We Have A Hat-Box Sit!

She can sit on a hat box now.  She can use the leg muscles.  They're working again.  I would be yelling and typing in bold if that wouldn't scare people away.  I AM SO HAPPY.  I got this behavior yesterday... it's still has very little duration but I HAVE THE BEHAVIOR!

Getting By

We've been crazy busy here.  All four creatures and I have been staying at our lake home while the farm is being worked on.  This is both fun and frustrating.  I feel like I've cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, yet it's not really... clean?!  We also have no interwebs, so I've been busy doing other things and neglecting my email.  Rather than the usual 2000 unread emails, I had about 4000 when I checked today.  Oops?

Mostly we're all getting along and adjusting to living in a house that essentially has four rooms.  New development today though was Bailey wanting to eat the kitty litter.  Why on earth does World's Best have to taste good?  TWICE today I caught her chomping down on it.  She's not looking for cat excretions, but really eating the litter!  Then she looks at me with this dry mouth, tongue flapping expression that says "HALP!" and I just laugh at her.

I put up a new shower curtain today, did about five hundred loads of laundry... and washed dishes, floors and vacuumed.  Oh, and I rearranged furniture, and tried to make the litterbox dog un-friendly, but that seemed to make her MORE curious.  Buzz is leaving it alone.  He only cares if there's nasty stuff in it.  I have weird dogs.

I want another bonfire, but I think I burned all the good stuff last night.  Hrmph.

I miss Ohio.  I miss talking about intricate details of competition behavior training.  I miss having a dog to train.  I want a puppy.  Have I whined enough yet?

Oh, and I have to write my food toy article-y thing for work and bring in examples.  Whee!

Food Toys aka Enrichment

I'll be doing my continuing education "talk" at work about Enrichment Toys.  I'm pretty excited, but wanted to get some input on non-store-bought enrichment/food toys that people have used.  We use boxes and paper bags and that's about it.  What else do you use around the house to hide food in and provide enrichment?

Then...
I'll be bringing our Tug A Jug, Kong Genius, Kongs, and the Atomic Treat Ball.  There are so many food toys out there, and I'll bring a list of others, but I'm curious... what is your dog's favorite food toy and what is yours?  Pros and cons of it if you please!

And... kitties!
Our good friend Kristen sent the kitties a Funkitty Twist 'n Treat.  Rascal thinks it's pretty darn awesome, Rasza and I are working on it.  We also have a treat ball and a "fish sticks" treat dispensing toy.  Neither one seems to like the fish sticks toy yet.  I think I need different kibbles for it though.

I just don't know.

If I'm stupid, crazy, or (fill in the blank).

Proof of Bailey's DNA CHIC blood sample submission for research.
http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1216954#animal

Proof of Buzz's DNA CHIC blood sample submission for research.
http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1313481#animal

I'm in the process of finding a time to schedule CERFs for the aging creatures.  Other than that, not many changes on the home front.