Puppy Love

Monday, March 21

Wasn’t feeling too spunky so I ran/walked Lola only a mile or so to save myself for swimming master’s at night. Missing swim workouts is the worst for me, I lose what little I have so quickly. Swimming went o.k. considering. There was only one guy in my lane and we were about the same speed so we switched off leading and it worked out pretty well. Around 2700 yards.

Tuesday, March 22

Two projects due at work today and I had to go in early so I skipped the morning workout and figured I’d go to spinning after work. Think again, workout was cancelled. Today turned into a rest day for me but not for Lola. I took advantage of the spare evening to stop at the agility field after work for a quick practice. Worked on her ‘go on’ cue and some more distance stuff. We’ll get those Elite Gamblers legs yet. One of my instructors was there working her Border Collie and they were just amazing to watch. She can send him to the dog walk and he’ll race to the bottom on the far side and stop waiting for his next cue while she just stands there at the start of the walk. For those who don’t do agility, believe me this is something. Lola has terrible dog walk problems lately and I’m so envious. I’d be happy if she’d just do the whole walk without stopping on the down ramp and barking her fool head off at me (or the judge) then leaping over the contact zone, causing yet another missed Q.

Wednesday, March 23

4 mile trail run in the a.m. with Lola. I felt o.k., not terrible, not great. It was a damp cloudy morning, unusual for Boulder so it was kind of nice. The tops of the hills were peeking out from the fog, very cool.

My husband’s mountain biking group was supposed to go riding tonight then come to our house afterwards for dinner but there was a little bit of rain so they wussed out and decided to sit on their asses watching movies, eating lasagna and drinking beer in our very cramped living room. These people rode in the dark after work all winter long through all kinds of hideous weather conditions and a little rain in March sends them to the couch. I guess even the most hardcore need to relax and blow off a ride every once in a while.

One of the women in the group brought her Australian Cattle Dog puppy Maggie, and Lola was instantly in love. After a few initial sniffs she went into an enthusiastic tail wagging play bow and it was Game On! They wrestled and played while Lola barked her head off, wreaking havoc in the already overcrowded living room. Meanwhile the guys were laughing their heads off at ‘Napolean Dynamite’. How they could hear the movie over the doggie bedlam was beyond me. Cody had to join into the fracas, playing the ‘Fun Police’ and barking at the two rabble rousers to quit their damn rough housing in the house. Cody has a pretty strong sense of decorum and doesn’t stand for shenanigans from other dogs (or people). Lola somehow outlasted the puppy and kept trying to get her to play long after she had pooped out. When it was time to go Maggie started following her owner out the door then turned around, tucked her tail between her legs and ran back inside, straight onto our couch much to her owner’s horror. I thought it was great that she’d had such a good time she didn’t want to leave her new doggie friends. Cody heaved a big old sigh of relief when the house finally returned to normal. Somehow this evening did not further my campaign of convincing my husband to get a third dog.