I have been working as much as possible the past couple of days. And, as you can see, there was some time to work, but not enough to make great leaps of progress. My goal for the week on the tapestry is to reach the bottom of the duck's neck at the very least by the end of this week. Get moving, lady!
I also began the painting for the Haiti exhibit, "Mourning News." I gessoed the newspaper to the canvas, then gessoed the areas for the plate and the cup. I have a goodly bit done on the cup, but have just started working on the plate. I hope to get more done on it today, as well.
In the meantime, Booker continues to need about the same supervision as a toddler would need. I started some chili yesterday afternoon, then went to the studio to sneak in some more work, hoping he would be good. In a few minutes, he turned up at the studio door with the can opener in his mouth. I guess I had left it on the counter. He loves to jump up and check out what I've left 'for him' on the counter (which we forbid, but...). I think maybe he brought it to me as a message that he's pretty sure that what comes out of cans would be better than his dry Puppy Chow!Actually, I think I have inadvertently trained this bad behavior... When he gets something he shouldn't have, I tell him to 'drop it' and 'leave it', then when he obeys, he gets a treat. So he has learned that, if he wants a treat when I'm otherwise occupied, all he has to do is to find and bring me some forbidden item. He is too smart for my own good. And, as far as progress goes in our Booker training, I'm not sure this is it!
6 comments:
It's so fun to watch your painting and tapestry take shape!!
I trained my dog to steal handwoven dishtowels off the counter when he was a pup. (He never took a can-opener though!) He just liked for me to chase him to get the towel back.
The only thing that cured him, or me, was that I had to spend 5 months on crutches. I was not about to chase him around on crutches....so he stopped stealing the towels really quickly.
Dogs are funny!! Good luck!
Sue
Is the Haitian piece going to become a tapestry? It so much reminds me of a 17th century lowland still life.
On stealing-I had/have the same problem with Chene. Chene does it to get attention. We finally had to just ignore the behaviour, which is hard. When we didn't chase him he stopped picking up bobbins, windups anything small and within reach that he thought we would chase him for. He wants to be chased. Now if I could just teach him to drop things on command. What a great skill to teach a dog-how fortunate! Once Chene has it in his mouth it's his and the battle is on, if we try and take it away from him.
He can hang on for hours. Poms are stubborn and arrogant 90% of the time. I think it's a Napolean complex. At 5lbs everything is bigger then him including the cats.
kathe
Kathy,
Those Booker eyes... so expressive! Seeing the photo of him and can opener just above the dirty nose one--both have quite different expressions--but both say, in their own ways, "I know I've been naughty, but... aren't I cute??"
The painting is coming along nicely. It gets across the message very clearly and without exploitation, I think.
Duck's swimming along quite well, too!
Tommye
I love how the painting is coming- very nice the mixed media element of the real newspaper- My lab always has to put something in his mouth when he comes in from the outside-unfortunately through the laundry room, which means it is usually a sock or something, to be chased around the coffee table, if there is no laundry to grab- he goes for the dog food bowls to carry, even the water dish- even if it contains water-that then is sprayed across the floor!
I make a point to not chase Booker for forbidden 'treasures.' He likes that game too much! He is good about bringing the stuff to me if he knows he'll get a treat, but that rewards the theft, too. I guess it also rewards the good behavior of turning himself in, though.
More duck weaving done today. I may reach that week's goal yet!
Thurs. 2/11/10 9:16am....the photo of Booker with the can opener is just what I need for a laugh after digging out of a 16inch blizzard on the East Coast....nothing was funny yesterday, yet photographically beautiful.....my Westie earned the name"Rock Lady" because she would constantly find and line up rocks in front of herself....she loves men/boys and metal tools and will spirit them away to her bed...I even bought her her own Sears Phillips screwdriver...one of her worst tricks (besides flinging stainless steel dogie bowls all over) was the day she got hold of a can of windshield-icer...she chewed the top off and then proceeded to push the button and de-ice her cage and bed tossing it about....today she is liking climbing the piles of shoveled snow to see if she can escape over the back-yard fence to find kids to play with...from Janet, always a dog-lover
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