Juno makes herself at home!

Her first night free she found a bag of catnip and opened it all over the floor, then proceeded to roll in it and get high all night! In the morning I think she was hung over! She must have decided this was a pretty cool place to be. They supply drugs, a warm bed, a handsome dude. In the photo below, the white towel is covered with catnip. I haven't cleaned it up because she is still enjoying it, her contraband supply of drugs. I pat her sometimes and she is covered in catnip! Silly girlie!! She is hardly feral, which in some ways bums me out, she probably should be an indoor kitty, but my house of hound horrors isn't exactly cat friendly. Perhaps she will acclimate and come in and handle them. She is trying REALLY hard to win over Zeus. She goes so far as to try to head butt him, which just makes him mad and risks a swat to her. She will learn. I am debating adding another female. The Friends of Feral Felines have another girl, who is "very playful" and perhaps might do well with Juno. I just don't know, I haven't had the best track record with feral kitties this year. Two ended up quite sick and not making it. And I think I better give it some time to see if Zeus and Juno end up sick from whatever he/she Leta had. That does worry me.

Things I learned yesterday......If you can't find Juno, you might look on the seat of the tractor. I called and called her yesterday morning, shaking her junk food jar and no Juno. I sat there for a few minutes, really quiet and felt eyes on me. Like Zombie eyes, creepy and weird feeling. Has Metis come back from the dead, over-seeing the new addition? I looked up and there she was on the seat, looking at me like I was an idiot. :D I am off to the BARK trial early tomorrow, so I won't be blogging until at least Tuesday. I am pretty excited about Spur's debut!!!!! His REAL trial debut! Although, I am a little worried about those darned contacts. He launched his A-frame both Tuesday and Wednesday nights at class. My running dog walks haven't carried over like Sylvia Trkman said it would. I don't know how she does it. Her Border Collie had FANTASTIC A-frame running contacts at the Worlds. She could even peel off and leave her and that dog ran right to the bottom, never stopping, never launching.

Yesterday I messed around with four-on-the-floor. For you non-agility people that is when the dog drops into a down on the ground after running over the A-frame. I worried that stopping Spur's momentum would worry him and slow his whole performance. When I asked for a definite hit on his hit-it board on the dog walk contacts, demanding that performance he got slow and started trotting his dog walk, worrying about making sure he was right. So, for that I have slacked off and started using the hoops to keep his head low and will just have to hope we get contacts on the dog walk at trials. At least, for now. The A-frame is different, though, and he seemed to really enjoy his "FLAT" at the bottom of his A-frame. That's my cue word........FLAT. I thought a different word might be helpful? Probably makes no difference at all, but I may not demand a held position, instead ask for just the behavior then move on. When I ask him for a "down", I want that behavior until I release him, like when he has to go down on the table. He must stay there until I release him. I have to mess around with this some and see what I want to do, but at least he isn't bumming out and seems to love running the frame then dropping into his "FLAT"! I'll take that, for now. He is such a project.

Last night at Rally class he looked like a different dog! We haven't done Rally class all summer and the other students saw a difference in him. He looked happy, motivated, working hard and not the worried little paw-wringing, melt down punkin head he was last spring. I was VERY proud! He is absolutely adorable when he heals. His fluffy fur flies, he prances along with his tiny white paws marching along to his beat, he loves it!!! He has come a long way this summer!