09/21/2025
The one and only positive of Mike working long hours right now is that it gives me a lot of time to study, write, and train. When he's home, I just like to sit next to him or stare at him, and when he's gone, I remember that I have a whole career and all of these dogs. Today, I packed up six dogs, three of my own and three fosters, and went to the farmer's market to work. We just happened to run into Megan, Gannon, and Wren. Megan kindly stayed to help me work dogs. Otherwise, I would probably still be there. I wanted to do a little bit of focused heeling with Sazz, but otherwise, our only goal with everyone was just to be calm and neutral in public. Everyone did really well. It's a big environment with lots of other dogs, people, music playing, and lots of smells, but everyone exceeded my expectations.. Banjo has really graduated into a great canine citizen in these last few months, and he is pretty much ready to go into a home. I'm going to take him on some final field trips next week, and if he passes those tests, we'll start looking for the perfect home. Shemp has come a long way. He's currently off meds and doing very well in most situations. I would like to see him relax even a little bit more in public, but our main goal is working through some cooperative care stuff so he can be more successful at the vets office. I have two more dogs to work at the kennel, and then it'll be swim practice time for my own dogs. Love these dog days.
