No canine visit is complete without a trip to Spring Lake Park. I can't believe I haven't had Mocha there yet.
The day was grey, cold and still - invigorating weather for a walk. I was hampered by some trouble with my feet, taking pictures, and managing a five month old puppy, what is normally a 45 min to 1 hour walk for me took about 1 1/2 hours. Yikes! The main thing was we had fun, got lots of pictures and had a tired puppy at the end as a result. Tired enough to let me do her nails without too much fuss!
It's really challenging to get pictures of both dogs while we're going down the trail!!
AT THE DOCK
No one was on the fishing/boat dock so we walked out to the end. Again, a challenging photo opportunity, especially when one dog doesn't yet know "sit and stay".
Mocha walked all the way out to the end before she felt the movement of the dock. She was ready to go back to solid ground but didn't panic, just showed a little bit of relief to get closer back to shore.
Moving around the lake, Mocha was very curious about the ducks, passing bicylists, other walkers and their dogs. Few people took the time to stop and pet her. She did try to jump up with glee to greet those who did, but was thwarted by a short leash. She was rewarded with treats when she sat for attention. She also learned that if, instead of pining after those who didn't stop to pet her, she looked back at me, she would get a treat. She's one smart cookie!
So, we made up for yesterday's rather boring day, with a very full day today. Mocha got me up at 8:30 am again ("early" for those of us who get off work at 3am - ugh) - which is entirely understandable, she's ready to go! We had a romp in the back yard, a clicker training session inside and then a walk at Spring Lake Park!
Our clicker training session was fun. I worked a little on sit and down, but the switched gears to clicking her for interacting with one of her toys. She quickly grasped what behavior would earn her treats and was willing to tap the toy with her nose. We stopped when she was willing to give me two nose taps for one treat. We may experiment more with this to see if we can get a clicked retrieve.