The Too Loved Dog

Ok, I am still way too lazy and too sleepy to post any pics of the dining room paint job and last weekend's party or our Halloween decorations - and let me tell you - our next door neighbor says we are "the most decorated house in East Nashville" and considering we did drive around to look at Halloween lights, I've got to agree. There's one or two runner-ups, but we've got Halloween spirit COVERED. And since the weather improved yesterday we got back out to re-do our chalk art. We are ready for actual Halloween! Between the decs and the 15 bags of candy we literally have we're as ready as we're going to be. Last year we had 250 trick r treaters before we ran out of candy and turned the light off.....this year who knows!!!! The weather forecast is good so they should be out in full force.

Tonight was our next to last swim class! Nine sessions down, one more to go! At this point we're just doing sprints and endurance, there's not much else for us to learn. Don't get me wrong - we have a LONG way to go swimming-wise, but our form and technique are down and mostly now we just tweak and she has us race each other, etc. It's weird to think that back in August we literally had no clue how to swim, and now we're both very comfortable in the water. Not good, but comfortable. We can work from this point on our own to whatever our goals are. Which really, we don't have many goals. I'm really not that interested in triathlons. I think doing one or two would be fun, but I don't want to be training obsessed again. I'm having a lot more fun being loose and free with what I want to do exercise-wise. Keeping it fun will keep me active for years. I see myself doing a full marathon every 2-3 years in the future, and just picking occasional races to do for fun. It's been SO GREAT this October having a more relaxed life. We've had a formal dinner party, been to another party and then had our large party. The one weekend we didn't go to a party we were actually invited to several things but decided to focus on the dining room. This time last year we were hot and heavy marathon training AND I was working a billion hours for the crappy boss doing final versions of the budget. Working from 7:30 until bedtime was just not fun, this October has been great.

So, the title of this blog. I've pretty much had it with Pippin and his jumping on people. Obedience class didn't help - she thought it was cute. We didn't. We did learn things in obedience class and it did make him more focused, but she is the cause of his obsession with cheese and the main reason we went was to stop the jumping. It's been 3 years since class, so obviously we haven't stressed about it too much, but I am at the point where I would really, really like him to stop the jumping. So, I checked out this book from the much-loved library. I've seen her on TV and I've also requested some of the Dog Whisperers books. Tonight I tried to go "Level 8" on Pippin but it sort of got messed up because he thought it was a game. Basically I was supposed to puff up and act like the head wolf, but Brent tried it and he thought it was a game. So far we actually do a lot of things right - he has a wide vocabulary, he doesn't sleep with us, we praise him properly, and we have a strong connection (meaning he pretty much always has to know where I am), and we surprise him (aka keep him mentally active/stimulated) - he and Brent actually play a lot of hide and seek chase games - Brent got him so good Sat night he actually (accidentally) pooped on the floor. So, one big check on surprises. The only things we're lacking in in a lot more exercise for him (which I did take him for a jog yesterday, which he loves) and we should feed him after we eat. I give him his food as we eat, which I don't think is a big deal and has nothing to do with his hyperness. Hopefully we can get some good tips and stick with it this time. Our next dinner party here is in about 3 weeks, so maybe that will be a good practice time with lots of people (like 8 people).

Ok, that's all the news here! Tomorrow Brent is going to be in his very first craft show at my work! My work has a craft show once a year for all the employees, so we figured we might as well try that out with his photography. Wish us luck!

Have a great night!