Wesley pics

This is Wesley's first Christmas so I took a few pictures of him in Christmas settings.

Wesley meets Santa

Wesley did a nursing home visit today and they were having a Christmas party complete with Santa Claus. Wesley went right to him and snuggled up....apparently trying to get on the "nice" list. The people watching got a big kick out of that. Wesley was all dressed up with a bright red ruffled collar in keeping with the season. He is such a hit at the nursing home and is so well behaved that people almost don't believe he is only 9 months old.

Nori and Wesley - Freestyle workshop

I took Nori and Wesley to a freestyle seminar this weekend and we had a great time. The seminar was small so we got a lot of time to work. Nori was happy to be out and about and getting to do some work again. I discovered she is very picky about music. She works to anything that is being played and does a nice job but when a piece really appeals to her she gets much more animated, her moves are more dynamic and the other attendees said her tail seemed to wag in tune to the music. Nori's taste does seem to differ from mine. She was raised with classical music, broadway songs, opera, and golden oldies but she really liked zydeco. Who knew? I was very happy with Wesley. He was able to work with 6 other dogs out on the floor and even did a nice solo improv off lead. He has a lot of power in his movement yet can rock back on his rear for slower stuff and still keep a trot. The music had 2 places that just begged for a pause so I moved in front of him and he stopped in a stack and then I moved him back to heeling on the opposite side. Several people said that should definitely be a move in his routines as he looks so pretty standing like that. He had a lot of fun and seems to really like freestyle so I will start looking for music for him.

Wesley Class 6

Wesley finished up his obedience class session Wednesday evening. He did a nice job on his graduation exercises although I do know I am going to have to work with him around dogs running agility. He becomes absolutely mesmerized and it seems fairly obvious that he thinks that is going to be a lot of fun. I'll be taking him to any agility run throughs I can find and just sit outside the ring and C/T for attention. We have about a month before any other classes start. I like the distractions provided by the place we were going for the obedience class but I don't want that long a drive in the winter. I'm a big chicken about driving in snow or on frozen roads. We will at least go to the conformation classes at my club for January and February and then in March I'll put him in an agility foundations class. He does nice heeling and has a great recall. He is getting better on his sit and stand for exams....not kissing the examiner. He has several cute freestyle moves and knows a bunch of tricks. He retrieves wooden, leather, plastic, and metal articles and has started scent discrimination work. We have done some nosework and tracking and he is very keen on that. He does a baby dogwalk, tunnels, the chute and bump jumps and is very fast. He likes things to move so he shouldn't have any problem with the teeter when he gets old enough. He knows all of the rally exercises through excellent although we will try to get in more proofing practice before entering competition. He loves people and other dogs and has wonderful greeting behavior with new dogs. He is maturing very nicely and we will probably hit a few breed shows in January.  All in all he is a really great puppy and I am delighted with his looks, his movement, his personality, and above all, his intelligence.

Harry RE

Harry and I went to a rally trial Friday and I am pleased to say he got his 3rd RE leg with a 3rd place. Good boy, Harry.