Another Dip in the Pool (Oso's Rescue - Day 25)

You were doing so well at swimming, I thought it would be fun to take you for another dip in the dog pool at Bow Wow. But this time I thought it might be interesting to bring Mossy with us.

Being the head bitch of the household, she had a difficult time accepting your arrival. But as the days ticked by, she was warming up. You had taken her cues well, and fell into place in the order of our pack.

You had a slight deviousness about you, though. Usually Mossy would carry the stick or the toy and run through the yard with her head and tail high, begging to be chased. Trying to beat her at her own game, you tried to pick up an even bigger stick and prance back and forth in front of her, sometimes tossing your head playfully side to side. You were antagonizing her and trying to entice her in a game of chase Oso instead. I worked frequently, and the two of you ran large circles through the tall fir trees in our front yard.

We teased Mossy about being beat at her own game. Being a puppy allowed you to get away with a little more than you might have otherwise. I’m certain that if Mossy could’ve rolled her eyes with the proficiency of a teenaged child, she would have. But I think she might have just possibly secretly liked you; even though, from time to time, you were the pestering puppy.

You immediately jumped off the side of the decking at the pool without my coaxing you this time. I was so pleased! You picked right up where we left off the last time we came to the pool. You and Mossy took turns in a high speed game of retrieve; in the pool, fetch the toy, run around the side of the pool, deliver it to my hand, and back in the pool again.

I tried to play with you both alternately so that one was on the deck, and one in the pool. This way I had enough time to ask for a short sit and stay before tossing the toys into the pool. I wasn’t asking you to do anything more than sit, stay, and retrieve at this point. You were still learning that swimming and retrieving could be fun, and that you must bring the toy to me so you can play again. I simply wanted to focus on no more than that concept.

I would say that by now you had this drill down pretty pat, but there was nothing like lots of positive reinforcement to really drive the point home. Besides, you were having a great time!

You and Mossy both swam hard for just over an hour. Going to the pool is much different that a leisurely play at the beach. At least when the dogs are at the beach, they occasionally get out of the water and trot across the sand. At the pool, the majority of the time is spent swimming in the water. It is possible to swim the dogs at the pool for an hour, and expect that they will be pretty much tuckered out for the rest of the day. A tired dog is a good dog!

Keeper of the Squeaky Toys (Oso's Rescue - Day 24)

This morning it was raining hard again. The dreary weather outdoors was incentive enough to plan for a day indoors to do some work on my computer and just enjoy being home with the dogs. I figured this would also afford you the chance to do something we hadn’t been able to do yet; just hang out around the house without having to bounce off the walls, the furniture, and the other dogs.

You were having a hard time trying to learn to relax when you were indoors. It seemed that most of the interactions you had with the other dogs or us, resembled something more along the lines of Romper Room. You had spent quite a bit of time inside your kennel in your special corner in the living room; especially during your 2 week kennel cough quarantine. You were still in the early stages of the good house-dog manners learning process.

I had a short, 3-foot tether clipped to the corner of your kennel so that you could socialize with the other dogs to an extent. But this also allowed the other dogs to be able to get away when you became just too much. You were still a little rambunctious and would prefer to spend your entire 24-hour day pouncing on top of Buddy, tunneling underneath Mossy’s short belly, and bumping into Henna.

The tether came in handy by allowing me to wait until you were relaxed and calm, then swoop in on you to give you attention and praise for behaving. When you were overexcited, rowdy, or jumping around on the end of your tether everyone in the house was instructed to ignore you. This way, the only attention you got was when you were good!

This was a trick I learned many years ago when Henna was an adolescent dog. We attended a seminar given by an animal behaviorist who had recommended this tethering technique for teaching appropriate household behavior. In our previous house, we had a tether that would clip into an eye bolt that had been screwed into a faceplate in the wall, near the floor.

Every once in a while I would have someone curiously look at the small silver ring that protruded from the wall and ask me what it was for. Once I explained the concept, most everyone ‘got it’. It was an ingenious idea actually. I have no idea where this concept originated, but I had utilized it fairly regularly to teach a dog to be calm indoors. I had even used it to teach a dog not to barge the door when the pizza guy made his delivery to our door.

Now entering her early senior years, Henna was by far the most relaxed and mellow dog in the house. But in her puppyhood, she had been aptly dubbed ‘Devil Dog’ by one of our good friends during a camping trip to the sand dunes of Oregon in an RV. She was about 6 months old during the trip and woke our friend daily by leaping onto his chest and licking his face until she managed to essentially harass him out of bed.

It was because of Henna that I sought out many of the dog activities I still take part in to this day. She had such a surplus of energy that she was in dire need of some sort of outlet; something that would give her direction and teach her focus.

Henna was a good training tool for me. She was a quick learner which made her fairly easy to train. This allowed me to get my feet wet in more advanced levels of training that I hadn't done before. The problem with this, though, was that I made many mistakes along the way, and still ended up with a dog that essentially made me look good in competitions. I know now that I had been spoiled! I didn't realize the extent of my spoiling until years later when we acquired our second Chocolate Labrador, Mossy. Mossy took considerably more time, patience, and a multitude of creative approaches to the same point across.

You were considerably more mellow at 8 months than any of the other dogs. But since training is a lifelong work in progress, I was certain that someday down the road I'd be comparing your personality, energy level, and training stories too. But with the day's soaking wet weather, I was ready to spend the day watching you do your thing, and be there to guide you into appropriate inside play.

I was time. For the first time since you arrived, I was about to give you free access to the toys. I opened up the sliding door of the coat closet, where I kept a basket of toys. The large wicker basket sat on the floor and was chock full of dog toys that squeaked, tough tugging toys, large rubber chewing toys, and even a few rubber balls that were fairly slime resistant.

You joined the other dogs as they began unloading the toy basket one toy at a time and carrying them to the large area rug in the living room. It looked like we were about to have a carnival with the variety of colorful toys. The all time favorite toys seemed to be the ones with the loudest squeaks. They were made out of various colors of rubber and were more than twice the size of a typical tennis ball. I would sometimes step on them to get the dogs attention. As I released the pressure from my foot, the air would fill the toy and make a loud, hoarse, squeaking sound. This always riled everyone up in a hurry.

A couple of the toys had been de-squeaked. I'm not sure who was the culprit, as they all had a habit of working and chewing on the small cylindrical squeaker stuffed in the end of a toy. Once it had been extracted they usually delivered it to my hand or spit it at my feet, wagging their tail as if I should be so proud of their successful surgical accomplishment.

I never really understood why they did this. Because inevitably, once a toy had been de-squeaked it became much less interesting than a toy that still had it's squeaker intact. They still tossed it about and chomped on it. But I could see them turning it over and over in their mouth, still trying to figure out how to make it squeak. Eventually they would give up and abandon the squeak-less squeaker toy.

I the hours that followed you had a grand time prancing around the house with various toys dangling from your teeth and taking turns at games of keep away with the others. Sometimes you would pant heavily after a good roll on the floor with one of the squeaky toys. Your tongue flopped off to one side and hung out from between those labrador jowls, and you looked silly and happy. Occasionally you laid your back you would hold the toy between your front paws and raise it up in the air; only to drop it again into your mouth.

You played hard for an hour or so before collapsing into stretched out doggy slumber on the floor; only to get up and do it all over again a short time later. You repeated this series of playing and napping all day long.

During one of your naps I noticed that you managed to commandeer all three of the coveted squeaky balls; a yellow character, a pink elephant, and the blue frog. You flopped down on your side, and stretched your legs out in either direction so you were sprawled out across the floor. The three balls were tucked close to your body and moved slightly with the movement of your body and you sleepily breathed in and out.

Miraculously, none of the other dogs made a move to abscond with your loot as you slept. I had just finished cleaning the kitchen countertops and quietly grabbed the camera, hoping to capture the scene. I tiptoed around you, snapping a few pictures.

During a slow, deep and sleepy, breath one the balls rolled over and bumped your front leg. You sat up and immediately glanced, annoyingly, right at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. You calmly repositioned yourself, this time using your paws to gath

er all the balls between your front legs and your chest, and laid your head back down to finish your nap.

Swimming in The Bahamas (Oso's Rescue - Day 23)

After a couple of unseasonably warm days and blue sky, the temperature had taken a dive. It was below freezing this morning and the grassy front yard was covered in icy crystals. This chilly weather put a damper on our plans for the day.

I was hoping to meet up with Suzanne and Piper sometime this morning. We were planning to head to a lake near the foothills that we had never visited before with the dogs. You still hadn't quite fully grasped the concept of swimming yet, so I was hoping to take just a few dogs; or no other dogs at all. This way we would be able to practice the retrieving game we had played in the living room the previous night into the water.

I throw the toy. You go fetch the toy AND bring it back. We had practiced this many times now, and you were finally starting to catch on. The other night when I was throwing the toy over the bench that I had turned on it's side in the living room, we even played another similar game (but with different rules). In this game I would hold on to your collar when I tossed the toy. I asked you to wait. The idea of this game was to try to teach you to stop, behave, and focus (all at the same time).

Still quite the puppy, sometimes when I would toss the bumper, you would only focus on it for a spit second. Instead you would whip your head from left to right to see if there was anything else going on. Then, deciding that the toy was still the best thing happening at that moment, you writhed and wriggled in attempt to break free to fetch the toy.

But gradually, even this game was helping to improve your focus little by little. Now whenever I tossed the toy, you were beginning to watch it intently. You starred hard at that little toy with the purple rope on the end and waited for me to say the magic word, "Oso"!

Once I spoke your name, you would peel out on the carpet, bail over the bench, and pounced on the bumper with your front feet. You quickly picked it up and made an about face. You always returned a little slower, but without the distractions of the other dogs, you were returning.

You accomplished all these steps while still on a zippy leash. This way I could wrangle you in when you occasionally got a wild hair and decided that a little victory lap was necessary. You pranced across the floor with your head and tail held high in the air. And just out of shear giddiness, you flipped the bumper up above your head and tried to catch it. It's a good thing the other dogs were put away, a least one of them would have simply darted across your path and snagged it right out of the air.

After breakfast I took the dogs out for our usual short walk around the front of the property. It was freezing! The fog was hanging low to the ground and I could feel a slight mist on my already frizzy hair. It was much to cold for first time swimming lessons at the lake. On a whim, I decided the best plan for the day was to make the hour and a half-long drive north to Bow Wow Fun Towne, which had an indoor swimming pool for dogs.

Despite the drive, this was a fairly inexpensive way to spend the day with a dog. Although, the price went up exponentially when we brought all the dogs to swim. Swimming a single dog was quite affordable. The ten dollar cost was well worth spending time out of the weather for me, and letting you swim to your heart's content in the balmy 75 degree salt water.

I had hoped that by brining you swim in the warm water, you might not have to get out for being too cold. Although you were finally growing some muscle mass, and had filled in and bulked up since we brought you home, you could probably tolerate the cold water just fine.

Labrador Retrievers were derived from the St. John's Water Dog (which was actually an ancestor of the Newfoundland Dog) who were bred for retrieving fishing nets and floats from the icy waters of the island of Newfoundland. You were built for cold water. But even though I could pull on a wetsuit as swim in the chilly Puget Sound for an hour, I would still prefer to float around for hours in somewhere like the bahamas (Not that I've ever been able to actually visit the Bahamas; but my imagination of it is nice).

When we first arrived at the pool it was mid-afternoon. Between dragging my feet in the morning, getting the dogs fed and short list of chores done, and picking Suzanne and Piper up the next city over, the day had flown by much to quickly. It took another hour and a half to make the drive up to the city of Kenmore, on the North side of Lake Washington, with mid-day traffic.

The swimming pool was just one part of a doggy daycare facility. It was owned by a woman I met about 2 years prior during a dock jumping competition, hosted by members of the Puget Sound DockDogs club, during a large 2-day street festival. Mary told me that she recently purchased this facility, which came with a swimming pool, and thought maybe it could be a place where some of our members might like to swim.

Although it was some time before I again approached her about the swimming facility, we finally worked out a deal that would benefit her business and provide a place for our DockDogs club to have twice monthly practices. This was a match made in heaven, and afforded dock jumping dogs of all breeds and sizes the opportunity to bring their dogs to closest thing to the Bahamas for dogs in Northwest Washington. The pool was 30 feet long and nearly 20 feet wide. It was a respectable sized pool for most dogs to safely swim or jump into.

Today we were going to Mary's place not to focus on jumping, but to work on more basic skills; swimming lessons. Suzanne brought a change of clothes and was prepared to wade chest high into the pool in the name of teaching you how to swim. I had more confidence, and figured you would eventually get into the water under your own accord.

Over the years I learned that if I was planning any swimming activity involving dogs, that I should plan on being prepared by having a complete change of clothes close at hand. It is inevitable, that if I forget a change of clothes, I will be the one soaked to the bone from top to bottom or the one who was just sent tumbling into the pool. Although I have yet to fall in the pool, I know it's just a matter of time and luck.

In hopes to beat the odds, I have become like a well-prepared scout. I carry a backpack with a complete change of clothes, and at least one extra towel, to every dog activity taking place any distance from my own home. Complete with socks, underwear, shirts, pants, and shoes, I am prepared for the worst and expecting to ward off a potentially soggy ride home at the end of the day.

When we arrived at Mary's, one of her new employees greeted us and checked us in at the front desk. We each paid the ten bucks, grabbed our towels, and walked you and Piper into the pool area. I reached behind me and closed the door to the reception area . The door was meant to prevent dogs from leaving the pool area, skidding across the reception area, and mopping the floor as they go.

Piper was excited, and you were feeding off her energy. You weren't really sure what was so exciting, but you knew there was something, simply because Piper was excited. Piper, being a fairly mellow dog, wasn't always excited. But if there is one thing that she learned to be excited about it was coming to Bow Wow to go swimming with any of her friends.

Around the pool was a large amount of decking. Nearly 10 or 12 feet on two sides of the pool, it provided a good amount of room for the dogs to play around the two sides without bumping into one another.

There was a long ramp that stretched from an area near the door and ran the length of the pool. Where it met the pool decking, there was a small picket fence gate with a latch. I unlipped your leash, and you and Piper ran up the ramp to the pool together. You were following Piper's lead. I unlatched the gate and walked over to an area where I generally stored anything needing to be kept dry. I made sure to remove my cell phone from my pocket and dug through the backpack for the knobby white retrieving bumper we had been working with at home.

I had been using the toy fairly sparingly. I only used it when we played together, then would store it up high on the bookshelves where you could easily see it (but not reach it). Every once in a while you would walk through the living room, pause to stare at it, and think on it for a few seconds. You knew right were it was kept. The end of it stuck out a few inches past the books it was sitting on top of.

Suzanne walked over to the long side of the pool and tossed Piper's toy in the water. Piper gleefully leaped into the pool with a splash, retrieved her toy, and swam to the ramp. The 4-foot wide exit ramp stretched over eight feet long, rising out of the water from the bottom of the 4-feet deep pool and attaching to the decking. This made a nice gentle slope dogs to get in and out the pool.

You cautiously stood at the top of the ramp and waiting for Piper to retrieve the toy for you. It was a pretty grand scheme you had going; or so you thought. Upon exiting the pool, you attempted a snatch and grab from her. But she wasn't going to let you have it. She effortlessly pushed by you, taking the toy back to Suzanne to throw again.

I played a short game of fetch with you across the deck. I tossed the bumper across the carpeted surface three or four times hoping to get you wound up. You were getting much better about letting go of the toy when you returned to me now, and each time I would quickly toss it again as a reward. But this time I had tossed it into the pool just past the end of the ramp. You were going to have to swim for it.

Puzzled about how to go about getting your bumper, you tiptoed down the gently sloping ramp and stretched with all your might trying to reach the toy floating just a few feet away. It took a few times or gradually moving the toy further away, but eventually your body began to float, and you responded by swimming.

You were swimming nearly vertical in the water, splashing wildly with your front paws. This was a tried and true puppy swim. The at it's earliest stages it was awkward and clumsily inefficient. You swam like this the first time you leaped into our pond, having no idea how deep it was. I thought for sure I was going to have to jump in a save you that time. It was shortly after that little stunt that I discovered you had never swam before.

After a few seconds of flailing in the water, something clicked and your body leveled out enough that you began to move forward. I stood on the deck, on the exit ramp, cheering you on. Suzanne was whooping and hollering, "good dog!"

You quickly gathered yourself and made a b-line toward the bumper that had now floated halfway across the pool. You swim wasn't the prettiest one I had seen, but you were figuring it out. And more importantly, you had just retrieved the bumper and had returned to the exit ramp.

Thanks to Mary's tropical paradise, you continued to swim from the ramp time and again. Each time you hit the water with more and more confidence. During one retrieve I had moved to the long side of the pool where Suzanne was working with Piper. You brought me the bumper, and without thinking, I tossed it right back in the pool. Without a single thought, you darted back around to the other side of the pool to head down the ramp. But you had gathered enough speed that you took the corner just a hair too sharp, and slid off the side of the ramp and right into the pool.

Suzanne and I starred at each other and began to laugh. No worse for the wear, you quickly recovered and headed out to the middle of the pool. I figured that after such a brave recovery, you might just be ready to try jumping off the side of the deck for the first time.

The deck around the pool was only about 10-inches from the surface of the water, but that was plenty of height for today. You carried your bumper, and we walked to the opposite end of the pool together. I utilized a park bench sitting on the pool deck to block your route to take the easy way out by going down the ramp.

I teased you by holding the bumper up above your head for you to try to grab and spun in a slow circle while letting you chase and catch it. Eventually I pitched the bumper in the water, just a few feet from the edge. Immediately you tried to make a break for the ramp, but the 'cheater's route' was blocked. You leaned over the edge and began to whine. You REALLY wanted that toy, and the usual route wasn't going to work this time.

I crouched down on my hands and knees, leaned over the edge of the pool right next to you and dangled my fingers in the water. You shifted your eyes back and forth from the bumper to my fingers; watching intently. I splashed water toward the little white toy as it began to float away and continued to encourage you. Your front feet were touching the water in the pool, and your hind end was boosted up in the air. Eventually a combination of gravity and heroics kicked in, and you slid like a seal, head first, into the pool.

Just about that time Mary

Too wet to hold my camera, I found a high ledge near the end of the pool to prop it on to shoot some video of your first water entries. Now that you knew that you could get in the water this way, we practiced this move many times on video. In a matter of short time you were retrieving the bumper from the pool from the dock side. Each time you plopped into the water, your water entry improved. And just as the batteries quick working in the camera, you were beginning to shove off with your hind legs and launch into the pool.

This was a momentous occasion, and now we could add "future DockDog" to your growing resume. I wondered if we would ever look back on this day and recall your first ever plops into the pool at Mary's place. I had really hoped that you found a home within our dock jumping community, so I could see you grow up. I wish that someday you soar high above the swimming pool to the sound of a cheering crowd. That would really be some story to tell. It could happen!

If there is one thing I have learned in the sport of DockDogs, it's that it doesn't matter who you are or what breeding you came from. Every dog has it's day. Someday I hoped you would get your chance to shine with the special people who made you part of their lives. What an adventure you would have!

We played fetch a few more time from the edge of the pool before calling it a day at Bow Wow. You had a successful day, and had improved by leaps and bounds. I made a mental note to bring you back for another swim in the Bow Wow Bahamas soon.

Before we left, Mary stopped by the pool to meet you. Convinced that we should keep you to be part of our family, she teased me about how much time I had spent working on training with you. I assured her that as lovable as you were, I was still searching for the perfect home for you. We were going to miss having you around, but I was determined to make this work out for your sake.

After I dried you off, we purchased a few pounds of the bulk organic dog treats that Mary sold in her store inside the facility. I needed to re-fill the cookie jar at home badly, and this way we could pick out a large variety of cookies to make the stash last a little longer.

I changed into my dry clothes, said our goodbyes, and loaded the dogs into their kennels in the back of the truck and headed for home. Keeping our tradition, we made a stop at Starbucks Coffee on the way home to warm up our insides with a couple of small mochas. We chatted about our swimming session as we drove home, and decided that you and Piper were a perfect match for this kind of play. Though there were a few times when you insisted on retrieving your bumper AND hers all in the same trip, the day was fairly relaxed.

By the time we got home it was late in the evening. You were still tired, and now hungry. I prepared all the food bowls and made you wait with the other dogs while I set them down. You were now able to sit and wait for your food, which meant you could now eat in the kitchen with everyone else.

You occasionally climbed up and curled up on the couch with me a few times throughout the evening. We play rounds of musical dogs as the night wore on. Mossy would lay by me for a few minutes, only to be bullied off the couch by her big brother Buddy. Henna stood with her chin on the cushion, waiting for the invite to come up for a cuddle. You would nearly jump into my arms when it was your turn, but quickly settle down and lay still for a good petting.

It was so nice that all the dogs were getting along fairly decently. My dogs were finally adjusting to the most rambunctious member of the house, and you were beginning to calm down and had stopped playing the part of the obnoxious puppy with no manners (most of the time anyway). But all in all, the improvements were beginning to stack up. You were going to be a wonderful dog for a lucky someone.

This is the way we clean the house (Oso's Rescue - Day 21)

I'm not sure if it was having a young pup in the house that had kept me so busy, or working on my newest role helping to build new clubs on the West Coast with DockDogs Worldwide. But somehow, over the last two and a half weeks, I had less time to spend cleaning up the inside of the house, and it was beginning to feel like a very large kennel. The time had come to take a day off and whip the house back into shape.

I started in the bathrooms, and worked my way from one side of the house to the other. You followed me into the bathroom and watched as I used a bristle brush to clean the inside of the toilets. Your head bobbed around in a tiny circle mimicking the swishing motion of the brush. I had to remind you that this whole routine was not to entice you into playing with the brush later on.

"Leave it", I said in a cautioning tone. I know we hadn't really practiced that particular word, but I was pretty sure you had an idea of what it meant since you snapped out of your toilet brush trance and took a small step backwards. Everyone in the house uses pretty consistent vocabulary with the dogs, and "leave it" is one of those staple words. It ranks right up there in the usage frequency with "enough" and "ah, ah, ah".

As I moved on to the vacuuming portion of the

housecleaning, you and Buddy did your part to shed as much remaining brown dog hair on the carpets by wrestling and rolling around on your backs on the carpets. Buddy would flop over onto his back and let you pin him down. You happily obliged the invitation and playfully tugged on his ears and chewed on the scruff of his neck. At 2 1/2, Buddy will still quite the puppy himself, and he tolerated your somewhat lengthy and rambunctious game that carried on off and on throughout the day.

Buddy and you had become quite the friends.

Maybe it was because you he was closest in age, that he is a male, or perhaps because you and Buddy have a lot in common. Frankly, it could just be that Buddy was the only one that would put up with that obnoxious puppy behavior without putting you in your place. It was hard to say why the two of you were building a bond, but you were quickly becoming best of friends.

I figured the two of you had conspired to deposit even more on the floor than there already was. Knowing that I would be cleaning the carpets later, I rolled the vacuum slowly over the floor in order to collect as much dirt and dog hair as possible beforehand. By the time I finished vacuuming our almost 1800 square-foot home, I counted 3 times that I had to empty the bin on the vacuum cleaner. I suppose all that dirt and dog hair could've contributed to that feeling of being in a kennel.

I unwound the hose from the vacuum used for cleaning around the edges of the carpet. The corner behind your kennel was thick with dog hair, so I ran the hose attachment along the edge and sucked up every last tuft of the remnants of your shedding. As I began to put away the attachment, something had grabbed your attention. Teasingly, I ran the attachment over your back. You wiggled and could've cared less.

You thought this thing was way cool, and were going to give it a little taste. Little did you

know that as you brought your lips close to the end, the suction would pull at your flaps and your whiskers. But you thought his was pretty fun. So you tried it again several times; lean into the hose, it would start to suck at your snout, pull away from the hose and stare at it while I giggled. I bet you did this at least a dozen times, trying to figure out it's concept. Eventually, you began to lick at it. This was fun, but I had more work to do.

I had really made a mess after I dumped out the container from the vacuum, and decided a paintbrush and a suction tool would be the best way to try to clean off and restore the machine. Being sneaky, you tried to sliver in front of my and nibble on the bristle side of the giant paintbrush. When I was done I tossed the paintbrush a few times for a couple of fun retrieves in the living room.

Later, when I was telling Chris about your funny affections with the paintbrush, he filled me in. Once, when you were a tiny puppy, he was doing some painting work in the apartment you lived. His brushes had been put away for the night, but your owner let you steal the brushes and then chew them up. I could see how you could do that in a matter of minutes with such a soft wood handle. You were quite silly running around with a paintbrush in your mouth.

Later in the evening, I put the other dogs away for a bit and we worked on obedience and some fun drills in the living room. I had a low bench which I had tipped over on it's side. The idea was to practice a bit of jumping, and confidence building by having to get over the bench.

I sat on one side of the bench and tossed the toy over to the other side. The first time, you literally 'stepped" over it many times before you would actually jump. This was going to come in handy later once you learned to swim.

I tossed a bumper over the bench for you for the good part of 15 minutes. In between I gave you loads of belly rubs, then tossed it again. We were building your toy and play drive, and you didn't even know it!

Just before bed it was time to let all the dogs out to relieve themselves before we called it a night. When I called th

em all back inside, they all headed straight to the kitchen for their customary bedtime cookie. I tucked you into your kennel and turned out the lights.