Way to go, Skyler and Nim!

On Dec. 26 of last year, Nimitz, an American Eskimo dog, came to live with us. At the time he was just over a year old. He had been given up to the local American Eskimo Rescue group by the person that bought him when he was a puppy. We wanted to foster Nimitz until he found a new home. Skyler wanted to keep him from the beginning, and a couple of months after we got him, I realized we wouldn't be able to part with the little guy. He would have to stay with us.
For the past six months Skyler has worked with Nimitz in a 4-H dog training class. Every week in class he would work with Nim on the basics of obedience, some tricks, plus agility. Skyler taught Nim to respond to many commands including "down," "stay," "come," "shake paw," "high five," and "spin." Skyler also taught Nim to go over jumps and through tunnels. They're still working on the weave poles (of course, that's a hard one to learn!).
Nim always does the commands so well. He loves working with Skyler, and never once ran from Skyler to me (that's what many of the dogs in class would do -- run away from the kid to the mom!). Sometimes Nim acted up in class. He likes to yap at other dogs. We're working on that.
But yesterday was the big 4-H dog show. And Skyler and Nim did very well. They earned second place ribbons in Care and Grooming, and in Rally Novice. I am very proud of Skyler for trying and hope that he continues working with Nim to gather even more ribbons.

Agility practice let down

This morning Skyler and I took the dogs to what sounded like a promising place to practice agility. It's a kennel not too far away that I'd learned had a field where they had agility equipment, including an A-frame and dog walk. For only $8 a visit, or $25 a month for unlimited visits, you could practice. At home, and at the 4-H class where Skyler goes, we have jumps, weave poles and tunnels, but no contact equipment. We drove about 20 minutes to get there. On first glance the grounds looked to be in bad shape and I almost drove back home without stopping. But the agility equipment looked OK, and I knew it was a "freebie" day to introduce the place, so we signed in and went into the fenced yard.
There was a small A-frame. I tried Clover on it. She slid on the way down. The slats were too far apart, and there was no sand on it to give it traction. I was glad we hadn't put Nim on it first. I wouldn't want his first time on the A-frame to be scary. Skyler did lead Nim across the dog walk. It didn't have sand either, but I told Skyler to go slow with him. Nim walked across the walk with no problems. We took Nim on the teeter also. I held the teeter and let it fall gently at the tipping point. Nim had no problems. He didn't seem fazed by the motion at all, which surprised me. Skyler also took Nim through the closed tunnel a few times with me holding up the fabric. He did very well. After the fourth time Nim went through the tunnel, he laid down on the tunnel's fabric though. He was telling us it was too hot to keep going.
At one point I sent Clover over a jump and she went to the weave poles on her own and did them perfectly! She's such a good girl.
We'd only been there about 35 minutes, but I decided to take Nim's hint. It was warm and humid, and the dogs were very hot. Hopefully they will make the equipment safer, otherwise I won't be back.

July 7

Lindsay had a fun time this morning at preschool. This week the school has a circus theme, and they had a bounce house today. When I picked her up, the teachers said that Lindsay was one of the first to climb into the bounce house.

This weekend we visited my in-laws in Des Moines, Ia. I went to the Living History Farms with Lindsay and my mother-in-law. I took this photo of Lindsay while we were on our way to the beginning of the farm. It was a fun place to visit. If you're ever in Des Moines, I recommend it!