Banksy is 11 months old.

Let me tell you an important skill Banksy's learning, maybe the one I'm most proud of right now.
Called: Laying Quietly on the Deck at Work while Horse are in the Arena Cantering and Jumping. Attached to a longline for just in case.

We have been working hard on this, called the patience. Having the patience. Having the Patience! Even when things are moving really fast. Patience happens at home too. You lay on that boring rug in the kitchen and you don't stare at dust and you don't get up and you just lay there til it's time to not lay there.

It's really not that bad. Patience.

There is more and more falling asleep by my feet on a quiet evening in the house. There's a clear understanding now of what is contraband of dog chewing.

There have been some personality conflicts and pushing of boundaries, and I have had to SHUT SOME OF THAT SHIT DOWN. I will say that, sometimes now, Otterpop has to be on a leash attached to me in the house, a leash which I like to call the happy good energy string of excellent vibes and white light, and when she is on that string, all dogs in the house have lovely and harmonious namaste together.

Yeah. Otterpop hates that hippie shit. Tough luck, Otterpop. We are training this puppy right. No bad karma.


There is the tennis ball brain. Tennis balls are kind of like OK WOW BRAIN OF WHAAATT?? for Banksy, so when we can work through tennis ball, right on. Otterpop and Banksy are sisters of the tennis ball, that's for sure. They have a little routine that is weird but they use cooperation and even if it means Banksy retrieves tennis balls to Otterpop when we're at the beach, I'll take it.


Every day, there has to be these things between Banksy and the Evil Witch:

Some brushing of the magnificentageddon fur explosion of magnificence. Because whoa. The hair.

There is some nail dremelling. Every f&*king day because this is how you get morning food from the Evil Witch. Every little bit counts.

There is some running at the field with everybody then there is some special just Banksy and Evil Witch time of stays and circle works and releases and listening and not running off to play with the damn labradoodle that wears the jacket and has the tennis ball launching thing by the guy with the dapper cap.

There is some staying in the quiet special Banksy pen at work and not howling. There are bones there. There is some walks and patience having on the deck. There is heeling. There is more staying in the pen. Or the car if there is howling.

There is enough time for somewhere nice of fast running after work because there is a little bit of light at the end of the day which is useful for some excellent running. There is some more circles and toy controls and stops and stays and gos and waits. All this stuff is disguised as fast running games of fun so nobody thinks that it sucks to be doing some stays. There are dog races. Ruby sits in the car when it's dog race time.

If it's an extra lucky day, there are agilities. Banksy loves agility. How much does Banksy love agility? She loves it the most. The agility is the LOVE. The Evil Witch holds the keys to the agility.

Every night now, Banksy loves the Evil Witch enough to follow her to bed and sleep at her feet on a blanket at the foot of the bed, right next to Ruby.

The patience, it's a work in progress. The apeshits of apeshit during the agilities, has it's ups and downs. There's a little bit of improvement. Banksy has to endure a dog show this weekend, the last one was Cynosports and that pretty much dialed the apeshits up to 11. I'm hoping this one is a lot more chill and there can be a lot more good dog moments.

Most of the time Banksy is a floppy, goofy, fluffy doofball of manic excitement of joyous frenzy. Except for when she isn't. Like I said. Some times have happened of shutting that shit down. In her heart, Banksy wants to be a really good girl. Her nature is to be super duper sweet and all squiggle wiggle of love bug. There are lapses, but they are fewer and farther between.


11 months. That's almost a year. A lot of things are coming together, although I scratch my head and think, how did we get here? She keeps me on my toes. She changes the rules a lot, and she can change them fast. Good thing I have a lot of toes. I am gonna need them.