It was sunny with temps in the mid-20's, so I took Sylvie and my skis down to the Esplanade. We followed the ski tracks someone had made out on the frozen river, such daredevils, but the snow kept balling in her toes. I'd forgotten to smear musher's wax. The ice seemed thick enough to me, but Sylvie kept pulling toward the bank so I followed her lead. (I suppose dogs can sense if the ice is thin. And there were cracks in the snow.)
Sylvie pulled me like a champ--she is so strong for 13lbs!! And she remembered her directional cues, even though we'd never practiced with her out in front of me. Internet hearsay told me that dogs have a hard time distinguishing the words "right" and "left," so I taught her "sharp" and "left." "Sharp" and "left" sound pretty similar to me, especially when I call them out in the chirpy voice I use with her, so if she makes any mistakes I'll teach a different cue for left turns. Maybe "cross" since she usually walks on my right. Mushers and farmers have the right idea: "Gee," "haw," and "woah" are all totally different sounds. But I know I'd mix up "gee" and "haw" even more than I already mix up left and right. This training's so haphazard. I'm just making it up on the fly. She's my first dog, so what do I know?
But every dog-greeting went well. That's as good a validation as any. Oh! and a small pretty hawk alighted in a tree! "Ooh look, Sylvie," I said, but she was fixated on a spastic little chickadee. Down the path we found the hawk's leftovers: a gutted squirrel at the foot of a tree with its brains out on the ground. "LEAVE IT!!" I shrieked, and after that Sylvie had to check every tree for squirrel brains.
Also, Sylvie made a friend yesterday! A rude little puggle who jumped up on every person with her knife-sharp claws while her owner texted on her blackberry. Well, Sylvie's a rude bitch too--she gets into the bigger dogs' faces and tries to initiate chase-games by barking loudly at them, and if she wants to play with a smaller dog she'll follow him around and poke him with her muzzle. It's not often that she finds a playmate. But she chased this dog round and round, back and forth, barking excitedly. Maddie the puggle tried to play bitey-face, but Sylvie told her off and they chased some more instead. A big bulldog even got into the chase, moving pretty fast for such a big fellow. Sylvie also insinuated herself into some retrieve-games. The tennis balls at the park are too big for her mouth and they probably taste like a lot of strange dogs, so she lets the others do the fetch-and-carry bit.. She'd rather just chase, and jump around like a cracker-jack while the dog's owner gets ready to throw.
Four months ago she wouldn't play at all, so this is pretty exciting.
