Today was a spectacular day in the weather department, especially after the crummy rain all weekend. I earned a surprise day off so I went and rode my horse (more on that in another post!) then came home and met my husband to take the dogs to the park. We played around on the top of the hill playing fetch.
I did a few tandem drop on recall with the dogs which Maggie did nearly perfectly. Etta has only worked on them in a single session for three tries once before so I was not expecting much, but she still did down away from me (a bit closer than Maggie, though!). I think with just a tiny bit more work, she'll get it.
It seems that Maggie's all out energy lasts for about a half hour. It is just the right amount of running around for her. As we were approaching the 20-25 minute mark two Goldens came up the hill on leash with their owner. One looked older, all greyed out in the muzzle and fairly pudgy! The other was a really blocky dog, very cute and laid back, so I am not certain of his age. I have a funny feeling he was on the younger side, but with an old soul!
Etta did her usual Border Collie Wannabe impression and then ran up them. I was quite pleased to see that their owner seemed to be experienced in good dog greeting skills because she dropped their leashes so they could meet uninhibited. Etta and the Goldens spun around sniffing and then they be-bopped over to say hi to the rest of us. Maggie did a few spins and sniffs and then went off to run and chase her ball again.
The blocky Golden leaned up against me and neither of my dogs showed any interest. This is nice because Etta can be a bit guardy of me. So all in all, it was another lovely day at what is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places and my favorite times on earth!
