Friday, April 22, 2011

Finally met Mary!

West came with us to agility class last night. I'm house sitting for a few days, and can have the dogs here with me. It was most convenient to have mom meet me at 5star with the boys, so that's what we did.

We got there early, so I brought West in to meet Mary before class. She just stood a few feet from the door, and I brought him in. I asked her not to offer him treats until he'd said hello, and within maybe a minute, he was up on her "hugging" her and soliciting pets. He looked fantastic. Mary asked me what he'd done for agility, so I tossed him over the jump (10") to try and show her his usual frantic bulldoze behaviour, and he took the jump perfectly! Silly pup! He did about 15 of them for Zukes, then I put him in a crate in the back room while we had class.

I brought him out at the end of class to "look at that" with the strangers in the room while others practiced stays and recalls-to-heel. He did very well, and had no reactions at all. By now, the next class was gathering outside the door, so I asked Mary to invite them all in before I put West in the car. She had everyone come in and stand across the room, so we had a big open space with no strangers. I jogged to the door and West came along without concern. He hopped in the car without hesitation, and sat there calmly while I moved Archie's crate into the car, and a few other door-open-and-closings. I put his Cap on him while I ran into Coopers, then he napped on the seat (sans cap) on the ride back.

Once we got to the house, I put Archie in the back yard, then removed West's thundershirt and put him in the backyard too. I went and let the resident dogs out into the yard, and West and Sunny had a big zoomy play while Archie sort of chased them around.

West and Sunny have been playing pretty much all the time since! They're great for each other. Both are napping now (actually, all 4 are) finally!

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