Springtime and R's training

For now, it is springtime. Bears are roaming our forests, hummingbirds are buzzing high overhead, and the Pasqueflowers are opening up to the sunshine.

Shyla and I were out early, with me riding atop the crust of the snow in the sub-freezing temperatures of the very early morning. Amazingly, in sunny spots, the snow has already completely melted down to dirt. In the forest, however, there is still deep snow.

We saw the sun rise, and it cast a reddish light on Shyla.

And, we loved each other's company.

After our ride, I spent some time training the black cracker dog. This photo shows R's serene side.

The serenity flees when we start our training. R absolutely adores our training time. That's what positive training does - it creates dogs who view training time as one of the best times of the day.

We are working on a wave, with R's left paw. He had elbow dysplasia surgery as a puppy, and this movement is great for maintaining his range of motion and muscle strength around the weakened elbow. He has definitely learned this trick! However, it's tough to photograph it well because he always twists slightly away from me as he waves.

You'll notice that R's mouth is open in the photo above. The reason is that, in typical R cracker dog style, he's modified the trick to suit him. Presently, he barks every time he waves.

And sometimes he barks when he's not waving out of pure joy for life!

Barking in sync with waving should be an easy habit to break (it just started today). Tomorrow, I'll reward only the waves when he doesn't bark. For today, I just laughed along with him every time he barked. I love his enthusiasm!

I think that R will be back to running and romping pretty soon. I've been stretching his elbow through its range of motion a couple of times every day, and we're giving him regular glucosamine injections. We haven't seen him limp in a whole week. Good news!