Chief was in his customary position in the hammock of the cat tree. As soon as he saw me he sat up and started to chirp, trying to draw my attention. I started giving him some pets and ear scratches which prompted him to curl back up slowly in his cozy spot. Drew, not wanting to be left out of any pets, came trotting out of his cubby. He stopped briefly to have a good stretch. After that Drew was ready to get some love. With the boys taken care of I went to have a visit with Missy. She was curled up in her cubby, but as soon as she saw me she started rolling around. I gave her some ear scratches then let her get back to her nap.
Groups
Macie started her day with a leisurely walk around the trail. She kept her nose down the whole time but was still alert and agile, weaving around the bushes and branches. I chatted to Macie as we walked along, and she looked back at me a few times, almost as if she understood me. Later on, Macie was happy to get out to do some more exploring. First she came over to check on me and see what I was up to. After Macie greeted me, her nose hit the ground and she plowed through the snow as she went. As she went around her nose soon started to accumulate some snow, turning her black nose white, which was quite adorable. Eventually Macie had seen enough of the yard and instead turned her sights on exploring in the open outdoor kennel. When she was finished her search, she was ready for some butt scratches.
The littles were the next group of the morning. As we headed out the door they all went charging off further into the yard. Taylor hung back from the group, taking advantage of a little cuddle time with me. We were then joined by Jake who wanted to give Taylor a once over and get some attention for himself. After a moment or two, the three of us headed out and found the rest of the group congregated together, checking things out by the fence. Jake made a beeline for Merida and soon they were off racing to the far yard along with Apple. Taylor, not wanting to be left out when racing after them, too. Miko couldn't resist all the running, and so left his explorations to go charging out to join the others. He ended up only running for a short while before he took a position hovering around the group and played commentator. Merida and Jake ended up needing a bit of break from running around. Jake noticed Bella had joined them in the far yard and was busy checking out something by the fence. He made his way over to join her. Bella and Jake then spent some time with their heads together, noses in the snow. Apple wasn't ready for a break, so she hopped over to greet Merida and to see if she wanted to play. Merida seemed to know what Apple had in mind, and the pair went off running across the yard like a flash. Sky was trying his best to soak up the sunshine out by the fence line. He likes to close his eyes and tilt his head towards the sun, almost like he's imagining that he's on a beach somewhere. He hung out close to the playroom door for most of group time, determined to be the first one through the door when the time came. Apple and I went to check on Sky during the last few minutes of group time, and Miko, Merida, Bella and Jake came bouncing over a minute later. We were soon joined by Miko, Merida, Bella and Jake. Miko was determined to get Merida to play with him, but she was still taking a break, so Merida trotted off to see Bella, while Miko snuggled up for some pets. After visiting with Merida, Bella met up with her brother, Jake, and the two took off running again. Apple not one to pass up some running went racing after them. Sky was still hanging out by the playroom when he watched Ginger walk by. Maybe he liked her curly, golden hair, or just her calm energy, but there was something special about her! Sky . The two of them had so much fun racing around the yard. Shortly after it was time to go inside which he was also very happy about.
Scarlett our newest foster was part of the next group. She was so excited to get outside and see the other dogs. After Scarlett said some quick hellos she went racing around the yard. Apollo set out to see about finding himself a toy or something even more exciting. As we headed out to the agility yard, Chigo and Sadie met up. They started to bounce around and have some fun, But Scarlett came prancing up and Sadie just had to say hello and run around with her as well. Chigo decided to head out and see what Cabot and Tupper were up to after catching a glimpse of the ball the boys were tossing. Before long, Sadie and Scarlett rushed over to investigate as well. Chigo parted ways with the group and approached Spencer, hoping that he would be interested in playing. To Chigo's delight, Spencer was happy to bounce around the yard, and the boys both ran around and explored the yard together. Sadie and Scarlett can't stay away from a good game, so they joined Chigo and his new friend, pouncing around in the snow.
As soon as the group got outside Tasha went trotting out to the far yard and Boris and Shyla went racing out after her. Tasha then decided to race ahead of the group and made her way to the agility yard. Boris was happy to see that Max had also made his way into the agility yard. Boris pounced in Max's direction, and the boys went running off together. Brenyn chased after Boris and Max and the three did a few laps of the yard. Boris and Brenyn stopped the chase to start a wrestling match, with Max as their referee. Magic was hanging out nearby and hopped into Brenyn and Boris' wrestling match. Brenyn took a little break and let Boris play with his sister. The three ran off together back into the main yard, where Brenyn tagged back into the match. Meanwhile, Max was saying hello to Merida, who was very interested in him. When she had finally seen enough, Merida joined Max as he followed his nose and explored the yard. Maverick watched Max and Merida as they walked away and decided to go see what they were up to. Shyla set off to do some exploring with Maverick, but she became entranced by Magic, Boris and Bren's fun. I led the pack pack through the gate into the agility yard where there was a bit less wind. Boris, Shyla and Bren went racing off together around the yard with Maverick following close behind. Max was happy to see the group run back into the agility yard. Shyla and Brenyn joined him as he continued checking out the smells on the fence. Bren and Shyla caught a glimpse of Tasha, Boris and Magic playing together. Boris, Shyla, Magic and Brenyn chased each other around, occasionally coupling off into play pairs. Max went and checked back in with Merida and they hung out together until it was time to head inside.
The last group of the morning couldn't wait to start having fun. Everyone went tearing out to the agility yard. Molly set her focus to finding something to play with. Dougie was about to start racing around when he was distracted by something in the snow. Finnigan, who had been running with Dougie slid to a stop when Dougie found something good to sniff. Finnigan left Dougie to his sniffing, and went bounding over to see what Sky was up to. Across the yard, Tanner was bouncing around, enjoying the powdery snow. He saw me watching and raced over to stand as close to me as possible. When Dougie was finished taking in all the smells, he bounced over to join Finnigan and Sky. Isis then came and asked Dougie to play by pouncing around him. Molly was off still on the hunt for something fun and interesting. When she spotted Isis and Dougie playing she couldn't resist and went racing to join them. They were then joined by Tanner and Finnigan. They all had a blast racing around for a time until they split off to take a break. Tanner used his break time to visit with me, rubbing against my leg waiting for a scratch on the back. Feeling recharged he went bounding out to rejoin Molly, Dougie and Finnigan. Meanwhile, Dougie headed off to do a little exploring while Molly went and found herself a good snowbank to roll in. When she'd had enough fun in the snow, Molly went to see if Tanner still wanted to play. They ended up running past Dougie, so Tanner stopped to see if he might want to play. They all took off together for a little while until Dougie ran to see if Sky would play with him, too. After a little while, Sky met up with Finnigan and the two of them started to wrestle. They were so cute to watch that I had a hard to time breaking them up so we could go inside.
Enhanced
Max was eager to get some training done today. We headed out in search of some people to work on his greeting skills. Max was quite good right off the bat about saying hi to everyone, even when Kinsey came through the front door with shopping bags. Max kept his cool and he and I waited patiently until it was his turn to greet her. Next we moved on to some recall work. I kept it simple and kept him on leash to make sure he obeyed each of the commands. Max did very well even while he was distracted and sniffing things.
Boris definitely always looks forward to starting training. We made our way to the back playroom. As soon as we entered he was ready to work. I am getting quite impressed with his improvement in eye contact. We start with some 'sits' and 'downs', and to make it a little more difficult we went running around the room to get Boris all excited before asking him for the commands. His 'sits' were pretty spot on while he tried to cheat a little with his 'downs' by keeping his belly just off the ground. Next we moved onto some recall work. I like to start with the running recall and make sure Boris finds me interesting. After he did really well with those I tried a couple stationary recalls and he did very well. Not wanting the recalls to get boring, I threw in some doggy push ups. After recalls we moved on to some more focus work. Boris definitely has the hang of it but still needs to work on his duration.
When we were all finished, we headed back to spend some time with Tasha. I practiced 'sit' and 'down' with Tasha, making sure that Boris was using his manners. Tasha was happy to take every treat and always loves a good snuggle.
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