Fitting in

Chili thinks the "Sit" command involves chairs. Velvet chairs. ;-) Pepper is content on her usual fleece pillow in front of the window.

Training is going well. Chili now comes when called with "Come" (or the usual kissy-pucker calling an animal sound) and the whistling is long forgotten. He's learned to Sit on command, and not just on chairs. ;-) He sits before we put on his leash, he sits when we need to take it off, and he sits to wait for the door to open. He's starting to grasp Lay Down too. He's a smart pooch who just needs some guidance.

The training sessions are hilarious. First, there's Chili, all wiggly and goofy and so eager to please so he can get that delicious morsel of ... doggie kibble. No need for special treats here. Hand feeding him anything does the job. So far, we know that in addition to the kibble, Chili eats raisins, carrots, lettuce, croutons, acorns (outside), spiders (yay!), and any crumb on the floor he's sniffed out. And then there's Pepper, who goes through all the commands I'm giving Chili because she hasn't figured out yet that I'm not talking to her. Or maybe she has and she just wants to guilt me into a kibble morsel for her too. It's working. Hmmm. Who's training who?

Both dogs continue to get along great. They play with each other during the day, around naptimes and walk times. Chili has SO MUCH energy (as do most JRTs) that we need to go on little explorations around the yard during the day. It's good for me and Pepper too, so I don't mind. Although I won't be taking another 2-leash stroll off our property again without help until Chili learns better leash manners. On Monday, it was all I could do to control him from darting across the street to greet the boxers and dobermans in the neighbor's fenced-in yard or the horses next to them without getting tangled in a leash web and landing on my butt. Pepper is fine without a leash, but I had her on one in case she wandered when I was attending Chili and so her leash was getting mixed in the tangle too. Whooeee ... what a workout that was! ;-)

I'll be working on the jacket some more this morning. Maybe I'll even get to the point of working on the sleeves. Hey, it could happen.