field notes, v-xxiv-xii

I've recently started taking more treats on our walks - it's not that I was skimping before, but Ondine pulls less strenuously and loses her interest in cars a lot faster when I increase the frequency of the rewards.

Lately she flops over and rolls in the grass every time we go to the park. She gets up and continues walking right away, but the flop has become a ritual.

A beefy yellow lab and some sort of slobbering baskervillian hound were wandering unattended as we left the park tonight. They caught sight of us from a hundred yards away and charged but I squared off with them and hollered, "No! Go home!" They backed down. Ondine stayed calm throughout but as we turned to go she seemed grateful that I took charge of the situation. (My next move would have been to throw a handful of treats in their faces. Kind of a Hail Mary but sometimes it works. I stopped a beagle in his tracks that way once.)