Mud

One of my favorite things about working at a groom shop is easy access to equipment. I can wash my dogs at home and I have a un-heated force dryer. But it's so much more convenient to wash them in the raised tubs, use a heated force dryer while my dog is on the grooming table and then use my fancy clippers and shears to tidy him up.

Griffin has been getting washed every few weeks in an attempt to decrease shedding. Blaze is washed every couple months...it should be done more often but I try to keep stress low for him. With Luna, I go for every four weeks or so. They all look much better clean.

The current issue at hand is that it's spring. And spring means rain. And rain means mud. Generally I limit the use of my yard in the spring in an attempt to preserve the beautiful grass. Blaze is okay with walks. Luna's happy with walks and biking. And the well-mannered Griff... needs to run. Griffin sticks right with me for our off-leash adventures in the back pastures. He doesn't stay out of the creek, he runs through it, into mud, and splashes his whole lower half with mud.

In training news:
Griffin: Duration to stays and heeling. I don't like working on duration. Holding still is hard for me!
Luna: She did really well in class, we need to work more on 'obstacle focus' at home. Even though she is very easily distracted, that tends to be a result of poor communication on my part.
Blaze: In preparation for a new project I'm playing with the concept of targeting different piles of objects... 'more' and 'less'. The less pile is one bone, the more pile is 4-5 (...however many I find!). He was about 80% reliable after one session. I think that was more from luck and good training than his actual intelligence. My camera battery is charged so we'll see what happens tonight.

I can't wait for the sun to come out, the temperatures to stay warm, and summer classes.