Working at the lake?!

     Tonight was another one of those times when I took Churry with me thinking I was just going for a walk around the lake and wasn't particularly going to have any interesting training opportunities.  However, the usually quiet lake was hoppin' tonight!  Pat and Kinsey went kayaking and right by the dock where we put the kayaks in there was a  band playing, complete with some bells, trumpets, drums, and all kinds of other very loud instrumental music.  It sounded like a cross between polka music and fiesta music.  The part that was really disturbing to her is that she couldn't figure out where the music was coming from because the shelter house they were in was behind some trees, but it was very close.

    Then, there were sailboat races going on, which I enjoyed watching.  We had impeccable timing with our walk because we were right there when three of them pulled up to the dock.  Churry was very fascinated, yet a bit nervous about the loud flapping sails up close and personal in her space.  As if that wasn't enough, the dock we were walking on was kind of swaying and the planks had gaps between them so you could see through to the lake below.  LOTS of stimulation in a short amount of time!  We sat and watched them pull the sails down and load the boats up.  The gentleman was very nice, although Churry let out a little woof when he bent over to pet her.  A non-threatening one, but it still caught me off guard.  I think she was nervous about his hat he was wearing.  Hopefully, she doesn't do that again!

    After that, we continued on our walk and went over a couple of rickety old bridges that, again, you can see through down to the lake.  One of them was very narrow and about 12 feet in the air with wire type fencing for sides so she could see down to the lake below.  She did great on all of the bridges and all of the swaying docks.  She also did awesome at keeping her paws on the ground and her tongue inside her mouth when a couple of kids pet her.

   It was a beautiful evening and she's excited for her birthday tomorrow!
   

First Visit to the Library

      One of my family's favorite destinations in the summer is the library.  We go at least once a week to stock up on some good summer reading.  Yesterday, Churry accompanied us for the first time.  She did really well.  I wasn't really thinking it would be a place with many great training opportunities, but as it turns out there were many things that could have produced anxiety in her that I hadn't noticed or thought about before.  The first being the adult section with the tall narrow aisles filled with books from floor to ceiling.  She kept looking up to the top probably wondering how we were going to get out of there!  Then we walked through the children's section to pick up Kinsey and Tayler.  Churry was very well behaved with all of the kids/toddlers that were there.  The place is packed in the summer!  Her experience at school paid off well in this environment!  The we stood in the line to check out.  She's been having a problem with wanting to "go up" on every counter or elevated surface she encounters.  Sure enough, as soon as I set my books up on the counter, Churry popped up there to see what was going on.  Always something to work on. :)

     We also went to the vet this week for Bailey's yearly appointment.  Churry was a holy terror!  She is always "Supercharged Churry" when we are there for some reason.  This time was no exception.  She was incredibly jealous that Bailey was getting all of the "attention" from the vet!  She even stooped to making a strange unnatural whining sound a couple of times in between trying to get up on the table for her own "exam".  Between Churry acting like that, Kinsey CRYING because Bailey had to get stuck with a needle, and trying to talk to the vet, I was a hot mess by the time we left!  Luckily, Bailey is such a sweet girl that she just sits calmly for all of the procedures, although she does give me a dirty look the whole time it's happening.  After the appointment was over Churry was able to get some love from her favorite vet tech.  I find it so interesting that she responds to this girl the same way she responds to me when I get home from work....uncontrollable excitement, excited vocalizations (not barking, kind of a strange whine), and ridiculous rolling into her for more love!  She's the only other person besides me that Churry responds this way to.  She must be a really good person!

    Stay tuned for some exciting opportunities later this week!

June's Puppy Gathering

   Today I had the scary experience of running puppy class!  Our regular fabulous leader was not there (and apparently no other competent person was available or willing!) so she asked if I would run it.  Hopefully, everyone who attended didn't think it was a total waste of their time.  We worked on many things...greetings with people, passing by other dogs without interacting with them, lots of children's toys that moved and made noise, sits, downs, stays, etc.  My proud moments today were when Churry worked for my friend Ethan and followed his commands willingly!  Great job, Ethan!

Churry is not setting the best example of a Down right here, but at least she's down I guess.

But, she did awesome with her Stays today!

Here is one of the new Wine litter puppies, Reisling doing an awesome Down/Stay.

And Blizzard showing off her Stay skills.

Very good manners from Reisling!

I love that Churry was keeping her eyes on me all day today!

Heeling with a nice loose leash for another handler!

Getting some Golden kisses from puppy Emmons!

Churry's First parade

     Something that I have wanted to take Churry to for quite awhile and haven't had the opportunity to is a parade.  Today, the opportunity presented itself.  Since Pat and I had already decided to spend the afternoon together taking Churry to puppy class, we decided to make a day of it and attend a nearby parade, too.  There were tons of new sights and sounds for her to take in from bands to noisy little cars to sirens to a gigantic flag hanging above her very close to where were were seated.  She was very interested in everything and didn't know where to look first, but eventually settled at my feet to rest for the second half of it.  After that, we went to a bike shop for Pat to look, out to eat, then to puppy class.  On the way home, we hit Mass street and explored another bike shop and a few other stores.  She is one tired puppy!

Our first distraction of the day.  It's hard to tell, but it was almost directly overhead as we walked past.  Then we sat very near it.

We walked right past this fire engine on our way in.  She has never been around a loud, running firetruck and it made her a bit nervous, but she maintained her heel.  Now, it was running it's siren!

More loud noise!

Not only loud, but they looked to her like they were coming right at her!

Another loud and potentially aggressive car!  She didn't take her eye off of them!

She is watching those suspicious cars!

Finally, something trustworthy that she could not worry about!

Relaxing at last!

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!