Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016

Extra Attention

Bella T. couldn’t wait to head out for her extra attention time. Today I decided that we head straight outside instead of hanging out up front for a bit. I brought some treats with me so Bella could have some fun hunting in the grass. As we made our way out there Bella found herself a ball. She was so excited and started tossing it around. As soon as Bella realized we were heading outside she dropped the ball and ran for the door. Bella and I made our way over to the little enclosed area outside where there are lots of toys. She ignored the toys very focused on the treats I was holding. I had her show off her manners before giving Bella the last of the treats. We then tossed some of the balls around before heading back into the cool reception area where Bella said hello to all of her people friends as well as Julie, her doggy friend. 
 
Bruno enjoyed getting lots of affection during his extra attention today. When I came to get him, he was very happy and greeted me. We then walked down the hall to the playroom. As soon as Bruno was in the playroom, he began to run around excitedly. I showed him a few toys that were in the room, and he sniffed them but continued to run. After he slowed down a bit on the running, I brought to his attention that I had a little treat for him. He happily sat at my feet and I gave him the treat. He munched on it and then plopped on to the floor beside me. He happily started to wiggle around on his back and then flip over onto his belly. I pet him, and he got excited and started to snort and flopped back onto his back. I rubbed his belly while he continued to happily squirm around. He spent lots of time cuddling with both Syarah and I on the floor and on the couch.

Bauer made such a great cuddler during his extra attention today. When I went and got Bauer for his extra attention, he happily followed me down the hall to the playroom. He wandered around the room at first, and sniffed around at all the various toys lying around. Then, I showed him I had a treat for him. He came over and sat politely, so I gave him the treat. Then we headed over to the couch. I sat down and told him to jump up too. He did, and sat right next to me waiting to be cuddled. I gave him lots of cuddles and big hugs. He seemed interested in the mirrored sunglasses on the top of my head; he stared at his reflection in them. He then decided to get more comfortable and laid down, and enjoyed more cuddles. He even dozed off a bit with his head on my lap. I think his favourite part was having his ears scratched. He would tilt his head to the side.
 
Training

Polly did a great job during her first training session today. She was very excited to get outside and sniff around in the grass along the path. I let her sniff for a moment before we got to work. We started by walking around without any cues so that I could get a feel for her normal habits. She wanted to explore everything! To help Polly focus, I showed her a treat and called her towards me. Once she was off and distracted again, I changed the direction of our walk and gave her a gentle tug on the leash to remind her to follow suit. We did this all over the front field, constantly changing directions so that she would remain focused on the task at hand: walking and paying attention to me at the same time. I threw in some sits along the way to keep things interesting. When we came back inside, I did some work on Polly’s down command. She was a little reluctant at first, but with a few reminders and a little direction, she was laying down like a little princess. 


Groups

Max and Sadie were both so excited to go for their walk this morning. They’re always such good walkers and are always on track while they’re walking along the trail but today Max was so hyper that he was all over the place. He ran right out the door as me and Sadie were trying our bests to keep up with him and began to explore along the bushes on the side of the trail, then run out and jump up onto Sadie to play. Eventually he settled down after he did his business and we had a calm way back inside. During groups Max was finally able to let out all of his energy and get some playing done, along with Sadie of course. Max always initiates the playing while Sadie goes off on her own to snoop around the yard and explore. Today it didn’t take long at all before Max began a game of tag as he was running around the grass with some of the other dogs. Sadie was over by the door sniffing around when she saw everyone playing and ran right over to join in with them. She kept her distance whenever Max would begin to wrestle around with a dog on the ground and stood there to watch and bark at them until they got back up. Once Max did he ran over to go and take a dip in the small pool, two other dogs were already in it cooling off when Max ran over and jumped right in to take it over. Meanwhile, Sadie started to jump up onto some of the dogs backs to try and get them to continue on playing, but all the dogs were too busy staring at Max to wait for him to be finished. Once he was done cooling off he ran back over and ran right through the agility tunnel to start their game of tag again. Sadie was super excited about this and started running even faster than before; she might be the only one who can keep up with her brother.

Polly is such a sweet girl. She seemed to be a little bit nervous at first when we went out into the yard and stayed by my side. It seemed all she wanted was my attention focused on her even when all of the other dogs were running over to come and say hi and greet her. Once I started to pet her and she began to roll on the ground and stretch out her belly for me to pet. The others came over again and this time she seemed to be more interested in them. She kept her body low as she exchanged sniffs with the other dogs and became more comfortable with them after that. She took off on her own and began to wander through the further grass yard. As she was walking around, a few of the other dogs began a game of tag and once she noticed them you could tell just how excited she was. Although, I’m not sure she knew how to play, instead of chasing them, whenever a dog ran passed her she would play bow and jump up to try and catch them! 

Buddy did very well with all of the dogs in his group today. Just like with Polly, a lot of the dogs seemed to be very interested in him when he first walked outside. That was no issue for Buddy since he was loving all of the attention he got from everyone. As soon as he walked out the door all the dogs swarmed him and he sat there with a big smile on his face and tongue hanging out as everyone gave him a sniff. When he started walking away, a few of the dogs chased after him since they wanted to play. Buddy wasn’t in the mood to play just yet and walked over to the further yard to do some exploring. He walked along the fence as he sniffed everything and even walked over to a few dogs on his own to say hi. Once he was done he made his way over to the pool to check it out, he walked around it a few times then took a sip of the water before getting in the mood to start playing. He got up and ran around the yard as some of the others began to chase him.

Bella M. and Jake are both so adorable and loving dogs. Whenever I go outside with them in the yard they always come up to me whenever I’m sitting down to keep me company. Today as I was sitting on the picnic table Bella was over by the door sniffing around when she looked over and saw me, I saw her staring at me and called her over and she jumped up and sat right beside me. As I began to pet her I could tell she was getting a little sleeping as she laid down across my lap; she can be such a little princess. Meanwhile, Jake ran over to the further yard almost right as he walked out the door, he seemed to have lots of energy today as he was trotting around the yard, he started to explore for a little while along the fence. Jake was following some of the dogs and kept sniffing wherever they would go. Eventually after following them around he finally began to show them that he wanted to play by bouncing up onto them. They accepted his offer as the three of them began to run around the yard doing laps around the agility tunnel. I called Bella over to us but she wasn’t interested and stayed on her own in the shade to relax. When Jake got all tuckered out he went over by the pool to take a sip of the water then went to go and visit Bella by the door.

Bella T. got out the door and was immediately stopped by Taylor who wanted to check her over. Bella returned the favour. Once they had finished they went trotting out to the agility yard. Bella stopped once more when she saw someone checking out something in the grass. Curious, she stopped to join them. With that done Bella, continued on into the yard. She went trotting out to see what everyone was up to around the yard and to see if there was anything of particular interest to check out. Bella eventually ended up over by the fence by the tunnel exploring in the greenery growing there. She then noticed Brenyn not to far away and decided to see about getting her to play. Not having much luck, Bella decided to stick with exploring. Oakley went over to check on what she was up to and they spent some time together. Needing to cool off, Bella made her way over to the pool and hopped in.

Oakley wasted very little time in making her way out to the agility yard and going around to check things out. Once I had made my way out to the yard, she came trotting over to check on me and get a couple pets at the same time. With that done, Oakley went trotting back out to tour the yard some more. Since Oakley can only stay away so long, she was soon back wanting even more pets and loving. Having gone around the yard a couple time Oakley then decided it was time to see what the rest of the group was up to. She stopped and checked in with Ranger before making her way over to Bella. Satisfied everyone was doing well, Oakley came and sat at my side for some ear rubs.

Ranger was all about starting his morning with some exploring. He had barely made it into the agility yard when he had to stop to check something out. Ranger, having given it a thorough once over, made his way further into the yard where he was once again stopped by something in the grass. He made his way all over the yard checking out anything that caught his attention. At one point, Ranger ended up over by the purple flowers and was enjoying smelling them. Having checked out the whole yard, it was time to do a little socializing. He spent some time with Oakley before he met up with fellow lab, Taylor. They spent some time checking one another over before go for a little walk together. Taylor went running for the pool so Ranger tagged along. He stood on the sideline waiting for her to stop hogging the pool, but she’s a lab and just loved the water too much!

Riley started her morning a little slow and relaxed, but it wasn’t long before she was the one starting the fun. Riley made her way out to the yard and checked on what everyone was up to. She said hi to the others then headed out to check out some of the yard. After Riley had toured the yard a couple times, she went trotting over to spend some time with Bella. They stood with their backs to each other, just watching what was going on in the yard. Bella ended up in the pool so Riley headed out to do some more exploring. She was distracted from her exploring when Max asked Pippin to play. Riley went running over to referee the play match. She soon gave up on that and joined the fun. They started to run around the yard. Along the way it turned into Riley being chased and having a blast.

Bella F. looked like she wasn’t quite sure how she wanted to start her morning. When the group grouped together to say their hellos she went trotting over to join them. When Bauer and Pippin split off to go bouncing around, she went trotting over to see if maybe she could join in. After hopping along with her friends, Bella headed off to do some exploring. Along the way she met up with Riley and they stood back to back watching the rest of the group. When Max went racing past and into the pool Bella went trotting after him and promptly hopped into the pool. It wasn’t long before she was splashing around like crazy. Pippin went over and half climbed into the pool. It quickly turned into them wrestling around together. Pippin then left and went to play with Max so Bella left the pool and went to join in.

Bauer was pretty happy to head out for group time. He went right over to join the group that was congregating in the centre of the yard. Bauer said his hellos the group and spotted Pippin. He was immediately smitten and desperately wanted to play with her. They separated themselves from the rest of the group and started to bounce around and wrestle a bit. Bauer quickly got too warm and they two of them headed out to do some exploring together. He then moved no to see what Riley was looking at. Bauer spotted a couple of the other dogs checking out the pool and made his way over to help himself to a drink. After that it was right back to exploring. Bauer’s path eventually led him to me and he was more than happy to receive lots of pets and attention. He decided to head back to the pool for another drink. While he was over there Bauer met up with Max and they decided it was time to wrestle. Max was then stolen away and went to race around with the rest of the group. Bauer watched him go and decided to try and join it. It was just that little bit too hot so Bauer only went a couple steps before decided to just watch.

Bruno went charging out the door. As soon as he hit sunlight he realized how warm it was out. Bruno quickly made his way back into the shade and decided to spend some exploring there. He went all around with his nose as close to the ground as he could get it. After Bruno had toured the shady section he made his way over to me for a quick pet. With that done, he decided to brave the sunshine. I decided to join him and we made our way to the far yard. Bruno’s attention was caught by Max who was looking at something in the grass. Curious about what he was looking at, Bruno went trotting over to join him. They spent some time going around the far yard together. Eventually Bruno and Max needed to cool off and headed back to the shady section.