Dexter is still a lapdog

So, haven't posted in a long while, and this blog has become something of an albatross... As usual, I've decided that my next attempt must be big, and noteworthy, and special, and shit like that... Bah!

Instead, it's just going to be another mushy post about my dog. Mostly.
Dexter's new trick: holding a treat on his nose on WAIT, until I give the OK to drop it & nom-nom. He's learned it in about three nights, and his learning accelerated when I switched from candy corn (which he likes, but about 2 a night is my limit for him) to nasty, artificially-buttered popcorn (which he adores, because it crunches! and is greasy! and crunches!). Don't mind letting him earn 5-10 of those, and even after devouring 2 big strips of pork, 1/4 of a goat's head, and the remains of my pork chop dinner, he was up for popcorn!

The best part of the evening was after I showed the new trick to Robert. Dex performed ~ok~, and I went away satisfied (natch, he seldom does tricks when a new audience is around). Robert then fished another piece of lovelylovelypopcorn out of the trash, and put Dex through the moves. I had to help him overcome Dex' aversion to the approach of the food (he still has to have his nose held firm for this, but it's coming along). And then - viola! - Dex did it perfectly for Robert. Whoa-hoa!

Robert went to bed, and Dex came sauntering over for more attention. I wasn't in the mood to abandon the chair to play, but offered to let him stand up on my legs for a petting, when suddenly - POW! - he's sitting in my lap. Every so often he does this; all 53# of him. And I love it. And so does he, although it makes him nervous; the chair isn't really big enough for both of us.

Dexter's other new tricks: upon returning from trips outside, he has the duty of opening the inside door (pushing it open after I turn the knob, actually) and then closing it again. He's getting better; at one point, he interpreted CLOSE THE DOOR to mean "jump up onto something near me", but now he's graduating to figuring out how to get a mostly-wide-open door shut again.

Also, his fears about jumping THROUGH my arms in a hoop, or jumping OVER / UNDER my arms (or me on my knees), are disappearing. I also discovered that he pays more attention to my somatics (hand gestures, etc) than my words during commands, so we've begun practicing commands with my hands stuck in my pockets, or even my back turned. He doesn't like this; whines and barks sometimes, but he's puzzling it out.

                               

What else...? Lessee, I got my system reinstalled, with both WinXP & Ubuntu Linux running successfully again, learned **A LOT** about both in the process (never fun until it's over), and learned why my cellphone died - a short in the USB charging port. In fact, the charging male tip got so hot it melted a spot in the carpet. That little bugger was eating juice! HTC wanted... ready?... $305 to fix it, so instead, unable to afford a data plan (which is required for any new smartphone), I have a cheapo, rock-bottom phone that I have to hand-enter my contacts into. It will do.

                                

A pretty awesome night with my boy. And I needed that. I'm still upset from the breakup of my relationship with Loie, of course; that's swinging my mood around. OTOH, I've started sending out resumes, AND getting responses! Two phone interviews for three jobs in two days, pretty righteous!

Maybe there is something to this "taking care of yourself", self-love, "acting like I intend to stick around and be my own best friend for years to come" stuff, after all.

Or, it could just be a coincidence. You know, confirmation bias.

Either way, tonight turned into a good night.

:-)