His and Her sides of the bed

...complete with divider pillow.

Rusty Math

Today I was taking mental inventory of Rusty's progress and what needed work when I realized he has only lived with me 6 months as of August 26 (adopted 5 of those). How did my sisters miss a chance to point out my bad math in a previous post?

Anyway. 6 months of Rusty:

• He doesn't get up every morning hunting cats anymore, but if they happened to cross his path, well...
• He has given up on Pascal entirely - only Pascal knows why.
• He can't see or hear well at all. His vision is really bad at dusk and dark. He also doesn't see curb or storm drain transitions. He got his foot caught in the storm drain last month - it was traumatic for both of us.
  
• A stranger could be chainsawing down the door and he probably wouldn't even get up.
• He is so serious about his leash work that I have a hard time getting him in front of me for a photo.
• He sits at most intersections.
• He downs in public.
• His recall is coming along on long-line or within the fenced area (provided he hears me or there is not something fabulous running from him) but I doubt I will ever trust it.
• I am a better handler because of him.
• OH! Guess who is slowly warming up to having his nails dremelled? Yes, that would be Rusty too.
  

I was thinking of Rusty's progress because Nim starts his obedience one next week as well as puppy agility. If I brought home Nim on July 10th than it is only about a month and a half of Nim. When you think about it that way, I should really give him more credit for everything he has already learned.

Nim can be defiant; but he is also really bonding tight right now. He learns super fast and I am trying to take advantage of it before the adolescent months hit. Since Rusty already broke me, I am really on my training game right now.

Nim is more comfortable with the long-line work on the service roads than the leash work we are doing around town. I probably prefer the service road work with him too; since I am grooming my hiking partner.

This is about as active as it got today for Nim. Seriously Rusty has more energy this past week. Nim is also losing teeth fast now. I think between the teeth loss and the growing, Nim is pooped.

Pups swimming

Nim and Rusty again had appointments at Aquadog spa in Kent with Cindy Hickman.

Supposedly the second visit is supposed to be the worst, but for Rusty, it was the third. I practically had to scrape him off the decking to get him in. :)

Notice Rusty when he swims:

Rusty is all business. He usually is aiming for the wall or the steps; but so peaceful with minimal splashing. His head is hardly wet.

Now notice Nim:

26 pounds of desperate water churning power:
Looking just a little bit better with his soaked little head... :)

Nim tries out swimming

As promised, Nim got his chance in the water after Rusty's second session. Rusty tried to dig in right on the edge of the tub, but once he was in, he settled much quicker than last time.

Nim was properly overwhelmed. He had an extremely fast front stroke but mostly because I think he wanted to climb out. :) The back-end did so-so trying to keep up: sometimes he used the back legs, sometimes he forget. He had a nice strong hold on Cindy whenever he could which was pretty funny.
Nim also turned 12 weeks on Wednesday (swimming day). He is all legs right now.

The elk also have invaded the yard with their little babies. For the amount of time they spend either eating in my yard or clogging the driveway they are really disagreeable when it comes to holding still for a photo.

The babies are even more difficult to photograph. They stay more in the edges of the woods.