Summer in the North

As promised, a positive post! Although we have been back in the Bluegrass for over a month, I'm just now getting around to sharing some of our adventures.

After the awful trip up (as mentioned earlier), things settled down nicely. After spending a weekend with Greg's family in Pennsylvania, I took Ramsey with me up to spend some time with my parents (and his friend, well I suppose his 'Aunt' Sunny)  in Upstate, NY. 

They got along much better than the last time we were up! 

I think he was missing his Daddy a bit.... 

We fixed his homesickness with a trip to my favorite place <3 Skaneateles Lake.

"Camp" My family has spent countless summer days here since way before I was born.

So peaceful

I believe it became one of Ramsey's favorite places within seconds of arriving.

He was almost impossible to get out of the water!.

After a while, he even ventured to the raft. My mom and I followed him out in our inner tubes, which was a good thing because after climbing up onto the raft, Rams decided he didn't want to jump back into the lake.... Maybe he was too tired? Maybe he's just a baby and got lazy? Either way, he opted to leap from the raft into my mom's inner tube with her for an easy tow back to shore :) Wish I had the camera out there for that one!

After almost 4 hours of straight swimming, Rams still wasn't ready to get out of the lake. 

He was just ready to be held... while in the lake. 

We also got to meet our first 'little person'... we've met others, but not so up close and personal! 

My friend from college, Meg, brought her 12 month old son, Charlie, up for a visit! It was love as soon as Charlie decided to share his cereal <3 I was surprised at how gentle Ramsey actually was with him, considering his lack of self awareness!

Tick Master

Another tick. This makes 5 for the season and it's only part way into June! Being from NY, I always thought all flea medications were effective against ticks as well, wrong. I'm glad that I did some research when originally switching Rams to the medication he is on (Trifexis) to know that he isn't protected from ticks. Everyone should double check their medications too! I discussed this with both the breeder and the vet, and apparently the ticks in Kentucky aren't as dangerous as the ticks in New York. Good thing, because our dog in NY has had one single tick in her life and that one bite led her to getting Lyme disease. The ticks in Kentucky are not typically disease carriers (from what I've been told), therefore they aren't as insistent that dogs are protected. However.... they are still disgusting!!! We've been using tick and flea shampoo once a week, and this seemed to be working. The first 4 ticks were all very close in time to one another, the routine baths gave us about a month off. Although Greg and I have both become tick removing masters, my concern at this point is going to New York for the month of July. Ticks, and the 'non safe type' at that, are all over the Northeast. Hopefully we can come up with some type of preventative that is safe to use in conjunction with his flea meds, I don't want to overdose him on pesticides! Suggestions are welcome!

Bad Kid in Class...

We are officially the "Bad kid" in obedience!

Rams was great the first 40 minutes of class, until.... 'Down.' He has always been fine with it, when I have a treat in hand. This class, we've been trying to get away from the treats. You want your dog to listen because you said so, not just because you have a delicious snack in hand!

After several perfect 'downs,' I put the treats away and following my command: "Ramsey, Down!" he blankly stared me in the face. He wasn't the only one (there may have been one other in the class of about 10). The instructor then said, if they refuse, pull the front of their chain collar to the ground, the will most likely slide into a down when they realize you aren't letting go. I did as I was told, Ramsey stared me in the face and blatantly refused to slide down. The instructor then added, 'really stubborn dogs might need a push from behind, this takes care of 95%.' How embarrassing is it to be struggling full force with a 30 pound puppy!? I could NOT get him to lay down. Letting up, says 'you win,' which will only reinforce this obnoxious behavior. After a little struggle, Rams decided to grab onto my pant leg. I immediately grabbed his snout 'No!' to which he switched to his leash. As I take my routine (do not kill the dog, do not kill the dog) deep breath, the instructor turns specifically to us: "Do NOT tolerate him chewing on that leash!" In my mind I'm saying 'Tolerating? You think I tolerate this #%!@??" I may have sounded snappy, in response and simply said, "I don't tolerate this." So she replies: "So take it from him immediately!" I know I can't. He has the devil eye look, which sadly means, I just can't win. So I look to her and say: "Will you?" This may have been rude, but I was interested in seeing how to deal with this situation since it's not rare (Any time he wants attention he acts this way).

The instructor comes over and attempts to grab the leash from his mouth. The entire class is now watching this scene. I can only describe it like the puppy version of a child throwing a temper tantrum on the grocery store floor. She yanks... hard... to which he yelps and snaps at her! Mortified! My dog snapped at the obedience instructor! He has NEVER snapped.... he mouths, and sasses, but hasn't actually snapped! She yanks/corrects again, to which he rolls over into submissive position and pees himself simultaneously spraying a rainbow of pee across our corner of the room. He gets up, he has dropped the leash. She pets him nicely, tells him he's a good boy. (You're always supposed to be nice after you're mean, in order to preserve your human-dog relationship.) She then proceeds and tells him "Down." Blank stare. She goes to force him down, major struggle but finally the two of us get him on the ground. Good boy!!! Praise! We try again, major struggle. This went on several times with exhausting struggles on our part. Finally... tail tucked, he goes down. He then glances at me, closes his eyes and puts his head flat onto the ground as if to say "This is so shameful, mom."

Although the instructor was harsh, I'm glad she showed me how to deal. It sounds horrible, and even my mother (a life long dog person) was shocked at how much force as used. I reminded her that she has always owned Shelties, and as I was told when I picked Ramsey up that first day: "Springers are NOT shelties." I didn't know what that meant exactly until now.

This episode was proof that Ramsey still thinks he is higher up in pack order than me. This is NOT acceptable.

When did I lose control of this little man!?

On a cuter note: he fell asleep chewing on his bone last night.