Happy Memorial Day!

   This past week has been a whirlwind of activity for us!  Churry hasn't had many outings, but has had lots of training at home in different situations, although I didn't get many pics because I was very rushed all week.  The week started off with planting about 75 flowers  and cleaning out my flower beds.  Churry is getting MUCH better at staying out of them.  A couple of weeks ago after we planted our garden we had the sprinkler going in it.  I turned around to see Churry right in the middle of the  garden, on top of the sprinkler, just thoroughly enjoying getting soaked and muddy!  After I yelled "OUT" at her, she proceeded to take a roll in the mud before getting out.  I am very happy to report that she now knows she does not belong in the garden or in the flowers!   She still loves to admire them, but from the edge where she belongs!

    The next big event was Jacob's birthday party and Jordan's promotion party.  She did a great job at not soliciting attention from people or whining while she was hooked on her leash on the patio.  She laid very politely by Pat the entire evening without pulling or being a pest.  When there were just a few guests left, we let her roam and she did a fairly good job of not licking and jumping up on people.

    She did get to run some errands today with my daughter and mom.  She did a great job while in the stores with them.  I'm pleased that her good store behavior carried over with another handler.   I am so excited for the many things we will be able to do this summer together while I'm on summer break!  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Field Day

     It's the end of the school year and so many fun things are going on at school!  Churry was able to experience Field Day at school yesterday.  For those of you that haven't been in elementary school lately... Field Day is typically an outdoor PE day.  At our school, the Kindergarten and First Grade participate in the afternoon.  The theme was the Olympics and we rotated through about 7??? games.  The day was a great opportunity for Churry.  When she goes to school, she is very accustomed to getting in her cozy spot under my desk and, other than walking the kids from place to place, she remains there the rest of the day to snooze.   She loves going to school with me.  So, when I expected her to get out of her comfy spot and go spend all afternoon out in the hot weather WORKING, she wasn't happy with me.  She did a great job of ignoring all of the extra people, balls flying around her, javelins (pool noodles), shot puts (shower scrubbies),  kids running, etc.  There was even a game that used these gigantic balls that were taller than me.  She found them rather fascinating, but didn't try to go after them.  And if she didn't have enough distractions, we are very close to the racetrack and this weekend is the NHRA Drag Race nationals so the cars were practicing.  The sounds really caught her attention and she would have liked to go see what the noise was.  That is one outing I'm not going to endure for her!  The longer the afternoon dragged on, though, the more she rolled around on the ground and tried to eat leaves and sticks off the ground.  I had to give her many many "walk breaks" to relieve her boredom of just sitting beside me.  It was hot and she really didn't want to wear her Halti one more minute!  Her portable water bowl was a lifesaver.  I was really glad I had remembered to bring it.  She was very happy when we returned inside to the air-conditioned classroom.  She practically fell over into her spot and didn't move a muscle for the last hour of the day.  I even let her take her cape and Halti off so she could get some extra love from some teachers as we were walking out for the weekend.   I learned she definitely needs some more outdoor outings.  Good thing summer is coming!

Mother's Day

     Happy Mother's Day to all of my readers who are mommies!  It is such a wonderful blessing to be able to be a mother!  Today, after being greeted in bed with breakfast and a card I was able to spend the day relaxing.  They gave me my wonderful gift on Friday night, since I was getting ready to run in the dark once again and the gift was a reflective belt.  The reflective vest is on the way so I will be much safer!    Once Tayler got home from work, we took the dogs to the lake for the first swim of the year and then visited Pat's parents for a while.  I was stuck in bed sick yesterday so Churry didn't have too much fun this weekend other than this.  She LOVED the lake!  It was the first time she'd been able to get in since last fall when she was a tiny puppy and didn't yet know what to think.

Loved swimming!

And always managed to shake right by the girls to get them good and wet!

It's a rare event that Bailey's in charge of the playing and she was determined not to let Churry take over this activity/toy!

Churry has not yet mastered predicting where Pat's going to throw it like Bailey has so she was always the second one there.  Usually she just takes toys away from Bailey, but not today.  This is Bailey's favorite place and game!

Churry finally got to carry the stick because Bailey was in time-out!

They can work together to do something!

Finally wearing down!

Illegal snuggling! :0

After a trip to the Cinco De Mayo Festival and Orange Leaf with Churry I got to enjoy a rare moment with her...everyone who knows her well knows she is NOT a snuggler.  I can count on my fingers how many times she's done this.  Loves petting, but when she wants to rest, she wants to do so in her own space away from everyone.  So...I thought it would be okay to break the rules for a bit for an afternoon snuggle!  It lasted for a full 5 minutes before she had something more interesting to do.  But, I'll take the snuggles as I can get them! Love this girl!

Churry's First Concert

      Tonight we had the opportunity to go listen to my good friend sing with one of her band members at a coffee shop here in town.  I wasn't sure how loud, crowded, etc. it would be.  It turned out to be a great experience for her.  It wasn't crowded, but she still had exposure to the sounds of singing in the microphones, clapping, etc.  so it was perfect for her.  We were in a booth right in front of the two people singing and a speaker.  It didn't phase Churry a bit, she went straight into a down and under and hardly moved a muscle until we left.  Jolleen even commented how surprised she was at how fast Churry settled and went to sleep.  I was pleased that Churry didn't think the clapping was for her and jump up after every song!

     We have been working on a skill with Churry this week that she has not caught onto very well and clearly does not enjoy yet...Take it and Hold it.  If it's not something that she can chew on or eat, she would prefer it not be in her mouth!  She will now "Take it" the first time I offer, but is not interested at all in holding anything.  If I do get her to hold it for any short amount of time she will immediately drop it as soon as I step away or stand up.    If anyone has any suggestions for how to teach this I would appreciate it!  Here is a picture of one of our attempts this week.  You can see the displeasure radiating out of this picture!   Doesn't she look pitiful?

I think she likes the new floors!