Tag Archives: nature walk

Dog training

St. Patrick’s Day fun day

3 Comments

We went on a spring walk on Saturday.  It was a glorious, sunny, cool day that was perfect for walking the dogs.  The highlight of this walk was that we joined our local Newfoundland Club to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  Everyone was encouraged to show their spirit by dressing in green for a costume contest.

I had a vision in my head and gathered up the supplies to create two fluffy skirts that would bounce and sway with the “Newfoundland Wiggle”.

12 yards of green tulle and lots of ribbon
1st fitting
1st one done!
2nd one needs a nip, tuck and fluff
Perfect!

They turned out exactly as I wanted and their movement was perfect!

Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones that dressed up (our dogs) and we found ourselves in the midst of a very festive group.

 

After we left the walk, Maisie and I raced to our training class.  We are back in classes working toward being a certified therapy team. I decided to leave her dressed, figuring that the staff would be entertained by her outfit and they were!  Her skirt proved to be a good distraction for at least one of the other dogs to work through, and Maisie had her best class ever.  Maybe because she was tired, but I also think she was showing off because she felt special.  She was exhausted from it all once we got home!

We hope you all had a fun weekend too!

Dog training, Family life

Winn’s week of firsts

4 Comments

We have had a lot of activity lately.

We started with a walk in the woods on Thanksgiving morning. Maisie and Annie immediately knew where we were, but Winn was beside herself with excitement.  She and I walk a lot and we have spent countless hours in training classes.  She has always walked perfectly on leash but suddenly she was pulling me harder than any dog has ever pulled me.  She had never done this before and I was amazed by her strength!

Stupidly, I had left my treat bag sitting on the kitchen counter so I had to resort to verbal commands and redirection to get her under control. It took a while, too long really, and my hand was raw from the leash but eventually we reached an agreement and we were able to walk along the path and enjoy a beautiful day.  We were stopped numerous times by people who wanted to meet the girls. Three Newfoundlands is a bit of a spectacle but I’m alway happy to answer questions about my favorite breed and I was so impressed with Winn as she sat by my side while we talked.  IMG_4658

Our next adventure took place at a doggie pool. We frequently go to the dog beach in town but it is very shallow so they don’t end up doing a lot of swimming.  Winn has been swimming a couple of times, but typically they all just romp and play in the shallow water while chasing toys and each other.

After taking some time to figure out the ramp to enter and exit the water, Winn enthusiastically took off.  She loved it! She’s a strong swimmer and her form was perfect. I was surprised that Maisie was the one who was nervous and wasn’t as confident in the water. Hopefully next time she will enjoy it more.

Notice how Winn is perfectly horizontal using her front and back legs and her tail to guide her around and change direction. She’s a natural!

Our final excursion was to a Christmas party for our local Newfoundland Club.  I debated  taking all three, Annie gets nervous in new situations and with strangers and sometimes Winn picks up on Annie’s nervousness and she gets nervous too.

They all had so much fun! We stayed toward the back of the room so that they could all get comfortable and Maisie and Winn kept creeping closer to the front so that they could see the other dogs and meet their owners. Annie plopped down next to me, joined the chorus of  barkers and stopped to meet and greet some people on our way out. What a great way to kick off the holiday season!