Monday

We went to Southland on Monday morning.  It was another beautiful day dogs.  There weren't that many people and dogs there that early so we were able to have almost the whole park to ourselves.  Rover chased a few bike riders inside the safety of the fence.  Most of the riders smile at him, speed up and give him a good run.  He has been clocked at 27 kmh.  Maybe by the end of the season he will have increased his speed. 

The dogs are still being attracted by the puddles which, fortunately, are getting smaller but, unfortunately, are getting thicker stickier and smellier.  Whistler and Rover require daily showers with the hose much to their dismay.  In order to keep Riley out of the puddles I had to create quite the diversion for his attention.  I am glad there weren't a lot of people at the park to see me dancing around like a t-bone steak.  

Ryder and Everest were seen palling around a couple of times during the walk.  They were checking out holes and interesting smells together.  Considering it seemed Ryder was leery of the big slobbering teenage monster I am very pleased at this development.   

Bruin, Penny and Kip from Jennifer's group just plodded along and enjoyed being out with their buddies.     

At lunch we went to let Viva out for a little walk and she and Everest had a visit at the truck.  Viva loves other dogs and is always so joyful to see and greet her friends.

The afternoon group was full of nuts as usual.  We were late as usual and we went to Edworthy as usual.  One of these days - if we are ever on time I will get them to Shouldice for a swim because I know this group LOVES the water.  The dogs started out playing a rousing game of fetch for about 25 minutes.  I find that this settles them down considerably and make the rest of the walk about peaceful socializing and not craziness.  So after their tongues were hanging out of the sides of their mouths and they were huffing and puffing and had their full of fresh water we headed out. 

Taylor and Wilbur were paired up and I think Taylor was trying to boss him around and be all tough and firm with him but he kept squirming out from under her grinning like a fool and acting like he was having a fun.  This made Taylor redouble her efforts to be firm but Wilbur was not taking it seriously enough and she eventually moved on to attempt a stalking of a Viszla (which was not taken seriously either).  I guess Taylor was not meant to be seen as a force to be reckoned with.  Poor Taylor will forever remain known as a softy. 

I have using some of the techniques for recall and attention that I have learned in class with the dogs.  The dogs in this group have always had pretty good recall but now they are learning to come directly to me and gathering around instead of just coming closer.  (More details to come on how to accomplish this for yourselves.)