, she started panting, I decided to go back to reading. I said, “Okay, enough,” and she immediately turned around and walked away. I’m so darn proud of that girl.

She’s been laying down on command at a tap of my foot. She needed that reminder still. (I think it’s hard for her to lay down when my hands and the cookie are up above her… conflicting signals/desires.) Well tonight she layed down on my first command, with no reminder. Woot! I think she’s getting it. Zeeke, of course, is still slamming his entire body to the ground when I so much as whisper the word, “down.”