Today was busy for me. I spent the morning baking and Rockwell had to sit and bear it. At one point, he started barking and biting at me and instead of trying to get him to stop with nothing else, I had a brainstorm and taught him something positive instead. I grabbed a couple of puppy chow kibbles and said “sit” at one end of the hall. I walked to the other end of the hall, all the while asking him to “stay”. After a moment and before he got antsy, I said “come” and he did and sat and got a kibble. I did this at each end of the hall a few times until he had forgotten the request to play and the biting and was focussed on the “come” “sit”. And then he was a good dog and not a bad one.

The afternoon was filled with cleaning and moving furniture. We all know dogs are truly creatures of habit and Rockwell is no exception. When I moved the furniture in the living room, he started acting crazy. When I brought out the vacuum, he went ballistic and I had to crate him to get some time to finish the project.

We had always put the Christmas tree by the patio door and I had been trying to think where else I could put it, so as not to block Rockwell’s access to the back yard. Suddenly, I figured out that I could exchange the armchair for the love seat and we’d have a hole by the other corner on the living room. I am sure I don’t know why it takes me five years to think of these things but anyway. Since I was moving furniture, I cleaned behind it and the project took a little longer but it was “done right” so I was happy.

Eventually Peter came home and when he did, I was in the process of stringing lights on the tree. Peter proceeded to take some pictures of this activity and I am posting a few (don’t forget - you can click on the picture and see the larger one at Flickr). The pictures with the flash are nice and clear but they just don’t have the feel of the ones without the flash, which are of course, a little out of focus.

Here we are in the corner, I’m halfway down the tree with the lights and Rockwell is listening to Peter. He used the flash. The armchair is on my right.

Rockwell really was minding his own business and Peter draped some of the lights on him and asked him to stay and he did. This one was without the flash.

By this time, I was sitting on the floor, stringing the lights on the bottom branches. When a human is sitting on the floor, that person is SO attractive to puppies!

In the end, I was behind the tree, plugging in the lights and Rockwell just HAD to know what I was doing there. Also without the flash and not sharp, it is still a nice memento of the occasion.