Friday Fun

Today was a good day for Steeler. We started the day with a walk in the woods with our friends Lisa and Brewser. It was a gorgoeus day - about 70 degrees and sunny! Brew is a long haired malamute so he thought it was very warm today. Awesome trails - wide open and you can see for quite a ways. Lisa and I walked about 5 miles so who knows how far the dogs went. Of course by the time we got to the spot where we put the leashes back on - Brew was walking slower and not pulling .... Not my Steeler dealer puppy dog .... Where are we going NOW mom!!!!??!!! If I pull will we get there quicker? The best part was that we didn't run into another soul! Steeler was great - he has never been here before so I didn't expect much check in behavior from him. But once again he surprised me! He checked in very frequently! Every time he checked in he got a cookie. I still need to put as much money in that bank as I can. Steeler apparently does not like getting his feet wet - he was funny to watch by the stream. Hmm .... that brings back some memories of the Finger Lake Shows where Steeler earned the nickname "sissy boy" Brew of course wades right in to cool off ... not my little boy - I couldn't even get him to drink unless I scooped up some water in my hands for him. What a goof!

After our walk, and getting Lisa's car started (the battery died) it was off to PetsMart to get a new mat for the car crate. He did great there. A bit distracted, but Steeler sat still for the little boy that wanted to pet him (even when he stepped on his tail he didn't complain) and was able to ignore the little dog on the flexi with the inattentive owner and was only a little bit startled when a purple dog ran by him. What is it with people dying their white fluffy dogs different colors?????? I have to say I really do just find that bizarre.

After that it was off to the agility show grounds to meet Maria and Kirby for some training time. Maria explained how to lay a track and we started Steeler on some tracking today. So I laid the track, and then I threw bumpers for Kirby. Then we went up to the agility field to see what was going on with the fun runs there. They had a tunneler course set up and Steeler and I ran twice. The first time I didn't set him up very well. I set him up too far from the tunnel and I wasn't really going to be fussy about sitting him and getting him to stay - so he ran past the tunnel - but Steeler came right back to me and into the tunnel he went. We just ran the novice course, so it was pretty easy. But Steeler missed my front cross - it was sloppy ... totally my fault. But again - he came right back to me. And we completed the course without any problem. Well - if you don't count my throwing the frisbee at the leash runner. I didn't mean to do that!!! Our second run was great. I took the time to actually set him up in front of the tunnel and asked for a short wait and I led out a few (maybe 3) steps. I was able to concentrate more on standing up straight and making the cross at the right place and Steeler was able to read that with no problem. I think I got my cues out a bit quicker too. Sometimes I forget that he is MUCH faster than Keegan and Logan were. I have to say - I felt really good about his attention today. It's been a really long time since we have done anything outside that isn't in the back yard and I used to worry myself into a tense knot about what Steeler might do. Amazing what can happen when you can relax a little bit. Granted - there were not a lot of people or dogs around - but there were lots of birds and squirrels! And Steeler didn't bolt or try to leave the ring!!!! I've been told that next time I must get video!

After agility it was time to see if we could get Steeler to follow a track. I have to say - this was not as successful as the agility runs. It was a straight track about 50 ft with 5 articles. He started out ok - but then got distracted by a woman and a little dog that stopped to watch what we were doing. :-) The little dog was making noises at Steeler and Steeler wanted to keep an eye on the other dog. We will keep at it and see how it goes. Then we threw some more bumpers for Kirby - then took the dogs for a stroll ... by the time we got back to the car Steeler was walking nicely on a loose leash. I think he might have been a bit tired by then. He actually fell asleep on the way home and as I type he is curled up next to me - sound asleep. I love tired puppies!