Day 38 - Bike trail (Iberia Ave)

Jedi had an abbreviated training session this morning for breakfast. I was about five stairs from the bottom when my feet completely disappeared out from under me and poof, down I went. Pretty much just like in a cartoon, the food went flying in what felt like slow motion as I thump-thumped my way to the bottom of the stairs. Ouch. Crap.

Poor Jedi, he didn't know what to make of this situation! I assured him all was right with the world and that it was okay to come down. The food was literally everywhere, so I just had him start to clean it up while I picked up what I could. I might have scrounged together about 1/3 - 1/4 of his normal rations. He was pretty good at clean-up crew.

What I did manage to pick up was used to do pivots to the leg on a dinner plate. Jedi transitioned to this flatter object with surprising ease. We did several circles in both direction and then we were out of food and done for that session.

I did our lunch training session outside when I got home from work. I took the video camera out again and let the other dogs serve as a distraction and started with the pivot on the plate. Somewhere during all of this I think Jedi inhaled a piece of kibble and he started to get all "huffy" like something needed to work its way back out. This continued to bother him through the remainder of this training session, including when we went over to do some bottoms on the a-frame. He was acting a bit worried by all of this, or at least didn't have his usual gusto, so we didn't get much good video footage from that session. The good news is that whatever it was finally worked his way out and he was fine doing a quick play session, and we got some good bottoms then.

We had a pretty quiet afternoon. I have homework that needs to get done tonight, so tonight's outing needed to be something we could complete relatively quickly. I also needed something that everyone could do since they were all stuck at home yesterday. That pretty much meant the bike trail since I'm not feeling ready to tackle all four on leash in town yet.

I went to the section of the trail that crosses Iberia Ave and took the path that heads towards Rockland. Much like the last part of the trail we took, this section is well surrounded by farmland and not too busy. When we first arrived we encountered a couple of gentlemen out running, but we didn't see anyone else after that. I was happy to see that Jedi was completely nonreactive to the running men. He really didn't seem to pay any attention to them at all (not even his typical, "Oh hi, people!").

I think we left home right as Jedi had been ready to settle down for a nap, so I actually felt kind of bad for him when we first set out. He looked so tired! We plugged on, though, and sure enough he woke up after a bit.

This section of the trail has a marshy area that floods regularly just shy of a mile and a half in from where I parked. I knew this was a push since Jedi started out tired, but I figured they would all enjoy playing in the water. I was correct about that! It was fairly deep, at least when you're Jedi's size. He followed Secret in, and while she could walk through the chest-deep water, Jedi soon found himself swimming. He went back several times, so apparently he was okay with this.

The swim totally charged him up and Jedi was a nut for the entire walk back. Normally he sticks fairly close, at least within the range of the flexi leashes that Kizzy and Kaiser are on. He was a little more adventurous on the trip back, though, and followed Secret a bit more. We passed over a little bridge that has a tiny stream that runs under it and I think he ran down there three times before all was said and done. He likes water!

We had a train go by at one point in our walk. Secret always gets put back on leash for trains because she likes to chase them. Obviously I wasn't going to take any chances with Jedi, so he went on leash as well. He saw a train that one time in the Bangor park, but the tracks run pretty close to the trail and I wasn't sure what to expect from him. Of course, he barely batted an eye at it.

Jedi was pretty pooped by the time we got back to the van, but he woke up nicely for dinner tonight. We went back outside and had another go at taping some pivot to leg from the plate and he did super well. It's probably time to start inching away from the target plate to see if he will still stick to my leg. After that we went back for another go backing onto the a-frame bottoms and this time he was much more himself with the usual energy level. I think the only thing I have left to video is slamming cupboards, so I'll have to try to get that tomorrow and hopefully start to put some video together to share.