October Puppy Party...

Today was the October puppy party for the Lawrence/KC area PRs and Grads.
It was at a new location, with a floor that was slick which made it harder for the dogs to run.
Spark is now the size of the big dogs...well almost. He IS the same size and color as Aria, plus they have the same collar so when they were running past in a blur at times it was hard to tell who was who!

We did an exercise that involved only the puppy raisers, well 6 of the puppy raisers. The rest of us observed and held extra dogs. I was one of the dog holders (I held Shelby for M) and Mom was one of the 6 puppy raisers. This exercise was to help us understand how our dogs minds work and how they learn.

Unfortunately, Spark, Shelby and I missed almost all of this. I took the dogs outside and didn't realize that the door locked when it was closed. I figured this out when we tried to go back in though. I decided we would wait for a few minutes to see if someone else came out with their dog. Nobody came. ( I didn't see the little button I could have pressed to have someone unlock the door for me.)
So, I figured since we were at a 24 hour emergency vet clinic, the front entrance upstairs was probably open and then I could ask someone up there how to get back to the basement (where we were meeting). That plan worked and both dogs were amazing. I had them both heeling side-by-side beside me and they had to go up the stairs like that and downstairs like that. Spark and Shelby ROCK!!!

I'm ready, I'm set, THROW the toy!!!!

Running with the Big Dogs.

I got the toy!

  Spark loved getting to run around and play with all of his friends for the first 45 minutes or so.

The bigger the tongue, the better to kiss you with. : )

But when it came to having to hold still and wait his turn when we were doing the training for the pups, he decided that it wasn't fun. He didn't want to sit there and watch his friends do 'sit-stays' in hula-hoops and ignore the balls that were bouncing around all over in front of him. So he started to whine and bark. I took him out of the room and tried bringing him back once he calmed down, but the minute he could see in the room he started behaving poorly again.We kept this up for the duration of the training part that involved the pups.

Sassafras aka. 'Sassy', a Social dog (from the tree litter).

I will hold still just long enough for a picture.

Look at Spark's goofy face.

Spark was back to his jolly, quiet old self again when the dogs got to play again. He even let another PR pick him up and hold him while he watched the other dogs run under him. By the end of the party he was exhausted. Thank you Vance, Oceana, Shelby, McLaren, Sonata, Aria, Rhapsody, Blizzard, Elf, and Sassy! Thanks to Lisa too for planning it.
I love puppy parties!