Gideon Comes Along

Gideon did better than I did this weekend.

While Gideon was running through the go-to-ground pipe with no more encouragement than a piece of kibble (I think he is going to be great in the field), I failed to catch a squirrel for his critter practice. It would have helped, of course, if I had baited the Havahart trap for a few days before hand, but I failed to do that. Live and learn.

What I did to, Saturday morning, was rip out my back doing yard work. It wasn't the junior lumberjack--with-a-chainsaw stuff that laid me out -- I did that first. It was the hedge clippers! Somehow I held them in such a way, for a long enough period of time, that I ripped a long muscle out on one side of my back. It had gotten worse by Sunday (I could barely stand), so I called the spouse in Chicago (she is at a convention) and asked her where she kept the stuff that makes pain in the back go away. Two of those pills helped a little, but I am still not 100%.

Gideon and I are working on two things: going up and downs stairs, and a basic sit. Gideon is not used to stairs, so I have been putting a light parachute cord on him for encouragament. As for sitting, the position seems entirely foreign to him -- he likes to stand, thank you very much. We are working on a basic sit, nonetheless, if for no other reason than a sit is the doorway to "lie down" and "roll over."

Gideon loves toys and he seems to already know his name. He has done very well with our basic morning and evening routine, and he is easy to bathe and seems to enjoy it.

Gideon is a bit fascinated by TV, and he seems to especially like dramatic action music and fight scenes. He does not like power tools -- or perhaps he thinks they are alive. The blower, the lawn hedger, and the chainsaw all generate a lot of baying on his part -- he has a voice and it's pretty deep! No worries about the chainsaw, by the way -- he was locked in the garage while that tool was in motion!
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