For Kenny

So, Kenny was saying I needed to post something - at least something about Sugar. So here goes:

I continue to enjoy having a dog around. She's still not fond of the car, but she does like dog parks. She is tentative and always nearby when I take her off the leash. She wants to play, but can't quite figure out how. Yesterday, we went back to the dog park at Bull Creek. While other dogs were frolicking in the water, chasing each other, fetching balls, etc. Sugar decided she wanted to gather rocks (?). We were wading in the water & I would hand her a rock, she'd take it in her mouth over to the edge behind some brush & put it down. She even started picking the rocks up from under water (a classic Jack Russell move) where she'd hold her snout under the water for a few seconds while getting the rock in her mouth just right. After a few minutes she had made quite a nice pile of them. Not sure what it was she was building, but we'll go back so she can continue her masterpiece.

On Friday we went to Pedernales. The Falls were not really falling (we need more rain) but Sugar had a good time chasing lizards & posing.



We also had our first obedience lesson. I'm not sure how she felt about Moonpie, the 4 month old standard poodle puppy in our class. We are learning to respond to our names (Sugar is already pretty good at that & I certainly know mine), sit & lay down (again, Sugar is doing well and I tend to do this best after a long run), and we'll continue to work on that until the next class. There are 4 main things I want to get out of the class:

1. Prevent Sugar from winding up her leash all through my legs.
2. Build her confidence around other dogs so she isn't so afraid - she is the opposite of aggressive. Mainly it's big dogs that alarm her most.
3. How to build MY self-confidence to let her walk off leash.
4. Come when called - whenever she is off leash and is excited, she runs off inevitably right into the street.

I'll be posting about our progress. She just had a bath, which I find so amusing. I've never met a dog that didn't like racing around as soon as it was over.