I got up early to try and get in a bit of training and a nice walk with Jasper. Training didn't go down too well. We haven't done much practicing for our Kennel Club Good Citizen Silver Award as we've just had bad news about a family member and as we only have 2 weeks left I'm not feeling too confident about passing.
Trying to teach Jasper 'Down' at a distance is going abysmally. Whenever I ask him for a down (no matter how calm I am) he always looks uncomfortable so I think he's sensing the tension and stress in the house. I was getting a bit frustrated so we scrapped the training session and went for a nice walk instead. Again, whenever he came when I called, he refused the treats I was offering him and looked fairly unhappy so we decided to be silly and run up and down the side of the field. I was shouting silly noises and phrases at him only to see another owner walking towards us with her dogs (she probably thought I was crazy, which in fairness I probably am).
We stopped and chatted for a while and Jasper gave her Retrievers a good once over and then pottered around by himself. We rarely walk with other dogs because I don't know that many people that like to take their dogs the places I do and even if they do, a lot of them can't be let off lead.
We turned back and walked back up the fields chatting away about the dogs we have and have had, the lady was really lovely and Jasper seemed to enjoy the company even though one of her Retrievers was crazy and he usually gets his back up with boisterous dogs! He didn't really hooly about and play but he seemed to enjoy having doggy friends to walk and sniff with.
I always feel bad for him not getting much interaction with other dogs apart from at work and training but a lot of the dogs near us are aggressive, live their life on the lead or are far too boisterous for the grumpy fella so today was a nice change and it's made me want a walking buddy!
The field where we walk post-harvest - it's very open now!
View to the other side of the river - I'd love to live in that cream farmhouse
Shattered after his walk
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