Piano Lesson

We setup shop in my piano studio, (Wag Walker gigs are part time, and my main income comes from teaching and playing piano.) With a concert coming up in a few weeks (and with the fact that I am still writing some of the compositions for this concert, yet alone learning the music) I knew Inwoild be spending a lot of time downstairs. Gunner would also have a guest bed (guest bedroom off the studio), sofa, and tons of room. He wasn’t used to crates and, being so well trained and house broken, I wasn’t concerned about damage :). However, I soon found that he really doesn’t like to be left alone, so he ended up sleeping with me upstairs lol .... more on that later.

At any rate, we unpacked (his owner sent food, vitamins, treats, toys, his blanket, various leashes, bowls, even cooked chicken to help motivate him to eat etc.), and filled his water bowl, food dish. , , Feeling that we needed to find a way to connect and bond, I decided to give him a piano lesson! He already knew shake, and add to that his brilliance, I found him easier to teach than most of my human students! I love his gentle touch .... he would do well with Impressionistic composers like Debussy and Ravel. Most definitely.

Next, as my official taste tester, he helped me chop up some of the training treats we had purchased. The results: YES to minnows and chicken hearts. NO to chicken liver.  HOHUM to cod skin. Maybe later to sweet potato.

The next activity was a good walk and we tried out a trike ride so he could really get some movement going. We live on a really quiet, dead end street, so it’s great for walking and running. More on the trike ride later!

Pickup Day

Gunner, a 10 year old Siberian Husky, is our 1st houseguest through Wag Boarding services. He will be staying with us through Christmas Day and we have a stocking ready for him and everything!

On the ride home from his apartment in downtown Birmingham, I caught Gunner (who was riding in the back of the Pathfinder) staring at me through the rear view mirror. He was checking me out ...sizing me up. Of course, as soon as we made eye contact through the mirror, he looked away ... just like a human who is caught at staring at someone. Gunner really is quite brilliant and you can see why Husky owners would own no other breed. (The DNA would probably come back part human.)

Before heading home, we made a stop at one of my favorite dog stores, Alabama Pet Foods in Pelham, Alabama. A locally owned business, they carry  high end foods like Fromm, Farmina N&D, Earthborn, and are so knowledgeable and helpful. With them, it’s all about the dog. 

They have a store pit bull who is very sweet .... an old girl with a beautiful grey coat .... so Gunner and I had a chance to see how he would do with another friendly dog. (Gunner’s owner said he was fine with most other dogs, and she has owned him his entire life, even bottle feeding him as a puppy). But I’m still always overly cautious, since dogs don’t tend to relay their thoughts and feelings  from prior therapy sessions on their stresses and concerns ahead of time. Always in the moment, it’s more like wag, fast wag, ears up, eyes wide, and boom .... 

Thankfully, Gunner was amazing at having his genitals sniffed (bless his heart .... how humiliating) and was ever the gentleman at meet and greet and even leash walking. (He is indeed very well trained.)  We walked up and down every aisle as he sniffed everything from freeze dried duck heads, to bully sticks (I won’t say what part of the animal this is), to chicken feet and minnows. He was awesome at “leave it” UNTIL he found the $9 amazing salmon/rawhide roll. Yep, this was the one I had to buy for him as his houseguest gift. (And he is treasuring it!) 

In the aisle with the pet beds, Gunner’s body language changed. I looked closedly and, yes, there was their store cat. We quickly redirected to the freeze dried aisle as Gunner was getting a little too excited (and I was warned that he didn’t much like cats.) Still, through. He as an amazing gentleman and respectful of my request to change aislesz 

Gunner has superb taste in helping me pick out items for Christmas stockings and then we headed home, where we started the house tour in the fenced back yard. I know already this is going to be an amazing experience and I’m so glad I joined WagWalker.com !!