Something is Missing

It was almost a year ago that we went to Tick Neck Park with Caruso. It was late October and the orange, yellow and red leaves were a perfect backdrop for a few Fall photos.

That is the same park Diesel and Rugby went for their trail training yesterday. 

Except there was something missing.

Rugby may have thought the field was just as much fun yesterday as last year...

...but I miss the trees.

Trail Training

Not much time today to fit training in around homework, so Rugby and I picked Diesel up and headed to the park for a quick walk around the bike path. Both dogs were excited to get out and about, but neither of them lasted for any amount of time. The thick, heavy air slowed us down.

The bike path Rugby, Diesel and I walked is a short one. It might be the shortest bike path every created. Even so, there is a path through the trees, so someone can shorten the shortest-bike-path-ever by another 50 ft. We usually pass by the shortcut and an extra 50ft of exercise in, but this time I noticed a fallen tree.

Diesel got to check the tree out first. That dog loves to jump. I'm not sure why he constantly feels the need to be higher than he stands (at 27.5" tall), but he is always jumping. To celebrate a job well done, he jumps. When he plays, he jumps. When he does a finish to the left, he jumps. Now that he has to jump when he retrieves, he can hardly contain himself. The tree was a perfect opportunity for him to do just that - to jump.

There was no way Rugby was getting over the tree, so I propped him up on top of it instead. It must have fallen some time ago, because the top side of it is worn down from people climbing over it, I assume. The smooth surface made it a little difficult for him to sit there, but being in a down wasn't so bad. He did not like that he was just sitting there watching Diesel have fun, but he got to have his own fun later.

It's Wet, But Not Raining

There was a pause in the rain this afternoon, so Rugby and I didn't waste any time getting outside.

We put out a BIG circle of gloves out in the parking lot to practice turns and taking direction. The shoe box fronts paid off, because you could tell he was thinking about it every time he came in. He came in straight over and over.

Since everything was still wet, we picked something easy to do next. I stayed in the parking lot and had Rugby retrieving his dumbbell from the grassy area just on the other side of the lot. He ran as fast as he could out and as fast as he could coming in. And he gave me some more straight fronts, too!

We put our gloves and dumbbell away and got out our heeling stick. We heeled off-lead down the street to the park so that Rugby could run around like a maniac in the open space. He took a couple breaks (three to be exact) to cool off between his four spurts of zoomies. When he was all done, we heeled off-lead back to the house, with another pit stop for zoomies in a field closer to the house.

The rain had just started up again by the time we got back. Lets hope we get another break in the rain before Monday, when it's supposed to stop for good.

Stair Trainer For Dogs

Its raining, and I have a lot of homework. Rugby had to make a compromise with me since we were not making any training field trips. Running up and down the stairs was sure to use that excess energy up, and fast. So, after his afternoon potty break, we did recalls in the stairwell of our building. He usually only uses the stairs that lead outside, so he was hesitant to venture further away in either direction (up or down), especially when he couldn't see me.

Once we had exhausted the recall exercise, we moved back inside and found another shoe box. Don't ask me why we have so many shoe boxes... I honestly don't know. I used the 'shoe' part and practiced having Rugby bring his toys over and drop them in the box. He made two mistakes pretty consistently. He would either 1) climb inside the box, as if I had asked him to 'place' or 2) drop the toy right beside the box and not inside of it. I changed how I was asking to help him better understand what it was that I wanted. Then, he put three toys in the box successfully, two times in a row.

Since Rugby had placed inside the 'shoe' part of the box voluntarily, I got another idea. I could use the top of the shoe box, upside down, as a place board to practice straight fronts with. It is a little too big, so Rugby can still sit crooked inside of it, but it was much easier to fix him in the smaller space than it is otherwise. He thought it was fun. It was also hard to get him out of the shoe-box-top once he was in there! When we tried a couple off-angle fronts, he tried sitting beside the top instead of in it, but he got it with a little help.

Last thing we did was scent work. But it was still raining. So we did those in the stair well, same as we did the recalls. I did the easier set up first, and put the pile at the bottom of 1/2 a flight of stairs, as pictured. He was pretty distracted when he could hear one of our neighbors coming home, but no other problems there.

Once he did that set up correctly, I moved them over so that they were slightly less visible, and the pile was not directly in front of him. That was harder because when he got the correct article, the reassurance of me smiling at him was not as readily available (he had to start coming back before he got any feedback).

I made the set up a little more difficult, and put the pile at the top of a 1/2 flight of stairs. This was not quite as hard as being around the corner, but by this time, we had discovered the major disadvantage to working in the stairwell - it's hot in there! We quit after a successful set, and called it a day. Now Rugby is taking a nap before dinner time.

Ready to Ship

My sister ordered new shoes, and they came in this week. She also left the box on the floor after she opened it. The long, narrow box looked like it *might* fit a Rugby-sized dog inside, so I gently lowered him in.

It fits him quite nicely.

After a few pictures and a cookie or two, I gave him the 'OK' to move. He wouldn't. I guess he liked sitting in the cozy little shoe box.

Next time Rugby acts like a pest, I can threaten to trade him in for a new pair or shoes. ha!

Puppy Overload

Rugby, Cabot, Mozart (the Giant Schnauzer puppy) and Burly (the Rottweiler puppy) had an after-class play-session this morning.

We brought out the squeaky toys in hopes that the new puppy would pose for some pictures. We at least got one puppy interested, but he had to fight Rugby for it. 

Mozart couldn't care less about the toy. He was more interested in sticks, and dragging Burly around by his puppy drag line. Oh well, more squeaky toy for Rugby. 

Burly's puppy breath must be wearing off because Rugby played with him today, even when the squeaky toy was gone! Maybe Burly has just gotten so big that Rugby can't smell the puppy-ness from so far up. That must be it. 

Approved

Look what came in the mail yesterday! I applied to be a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator a few weeks ago. My application was approved, and I passed the online test. That means that Rugby can officially host his own CGC now, as long as he gets some of his friends to help.

It has been a little more than two years since Rugby got his CGC Certificate. The test was just before some of Rugby's first ever Obedience Trials.  Rugby was a champ and we were able to use the test to practice the skills he would need for his Novice title. I can't believe it has been two years already!