Leader Training, Straw

Today was our first chance to try Copper in lead. He can be so excitable that he nips his partner but, Buffy , his co leader is very savvy. Copper was a pro. As is often the case, he appeared very proud to be in lead. He took to it like a duck to water. He listened to every command, even on trails he hadn't traveled before. He was not hesitant at all and led out from the start up. He took gee/haw and changes at last minute, very well. He impressed the socks off of me, no nipping or goofing off either, just all business. I think he's easily the strongest dog in the kennel too. Good job! Team dogs were great too, Kiddo, Zoom and Sherpa.

It was too warm for any other teams after that so we hauled nine loads of straw, another good job! That makes a total of 16 loads, only 60 or so to go :)

In photo: Copper, on left ; Buffy, on right; Sherpa behind Copper; Zoom behind Buffy; Kiddo in wheel.

Finding good things

Martin loves toys . Several of the dogs have retrieving instincts... Martin's pups, for instance. Yo, a Martin pup, waits every morning for his chance to chase and retrieve the tennis balls. He could care less about running in harness.

Others are just befuddled when I throw a ball for them. They look at it,

but are disinterested.

I'm rereading the Raymond Coppinger book, DOGS, and always find interesting his description of behaviors in huskies, border collies, Anatolian shepherds, livestock guardians in general, etc.

Moving Blog Again; Spring Trail Run

We've had some trouble publishing at our other site, so we will try this for
our Summer 2008 Blog.

Summer at Summer Place II.

We had a nice trail run yesterday, Buffy and Lillen in lead; Herman and Rosie in wheel.
Rosie ate her harness in her excitement, usually a no-go offense, but she was so happy that we reharnessed her. We had hoped to do a couple of small teams, including trying Copper in lead but the sun was hot, altho the temps were only in the 30's. Maybe today.