Monday, June 27th, 2016

Training

Boris did fantastic with his training today. We got all his extra energy out this morning with a walk and a good outdoor play with running and wrestling, so when it was time for his training session he was ready to focus. We went over his "heel" while walking around the front and as usual he walked by my side attentively. He then did some sit, downs and stays on the 6ft leash showing off all of his skills. Once I had his full attention we worked on his recall on the long line. At first I just did some short sit, stay and comes walking only a few feet away from him. By the end of our session I could walk a good distance away and have him come when I called. If I left his sniff around and get distracted he had some trouble with his recall but we will continue to work on this! One step at a time. 

Tasha is always so eager and excited to come out for a training session. She walked like an angel by my side all the way down the driveway and back as we practiced her heel command. I stopped every now and then and had her sit and lay down for some treats to keep things interesting. I hooked Tasha up to the long leash once we made it back to the front lawn. We practiced some recall and some basic commands like sit and down. I tried to introduce Tasha to "paw" but she'll need a bit more practice on that one. We also started working on "gentle" so that Tasha learns to take treats nicely from my hand. All together, Tasha had a great session! 

Gracie was pretty excited when she realized it was time for training. We made our way outside after loading up with treats. I hooked Gracie up to the long line so we could do some recall work. She was very quick to respond and came racing over. We did this a couple times before moving onto some basic stuff like ‘sit’, ‘down’, and ‘paw’.  I put Gracie in a sit and asked her to ‘stay’. She held it beautifully then came when I called her. Next we moved onto some fun stuff. We worked on ‘crawl’, ‘on your feet/stand’ and ‘sit pretty’. Afterwards we headed inside to spend some time cuddling and having treats. 
 

Groups

Boris seemed to be the highlight of the group today. He does a really great job of getting the whole crew running and playing. He definitely loves being in a group of his own kind (huskies), plus Sadie and Max who are honorary huskies. Boris spent most of his time outside zooming from one corner of the yard to the other, with all his friends on his tail. He loves zipping through the agility tunnel and then bolting around the small fenced in area. Behind the small fenced in area is a small path and he really enjoys running along there where his friends must chase him in single file. In between each set of sprints he hopped in the pool to cool off. Later on, Tasha joined in on the shenanigans, but mainly to control their wild games. Tasha kept herself very busy trying to keep her three kids; Boris, Justice, and Magic under control. She would lunge at them as they wrestled around trying to keep their actions in line. At one point, all three of them ganged up on her and made her run around with them. She gave in to them briefly and zoomed around the yard once or twice. After she had her daily dose of fun she wandered around the pool where she cooled off. She was then happy to hang out with Alyssa where she accepted loads of cuddles and pets. 

Max and Sadie were so excited to get in the front door this morning. They didn't even go into their kennel before their walk. These two seemed very excited to motor out the door and zoom along the trail. Max was very intrigued by the dogs walking ahead of us. He marched along trying as hard as possible to catch up. Unfortunately, myself and Sadie held him back. Sadie loves to trot through the long grass and check up on me every once in a while. When we were done the walk these two seeemed rather excited to check out their kennel, and make sure nothing had changed since they were last here. In the yard today Sadie was so excited to have two people outdoors with her. She spent a large amount of time cuddling up next to Alyssa with a giant smile on her face accepting all the attention she could get. After loads of cuddles, Sadie made her way over to the tunnel where she jumped on top with her pal Kyah. These two stood on top of the tunnel supervising the rest of the group zooming around. Meanwhile, Max was zipping around the yard chasing after his husky pals. Max does a great job fitting in with the pack. He definitely thinks he is a husky himself. He loves chasing Boris through the tunnel and then pouncing on him the moment they get out.  Boris tolerates Max's intense play very well, which makes these two great partners in crime. In between each zoom around the yard Max hops in the pool where he gets a gulp of water and cools off. 

Penny and Pippin are such chatty ladies. When they saw me this morning they both talked up a storm to me while I pet them. Once they were done telling me their stories, I let them out into the yard. Penny was more than ready to zip around the yard with her nose down. She insisted on sniffing every square inch of the small dog yard prior to acknowledging any of the other dogs. Once she sniffed all around the fence, all the gravel, all the grass, and all the toys, she wandered to each dog to say hello. She was happy to finish her hellos and waddle her way over to me for some pets and kisses. Pippin on the other hand was very excited to zoom around the yard and check out all the other dogs right away. She was interested in Timbits for a while, but then spotted Harvey dancing around the yard. Pippin zoomed over to him and chased him around for a brief time before I offered her some attention. She was keen to sit on my lap while I pet and cuddled her before it was time to head back in. 

Coco and Timbits started their morning off on the right paw (so to speak) with a wonderful trot around the trail. Coco is very good at sticking by my side with her nose down.  Timbits on the other hand is a wild monkey. He zooms ahead, and behind, then loops around me and then sprints back to the front causing quite the tangle with his leash. Once I finally sort him out, he puts the leash in his mouth and trots along. He continues these shenanigans for the entire walk. When it was time to go outside, Timbits was so excited to head out in the yard with his pals. Timbits was immediately drawn to Nellie, and these two hit it off. They zoomed around the yard doing endless laps. In between each session of laps, the two of them would head to the pool where they would cool off. After they caught their breath they would start their chase game all over again. Coco was a bit quieter at the start of groups today. I think she was a bit jealous of Timbits playing with his new best friend Nellie. She hung out in the shade, and then came over to me for attention. She finally decided to check out what her brother was up to. Once Coco realized how much fun he was having zooming around with Nellie, she joined in on the fun too. These three ran and ran until it was time to come inside. Needless to say, they both had a great nap before their next outing. 

It was so great to see Nellie today! It's been forever since I've last seen her. She was her same old goofy self all day. It took her a couple minutes to remember how much she loves this place. She took her time sniffing and exploring the yard before she really got going. The moment she noticed the pool, all her good memories came back to her. She instantly began splashing around, which lead to an intense sprint into the grass yard where the chasing began. Her new pal Timbits instantly clung to her side and these two zoomed in circles around the yard for their entire time outside. Nellie loved Timbits' fun loving personality. She was so comfortable goofing around with him. She would do numerous fast laps, and then dart to the pool where she would fully lay down to cool off. After catching her breathe she would leap back up and begin her zoomies all over again with her pals right on her tail. She crashed the moment she got back in her kennel, but was more than ready to go by the time her next outing rolled around. 

Kai was all about the exploring when she first got outside. She put her nose to the ground and set off in search of all the new and interesting scents. After a quick tour Kai was back wondering what the rest of the group was up to. She checked in with everyone then headed off to do some more exploring. Kai made her way out to the grassy yard with the rest of the group. She did a little more exploring the decided to just watch the rest of the group for a while. When no one was doing anything super crazy Kai went back to her exploring. Once she’d seen all she wanted to she decided to make her way out to the agility yard. Kai set out to check it out. She came to a stop to have a quick roll then got right back to business. After going around the yard it was time for some pets. Kai made her way over to me and sat herself down. 

Ranger wasted no time in heading out to the agility yard. It took him a little while to realize the rest of the group wasn’t going to follow him out, so he turned around and headed back to the main yard to see what everyone else was up to. When that was done, Ranger made his way over to the fence line to do a little inspection. He soon became aware of the group making their way out to the grassy yard. Ranger was quick to tag along. He seemed quite pleased to have so much grass to explore in. Ranger went all around the yard before making his way out to the other yard. He quickly became aware of the pool. Once it was unoccupied Ranger hopped right in and circled a couple times. He then dipped his face in the water and shook. Ranger repeated this a few more times, before just standing happily in the pool. When the rest of the group headed out to the agility yard Ranger decided to tag along. As soon as he got out there he was in the other pool and quite pleased with himself. 

Finnigan went racing out to the agility yard and came to an abrupt halt when Riley wanted to say hi. Next he found himself being looked over by Annie. Once they’d had their fill of him Finnigan was free to run off once more. Along the way he met up with Gracie and asked her to play. As they went to run off they caught Riley’s attention. Soon Finnigan and Riley were tearing around the yard at full speed. Their antics drew the eye of Hitch who went bouncing over to see about maybe joining in. Finnigan ended up flopping over on the ground. Riley then spent some time checking him over trying to figure out what he was up to. Gracie made her way over to do the same. Finnigan was quick to get back on his feet and take off racing with Riley once more. Before long they were joined by Hitch, Starsky, and Gracie. Eventually everyone needed a bit of a breather and split up. Finnigan wasn’t alone long. He soon found himself being asked to play by Duke. Finnigan was all for it and the two of them had a blast wrestling. It soon turned into running which got the rest of the group running as well. Soon the whole group was tearing around the yard. They raced around for quite a while, but soon Finnigan needed to cool off. He headed for the pool and hopped in. Finnigan was soon lying in the pool and almost completely submerged. Once he was feeling all refreshed he was back to racing around the yard with everyone. 

 Gracie made her way out to the agility yard and immediately set off to do some exploring. Along the way she met up with Finnigan. He was quick to ask Gracie to play. They ran around a bit until Finnigan took off racing with Riley. Gracie let them go and decided to go check out something along the fence line. Finnigan caught her attention again when she spotted him lying on the ground while Riley thorough checked him over. Gracie made her way over to do the same. Finnigan was soon up and wanting to run some more. Gracie tagged along for a little while, but then went off to come and visit me. After she had some pets she was ready to run around some more. Needing a break, Gracie made her way over to another fence and had some fun sampling the greenery growing there. She was torn away from her exploring when Finnigan and Duke started to tear around the yard. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Gracie went racing after them. They all raced around for quite a while and soon needed a breather. Gracie headed back to exploring. It wasn’t long before everyone was back to racing around.