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We have a hammock on the back patio. Waylon has always been leery of it — he doesn’t like the way it moves or the sound it makes as the chain that connects the hammock to the frame rattles. He’s always given it a wide berth.

This evening, though, he couldn’t resist. I was lying crosswise on my back on the hammock, so my feet were on the ground, and Waylon climbed up the front of me. Once he was up, I shifted him off of me and onto the hammock.

Then the only chore was keeping him from dumping both of us overboard. He’s heavy (50 pounds) and was moving side to side on the hammock. Finally he settled down a bit and lay beside me. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought to bring a chew toy for him, and in the absence of a toy, he makes use of my arm. It’s amusing now, yes, when he bites on my whole forearm — we’ll see if it grows less amusing as he gets bigger. Better the forearm than the throat, though. Baby steps.

***

On Sunday, we went to his first puppy class. There were 6 other dogs, among them a German Shepherd (Tank) and a Lab (Max) who are the same age as Waylon. He did great. He loves other dogs and people, so no problem there.

Waylon loves to reach out and bat things with his paws (which made it a snap to teach him “Paw”). So, apparently, does Max the Lab. As the teacher was talking, Waylon and Max lay facing each other. One would reach out and bat the other on the head. Then the other would retaliate. Like watching a slap fight in slow motion. It was very funny. Big dogs are amusing, because they can be such lugs: these two didn’t move at all, except for the ongoing alternating smacks on the head. Cracked me up.

I did get kinda reprimanded for using a choke chain on Waylon. I don’t feel chastened, though. I’m fine with using a regular collar for class. But I’m really sold on the choke chain for walking. The teacher talked about how dogs used to be trained rather brutally — and cited the example of people stomping on the dog’s leash to teach the “down” command. Um yeah, that’s a bad idea no matter what kind of collar you use. Anyhow, we’ll carry on and respect the teacher’s room. Nothing to lose in that.

As we were leaving, two little kids ran up to Waylon. A brother and sister — she was about 6; he, hiding a bit behind her, was about 4. They leaned toward Waylon and looked at me inquiringly. “He’s friendly,” I said, “He’s just a puppy.” They both got closer to Waylon, excited to close the gap, but still shy. Waylon wiggled a bit, then reached out toward the girl with his paw. “Look!” I said, “He’s trying to pat you!” The little boy thought that was the funniest thing ever.

No, not what you’re thinking.

Okay, so The Cop and I go to Target after dinner because I want a ball to roll under my back. I was thinking one of those small play balls. I tried a soccer ball, and it was the right size, but too hard.

At Target we found a red ball that was the correct size and a blue ball that was the right material. I decided to get both, since they cost less than $3 each. I figured the red one would probably be the correct one for back rolling.

At the cashier, The Cop asks what the ball is for and I tell him it’s to drape myself over. “Doesn’t that sound good?” I ask. He responds by draping himself, front-first, over the ball as it lies on the conveyor belt of the cash register. This is hilarious, because the cashier has no idea what he’s doing as he drapes his 6’2″ frame over the ball, arms outstretched on the conveyor belt. I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough to get a picture.

We get home and The Cop bounces the blue ball. Maxine, decrepit old lady that she is, springs into action and attacks the ball. She can’t get her mouth around it, though, so the ball is safe. I bounce the red ball. She springs, and I hear, “Pop! Wooosh!” Yeah, that’s the air coming out of the ball.

Maxine looks up happily and goes into the kitchen for dinner.

I’m thinking (and I know I’m thinking it because I just status-updated it in Facebook!) that I should spend my weekend like a cat. In other words, any time I have the opportunity, I should go to sleep. And any time I need to wake up, I should wake up. Only to sleep again as soom as the opportunity arises.

I’m pretty burnt from work. And from an old dog who sometimes likes to spend whole nights walking around, her long nails clicking on the tile floor until she comes over and puts her grizzly bear head on my pillow to rouse me. And a young dog who rolls around in his crate, snoring and grunting and dream-barking. And from all of my own thinking, of course.

Dharma Overground, I love you, but what’s with all these words?! I’m sure I’ll be visiting more over the weekend, during the waking part of my cat-weekend. I’ll also be reading The Zen Doctrine of No Mind. Hui-neng was illiterate, as well as the Sixth Patriarch of Zen. As D.T. Suzuki notes: “Erudition always tends to abstraction and conceptualism, obscuring the light of intuition.” Still, I can’t seem to put the book down.

Okay, so a weekend of reading and thinking. If I don’t write or talk about any of it, does it make a sound?

Tan Dtoon on YouTube. I discovered this via the Dharma Overground, a community for meditation practitioners.

A delightful look at the busy nature of the mind:

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And an interesting (and familiar!) description of some “physical” effects of meditation:

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God, I grin like an idiot the whole time I watch these! You can find more of Tan Dtoon on the dhammatube playlist on YouTube.

The playlist is described as “…the sometimes raw inside of the world of meditation practice. Many clips are autobiographical experiences with meditation, meditation techniques or meditation teachers, some take stands on controversial points. While some of the people interviewed are well-known teachers, many are unknown publicly.”

***

I walked into the livingroom this morning, took one look at this and spun around to get my camera. The first picture was to make sure I captured the moment. The second was a close-up of Waylon and his underbite.

***

Practice was super good today. Starting later in the morning, the warm hot weather here in the desert, and a pre-practice walk with Waylon, ’cause he was full of puppy zoomies, all contributed to a very relaxed and warmed up body. Is it nicer to do backbends when I’m warm? Um, yeah. I’m still struggling to open hip flexors and shoulders, but there’s progress and I can’t complain. Sitting meditation afterwards is all about energy prickles moving around in surges. So basically, practice is about making energy sensations and then sitting down to note them.

I wish I had a video of what Waylon just did! After yoga practice, I let him out of his crate and we go into the back yard so he can pee.

Then I call him into the house so we can practice his “sit” and “down” and “paw” commands. Today we went out as usual, and I called him to come back in the house with me. He dawdled a bit, so I went in and got his training treats. As I was returning through the livingroom, he came galloping at top speed into the house, slid on the tile toward me on his butt, and landed directly in front of me in sit position, excitedly looking up for his treat. He reminded me of a quarter horse doing a slide stop.

We started the “stay” command today. I’m sure he’ll pick it up quickly. It’s funny watching him tip his head to the side as I teach him something new. “What, you don’t want sit or paw?” he seems to be thinking. “What more could you possibly want of me?”

***

This morning I did lots of Matthew Sweeney’s ustrasana dropbacks. Sigh. My chest and shoulders are so tight, it feels like I am trying to turn myself inside out. Goodness, I am involuted!

I noted that in a photo I have of the pose, he has his toes curled under (versus top of foot flat on the floor, like a regular ustrasana). This makes the dropback easier and harder. On the one hand, the toes provide resistance against the stretch of the hamstrings [Duh! Edit: I meant to say hip flexors...]; on the other, the toes give leverage for the return back up (easier).

My (I guess) obliques are feeling pretty sore. Or maybe it’s the transverse abdominis. Anyhow, my sides.

I love pictures. I can look at this and see no indication whatsoever of how much it hurt on the inside. There *is* some indication of how tight the hip flexors are, though!

On Friday, I had a few episodes of vertigo during practice. Yuck. I hate that. It was back again today, especially on the first side of parsva dhanurasana. I knew there were some simple exercises to resolve vertigo, so after a dizzy (but good!) practice I did some research. I found this helpful info, gave Waylon a bone to amuse him for the 6 minutes it takes to do the Semont maneuver, and went for it.

The maneuver is very simple, but the subject has to be still for 3 minutes on one side, then 3 minutes on the other. Okay, here we go. I turn my head and lie over on the first side. Waylon almost immediately pushes his bone under the couch where he can’t reach it. Barking ensues. The Cop is sleeping, so I have to make him stop. I distract him by talking to him. He rushes over and happily bites my throat. Nice. I push him away. He comes back and sticks his head down my shirt, merrily snorting his bulldog snorts. I push him away again, trying not to move my head. He swings by the coffee table and puts his tongue in my tea. Too hot. He returns and bites my nose. Wanders off. My three minutes on side one are up so I go over to the other side. Waylon comes back and cuddles up to me with a big wet kiss. Then he bites my throat again. Then he runs off to the front hall closet to see if anyone left a shoe or two around. Nope. He gallops back to bite, in quick succession, the three things he’s not allowed to play with: the curtains, the armrest cover of the couch, and the couch pillow. I’m still down — my three minutes are almost over, but in the last seconds he makes a run for the earbuds of my iPhone — fascinating objects he can never quite get ahold of.

Ding! Time’s up. I had a huge rush of vertigo on side one, which I hope was caused by the calcium crystals moving out of my inner ear. I won’t know for sure until tomorrow morning, when I try moving myself in all different directions.

It is hilarious to note that as soon as the bell rang and I finished my 6 minutes of self-administered therapy, Waylon lay down on the floor with a toy and reverted to angelic puppyhood. Then he fell asleep. He’s snoring as I type this.

Waylon’s first long walk. He was in some kind of puppy fear funk for a while there — too nervous to walk far from the house, tentative about any noises or cars or people.

We took a couple of weeks to do some desensitization: trips to PetsMart, rides in the car, very short walks that barely went past the front yard.

The funk seems to be over now. He bounded out the front door this morning, and we were off. A nice loop down the street, around behind the houses, and onto a path that cuts into the desert for a ways. Then a brief walk along a busy street and back to our neighborhood. I’m guessing it’s about a mile, but will check with the pedometer next time.

This was also Waylon’s first walk on a choke chain. I know some people dislike choke chains, but I think they rock. Sure, some dogs just pull until they run out of oxygen and keel over (not really, but I guess that’s what people fear). What I find is that dogs quickly understand the choke chain — pull too far and it gets uncomfortable, allow a little slack and it feels like no collar at all. Both Ty and Waylon started off with little buckle collars — and I think that makes sense for really young puppies — but I swear dogs have a harder time figuring them out. There’s no increasing pressure with buckle collars, really. They’re either comfortable or not comfortable, depending on how the dog pulls. With the choke chain, the information is much more subtle, and the dog learns very quickly to read the tautness. Anyhow, I like choke chains and think they’re really good tools because they give the dog a lot more data than a buckle collar.

And now Waylon’s crashed out in his crate (the door’s wide open — he climbed into it of his own volition). There is something about dogs loving their crates that really makes me happy — I have no idea why. Waylon does love his crate, though — he likes to crash out in it, and he likes to jump in and out of it, throwing his toys against the inside of it and making a huge racket (the crate is metal and the floors are tile).

Anyhow, it was a great pleasure to take a walk with him. I like the calm repetition of leash training — just guiding him over and over to the correct place on my left side, not too far forward, not too far back. It’s remarkably soothing and gratifying when it all comes together and we just walk along in sync. As always, I am amazed and impressed with how quickly dogs learn and how earnest they are.

Now for a couple of pictures: Waylon trying to figure out how to get down off the couch, a skill he is reluctant to practice (he lays his head on the couch and longingly looks in my direction when he wants to come up, and fidgets and whines when he wants to get down). And one of his reaction when I made some high-pitched squeaky noises.