Lila update (with bragging rights)

The other day I had to go into town. Lila and I were on the front deck. I turned to her and told her: “I have to leave now. Do you want to go with me or stay here?” She then turned around, went in the door and into her kennel. Really!

She's eight months old now, forty pounds (I had hoped she would stop at thirty-five, but she had other ideas apparently), and full of boundless energy. Now that the major building stress is over, she is settling down, relatively speaking. We are starting a new obedience school, with a woman who teaches the clicker method. I think it will work well with Lila as she is so sensitive to sounds. It's taken a while (and lots of treats) for her to get used to my playing the piano. I've never had that problem before. My first dog, Miranda, would come and lie under the piano when I played. So far, Lila responds well to the beginner homework assignments with the clicker. The first class was just the owners, no dogs. This Monday Lila comes with me. Only eight dogs in the class. Should be interesting. She's obviously very intelligent, which also means very willful and testing me all the time! She understands both sides of what she is told to do!