A Day on the Lake

We were told by our puppy trainer to expos our dogs to at least one new experience weekly (yes you can introduce puppies to the element of behavioral training, and introduce we did) and that we had no problem with as we traveled, and back and forth to our lake house.  All we have to do is jingle the car keys and they are ready to go.

Our town home has a small back yard that backs on miles of “green belts”. When in town we walk these daily, working mainly on “stop”, “stay” and “go” these for approaching street crossings.

The lake house is a totally different story. Here they have the run (under our supervision) of three yards and a community of rolling hills and roads, ponds, creeks and woods…a “doggy heaven”.

One particular favorite of theirs is a small beach. Most of the homes have bulkheads along the water, however, just past or neighbor is an undeveloped lot with a small beach. This they check out daily on their “routes”…it’s amazing to follow them around and note their patterns. Digging, barking at the ducks, or wading in the water they make this a daily stop.

These are two very fit dogs…they “walk me” two miles daily, they romp and play for most of the day. This romping through the garden beds, rolling in the grass and dips in the lake make for some really dirty dogs! So a daily “hosing down” and brushing is required.

Then their all pretty again…until they go out again and the cycle begins again.