From Koven's perspective, today was his best day in Nevada so far--at least that's what he told me. Despite the original plan where he helps motivate me to get out of bed, mornings are all snuggly--Koven on one side of the bed, The Cat on the other, me in between. Eventually I realize I have some mandatory non-Koven centered commitments and he and I agree that we should take a brisk morning walk to problem solve the non-Koven commitments. Our walk paid off in a big way because we finally got to meet the three dogs next door. It's a pack of three: a senior boxer, middle-aged pit bull and an eight month old pit bull. Their humans are very nice, and Koven was invited into the yard to play. Nothing is so blissful and puppies playing. Despite the common perceptions about pittis--these guys are fabulous and not at all aggressive. Koven is so desperate for dogs to play with, and he can play long and hard with Juda--he is much faster and a good little wrestler whenever he allows himself to be caught.
On the domestic side, the almighty Dinofelis Sunshine Qiviut the first has finally agreed to allow Koven and me in his house. The line about "ain't nobody happy if mama ain't happy" manifests in my world by replacing "mama" with "The Cat." Said cat hasn't allowed any sort of play or cuddling with Koven, but they sniff at each other regularly and get through the day without conflict.
Koven and I took our first off leash walk this evening at a dog park in the northwest part of town. He isn't especially keen on going off to frolic in his freedom, but he did do a little exploring and sagebrush/rabbitbrush hurdling. We saw a bunch of rabbits and he didn't chase, he pooped off-trail, stayed very near to me and when he did get ahead of me, he seemed to sense we weren't in line-of-sight and came dashing back to check in. At one point he saw a couple of dogs playing and headed that way, and when it became clear they didn't want him in their club, I called him, and...he came--with enthusiasm. I'm glad he has some ideas about the recall--my nephew asked me when I was going to train Scout to come; Scout, at this point, was twelve years old. I am so thrilled about having a pup who is very responsive and not a chaser or bully--it gives us so much access to doing the stuff we love.
Treats seem to be one of Koven's reasons for living. However, it's surprisingly hard to find treats of a quality worthy of this boy. Which means I performed a tremendous gift of love when I bought chicken livers--one of the most disgusting concepts and sensually repulsive encounters I've had recently. They got boiled and cut up--and before putting them away Koven did every behavior he could think of in the hopes of a liver reward. When I finally asked him to do some work for those treats, he was ready.
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