WordPlay

by Doranna

This is for the vibrant little Papillion named Java (Black Mtn Cup Of Joe RA MX MXB MXJ MJS), who should still be here.

Every so often, it’s time to blog about the subject of safe petting.

I should string that along, maybe–hey, I do write romance!–but I’ll be good.  Of course I’m talking about dogs.

Here’s something I found myself saying in a conversation elsewhere this past week:

…Because I’m so active with my dogs away from home (trialing, training, exercising, and Dart’s modest service role…), my chances of encountering inexcusably uncontrolled not-my-dogs runs pretty high, as do my chances of running into people who think the doggies are cute but don’t consider that the doggies might not feel the same way about them.

The conversation had been triggered, of course, by yet another …encounter… out in our neighborhood.

Picture, if you will, three Beagles running alongside a bike, neatly placed to heel and at the end of a brisk exercise session.  Picture a quiet rural street in high desert grasslands and the end of a hot day with the sun just down, bringing coolness and a nice breeze.

Now picture the bike rider as she hears that ominous sound from behind–the charging footfalls of a large, loose dog, punctuated by grunts of sincere effort.  I AM COMING TO GET YOU.

This is not a time for playing nice.

In general, I find I’m done playing nice.

Dear World at Large:

Leash your dog.  Contain your dog.  Take responsibility for your dog.  Keep your dog away from me and mine.  You are not special snowflake and your dog is not a special snowflake–no, he isn’t–and the rules, both legal and moral, apply to you, too.

Because one day, your dog will come home broken, and I will be the one who did it.  I am prepared to do it.  I have the means to do it.  And even though I’ll probably go home and throw up afterward, it won’t be my fault that it happened.

It’ll be your fault.

  (Special shout-out to the young man on UNM campus who, after all four of his large, unleashed dogs had uncontrollably charged a canine friend of mine, carried on extensively at volume.  “Wahh!  You scared the %$#! out of my dogs!”  Because my response is this:  “GOOD.  Then I did it right.”  My defense tool that day?  A batch of waving utility marker flags.)

Prevention, it seems, is everything.  When it comes to managing dogs at home, or greeting dogs in public.  It’s all too cute for me to say we should all practice safe petting, but you know what?  We all should.

So do not pet my dog (or any dog) without asking; do not bend close and loom over him or stick your hand in his face.   What are you, three years old?  Be nice!

(And don’t be surprised, if you do ask to pet, should I smile and say not now, thanks.  There are often things going on in their world that you may not have noticed–such as the fact that we’re actively training.)

While we’re at it, practice safe pettiquete in general.  Do not let your dog get close to mine, or sniff mine, or offer an unyielding stare and stiff tail from up close and personal.  I don’t care if your dog wants to be friends.  Mine are busy being with me.  When it’s time for them to play, I’ll arrange a playdate with their beloved pals–dogs I know and trust and love.

If you or your dog are in my space, you or your dog are the problem.  I’m not going to take chances with my dogs in order to spare yours.

Ever.

In this most recent case, the charging behemoth in question had an abrupt change of heart when he saw my reaction, which is practiced and unequivocal and very, very fierce.

Not that it’s always possible to stop tragedy, and I know that.  I don’t go out without some way to protect us, but sometimes things just happen too fast when people think the laws don’t apply to them or their dogs; sometimes the dogs are just too big, and too aggressive.

As Java’s grieving family well knows.

by Doranna

Dear AKC:  This one’s for you.  

(A Dog Agility Blog Event: Improving Agility Organizations: I’m not picking on the AKC–it happens to be the agility venue in which I primarily participate.  Being active in agility, obedience, rally, and tracking means such choices must be made. (!!) )

As agility trainers and handlers, we’re constantly re-evaluating what works with our dogs.  At least, we should be.  When things don’t work, then we change something.  And we do it quickly enough to keep small problems from becoming big problems, or else…boy, do we got big problems!

Another factor paramount in training is consistency.  Not only consistency in defining and reinforcing behaviors, but consistency in our criteria…consistency in who we are as trainers.  Our dogs know what to expect from us.

Or they should–!

Well, people are trainable creatures, too.

We respond to our circumstances and our experiences, and we make decisions based on those factors.  When trialing experiences are profoundly inconsistent, it matters.  When frustrations go unaddressed, it really matters!

Last year I wrote a r/a/n/t/ post about the last T2B course I ever ran, and why–after too many intensely technical and demotivating courses that didn’t in the least fit the published intent of the game–I quit entering my dogs.  I would love to take part in this game…if it only stayed more consistently true to its purpose.

I stopped running FAST for the same reason.  When it takes a calculator and a batch of experienced handlers bent over the course map, desperate to find any potentially successful strategy, then it really kinda isn’t fun any more.  It’s more like “taking things too far.”

So, dear AKC, pay attention to the courses you approve–and the message those courses give our judges about what you’re looking for.  Please make sure they fit the spirit of the game as you defined it in the first place.  Consistency is your friend, and inconsistency is just really annoying.

And when you hear this feedback–any feedback–not just from one person, but from a steady trickle of people, it behooves you to act on it at more than a glacial pace.  Because, seriously?  It took you a decade to institute the PACH?  I remember bemoaning the lack of it at the very first trial when preferred dogs were running.  It took how long to allow grandfathering from regular classes to preferred?  Both logistics that were more than sensible and obvious from the get-go?

And how long did it take before we didn’t have to prove our jump heights on the spot?  And while we’re at it, when will it be possible to shift from a B-class to an A-class?  Because, seriously, you’d rather write Letters of Shame taking away runs instead of allowing the easy entry fix?

These are the kinds of things that matter to us.  They change the decisions we make about our entries, about our dogs’ careers, about sometimes about our interest in the sport.

(You can bet I would have made different decisions about my limited entry money if I’d known the PACH would be grandfathered in a year after Belle retired–she was 100 points short of PACH2 not because she wasn’t perfectly capable of earning that title, but because with multiple dogs to support, I based my entry choices on the extended absence of any such title.)

At the least, the failure to respond to obvious clamor engenders a mutual lack of respect; at the most, it pushes people away.  And an organization like AKC should know better, if only from all that mutual love of dogs.  Re-evaluation and response…change, when necessary…and as necessary.  Not a decade later.

Consistency and responsiveness.  Because as with handlers and our dogs, it’s not just about managing, it’s about thriving.  And it’s about creating a kind of teamwork where handlers, clubs, and trial secretaries feel they matter.

It has nothing to do with our dedication to our dogs, or to our training, or to doing the very best for them–those things are ours to nurture–it has to do with that next layer, the competition layer.  Because when we matter, we invest in what we’re doing with all our hearts…sort of like our dogs.  And when we don’t, sometimes we just stand in the middle of the ring and stare at you and think, very loudly, “What jump?”

by Rena Beagle

Dear Everyone:

My name is Rena Beagle.  I am New here.  I came from a place where things are Very Different than they are here.  I did not have Boy Beagles in my pack, and that is a good thing now.  But the ground There also had softness and dampness and greenness, and Here it has dryness and dustiness and pokey parts.  I have not Approved of those things yet.

I miss my Past Mom.  She found me in a shelter and she Gave me a Home.  She taught me agility and obedience and took me to Show Off what I could do in trials.  I run in AKC with a PAL listing.  That is Purebred Alternative Listing.  That means everyone knows I am a Beagle even if I do not have Papers.

(One day I will tell you how MORE people know I am a Beagle than they know my brothers are Beagles.  It gives the new mom a funny face.)

So I am a CGC dog and I have my Open Agility standard and jumpers titles (that is in the middle between novice and excellent) and I have my obedience CDX (that is in the middle between novice and utility).  But then things Changed and we could not play this way.  I was sad about this and my Past Mom was sad about this.

That is why I came Here.

This is the day I Got Here. I was a little Worried. My eyes do not Glow like that.

I am still getting used to Being Here.  The Boy Beagles were not hard to train, but the new mom is taking longer.  She has Different Ways and she says we will do mostly Foundation Activities until we know each other better.  That part is Okay.  She is Complicated.  She says I can boss the boys but I cannot Boss Her.

I have not Approved of this yet.

I am writing my Past Mom about these things.  She writes me back.  I will Share my part with you so you can see what I Mean.  If you like to hear my Thoughts and my Letters, maybe I will come back and do more.

Dear Past Mom:  I am a very clever dog.  The new mom says so.  I woke her up last night so I could go out.  I tapped on patio door that she had never once opened for me.  She said, “YOU ARE SO SMART!”  Then when I came in I was cold and I got to sleep right under the covers with her.  I am a Good Bed Dog.

I was in the new mom’s lap on the couch last night and ConneryBeagle went to where my Special Bed sits on the other beds and he seems to have An Opinion about it.  I am sending a picture.  I am still training him. Love, Rena

ConneryBeagle has an Opinion about my Bed. Now he understands it is Superior and he Sleeps in it. If I am NOT ALREADY THERE.

Dear Past Mom: This is Rena.  Today I wanted to tell you that I was a Good Girl for having my nails done.  Also I have been lap-napping on the new mom, and I have used my awesome Power of Beagle Gravity to keep her on the couch so I can keep napping.

PS here is a picture of me playing Catch the Treat.  I have a Face Malfunction. Love, Rena

It is not MUCH of a Face Malfunction.

Dear Past Mom:  This weekend I went to visit a show.  I did some Obedience Play and did the Front Paw Dance for the new mom.  People admired and kissed me!  This picture is My New Crate.  It is All Mine.  That is my New Crate Cover.  It is All Mine, too.  Dart Beagle is under the blue crate cover pretending to sleep.  I think my crate cover is Prettier. Love, Rena

That is my new crate. It is Mine.  The crate cover is Mine, too.

Dear Past Mom: There is no telling what the new mom will do next.  This week she has made a Game with a Sitting Thing and a Clicker Thing.  Now I can get cookies for fitting myself onto the Sitting Thing!  It is not easy because it Moves in a Wobbly way.  But I am a Smart Dog and I can do it.  Then I get to Run Around with a Toy and that is Good.  The new mom is training up very nicely.  Love, Rena

This Wobbly Thing is not as easy to Sit On as you Think.

Dear Past Mom:  It is noisy here, because the new mom has a dirt road and it is Being Paved.  The paving people Broke Things and the new mom could not make email happen for days, which seems like a Very Long Time.

In that time I have been Biking and I have played Agility and the new mom got out my Special Gloves and my Dumbbell so we have played with those too.  Dart Beagle is learning that the scent articles taste different from his dumbbell and he is not very good with them.  I am Much Better.  This is me telling him that.  Love, Rena

Do not be Familiar with a Lady, Dart Beagle!

Dear Past Mom: We are practicing more Foundation Games.  The new mom says this is so we can Build our Own Language.  I think it would be easier if she Did Things just exactly the way you Did Things.

Today I discovered that the new mom thinks some of the toys are Hers.  I have sent a picture of me Discovering one of the toys she thinks is hers.  She is So Wrong.  But today I let her think she was Right because she said, “Here, Rena, THIS toy is yours” and gave me one of the Special Bones that the Boys are not allowed to have because they will Chew It To Bits.  I have sent a picture of me with Bone Happiness.  Love, Rena

The new mom cannot Hide Toys from me.

The bone is Good, too.

Dear Past Mom:  So you will have something to smile about even if your arm is broken, I made sure there were Pictures of Me, Rena Beagle, doing my Obedience Things for the new mom.  We did practice when the new mom and her friend person did tracking for Dart Beagle.  The tracks have to be old so there is Time for More Important Things like me.  Love, Rena

First I did Heeling.

Then I showed off my special proud heeling for the new mom.

In utility I do a thing called Directed Retrieve. There are Three Gloves to choose from. I am very fast when I go to the glove. We will talk about Choosing the Right Glove another time.

I am Fast coming back from the glove, too. We are on a Campus where many people do not have Polite Dogs and do not keep their Impolite Dogs on leash, so the new mom is protecting me with the Long Line. I do not even Notice it.

And now I will give you a photo that is of me sharing space with the new mom and our new pack.  We are a Good Pack.

We are Pack. That is Dart Beagle showing off his Singular Part, and ConneryBeagle, and I am trying out the spot at the end. I have decided that mostly I will take the Lap.

Love, Rena Beagle

by Doranna

That’s right.  It’s a post that includes both the Demon Blade series and the small new Beagle girl!  I’m not even going to try to be clever enough to tie those together…

TAMING THE DEMON is juuuust about on the shelves–any day now!–and I’m getting ready for the Supernatural Smackdown that will ensue.  Not that I had any clue what this was until recently, but I was delighted to receive the invitation to join in the fun and I suspect I’ll figure it out as I go along.

Mind you, I don’t expect to emerge with any sort of victorious flavor, because I totally don’t have the time or inclination to batter people to vote for my guy.  But we’ll have fun nonetheless, and the people who derive glee from harvesting votes will find me a usefully easy stepping stone.

Here’s what Dark Faerie Tales has to say about the event so far!:

It’s that time again…Supernatural Smackdown. We wanted to create a fun and interactive event that would highlight all the new paranormal titles releasing over the next few months. We thought a battle theme would be perfect since everyone loves action!

So the second annual Supernatural Smackdown has arrived!  Characters from all over the world unite for the premiere entertainment event.  Held in a super secret location, supernatural characters will pit their talents to win the World Champion title and everything that comes along with it.  [ed note: have no idea what this means, but it's gotta be good, right?  Right?!]

Readers will vote to move characters into the next round.  Final end on May 31st  and the supernatural bad ass will be officially announced a week later.

Are you ready, supernatural fans? Let’s get ready to rumble!

So there you are.  Devin James from Demon Blade will be in the middle of it.  He’s not much for a random brawl, but that demon blade…well, let’s just say it’s sharpening itself as I type.

In part two of the fun parade, BEAGLES!

ConneryBeagle is still working his rehab and will be seeing a new vet on Thursday (a second opinion sort of thing on a particular therapy, about which I’m wavering), Dart Beagle is gearing up for another stab at that novice obedience title, and both boys are completely enthralled with newly arrived Rena Beagle.

Except for a few introductory moments, she’s never had to do anything other than vibe at them to get them to behave.  She owns all the best beds and doesn’t think twice about it, and she says this is how it should be.

Rena herself is slowly settling in.  She has a big adjustment to make–the environment didn’t have her permission to change so radically around her, she says–and of course she misses her old pack terribly.  However, she visibly settles in a little more each day, and her personality is starting to peek through.  Although she’s got a lot of training on her, I’m making it easy right now–all of what we’re doing falls into the category of “play” and “party.”

And here we are with a little of that from the weekend, when she came along to Dart’s VST (urban tracking) practice.

Rena shows off her snappy side gait and a little bit of her fun attitude.

And then she shows off her little strut!

by Doranna

“Hold on there!” the astute among you will say.  “Rena Beagle is a girl name.  And you have two boy Beagles.”

Yes.  And now they have a girl Beagle.

(Or she has them.  As I suspect the case will be.)

Rena upon arrival.  (This isn’t a sneer. This is “My lips are stuck to my teeth, pretend not to notice.”)

About six weeks ago, the universe slammed me upside the head.  It said, in short, “You are about to lose your Princess Belle Dog.”

(Off I go to tear up quietly for a few moments, because of course it’s still like that…)

Okay, I’m back.  And the universe was talking.  It then said, “As it happens, I know of a girl dog who needs a home.  She is much loved, but things have changed in her home and she can no longer do the working Beagle things she craves.”

The universe then explained, “She is five years old, and she is a wee thing who once came from a shelter.  She loves obedience and agility.  She is a very good girl. And her dogmom will make arrangements to send her most of the way across the country to you.”

And oh.  Her full name is Bellerena, because she’s named in honor of another girl dog named Belle.

AKA, the universe slam.

Obviously, this is not about replacing Belle, because…that’s not possible.  Ever.  It’s about a gaping hole in the pack, the boys in need of a girl, Connery’s very uncertain future (we carry on, we just don’t know where it’s going), and a girl in need of the chance to work…and a dogmom who loves her girl so much she’ll do what’s necessary to give her that chance.

I haven’t said anything before now, because I have a jinx superstition.  Yes, I do–and it’s deep.  Comes from years of sitting on contract news until the ink is dry, and an additional stunning series of lessons in not assuming on events until they’re here, or ELSE.  But now Rena Beagle has arrived.  She came via shuttle, which did a wonderful job, and she arrived in the dusk of last night with just enough time for her first raw food snack and some outdoor time before bed.  And I would say that was her big adventure, but I think our big adventure is just starting!

Welcome home, Bellerena CDX OA OAJ!

Frog dog in the office. Already taking over!

PS: Also, the the universe further explained, “And don’t worry about when you’ll have time to get this blog written.  Because Dart Beagle is still Dart Beagle, and he will be so excited to have his new girl dog that the vibrational sound of it will come wailing out of his throat during the wee hours no matter how hard he tries to be good, and therefore you will have some unplanned extra midnight oil of which you can take advantage.”

So I am.

Rena inspects her first desert yucca… She does not entirely approve.

But Connery approves. Oh yes he does.

by ConnneryBeagle

This is ConneryBeagle and I am WRITING THIS BLOG. 

I have been QUIET.  I have been BUSY with a thing called GETTING BETTER.  Sometimes I do ACUPUNCTURE, and sometimes I do HERBAL THINGS, and then I do TREADMILL THINGS and BIKING THINGS.

But DART BEAGLE has been doing all the PLAY things.  The play with agility and the play with obedience and the play with rally.

That is not fair.

It is not RIGHT.

But this past weekend mymom took DART BEAGLE to a thing called a FUN MATCH, which is even better than normal play.  And I came out of the van crate for walkies and I said to her, “I SHOULD DO THIS TOO.”

I said it like this:

“BAWH!!!  BAWOUL!!”

She said, “ConneryBeagle, you have not done rally for almost six years.”

And I said, “BAWH!!!”

And she said, “Well, you can play with rally novice and I will go SIGN YOU UP.”

And I said, “BAWH!”

Then I waited for my turn.  It did not take TOO long.  Mymom reminded me about what we were doing for only a little bit and then she TOOK ME TO THE RING.

This is me waiting my turn and I am READY TO GO.

And I am doing a SPIRAL RIGHT around the cones and we are MOVING SMARTLY

Mymom is laughing with the JUDGE because she made a MISTAKE, but I am not making a MISTAKE. I am GOOD.

We are at the END and I am still being VERY GOOD. I am a GOOD BOY.

Maybe Mymom will see that it is TIME for me to be DOING THINGS again.  I think she SHOULD.

BAWH!

by Doranna

Yup, the new comment system is up and running, with all the old comments back in place.  I still have to tweedle and tweak things around, but I’m already having fun with it and I hope so are you!

Agility trialing in New Mexico generally means dealing with at least three seasons, usually all in the same day.  When I show up at the trial site, it’s with a full complement of winter gloves, coat, and hats over sweats…at least two different pairs of shoes…sweats, several lightweight layering jackets, and–of course–shorts.  And, oh–baseball cap, shade hat, and sun block, plus cooling coats for the dogs and the $5 Home Depot garden sprayer of water.

This past weekend, I used them all.  Typical!  But nothing got too extreme–if you don’t count the moment the microburst charged through the trial, prompting the dreaded warning–”Grab your shelters!!”–and we all dove for the shelters as the wind tumbled through, taking out a series of shade shelters along the way (and prompting many of the rest of us to pull the canopies off).

Still, this weekend the permutations stayed relatively mild (as opposed to 20F or 60mph winds), and although Dart and I experienced some so-sad almost Qs (tear hair, rip clothing, wail), in general we had a really good weekend.  Which we all really needed, so there you are.

Plus, we took pictures.

In the end it was Dart’s best weekend so far, with four of six Qs earned, a completed Excellent Standard title (finally!), and a completed Masters Jumper title.  Good boy!

Plus, did I mention…we took pictures?

In which Dart demonstrates that he has no issues with core strength

I like this one just for the little Beagle butt disappearing around the inside curve of the tunnel…

And this one for his speed up the A-frame!

A moment at the start line.  Good boy.

Some WHEE! at the end of the course…

I love this shot (well, of the dog, ahem) because it’s everything I want to see in him–drive, a beautiful slice, and the obvious understanding of the handling–not just the rear cross, but the 180 degree jump pattern to follow.

Love him in this one, too–driving for the finish.  (The hand is compensating for a funky angle on the final jump.  Or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be doing.  He made it, anyway!)

by Doranna

You may have noticed that things look different around here.  Not vastly different, but if you head to make a comment, you’ll see what I mean.

New!  Cool!  Exciting features!  You can respond to someone specific in a thread! Share the page super-easily!  Get replies in email super-easily!  (Yes, I have a surplus of exclamation points on my hands today.)

You might also notice that all the previous comments are missing.  No fears!  They’re all still here, behind the scenes; they’re just not currently showing.  Or they weren’t when I wrote this.  I did put a process into motion that’s supposed to make them show up.

We Shall See.

Meanwhile, here’s a little something for your Saturday while I’m off running agility with Dart, and Connery is wishing he was running, too.  A couple of the reasons the boys are rarely inside while I’m writing…

by Doranna

For starters, an update on Miss Belle–she’s doing well on her bucket list, and has regained some weight and energy on the new feeding protocol.  She’s having some good days, and we’re grateful.  It doesn’t seem as though it’ll be too much longer.

The Dartspression at the end of a training sequence, where there will be COOKIES forthcoming. Or a TOY. You just never know, do you?

Days of Dart should pretty much be called Month of Dart.  The World of Dart.  The intensive all-consuming “HOW many events in a row?” weekends of Dart.  And the preparation for same.

With Connery on rehab, Dart has a spotlight on the training and trialing stage.  Not to mention he’s in a pretty intensive proofing/generalizing stage beyond what my previous dogs have asked for.

So he’s going to handling class, tootling around in the car to work in a variety of parking lots, biking with Connery for Connery’s rehab, had a big playdate, and this month has one weekend after another of events–agility trials, a seminar, obedience trial…

This means I have one weekend after another of same.

So with any luck, the blog will be full of doggie pictures and doggie fun, and maybe even a couple of doggie surprises.

(Even though, I should probably add, I have a book coming out in just over a month.  This is it.  Here.  TAMING THE DEMON.  That one.  There.  And if you have a review blog or active, widespread review habits and are interested, I’ll be glad to send out a copy while they last.)

Our most recent outing was to partake of a Gerry Brown seminar–Dart’s very first such thing–which was awesome and gave us some tools I think will be critical to helping Dart’s confidence on course.  Piccies currently in development!  Meanwhile, here’s a bit of Dart from the latest agility trial–a twisty little course on which he never did give me full speed, but he did manage to stay on that tricky course after an *ahem* rocky start line.  Go, Dart!

by Doranna

I’d thought that I’d write a blog this weekend, and I’d thought it would probably be about Dart’s first agility trial in four months.

It’s not.

It’s Belle Cardigan’s blog instead.

Miss Belle and one of her agility prizes...can't see, can't hear...but she can still smell the treats!

Belle is now just past thirteen years old, and we’re suddenly–very suddenly–getting ready to say good-bye. 

She’s seen a lot of changes in the past year; she’s now mostly blind and profoundly deaf, and I thought that explained some of the new behaviors that have crept in over the past couple of months.  And maybe to some extent, it did.  But suddenly other changes piled on in the course of the last week, and a visit to the vet quickly revealed the worst–the cancer that Belle has been hiding from us.  Never mind her gorgeous coat or the fact that she looked so good on her Christmas Eve birthday that I thought I’d have years more with her.

Belle was a gift from writer/breeder friend Jennifer Roberson at Cheysuli Kennels, way back when I first moved to the Southwest.  She was too small for conformation shows, but she grew into my first serious agility dog, and she marched through rally excellent and novice obedience with a steady stream of blue ribbons.

She was the first dog in this area to get a PAX (and that was the first PAX title that judge had given).

She was one of only 50 dogs to have a PAX2 at the time she earned hers.

When (in July of ’12)  AKC instituted the more demanding PACH title, she earned her first PACH and very nearly her second; she was at that time #2 Lifetime Preferred Cardigan Corgi.  When I retired her at the end of last year at the age of twelve, she was 100 speed points away from that PACH2 (and nearly a PACH3 with her double Qs).

This is all in spite of calcifying disk disease that struck when she was five years old and partially paralyzed her, a condition from which she was not expected to recover.  Between five to ten years old, she sat out more trials than she ran because of flares, and then the calcification stabilized.  (She continued to run agility at the vet’s behest; keeping her strong was the best thing I could have done for her.)

Belle is my princess dog.  My tries so hard to be perfect you want to cry dog.  My sweet, sweet little blue merle girl with the blue eye.  Bellicious, Bellevator, BelleBelle, Miss B, Princess Belle.

I’m not sure how long we have.  I know it’s not long enough.  And so I am making a bucket list for her, the things I think she most wants from her world in these scant remaining days.

1. 

   The Beloved Tripping Position

   Pleasant afternoons of snoozing in the sun.

2. Evenings of snoozing in the forbidden “trip me” spot RIGHT BESIDE MY FEET at the standing station.
3. Nomming down extra coconut oil, fish oil, and big heapings of yummy meats.  Her appetite is still fine, and she needs this tripled intake to maintain her otherwise rapidly falling weight.
4. This includes Second Breakfast.
5. Getting the office princess bed whenever she wants it, no matter who the boys think owns it (or what they think it’s called).
6. Not worrying about piddling indoors because the office is now one giant incontinence pad.
7. Many couch cuddles.
8. Playtime with the mommy on the floor gently pinching her toes so she can pretend to FIERCELY BITE.

It’s a start.

PACH Cheysuli's Silver Belle, CD RE MXP5 MXPS MJP6 MJPS PAX2 XFP EAC EJC CGC (Belle)