Obedience Training, SAR and Dock Jumping
Obedience. Last night was supposed to be Midas’s first Obedience class…which we missed all but the last ten minutes of. The directions I got were for Cherry St. downtown GR and really it was supposed to be in Ada 
. So, then we had to hurry home and get the real directions and then hurry there. I was really bummed. Really, really bummed. The class went over so we sat in the truck and waited….and waited…and then just for a change of pace, we waited some more. Finally it ended and I got to speak with the instructor. She was terrific. She told me to work on Midas with focusing on me. She also said that the prong collar might work out very well for me, if I use it correctly. After a lengthy conversation we headed home. I felt much better and not so depressed. Tonight after work I practiced some of the things she said and it worked fairly well. I also took Midas for his very first loose-leash walk ever 
!! I was so excited! It was lovely. The thing about the prong collar is that he self-corrects himself, I don’t have to do a whole lot. Once I taught him that the concept was to stay on my left, next to me, he pretty much did with no direction from me. There were a couple of mistakes, but it was our first walk so there’s plenty of time to finesse. I am hoping it will carry over to the dock jumping competition at Traverse City with Ultimate Air Dogs this weekend.
Search and Rescue. After watching Mason at my grandparents’ place hunt up the stick we throwing during fetch and have the determination to keep at it long after Midas had quit, I decided maybe he would excel at something beyond therapy training. After a little bit of research (very little, not a whole lot I could find on the Internet for Michigan), I found Mid-Michigan Kennels, Inc. I emailed the trainer and he requested that I call. I talked to him today after work and he was great! I am bringing Mason there on Tuesday. He’s way to young too start real training, but I can start playing some games with him to see if he even has the right “stuff” to do SAR. I’m pretty excited.
RAW Food. I’ve been researching the benefits of switching the boys to a raw dog food diet. We have a line and are probably picking up an extra freezer on Monday. This is not just for the dogs (if we even switch), we need the extra space for all of our extra food…Eric can not go by a bread sale and not buy at least 3 loaves. Unfortunately, everything I’ve found online is waaaayyy to expensive to switch. I joined a couple of raw yahoo groups in Michigan and am hoping to get some more info. I also haven’t contacted any meat shops in the area yet. If anyone has any additional info, good or bad, please let me know!
Dock Jumping. Tomorrow we are heading out bright and early to Traverse City to take the dogs to the Cherry Festival. We are staying with my parents good friends and they are going to be there too. It will be the first time either have seen Midas compete, I’m nervous! He is competing both days too. After watching all the photos that Eric took at Battle Creek, I realize I am throwing WAY too early for him to even attempt to catch the bumper, so I hope to work on this during the practice dock time. I worked on him in the backyard again tonight and it went very well. He’s doing really well with it, I can only hope it transfers to the dock. Mason has started getting out of the truck by himself now, so maybe he’s worked up the nerve to actually jump off the dock - only one way to find out 
.