Daisies and Dandelions

May 14, 2007. It has been a busy weekend. Saturday was my final training class called “Beyond Basics”. During the class I learned about tracking and area searching as well as a few, more obedience related commands. I really liked learning how to get my nose down to the ground and “sniff” out things. I have gotten fairly good at doing it and I really have fun with it. I not only completed the course, but, passed my final exam as well.

After we got home I got a shock when Renee went away. Usually she doesn’t go until Tuesday mornings, but she had a special event to attend this evening. I watched her walk down the street, standing pressed against the fence to keep her in sight as long as possible. I cried as she went and later she said it “broke her heart” and she almost turned around and came back. I stood there for close to fifteen minutes just watching.

I discovered the wonderful pleasures of “the hose” this weekend too. My neighbour, Yoko, was watering her garden near the fence. Some of the spray was coming into my yard and I really liked the feel of it on my face. In fact, I discovered that I could get a drink from it at the same time that I was cooling off my face.

Later on in the evening though, I got a surprise when Tom’s son Karl came over for a visit and stayed over. I got to play with him and snuggle up to him overnight. Karl was celebrating his 17th birthday a week early because he will be away on a camping trip on his real birthday. He even got in another driving lesson while he was here and did very well at it.

Tom was sick most of Sunday, but by the evening he had most of his energy back. I got to do a twenty minute run in the park and then Renee, Tom and I went for our usual 2 hour walk around the area. We haven’t been able to do this walk for the past two weeks. So, tonight it was good to get out and check out the changes in my neighbourhood.

Today after we dropped Renee off at work, Tom and I went to the park to play as usual. When we got there, I didn’t get to play on my usual field because they were testing and fixing the sprinkler system. Instead we went down below and I had a blast. In my usual spot there is a flat open field that I can run on. Down below there is long grass with daisies and dandelions, hills and lots of trees to explore. Most of the trees are big firs and cedars where the branches go down to the grown. I can go underneath them and explore. It was great. When Tom threw the ball, it made me run uphill sometimes so it really increased my workout intensity.

I also made another big breakthrough in obedience today. For the first time I obeyed a distance command. Tom was about forty feet away from me and told me to “sit”. As soon as he told me I sat down and waited until he came over to me with lots of pats and hugs. I did it three more times during our playtime too, so maybe I am really starting to get the hang of this stuff.

After 45 minutes of running up and down the hills, it was time to head home for a nice cool drink of water. I think I would have liked to run through those sprinklers even more, but, Tom wouldn’t let me this time. One day, maybe I can.