First time boarding

We went out of town for the weekend and left Megan at the same place she went to daycare, Ruffin' It (http://www.ruffinitresort.com). It was probably more traumatic for me than it was for her. I missed her so much and worried about her. They have cameras in their play areas, but every time I managed to look at one, she wasn't on it. Also, when I left her the kennel seemed awful small, a thunderstorm was brewing and she pawed at the gate to get out. Anyway, we decided to just leave her in daycare yesterday (which was good since we really didn't get back on time to pick her up Sunday night) and then I could see her on the camera. Amazingly enough, she looked happy!

I especially enjoyed this scenario - keeper hands out treats, Megan gets hers, keeper attempts to reach over Megan to give treat to another dog, Megan first tries sitting nicely - then tries shaking - then tries sitting pretty, she doesn't get extra treats for her efforts but does get a nice pat. It's good to see that she'll do tricks for someone besides me. Maybe it's anything for a treat! Well, she's back now and we spent last night in the basement due to tornado warnings. She got a good report card. I do think it's good for her to be exposed to new situations, new people and other dogs. It's just hard on me to leave her!

Updates on Megan and myself

Megan went to her fourth obedience class last night. I think she's starting to look forward to it. She seemed pretty excited once we got out of the car. She is learning really fast and loves it. Last night the class did four forms of recall (toy, multiple treat, hide-and-seek and come and run) Megan was assigned come and run and did really well. She even got "points" for being cute and bouncy. We are working independently on shake, roll over and sit pretty. She just about has these down and we'll need to start working on something else. She is getting better about not barking at people. She still drools a lot in the car, but she doesn't start frothing the moment she gets in. Perhaps she will always be a big drooler on car rides and I guess that's not so bad. I did actually get her on the scale at the vet and she weighs 65 pounds! I'm really trying to cut back on treats and have bought her a better food to start soon. Trying to be more diligent about the exercise too although I'm afraid that falls mostly to Pam these days. Tonight we are dropping her off at a kennel and picking her up on Monday evening. We are going on a trip to northern Wisconsin with my brother in law and his son to go rock collecting. This is a father's day gift for the bil. I'm a little nervous about leaving Megan for so long. I haven't boarded her since we adopted her in January. This is the same place she went to daycare so it won't be totally unfamiliar to her. I am glad I don't have kids because it is hard enough for me to leave a dog behind!  There is a big storm coming and she is terrified of storms so I hope she won't be too scared at the kennel.

My update is that I have to have knee surgery at the end of July. It started bothering me in March and I've been under the care of a physical therapist in hopes of fixing it non-surgically. It's getting worse which is why Pam has to do most of the walking with Megan. I have high hopes that I will be able to return to my normal active self within a month after surgery. It's too bad that the injury had to be during the summer when I am usually most active.

Some new tricks

She knows shake and roll over pretty reliably now. We have almost
mastered sit pretty. She's just a little lazy and unsure of her balance
but she know what to do.

Now, for the not-so-good. Megan barks at people. When a serviceman game
to the door today I realized something interesting. She barks at people
she KNOWS more than strangers. She barks at my sister-in-law, my niece
and both of the brothers-in-law. She doesn't bark at strangers. Of
course, I'd like it if she'd stop barking at my family. She isn't
aggressive toward them in any way, she just barks. Silly dog.

More training

We are making a little bit of progress with the car rides. She doesn't froth the moment we get in the car, but she does drool excessively as the ride goes on. Yesterday we went to obedience class and this morning we went to the park.

Speaking of obedience class, I can't believe how quickly Megan learns. I think it's a combination of both of us understanding how to learn or teach something new. I can tell she really want to do what I tell her. She looks at me with those brown eyes thinking, "What is it you want exactly?" We went over the basics again in class but after two or three repetitions of doing something she already knows I switched to something else. She has learned roll over and is very close to learning shake consistently. I am so proud of her! The one hitch we had in class was with the introduction of the agility tunnel. I would like her to do agility someday so I was a little dismayed when she balked at it. She did go through though. I have also thought she would be really good at freestyle. Of course, I am jumping ahead. Let's get the basics down first!

Too fat?

Last Sunday I got a weight on Megan. I have my doubts about its accuracy. It involved me weighing myself (that's a topic for another support group!) and then picking up Megan and having Pam read what the scale said. If the weight was accurate she weighs 65 pounds, which means she has gained 10 pounds since January!!! I hope this is wrong. We do give her lots of dog treats (we have discovered that she doesn't really tolerate large quantities of human food so we've cut way back on that). We have cut back on the amount of food we give her and are breaking the large milk bones in half. When the time comes to buy more, we'll buy a weight loss formula and smaller biscuits. Also, she won't be fed her dinner on obedience school days because she gets a zillion treats in class. I have discovered she likes red peppers, grapes, strawberries, apples and bananas which gives us some healthy treat options. I'll keep testing to see what else she might like.

In other news, we did a VERY short trip in the car -- from the driveway to the garage -- and she didn't froth. I keep talking to her in an happy voice and pet her and praised her a couple times. The above paragraph might tell you why I'm reluctant to take her for rides to get treats. Tonight we go to our second obedience class so I'll see how she handles that