We had taken Hank to the beach last summer when we first got him, so we knew he had an appreciation for it. This time around, however, we did not know how he would react. Mostly, it was the water. Hank is terrified of the water in any form: from the hose, from the sky, puddles on the ground, creeks, etc. However, when it comes to the ocean, Hank was balls out. As the pictures below will show, Hank and I went pretty deep and he was loving it the entire time. I could not believe he willingly came into the water with me, even when I took his leash off later and ran through the water. Jennifer and I eventually ran him to death by playing with his soccer ball and chasing him through the water. We tried to take multiple breaks to preserve his energy, but it didn't work. Hank's body language is a dead giveaway when he has had enough and was quickly in the back of the car, sleeping the majority of the way home. Overall, it was a great day and Hank told me that he appreciated the cooler weather at the beach (around 75-80 versus the 95 degree day in Portland today!).
In other news, Hank's Reactive Rover class has been going well. Last night was the first night where all the dogs came to the class. Each dog had their very own barrier so they wouldn't freak out at the sight of the other pups. We worked on the "look at me" command, which is supposed to be the deterrent when Hank sees another dog while we're out. I thought Hank was the best behaved dog there and did a pretty good job with the "look at me" commands. Needless to say, I thought wrong...
One of the exercises was using a realistic-looking fake dog to practice the "look at me" command, realize what the dog's threshold is (How long they will respond to "Look at Me" before they could care less), and see what it might be like if Hank encounters a dog that does not react to him at all (won't yap at him, but also won't cower and back down). There were stories about how "The dog might actually attack the dog" and that "dogs have shredded the fake dog before", but I put Hank above all that because he's pretty bright. We walk Hank across the room so he sees the dog, we do the "Look at me" and he looks up, followed by immediate praise and a treat. We get a little bit closer and once he focuses on the dog, try it again. Jenny and I brought Hank to the point where he was tuning us out and that was his threshold (about 10 - 12 feet). The group leaders then told us to walk Hank up to the dog to see what happens. As I eluded to before, I figured Hank would understand the dog was fake, do nothing and just sniff it or walk away. OH NO MY FRIENDS! Hank went right up to it as happy as could be, pounced on the dog, knocked it on its side, then happily looked up at a mortified set of parents. (For the record, I was embarrassed as hell. I even let out a pretty loud "Wow, really Hank?" in front of everyone.) To make matters worse (for me), the dogs who were terrible at listening and doing the "Look at me" command did nothing to dog - not one. But that's our dog Hank, the big dumb idiot.
Aside from all the Hank news, Jenny and I have been just hanging out: floated the river once (going again tomorrow), had some get-togethers with friends and playing darts (By the way, I put in a dart board in the garage). We have made an effort to cook meals at home instead of going out, which is better for our bodies and for our wallets. We make a menu of 4 - 5 meals every Sunday, get the ingredients for those meals and (usually) take turns preparing one of the meals every day. It's been working out pretty well and gives Jenny an opportunity to work on her below-average culinary skills. :-)
And without further ado, here are some new Hank photos from the beach and even...(wait for it)...Hank videos! I know Papa Loveless will be ecstatic about these!
VIDEOS!!!!!!
