Sunday, November 01, 2009

One Missing Puppy

Just a quick snapshot of what I’ve done so far. The colors are off because the white balance on the camera was not very accurate. Lots of little Corgi faces & one puppy hasn’t found it’s way home yet, so it’s slow and steady progress on this card, which seems like it’s taking forever, because right now I have so little time to paint! But I expect that will change soon.

When we got our now Corgi ‘Lily’ as a puppy I would describe our early relationship as pretty contentious. Grover, my first Corgi was two when I got him and Maggie our next one, was over 6 months old. I quickly found out that little tiny puppies are cute, fuzzy and adorable for a good reason. They have to be so you’ll forgive them AGAIN and AGAIN because they can also be mischievous and headstrong. After they’ve just torn open your new vinyl kitchen floor, they look up at you with those big puppy dog eyes that melt your heart, and they learn quickly that you’ll forgive them every time (sucker!)

My husband used to call her ‘Atila The LIL’ which he borrowed from Atila The Hun, she was that headstrong, and if she’d been born a human she’d definitely be leader of the free world by now, and Obama would be carrying her doggie bags.

So OK, now it was my job to train her, to be firm and consistent in reinforcing the rules. That took a bit of training for me - a puppy 'newbie' - as I had to learn that it was my actions that would in the end get the results I wanted. There is a hole in our kitchen floor, currently covered by a rug, that reminds me daily of my beginning failures. However, somehow we got thru it, she & I, and now Lily is my loving & best friend. Go figure!

7 comments:

magicmyst said...

This is looking beautiful and those corgies are ever so cute. The colors are lovely and soft. Well done so far. Kay

Karen Hargett said...

I'm loving this - you have such a wonderful way with these cards - brings a smile to my face everytime.

I had to laugh at your puppy corgi stories - I think we have all been there at one time or another.

Cathy said...

This is looking really good Holly. I love the way you do your cute little corgi's faces. Your Lily sounds a real mischief maker but I am glad you found a common ground in the end. I should image puppy and dog training to be very demanding but very rewarding in the end.

Holly Zemak said...

Thanks Kay - I hope to finish up soon, but I have said that before. So, I will just keep plugging away, sooner or later it will be finished.

Holly Zemak said...

Karen - We all have animal stories, now I laugh at my kitchen floor. But trust me, I was not too happy when she did it.

Holly Zemak said...

Hi Cathy - I am still plugging away here. And Lily is curled up under my drawing table taking a nap.

Nimfa and my Welsh Corgi said...

I'm a newbie in training pets too. But I always watch Dog Whisperer in National Geographic and somehow it helps.