Walnuts

Rugby put in some time picking up fallen walnuts at Applewoods yesterday. He was in charge of holding the bag open while all the big dogs brought in the walnuts.



The bag turned out to be too small and Rugby went for the wheelbarrow next.



Cabot weighed in on some of the decision making too. Rugby was happy to have a second opinion. They both agreed that the walnuts should be dumped in the woods.

Rugby Sized River

We ignored one of those pesky E-town signs and found a creek that we probably weren't allowed to go in. Rugby didn't even wait for us to walk down there and as soon as he spotted the creek left us to wade in the water.



My brother kept finding Rugby-sized sticks and twigs to throw in the water for him. He always ran after them, but rarely found them. He didn't catch on to the fact that they would go down-stream with the water. He kept looking for them where he thought they fell.



I guess he got fed up with the twigs because, the next thing I know, Rugby is pulling this out of the water.



THIS one he could find when we threw it for him, and he brought it back again and again. I think he liked the challenge of picking it up.



When he was done retrieving, he dragged the stick back to the beach, but didn't give it to us to throw again.



Then he did some more wading and running to cool down from all that hard work.



The creek definitely made all those 'No Pets' signs a little less depressing.

Elizabethtown, PA needs some improving

We are visiting Pennsylvania again. Rugby and I have a complaint.
Elizabethtown is anti-dog. Everywhere we turn we find another "No Pets" sign, complete with the silhouette of an ugly hound dog. Some of those hounds sit isolated in the middle of the sign, and some have owners that they drag along on a leash. Or maybe that cartoon person is supposed to represent the city of Elizabethtown, holding all the resident dogs at bay.



What's going on E-town? Rugby is annoyed with you...

Scaredy Cat

Rugby has been barn sitting and farm sitting with me almost all of August, at a couple different places. We were chicken/goat/horse watching this past weekend and the owner mentioned letting the chickens out to free range for a while. I didn't, mostly because I was worried about loosing one of his chickens. 

When the owner came back on the last day, he let the chickens out while I was still there. I knew Rugby wouldn't chase them, but I did expect him to show some aversion to them. Much to my surprise, he didn't even notice they were out! Even when they were running past him, he just found a spot in the middle of the yard to get comfortable while they roamed around him. Rugby really IS a farm dog! 

What makes it more amazing is that the week before, at a different farm, Rugby met a cat. He had met this cat before briefly, but he had to live with her for an entire week this time. He was terrified of her! At least... as terrified as Rugby gets. He would bark at her, and try his hardest to look away or hide in a corner when she got too close. We worked on it all week. After a few days, he started to tolerate her hanging around. When she would come sit on my lap, Rugby was even brave enough to lay at my feet, and occasionally stand on the couch to get a sneak sniff in. 

How is it that he wouldn't care at all about the half a dozen chickens running around him, and still be wary of the cat (who pretends she is a dog)? Strange dog. :-p

Another Delivery for Rugby

This time, it wasn't a Father's Day Card, but his entry to the National Obedience Invitational. 

Is it too early to be nervous? 

Playground Discovery

We came across a rock wall/jungle gym thing on our walk yesterday. I am pretty upset that I didn't have one of these when I was younger.

Rugby jumped through the whole in the wall all by himself the first time. Then I made him do it 4 more times, until I got the timing right on my cell phone for the perfect jumping picture. Turns out, you can't really tell he is jumping anyway. Humph.

Smart or Lazy? Part II

We were trying to practice go-outs in the shaded area of a local park yesterday. When I set my targets out, I didn't realize that our dowel rods look an awful lot like ALL those sticks that had fallen from the trees. 

I had put two targets out, and the first one he got with no problems. The second one was just a little bit further than the first. When he was sent for that one, he dutifully went out to the point where the first target had been and scanned the ground for a couple of seconds. The target was just out of view and instead of walking a little further, he decided that this stick was close enough in diameter to the targets to be a substitute.

I praised him for being so creative but... 

Should I be proud that Rugby created 'all natural' go-out sticks, or worried because he was too lazy to go six  more inches to get the real one? 

Blooper

Rugby has been very busy lately. Just this past weekend we were at an Obedience match trying to see just how much stamina we have. On our first run of the day, I set out our go-out targets to make up for the fact that we have not been practicing like we should. The go-out sticks are supposed to be hidden in the grass, and they usually are. There isn't much I can do to hid them when we are working on rubber mats though, making this set up particularly easy.

For whatever reason, Rugby decided that the go-out sticks belonged to someone else. When he didn't immediately go to them, I waited without giving him the sit command to force him to pick up one of the sticks and return. At least that is what I thought would happen. 

Instead... 

So creative.