Week 27

Enjoying fireworks at Harbour Days

We enjoyed another year of Harbour Days with family, friends and our newest sailor. We had two wonderful families join us; my dearest childhood friend and my darling cousin's clan.

It was a wonderful puppy practice session with six young (very dog experienced) kids running around the house.  Clover chose to spend most of the late evening sitting on the lap of my girlfriend's not-so-canine-inclined hubby and insisted upon licking his face repeatedly.  He was such a good sport and deserves an awful lot of credit for pacifying the needs of our 40 pound lap dog!

Then we took a short walk over for the parade of boats and a final round of festive fireworks at the shores.  Miss C was far more interested in sniffing out the friendly people than watching a fiery skyline.

Aye, Aye, Captain Clover

Patio buddy

Snoozing at my feet while I blog

Clover has been very attached to me lately and rarely seems happy out of my visual range.  In fact she's known to frantically check from front door to backyard looking for Mummy.  I can't even grab a shower without hearing her pace the stairs!  Sometimes her search will last twenty minutes even in the company of the boys.  The puppy barking has resurfaced (sigh). She will carry on for several minutes in sheer excitement to see us, looking for attention and once again protesting her crate.  We haven't seen this intensity in behaviour for a couple of months.  There is an increase in vocalization with visitors and especially at passers by outside.  Although I'm relieved to have a "watch dog" on the property its a cue to boost the training a notch and work out some concerns before they become problematic.   I wonder if this is simply a normal stage of emotional development or part of a larger hormonal change occurring.

Clover longingly peers through the new gate hoping mom will come back to the yard and play

The yard entrance was temporarily blocked during the small puppy stages.  Finally, a permanent side gate has been installed on the house.  It's a custom build, both strong and beautiful.  Of course I had some design input, but I have to credit my other half for the logistics of turning that vision into reality.  He's a gifted welder and we're both thrilled with results.  Clover however desperately wishes I'd put down the paintbrush to finish this project and I'm just hoping to walk away without a hammered finish Vizsla!