I’m back at work this week, so I haven’t had much time for knitting. I’ve put the two-color socks at the top of my list to finish, as I have NEW Socks That Rock yarn to get to. Not to mention that I haven’t done the socks from the last shipment of STR. So the two-color ones just need to get done. I do like them, it’s just that I generally see socks as that easy mindless project to pick up when my brain is overloaded, or when I have to pay attention to something else, or when I only have two minutes to knit. I’m only about an inch farther than the last photo, so check a few posts back, add an inch, and you’re good. I have reached the heel, so it won’t be long.
In lieu of knitting pictures, I have good dog and cat photos to show. We got Riley (and the cats, too) from the Humane Society when she was about a four month old pup. We did the dog-training thing, and she’s probably one of the best-behaved dogs I’ve ever seen. She follows the usual commands that dogs should follow, though she draws the line at “roll over”. She did it for awhile, then when she got older she just refused. For a few months she would run in a circle when you would tell her to roll over, but then she even stopped that. This dog will do nearly anything for a treat, but rolling over is clearly one of those things that she thinks is pointless.
Her best trick is the dinnertime trick. We did not want her to be one of those dogs who is jealous and grabby about food, so from the time we got her, we trained her to sit and wait when we put her food on the floor. She has to sit there until we tell her “that’ll do”, and then she can eat. She has pretty good self-restraint, and most of the time will sit there and wait even if we leave the room. This comes in handy, as we feed the cats a little dish of wet food in the evening as well as a treat. Riley just loves wet cat food. She’s pretty sure that it is much better than even the best dog food. The cats rarely eat the whole thing, so Riley gets to clean their bowls once they are done. She has to do the same “sit and wait” thing for that too.
All of that is a very long-winded introduction to three photos. You can see that the cats (Willie in this one) don’t seem too perturbed by Riley drooling on their heads, waiting patiently for them to finish. She will sit there for as long as it takes.
“That’ll do, Riley!”
Love it! “drooling on their heads!” Too cute.
I oughta practice that “that’ll do” thing on myself more often – instead of digging right in!
Riley is a very well mannored pup! We taught our pug to sit and wait when we fed her, started it from day (8 wks) one and now when we say wait, she’ll sit and watch me to see when I’m going to give the word, then she dives in. Comes in handy for lots of things! And I’m sure the kitty loves doggy slobber all over his head – cats and dogs in our house are the best of friends.
Good boy Riley!
Sheri in GA
Chappy’s really patient around food, too, and waits for his “Okay” before he gets to eat . . . just about anything. Food in his dish. Treats. Things fallen to the floor. About the only exception is when we’re eating in the car (like, say, while on vacation) in which case, anything we hand back to him, he can eat right away–no extra permission necessary!
So patient! Actual drool on their heads? That’d be darned amusing.
That is one well behaved dog! Great photos.
great photo! on a good day neither of our mutts are even close to that well mannered. i am glad to see that i am not the only person to succumbed to the str club. aren’t the colors wonderful?
I love that your command is ‘that’ll do’. One of my FAVORITE movies is Babe (yes, the talking pig movie) and I love it when Farmer Hogett says “that’ll do, Pig, that’ll do”. I can’t wait to have a dog that will respond to that.
THAT DOES IT! I’m upset! SHHHSH…just like a cat to heavenly eat with a dog behind them waiting! That just feeds to their ego that ‘cat rule-dogs drool’….(of course understanding that is a helpful command 😉 I’ve taught (or naturally came to her) the command ‘back’ where my retriever backs up and then sits!
I’m behind…love your past posts. Question- where did you get the magnetic board, blocking pins, & clicker? Your teammates look strong and I can’t wait to see the outcome! Gorgeous yarn (I trust in your stash since you can’t ‘buy’ any?)
Good dog! Hester does the same thing with Kirby! Hester gobbles down her food in short order and cleans every crumb. But Kirby takes his own sweet time and leaves crumbs all over. Hester is not allowed to go over and clean up Kirby’s crumbs until we tell her “Ok, Kirby’s finished”. She’ll actually come get me in another room to let me know he’s done!
What a sweetie. When our Jake was little, the boys taught him to play dead when you point your “finger gun” at him and say BANG. He still does it, will still roll over and will run through one trick after another (hoping to get the right one) for a cookie. The rest of the time, he’s that huge lump of fur, asleep in the living room.
Cute animals at your house. Our house has just one cute cat–who is on prescription diet food to keep his svelte figure!
Oh Riley, you are very good. And how patient of you to wait your turn. Pssst Riley because of good dogs like you, Abner and Basil are having a charity drive for our local humane society to provide some much needed toys and blankets, and who knows maybe it will even open awareness to their needs and more dogs and kitties will get adopted. I know our next dog will definitely be a shelter dog.
Awesome! I love how focused Riley is. That’s pretty amazing to me.
Hi Lorette…I thought you would be interested to know that I found your blog from an issue of Better Homes and Gardens! I am a newbie knitter, and I check your blog from time to time, it always is good entertainment, particularly when you “rip it” and drink bourbon! You go, girl!
PS I am in Ohio, and I think your home looks beautiful!!!
Awwww! She is a wonderful pup!
I love Riley’s composure, I wish I had it!
PS – My P-Man DOES know how handsome he is 🙂
Too funny! Great photo montage of good dog training. Our dogs (when I was growing up) had zero training. My mother believed in laissez faire dog raising. Made for some interesting times.
That is terrific. Wish the cats were as easy to train.
Such adorable pictures. Reminds me of our dogs/cat, except our dogs aren’t nearly as patient in waiting for food of any type. ;D
what a great set of photos! I love how Riley is sitting up *and* leaning towards the food at the same time. She is a great example of what I think a dog is, and I hope to have my own Riley at some point in the future.
Your pictures remind me of my experiences at popular dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong, where people will stand behind you waiting for you to finish so they can grab your seat. In comparison, I think Riley is much more polite about the whole thing, though I have to admit that none of these HK people actually drooled on me….
Too cute! Reminds me of ‘That’ll do, Pig’ from Babe.
I’m glad to hear there’s progress on your home. That’s got to be disruptive.