Popular

Well, since working on the weekend is a drag, I thought I ought to take a little time out from work to fulfill my NaBloPoMo obligation for Day 3.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I recently baked some dog biscuits for the boys: peanut butter & garlic/cheese. We went on our usual pilgrimage to the dog park this morning, and I tool along some peanut butter biscuits, thinking it would help us work on our recall. Well, it did and it didn't.

Wooster picked up immediately on the fact that I had a pocket full of treats. I have rarely been so popular with this dog. He would run about 10 yards in front of me, then turn around and come back (without being called, I must emphasize). I broke the treats up into little pieces, but even so I doubt that he burned off more calories than he took in this morning.

Watson, on the other hand, could have cared less. Oh, sure, he was happy to have a treat when offered, but they didn't seem to be a motivating factor in his decision whether to come when called. Figures my plan only works with the dog that's already trained.

We met a couple of Gordon setters in the park this morning. Looked like one adult and one (approximately) half-grown puppy. Watson tried playing with the puppy, but we think the Gordon thought Watson would be easy to push over and got freaked out when things actually went the other way. Then his person got freaked out when her puppy hit the ground. He was fine, actually-- just startled, probably because Watson weighed a great deal more than he had estimated when he initiated the toppling-- but she took off the other way. So much for making friends of other people with rare sporting breeds...

Regardless, it was, as always, a great day at the dog park. Tomorrow is Badger Kennel Club's "Annual Dog Fair!" Time to go heckle Sue and Sharon as they educate the public about our wonderful breed...