Relative Something

Our darling puppy, Delilah had quite a day yesterday. We extended her freedom to run unleashed on several different occasions. It was superb to watch her run full-tilt after the disc we throw for her, turning to sprint back toward us, passing right by to go the same distance away in the opposite direction, before returning again for attention and to drop the disc for the next throw.

Sometimes she comes to us when we call her. We figure that is better than never at all, and will work toward improving the percentage of proper response, so we are considering this phase a success, at least until we run into a major consequence failure.

We had a minor consequence back-slip yesterday, when she peed and pooped in the sunroom. We decided it was half our responsibility, since it had been a long day for her in the outdoor kennel, and she doesn’t appear to be interested in relieving herself in there yet. Unfortunately, that was one of the purposes of the outdoor kennel, so she wouldn’t suffer if we are late getting home.

Yesterday, there were several distractions that probably disrupted her from completely tending to her business before we came in for dinner. I have no idea why she didn’t try to get our attention to go out again, but won’t rule out the chance she actually did try, and we missed the signal.

By the end of the evening, when we were ready to come in, we discovered that she was a tangle of burrs acquired from her untethered explorations off-trail. I’ve been wishing all along for her to be free to roam. Another realization of needing to be careful about what I wish for.