Starting with the good:
1. This morning before I had even finished my shift, one of the ads posted resulted in a phone call (possible sale!).
2. I got paid for yesterday and today. 
First income since May!
3. I sold another textbook on half.com!
4. I was watching one of the It's Me or the Dog episodes tonight where Victoria teaches the command "stop" to these 3 Maltese dogs when they start barking. I thought that was a great idea, because Buddy has taken to barking at phantoms since mom and stepdad have been gone. So I managed to teach him that cue. It's actually kind of cute -- he'll do a kind of quiet gruff, gruff, then turn his head towards me to see if I'm watching. 
I don't mind him doing the quiet gruff gruff, or even one or two short barks - it's just the constant barking I don't want him to get in the habit of.
Not so good:
Going down the stairs while holding Buddy (I do this when he seems desperate to go outside, otherwise there's a good chance of an accident happening on the stairs), I slipped *again*! Thankfully I didn't land squarely on my tailbone, but I sure got a good bounce and shake. Thankfully also I didn't lose my hold on Buddy and drop him.
Unfortunately it seems as though my back (and my left ankle) are saying "enough abuse already!" I was just about healed up from being knocked down by that dog last week. Now my back is NOT feeling good at all. And my ankle is not feeling all that great either.
UGH!!
Four Goods and One not so Good
July 31st, 2010 at 02:53 am
July 31st, 2010 at 03:50 am 1280548236
how do you teach the 'stop' command? i'm interested!
July 31st, 2010 at 12:33 pm 1280579632
Teaching stop goes like this:
First make the word Stop appealing by saying it everytime your dog isn't paying attention to you and then looks at you -- say Stop and treat. Do this a good 10-12 times. Then try saying the word when the dog is distracted ( mild distraction) - if he looks, jackpot! (three or more treats in a row) repeat ( vary treat amounts to keep dog guessing) when it seems like he's got it, try saying it when barking - it's best to catch them straight away, otherwise may be over excited - if they stop and look at you - major jackpot .... This took about two training sessions - mostly done while watching tv
July 31st, 2010 at 09:11 pm 1280610695
I've always wondered how people could teach their dogs to stop barking on command. But, I see how this all-purpose stop command is probably fairly easy! I'm going to tell my friend who has adopted a --errr-- high spirited adult dog and really needs some help!