02-17-2009

Today we went to the GF Kennel Club for the Basic Obedience class. Tonight was our 5 time and Duece was doing really well for about 45-50 minutes of the class. About that time he realizes his play-buddy, Ziva, was in the same class and he wanted to play. Add that to his realization there were some dog treats on the floor and he hadn't eaten for about 14 hours and his concentration was waning. The GFKC has been a great experience for me (and the dogs) as it helps socialize the dogs and it's always good to have someone else advise you on what you are doing. Mattie was the first dog that took me to the GFKC and it saved both of us a lot of time, mainly when they corrected me on the mistakes I was making.

This was the first trip Duece has made where he didn't throw up from motion sickness traveling in the suburban. He doesn't like to travel and starts with drooling until his chest is soaked and usually throws up before we get home. Last weekend I took him out for about a 2 hour drive. We started out by driving about a half mile from home, stopping alongside the road and letting him relax. Then we drove a little and then pulled over again. We went about 12 miles in that 2 hours. I would watch him in the mirror and when he was drooling a lot, we pulled over. When I pushed it and drove a 2 mile stretch he threw up when we stopped. We've been told to take him on little trips and make it fun for him. We'll try do get a few of those done because if we want him to be a working cad dog he needs to travel.