In heat

It has warmed up here suddenly and it seems the little black dog is slowing down. Although it might be this new harness we got which is supposed to train her to not pull as much.

Schedule

Noticed a puddle in the kitchen which may or may not be pee, which may or may have been left by cookie which may or may not be because I did not take her for a walk at three (we had been out after lunch) or may or may not be a response to freaking out because of how r handles her.

Objects of interest

Cookie gets excited by small fast moving things. Yesterday we were at a field where swallows came swooping by and I could hardly hang on to the leash. This morning a raccoon strolled across the alley and although Cookie looked up, she did not react much beyond that.

Other Dogs

I never know what Cookie will do when we meet other dogs.

Today she was calm and quiet with a few and growls with some others.

Possibly older ones are better.

I think other black dogs set her off.

Barking

The last few days Cookie has been barking for not obvious reasons. I think it has been decreasing. At first I was ignoring it because I didn't want to reinforce it with attention. But then I was told I needed to acknowledge them, so I have been going to look. I don 't know if this is helpful or not.

Patch

We noticed a small (1 cm2) bare patch of skin on her hind foot.

Mysterious.

The vet clinic said monitor it for few days.

Surprise

We were out for a little walk and approached our home lane when a boy on a skateboard startled Cookie. She barked and he almost fell off and swore and told me to control my dog. 

Encounters

On our morning constitutional this, We approached a large dog and a woman. She was just saying how nice her dog was unless provoked when it lunged at Cookie. Last night at obedience class, the instructor was talking about socializing with other dogs but R had gotten cranky and so I had to take her outside and then Cookie was so distracted L did not hear what was said. So I'm not sure what to do about other dogs.

We just got a dog. It was not my idea.