Guard Dog

Lizzy showed a different side of her personality today. We were at the park and she started barking and acting a little defensive. She seldom barks unless she sees another dog she wants to meet and occasionally when she gets woken up by a loud noise. But today she woke up every other dog in the area with her barking. And I could not see what had her riled up. The only thing in that area was a snowman. As we crossed the park to check out what had her going, it became clear that the object of her concern was snowman . It was not a great snowman, about 3 feet tall and very thin, but a snowman. Once Lizzy got a chance to smell it, she was fine and we went along smelling another area. The strange thing about the whole incident was that we were at the park yesterday afternoon and the the snowman never bothered her. But today was a different matter.

Ice

We had an ice storm last week. Luckily it wasn't a bad one. The second wave mostly missed us but what we had was bad enough for me. It brought up my concern of walking Lizzy since I hate walking on ice. Sad to say I took the easy way out. For several days, I just put her out in the back yard to do her business when we were home. I still had to walk her at work but sidewalks were clear there. Of course, she jumped the fence several times. But she came home within 20 or 30 minutes.
But she finds the piles of ice and sleet left by the plows fascinating. She will sniff on one area for minutes, maybe paw the ice and then jump around excited. Then it is off the the next section of the pile. She is slipping and sliding but it does not seem to bother her if there is a good scent to follow.
The new issue is at work. She has decided to nap on the sofa/futon. Even with the extra padding under the carpet, the floor can be cold but the sofa is not. But I only find her lying there, never getting on it. I think this is going to be a hard habit to break her of.
Next step is to figure out how to contain her during tax season with lots of people coming in and out. Right now the concern is her getting out the door. Actually, my clients are more concerned than I am. I know she is greeting them at the door to start the smelling process. I am thinking a tether to the back desk when things get crazy. Mostly, I'll play it by ear.