Megan goes to the dog park

About a week ago I injured my knee pretty badly so Pam has major responsibility for walking Megan. I feel bad about that. Yesterday I stayed home to rest my knee so I figured I would have the time to take Megan to the dog park. That way I could pretty much stand still while she ran around. This is a small, neighborhood park a couple of block from our house. We could walk there, but given my condition we drove. Megan is getting really good about being in the car although she still won't get in without being led to the door on a leash. I was pretty nervous about the situation since Megan has never been to the dog park before. I was ambivalent when I saw that there were no other dogs there. I was kind of hoping to be able to test out her reaction to other dogs but I was also glad to be able to test one aspect - being off leash with no clear boundaries - without the other. I needn't have worried. She was so good! At one point she was heading toward to sidewalk and the street but I just yelled "Megan, sit!" and she did so immediately until I could put the leash back on. I was amazed. I am not used to having a dog obey me so instantly and completely. Of course, she still drags loaves of bread off the kitchen counter (found bits of bread and plastic wrapper all over the living and dining room one morning!). I need to be trained too. I don't know how many times I've left things on the counter with the same result. I need to work on training her more. I know she will learn if I just take the time.

Megan on vacation

We left home on Friday for a looong two-day drive to the Alabama coast. She has done and is doing much better than I though she would. She never bolted out of the car. She lay in her bed quietly most of the time and didn't make a nuisance of herself. Saturday was a twelve-hour day in the car and we were all really tired of it but she did no worse than either of the people. She LOVES the beach. Not the water -- that's terrifying -- that's the beach. We were the only beings out at dawn this morning so I let her off the leash with some trepidation. She ran, ran, ran but she always stopped part way and looked back at me and she always came when I called her. Such a good girl. This morning we left her alone at the cabin while we went grocery shopping and when we got back she was sound asleep on one of the beds. No problems. I think this is good for all of us.

Megan is full of it

Here's how my night went. I go to bed and Megan comes in a nanosecond later whining. Par for the course. I ignore her. A little while latter I hear her (or the maybe the cat, I thought), batting something hard around the living room. With I sigh I get up and investigate. Megan is sitting with a prescription bottle between her paws gnawing on it. Luckily, it only had a sealed bottle of eyedrops inside and her teeth hadn't reached that yet. I wonder, "How did she get that? My prescriptions are on a shelf above the sink." Then I remembered we are packing for a trip and our suitcases are on the office floor. Sure enough, she had dug the prescription bottles out of the front pocket of the overnight bag. Making sure everything was securely fastened away, I went back to bed. A little while later I hear the unmistakable sound of Megan playing with the Buster Cube. That's fine. Good, in fact, since I've been trying to teach her that for weeks now. Then I hear a loud CRASH. I get up to investigate. The crash was simply the Wii balance board falling over from where it was leaning against the wall. No big deal. But...there is some sort of plastic netting torn up and spread out all over the living room floor. What could that be? Well, Megan had gone into the closet near the bathroom (which has shutter-like doors) and retrieved a shower scrubbie off the first shelf. Then she took it out to the living room and tore it all to shreds. And I had just been bragging about how she doesn't chew up inappropriate things! This morning she didn't want to come in when I went to work. When I walked out to get her with the leash she ran in enthusiastically. I think when she saw the leash she thought we were going for a walk. Once she figured out (very quickly) that we WEREN'T going for a walk, she noticed that the porch door wasn't quite closed and ran back into the yard. There she played her "sack of potatoes" game. She did come in once I clipped the leash on her. I'm afraid that one of these days she won't. She's usually such a good dog. Maybe it's spring fever!