it's a really good thing they're cute.
Dec. 12th, 2007 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aithneArgh. Dogs.
Okay, I did discover that Pip, when by herself and once I'd expressed to her that Humans Are Unstable in terms she really understood (changing direction randomly helps) is really good at walking on the leash. She walks on a loose leash and in the heel position and oh my goodness I was pleased with her once we'd gone a little ways. Must just get her to do that all the time so I can walk her and Boone together more easily.
(It's also about time to buy her a training collar; I need to remember to measure her neck, since she's such a wrestler-shaped dog.)
We're currently in the phase of The Magic Bell Always Opens The Door, though, which makes life interesting in some ways. The Magic Bell is the bell we have hung by the back door that the dogs are supposed to ring to let the humans know they want to go out. Part of potty training is, when the bell is rung, to always go to the door, put the dog that's rung the bell and is waiting patiently by the door on a leash, and go outside with said dog and let them do whatever they need to do, then bring them right back inside.
However, there is a phase with the Magic Bell where the dog has discovered that ringing the Magic Bell means that the door opens, and this is new and interesting power. So the dog rings it about every five minutes, just for novelty's sake. It's important to keep up with it, no matter how frustrating it gets, because the phase does end after a week or two. Supposedly.
Pip has gotten a lot better about actually going when I take her out, having mastered the art of the courtesy tinkle, so she spends less time in the crate. But last night, man. I was attempting to write a sex scene involving four characters, and every five minutes, Pip was ringing the Magic Bell. So I would get a couple of sentences done, start getting into the flow of it, and *ring ring!* goes the Magic Bell.
This is not conducive to even getting the basics of the geometry of group sex right, much less making it flow correctly. I finally tossed Pip in her crate for twenty minutes, where she sulked, and then let her out and enjoyed a full half hour of not getting up to take one dog or another outside.
I did finish the scene and then the story, which I will be editing and posting tonight, but it took me quite a bit longer than it did. I have a lot of respect for people who write with children in the house. I can barely do it with dogs, and I can shut the dogs in their crates if they annoy me overmuch. (I try not to do it at night, because they're currently in their crates for eight hours a day.)
I think I'm going to start using Laura's desk in the library to write at, since it's closer to the door and doesn't involve me getting comfy on the couch and then needing to immediately get up to let the dogs out.
Okay, I did discover that Pip, when by herself and once I'd expressed to her that Humans Are Unstable in terms she really understood (changing direction randomly helps) is really good at walking on the leash. She walks on a loose leash and in the heel position and oh my goodness I was pleased with her once we'd gone a little ways. Must just get her to do that all the time so I can walk her and Boone together more easily.
(It's also about time to buy her a training collar; I need to remember to measure her neck, since she's such a wrestler-shaped dog.)
We're currently in the phase of The Magic Bell Always Opens The Door, though, which makes life interesting in some ways. The Magic Bell is the bell we have hung by the back door that the dogs are supposed to ring to let the humans know they want to go out. Part of potty training is, when the bell is rung, to always go to the door, put the dog that's rung the bell and is waiting patiently by the door on a leash, and go outside with said dog and let them do whatever they need to do, then bring them right back inside.
However, there is a phase with the Magic Bell where the dog has discovered that ringing the Magic Bell means that the door opens, and this is new and interesting power. So the dog rings it about every five minutes, just for novelty's sake. It's important to keep up with it, no matter how frustrating it gets, because the phase does end after a week or two. Supposedly.
Pip has gotten a lot better about actually going when I take her out, having mastered the art of the courtesy tinkle, so she spends less time in the crate. But last night, man. I was attempting to write a sex scene involving four characters, and every five minutes, Pip was ringing the Magic Bell. So I would get a couple of sentences done, start getting into the flow of it, and *ring ring!* goes the Magic Bell.
This is not conducive to even getting the basics of the geometry of group sex right, much less making it flow correctly. I finally tossed Pip in her crate for twenty minutes, where she sulked, and then let her out and enjoyed a full half hour of not getting up to take one dog or another outside.
I did finish the scene and then the story, which I will be editing and posting tonight, but it took me quite a bit longer than it did. I have a lot of respect for people who write with children in the house. I can barely do it with dogs, and I can shut the dogs in their crates if they annoy me overmuch. (I try not to do it at night, because they're currently in their crates for eight hours a day.)
I think I'm going to start using Laura's desk in the library to write at, since it's closer to the door and doesn't involve me getting comfy on the couch and then needing to immediately get up to let the dogs out.
