Another morning with river mist – it’s quite heavy until the
sun comes through.
We were having breakfast when a toot toot took me to the
side hatch just in time to wave goodbye to No Problem. I do hope that Vic’s back gets better soon
otherwise Sue will be single handing up the Oxford.
Culham Lock was on self-service and it must have taken at
least 30 minutes to fill – crazy!
Clifton Lock had a Lockie.
We pulled over above Day’s Lock where we stopped in July for
lunch. However it was such a glorious
day that we decided to stay put. I put
my chair out on the bank and finished my book, caught up on blogs and did some
training with Muffin.
Muffin suffers from separation anxiety and it is definitely
getting worse. While we were at home the
other week we saw a dog psychologist to help us so that we can leave him at
home alone. We have had a few disasters
through the winter – the worst being when he decimated a plastic swing bin
while he was shut in the utility room!
We now know what we have to try and do but some of it isn’t going to
work on the boat. That bit is the actual
leaving of him. We tried it once for two
minutes and he got himself so worked up.
He is so used to going everywhere with us on the boat whereas home is
different so we will work on that one when we are home. We have been trying some training but we are hopeless
and keep forgetting! However we have
been working hard on heel work – Candy suggested that we buy him a “snout
collar” or a harness that goes round the nose and the neck. He spent the first 10 minutes trying to get
if off then gave in! He now walks to
heel nicely with it on as it is obviously uncomfortable when he tries to
pull. More work is needed and then we
have to try it without the harness on.
We have also been working on “fetch” – he now goes after the ball but
when he comes back he drops it about 10 feet in front of us! If he brings it right back he gets a treat
but usually he still drops it and comes on to us for a treat – which he doesn’t
get! Muffin is no longer allowed to sit
on the sofa with us in the evenings – he has to lie on the floor. He also has to ask if he wants to come up on
our knee and we don’t always say yes.
Also we have to stop eye contact with him – now that one I find hard
when you know his little face with those big brown eyes are looking at
you! Still we both feel that improvement
has been made – the main goal is to be able to leave him on the boat next
summer if we want to go out for a meal!
We cracked open a bottle of wine about 5.30pm as we wanted
to make the most of the sunshine. It was
really lovely watching the sun go down while sitting in an idyllic location
with a glass of wine in hand on October 2nd!
A lot of people moor just above Day’s Lock but we feel that our little
spot is better.
7.5 miles
2 locks
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