The weekend started with Julie (one of my step-dogs) getting stung by a yellow jacket. Poor thing. Luckily, it resulted in only temporary ugliness. Her little face was puffy, but it subsided after a few hours and some Benedryl.
On Sunday, Stephen and I took the dogs to a friend's horse farm. It is 60+ fenced acres (I believe) and is divided in various horse pastures. Its a great place to walk the greyhounds safely off lead and to test out the recalls. The space gives the hounds an excellent feeling of being free, giving them ample opportunity to ignore us, but gives the humans the comfort of knowing that the perimeter fence is secure and there is no reason to panic. It is always a great chance to reward good recalls and then allow for the freedom to continue.
Katie was perfect, of course. Reagan was also wonderful. She was very responsive and recalled quickly each time I called. We had the added distraction of my sister's foster greyhound, Go Peanut Go, and greyhound bait, Limo, the short, long, funky, mixed breed dog. Peanut tried to end my agility career by dislocating my knee as I stood taking pictures. Thank goodness she failed. Limo likes to stir up lots of trouble. She likes to be chased and run down by the greyhounds. Peanut and Reagan coursed her quite a bit and I was pleased that Reagan didn't do anything inappropriate and didn't use any teeth.
Reagan really enjoyed getting to just run freely. She has been so good about not doing zoomies and has always been very controlled when we practice agility or hike trails. It was nice to see her really let loose this weekend and just be a greyhound.
Everyone cooled off in the pond and came out looking like swamp dogs. I don't think I'd ever seen Katie so dirty.
We took advantage of the equine wash racks with warm water and bathed all of the hounds. They weren't excited about the idea, but they were all long over due for a bath. Stacker (below) appears to have given up on life, but I can assure you that the will to live returned after a good towel rub.
We also had an unexpected cat test. Peanut, the foster, failed miserably. The Bachelor hounds were quite interested, but are less impulsive than they used to be. I think Katie still remains the least cat safe of the group.
For some added exercise, Reagan did some fetching. She really has turned into a good retriever like Katie and Travis.
Even Stephen needed a good run. Reagan and Stephen are neck and neck (or should I say nose and knee). Who do you think will win?
