Stacey took this picture at last week’s training class. Luce did well as usual but in reality, not much happened during the class due to one dog that went bat $h!+ crazy every time some people set off a model rocket about every 10 minutes. When that dog started barking, that caused another dog in the class to go nuts as well. We pretty much were on our own to practice what we had been working on.
I was sweeping the driveway the other day when Luce decided to come out and see what was going on. He tends to eat the dry leaves if given the chance so it is better to keep the driveway clean as much as possible. The sweeping motion seems to have gotten him excited and he was drawn to it, but, he jumped away if it got too close for his comfort. At first I though it might have scared him but he had full ability to get away from it. Now it seems that he likes the excitement and the new experience. Take a look for yourself:
Luce just started tucking himself in to a new place which is just outside my office, in the alcove in front of the door to the garage. He can be on the carpet, or on the tile, depending on what he prefers. I can tell when he crashes there because he pushes the door closed even more which makes a sound. The door’s weatherstripping is no match for his 88 lbs.
This might be a new place for Luce but this is not new for those that came before him. Our Nico really liked this spot as well but came at it from a different direction. He usually like to prop his head that way which gave me a neck ache just looking at him in this position.
Click on his name or picture above to see more about our beloved rescue boy Nico.
Luce is not usually allowed in the kitchen on the wood floor to keep him out of the way. Today, he really seemed to be liking the scent of turkey in the oven so it was hard to keep chasing him out, especially when he looks like this:
He weighed in yesterday at 88.3lbs so he is no “cane piccolo” any more. On the other side of the spectrum is my sister’s dog Gracie who shares the same birthday with Luce but that is about it. She is 5lbs (soaking wet if I had to guess):
Gracie apparently got into some mud right before this picture was taken. Cane cattivo piccolo!
Luce and Ranger got to play this morning when they were both fresh and full of energy. Ranger seemed to have lost interest at the end but Luce “talked” him back in.
In addition to the scheduled training every Sunday, our trainer runs 1 hour sessions on Mondays and Fridays to help firm up the weekly activities. This week, we worked on ways to master the eventual “off-leash” course. Before that, we worked on firming up what we have been doing before. Here Luce is in a down-stay while I spend 30-60 seconds in each of the 12, 3, 6, & 9 o’clock positions around him while the other dogs are doing their thing. I was in the 9 o’clock position here and it was too good of a picture to not take it. As usual, he did great. Si, nostro cane è molto bravo.
BTW: The parking lot is closed in this area so do not be concerned that a car could drive into our area.
We had a family outing to pick up Stacey’s new computer at the Apple Store in Los Gatos. I was able to bring in the drive from her dead computer and was very happy to find that the Apple migration software was able to clone the old computer right down to the WiFi passwords and auto-fill history in Firefox. We of course brought Luce as this was a great opportunity to be in a new environment. At first he stayed in a down-stay but later he made himself very comfortable:
However, it took a while to copy all that data and eventually he was ready to go:
This was probably his “I am ready to go now” look.
Luce like to park himself under the kitchen table, next to Stacey in this case, and see if he can get a little attention. Here he is offering a paw so he can hold hands.
Luce definitely has the “Stay” command down pat. Generally speaking, he usually converts a sit-stay to a down-stay on his own. This is not because of training mind you, more like lazy-Lu in action. Why run when you can walk, why walk when you can stand, why stand when you can sit, why sit when you can lie down. In this case, I “downed” him directly. I was able to walk away, approach, and jump over him several times with no reactions. Cane Bene!!!
Luce has been coming along well in obedience training. He completed “Week 8” on Sunday and seem to be in the top of his class. Here is Stacey going through a course with stops (automatic sit), walk slow, walk fast, left, right and about turns.
Here they are coming back from a pee break (Luce that is)
BTW: Happy Birthday Paddy!!!