Happy Birthday to Cabana!

Cabana is ONE!
I won't continue on with my bazillion things at bazillion months--all good (and not so good) things must come to an end. And trying to think of so many things to make a list every month was taxing! I will commemorate by saying that Cabana is a sweet, energetic and happy puppy.

The hats in the photo may be fake, but I did celebrate my birthday this week, too. Although 45-years old may not qualify me for any senior discounts at Denny's, I'm feeling a bit decrepit these days!

My left hand and arm are taking a toll from taking care of Cabana. I'm very left-handed (my right hand is quite inept), and I use my hands all day for work (sewing, graphic design) and hobbies (gardening, computer). I have had problems in the past with carpal tunnel and repetitive motion injuries, which make me very susceptible to re-injury.

Holding Cabana's leash during walks, coupled with the pressure of making dozens if not hundreds of small corrections over and over, is probably the major stresser on my left hand. It's not that Cabana pulls overly much even (although she definitely does her share), but simply wrapping my fingers around the leash has become uncomfortable. I've taken to looping Cabana's leash around the belt of my camera case (which holds a bit of kibble, my keys, and a just-in-case poop bag). Being able to let go of Cabana's leash for even a few seconds every 5-10 minutes seems to help.

What DOESN'T help is that I like to hold Cabana's bones for her in the evening while watching a TV show. Or that one of Cabana's favorite games is tug-of-war. I have cut back on doing these things with her, but it makes me sad because she loves them so much.

At the one year marker, Cabana still hasn't gone into season!! I'm looking forward to this milestone because I have heard that female dogs get calmer after their first heat, and because Cabana will be at the GDB kennels for the 3-week duration. It's not that I want to "get rid" of Cabana--I know I will feel quite lonely and even slightly worried about her when she's away from us. But I'm hoping that the long break will give my hand and arm some time to recover.

For now, we will celebrate Cabana's birthday with lots of new toys (I went a bit crazy at Petco last week with birthday money burning a hole in my pocket) and some extra kibble (just a little) for dinner.

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Thanks for the Great Comments!!

After posting my Tuesday Topic about career change, the next day I had an "episode" with Cabana that made me think that she was definitely going to be joining the career change ranks. But after talking to my puppy group leader (thank you, Cassie!), we're not crossing her off the working dog list yet!

In the midst of my worries, I was so grateful that I had gotten to read about other puppy raisers' career change scenarios. Thank you, thank you to everyone who shared so openly about their experiences. There's such a wide range of reasons, and like everyone said, no definite way to predict what's going to happen. I agree that it's best to live in the moment, just accept the good and work on the not-so-good.

What was Cabana's episode? Well, she just got extremely feisty with me at the end of our morning walk. I don't think she would have hurt me, but she was definitely letting me know she wasn't happy. She's done this before (jumping, flailing, mouthing), but it was to a larger degree this time. It took a lot longer to calm her down enough so we could get back home.

But today on our walk, she was back to her usual self--still pulling some, but that's normal. I do feel like she's shown some improvement in her level of dog distraction--but she still has a LOOONNNG way to go in that department.


I took this photo at SB Lake. Finally, there's actually some water in the lake, thanks to all the rain last month. Previously, the lake had about 1" of water in it, so it's nice to see all the ducks and geese and swans there, swimming around instead of sitting in dry caked mud.

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