Beach in Hawaii

OK so it wasn't a beach in Hawaii - it was a beach in St Petersburg, FL!  Last weekend was our disc dog club's annual beach day at Ft Desoto park.  We had a good turn out and it was a fun time.  Ziggy really had fun swimming and running with the other dogs.  Jam came along and went in the ocean voluntarily!  I guess her time swimming after ducks in Christopher Steele's pond taught her that swimming isn't so bad after all!  Ziggy did awesome and finally got to meet some of the disc dog group other than Jason and Andrea.  My favorite part was watching him try to help various kids build sand castles!

Monday night was puppy class.  Ziggy did great!  It didn't rain so we got to be outside.  It started off with off leash play and he did well.  No issues at all.  His brothers did well too!  He did great in class too though he was making out with a border collie at one point!  :)

This week our training focus has been on stay and on retrieves.  I hadn't played any disc games with him in about a week and he was kind of sucking when I tried on Wed. night.  I figured it out though... he's teething! Duh!  When I switched to a soft disc and to soft squeaky balls he was all over it.  Poor little guy - the squeaky balls came away with blood on them and he's really starting to chew this week more than he has and thus finding inappropriate items that never interested him previously!  Going at lunch today to get him one of those chilly bones!

Also new this week is some alarm barking!  It was bound to happen - especially with my noisy pack.  He started at the beach when all the other dogs went on alert as crazy Haze approached the picnic bench.  I told Colleen that she should feel proud that her dog was the cause of my dog's first alarm barking!  Anyone who knows Haze is not surprised by this I'm sure!  Then on Sunday he saw Andrea out on the deck through our bedroom window and alerted.  I was able to get him out there pretty quick to see it was her and he was all wiggles.  Last night he heard something in the woods that scared him and he stopped mid poop and came flying up on to the deck with me.  It was kinda of funny but definitely tells me we are in a bit of a stage at the moment!  No biggie - he'll work through it I'm sure.  I love that he comes to me for reassurance though!  :)

Last but not least... I snapped this pic this AM.  Ruckus is definitely mellowing in his old age!  This would have NEVER happened with previous puppies, especially a male puppy!  Granted the two of them did get into it earlier this week and I have no idea over what - I suspect Ziggy got too into Ruckus' business but they've been doing really well since then (with a lot of vigilant watching from me).  It's just so heart warming to see them get along.