The pictures are of Shai, our house guest for the week. He, Jake, and Rocky really got on well. The big surprise was that Sham actually slept on Shai�s bed several nights after about the middle of his stay (Sham has never slept on any bed that a human on it at the same time). Says something about energy!�
He is doing very well. We are still working hard at loose leash. I have not had a moment these past several weeks to get back out for agility but I think the next couple of weeks will allow some time for that, as well. Meanwhile, the two of us walk two to three miles in the morning, a bit at mid-afternoon when I come home for my work break, and then usually for a 20-30 minute walk in the late evening. As you well know, Jake loves his groceries and all of this exercise has him keeping a close eye on his food bowl and the treat cupboard.�
I emailed John and Kate back asking them if Keely and I could come visit Jake, and also to bring my agility equipment to them. I got the tunnel, weave poles, dog walk, and teeter about three years ago, but haven�t really used it since Penelope got cancer. Most of my fosters had been on them once or twice, as a way to see how they behave around unfamiliar objects, but otherwise I didn�t train them for agility at all. When I learned that John and Kate are interested in doing agility with Jake, I asked them if they would like to have my equipment and they said yes. Also I wanted to bring Keely as socialization opportunity for her. I thought that since Brenna and Jake got along well and that Keely and Brenna are so much alike, I think Keely and Jake would get along okay too. John and Kate emailed back to say they would be available this Saturday afternoon, so that�s when we planned to meet. I got up 6 AM Saturday morning, first went over to the lab to turn off the machine, then went back home to give Anastasia her monthly bath, and Keely and I went for a three-mile walk on campus. I wanted to tire her out a little bit before she met Jake. Since the trunk and the backseat were full of agility equipment, I allowed Keely to sit in the cat carseat in the front passenger seat during our two-hour drive to Birmingham. Keely was a little tired after the walk, but she did wake up every few minutes or so during the drive. We arrived at Jake�s house around 1:30 PM. I parked the car in the driveway, left Keely in the car with the windows down, and went to knock on the front door. Even before I pressed on the doorbell, Jake came to the glass door and was excited. When John let me in, Jake was so happy to see me. Then John and I left Jake inside (John told Jake to Stay before we opened the front door, and Jake�s so well-behaved that he did) and went outside to my car to set up the agility equipment in their backyard. The backyard has all kinds of wonderful herbal plants, and we set up the four equipment on the path that surrounds the garden, one on each side. Then it was time for us to let Jake and Keely meet. John went back to the house to get Jake, while I took Keely out of the car with a bag of doggie Oreo treats. John and Jake stayed near the front door (Jake was excited to see a girl dog, but he listed very well to John and sat on command), while Keely and I approached slowly, with me feeding her treats every few seconds. Keely hardly paid any attention to Jake. Just like I expected, Keely didn�t mind having Jake around at all. So they got close enough, about two feet apart, and I fed each dog some more treats. Right before we were about to take the dogs on a parallel walk to get them more used to be around each other (walking side by side), Kate arrived at home. So she petted both dogs and we all went for a short walk. John showed me how a typical walk with Jake is, they are using regular collar with leather leash, not any special no-pull equipment. Every few steps, Jake would get so excited and pull, John would stop and tell Jake to �Heel�. Jake is very smart and knows what the word means, and he would come back and sit right next to John. Then they would start walking again. John said Jake is very persistent (I think this quality is part of what will make him a first-class agility dog) and would pull even though he clearly knows what �Heel� means. John said some days Jake would be very good and not pull at all, but the next day he seems to forget all about not pulling. John said sometimes he would walk Jake on a long line and just let Jake run all over the place on walks, and that seems to tire Jake out a little bit, because for the rest of the walk, Jake would stay close to John.
