Wiggle - Day 478

We've had such a beautiful, sunny autumn day here that Wiggle and I decided to go for a walk over at Bradford on Avon. As luck would have it, our friends Ange and Minnie Moo were free so we met up with them.

As soon as he was offlead, Wiggle headed straight for the river:













And before long, Minnie was in the water too, splashing around!









Wiggle was playing fetch, getting nice and wet in the process!













I think Minnie was trying to combine swimming with flying!













Wiggle stuck with swimming and fetching....











Minnie, looking pretty in the sunshine:













Back on dry land, Minnie was only slightly excited at me throwing the ball!











Both Wiggle and Minnie loved running around in the sun, chasing after the tennis ball:










They played nicely, taking it in turns to bring the ball back:









Wiggle, looking pretty fab, bless him!










Although I'm not sure what was going on with his expression here!











More running:











And more fetching:













Happy Labs, each with a ball.....























And each having the best time on a lovely day











Wiggle, still with his ball...












Boingy, black bums!











My handsome boy













Wiggle wanted to get back in the water, so found himself a shallow bit of the river for paddling











Wiggle was hoping I would throw the ball in the river, but he didn't think how steep & deep the Avon is!












Happy faces:























Minnie stops for a quick rest:












While Minnie was waiting for me to throw the ball, her ears were doing silly things - one side:













And then the other side!













Lined up nicely:













And keeping the position while running!













Wiggle was still hoping I'd throw the ball in the river.....













Back in the shallow water, Wiggle and Minnie enjoyed some more splashing













And were joined by a Lurcher girl, but she didn't want to get more than her feet wet!









Wiggle, ready to pounce:













Whipping up the water with his tail:












Concentrating very hard on the ball!













After all that running and splashing, we walked along the canal and stopped at the pub for a coffee while Minnie and Wiggle watched other people eating! We really had a lovely afternoon, with lovely weather and great company.

Wiggle - Day 477

Wiggle has been to school and taken his test, but sadly I have to report that he didn't pass. He failed on only one thing - the sit and wait. Although we had been practising and when we arrived at the class, Wiggle was doing a lovely wait while I talked to Tracey, the trainer, Wiggle only lasted 45 seconds out of the required minute.

Having said that, I am very proud of Wiggle for passing on the other aspects of the test, especially when he's only been to 3 training sessions. I also have to bear in mind that I don't know how much training Wiggle had in his previous life (and bearing in mind his poor health a year ago, I doubt he had much training) so I'm pleased with how Wiggle has done so far.

Another benefit to the training classes is socialisation. Wiggle has always been ok with other dogs, but at times he can be a little wary as he's not keen on dogs jumping up at him so when he meets a new dog, he will often hang back and see how they react to him. When we first went to training, Wiggle was being quite reserved, not really doing much to say hello. However this evening, Wiggle went up to one of the dogs, Maddie, and said hello. He had a sniff, let her sniff him and didn't hide behind me.

Seeing Wiggle more relaxed and confident, is great and hopefully he'll continue to be more relaxed around other dogs in an indoor space. He sits and watches what everyone else is doing and I think he's starting to realise that the other dogs are busy and he doesn't need to worry!

We do have lots to keep working on and we'll keep practising our wait, going back to basics and building up the time and distance from me. Wiggle is capable, he just needs to focus.

This evening, the others in the class were also taking a test and a big well done to Reuben, Freddie, Maddie and Honey for passing their KC Good Citizen Silver test tonight.

Wiggle is now worn out, sleeping soundly on the sofa.....







As Sir H hasn't had much of a mention recently, here he is, practising his alien eyes, from the comfort of his bed:

Wiggle - Day 476

Wiggle has been to school this evening but I don't think he was concentrating very hard, despite getting a good night's sleep last night - on my bed!












It's not that Wiggle doesn't know the commands he's been learning, we've been practising and he's been very good. But tonight, he couldn't keep his focus and was getting himself distracted by everyone else!

Wiggle did however enjoy making a new best friend - he became completely obsessed with the chap helping out in the class! Wiggle is normally quite a mummy's boy and even though I had bits of sausage, he decided to ignore me completely and just wanted to be with his new pal.

I'm really not expecting us to pass our Bronze test tomorrow but to be fair to Wiggle, it's still very early days and the test will at least be a good experience for him. Once again though, he's worn himself out and done nothing but sleep since getting home!

Wiggle - Day 474

Wiggle has been relaxing after spending a mad half hour flinging his honking duck around. I'm not entirely sure why he is sitting like that, up on the arm of the sofa....

Yesterday we spent some time during our walk practising sit and wait. Wiggle has been learning in his training classes but although he did well the first week, last week he couldn't concentrate. Last night he did well though, sitting for between 1 and 2 minutes, even when Sir H was trying to snaffle treats from me!

We're going to training again on Thursday and hopefully Wiggle will be a good boy. Our instructor, Tracey, has asked if we want to have a go at the KC Good Citizen Bronze test this week - scary really as we've only been to two training classes! The test is on Friday and I've said we'll give it a go. I'm not really expecting Wiggle to pass, but it will be a good experience so we'll try and see how we get on. Yikes!

Wiggle - Day 472

Wiggle has been busy at Banbury Canal Day, meeting and greeting at the LRSE&C stall. The sun was out so we had a quick walk along the canal where all the barge's had been decorated:











Wiggle stayed on-lead; I didn't trust him not to try and jump in for a swim!













Another barge:







There were lots of visitors to the Lab Rescue stall, but being the good boy he is, Wiggle was very patient and said hello to as many as he could and got lots of fuss in the process! We had a lot of enquiries about adopting, which was great and hopefully raised a good sum of money too.

We met a lovely 8 month old Labrador who will be going for training to be a Dog for the Disabled when he's a year old.

http://www.dogsforthedisabled.org/

During a little wander later on, we stopped by at the Pets as Therapy stall. I've picked up some information about the work they do and may even make enquiries about Wiggle becoming a volunteer. All dogs who apply have to undergo an assessment but it's something to think about.

http://www.petsastherapy.org/

Back at the stall, Wiggle met some very tall people and never one to miss a photo opportunity, had his picture taken!

Wiggle - Day 471

Wiggle and I are going to be at the Banbury Canal Day tomorrow, Sunday 4th October, helping Fiona on the Labrador Rescue stall in the Castle Quay South Car Park

http://www.banburycanalday.co.uk/


In other LRSE&C news, next weekend Penny, who adopted a Lab last year is taking part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon, raising money for Labrador Rescue South East and Central

Running for Labrador Rescue

"Penny Walton says "We're running in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on Sunday October 11th, and we're trying to raise money for a wonderful charity called the Labrador Rescue South East and Central.

When we lost our beloved Rascal last year we knew that we wanted to give another rescue dog a home. That's when the LRSEC brought Buddy (pictured) into our life! (And it hasn’t been the same since!)



We want to try and give something back to the LRSEC for bringing us our beautiful Bud. It costs over £270 for each Labrador the charity re-homes, and they re-home more than one dog every day! We're hoping to raise enough money to cover the cost of re-homing one needy dog.

So please dig deep and donate now. It doesn’t matter how small the donation - every little bit helps to care for the loving Labradors that the LRSEC helps"

If you can help by sponsoring Penny, please visit the Just Giving page here:

http://www.justgiving.com/runningforlabs/

Wiggle - Day 470

Last night was school night for Wiggle. Before we went out though, he found his flashy ball and tried to play with it indoors.....










Wiggle was a good boy at the training class and there were 2 more Labs last night. The others have all been going for weeks and are already working towards their KC Good Citizen Silver, so Wiggle and I are a long way behind!

We need to work on Wiggle's "stay" as despite waiting for nearly 2 minutes last week, Wiggle didn't last a minute! He isn't daft and he know's he'll get lots of fuss and a treat for being good, he just needs to learn that he has to wait until I tell him to move. We're going to practise the wait and hope that we can do better next week.

Wiggle is good at concentrating on me, learning the "watch" command. While each of the other dogs took it in turns to walk around the rest of us, Wiggle was very good and sat still in front of me, watching me and ignoring everything else.

Out of all the dogs in the class, Wiggle is the oldest but I'm hoping he will show that an older dog can learn new tricks!