Bringing in the Year

Happy New Year, everyone!  Dante and I had a lot of fun (and some not-so-fun) on this first day of the year.

It has been raining so much the last couple weeks.  Our back yard is a muddy mess, and just having a bath a last week, Dante is not playing out there.  

We started our day later than I will admit here, and then took a trip to Target.  Usually, this is pretty mindless for Dante who has been here about a billion times, but today we got some good training in.  I went down this isle, and a hula hoop fell off and really startled Dante, so we stopped and walked through it upright and then practiced commands in it.  I decided to take advantage of the bouncy balls and add in some distractions.  

I love how he tucked his paws in

He did really well and became more comfortable with the hula hoops (some treats helped too!).   We also practiced lots of commands.

He is getting really proficient with his "ups."  I can now step away/behind him and he will stay.

We decided to go to the park where I could let Dante loose in the tennis courts so that he got in some good play/run time and there is no mud.  He was so happy to be able to RUN as he hasn't had really good, totally free play time in almost a week.

Dante is very smart.  He knows what his leash is, that it controls him, and when it is attached and when he can get away with something.  We have been working really hard on this and his independent attitude lately.  One thing that I noticed is that for the first fifteen minutes we were there, he would not come near me or let me approach him, for fear that I might put him back on-leash. 

I know it's really blurry, but it's such a funny pic!

Like I said, it took Dante about fifteen minutes to trust me that I wasn't going to put him back on-leash.  After that, he did many wonderful "here"s and even played Fetch for quite a while (he is also having a hard time getting the Fetch concept, as he prefers to run around like a madman).

"Dante, HERE!"

Watching some dogs walk by (and inviting them to come play with him.  Unfortunately for Dante, they kept going).

Ready for me to throw his ball.

We played for about 45 minutes and Dante was really slowing down.  Tired puppies are good puppies!  But we also noticed that he was limping.  When we got home I sat on the floor to cradle him and get a better look at his paw.  Turns out, he must have slid too much on the court and skinned his two front paw pads in four different places.

After talking with the wonderful people at CCI, my mom ran to the store to get some "liquid bandage" adhesive to put on them.  His paws aren't too bad, as he walks on them OK, but he is definitely cautious.  

Tired out.  You can see by the way he is laying, that his paws are hurting :-(

I had to put his Gentle Leader on to help control the licking.  Poor baby, I feel so bad.  The person from CCI that we talked to made us feel much better by sharing about the exact same thing that happened to their puppy.  They said that it is fine to take him back, but check him every little bit to make sure he doesn't do it again.  But, this means no walks for a few days, and no playing outside for a little while.  

What a way to bring in the new year!