Monkey (or retriever) see, monkey do

Rudy had his first official field training experience yesterday. He

diddy...

What breed was Rudy? For some reason, I thought he was a Jack Russell. But
the activities you mention suggest he's something other. Sorry for being
dense.

Janet B...

Oh c'mon, you don't remember every dog of every poster? LOL - he's a
Golden - 8 months old. Technically still available for adoption, but
he's been here over 3 months (12/19/05).

had never seen actual swimmable water, and 8 months is a whole lot
later than I would like to be introducing that, but such is life.
Winter got in the way.

I had him follow Franklin into the water, and although he was a bit of
a splasher, he was starting to get the idea of a smoother stroke. I
had not intro'd him to bumpers, because after all, he wasn't staying,
right?

So after her was put up for a bit, we try a bumper with him in the
water. I threw it too far. He went in the water, but no way was he
swimming out, and he was not interested in the bumper on land either.
So we had a NSDTR come do pick-up. Hmmmmm, Rudy said to himself -
that looks like it could be fun. So we let him watch the Toller do
this several more times. And Rudy got more excited each time. And
then, a bumper was thrown for him. Not far, but he had to swim. And
he did. And he picked up the bumper. And he brought it back. And he
did it again and again and again. And then we switched to different
water. And he did it there too. Yahoooooooo - he's getting it!

Franklin's first time in and retrieving in quite some time, and he was
pretty happy to go back to it. He even managed to remember he's
supposed to come to heel and deliver to hand, as well as wait
(quietly!) to be sent. Sure glad we're not starting over on that!

Hoping to have a good year of being able to get both boys out for some
work, and yesterday's weather was lovely. Gotta say, it's one reason
I choose the dogs I do. Something about sitting out near water on a

MauiJNP...

I totally understand that. The main reason I didn't want toy breed dogs is
because I wanted a water loving retriever breed who would spend hours down
at my stream (which gets deep enough for even a large dog to swim at some
points) playing fetch and such. Anyway, I couldn't convince my parents that

montana wildhack...

Don't you have poodles?

MauiJNP...

yes, two of them

All of the poodles I've ever known love hanging out in & around water
playing fetch! The "worst" was the amazing Josie, a mini Poodle who was
strong, sturdy and athletic.

Davina Stuart...

since poodles are/were originally breed as water retreivers... hece the
theory of the silly hair cut.....
jack russell terriers are another smaller hunting/water breed...ours just
loves to swim

Sionnach...

Mine, also - swims all summer long, dives - both as in does spectacular
horizontal launches off of the bank like a Lab *and* as in as in goes
underwater while swimming - walks underwater, and retrieves/fetches both
on land and in the water.

MauiJNP...

I imagine Cali will do this too. She loves the water and loved the snow
when we had it. I just wish my dogs enjoyed fetch more. I think that will
be my goal for this summer, to find a way to make fetch the best thing since
sliced bread.

MauiJNP...

they love water but not fetch. Cali will humor me for about 5 throws and
Maui used to do the same but now he doesn't even do that.

a big dog would be fun so I settled with my little ones until I move out and
get a larger dog.

sunny day (even getting a bit wet and muddy myself) is a great way to
spend the day. Now if I could only figure out how to repel burrs from

MauiJNP...

sounds like a great day! if you have any pictures, I'd love to see them.

Franklin's coat. At least 20 to comb/cut out yesterday. UGH.

ceb...

Sounds like you all had a great time! Yay for Rudy and Franklin!

I hate burrs, they are the worst.

Janet B...

these were the soft, fluffy kinds, that really get hair wound around
them. we've dealt with the teeny sharp ones down at Kitty Hawk, but
those were easy to comb out (but painful if trying to get them out
with fingers!). Good thing Franklin isn't a breed ring dog, because
his trim is well, less than ideal, but at least the damn things are
out.