Guess who stayed (as far as I know, at least) on the bed ALL NIGHT last night? I can hardly believe it. Jedi jumped up on the bed on his own while I was getting ready for bed (stayed there while I went to the bathroom and everything, which is generally unheard of since he follows me everywhere). When I got into bed I couldn't get him to move out of the way so I had to position myself around him. He moved before I fell asleep, but he stayed on the bed. I woke up at least once during the night and he was still there. Then this morning he was STILL THERE! He got off the bed to let himself outside before I felt like getting up, but then he came back to bed. We may have crossed a hurdle where the bed is concerned! Time will tell.
I had a quiet morning, work-wise, with only one meeting. The dogs mostly hung out and played inside this morning with the usual wrestling in the early hours followed by some quiet times and napping after that. We had lunch a little earlier than usual as I was targeting to leave the house by noon. We worked exclusively on holding the leash during that session.
We got out of the house shortly before noon, but our plans ended up changing today. I took half a day off work so that we could drive up to St. Paul for Secret to attend an animal actor audition with Barbara O'Brien (the cause of all of that leash holding training this week). It's a long drive (2:40) for the fairly unlikely chance that Secret would be chosen (considering she still isn't holding the leash on her own yet), but I figured it would be a good experience for Jedi to meet the photographer, sit in a waiting area, and possibly get some time in front of the camera and flash bulbs.
Unfortunately on our first leg of the trip, between Sparta and Black River Falls, we ended up getting stopped by road construction. No big deal, right? Yeah, until it ended up being almost 25 minutes before we moved! It was the most ridiculous thing ever! Generally when construction closes down one lane you expect to see a group of cars go by and then you get to go. Well it took about 10 minutes before we saw any cars go by, then it was over 10 minutes before we got to move. I was getting so upset, but what could I do? Unfortunately leaving home at noon meant that we weren't going to get to the shoot until a bit before 3:00, and it was done at 3:30. Ultimately, if we ran into any more traffic issues on the remaining 2+ hours there was no way we were going to make it in time. I decided it just wasn't worth it.
So! I could have turned around and gone home instead of waiting the rest of the time for the traffic to move -- but we were so close to Black River Falls at that point, and the dogs' swim bag was in the van.... Not too long ago a friend on Facebook posted a picture of a beautiful (empty that day) beach. Knowing she lives in the area, I asked where it was and she replied that it was Lake Wazee. I looked up the address and stored it in my phone, thinking that we would visit it on one of the next warm days when the dogs needed to swim. Seeing as I had the entire afternoon free, I had the two swimming dogs along, and I had their water toys, I figured why not check it out today?
First of all, I admit I did no research. Turns out that this is a county park, and apparently you need a permit to enter a county park. Here I was with literally not $1 in cash on me. A day pass was $3, which I felt stupid using a credit card for, so I splurged and bought an annual pass to all Jackson County parks. I don't even know how many there are or where they are, but I guess I know what we'll be exploring this summer! When I asked for the annual pass I think in my mind I was thinking "state park system," not Jackson County. Oh well. I'll have to learn more about this particular park and the trail systems, but what I saw looked like it will be a fun place to visit again for more than just swimming.
Well okay, so we can't go on the beach, but maybe we could swim from the shore off the beach area? It was kind of rocky and I didn't know how well that would go. I looked up, though, and I saw a smaller beach area over to the side a bit. It was almost within walking distance, or at least would have been if I wasn't wearing flip-flops. I opted to go back to the van and drive over to check it out. I heard dog barking coming from that direction, so I hoped that maybe that area wasn't posted. The dogs weren't too happy about going back into the van, but they complied.
It was a short trip. The spot I saw was labeled as a "dive area." There were no signs posted saying anything about dogs, so I figured it was fair game. The dog that I'd heard barking was crated in the back of a truck. He pretty much barked the whole time we were there (not sure why his people brought him along, maybe he was done swimming, who knows). The "beach" area was pretty small, so we went off to the side and climbed down a sandy bank into the water to stay out of the way.
It was the prettiest water ever, clear and beautiful! The lake was very quiet and calm, too, so I felt comfortable letting the dogs (Jedi, in particular) go out a little farther than usual for their retrieves. The water got fairly deep pretty quick from where I was standing, which meant that pretty much the entire retrieve was a swim and the dogs never really came out of the water while we were there. I made Jedi take a few short breaks sitting in the shallow water -- something he didn't really care to do, but I figured it was in his best interest.
We stayed and played for quite a while. Probably longer than I generally let the dogs swim in any one go. When I could hear them taking in water on their return trip I figured we were about ready to go, but both of them were being total nut jobs about wanting to stay and swim. When I finally called it quits I gathered our stuff and we walked over to the flat beach area to exit. Jedi came along but then dashed straight across and jumped in the water on the other side and went for a little swim. At first I thought he was going to swim out to the people jumping off a diving platform, but he came back. Then he just sat and shook on the shore absolutely refusing to leave. He went back into the water another time or two before I finally went over to attach his leash and pull him out of the water. I don't think he was cold at all, I think that the shaking was all just crazy excitement and not wanting to stop.
We wandered around the grassy area for a bit while I waited for the dogs to dry off a bit. I found a rock that I made them pose on, but Jedi just kept staring at the water (tried to go back a time or two, but I caught him) and Secret was being annoyed by the giant horsefly that kept landing on her head. Oh well, we tried. Eventually I gave up on the whole drying off thing because Jedi wouldn't stop obsessing about going back to the water. We just loaded back up in the van and went home. I debated taking the long route on I-94 to avoid the construction, but I figured surely that had to have been a fluke thing. Nope, 25 minutes parked on Hwy 27 again. At least there was a breeze that went through the open windows.
I admit to checking my work email again when I got home, but then I took advantage of having the rest of the afternoon off and we all napped. Pretty sure Jedi wanted to run and play some more, but he complied and took a nap, too. For dinner we went out into the yard to work on heeling. Again, I'm no obedience person but I think he's doing great! I've never had a dog with actual heeling skills. Back inside Jedi let me know he still wants to play by repeatedly throwing his Kong Tugga at me, which I then threw across the room to get him out of my face (yes, I know that is exactly what he wanted). This seems to have appeased him. He's got a big weekend ahead of him, which is why I've elected not to run him tonight to wear him out more.
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