Day 102

Sometime during the night last night I woke up to realize I was having my head slowly pushed right out of the bed. NOT. So I just pushed the pillows out of the way and used the very warm body that was causing the problem as my pillow. Interestingly enough, she didn't seem to mind at all. That really is a first for me. I have never had a dog that was willing to act as a pillow for any length of time and there she was, still being a pillow when it was time to get up.

This Monday Sanity started demonstrating how to begin jump training. Somehow I hardly think that a dozen times over an 8" jump when I say so is going to be overdoing things. Not after watching her sail over the newly raised gate at the bottom of the ramp. The old gate gave up the ghost last week and so I had a new one put in. The original gate was 26" high. The new gate is 26" high on the bottom half and with the addition of a top half the combined height is now 36". The entire reason for the addition was to slow down/stop the Doberman Gang from constantly charging up and down the ramp. HA! While it has put a stop to all the other adult dogs hopping the gate whenever they thought I wasn't looking, it seems to have only incited the Dobermans to greater feats of jumping and Sanity is right there in the lead most of the time. What is really getting me is that she isn't jumping to the top of the gate and then pushing off. Oh no, she is jumping it with at least a couple of inches to spare. I suppose I should worry at least a little bit, but that gate will be coming down for the winter in just a few more weeks anyway.

If I am to worry about anything I think I will worry about how many times I have seen her take a spill while playing on the mulch pile. Some days I despair for her rear legs. At six months she sure is a gawky, coltish pup and sometimes seems to forget she has to be responsible for more than just her front legs.

Meanwhile, evening and the last class of the day was a chance to work on the retrieve from the ground some more. I really must get busy and seek out some stronger distractions, cause she sure is slow on her return. Going out is fine, strong and brisk, it is just that there is the hesitation between the time she puts her mouth on the dumbbell, picks it up and then starts her return. So thinking cap time were distractions are concerned. Think I will start using food distractions for the time being.