What fun Ari and Brita had!

It was yet another nice Saturday at the end of November and so we did some outdoor training! 

Brita has done suit work but hadn’t as yet with Terence.  This was the afternoon session and if you hang in there until the end (or just watch the end) you’ll see her getting swung around and hanging on!

And we brought the old man today!  Ari at 10 1/2 still was crazy for the sleeve and on the edge as usual.  Of course, me telling me to heel was a puzzle to him since he never learned how to heel…  ...now fuss he knows so when "I" figured it out he was a tad better.  However, since he retired he has had no obedience except “get off the bed Ari”… or “get your ball Ari”…  or “want your dinner”… oh wait..  that’s not obedience..  that’s a question!  What is the best about the way he looks today is the fact that, over the summer, he on a number of occasions was unable to walk due to seizures and a probable brain tumor.  If you saw those videos, you’d know how special these videos taken today are!  Every day he is here is a gift.

What a hoot!

What do you do when you have a dog who is biting their tail??? Put a red sock on it, of course, and duct tape it with white duct tape. …and then take pictures!!

But here’s the best… he had feeling in his tail and was holding it up which he hadn’t had in the recent past. It was an extremely windy day and we all took a walk in the yard but something in the weeks caught attention of Ari, Kobie and Olivia

Fun on the sandy beach...

....... well ....not the beach but fresh sand in the sandbox in a new location where Ari can sit and look over the road and yard while Brita runs circles around him! He will dig on command.. has done it since he was a puppy when I taught him as he was digging in water in a pool! Brita is just learning to dig on command!

Waiting for the bus the first day of school!

Due to Ari's ups and downs with seizures most likely from a brain tumor and his inability to walk, I never thought he'd be around the first day of school this year much less be in good enough shape to play with Brita while waiting for it to arrive the first day of school.
The first event was the arrival of a dump truck and it's departure, then the kids waiting for the bus and then the bus itself!

At the end of the series of pictures, Brita is so warm from running that there is steam coming from her body. It was a cool morning with low lying fog and at first I thought she was kicking up sand but then realized it was following her everywhere!

Liking Retirement!

Ari – Feels great…..Great… GREAT!!…..

Likes to run and roll in snow. He thought he wouldn’t like retirement but seems to have settled in with it – keeps tabs on the critters in the yard and knows what’s going on in the neighborhood.

Regarding Brita – she’s good and she has a good attitude and good personality – she’ll never be as good as him when it comes to working but she does some things better (like listening to me). She doesn’t have the drive he has and if I would train them together he could demonstrate so things to help her.

Regarding running with her – there would be an initial who’s in charge then things would be ok. That’s very important with her because she thinks she should be.

Kobie takes things too personally – when I went after her it was more of displaced frustration – she was in the way.

He loves me and wants to go on rides more often – it would be great to find a place where he can get out to run and explore. That would be something different and interesting.

Fun Training

Ø How are you feeling?
……strong and perky – just fine

Ø How do you feel about continuing to train?
…..what else is there?

Upcoming trial?
– win – win – we’re gonna win…

Ø How do you feel about Brita?.
...alot to learn but wants to learn…

Ø What else would you like to tell me?
….stop worrying about him running – this is what he loves to do and he’s fine.

Brita running away from Ari in the background!

Training for the trial.

And more training….

And the mock trial…

You Almost Died You Know!

...............after he almost died from an Addisonian Crisis how are you feeling?

*******pretty good…muscle ache between shoulder blade – maybe stress – maybe not stress

do you feel well enough to work?

*******yea….doesn’t like the surprises like people coming from behind - this is disturbing to him… maybe too much pressure. He likes what he can see. He knows what to expect because it’s the regular guys … when a strange helper it bugs him.. He likes working in defense.

do you know how close you came to not being here?

******yes he does – at one point he really zoned and was balancing – he was very aware and so on the edge that he had no strong opinion. He is glad to be back and is excited about the working again. He’s sorry he stressed me out and when asked what he likes he answered being outside and being with girls.

I’m thinking about getting a girl puppy to train so when you can’t trial anymore we can still go and you can get fun bites…. What would you think about that? And a girl so you could hang out together.

******* A new puppy should be a girl and he could teach her to work very well. (I said bad things too like chasing the bus) and he said he can’t help it if she learns those things and that’s not bad anyway.