manrymission.com

Last week, Blaze observed me dead heading the flowers in my back bed.  He decided he would help in that endeavor, and would bite off the pincushion flowers at will.  Since then, I have attempted to thwart his attacks on my flower bed, and he defies me.  This morning, we were locked in a battle of wills.  I attempted to block his access to the flower bed, and he ran around me like a nut, avoiding my desperate grabs at him.  I would stand to the right, and he would dash around the lilac on the left.  I would move to block his trampling my cosmos, and he would circle back to the right.  When I would catch him and relocate him to another part of the yard, he would tear back there as fast as his little legs could run.  I was furious.  I finally grabbed him and brought him back inside to his crate.  Later in the day, I went back outside with him and after playing called him to come in.  He looked at me, peed on the ground, and ran off to hide under the yew bushes.  So, I crawled underneath, grabbed him, and put back in his crate.  I have been feeding him twice a day, as the breeder recommended.  His second meal had been at 1600 originally, but yesterday, at 1530, he was whining like he was starving, so I fed him.  Today, he decided to push it further and started whining to eat at 1430.  I made him wait a bit and fed him at 1500.  After I fed him, I took him outside and threw the ball.  He had been defying me all day, so I was prepared for him to take off with it.  Instead, he chased the ball, picked it up, carried it back to me, and for the first time - dropped it at my feet.  Of course, I praised him profusely.  But, the whole time I was thinking, “You smart alec!”