Bark Busters

Kevin from Bark Busters with Fernando the Great. His technique is amazing--based on treating Fernando like the wolf he is. And basically training me to accept he is not human and can't be expected to act like one. Most importantly that I always be the Alpha wolf. That is the key. It is a much harder job than one would think. Being an Alpha wolf means something much different than being an Alpha human. I must ignore all his requests for play, attention--otherwise he is leading me. I must never let him lead going down or up stairs and he must never go through a door before I tell him it is OK. These are just a few of the things we are learning. My correction is a growl "BAHH!" Which, after an entire day, makes my throat raw. Also, by evening Fernando really starts to try to dominate and by that time I am spent. Evening are the hardest, I just want a break from being Alpha wolf. And Fernando senses this and pulls out all his tricks to try to gain domination.
Peter is in Vancouver.
I took the gals out to Tim's for breakfast today. Pip refused to go to preschool. After about an hour she decided she'd try it again. She said, "maybe I had cold mom. But now I all better, so I changed my mind!" I think it was that I mentioned that they'd be talking about pumpkins and doing Halloween crafts all day. When I dropped her off, a little boy ran over and hugged her and introduced himself to me, "I'm Carter." A little gentleman. Artemis was thrilled her cuz had decided to show up after all. She grabbed her hand and led her away from " that Carter." She wasn't going to have some boy steal her fav cousin away, when she'd only just arrived.
I am still recovering from a difficult emotional roller-coaster--feel like I'd been trampled by 100,000 stampeding bison. However, it means for me being more vigilant about my responsibilities and recognizing those that aren't mine. My appetite always plummets under serious emotional stress. But the anxiety fuels my energy so I'm up and at it working out. This is a good side effect. At least if my head falls apart, my body will still be fit.
And on a poo-poo note, the neighbors pulled out of wanting to split the cost of a backyard fence. Rather unneighborly and cheapskate of them, I do declare.