Following the announcement of Gallo's impending "domestic arrangement", I took Celeste to the park to run off some of the stresses and frustrations that a sled dog can feel while living in a small flat with no yard. While we were there, we met another husky dog, who was about 5 years old. He was gorgeous, with a full coat of black hair, but absolutely no inclination to play. The woman who was with him said that he was 5 years old and now doesn't ever play. He goes many places with her, but is quite stoic and calm in all things. I hope the day never comes that Celeste doesn't want to play at least a little bit.
Then we met the most wonderful Irish Setter gal, who played and ran the legs right off Celeste. Celeste normally is the dominant one in play, boxing with her front legs and doing a lot of chest-butting, but this setter was the dominant one last weekend. She played with Celeste till Ms. Blue Eyes was bushed, then pushed her to run and did her own bit of boxing. Celeste didn't know what to think! Who on earth was this skinny shot of red? Why didn't she ever wear down? Luckily, a chunky pit bull boy on a leash came by and Celeste ran for cover when the setter turned her attention to him. We took our leave and dragged ourselves home to sprawl on the floor of the apartment.
Then on Sunday, we went to the beach! La Tiza is a beautiful private beach, with a restaurant and pool up the hill, in case the water of the sea is too cold or too dirty or whatever. Celeste visited the ocean for the first time. But, oooo, that sneaky ocean water! While she was chasing a retreating wave, another bigger one came rolling in. Celeste disappeared momentarily, then leapt into O's arms for protection...just as another big wave arrived. They BOTH disappeared again.
The afternoon was spent walking on the sand, chasing bug and sticks, tormenting other visitors, but never NEVER going near the water again. In spite of staying out of the water, Celeste developed an ear infection after her beach weekend and is at the vet's office as I am writing this.
And we passed a milestone...Celeste rode all the way to the beach and back, in the car, without puking a drop! Her hair is nearly all shed out, too, leaving her with a silky soft silver and black summer coat. She's gorgeous and nicely-behaved and, finally, a pleasure to ride with in the car. Celeste is growing up. She's not the crabby and demanding little princess that she had planned to be. She's learned to heel while on the leash, sit when we come to a stop, leave people alone unless invited to leap in their arms, and she's learned that home is the best place for any little girl to be.
The bad news is that we did all this without thinking of taking the camera.
2 comments:
What??? No camera?!?
You've done a great job with Celeste. She has come so far!
What a wonderful life Celeste has! You should be proud. I know the work it takes to get to this point, oh boy do I know, ha ha ha. At a meeting the other night one of the ladies had a 10 week old black lab she just started working with to be a guide dog. She does this in her spare time, NOW that is a saint if I ever saw one. As you know, I love my dogs, but am so very glad when the "Puppy" part is over. Avery is slow, still wants to pull on the leash and chase after things, but what a sweet heart he is, thankfully that makes up for most of his bad habits. As always, love reading your blog, thank you for being here.
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