I made a small cushion as a step to help the puppy get up on the seats in our mini van. She thought she needed to try it out and inspect my stitching.
I made the cushion from scrap cotton drop cloth and two layers of foam egg crate.
Sewing help
Category: dog
Craft skill transfer
I’ve been walking little miss puppy on a long leash, and gathering up the extra slack is a little tricky, especially one handed. My other hand is holding the older dog’s retractable leash. I do have a retractable leash for little Missy, but the pull is still too great for her little frame!
There is a technique in spinning where the spinner can gather up yarn by butterflying it between finger and thumb on an outstretched hand. This keeps tension, but is easy to release. I found myself using a similar technique to gather up the extra leash. This works well since the leash isn’t super long, so there isn’t too much for my hand, and she is so little that the pressure of the leash on my little finger or thumb is not problematic. I can roll up and release lengths of leash with a twist of my wrist.
Cat dog gecko
Izzy the cat likes to chase geckos on the windows. She found one while the puppy was outside doing business, and Missy had to come investigate too! Izzy was not impressed.
Random action generator
My husband has dubbed the puppy a random action generator, especially when she is fighting the sleep monster. These GIFs were taken all within 10 minutes. Must not fall asleep!
She crashed shortly after.
101 things to do with a box
I love clicker training! I did a refresher with Karen Pryor’s Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs book. Little Missy has added “down” and the beginnings of “come” to her repertoire (which previously consisted of “sit”). I like the idea of shaping behavior rather than struggling over perfection at the start. I also like short training sessions. There was something in the book called “101 Things to do with a Box” that I hadn’t remembered. We had to try it with little smarty pants. We separated the dogs and had yummy training treats, and clicked and gave a treat every time Missy touched the box. By the end of the first session she was climbing all the way into her box to get her click! And you could practically see her little gears whirling in her head as she tried to figure out how to make me click. We switched dogs, and Griffin is my best dog, but not as keen on the box or the treats. For him, I hid the treat under the box and he got a click for snuffling the box. All in all a fun training game!
Critters and Craft 