Play Date

Took Switch to a friend's house to play with her 11 week old lab puppy. Tug is the most adorable and cute puppy I have ever seen. He should be making commercials right now because *I* would buy any product he was hawking.  Switch and Tug started off pretty lukewarm. Well, Switch was lukewarm. Tug was "Hey dude! Welcome to my place and please roll over so I can sniff your butt." Switch had his ears pinned way back and was shrinking and slinking. Within minutes the introductions were over and they settled into chasing, rolling, rahh rahh- ing and general puppy mischief. Neither of the puppies comes to their name. Sad to say that I have been lax about working on Switch's name. Been so busy teaching students and working on courses plus the rental house and my yard that keeps growing my the minute. I know that is not a good excuse, but there you have it. I have been in survival mode. No way around it, eight dogs is a lot of work and an untrained pottier only makes the work more. J and I made a deal to work on our recalls and name recognition. Next week when we get together, we are going to trade off and do puppy recalls. I am overjoyed to find a friend for Switch that is his own age and size. He is a bit over zealous with Boost's ears and body. She tolerates it, but really... there is no need to body slam her or drag her about by her ears.  Plus, it is nice to share all of the puppy adventures with someone who understands how wonderful it is to sleep through the night or to have a day with no piddle accidents.

Since I got home from J's, I have made a point to keep cereal in my pocket at all times so that I can work on name recognition.  I am still not a winner when the choice is me or rabbit poop, but otherwise there is an improvement. I must say that I don't know how I came to have TWO- not ONE but TWO - very independent puppies. Boost and Switch are  likely to wander right on down to the far edge of the property without a backward glance at me. The other dogs are tripping over themselves to be under my feet. I hope the independent streak translates into a dog that has the confidence to attack the agility course without me running my legs off. I love running, but I don't want my ability to run to be the motivation for the dog to GO. The directional aid is fine, but the motivation to go and do without me running top speed would be nice.

Speaking of puppies, it is time to exercise a few pups. The weather is cooling and it is nice to spend longer periods outside each day. If only the mosquitoes would get lost.