The Dog Days of Summer...

...are over. It's colder and cloudier and it feels like fall outside. 

I finally brought my camera to the park but my laptop is so slow that uploading pictures has become very irritating. So until I either have a lot more patience or a new computer, iPhone photos it is. 

Lucy and Odd are both growing up! Odd finally lost her puppy coat but luckily not her gigantic ears. Lucy is getting better at listening. I stole her from my parents last weekend and worked on her recalls on a few off leash hikes. She did great! I called her off of strangers (who she *really* wants to go greet) and new dogs. I probably recalled her close to 50 times over the 2 days and she only ignored me twice - both times while wrestling with another dog. I should have known better than to test it but I was getting ahead of myself :) Sometimes I rewarded her with treats, sometimes with a little tug toy. My mom taught her a great "out" and she will tug anywhere, which is fantastic. She can also keep up with Ryan and Abby somehow, even though she is less than half of their size...she would be so much fun to run in agility!

Ryan has finally completely warmed up to her (he used to just kind of growl and moan when she would try to play with him). When all three of them play it escalates too quickly, but they're pretty good at taking turns playing in pairs. Poor Ryan has half of his tail hair missing from Lucy playing tug with his tail. I try to discourage it...

I had Abby and Ryan on the docks the other day and when I turned my back for a minute, I heard a big splash. Ryan had fallen off the dock. Smart Border Collie.