Friday, June 12, 2009

Just wanted some time!

I thought Rugby had been acting a little funny since I had left him for Canada. He started questioning what I was telling him to do. Not in a naughty way, but a...let me look you in the eye for an extra 7.5 seconds before I do anything just to make sure that is what you really want me to do.....maybe that is a little naughty though. :p It has been weird though because it isn't with everything. Some things he does better at now than before. Basically I just can't figure him out this week.

Tonight when I got off work though, he had some spare energy to burn so I took him out to work a little bit. We like to work when it is this late at night because we can go in the street and we don't have to worry about cars. He was amazing. He tried the funny wait thing for the recall, but we were able to work on it and fix it at least for today. His heeling was beautiful......wayyy wayyy wayyy perfect. His finish was perfect. The recalls he did at the end were perfect, I couldn't be happier with the little bugger.

It got a little hot outside, and when we came back inside....I still hadn't drained all the energy from him. So he went and picked out a suitable toy and pretended to kill it. With my help, he was able to chase it some too. :p His favorite toy is the blue petsmart dog thing. He has the one he came with still and another that came in a 'pack' of different colored ones. Tonight he started with the one he came with, and when he got tired he sifted through his humongous box of toys to find the almost identical other blue dog. :p ?!? He is silly. I think he has finally tired for the night.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Canadian Dogs

I have made it to Canada. This post isn't about Rugby but it is about dogs so I think it is sort of appropriate. I have been amazed with the dogs in this city. the dogs here happily walk along beside their owners, even if it isn't in heel position they definetely aren't pulling and are attentive to their hadlers. They aren't gretting people that walk by, sniffing everything they pass and peeing on every post. They are just walking. Calmly. They sit at corners when waiting to cross, and patiently wait while tied outside of shops while their people shop. There are LOTS of people walking by and of the dogs I have seen waiting on the street, none are worrying about what is going on around them...they are just sitting and waiting patiently. Even more amazing is that the people walking by are not bothering the dogs either, just as the dogs are not bothering the people. I am not sure the pedestrians even look twice at the dogs that are waiting. We saw a german shepherd walking down the street carrying his owners water bottle in his mouth for him....and the smile on his owners face was amazing! This is obviously not the exception here, but the rule. Why can't american dogs behave so well? Where is the disconnect? These dogs are not incredibly trained, they just have good manners. Why is it so hard? How can people see these dogs as anything but happy and fulfilled? Why do people make excuses for their dog when they can't get them to act like this.

The dogs here are wonderful, and it is simply because they are treated like dogs, which is what they deserve.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

More Pictures from Friday

I was looking back through the pictures from the other day and thought I would share these ones too. :)
I think this first one is funny. It is the first time I tried to get him on the basketball and I am not sure why I expected him to be good enough at it for me to even try to take a picture on the first try but...I did it anyway lol. It seems to me like Rugby is trying to negotiate with me. His proposition....'i'll only put one foot on, and you have to give me a treat.' While this is pretty cute, I am glad that I am slightly more persuasive than he is. ;)
The next two are lacking captions, but I think they are still cute. :p


Rugby had a good day today and got to meet a new buddy. A brussels griffon puppy (that is wayy cute). He convinced him to play and Rugby, Ellie the yorkie, Cabott the new puppy all played well together. Sanity joined for some of the play too, and Pete mostly just supervised. lol I have to get some pictures next time. ;)