day off

I'm so thankful I took the day off. I'm wiped and I *still* have so much shit to do around here!

A little more about Camp - it's a place where you can take your dog and do a bunch of dog stuff that you wouldn't normally do. You can try different sports, learn new skills, heck, just even sit and have lunch with your dog! It's held at a college in New Jersey and we stay on site in the dorm rooms. From here, it only takes 4 1/2 hrs to get there and starts Friday night with registration and ends Monday afternoon with prizes, awards, and raffles. It's a serious good time!

Saturday was my lazy day, I only had 5 classes - With me! Attention and Heeling, Game Time, Flyball class 1, Dog Day of Beauty, & Canine Troubleshooting. Sunday was my hectic day! I had Building Drive, Pet Tricks, Intro to Clicker, Flyball demo, Flyball class 2, & Canine Troubleshooting. Nobody signed up for the clicker class so I had that slot free. My free time in the afternoon got booked by a private lesson on learning to dremel nails (that was in dog day of beauty.) Monday I had Flyball Class 3, another private lesson on nails, and a Clicker Skills seminar, which nobody signed up for. The last class on Monday is at 11:30 since camp ends at 3pm - we need plenty of time to win stuff!

I talked to Susan (the owner) this morning about how it went and we were on the same page - Awesome! We are already thinking of new things for next year. On Sunday night we had Canine Idol - a canine talent show. Millie & I did Patty Cake but we were topped by a few acts - a dog that rang a bell twice for yes and once for no, answering questions and a service dog that bribed the judges by bringing money up to the judges table. Everyone was really creative and although I grumbled about it the whole time (once I found out I *had* to participate but couldn't win), we had a ton of fun. Millie was really pleased with leftover steak treats as her reward.

There were a couple of really high points of the weekend for me, personally too. The first one was reading a comment on an evaluation form on my Building Drive class (the campers all fill out evals on each class and get tickets good for raffle prizes) - "Dawn is the most enthusiastic trainer/person! Great motivator!" And the second was having Susan, the owner, ask me when I was moving down to New Jersey every hour. :) I know if I ever decided to, I'd have a job! I know I'm heading down there for the Min Pin picnic in September, but I'm going to try to get down there a couple of times before then for a few long weekends.

Today has been all about unpacking for the most part. I did take a ride to pick up more dog food. While I was there, I picked up a few annuals to plant in the front garden and a couple of flowering baskets for the front of the house. I picked ones that liked full sun this time, unlike last year when I bought 2 shade loving plants and then burnt the shit out of them in the first week. :p Live and learn. I think I'll wait until later today to put them in the ground - it'll be cooler and the bees will be gone. :p

I was really surprised to see my Irises and Rhodies in full bloom when I pulled into my driveway! That was a great treat! I'll have to go out and take pictures soon - probably tomorrow before work. Bees generally aren't out at 7am - a very good thing for me. :)

I think I'm going to attempt to open the pool today too! I think I can set up all the pump stuff first and then take off the cover. I'm hoping my brother is able to come up and help after work. If not him, my Dad - hopefully. I think the water can still warm up under the cover.

Right now, I'm off to throw a load of laundry in the washer and then mow the lawn (ducking while the bees swarm overhead.)

D