NATURAL BORN SWIMMER – 10.30.2010

Today started at Sheila’s house with a quick conformation class and a run through of what we should expect to happen tomorrow at the AKC match.  Orso still can’t trot, so we don’t expect to win.  We are going for the experience and to get him in the ring.  We were at Sheila’s house for only a little while and worked on standing and pretending we were in the show ring.  Mouse and Luna helped out too.  We all got into an imaginary show ring and ran around – the neighbors were definitely amused!  We handled Luna and Mouse and Sheila had Orso.  It was very cute!  Unfortunately, there were no free hands to photograph or video the circus act, but below is a short 45-second video of Sheila working with Orso.  By the way, that handsome Jeep in the background is our official canine family vehicle.  Some families buy minivans, we bought a Jeep!

Now that the weather is cooperating and we are getting less rain in Miami, it gets easier to have more “beach days” with the dogs.  As soon as we were done at Sheila’s, we headed over to my parents’ house with Luna, Mouse & Orso.  They LOVE going there!  My parents’ yard is substantially bigger than ours and their beach has such a nicer slope than ours does, so it only makes sense that we would crash in on them whenever we can.  Like last time, the 3 of them ran around like a bunch of lunatics.  Once they settled down, I took some time to work on Orso’s swimming skills.  He is not confident enough to go far into the deep on his own, so I ended up in the water with him.  Not really what I was planning and I certainly wasn’t dressed for it, but it was the only way he’d swim out far.  It feels good to know that he trusts me enough to swim out to me.  Mouse also helped by hanging out with me in the deep.  Orso’s a great swimmer so far, even though he gets a little worried in the water and thrashes sometimes.  Since I am right next to him, I try to just level out his body by giving him a little lift under his belly area.  As soon as he levels out, he seems to relax and continues to swim around comfortably.  We ended the swimming lesson with some confidence building in the form of shallow water fetching. 

The day ended with a doggie bath assembly line.  Luna, Mouse & Orso all got very thorough baths when we got home.  It’s so nice to be able to cuddle up to clean furkids at the end of a fun day!

Below are some of our favorites photos from the day.  Enjoy!