Friday, April 23, 2004
Mojo grew again. We can't tell if it's his hair, or if he really got bigger, or if he reaches some threshold of perception where we're like "hey, he's bigger." But he mostly fits into the tunnel, whereas before there was much more clearance for him.
We tried some new things with Mojo today. One of the things they say you should do is let your dog walk over a ladder that's lying on the ground. He should step in the holes. Well, after barking at the ladder for a minute or two, we finally convinced him that the ladder wasn't another dog, wouldn't play with him, and wouldn't really hurt him either. Then we got him to hop from hole to hole following a treat.
Wow, he really didn't want to go into the ladder. He did, and each step got lots of praise. It took him a while, though. He did fine until the last one, where the little paint stand/holder is. He wouldn't hop into that at all. He yawned a lot, which was one of the few times we've seen that kind of stresss behavior from him. He also barked like crazy. He couldn't see the carpet? The surface looked weird? Who knows.
Instead, he hopped out of the ladder and ran around the apartment for a few minutes. Then he sat down, and we tried again. In the end, we popped him into the last step, and then he was fine with it. We'll try it later today, getting him to walk across the whole ladder.
It was also porch sweeping time. Mojo didn't bark at the broom (one of the big 2 foot brooms) until I started pushing it across the carpet at him. Before that, he was chewing the bristles. When I went out & started sweeping (with him inside), Mojo started barking like crazy. Was he jealous? Territorial? Who can tell? It was pretty strange, but interesting.
Now he's napping after the burst of mental and physical stress.
We tried some new things with Mojo today. One of the things they say you should do is let your dog walk over a ladder that's lying on the ground. He should step in the holes. Well, after barking at the ladder for a minute or two, we finally convinced him that the ladder wasn't another dog, wouldn't play with him, and wouldn't really hurt him either. Then we got him to hop from hole to hole following a treat.
Wow, he really didn't want to go into the ladder. He did, and each step got lots of praise. It took him a while, though. He did fine until the last one, where the little paint stand/holder is. He wouldn't hop into that at all. He yawned a lot, which was one of the few times we've seen that kind of stresss behavior from him. He also barked like crazy. He couldn't see the carpet? The surface looked weird? Who knows.
Instead, he hopped out of the ladder and ran around the apartment for a few minutes. Then he sat down, and we tried again. In the end, we popped him into the last step, and then he was fine with it. We'll try it later today, getting him to walk across the whole ladder.
It was also porch sweeping time. Mojo didn't bark at the broom (one of the big 2 foot brooms) until I started pushing it across the carpet at him. Before that, he was chewing the bristles. When I went out & started sweeping (with him inside), Mojo started barking like crazy. Was he jealous? Territorial? Who can tell? It was pretty strange, but interesting.
Now he's napping after the burst of mental and physical stress.
