Saturday, June 14, 2014

MirĂ³’s new job

Ballast.


Outside the confines of a training room, teaching a puppy to walk on a leash gets tedious. The puppy wants to pull forward, switch right and left, stop to watch moving things--a car! astounding!--while the attentive human must bend over to reward good behavior or stop quickly and turn if the puppy pulls. Normally I teach the puppy to walk on the leash before hooking up the coupler, but getting Emily around one block was going to take forever. Time for the easy way.

Surprisingly, Emily accepted the halti collar right away. I put it on her, treated, took it off.  Repeat. Same again the next day. She didn't try even once to rub it off, so I hooked everybody up and off we went.  MirĂ³’s walking beside me kept Emily in line until I let them move forward for a quick photo op.
One block, two blocks, and then down to the park, through the woods, and back on a sunny day.

Time for what?


Where's the reward for our stunning perfection?


 


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Almost wordless Wednesday





Is her bacon-flavored Nylabone better than my bacon-flavored Nylabone?

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Miro and Emily start a new business

Emily Dickins and Miro have decided to earn extra treat money by hiring themselves out.

They are going to work as dust mops. They can be harnessed up and pulled along the floor or easily pushed.
 
 
The coming invasion:
First strawberry of the season.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Emily's unfortunate taste in novels

Emily is choosy about her reading material. From the pile of books and magazines at my bedside table, she bypassed the mystery, the book about dog training, the Kindle (maybe the leather cover isn't real leather), and the magazines. She chose the one literary novel, a signed copy of the highly praised  The Dismal Science, by Peter Mountford.
 Peter lives in Seattle. Although this is only his second novel, he has already amassed a list of awards and favorable reviews and appearances as long as--well, longer than Emily's leg.

Within the space of a few minutes, she enjoyed it thoroughly.
 
As much as I'm in favor of reading, especially reading early and often, I shall do my best to terminate Emily's reading habits.

The other dog did it.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Emily's play date

On a sunny morning, Emily visited Moxie's house for a girls' day out.
First they introduced themselves.
 
Then Moxie showed Emily around the yard.


 
Find the puppy.
 
 
Some bitey-face.

 
 
 
 
 
Even a young dog gets tired before a puppy does.

 
It's time for a drink of water
and a short rest before returning home.
 
Ha, ha, gotta catch me first.



 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Emily tries catalog shopping





That catalog didn't have anything to my taste.
 
 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Emily's last poem for poetry month






I am again abusing honoring my namesake, Emily Dickinson. I found her poem about a thing with feathers of particular interest.

Chickens are things with feathers

that run around the pen

and squawk a noise without a tune

never making sense

 

and sweetest is the day when I

catch one all unaware.

I’ll grab her leg and run away

to stash her in my lair.

 

I know most chickens don't like dogs

but I can be her friend

if only she’ll excuse the teeth

that make her feathers shred.
 
I don't care what it is as long as I can shred it.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Emily Dickins' Dashin' Fashion

Folks, I've decided that the plastered-ear look is the absolute bee's knees when it comes to spring 'dos for 'dales. Here I am modeling the basic nude look.


 
A girl, however, wants to accessorize. Here's the Easter bonnet look, guaranteed to get you a lot of treats, especially if you master the look of "pathetic, hopeful, and slightly tortured."


If a treat is tossed to you, it's like wearing a catcher's mitt. You can't miss.



 
And, no worries, you can sleep comfortably.



Scarves are in season this year; Mom wears them all the time and I've enjoyed chewing on the fringes more than once. Being an active girl and not wanting to trip over trailing ends, I've adapted the look for dogs.

Sadly, this model comes only in denim blue. Rose or bright purple would be so much more appropriate for spring.
 

You can perform all your usual bitey-face activities--


--and sleep very comfortably indeed, as the inflatable scarf (which Mom keeps calling a donut, though everybody knows donuts are for eating) acts as a portable pillow. 

Incredible as it may seem, Miro sometimes grows tired of my behavior.
 

 
No fashion shoot is complete without the noble profile.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Suffering for beauty

 Emily Dickins here. Sheila the groomer came to my house! I was so happy to see her that I bounced all over the place! Never mind that I didn't know who she was and had never met her before. With Mom's conniving assistance, this is what she did to me. Don't I look pathetically sad?
This is my Angry Puppy look. Do you think I should take to acting instead of poetry?
Mom says I look goofy in this one, but I believe I am projecting an image of an animal bravely overcoming adversity and looking forward to the future or a liver treat, whichever comes first.
Stand by for the next post in which I'll model the latest fashions in puppy-torture.