A Full Weekend

During the month of July I do not teach agility at the shelter on the weekends. I very quickly forget what it is like to not have agility on Saturdays; I had a lovely weekend!

Saturday my mother came down with her mix-breed dog Nellie (aka Nervous Nellie) and we went for a 2 hr hike at Borderland. We had a great time and didn't run into any off leash dogs. Yippee! Ike was a pro - I was a little concerned about Nellie towards the end of our hike. Nellie could lose a couple of pounds and with the heat we could tell she was having a bit of a hard time. Fortunately she is a water dog and gladly hopped in the pond when we thought the water wasn't too murky.

Ike is such a slow poke. My mother was joking around that he paces himself. At the beginning of the hike Nellie was leading the way, tail wagging. By the end of the hike the dogs were walking side by side and I don't think Ike was any more tired than when he started! He's a goofball!

I am dog sitting Carmen for two weeks. It's fun to have the two Schnauzers - I can practice for my puppy! I brought Carmen with us to playgroup yesterday at the Shelter and she was so good. She was excellent with the people and the dogs - I am very proud of her. Her behavior at playgroup leads me to think that her reactivity to dogs is more-or-less leash aggression. Ike, on the other hand, regressed a bit. I am unclear whether it was the fact that Carmen was at playgroup or the fact that there was an English Mastiff puppy (6 mos.) who was a little bit rude that had Ike in a mood. I guess we will see next week if that puppy doesn't return how Ike behaves.

After playgroup I bought Carmen a martingale collar at the shelter (can't beat $5.99!). Carmen is a terrible puller, and I have tried without much success to get my in-laws to use either the gentle leader or the easy walk. I figured I would give the martingale collar a try - this way they will not need to do anything when they walk her.

So far we have only gone on two walks, and she doesn't seem to be pulling as badly. This could just be because I wore her out! We went to my friend Marlene's house after the Shelter playgroup. She has two lovely rescue Golden Retrievers and another friend came over with her Shepherd X. The dogs had a blast. I am not sure I have ever seen Carmen and Ike so tired.