Some photos from our walk even though they are not too great

On Saturday we went to the park. It was a gorgeous sunny day and hardly anyone was there.


I posed perfectly by the pond and because mom doesn't take great photos my right eye is always in the dark.

Pretty oak leaves:

This is one of mom's favorite trees:

Here I am posing perfectly again and squinting into the sun but still patiently posing:

The reason no one was at the park? OSU game - the blimp was there too.

Now posing on a bench:

This fire bush was more striking in person:

Oops, right eye in the dark again:

We had a really nice time (except for having to stop for pictures too often)! We're trying to store up some sunshine for the gray Ohio winter that is coming.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Weave Challenge Position 7 and the Park

Hey, we finally did our position 7 for the weave challenge (remember the weave challenge Kathy posted many many months ago)? We set up the weaves and dusted off the Flip camera. For the first time ever in my life, mom got out some canned food as my reward - it smelled so very exciting! You should've seen my warm-up heeling and attention. Well, I was AMAZING at the weaving. I couldn't get to that target plate any faster and didn't miss a single entry. You should've seen that too, but the darn Flip camera turned itself off after one second and we did not get any video at all. :(

Today we also went to the park. I just love it there and could go every day if mom would take me. The leaves are just starting to change here. It was a beautiful day and lots of people and dogs were out enjoying it.

In solidarity with some of my Sheltie friends (you know who you are), I was NOT going to look at my mom.

I'm not looking at her -
I will not look at her -

Still not looking -

Oops, caught me looking! How did that happen?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! She is getting pretty old but she sure doesn't act it - guess she is one of those "young at heart" kind of people.

Embarrassing, isn't it?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Thumbing Our Noses at Old Man Winter!

We are continuing to pretend that it is not snowy and cold and went out again yesterday to enjoy our relatively deserted park! Mom brought her camera and unfortunately, I was forced to pose.


You can tell it was kind of windy from my fur:

The frozen casting pond - no fishing today:

I am leading the way:

Here is the nicely plowed bike path:

OMG, I will not look at you no matter what words you say (treat, grandma, dad, do you wanna) - just get me down off of this thing:

Frozen river in the background:

Can we just keep going, please?

Look - a beaver has been out working on this tree in the dead of winter:

Nothing but grayish-white as far as the eye can see - welcome to winter in central Ohio:

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

If you are looking for my class post.....

I had to miss my class today again (for the second week in a row) because mom had to WORK! Bummer. I am getting so far behind. Last week they worked on forward and lateral sends and the handler moving downstream for a front cross. I don't know yet what they worked on today.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to practice at our club. Finally I can do some agility!

In the meantime, we've been pretending that it isn't cold and snowy and going out to walk at my favorite park. On Sunday, it was sunny and 17 degrees. But mom bundled up and we went out. We had an awesome time! Apparently even though the city does not plow our neighborhood streets, they do plow the bike path through the park. I got to be off-leash on the bike path (which could never happen during nice weather due to all the joggers and bikers). Believe it or not, there were still some diehard joggers out and I was a good boy and sat and stayed while each one passed. But I also got to run ahead and come back and go ahead and come back - it was FUN! Then we went yesterday too and did much of the same thing except that it was cloudy and 25. Today felt like a heat wave at 38 but I was stuck inside most of the day while mom WORKED!

Mom is studying her Developing Handling Skills book and really enjoying it but it is slow going. She fell into classes with Jenn and the APHS and never taught me that stuff from the beginning so the book is filling in a lot of gaps in her knowledge. But we think it is an excellent system and makes sense - all based on a dog's natural ability to read motion. Some times it seems to mom like there is so much to remember but really it is a lot of common sense. One of the big rules is not to say "Here" or "Come" or use the dog's name as a turning cue. Why not, mom always wondered. Well because if you use verbals to get your dog to turn then it starts to override the dogs ability and desire to watch your motion and negates all you have been trying to do. Put that way makes lots of sense to us!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Sunny Saturday

I love the jump in place exercise in the video - I could do it all day! What could be easier - stand, boing, get treat, repeat! LOL! For my agility guru foundation friends - does it look like I push off from my back legs and jump like I should? (same video but with some slow motion editing here)

Yesterday I made major progress with my dumbbell (you'll be relieved to know that there is no video of that!). Mom stood up straight and acted more confident and I held on to that DB and walked in a circle a few times (on leash). I only dropped it once. We haven't tried it yet today but I am sure we will.

It was sunny and 25 this afternoon and we went on an awesome walk at the park! Even though mom hates winter, she does like going to the park in the winter. There are very few bikers (there was one though on a snowy bike path - crazy) and joggers (there was one of those too) and cars and people. We got to walk in some places we never go - like on the bike path. We saw an opossum out in broad daylight - poor guy was maybe hungry and hopefully not sick? I met a miniature American Eskimo dog that I had met awhile ago but hadn't seen in months and I actually PLAYED with him a little (until he annoyed me and I had to growl to get him to stop). It was all very fun!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! I finished my annual holiday video yesterday so I'll post it soon!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Spring Walk in the Park

We're having yet another gorgeous day here! High temperatures are 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. The warm weather has really brought out the flowers and flowering trees and greened up the grass. Dad even had to mow yesterday!

I'm still not feeling 100%, I think. Mom and I went to my favorite park for a walk today and I did ok - I mean no limping - but towards the end of the walk I got tired. Maybe it was the heat? Mom still keeps looking at me and wondering if I am putting all of my weight on my left leg. But I am running and playing like normal for the most part. Oh, I almost forgot - Dawn had asked me if we are still working on my emergency whistle recall - yes, we are but probably not as often as we should. Mom surprised me with it twice today and I went immediately to her. Actually the huge rate of reinforcement has strengthened my everyday recall too!

Beautiful magnolia:

Dutchman's Breeches:
This yellow flower is all over the park at this time of year. You might think it's dandelion but
it's really a wildflower called lesser celandine:
Taking a break (actually not yet - I am posing - when we take a break I lie down under the bench on the cool ground):

Still undecided about my trial on Saturday - guess time will tell.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

My visit with Wilson

I had a good time visiting my cousin Wilson on Wednesday and Thursday of this week! Mom and I left early and drove two hours to Wilson's house. We wanted to get there early to make the most of the day - the weather was beautiful - sunny and 70. After all the cold and rain, we were all really happy to be outside!

First of all aunt Laura took us to a new park with some very good trails that go through the woods and around ponds. Silly mom forgot her camera! After that we went home and had lunch outside on the patio. Here I am pretending to chill on the patio:

Then we headed off to another park. This one I had been to several times but we always have fun there. The only problem is the trail around the lake starts off next to a busy road. Even though I saw that Wilson didn't care about the cars, I still had a hard time not barking at them and lunging at them. Mom doesn't have fun at this park until we get well away from the road.

Here are my aunt and Wilson getting ready to go:

Mom made me and Wilson pose (I think aunt Laura said something to us about treats and Wilson totally fell for it!):

Another forced pose:

Wilson has a big tongue:

The weather was so nice that Wilson got a bath (I would laugh but mom made me get a bath on Tuesday so I really knew how he felt):

My cousin Jeff turns 11 today and we celebrated with him on Wednesday. He had an all Wii birthday!

My cousin Meredith (she's 8) just got her braces off:

Wilson and I like each other but we're guys and don't want to show it:

We went for a walk at the park with the lake on Thursday morning too. Then after lunch mom and I drove back home. I was exhausted. I like to go there to visit but I never really relax when I am around Wilson. Oh, I almost forgot, - Wilson hurt his foot - he ripped his dew claw - and so he and I couldn't play our game of fetch where he runs to get the ball and I run after him and bark like a maniac. That's our favorite thing to do together. Maybe next time.

Thanks aunt Laura and Wilson for such a good visit!

Gotta zoom,

Ricky

I worked hard this week

I worked really hard this week. We got our driveway redone and I had to supervise the workers for four days to make sure they did a good job! There was a lot of noise - lots of trucks and machines, etc. But I didn't let any of it bother me and I think it turned out nice! Here is a before picture:

And here is the finished product:

We can't actually drive on our new driveway for two weeks, but I walked on it today and it is awesome! Makes our house look much better too!

Other than that, mom and I went on a picnic to a part of a park that I had never been to before. We picnicked on a blanket and then we explored the big grassy area and then mom set up a jump for me and had me practice a little in a new environment. It went well and we had fun. The pet trail that I love so much is in this park so we also walked on part of it before we went home.

On Tuesday I had my handling class and there was nothing too remarkable to report - even though it was cool, I just didn't feel like running fast. The instructor did get out the chute for me and I did a better job of running through it than some days. Mom decided that this week she would work really hard to try to find some sort of a start line routine for us - she has tried to do this before but she never stuck with it - we thought we figured it out on Wednesday (I did my figure eight trick between her legs and she said, "1, 2, 3!" and then I took the jump) - and then on Thursday, I wouldn't do it. So now she is just trying to get me to focus on her and to do a trick that I know before she tells me to "go!"

We've had cool and cloudy weather for most of this week except for yesterday and most of today. This weekend we are supposed to return to August-like weather with temperatures in the upper 80s and even low 90s. I am not looking forward to that!

Hope you all have a great weekend and if you are going to a trial, good luck and have lots of fun!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Wed. Agility Class/Thurs. Advanced Obedience Class

I've been a busy pup the past few days! Wednesday night was our second level 1 agility class. It went really well. I did my first-ever a-frame (although it was set lower than usual). I just walked right up and over it and did my hit-it at the target on the other side. Mom was impressed but she knew I would not have a problem with it. I also did my first-ever broad jump - also no problem for me. So far we are basically getting introduced to all of the equipment and hopefully soon we'll start to do some sequences.

Thursday night was the fourth advanced obedience class with my trainer Deb. We missed the third class since mom had to work. So it had been two weeks since we had seen Deb and the other pups in the class. Last night only three of us showed up so we got lots of individual attention. We worked on off-leash heeling and attention, figure eight, sit and down stays with distractions, and get-up, get-over, get-back. I don't like the get-back part but I am good at the others. Then Deb got out a couple jumps and the tire and we did a little agility for fun. At the end of the class, we did a little work with the dumbbell - a Golden in our class is getting really good at it. He will take it, hold it, drop it, heel with it, do a recall with it....it's very inspiring. I will kind of hold it if mom puts it in my mouth but I am very good at dropping it! So guess we need to work at that. Deb thinks it's a good idea for me to get my CD title in obedience because she says all the work mom and I will do together to get that title will make us a much better team at whatever we want to do including agility. Also Deb told mom that she is too loud when we are doing agility and recalls (mom gets so excited!). She thinks that mom should save her loud excited voice for special occassions in agility - like when she really needs to get my attention. Mom is going to work on being more quiet - after all I am following her body language really well and I don't need all that yelling!

Today mom took me to our favorite park! We hadn't been there in quite awhile. After we did our usual meandering around, mom got my long line out of the car and took me out into a big grassy area and we worked on sit/stay and recalls. It was so much fun and I did a great job if I say so myself! Then mom walked around and I followed her everywhere dragging the long line behind me. Every time mom changed direction, I followed. If she ran, so did I. And if she called me, I went straight to her. It gave us both a sense of freedom and also hope for the future that some day, just maybe, I can be trusted off-leash! For now, though, the 30ft. long line is great!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky