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What a beautiful day! 21 degrees with the sun shining
bright. The big
dogs were absolutely thrilled to have the pool filled up in the yard.
Kai is coming out of her shell more and more each and every
day. She was a great walking partner this morning on our stroll. She stopped
every once in a while to roll around in the grass which was so cute. Today
she was frisky with the other dogs in her group. She especially liked Tanner
and was later playing with Finnegan. As Tanner was dancing around with me,
Kai began play bowing to him and pouncing around him. He thoroughly enjoyed the
attention and began dancing around in a circle with her.
They then ran off around the yard doing a slow motion, very bouncy, chase.
They stopped and gave one another bundles of kisses and then came over to me
for attention. As Finnegan was running around with his Frisbee, Kai took extra
time to watch his every move. She finally gained the confidence to dash after
him and give him a gentle body check. After a little play, Finnegan
carried on with his Frisbee while Kai came back to me for some more
cuddles and attention.
Finnegan is such a sweet boy. I love the way he was
standing on his hind legs waving at us this morning when he came in the door. What a nice greeting :) He was very
excited to be back…even though he was only gone for one day! He had a great
walk with Rolo and Boomer, two labs. He kept them on their toes zipping back
and forth between them throughout the entire stroll. I think today was the
first time Finnegan has encountered the big dog pool. The first chunk of
playtime he wasn’t too sure of it. He would stick his muzzle in, and then a
paw, then run away. After watching other dogs play in the water and seeing toys
floating around in the water he was much more keen. By the end he was dancing
around in the water, and fully submerging himself.
Max E had a great walk this morning with his two pals
Puddles and Chloe. He was leading the group with his nose to the ground
marching as fast as he could. Whenever we stopped he would sprint over to check
out what either Chloe or Puddles were sniffing, then he would dart back to the
front and carry on in the lead. At the beginning of playgroups he had so much
fun. He loved running around with his friends checking out all the smells as
well as getting some good pets and cuddles from me. Later on he began to be
very particular over who could play with the toys, so I decided to give him some space. We played with toys together for a bit then he got some good cuddles
in his kennel. We will continue to work on his behavior towards toys for the
remainder of his stay.
Fez had a blast out in playgroups today. He was thrilled to
have the pool back. The moment he spotted the big blue pool he picked up his speed and motored over to and got right in. He slowly slunk down then
fully collapsed in the water. He had the happiest smile on his face; it was
great to see him so content. While he was in the pool, he noticed me throwing a
tennis ball with a “chuck-it” for some of his playmates. He wandered over from
the pool and began barking at me to give him a turn with the ball. It was a bit
difficult to distract his friends from the ball, so I went inside and got two
more balls. This way, everyone had a ball and Fez was extra happy. He brought
the ball with him back into the pool and lay down with it until it was time to
head back inside.
Bella is such a fun, outgoing, sweet dog.
Bella was thrilled to have a pool in the yard. It never surprises me to see the
young labs splash around in the pool and submerge themselves the moment they
get in the yard. Bella alternated between the pool, and the puddle. She also
ensured to get in on some games with Puddles and Ying. These three were very
cute, dancing around one another and slowly chasing each other around the yard.
Before it was time to come inside I gave her a good hose down to clean her up a bit. She has got to be the best-behaved dog ever. She stood there
enjoying every moment of the water running down her back and head and legs.
Shyla and Maverick had a great morning walk today. These two
were very curious about the smells on the trail. They spent their whole walk
with their noses down, swerving left and right, ensuring they captured all the
smells that spring brings. In the yard today these two weren’t too sure about
the pool. To my surprise, Shyla was the one who stuck her nose in the pool to
check it out. When Bella jumped in and splashed her, Shyla was quick to flee
the scene. Maverick wanted nothing to do with the water. He spent his time
outside sniffing the perimeter of the yard and receiving extra cuddles from me.
Shyla was very sure to sneak in on the cuddles every chance she got; sticking
her head under my arm from behind.
Max was quick to start racing around. He headed off to see who he wanted to play with. Max met up with Wally and ran around with him for a short while before running off to see what Tasha and Boris were up to. Tasha and Boris were having some fun wrestling and running around. Max ended up leaving them to take another lap of the yard where he soon found himself being asked to play by Glory. Sadie, who had been doing some exploring, saw what they were up to and made her way over to check Glory out. Max left Sadie and Glory to say hello to one another and went running around the yard. Once she'd finished with Sadie, Glory put her nose to the ground and set off to do some exploring.Wally and Ricky were also very intent on exploring the yard. Brokk wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do. He stood on the sidelines and watched what all the others were up to with a little exploring thrown in. Ricky found his explorations interrupted by Boris, who very much wanted to play with him. Max, seeing this, went over on the off chance they went running off around the yard. When Ricky wouldn't play with him, Boris ended up meeting up with Glory and she was more than happy to go racing around with him. Ricky retreated to the shade for a bit of a cool down. Nearby, Wally and Sadie were enjoying doing a little exploring together. Not wanting to miss out on anything interesting, Brokk waited for them to move on then headed over to check it out as well. Tasha, now curious, went over and joined him. After Tasha left, Glory ended up going over to check it out as well. Sadie took a little break to come over for a visit with me. She was quite happy to receive lots of pets and loving. After they had finished checking out that particularly interesting section of yard, Wally and Tasha retreated in to the shade for a a little cool down. Boris ended up charging in to see if Ricky wanted to play. Tasha then tried to get Boris to play with her. In the end Boris and Tasha went racing off to the far yard to meet up with Max and Glory. By the end of group, the whole bunch was having a great time racing around the yard and playing in the tunnel.
Maya and Penny met up and headed off to and check out the kiddie pool that had just appeared in the yard. Rocky and Lexi stuck a little closer to the door for the first couple minutes. Lexi was quick to make her way over to me to ask for some pets and attention. Rocky decided today was a good day to sunbathe. He left the shade and did just that. Maya and Penny having moved on from the kiddie pool, were now going around checking out the far yard. I followed them out and Lexi followed me. Lexi was quick to ask for more love so I settled down so we could have cuddle with her in my lap. Maya was soon bored of exploring and went off to race around with Dash. Penny didn't continue to explore for much longer and was soon racing around the yard by herself. She wasn't by herself for long though, and was soon ripping around with Timbits. They had a lot of run until Penny decided she'd like to do a little more exploring. Timbits then went to join Maya's fun. Lexi and I were visited by Zane. After he'd said his hellos he went off to see what Penny was doing. I left them to their fun and went to see how Rocky was doing. He'd apparently had enough sun and was now hanging out in the shade.
Apple and Sky were all about the exploring this morning. Sky was off doing a thorough investigation of the main yard while Apple went straight for the rocks in the far yard. When Sky had seen all he wanted to see of the main yard for the moment he made his way over to me for some neck scratches. Apple noticed this and came bouncing over to get some of her own. She then spotted Cooper rolling over by the tunnel and headed over to check it out. Sky decided to tag along. In the end they both ended up rolling around as well. Apple then noticed Flora rolling around in the grass in another part of the yard and had to go over to investigate her as well. After this Apple was feeling pretty frisky and decided to go and join/bark at Cooper as he raced around the yard.
Cooper set out to start his morning with some exploring around the main yard. When he'd seen all he wanted to see he went trotting out to join the others in the far yard. Cooper ended up in the rocks along the fence trying to figure out what was in the cracks. Eventually he got tired of the rocks and went to have some fun rolling around in the grass. Apple saw this and went over to see what he was doing. In the end she started to roll around as well. Sky, not wanting to miss out, came over to have a little roll himself. Feeling refreshed, Cooper went tearing off around the yard. After a little while he was joined by Apple.
Flora was all about the sunshine when she got outside. She had barely made it out the door when she planted herself in the sun and where she could watch what some of the others were up to. Hamish went over to see what she was up to. This got Flora going and she went racing off. She ended up out in the far yard where she met up with Stewie. The two of them were quick to start bouncing around and having fun. A little later Flora came over for a quick visit before returning to Stewie. She finished playing with him to go and have a roll in the grass.
Rex practically dragged me outside he was so excited to get out and look around. He didn't really seem to have a plan for where he wanted to go so we just meandered around the yard. Rex then decided he wanted to go out to the the tall grass to do some exploring. He wouldn't take no for an answer and so that's where we went. We made our way around slowly, and Rex sniffed and zig zagged all around, enjoying the lovely day and the scents that swept in on the breeze. We did a little more wandering before it was time to head inside.
Training:
Tasha was a little off her game this morning to start. She was super excited to be going out the front door and see the front yard. It took her a while to gain her focus, because she was so interested in the long grass. After a couple treats, she decided she'd rather work for her treats and then she was entirely focused. We went for our usual walk down the driveway, making sure Tasha stayed by my side. Every couple steps, we stopped and Tasha sat right away and she got rewarded with a little treat. Sometimes I tested her and asked her to lie down, without making a hand gesture and by the second time saying "down, she was lying right on her belly, waiting for her reward. Boris did extraordinary on his structured walk today as well! He was focused from the get-go, always keeping his attention on me. We did the same thing we did yesterday, changing pace at random times. Boris practiced noticing the change and matching his pace again. He did just as well as yesterday. After both their structured walks, we had a group kennel etiquette session. I made them both sit before entering the kennel again, and wait patiently while I took their prongs off. I went in the kennel with them and made them both lie down for their treat. Tasha did it right away, but Boris needed a little reminder and some enticing to lie down, but he was happy once he did, when he was rewarded with a delicious treat.
Max and Sadie have been doing so well this week, it's great to see! They went out to play in their group before going for training this morning and I think that really helped them focus. I did some work with them both in the kennel before taking Max out for his session. Their patience is improving every day. I took Max for a structured walk down the driveway to work on his heeling a little bit more. Since he was thrown off by walking on my right side yesterday, I decided to get him used to heeling on both sides today. I went down the driveway with him on my left side, which is what he's used to, and on the way back I moved him over to my right. He was focused and paid attention and was heeling like a gentleman by the time we made it back to the parking lot. We then did some more recall reinforcement on the long rope out in the front lawn. I waited until Max was distracted either with a smell in the grass or listening to the dogs in the yard, and then called him over. He did a great job of listening and I only had to give him a few gentle reminders. It was a good day for Max!
Sadie is a master at walking on a loose leash. We did the same little routine as I did with Max, and Sadie walked by my side the entire way. I wanted to see if she was paying attention to me so I changed my pace, hoping that she would follow my lead and match up. She sped up and slowed down each time I did, it was awesome! After a few treats, I hooked Sadie up to the long rope and we practiced her recall as well. I focused on having her sit once she reached me, since lately she's been skipping the sit and going straight to laying down. At the end of the session I even did some "hands free" heeling with Sadie, and she stuck right by my side! I kept her on the long rope and asked her to heel, same as if she were on a leash, and she did a fantastic job.
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