It's a Boogie Day....Again

(Woodinville, WA) If you've followed my blog over the past few years you might recall my great dislike for doctors. Well the reason for that dislike was reaffirmed once again on Wednesday. Usually when I leave an appointment I say "Well that was a total waste of time." For the first time ever, the doctor said "I'm afraid this appointment is a total waste of your time as I can't do a thing for you. You might try a different doctor." Like most appointments, it wasn't just a waste of time but also a waste of energy and money! We came up here early this year so we could stay in one place and get consistent medical care. Seems like that was a waste! But we're having a blast in every other way.

Thursday was a jam packed day! We started out with an Obedience Class for Boogie. The idea was to start getting him ready for competition obedience. It was evident before class even started that we were in the wrong class. There were 14 dogs in addition to Boogie. They couldn't even walk in the door politely. They were pulling their owners over, dragging them, and getting loose and darting all over the room. No way was this an advanced class!

But I decided to give it a try....maybe things would go better once the class actually started. Not so much. The first exercise was just to stand about three to four feet from another person and have your dog sit politely. Boogie has been doing that (literally) since he was 11 weeks old. It didn't get any better from there. Both Boogie and I had trouble seeing what the point of this was.

So just as class was ending I spoke to the instructor and she agreed that this definitely wasn't the place for us. Next week we'll try something different and hopefully we'll both be a bit more challenged.

Immediately after class, I had two full hour back-to-back physical therapy appointments. I wasn't feeling that well to start with having just come from obedience class. While I was doing PT, Boogie and Mike took a long hike on the Sammamish trail. By the time these two PT appointments were over, I was really shot.

But just 45 minutes later, Boogie and I had to be at an hour and a half long K9 Nose Work class. This class will be a lot of fun. Even though it was extremely basic for Boogie (once again the most advanced dog in the class) he loved it. What's not to love for the dog when all they do is walk around getting treats out of boxes! He loved it and never wanted his turn to end.

This class is the beginning of teaching the dog to do work similar to the work dogs do like drug sniffing, explosive sniffing, and the like. Any dog can do this. We're working with all the dogs at home after each lesson so they can all play this new game.

Dogs can earn titles in this just like any other dog sport. Problem is that so far there are only certified instructors in six states. And trials are only in two states as of now. Looks like there will be more traveling in our future!

We'd been home just a couple hours when Karen called to see if Boogie would like to go swimming with her dogs. Of course he would! Yippee. This was his first swimming session since we moved up here. He picked up right where he left off two years ago. He had a blast.

What a day! Boogie and I are both feeling the toll of non-stop action. Hopefully we'll both be much better by morning.

Hmm, did you notice that once again the day was all about Boogie? Just the way he likes it!

Debbie

4/14-15/10

PS Happy Birthday Dad!!