Tess has a new friend!

I hadn't planned to centre this post around any one thing, but it's turning out that way, so here goes...

The most exciting developments over in Bon-land at the moment are to do with our afternoon walk with TessBug ("The Bug" is her nickname :)). Tess is going through a bit of a dominant phase at the moment, which I think started with her just reaching an age where she decided to challenge our authority, and was made worse by my over-cuddling of her during the long period when I will pretty ill. She's doing really well at the moment though - we take her to dog training as often as we can, and she's starting to get the idea that she doesn't have to assert her dominance over every dog she meets.

Walks are of course an excellent time to work on her obedience and socialisation, and there are many, many houses on our route equipped with dogs who will charge out to their front gates as we pass. Sometimes we have to put Tess into a down position when this happens, and keep working her until she accepts that WE will take charge of the situation, and she has to stay quiet and submissive. Other times she will heel past quietly with her ears back, and it's so satisfying when this happens :)

There's one particular dog on our route who will come running out to his gate, but in a friendly manner rather than a territorial manner. He's a gorgeous, medium sized white doggie, but quite timid - he's happy to sniff Tess's butt when she faces away from his gate, but when she turns around he tends to back off a bit. Well today he got a bit braver and let me and Mr Bon give him a pat :) It turns out his name is "Chardy", and he's such an awesome dog - so friendly to us, and so friendly to Tess, who is usually still a bit on edge after being charged at by the two dogs a couple of doors down. I don't know if Chardy's owner will ever stumble across this, but if they do - you have a gorgeous dog, with a lovely disposition :)

I will try to get a picture of Tess and Chardy one day soon - Chardy does a beautiful play bow :D

So, apart from that, not a lot else going on. Retic is still borked :(

I had my weekly clinical pilates appointment today, with my awesome phsyio sister-in-law, and I can't stop gushing about how well it's going. I still have a long way to go to strengthen the muscles I haven't been using, but the horrible, tense muscles which I have been overusing for years - they've gone quiet!! I think I might even be able to meditate now without my neck muscles causing me intense pain - I'll have to try that soon. If you have any kind of lingering pain issue, I can't recommend a good physio enough - even if your exact problem isn't something they can fix, they'll know who can fix it.

Vegies are doing quite well now, and I've even found some time for a bit of weeding. I'll try to put up a picture of the vegies on the weekend. I did find a bug in the vegie patch I couldn't identify the other day - black wings, a red head, and a bright yellow abdomen. I took some photos, but the only ones that came out well focused are the ones where the critter is facing away from the camera.