Tag Archive | puppy

Need vs Want

Have you ever been pulled and tugged and pushed to fill a want when you know you have other needs you need to fulfill first? Like…obligations?

I am behind on word count. It’s a need. I need to get 5700 words done today on She-Wolf. I need to work on a bear and get it finished this weekend so I can ship it on Monday. Those are deadline needs.

But I also needed to vacuum and mop the floors. And dust. I did the floors, and some of the dusting. I also washed all the puppies’ bedding, towels I used on them, etc. I have too many needs.

Tanner the Hunter

Then there are the darn wants. I’m usually good about fulfilling needs first, then wants as a treat, just like if the puppies do what they’re supposed to, they get their treats. 🙂

So, I started watching Outlander. I bought the tape. Can’t get it on my limited channels and I’ve done the free premium channels for 3 mos and rarely ever watch them. But while working on the bears, I’ll watch a movie. And I’m hooked. And I want to watch more. Love anything that’s historical, love time travel. Love the Highlands. So enjoying so far. And I want to watch more of it. I could fulfill a need while I do so–make up the remaining bear for the order.

But, I have to get my word count. And that’s nagging at me. So first the writing, and then the bear. But I also want to play Dragonage Inquisition. RPGs are really addictive. I’m goal oriented. I want to solve quests, fulfill missions, take down the bad guys, rescue the good guys. I work long hours on writing and promoting. I enjoy it, but I also need a break from it–I tell myself, just to go and fight monsters, etc. 🙂

Again, I tell myself–yes, you can. You can play all day long! IF you get your word count. *sigh*

So I have to post another blog [need] and then after that? I’ll play my game for a while, then stop and watch the movie and work on the bear some more.

But what I really want to do is skip writing and play the game.

Writing prevails. I write 2500 words a day, but as you can see with needing 5700 today, I’m behind.

Off to write another blog and see what wins out. Writing? Or…..Gaming.

I have to say that some of the reason I’m not getting tons of word count is that I’m getting closer to the end. I have to wrap up loose ends and figure out how I’m going to end it, how I’m going to get the hero and heroine to say I do without it sounding like any of the other books. So that means lots of thinking…

Have a super great day!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

The Greatest Distraction in Puppy Training?

Mar27

Last night I took Max to group training. He managed to get through getting up close and personal to other owners and their dogs, sharing a bench with a big dog, walking past other dogs, sitting while other dogs walked past him. Lying down, something he doesn’t care to do. He and Tanner are sitting dogs. My daughter’s corgis are lying down dogs. Dogs seem to have a preference.

He sat while people rode bicycles past him, walked past with babies, just everything imaginable.

And he was doing great. Then, the one thing that I hadn’t counted on?

A leaf picked up by a gust of wind and flying right in front of him. Forget social and obedience training. He had reverted to the wolf–on a hunt. And he flew after it.

This morning on a trip outside, I saw him jumping back away from something, and stopped to see what it was.

A SNAKE! By the time I put the puppies in the house and grabbed my camera, it was gone. It was a plain brown snake, no markings, and small. Sigh. Third baby snake I’ve seen so far already.

Have a great day!

Got to ship a bear and then get back to the business of writing!

Tanner’s Glamorous Look
5 mos old Havanese

Macro Shots–Daffodils and a Puppy Portrait

Feb23

Daffodil Ruffles

Ready for the ball.

Musical Daffodils

When I looked at these, I thought of a symphony, musical instruments in an orchestra.

Rain Drenched Daffodils

I had to go out in the rain to get these. It is so cold again!

Mysterious Daffodil

Hiding secrets untold.

Max Looking Scruffy

I tried to get macro portraits of both puppies, but by the time the camera focuses, they’ve moved. And though I had brushed out his beard, by the time I got the picture, he had tussled with Tanner again. 🙂

Okay, I’m in the final edits of SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble. Finished editing the mss last night when I had to get the puppies out at 1 am, and am now making the changes on the book. 🙂 So off to my writing cave.

It’s cold out! The puppies are again asleep, and time to concentrate on the book!

Have a super great Monday!!!

The Butterfly Effect–and Windblown Puppy

Feb21

You change one thing and it changes everything. That’s why time travel, if you’re thinking of doing it, can really make a mess of things. So think about it before you buy that ticket.

Oh, sure, you think you know history and so you can go back and make a mint off things that have occurred that no one knows about yet. Investments, etc. But, what about everything else you change?

Okay, so why am I thinking of this? Late last night I got to the last 20 or so pages of my manuscript and discovered that the changes I had made early on in the last couple of days requires me to majorly rewrite the last 20 pages, and I still haven’t figured out the climax. The book is much better, but, ack! The days are slipping away faster than I can allow. You see? That’s where time travel could come in handy.

But think of it. If I went back in time, I wouldn’t have even have started the book yet. And that is a horrifying thought. 🙂

Yesterday I took pictures of wind-blown dogs. The wind was 23 mph, which can be a lot higher, but that’s high enough to make for bad hair days, and funny puppy pictures. I tried to get some pictures of it, but not sure they turned out. I also tried to take macro pictures of the daffodils blooming, BUT, I ran out of disk space. I need to delete some pictures off the disk, but I just don’t have time to do it this very minute. I need to get back to writing. But if I don’t do it, the flowers will have faded. Note to self: have extra disks on hand.

Windblown Tanner

Off to write! Have a super Saturday! Max has his 2nd training today!

Got Wordcount! White Stuff on the Roof! And the Daffodils are Blooming!

Feb19

I now officially have wordcount on A SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble, and then had to turn in the cover sheet specs including the blurb. Now I’m still writing the book, but it’s getting closer to being done. I printed out the first 100 pages, again, and am making more corrections. But I still have to finish writing the book.

Max Rubber Banded in Black and White

I love all his black and silvery tips and hope he gets to keep them as his hair grows out. I was able to pull more of his hair back, but this morning I found Tanner chewing on something, and yep, Max’s rubber band.

When I was coming in from one of my trips outside with the puppies, I saw that the daffodils had bloomed! The day before, I noticed they were getting ready to. It’s amazing how fast they open up when I’m not paying attention. Also, freesia has bloomed!

And all kinds of weed flowers are popping up! And my rosebushes are leafing out.

And white stuff on the roof. 🙂

Okay, back to the book. 🙂 Nose to the grindstone and all that sort of thing.

It’s getting closer to being finished! And that’s the main thing!

Have a lovely day. I realized that I have the termite guy coming to do his annual inspection this morning and you know what that means? More puppy training! 🙂

Sunsets and Max and the Christmas Tree

Dec15

Sun Setting

I was walking Max last night and saw this sight, ran back in the house with him, grabbed my camera and ran back out. Isn’t it great?

Sun Setting

Trees on Fire

Dark Descending

Christmas Tree Max

Okay, so Christmas is coming, ready or not. And I have to pick up Tanner today. He’s 3 months old. Max, pictured above, is 5 months old. I have to say he’s very good about the tree. He pokes his nose at one of the balls every once in a while, but that’s it. I tried to take a picture of him closer to the tree, but he won’t sit long enough for the camera to focus on him for a picture. He comes to greet me instead. Can you tell he’s just about ready to move? So here, I had backed up yet again, told him to sit, and tried to take the shot. The first 3 were blurred Maxs. But he had been closer to the tree.

Tanner

This is Tanner from last week when I picked up Max. He’s much smaller, though bigger than the puppies from the other litter. She had two litters both born on the same day. 🙂

So now I’ll be training two puppies instead of one, but hopefully, fingers crossed, if they both have each other to sleep with, Tanner won’t be fussing tonight. Max has been fine since the 4th night.

We’ll have to work Tanner into our routine. Hopefully he’ll love it too. We had our 2nd official car trip ride and Max was really good. But this time I took him into a pet shop to see other people and get used to being out a little. A lady approached who had two twin 4 year old girls. They were adorable and they were so good with Max and he was so good with them. The mother scared him though. And then two groomers came to see him, for business, of course, but it was a good experience for him. But before I got him out of his carrier at home, he threw up. So the 1st official car trip was fine. The 2nd one, he got sick again. Hopefully he’ll be all right on subsequent trips. I have a 3 hour drive coming up and want both dogs to love riding in the car.

When Tanner gets home, he’ll have another dog to play with. And my daughter and son-in-law are bringing Sir Rilo and Lady Luna, their corgis, for Christmas. Both are two years old, so Christmas is going to the dogs. 🙂 I’ll try to take lots of pictures.

I had to start writing blogs for the upcoming release of Jaguar Pride, and I’m behind on Phantom Fae (only by 3,000, though today I’m supposed to have another 2,000 also), though I keep waking and thinking about the end. I have 20,000 words left to write, so I am winding down to the end. 🙂

Do you have kids? Or, were you ever a kid with siblings? What order? Notice Max has lots of shots that are all just Max, because he’s the only puppy. But when Tanner comes home, what will happen? He’ll probably be in lots of shots with Max. Maybe not, but probably.

Doesn’t that happen with kids too? The firstborn has lots of pictures, then second and subsequent babies come along and all the pictures are of the toddler holding the baby, or looking at the baby, or two toddlers together, or…well, you get the picture. Second borns just don’t get the spotlight like firstborns.

So I was a firstborn. It’s all right by me. LOL What about you?

Okay, off to write another Jaguar Pride blog, the book is coming out Feb 7, and then back to Phantom Fae. Then it’s off to pick up Tanner. Have a super great Monday!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
www.terryspear.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears

http://www.celticbears.com

The Puppy is SUPPOSED to Sleep

Dec11

Hey, just because I can’t sleep, doesn’t mean that the puppy shouldn’t. I just had too much to do, so I was up at 4 am this morning, HOPING Max would sleep. No such luck. He was like it was our regular time to wake up between 5-6:30, depending on how late I worked the night before.

So we had to go out, and we had to eat and we had to play and I was trying to get some of the million and one things done, like get the bear ready to ship, and a Christmas card ready and bills paid, and Max is happily getting into mischief. Of course. 🙂 I can’t say what he grabbed hold of this morning and was tearing through the house with until I caught him. 🙂 <3 He was having a fine time of it. I couldn’t help laughing. Which only encourages the little devil. 🙂

Amethyst Nana Bear is done!

Max and my desk chair

So I usually sit down first thing to work on blogs and emails and such and stop to play with Max often until he tuckers out. But I REALLY had things to do. So I wasn’t doing anything the way I was supposed to. He jumped onto my desk chair and looked at me. I was supposed to be sitting right there. I was getting a bunch of stuff ready for the post office. After I did that, I sat down, and he was in my lap to sleep.

Many years ago before kids, I was required to go to a military wives’ luncheon. I as on Active Duty at the time, had no husband or kids, no pets at the time, either, but had them growing up. So when a woman asked if I had kids, I wisely said, “No.” I didn’t mention no husband either, which I would have to have to be a military wife. *sigh*

Everyone was talking about their kids and I said something about puppies being just like them. Hey, I babysat kids and babies when I was a teen, so it wasn’t that I didn’t know about kids. And I’d help raise a number of puppies, toy poodles, Afghan Hound, and a silky terrier. And guess what? They’re just like little kids.

When I was substitute teaching in the kindergarten classes, they were so used to doing everything in a certain way. Not my way, of course, but the teacher’s way.

The kids had a routine they felt comfortable with. So do puppies. And you know what? So do we as grownups.

With Max’s coming home with me, talk about my routine being out of whack. But we’re beginning to settle down into somewhat of a routine and that makes us both happy. When Tanner comes home, he’ll have to learn our routine too, and then he’ll be confused when I don’t stick with it. But, hey, I’m only human.

And we had a breakthrough! Max laid down when I gave him the word command. Woohoo!

Do you have a routine? How do you feel when it’s out of whack?

Have a super Thursday! Next up for us is Max is getting a bath. And that’s not in our usual routine either. The breeder says Havanese aren’t smelly dogs. She lied.

🙂

http://www.celticbears.com

Being Smarter than the Dog

Dec10

I can write full-length novels, and do any number of things well. But now is the time to be smarter than the dog. 🙂 <3

Every day is an adventure. I’ve discovered this Havanese is a chow hound. Maybe because he had others to compete with back home, so he wolfs down his food and then wants to get up on the printer cabinet where I’ve measured out the rest of his food for the day so I don’t overfeed him.

He’s a jumper, so trying to jump on top of the printer stand, but he can’t make it. Thankfully.

So then his next goal–you see, just like in books, characters have to have all-important goals–so does Max. His next goal is to get the trash out of the wastepaper basket next to my desk. It’s mostly paper trash, though I throw my used up green tea bags in there too. It’s empty as it’s trash day, but I always line it with a recycled plastic bag. So he keeps getting into the wooden receptacle and I put a towel over it. Yesterday, I just put the trash can up above on the printer cabinet, but then I can’t reach it. Sooo, have to have another solution. He tried to pull off the towel, tried to go underneath the towel, finally climbed on top of the towel. With a new mission in mind. He could use this as stepping stool to reach his food on the printer cabinet. 🙂 <3

But the towel sank under his weight.

He’s not going for playing with his ball or chewsticks or rope pull. He wants something different. So we went to down training and he’s doing well. He still doesn’t go down on command, but he’s no longer trying to grab the treat out of my hand. Maybe because I’ve switched the treat to the other hand and he just has to follow my empty hand to the floor.

I will say that we had no accidents in his bed the last two nights and I was working on a final Christmas bear order, I know I keep saying that, but I keep getting last minute bear orders, and I worked so late, he went into his cage to sleep. Woohoo! No fussing, just is totally acclimated to it.

When I bring the other puppy home, it’s going to be a new day dawning.

I did get my word goal down for yesterday, and about 500 extra words, but still about 2500 behind. Which is a lot less than I was behind. I spent a lot of time getting packages ready to ship. 🙂

Are you ready for Christmas? I need to pick up some candy, but otherwise, I’m done. 🙂 Well, except for finishing the last bear order and then I’ll ship it tomorrow.

Amethyst Bear

It’s an Amethyst Bear like this one.

Off to work on the story before I run errands. Max finally pooped out. 🙂 I think he was waiting for his training. 🙂 <3

We had another fun foggy day.

A Cool Vampire Day

Even More Vampire Like?

Have a great Wednesday!

http://www.celticbears.com

Max Playing and Getting Behinder and Behinder…

Dec7

Puppies are so cute. Max is a ball of fur and energy and bounces when he plays. I was teaching him how to lie down. That one is going to be hard to learn, I can see. He comes, listens up when I say his name, and sits, no hesitation. Down took forever the first 4 times and then after he mastered it each time, not exactly knowing why he was getting a treat after working so hard to get it out of my hand, and lots of praise for doing the job right, he only needed one prompt the 5th time to do it right.

This will definitely take a little longer, but he’s so eager to learn and so we’ll keep practicing until he can do it on command. 🙂 <3

In the meantime, I haven’t worked on Phantom Fae. *sigh* But that’s because, horror of horrors, I realized I hadn’t put out my newsletter for Call of the Cougar, I was waiting until my print version was available, then promptly forgot to do write my newsletter. So working on that this morning, AND, I’ll be reading and critiquing each of the Highland novellas for our anthology coming in Feb, Kissing the Highlander.

I just wrote my blurb and sent my story to another author. So it’s been gone to two so far. And I’m critiquing one this morning, 2 more after that. 🙂

But it doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about Phantom Fae. I have the next scene in mind and I need to write it.

The fae party was fun yesterday!

And here is Max being Max.

Okay, that is a bouncy, fluffy Max playing toss with his chew stick.

Onward and upward. Off to finish reading over the novella waiting for more of my critiquing and to finish the newsletter. 🙂 And MAYBE I’ll find the time to write the scene today that is rattling around in my brain for Phantom Fae. 🙂

Have a super wonderful Sunday. Hope Max gives you a smile, and don’t you wish YOU had that much energy????

http://www.celticbears.com

Max the Toilet Paper Thief

Dec4

Max Caught with the Evidence!

Okay, Halvanese have a reputation for stealing paper toilet rolls. I didn’t believe it. Not in my house. No way. Never. And there he is, sitting on his towel chewing on a brand new paper towel. Yep. Cabinet door was open. So never say never.

I should have gotten a picture. The toilet roll was nearly as big as him. But when I was commenting on this issue, I looked down at him, and caught him with a remnant of the toilet paper. Caught in the act. 🙂 <3

Okay, so I have been working on His Wild Highland Lass edits. Nearly done with that, and I need to get back to Phantom Fae, but forgot we have a FB party tomorrow. This is for our fae realm party.

https://www.facebook.com/events/780544045341819

Texas Fairy Sunrise

Drop by for prizes and have fun in the faery realm!

Prince Max dressed for the party. Yes, yes, his collar flipped up. Hey, I was trying to get him to sit still long enough while the camera focused. 🙂 Next time!

Max and his jester costume.

Okay, off to work on edits! Have a terrific Thursday!!

	terryspear on Turtle and His Reflection
	Wayne Thomas on Turtle and His Reflection
	terryspear on Happy Easter!
	Dee on Happy Easter!
	terryspear on Little Red Goat

Terry Spear's Shifters

"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality."

Tag Archive | puppy

Need vs Want

The Greatest Distraction in Puppy Training?

Macro Shots–Daffodils and a Puppy Portrait

The Butterfly Effect–and Windblown Puppy

Got Wordcount! White Stuff on the Roof! And the Daffodils are Blooming!

Sunsets and Max and the Christmas Tree

The Puppy is SUPPOSED to Sleep

Being Smarter than the Dog

Max Playing and Getting Behinder and Behinder…

Max the Toilet Paper Thief