Or at least, we’ll see if the click really makes a difference. I truly thnk it does. I use other markers, such as a mouth click for instance. But I’ve always observed that they seem to learn quicker when the clicker is involved.

Why is the clicker so important? Because it’s a very distinct sound that you don’t hear all the time. And you can usually click faster than you can say “good boy”.

So today I had an “aha” moment — at least, I hope I did. Lola is sometimes reactive around dogs when she’s on a leash. She’s perfectly fine off-leash, and sometimes she’s fine on-leash, too. But more often than not she starts pulling, growling, and barking when she sees another dog — whether that dog is walking, or behind a fence; whether the dog is perfectly calm or barking & growling itself.

We’ve been working with her for months — trying to get her to sit or down, watch us, and walk calmly past other dogs. With varying degrees of success. Sometimes I get so frustrated with her I’m ashamed to say I’ve yanked on the leash. And sometimes she’s great.

She knows all the commands I’m asking her to do, but it finally dawned on me today that in a highly distracting environment like a dog barking at her, maybe she doesn’t know exactly what I want. If I ask her to sit, but the treat comes several seconds later after she’s already jump up again . . . just what was she getting treated for?

It’s hard to juggle treats, leash, poop bags, and a clicker, of course. But recently I’ve taken to having my clicker on the outside of my treat bag, in easy reach. My treat bag has a place where you can clip something on, and I’ve clipped the clicker on.

So today, when she became reactive, I clicked & treated her for stopping when I asked. I clicked & treated her when she was walkiing calmly past barking dogs. We’ll see how it goes.

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We recently bought a big screen tv, which had a domino effect: among other things, we bought new couches. Our old couches were 20 years old!

Now, when you have cats, you need to give some thought to the right type of couch. Fabric, for instance, becomes very important. Some fabrics just invite scratching. But more on that later.

Since we haven’t yet gotten rid of our old couch and loveseat, our home is just filled with all sorts of junk right now. For a while the afghan that was on top of the old couch got dumped onto our recliner. Gizmo thought that was a capital idea.

As I wrote earlier, when cats are involved, fabric is important. So think about what your cat likes to scratch: usually something very rough. Some materials out there almost have the texture of burlap (can’t imagine it’s very comfortable), and we’d just look at them & say yup, the cats would love those.

In fact, one reason people sometimes end up with cats that scratch their carpets is that the carpet covering their cat trees are too similar to the carpets covering their floor.

So far, so good. They haven’t shown much interest in scratching on them. You’ll notice I have a scratching pad on top of the couch. Those things are great, because you can easily move them around. Simba loves to scratch on that — and he doesn’t scratch the couch itself. We also have a cat tree right next to the couch.

In fact, the cats (and the dogs) seem to approve of the new couches very much, indeed. These couches are a lot higher than our old couch. I think the height gives Gizmo a greater sense of security, and he’s started to lay on top of the couch fairly regularly — whether or not there are dogs on the couch. That’s something he hasn’t done in a long, long time.

I used to only allow the dogs on the couch, because the love seat was by the utility cart that the boys have claimed as their own. I wanted Gizmo to have his space. Now we allow them on either couch, and it doesn’t seem to bother Gizmo.

The boys were able to look over the old couch while they were on the utility cart, but now the couch is higher than the utility cart, so it’s like they have their own private kitty city.

And there’s been one other odd benefit to our new furniture: Gizmo has begun coming to bed with me again. He stopped when we got Chester, even though at the time Chester slept in a crate. I don’t know why, but for about the last 3 or 4 nights he has come to bed with me every single night. In fact, he hangs around waiting for me to go to bed again. He doesn’t stay after I put out the light, mind you, because my husband brings in Chester & Lola after last call (he goes to bed later than me).

Still, I love having him curled up between my legs while I read in bed.

There have been signs lately of Gizmo thawing towards the dogs, in fact. He still doesn’t like them, and he’s clearly happier when they’re not here (like when we get back from vacation). Still, several times he’s jumped the baby gate to come into my office, and when he sees the dogs, he does a doubletake — but he doesn’t leave. He curls up in the corner near the gate.

And not too long ago, he curled up with me on the couch (before the new furniture) while the dogs were chewing on their bones in the morning.

I still want to see the day when he’ll stay in bed with me even if Chester is there. Maybe I’ll never see it . . . maybe it will take years . . . but hope springs eternal.

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My brother recently adopted a Cockapoo, whom they named Paige. Cockapoos are a mix of Cocker Spaniel and Poodles, and are supposedly hypoallergenic. However, as people often find out, there’s no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog, and she still bothers his allergies. But Paige is staying. And she is awfully cute.

I don’t usually find stub tails cute, but when she wags her tail, which is most of the time, her whole body wags with it! I also don’t particularly like the look of Westies, for instance, but this is one cute little puppy (as if they aren’t almost all cute).

I brought up several toys & treats for Paige. I don’t know much about what kids want, having never had them, but I have a better idea of what dogs like.

Paige seems to have a low frustration level. When we first gave her the bone, she knew it was something good, but she didn’t know what to do with it so she barked at it (quite loudly, I might add). After we held it for her for a little while she got the idea. She liked that! She especially liked the beef trachea I brought — and after hours of gnawing on it, she still wasn’t finished. Which is surprising, since Chester & Lola can knock those off in less than an hour — and she’s their size right now.

I also spent a little time showing them a clicker, how to lure her into a sit, and spend several sessions over the weekend practicing sit. By the time I left, she was well on her way to knowing sit.

It was funny, though, the very first session we did with her went perfectly, and she was sitting in no time. After that, she continued to sit, but she wouldn’t do it right by me. She’d walk away and then sit. It was almost as though she was scared of me, although she continued to play with me and snuggle with me.

The best I could figure was that no one had ever asked her to actually do anything for her food before, and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

Cute as she is, though, it was nice to come home to my dogs (not puppies), who while not perfect, don’t jump up and grab my clothes or attack my hands. Not that that didn’t happen with Chester — it most definitely did! — just that that phase is long behind us. I wish I’d known about those bones & beef tracheas when we were still in that phase.

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I’ll be the first to admit it: I had a hard time bonding with Chester for the longest time. Yes, he was a great puppy. But he was just so much work. Yet we had a dog, before him, on trial adoption that I did bond with instantly.

Why was it so difficult with him? I think I’ve found some insight lately. After being away for a long weekend, while the dogs were bonded, we came home and Lola immediately got very sick: continuous vomiting, lethargy, mildly dehydrated. It was pretty scary.

And yes, I had to clean up lots & lots of vomit all over the house (sorry to you squeamish folk). But I never got frustrated — and I think that was one of the key differences: Chester, for all that he was often sick one way or another, never, ever acted sick. He always had plenty of enery — while constantly sucking away all of my energy, or so it seemed.

And yes, eventually we did bond. Until now, Lola hasn’t been nearly as much work. Even though she wasn’t housetrained, she is well on her way and it wasn’t as hard with her as it was with Chester.

I found with my cats, my bond definitely strengthened when they got so sick. It’s sad that it takes something like an illness to make you aware how very much you love them, but there you go. Taking care of a sick animal can be a very bonding experience.

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