Finn and the bells

There are lots of ching! things around this time of year, some of them friendly and some of them not.  Curlmom hung bunches of ching!s on the inside and outside of the door. She is trying to get Rolydog to hit the ching!s with his nose when he wants to go out, and come in, instead of scratching the door frame.  i like to leap up when i want to come in, but i can also tap the ching!s with my nose.  Curlmom gets so happy when i do that, she's funny.

That would be fine, if that was the only place that the sound happens, but there are some ching!s on the indoor greentree (what's it doing here, anyway?).  When i duck under the greentree to look out the window, somehow Curlmom and Curldad know i'm there, and call me back.  And, some days there are ching!s on the edges of the cookingroom counters, so if i peek up to pull a treat down for Roly (it's all his idea!), the ching! jumps down at me, and the humans tell me to stop (even if they didn't see me!)
So, is a ching! a friend, or foe?
Finn, on patrol

Finn gets Mail!!

Today i got a flat newspaper in the mail! Rolydog says he's never had flat thing.  It smelled like mailmen, but also like Uli! I opened it myself, and Curlmom read it to me.  It's nice to know Uli and beardeddude are thinking of me. i used to like barking at the mailman, but maybe i've changed my mind... or not

Finn and Tallbrother

Tallbrother is here as well, and you can tell he has a dog (well, I can tell, i have an excellent nose). His dog must be taller than i am, cause his scent goes up past Tallbrother's knee. Tallbrother had us working on "leave it". He set a row of treats on a chair, then had us sit quietly until he gave us one.  The treats tasted just like my dogfood, so i wasn't fooled, but i played along to show Rolydog that i know how this training thing works. Tallbrother was impressed, i think.
Many exciting events here, will continue to report - after i track this squirrel!
Finn, on patrol

Finn and the Huxley

well, it's getting busy around here, Tallsister arrived.  I've met her before, but this time she brought a squirrel with her! She took over OUR room, where Rolydog and i sleep on the bed during the day, and where my crate is for nighttime.  They moved the crate and dogbed into the almost-outside room, and gave Tallsister and her squirrel our space! At first the door was closed most of the time, but i could smell that there was something in there that wasn't a human, and it wasn't a dog, so it must be a squirrel.  A weird squirrel, though, because it has a collar with a bell.  I like to bark at squirrels, so the first time i met it i barked my usual charming "hey!hey! hey!" bark.  The humans were not impressed, and the squirrel made a strange hissing sound.  It took a while but i figured out where i'd heard that sound before - the Huxley!  But they weren't calling it a Huxley, they were calling it a "cat" or a "Abilene".  Finally after a day or two peeking over the gate they set up in the door, i got a better look at it, and now i realize it's a Huxley, so i approach slowly, tail wagging, ready to retreat skitterfast.
I can get along with a Huxley, i'm a smart dog.
Finn, on patrol.

Finn heels

so it turns out there are 2 kinds of heels (different from the shoe thing in last post)... there is the heel rolydog and i use mostly: dog moves along at side of person, but with head ahead of person's heel, so as to guide person and look out for interesting objects (food wrappers or fallen fruit if you're rolydog, bicycles or runners or dogs or squirrels if you're me). Curlymom and i are also working on the other kind of heel, the one where the dog's back farther, so the person is actually leading the walk.  This kind of heel means the dog has to trust the person to take care of things like bicycles, people, squirrels, etc. before we reach them.  i, of course, know how to heel this way - i do it when tinkermom walks me, and when tallsister arrived i did it for her right away - but i'm just figuring out that curlymom knows how, too. 
The problem is if i heel and rolydog doesn't, i'm squished between his belly and curlymom's leg, but we'll teach him this week, cause  Curlymom's on "vacation" - that's what it's called when humans have more time to play with dogs.

Last week's post (i think it was last week, not good with dates)

Finn log: Finn and the shoes
So, i've been doing an ongoing study of shoes that curlymom wears. if she gets up and puts on dark shoes and socks, she's going away for all day, and forget about a walk. if she puts on dog-walking shoes when she's in her den, then she's STILL going away for a long time, no walk. BUT if she puts on dogwalk shoes in the playroom by the couch, you have a pretty good chance of a walk. The most important part is to not let her sit down on that couch EVER, especially when she gets home, no matter which shoes she has on. the other day she sat down, so i brought her one of the dogwalk shoes: picked it up and went out the back door with it, trying to explain that the shoes needed to go outside, too. She laughed, but no go with the walk until later when she thought i'd forgotten the whole thing. i hadn't of course, so now i know how to make her laugh AND get a walk. i'm a smart dog!
Finn, on patrol.