The Foster Zoo Crew: Fun Obedience Practice

I wasn't going to write a note about this because it's really not a big deal, but I keep thinking about it as I do other things. I walk around the house composing my training note in my head. Then I tell myself I shouldn't post it because people are probably sick of hearing about my dogs and my life. I have become quite the Facebook junkie, so to speak. The thing is that I LOVE TO WRITE!!! People ask if I have a blog, and no I do not. Quite frankly, I am trying to uncomplicate my life and I'd rather just keep everything consolidated here on Facebook. People will either have to grin and bear it, read and enjoy it, or hide me from their newsfeed. It doesn't matter. I am doing this for me because I love recording what I am doing in life. That's how excited I am about it!

I started out today being lazy. My day starts at 4 am. I can't think of any other way to be but lazy that early in the morning. Eventually though, the beautiful sunshine came pouring through the windows. That brightened my ordinarily boring life. Apparently it did for the dogs too because they were not going to let me be lazy. They wanted to be outside, so we comprimised and went out back. What did they do when they got there? Laid around like lazy dogs. It was in the lower 30s and a bit chilly, but the sun made being outside worth it. I sat under the trees with Topher and fell asleep with him. Sounds crazy, I know, but our yard is really private and it's not like many people can see the crazy lady sleeping under the tree with her dog. Sunbathing was SO NICE!!! Apparently I needed the Vitamin D because I woke up just ten minutes later feeling great! I then decided it would be a nice day to take the dogs for a short walk on the road that runs back around behind our house. It's very quiet and I can walk in the middle of the street and work with the dogs. So, that's what we did.

What did I ever do before owning a Droid? I found an app that tracks me walking on the GPS and measures how long I walked, how fast we walked, etc. The speed was not accurate because I was doing obedience work with the dogs along the way. It was really cool to use though. I found myself walking faster and faster because I knew I was being recorded.

Topher really looks up to his big brother. I haven't worked with Tanker in probably a week because I have been focusing so much on Topher. Tanker is pretty much bomb proof. However, Tanker can get in these moods where he is like, "you want me to sit? Show me what I'm going to get out of it." I then have to show him that I have a hotdog and he'll sit. He's a smart dog. He's probably too smart for his own good. We eventually got past the "show me what I'm going to get out of it" stage and all was well. We walked, we sat, we waited, we stayed, we left it, we heeled the entire time, etc. It was quite the sight, actually. I had one dog on each side of me heeling. I'm sure people driving by were impressed. I hate to brag, but my dogs are awesome at heeling and walking on a leash. Anyway, to get back to how Topher looks up to his big brother: at the end, Tanker did not want to sit and stay. He stayed for a few minutes, and then got up. Topher is usually excellent with stay, but if his brother gets up, so is he. I got really frustrated with them over that. Tanker really needs some one on one work without Topher. It's hard for me to do during the day because Topher is always there. Wes said he was going to start working with Tanker more one on one when he gets home from work. Poor guy has been working a lot and he is still sick. Plus, he's studying, preparing for his PT test, etc. I have been doing most of the training so that he didn't have to add that to his plate. He enjoys training dogs though. I just honestly don't know how he juggles everything he does and then adds one more thing to his plate with a smile on his face. I admire him.

My GPS tracking program on my phone says we only walked a half a mile. We did a lot of obedience work though, so that took extra energy for the dogs. They are now sacked out. They are tired, happy boys. They loved their walk today. I am happy to make them happy. I am content and a little less stressed. That's what walking my dogs and being outside in nature does to me. That's what writing about it does for me too. If you read this, thanks for reading. If you didn't, that's okay. If I were someone else, especially if I didn't like dogs, I'd get tired of me too. ;)