It’s getting chilly. Mornings are in the 30’s. Days…they are still fair, but the evenings have also been brisk.

We keep the house temp fairly cool–especially at night. Jasmine has finally discovered the joys of burrowing through this experience. Instead of fluffing her fleece blankets, Jasmine has been diving under them and using her nose, mouth and paws to encase herself in their warmth. At first glance, she doesn’t even look like she’s there, but upon a more careful examination, there’s a little rise and fall happening as Jasmine snoozes. Uh, the snoring is a dead give-away as well.

Now that Jasmine is comfortable with not being able to see everything around her as she rests, I think it might be a great time to get her a comfy burrowing bed for her winter comfort. FetchDog has a great looking one called the Cozy Cave that looks well-made, comfortable and (most importantly) easy to care for. Since Jasmine’s incontinence hasn’t entirely disappeared (she sometimes has some issues when she’s in a very deep sleep), being able to launder the entire bed is important.

Jasmine becomes more relaxed and animated every day. She’s playing, demanding attention, romping in the leaves and attacking her “flea” toy. Burrowing is another step in the right direction.

Blame it on Bob.

Our friend Bob gave Jasmine her first taste of peanut butter when we were visiting he and his wife in Maine. Jasmine, who doesn’t take treats from strangers, lapped it up like Bob was her long lost friend. No hesitation.

Of course, that was our cue to go get a jar of peanut butter and have Hubby be the “Peanut Butter Man.” Or, I should say, the “Peanut Buttah Man” with Hubby’s Boston accent (he says, “What accent?”).

Every evening, I put Jasmine in my lap. And instead of snuggling in to my nice warm lap for some quality time, she perches on the arm rest of the chair and wags her little flirty tail at Hubby. She looks at him hopefully, and I call out, “Peanut Buttah Man!” She wags her tail more and tries to look cute (not difficult). Hubby chuckles, and I pick Jasmine up and put her on his lap. He grabs the jar of peanut butter and digs out a fingertip of creamy goodness on his finger. She laps it up and sniffs for more. A couple of doses later, and the official peanut butter period has ended.

Then and only then will she come back to me and settle on my lap for an evening snooze.

Oh boy, does she have us trained well or what?

I’ve been working a lot. I come home every evening, and I usually work after a full day in the office. Hey, I work for a start-up and that’s just the way it is. There’s a lot to get done, and I admit it…I’m a bit of a workaholic.

Jasmine has decided that my hours away from home are MORE than enough. Each night after dinner, I pull the computer onto my lap and begin plugging away. That’s when the campaign starts. First, it’s a cute face and waggy tail. She then sprints around the coffee table, jumps onto her bed and perches on the corner with a glowing, bright face filled with happiness and anticipation.

“woof.” Just a little one. Then a “maw maw maw” grumble to let me know that her impatience is growing. She is waiting for her “Have you been a good girl? Would you like a bone?” ritual. I get up, give her a bone and she comps away at the tiny rawhide treat until it is no more. Then it’s back around the coffee table for Round 2 of the battle of wills.

“woof.”  “maw maw maw.”  “Wooft.” When I try to ignore her, bits of her impatience are accentuated by the little wooft-tuft of air at the end.

I try to guess what she wants. Sometimes, it’s “training” (aka gimme a treat, will ya?). Sometimes it’s “play with me” (aka sit on the floor as I chew away at one of my toys). Other times it’s training followed by play.

And then the daddy of all requests that puts me out of working commission for the evening–lap time. When she snuggles into my lap and snores her little head away, well, I know that I’m not going to grab my computer, displace her on my lap and start working again.

Last night, I told my husband that Jasmine made me quit working for the evening. He said, “Good dog, Jasmine.”

She acknowledged her good deed by snoring just a little louder.

Jasmine is loving the fall. She gets very rompy and frisky out in the chilly fall air. She’s sniffing all the chipmunk holes and having a dandy time.

I took her out the other day, and she romped down the brick path and turned the corner around the far side of the house. All of a sudden, I heard a light wooft. And another wooft. Not a bark, a wooft. It sounds like a little woof with a puff of air right after. A couple of more woofts, and I thought there was some sort of animal in the yard causing alarm.

I walked down to the corner and peered around. Jasmine was tail-up, ears-up at attention staring at…the new utility trailer parked on the side of the house.

Apparently, the trailer was an evil threat to her yard, her territory. She was giving a warning wooft to show it who’s boss.

It must have worked. The evil has been vanquished, and the trailer no longer poses a threat.

One of the grandkids had a hockey game yesterday, and instead of leaving Jasmine at home, we decided to take her with us to watch the game. It was a “mite” game–a hockey league for kids 8 years and under. It’s really a blast–the kids are learning the game and having fun, and it’s so cute to watch them play.

There was a multi-fold challenge for Jasmine:

• Kids: Two grandkids and four of their cousins ranging in age from 3 to 14
• Ice Rink: Brrrrrr!
• People: Lots of kids, parents, loud noises and confined spaces

I put Jasmine in her smart plaid fleece coat and carried her into the ice rink. It was total chaos. Kids running everywhere. People talking loudly. She shivered a bit but remained fairly calm. I spoke to her in calm tones and after a few minutes, she calmed down. People were smiling and pointing at her (oh the cuteness) and one woman came over to pet her. She shut down a bit, but allowed people to pet her with no struggle.

We sat down and watched the game, and while she shivered a bit at first, she was calm and relaxed through most of it. The yelling and cheering didn’t bother her. Kids running by her didn’t bother her. She was in my arms, warm and cozy. Hubby was close by as well and gave her pets and scratchies when she peered up at him.

After the game, we went back to the grandkids’ home and had dinner. Jasmine was her usual “are you eating…did you drop anything” self. It was good to see. The chaos and commotion from the kids didn’t bother her at all as long as we were close.

She’s coming along well, and we’ll have plenty more opportunity to socialize her with the games, practices and other assorted activities coming up. In fact, two of the grandkids are coming to stay next weekend–a perfect opportunity for Jasmine to shine!

One of the side effects of Jasmine’s fascination with the smells in the yard is that she’s no longer reliable for recall. She gets out there, she romps around, and I call her to get her back inside. She is totally taken with the smells in the air and on the ground, and as she runs around sniffing at the chipmunk holes and other such exciting sites, her selective hearing starts.

We speculated that maybe it was her hearing…but the tiny crinkle of a food wrapper from 100 yards away will roust her from a deep sleep into full attention. Nope. Not it. She’s ignoring me. So much for my pride in my ability to recall her and her steadfast focus on me. How silly of me!

What’s really wonderful about all this is that there are signs every day that she’s coming more out of her shell. She’s now focused on mooching food off of me every time I eat. It’s like she thinks she has a nickel of “cute” and I’m her vending machine…plop in that coin, press a button, and out comes the candy! And for the most part, she’s right. I’m such a total sucker for that cute face. I know I have to stop reacting or she’ll become increasingly whiny and difficult. I have to have courage!

She’s also pushing other boundaries (another good sign). The boundaries with the recall, well let’s just say that we’re starting from basics. I’m asserting my control by leashing her when I take her out so she doesn’t have a chance to ignore me. I’m also starting to do our recall exercises as well…I should be just about back in control when the snow flies. Then, she won’t want to go outside at all, and recall will be the least of my worries.

I can’t believe it’s October already. Fall has arrived and the leaves are turning brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. Many of them have hit the ground in our yard. I’m sure I’ll enjoy them until I have to help rake them up.

Jasmine’s demeanor has been changing with the weather. Perhaps the vacation had a positive effect on her. Perhaps little critters have been running through our yard in preparation for winter. Whatever the reason, Jasmine has been a rompy little creature this week. In the morning and in the evening when I take her out before I leave for work and after I return home, Jasmine goes bounding through the leaves in full bunny mode. Bounce bounce bounce she goes as she romps through the yard, tail up and waggy, ears flapping. She sniffs the air, the ground, she bounces through the yard and then runs her “circuit” around the stone wall, up the side of the hill and down the stone steps back to me. It’s so fun to watch because in those brief moments, she is pure doggie joy.

She runs back to me with her tail wagging and comes up on the deck, ready to go back inside to her comfy bed, toys and warm lap. Watching her brings light to my day. It’s so good to see her so happy.

Hubby and I needed a getaway. After 18 months without a vacation, renovating a house and a cross-country move, we were due. We wanted to just relax, but we also wanted to include Jasmine on the fun, so we decided on a driving vacation up the coast of Maine. It would conclude with a visit with some old friends in Durham, Maine. The best part of the trip was that, outside of the stop in Durham, we had no agenda. We had no reservations anywhere. We just wanted to explore the area and end up where we ended up. High season ended on Labor Day weekend, so availability of accommodations wouldn’t be a big problem.

Jasmine likes to ride in the car, so we got her favorite blanket, toys, and treats and hit the road. The first day, we drove the back roads all the way up to Portland. We stopped in Portsmouth, NH as well. Jasmine attracted attention wherever we went–people just love wiener dogs–and we were never denied access to any store; I carried her in many stores and galleries, and that was just fine. Jasmine was further exposed to new experiences and lots of people approaching her–a good thing. Unless people approached her aggressively (surprising how many “dog people” had no idea how to approach a dog), she was cautiously okay with a scratch behind the ear or a little pet.

The first night was a little uncomfortable for her. She paced a lot in the hotel but we decided to keep her with us on the bed so she was happy to snuggle up and sleep. The new environment was a little disconcerting for her, but she adjusted well and did not have any accidents the entire week.

The next day was her first challenge. We decided to take a cruise of Portland harbor. It was a 2-hour tour of the islands around the harbor on the local ferry, and dogs were welcome (and required a separate fare). We carried her on and got our seat up top. She sniffed the air and settled on my lap. It was so fun to watch the other passengers on the trip; they were more enamored with Jasmine than they were with the tour. One gentleman took more pictures of Jasmine than he did of the bay! Jasmine did so well; she was calm and interested in all the smells and sights.

The rest of the week went well. Jasmine adapted to every environment that we presented. Finding pet-friendly accommodations was generally not an issue, but it was surprising how few hotels were open to pets. In Boothbay Harbor, we only found a few places and ONLY with the help of the local chamber of commerce. We did end up at a particularly wonderful place, the Spruce Point Inn, that was both pet-friendly and didn’t just reserve the worst rooms for that purpose. The worst experience? Hampton Inn. We went in to get a quote. Jasmine was calmly encased in my arms. The genius at the front desk fumbled with his reservation system, and after several minutes, we got some rates. However, it only occurred to him to let us know of a property-wide BAN on pets after this whole process. Um, why go through with rate quotes when you can clearly see that we aren’t going to take a room due to the pet ban? Duh.

The end of the week was interesting. We got to our friends’ home in Durham. They have two dogs, one of which is a black lab “puppy” that they’ve had for three weeks. He’s 45 pounds of pure puppy energy. Jasmine wanted nothing to do with either dog. However the puppy, Bailey, was fascinated by Jasmine and took every opportunity to try to play with this new “toy.” Jasmine snapped at him a couple of times and endured getting swatted in the head by a puppy paw, but she was generally calm and comfortable in my arms. Well, as comfortable as she could be, as you can see in the photo below. Overall, Jasmine did wonderfully and we had a great vacation together. She was happy to be home, but she also had some great socialization experiences to help her growth and well being. And tons of treats, pets and kisses.

Jasmine, meet Bailey. Bailey, meet Jasmine.

The NERVE of that man!

Thanks to TechCrunch for the link to the Kanyelicio.us site.

I changed my breakfast routine yesterday and Jasmine was quite unhappy about it.

I had a grapefruit for breakfast yesterday. I wanted a change, and I hadn’t had grapefruit in a long time. I was enjoying my breakfast when I heard a little bark. I looked down and saw a somewhat anxious and unruly pup. She was looking at me with an annoyed look on her face, as if to say, “Hey! What’s with this grapefruit stuff? Where’s my nicely peeled and chunked apple? Huh?”

Ooops. In my haste to change my breakfast routine, I forgot that Jasmine counts on HER routine, and that includes a bit of apple every morning. So what did I do? I went and got a piece of apple from my lunch and gave it to her. She happily munched away on the apple (peeled, of course) as I munched away on my grapefruit. I got a nice laugh and a nice start to my morning.

It’s great when a story has a happy ending, isn’t it?