A weekend of firsts

This past weekend, we experienced two things with Gimli that really opened my eyes.

One was a "fight" and the other was Gimli being slightly "lost".

I'll start with the "fight" first.

I'll call it a fight even though it was the product of a perfect storm of events.  There was food involved and all 4 dogs were jumping up and down to get at the food.  Somehow a piece fell to the floor and it was on.  Gimli and another dog got into it.

I remember snarling and growling and that sound where you know it's a fight.  I remember standing up and grabbing at Gimli with my hands slipping on his fur and finally grabbing his harness and separating.  I was abnormally calm and while my heart was racing, there was no anger in me, no blame, nothing.  It was all, "let me get my dog before serious damage is done."

The dogs were unharmed.  No teeth marks, wounds etc.  After they had calmed down, we let them sniff each other and they were back to playing.  It was all because of that piece of food.

This was Gimli's first fight.  I don't mean to make it sound like a momentous event, because it's not.  I was happy with myself that I was able to keep calm because I feel it helped keep my mind focused on the dogs.

What's the lesson learned?  Control, plain and simple.  No jumping dogs for toys or treats, everyone must sit before you get anything.  This is crucial for when corgi #2 comes to live with us.

Now, the sappy nice story.

That same night, Gimli, who had found a girlfriend, was hanging out next to her enjoying the attention that he never receives at home :).  Mike and I were at the back of the yard sitting around the fire pit with some friends.  All of a sudden, the fireworks started.  Gimli's scared of fireworks, the popping and strange noises make him tremble.

His girlfriend noticed that Gimli's demeanor changed when the fireworks began.  He stopped being calm and easy going and he became nervous.  He started looking for us.  I noticed he was acting nervously and called him over.  He followed my voice, but stopped halfway and quivered a little bit. A firework had just gone off and I think he lost his nerve at that point.  I brought him over and he sat between Mike and I, still shaking but glad to know where we were and that we hadn't left him.

Sometimes it's hard to keep in mind that Gimli is our dog, because in social outings Gimli's always hanging out with other people, but at the end of the day, it's Mike and I that he goes looking for.  I think that's one aspect of the corgi personality that I'm still not used to.  I trust Gimli, but I think I haven't given him that last bit of trust and I think it's time I do.

And now some pictures from the weekend!

Oh, hi!

Peek a boo!

The meat turtle surrounded by bacon wrapped peppers.

The inside of the turtle - cheese and sausage, so yummy!