While waiting for dogs...

[bunn]

The other day the dogs went looking for rabbits and I got cross with them.  This is a major mistake.  It doesn't mean they come back faster next time. It means they get upset and emotional and do more undesirable things.    The way to get them to do what I want is to be very relaxed and happy and not at all insistent.  Control by letting go, or something along those lines...

So next time they went looking for rabbits, I sat down and admired the view.  There were larks and gorse in bloom, with its scent that is supposed to smell like coconut but to me just smells like gorse.   After a while I got bored, so I built a tiny tower out of gorse blossoms, and planted it in a pool.


Eventually, the dogs returned.  They were, if I'm honest, much more interested in the pool than the flower art (for they had been running and bouncing a great deal) But they were very happy, and much more relaxed, so all was well.

Comments

[dinahprincedaly.livejournal.com]

Yep cross does me in with the pups too. Sounds like you really know how to let it go in a nice way!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think the sighthounds have done a great job training me that being shouty and impatient is really, REALLY counterproductive. The hardest thing is when you lose your temper and are trying to hide it, but they always know. I think they can smell it!

[huinare.livejournal.com]

The arty gorse is very charming. What's it strung (skewered? Somehow that sounds too violent in this context) on?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It's on a grass stalk. I discovered that gorse flowers fall apart at once, unless you skewer them through what I *think* is called the lower sepal. Sort of under their tiny golden chins :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I always think gorse smells of sun cream. From this I deduce that we had coconut scented sun cream when I was little and encountered my first gorse. It's such a strong association that even now, whenever I catch a whiff of sun cream on a passing person, I look round for the gorse, even if I'm on an urban seafront, and even if it's a type of sun cream that doesn't smell remotely gorse like.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I grew up in a place where there was ample gorse, and I'm sure there was very little coconut - so I think of that scent as just 'gorse'

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

That's lovely - a tower of sunlight!

I also struggle to be cheery when I've been calling Max frantically for five minutes, think him lost, and he emerges casually from a gorse-clump three feet away.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Fortunately on this occasion, I could sort of see them - they kept popping up and peering at me. But given the speed they travel and the rough heather, there was no way I could hope to get close to them unless they decided to let me!