Eastern Utah
EMAIL ME AT: mgypsy97 at aol dot com

Friday, September 21, 2018

Busy day ahead

I'm writing this early today as I have a fairly busy day ahead of me.  I first off want to say that I don't think the very loud jets that I didn't like hearing yesterday were the old models.  The planes are no doubt practicing for the air show this weekend, and the ones I heard were definitely some of the latest models - so fast you could hardly see them before they disappeared, and no doubt loud enough to possibly set off alarms.

Donald is driving me to the see the eye surgeon this morning, and I hope I don't have to go back.  It's one of those places where you sit in a waiting area and then are called from one doctor to another, with going back to the waiting area in between doctors.    I have never been out of there in less than 2 hrs, and I hate leaving Rocky to bark for that long (add another hour for traveling to and from the eye center).  I leave him with toys and treats, and he's quiet until the treats are gobbled up.  Same when I try to take a shower.

Ara came into town last night after driving across the country with a friend.  They are here for another friend's engagement party.

I want to mention that I have changed my computer's settings so that the print is always bold and always enlarged a bit.  So I was surprised when my brother asked me to use bold and large print in emails.  Does anyone have an idea what could be causing the  problem?

Hey, it's Friday!  Have a good weekend  


10 comments:

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    1. Do you have cataracts on both eyes? They can really affect your vision.

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    2. Barney, soon as they 'ripen' surgery can be done. You will be so pleased to see so well again. I was thrilled by my results a few years ago. Last eye exam told my vision is 20/20

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  2. Gypsy -I answered your "Paw" question on your previous post. If you're not already doing so, you can work on Rocky with a "down - stay" command (using hand signals for down and then a hand in front of his nose for stay). Then put a treat on the floor in front of him just out of his immediate reach and keep repeating "stay" - lengthing the time he has to wait before being released. Good training for the stay part and teaches patience too.
    The hardest dogs to teach can sometimes be the smartest. The 1st dog I trained was a cocker who was wicked smart. She was only mildly food-motivated and quickly found ways around commands. After a couple of minutes of learning to heel (remember we used choke collars and yanking leashes back then), she decided enough of that and put her 2 hairy paws on the leash, pulling it down to the ground and then stood on the leash looking at me. In some competitions, when on the long (3+ minutes) down command, I would walk away from her and go to the other side of the ring. She would not get up off the ground, but would crawl on her belly to the front of me....always made the judge laugh because she did not break from the down position (me, not so much). My last Golden was super sweet, but not too bright - she did super great in obedience! Give Rocky a hug.

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    1. I will check the previous post to make sure I didn't miss anything. I think he has the down, stay, sit, commands pretty well figured out. I've introduced a "turn-around" command in with it and he mostly remembers to make a 360 degree turn. I'm just trying to add something each day or two, and should definitely work on a longer stay.

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    2. Rocky sometimes gives me a different paw and I accept it. Should I make him be consistent? I should try a longer "stay"; maybe I could hook two 6' leashes together as I don't quite trust him not to bolt if he realizes he is not tethered to me. He really is a fast learner especially when treats are involved although I think he would obey even without them.

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    3. I just read this comment again and have to laugh when I think of a dog belly walking across the ring. What an intelligent animal - I think most people don't give them credit for how extremely intelligent they are.

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  3. Hope all went well at they eye surgeons today.

    Sounds like you are doing really well with training Rocky on your own.

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    1. Donald and I spent 2 hrs which is about average for that office no matter what they do. My eye surgeon says everything looks good and come back in 4 months! I really need to go buy several good lamps and LED bulbs because I read that most people with macular degeneration need 4 times as much light as those with good eyes.

      The training is going well although the thing he needs training most in is the barking - I really don't know what to do about it and I wonder if the class trainer even knows. I think trainers get too much into the psychology of the dog, which is fine up to a point. But all dogs are different and they learn different, as well as the owners not being the same. We're all on the same page but each is on a different line. I'll hope things get better soon.

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