Not much of an Update

Today, I took Echo to meet Jean, Pan, and Kathy.  Jean could not get over how tall Echo has grown.  Kathy was impressed with her response to the hand signal for "sit", and her response to her "marker word".  All three were impressed with how Echo didn't bark at new things (collies are known to be "barkers"), but just watched.  I was proud.  And, yes, except when she is playing, or thinks she has been her crate too long, Echo is a pretty quiet dog.  She will get vocal while playing, and she has developed "noises", as I mentioned earlier, but she is not a "barker".  Which I find remarkable, because Gimli is VERY much a "barker".

Kathy is going to keep Echo until Sunday.  While this is a nice break for my family and I, and it allowed us to do some things we needed to do for a while, I am, already, missing my "Little Girl".

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I'm going to share a picture in a bit, but I need to tell the "back story" about the things in the picture, first.

A long-time member of the "Teen Hoard" is Tyler Edgar.  Tyler graduated from the same high school as Brandon, Stephanie, and Jesus, in 2011.  (Brandon and he were in the same graduating class.)

Tyler's father, Todd, was, at the time, a recruiting station commander, in Tacoma, for the Air Force.  Shortly after Tyler's graduation, Todd retired from the Air Force, and moved the family back to Plano, TX, outside of Dallas.

We helped them pack up for the move.

There were a number of things that they couldn't fit in the trucks they had rented.  We ended up "inheriting" a lot of them.  (The grill that appears in my videos earlier this week came from the Edgars.)

There is one VERY special piece of furniture that we inherited from the Edgar's, though.  It's a very special chair.

Todd has a recliner that he likes to watch TV in.  At about age 2, the youngest Edgar child, Sammy (short for Samantha), HAD to have a recliner like "Daddy's" to sit in, next to him, and watch TV.  Apparently, she pitched a fit for one.  So, Todd and Laura found a Lazy Boy recliner that was an appropriate size for a toddler.  (The top of the back of the chair is just above my kneecap.)

By the time of the move, Sammy had outgrown the chair, and there wasn't room for it in the moving van. So, we inherited it.

We have never had  a person that small in our house, as a family member.  So, it became Gimli's chair, kind of.  He doesn't use it that often, but, if you give the command "lazyboy", he will go sit in that chair.  Amy, in fact, put a tag on the chair that says: "Gimli ONLY". 

Gimli is not that attached to it.  However, to avoid others from breaking it, the chair has become a "dog only" piece of furniture.  People are not allowed on it, or in it.

Echo has discovered Sammy's/Gimli's chair.  She has figured out that it is a "dog only" piece of furniture.

At the moment, the chair is sitting close to the entrance of our kitchen.

When Echo is with Amy, and Amy is working in the kitchen, Echo's "spot" is in that chair.  If the chair is placed so that Echo can watch Amy, she is happy to stay in that chair and observe. 

For Echo, the chair has become a type of surrogate crate.  It's not enclosed.  You can't shut a door on it.  BUT, she understands that is, uniquely, a "dog's spot", and not "people furniture".

She's more than happy to curl up in this "dog spot", and not go anywhere else ... as long as the person she is "watching" stays in her sight.

So, this is Echo in the "dog recliner", enjoying being near her people:

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Echo is a thoughtful dog.  She contemplates things before she acts.  Once she "figures it out", she has it.  Hopefully, what you wanted her to "figure out" is what she learned.  If not, well, good luck.