Monday, November 28, 2011

Extreme Counter Cruising

Usually I have some brag about how well Wesley has done something but tonight I'm not sure if I have a brag or an "Oh My!!!". My husband was running the dogs out and Wesley just hopped up on the kitchen counter. It was so effortless and graceful that we just stood there sort of open mouthed. He was on the floor and the next second he was on the counter. He is quite a clever little fellow and obviously very athletic. I don't think the 24" table in agility is going to be any challenge at all but I think we'll have to try to deter him from the new sport of extreme counter cruising.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wesley - Class week 3

Wes had a busy day. He did his 2nd nursing home visit and he did very well. Everyone just loved him and he loved all the petting. He is going to make a great therapy dog.

Tonight was the third class of his obedience class. We missed last week as I was away but we did work on the homework for the class. He is still fascinated with the flooring but he was improved. He also got distracted by the dogs running agility in the next ring....looked like more fun... but he was able to get it all together and do some very nice work. He has great attention once he has settled down. I'm hoping to get him to some "10 minute ticker" type things so he can get practice in a variety of new places. He is very smart but also very social and is positive everyone came just to see him.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Catching Up

I can't believe how long it has been since I updated the blog. Have had a hectic few weeks.

Wesley started an obedience class 2 weeks ago. The facility has a state of the art turf floor and he was very distracted at first as I think it holds the scent of all of the dogs that have been there but he figured it out and did some very nice work. I wish the class was a little more advanced but I think it will still be a good learning experience for him.

We missed the 2nd class as I was judging rally in Salisbury, MD Wednesday and Thursday. It was a nice club to judge for. They provided me with great stewards. I drove home right after finishing up Thursday and repacked my suitcase to head out the next day.

Friday, Wes and I drove to Parkersburg, WV. It was about 300 miles which isn't a bad drive but I hit snow for about 75 miles of the trip. As many of you know, I absolutely hate to drive if snow is expected within 500 miles of me. The snow stopped after we got through western MD and the rest of the drive was okay. Saturday we had a seminar with Deb Jones author of The Focused Puppy, the In Focus agility series and some recent articles in Clean Run. It was a lot of fun and reminded me to practice even very basic skills to keep them sharp.

Sunday, I pretty much tried to recover from 5 days on the road except for giving Wes, Harry, and Jamie a training session and taking Nori for a couple of walks.

Nori is recovering well from her TPLO surgery. It will just be a a couple of weeks until she can resume her normal life. Of course, we will have to build back up to agility slowly. I think she will be very happy to do some actual work.

It was a beautiful day today so we did some tracking with Wesley. I am going to have to find the gloves I wore to protect my hands when I started Jamie as Wesley is very eager to find that glove and he is very strong. I love how enthusiastic he is about everything we do.

I hope to be able to get some new pictures of Wes this week. He has really grown and is, in my not completely unbiased opinion, a very nice boy. I haven't entered him in any shows for the rest of the year but we will be looking forward to the January shows in Fredericksburg.