Feb 5 Superbowl Sunday

Luckily we don't watch football so we have lots of time to spend with Flash. First, as usual, we took our morning walk on the ranch trail. Mom was washing her hair so we took Honey with us. Flash loves to run, run, run. We love it when he self-exercises.

Look how pretty he is. I brush him every day.

At the beginning of the morning walks, we feed the horses. This is my opportunity to hold Flash on leash and have him sit and meet the horses without lunging at them. He's getting a little better, but I was hoping he would like to be around the horses. He doesn't. He wants to growl and bark at them. If he had the opportunity, I'm pretty sure he would chase them, too. We really have to work on this. My dream is to have him run along on trail rides. We are far from this goal right now.

After the walk, we came back for breakfast. Flash is pretty good at leaving us alone while we eat. After breakfast I was doing chores around the house and Dennis played ball with Flash--in the house. We gave Flash a bone with some meat on it that we got at Sprouts. We looked for marrow bones but can't seem to find them, so Flash hit the jackpot. He spent a long time chewing his bone on the grass in the back yard.

Later, in the afternoon, I spent some time doing a training lesson with Flash. I was very happy to get him to stay for a limited time with me standing about 2 feet away. He's getting the idea, I think, but his main interest is the cookie in my hand.

Afterward, for playtime, Dennis took Flash for a long walk up the hills around the ranch. This was very good for all of us. The only problem was that Dennis brought him to the barn while he turned out the horses into the pasture and refilled the water buckets and put in their feed for the night feeding. He had Flash on a length of clothesline and tied him to the horse trailer while he did the chores. Flash broke loose and went into Doc's corral. Doc almost kicked him, but Dennis got Flash out of there quickly. Like I said, we need to work on the horse problem.

I looked out the window, though, and saw Flash and Dennis walking out in the main pasture where the horses were grazing and it didn't seem to bother Flash at all. Hmmmm.

Flash was exercised enough that he just lazed around the house in the evening. At one point he tried to bring his slimy bone in the house but I took it from him (no growling or anything!) and put it in his outdoor crate. He seemed okay with this.

All in all, I think the three of us are forming a family unit, especially since Flash now sleeps in the house on the floor at either my side or Dennis's side of the bed.