So here's the short of it, 
Nice surprise tonight. 

And here's the long.

Liga worked an early shift and got off by 7 tonight so she stopped by to have some of our leftover dinner.  She got a quick dinner that she didn't have to fix and I got a chance for a nice visit.  So I think that was a win-win! And a lovely surprise.

Sophie and I spent a bit of time this evening working on her fetch the ball trick. She loves to play catch... but when she brings the ball back to me, she doesn't want to let it go to have me throw it for her again. She wants to gnaw on it while I'm holding onto it in her mouth. I want her to learn how to bring it to me and then drop it on the ground so I can pick it up!  Well, this evening, I accidently dropped a piece of the turkey bacon we had for dinner so I tore it into little pieces and took it outside to use as a training treat for dropping the ball.  Sophie could not focus on the task at hand.  She knew I had that bacon, and she did not want to do anything for it but sit and look pretty.  Well, she was really ready to go through the "sit", "shake", "high-five", "lay down", "speak", or even the "wait" tricks that she already knows, but she and I had to have a real conversation before she understood that she was going to have to fetch the ball and bring it back to me and then drop it before she would get the bacon. She was even running around behind me when I put my hand behind my back.  Oh what fun it is to have this wonderful dog!

So here's the short of it, 
Sophie and I are training again!

And here's the long.

It appears our winter is gone. The weather today was really nice. This morning was a little damp, but pleasant.  I was out and about in schools today and the weather made it really nice for that.

By the time I got home, Sophie was ready for her walk - and I was sure ready to be walking her too!  We are working on the command "Sit".  She is really good about sitting for me in the house unless she's just super excited.  We are working on her sitting if she's outside, off leash, and some distance from me.  She's making progress!  I'm very excited about this.  We have a leash law here in Chattanooga, but here on the Circle, most of the dogs play with one another in a very social fashion and are not leashed.  We do have lots of people who walk with their dogs in the neighborhood and sometimes they come into the Circle and let their dogs off leash.  Or sometimes the dogs in the circle go up to the "visitor" and there's a bit of commotion.  So I want to be able to tell Sophie to sit and then go leash her up for her own safety and for the comfort of those who walk on the Circle and don't really know her.

We had an incident a week or so ago with a dog in another part of the neighborhood who burst out of his house and attacked a man and his 8 month old lab puppy who were walking (with the dog on leash).  So many of the folks in the neighborhood are on high alert about dogs, and I want to be very respectful of those feelings.  So we are going to work on sit and then getting leashed up and continuing our walk.