Little stinker

Pooka was waiting, seated, at the fence when I walked in to retrieve her from day care. And was very happy to see me.

But when I got her in the car, I was almost knocked unconscious by the strong smell of urine. This is bad, I thought. Turns out the wild storms in the city had caused something of a flood at the day care center, which somehow translated into dirty, pee-smelly dog. We drove immediately to Mud Bay, where I bought shampoo and a scrubber, and after a walk and dinner I wrestled the poor kid into the tub. The process involved me in a bathing suit, with a leash lashed around my waist, squatting in the tub with soggy treats and a very unhappy animal. She'd put up with my splashing and scrubbing for a bit, then slowly but intently lean toward the lip of the tub. Like she could just will herself out of the shower and I wouldn't notice. Nice try, kid.

The rain that put much of Washington state, including a section of our freeway, under water has stopped, so we'll try that place again tomorrow. Day care lady swore up and down that it was not the norm.

Obedience class last night just wasn't as much fun as last week. The regular trainer, and head dude at Sound Animals, doesn't seem quite as nice as the woman who replaced him last week. And instead of lots of activities, he talked a lot, leaving the animals squirmy and whiny (well, Pooka, at least; in the case of the beagle pups, squirmy and howly). He has this idea that his dogs can teach the other dogs how to be polite canines...but watching them, I just found them to be grown-up dogs, and less interested in playing than Pooka. Sure, they can decline to wrestle with the wonderdog, and they are very well-trained and well-behaved. But the idea that they can "patrol" the play time and know that their responsibility is to keep everyone in line feels overblown to me. The man clearly has had lots of practice, but I get the feeling that he's read the same books I have.

In sum: the jury is still out on whether this guy is going to be very useful for me and the Pook. I think I'll start clicker-training at home and see how that goes.