Pet Peeves at the Dog Park

Yesterday we drove the dog crate on wheels over to my friend Amiga's house and picked her and her person up for a trip to the dog park. Amiga is a lovely Golden Retriever who is in the Drill Team with me.




It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed playing with most of the dogs at the park.




Don't worry, I am not stealing treats from someone's bag. A nice person brought this bag filled with ice so we could cool off.




This is Lacey, one of Barbara's students.




Amiga got tired of running around so she is chewing on a nice stick.



Now we get to the pet peeves. There needs to be some people etiquette in the dog park. I am always shocked with the people who come to the park and talk on their cell phones or read and pay no attention to their dogs! What is wrong with them?




Then their are the people who just let their dogs poop and don't pick up after them. It makes the park nasty for everyone.




But the thing that gets me really annoyed is the people who let their dogs crowd the gate. It makes it very hard for other dogs to get in and is a good place to start a fight.




And look at this poor little thing left to fend for herself against the big dogs. It will teach her that big dogs are mean and that she has to fight them, which will of course get her in trouble. Her people should be ashamed!




I love to go to the dog park but some people don't have much sense and can ruin it for everyone. Rant over.

I promised in my last post that I would be doing taste tests on all the treats that Barbara brought home from the APDT Conference. That has been put on hold for a few days because I was a very bad girl last night. I stole a whole bag of my chewable joint supplement and ate 24 of them! Quite delicious but it has caused my tummy to be rather upset (and Barbara was upset with me and worried too). I'm feeling better now but am still eating rice and chicken broth until things are back to normal. Then the testing will begin and I will report on the most delicious kinds of treats.

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference

I am sorry that I haven't been able to blog for quite awhile. I was in the kennel at K9 Kindercare for 10 days while Barbara went to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference. This is a huge 5 day conference for dog trainers to learn the latest in positive reinforcement, dog behavior and training. Barbara goes every year so she can learn things to help more dogs. Over 1000 trainers came to the conference. Barbara is on the Board of APDT and on the conference committee so she had to go early and stay late to help with the set up and the planning for next year.

They had an entire day about dog play at the conference. I could have taught that class myself as I have very good play skills. But the best part of the conference, as far as I am concerned, is the trade show. Lots of vendors come and sell treats and toys and training equipment.

Kong gives every attendee a conference tote bag. There are lots of free treats from the vendors inside. Then Barbara goes around the trade show and buys more.



You can see that I am very anxious to get into that bag.





Look at this great pile of treats and toys. Some treats are duck and potato, some are peanut butter and many other delicious flavors. I will be doing some taste tests this week to determine the best kinds.





I thought that all these great toys were just for me but it seems some are for her students' dogs. This is not fair as they look like a lot of fun.



This is a special fox toy that is all mine!



I missed my person a lot while she was at the conference but I'm very glad that she went and I wish all dog trainers would educate themselves about the dog friendly training methods. There are too many people out there that call themselves dog trainers who don't know the first thing about training and shouldn't be training a gold fish never mind a dog. So I am going to learn lots of new things, play with new toys and get delicious treats!

My Boyfriend Trotter

Thanks Momo and Pinot for this great award. I love your blog too and like to see your pictures of your human brother.




As you know I love the boys! A girl can never have too many admirers in her pack. But my first, and best, boyfriend is Trotter, a really handsome and sweet Golden Retriever. And he is smart as well as handsome (no dumb blondes for me). He recently won several ribbons for high scores in Rally and Agility and will probably have his titles in both soon. I do so love a guy with letters after his name.



Today our people decided we should practice our obedience skills together but first we got to play for awhile.



Trotter and I love to chase and flirt and play bitey face games.



After our play session we had to settle down and do work. I got to practice my spins and circles and then had to do the very tedious stays. I can't stand them but Barbara insists that I learn them. I do try, but I'd much rather do something fun like tracking.

Freestyle Friends

We drove out the the kennel club this morning to practice canine freestyle and rally obedience. I really enjoy these activities (although not as much as tracking) because it keeps my mind occupied, I get lots of treats and I get to visit with my friends.


This is my new friend Stormy. She is a Belgian Tervuren and already has her Utility Dog title (UD) which is very hard and takes a lot of work to earn. She and her person are learning freestyle and I bet they will be great. Look at the beautiful attention she is giving to her person. Attention is key to doing well in obedience, rally and freestyle.



Lucky is very good at walking backwards. Here you see him backing away from his person. They are getting ready to compete at a trial in November.



Pree is one of my boyfriends. This isn't the best picture of him-it makes him look like a little mop and he is actually quite handsome. He finds me irresistable and today he ran through the ring gates to get to me. No photos of that since they would be R-rated at least.



Here I am doing my favorite trick-the leap to touch Barbara's hand. I love to do it because I am allowed to jump. See how high I can get.



Here is another picture of me doing it again. It feels so great to leap up.



After freestyle we ran a rally course and then it was back home to take a long nap while Barbara had to work.

Royal's Birthday Party

Yesterday I attended a great social event-Royal's 1st Birthday Party. Royal is an Australian Shepherd and I've known him since he was a puppy. He's a big handsome boy now and is in the Drill Team with me. He has a blog where you can read about all the things he and his person do together.


The Birthday Boy


Royal has a big fenced yard and we had a great time chasing each other all around.



There were nine of us dogs there and we all got along very well. We did lots of sniffing and play bowing but nobody growled at anyone.



After lots of playing we all tried to crowd on to the deck because that were all the food was! The people wanted to eat their food first without nine dogs sniffing around. They got to eat delicious hummus, veggies, chili and cornbread.



Trudy the Italian Spinone tried to climb over the little gate.



Royal's person Jenn made a special dog birthday cake with flour, honey, peanut butter and shredded carrots. It was iced with cream cheese and decorated with little biscuits.



Royal got to blow out his candle and the people sang "Happy Birthday" to him.



The cake was delicious! I ate my slice in one gulp and then licked the bowl clean.



The party was great fun. I got to play with my friends, get lots of petting from the people and ate yummy snacks. To top it off we all got a nice party favors of iced cookies and I got a new stuffie in the gift exchange.

Phydeaux

I was so pleased to get the "I Love Your Blog" Award from my Field Spaniel friend, Hero.


And then I was doubly pleased to get it awarded to me again by those three wild heelers, Gus, Louie and Callie.

Thanks so much guys. I'm glad you enjoy my blog. I love reading yours too.


Phydeaux (pronounced "Fido") is a cool independent pet supply store. They only sell food, toys, treats and all sorts of good stuff for dogs and cats but never any live animals. I would not patronize them if they did! They recently moved to a big new space and I wanted to visit and check it out.


Just look at the great assortment of delicious treats.



One corner is all beds. I bet Agatha and Archie would love this place.



The Wall of Toys!



I had to inspect my favorite treat dispensing toys.



I helped Barbara check out our purchases. She paid of course, but I made sure she was charged the correct amount.

We bought some of my favorite Solid Gold kibble and a moo stick which I have already buried in the yard.

Puppy Class

We took a ride in my new dog crate on wheels out to the Animal Protection Society this afternoon. First I had a run in the dog park to get out some energy. Then it was on to puppy class. Barbara just started teaching a new junior puppy class at the APS. This is a very important class that all puppies should get their people to take them to. They learn proper socialization, basic skills and tricks and how to convince their people to give them lots of treats!

The puppies are so cute but very silly. Here are pictures of some of them.


Copper, a handsome Vizsla puppy.



Grace is a very sweet puppy.



Here is Lulu, the Beagle. She is the smallest in the class.



Puppy socialization time in class.



Grace, Louie and Viva getting to know one another.

Sometimes the puppies are very distracted. This little Akita puppy, Akiko, did not notice that her person dropped a treat on the floor. I noticed it however, and I stole it right out from under her nose!



After Puppy Class we had Drill Team practice where we are learning a new routine. It's been a busy evening and I need to get my rest.

New Dog Crate on Wheels

I haven't blogged in the last 10 days because my person has been very busy studying, test driving and talking about getting a new dog crate on wheels. We have an old sedan which is a very dull car and not convenient for taking me places. I have to sit in the back seat and wear a seat belt (which I cannot stand) otherwise I try to drive the car myself.



After much boring discussion about reliability, engines and mileage we finally have our new dog crate on wheels - a Honda Element. It even looks like a dog crate, all silver and boxy.

Here I am checking out the back and smelling the new car smell. The back seats fold up to the sides, the way they are now, or come out entirely. There is plenty of room for my crate and all the things I need for tracking, rally and freestyle. Barbara says there is even room for more crates so if we get another dog ( I hope soon) there will be room for him to go with us too.



The inside is lined with rubber. Even if I drool it won't matter!





I am so glad that she got this for me but I really don't understand why it took so long. I have only two questions. What fun places can we go to in this car? And how fast can we get there?