Well, we all survived Jedi's first hotel stay! It actually went quite a lot better than I expected. After spending at least a half hour (my guess is purposefully) dropping toys off the bed to be able to bounce down, pick it up, come back up and do it again, Jedi finally settled down around 8:30 last night. I took the dogs out for the last time around 9:45 or so. It was storming a bit, but thankfully the hotel had this handy little overhang on our side of the building and we were able to stay dry while the dogs went potty. Jedi wee'd forever, as I'm pretty sure he drank an entire bowl of water in the hotel room -- but bonus, he didn't play in it. Maybe we'll try again here at home. Back inside, Jedi got his second wind and was starting up the toy drop & plop game again. I eventually got up and put the toys away. With his fun ended, Jedi finally settled down again.
Jedi stayed up on the bed all night, which is super. One of my big concerns was getting from the bed to outside in the morning without Mr. Drinks-a-lot going potty, but he was totally fine. I had my clothes laid out in preparation and Jedi actually stayed on the bed until I was ready to put his leash on. He did hit up the first patch of grass he saw outside, but he made it (we were on the 2nd floor, don't know if I mentioned that last night). Some moron was outside with two off-leash boxers and wasn't paying any attention to them at all, so they ended up making their way towards us while Jedi was finishing peeing. Always a lovely way to start the morning, dealing with dogs who don't understand social cues to stay away from the snarling and barking pack of dogs they are walking towards, along with an owner who just stands there and does nothing.
Jedi had another fantastic day at the trial. I didn't have his crate covered at all either day and he was super with all of the activity going on around him. Today he did start to do his "woo-woo" noise when I took one of the Klee Kai out of their crate, but it was only one and he didn't keep it up if it was one of the times that he was staying put. Jedi did great maintaining his crate criteria the entire weekend and always waited until released (if only I asked the same of my other dogs). He drank what seemed like a ton of water -- or at least I thought so, until I was packing up and realized how wet the towel in his crate was. It was pretty hot in Soccerblast this weekend, though, so I can't blame him.
Jedi got to go shopping today. I had taken Jedi in yesterday when I was picking up my new crate pads (they sell the best ones ever and I've been waiting to see Best for Pets since I bought these crates in March!) and Jedi really took a shine to this one toy on a string. It had lots of interesting stuff attached to it, so it was definitely fun and appealing. Well, bummer for Jedi, but apparently they sold the last of these toys yesterday. That's okay, though, because we found something even better, at least where Jedi is concerned. It's a bungee tug that is 2' long unstretched and has tennis balls on BOTH ENDS! Jedi's favorite toy is his ball on a rope (we really need to replace that one of these days), so I thought this toy was a grand slam. Oh my, he just loves it. We played ringside for a bit and then ended up going outside and doing some wait/go games. I had a happy, panting puppy at the end of it and he took a nice nap in his crate for a while.
For lunch I took Jedi back to the measuring arm and worked on a stand-stay. He did pretty well with it, but will need more work because once he gets rewarded he assumes he's done. I'd prefer to be able to reward/reinforce and have him hold the position since lord knows measuring can sometimes take a bit. With how well he was standing still I was able to get a little clearer measurement today, so I'm going to retract my statement from yesterday and say that Jedi is sitting at 17.5" right now. He's doing great with not being at all reactive to the measuring arm swinging around, but one of these days I should probably get someone to help me simulate the judge doing the measuring. I had a couple more people remark that Jedi is going to be a "big boy," but they also had midget 16" border collies standing next to them, so....
I started packing up the van between Kizzy and Kaiser's final runs. With all of the doors open and the breeze blowing through, I think it was nicer out there than it was inside the arena. We finally got out around 4:00 and were home a little after 6:30. I'm pretty sure the thing Jedi missed the most about his weekend away was being wet. I refilled the bucket and he pretty much freaked out with happiness. At some point tonight he got himself completely soaking wet -- don't know if he was in the bucket or if he went into the pool, which I'm sure is pretty warm. All is well with his world now, though, and he's actually looking a bit pooped. No worries, I'm sure he'll be recharged tomorrow. I still haven't decided what fun is in store for the big day -- Day 100!
Well, we all survived Jedi's first hotel stay! It actually went quite a lot better than I expected. After spending at least a half hour (my guess is purposefully) dropping toys off the bed to be able to bounce down, pick it up, come back up and do it again, Jedi finally settled down around 8:30 last night. I took the dogs out for the last time around 9:45 or so. It was storming a bit, but thankfully the hotel had this handy little overhang on our side of the building and we were able to stay dry while the dogs went potty. Jedi wee'd forever, as I'm pretty sure he drank an entire bowl of water in the hotel room -- but bonus, he didn't play in it. Maybe we'll try again here at home. Back inside, Jedi got his second wind and was starting up the toy drop & plop game again. I eventually got up and put the toys away. With his fun ended, Jedi finally settled down again.
Jedi stayed up on the bed all night, which is super. One of my big concerns was getting from the bed to outside in the morning without Mr. Drinks-a-lot going potty, but he was totally fine. I had my clothes laid out in preparation and Jedi actually stayed on the bed until I was ready to put his leash on. He did hit up the first patch of grass he saw outside, but he made it (we were on the 2nd floor, don't know if I mentioned that last night). Some moron was outside with two off-leash boxers and wasn't paying any attention to them at all, so they ended up making their way towards us while Jedi was finishing peeing. Always a lovely way to start the morning, dealing with dogs who don't understand social cues to stay away from the snarling and barking pack of dogs they are walking towards, along with an owner who just stands there and does nothing.
Jedi had another fantastic day at the trial. I didn't have his crate covered at all either day and he was super with all of the activity going on around him. Today he did start to do his "woo-woo" noise when I took one of the Klee Kai out of their crate, but it was only one and he didn't keep it up if it was one of the times that he was staying put. Jedi did great maintaining his crate criteria the entire weekend and always waited until released (if only I asked the same of my other dogs). He drank what seemed like a ton of water -- or at least I thought so, until I was packing up and realized how wet the towel in his crate was. It was pretty hot in Soccerblast this weekend, though, so I can't blame him.
Jedi got to go shopping today. I had taken Jedi in yesterday when I was picking up my new crate pads (they sell the best ones ever and I've been waiting to see Best for Pets since I bought these crates in March!) and Jedi really took a shine to this one toy on a string. It had lots of interesting stuff attached to it, so it was definitely fun and appealing. Well, bummer for Jedi, but apparently they sold the last of these toys yesterday. That's okay, though, because we found something even better, at least where Jedi is concerned. It's a bungee tug that is 2' long unstretched and has tennis balls on BOTH ENDS! Jedi's favorite toy is his ball on a rope (we really need to replace that one of these days), so I thought this toy was a grand slam. Oh my, he just loves it. We played ringside for a bit and then ended up going outside and doing some wait/go games. I had a happy, panting puppy at the end of it and he took a nice nap in his crate for a while.
I started packing up the van between Kizzy and Kaiser's final runs. With all of the doors open and the breeze blowing through, I think it was nicer out there than it was inside the arena. We finally got out around 4:00 and were home a little after 6:30. I'm pretty sure the thing Jedi missed the most about his weekend away was being wet. I refilled the bucket and he pretty much freaked out with happiness. At some point tonight he got himself completely soaking wet -- don't know if he was in the bucket or if he went into the pool, which I'm sure is pretty warm. All is well with his world now, though, and he's actually looking a bit pooped. No worries, I'm sure he'll be recharged tomorrow. I still haven't decided what fun is in store for the big day -- Day 100!
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