Day 63 - Dakota Beach

Last night we underwent an experiment. Jedi got to stay out of his crate for the night. Well, let's say he had the opportunity to stay out of the crate. He started out up on the bed with Luke, Kaiser, Kizzy, and myself (Secret has been anti-social about the bed for a while now). He hung out at the bottom for a while, but he eventually moved himself to the dog bed next to his crate on the floor, which is where I believe he spent the majority of the night. I woke up around 5:00 and made everyone go outside while I went to the bathroom, then we tried again with Jedi on the bed. He didn't stay up long. When I woke up again he was in his crate. The Klee Kai weren't keen on letting him jump up onto the bed after he left, and he didn't really try. The nice part was that there was no barking, though.

For breakfast this morning we worked on our heeling skills. I'm starting to throw in more turns in both directions. Our exercise duration is limited by how much kibble I can hold in my hand for each turn, as I store the dish up on a post out of reach of the other dogs. Jedi is starting to anticipate this and breaks heel when he thinks we're done, so I need to try to mix up this timing a bit more so that he stays connected until released.

It didn't take long for me to break down and take Jedi out to play this morning. He was a wild child this morning -- After taking himself on a swim he came barging back through the dog door and proceeded to throw all of his toys at me in an attempt to get me to play with him. We went outside to throw tennis balls for a while, keeping the game relatively short with respect to the already warm temperatures of the day. I got in some nice sends around a cone, with a focus on building up the distance from which I can send. Jedi still struggles with always wanting to come behind me when sending from my left so our distance is limited in that direction, but I've probably got a good 15' from my right.

When we finished playing, Jedi's first inclination was to jump in the water bucket. I suppose this is just because it's the closest body of water once the toys get put back in the garage. I had to shoo him out of there and then he went dashing over to the pool and wallowed for a bit. For as warm as it is I fully expected him to just stay wet all day long.

Play time had the desired effect and Jedi proceeded to nap for a couple of hours. We went outside for his lunch where we did a bit of heel work and then sat down to work on holding the jump bar. Jedi really likes this trick for some reason and he gets super excited about it. When he settles down a bit he's getting some really nice holds and I've been able to start letting go of the bar and letting him hold it on his own. It would probably help if I had something smaller at this point. Our class with Silvia opened back up yesterday and I need to get back to posting there. I still need to share the video I made right before we went on break.

After lunch I packed up Jedi, Secret, and Luke for our outing of the day. With temperatures in the 90s, I figured this was a day not good for much other than swimming. I haven't taken Luke swimming in ages, so I thought he would enjoy the chance to get out again. Secret seems to have recovered from whatever it was that was bothering her, probably not hurt by the two doses of Doxy and Tramadol that she's received. This morning she was excited about tennis balls (I just gave her one to chew on and didn't throw any for her), so I decided to truck her along and see if she wanted to swim.

The plan was to hit up the boat landing/beach area in Dakota, MN. I've only been there a time or two in the past and learned of the location from friends who live in the area. Because of the hot day, I knew most waterways would be packed today. I looked over towards airport beach as we passed by on the interstate and sure enough it was swarmed with people and boats. I figured the little beach in Dakota surely couldn't be that bad.

There were cars parked at the landing when we arrived, but they must have all been out on boats. We made our way down to the beach and it was empty save for two people hanging out in the water. Score! Jedi was pulling on the leash with all his might as soon as he saw the water, so I finally let him go and off he went.

I remembered the baby bumper today and Jedi definitely had an easier time with that today. He had no hesitation at the water today from his little dunk that he took yesterday. Based on my throws with Secret, the current appeared to get stronger further away from shore, so I kept Jedi in the mid-range between Secret's throws and Luke's throws. He was a little swimming/fetching machine. One funny thing to note is that when he comes to water, he only wants to play IN the water. I tried to get him to take a break from swimming and threw his bumper down the beach. He just turned around and stared back out into the water.

When the dogs start whistling as they swim I figure that's it for the day. Jedi took a bit more convincing that it was time to leave. I packed up all of the toys and started walking down the length of the beach towards an area that would have a less steep climb back up to the van. Jedi ran alongside in the water. He came along as we initially made the climb up the hill, but when we reached the top he turned around and ran back to the water. I had to coax him to come back up by waving the bag of toys at him. He was just plain high as a kite and spent some time tugging on his leash to dry off.

There was a cute little gazebo in the little park area that begged for a picture spot, largely because it was shaded. Blessed be, I actually got all three dogs to cooperate at the same time. That's saying a lot when Luke and Secret are along. Luke hates having his picture taken and lately Secret seems to be on strike when it comes to posing with Jedi. Jedi always seems ready to have his picture taken these days and his wait skills are really progressing!

Before we left I managed to fish part of a sandwich that had been left on the ground out of Jedi's mouth -- I wasn't quick enough for Secret. There's a giant sign in the park saying to clean up after your dogs, but apparently this doesn't apply to parents and their children. It always astonishes me how much food they manage to find in parks... Back at the van, Jedi was the last to load because he didn't think it was time to leave yet. I'm pretty sure he was ready for a dip in the river again, but I finally convinced him that it was, indeed, time to leave. He pretty much crashed immediately once we got going.

My mom stopped by for a visit this afternoon to take a break from her duties over at Butterfest. The dogs loved having the company, and the fact that she shared her ice cream with them. Jedi got in lots and lots of cuddles, and some naughty shark biting as well. All of this visiting time had the added benefit of wearing Jedi out again, so after my mom left we got in some good nap time. Dinner tonight was spent on holding the bar. Hopefully Jedi doesn't try to drag another one through the dog door like he did last night. Yes, he dragged a 36" long PVC pipe through the dog door....