Another day at the fairgrounds...

and Izzy did a full 180 degree turn in her behavior. She was awesome today!

When we got to the grounds there was a couple big dogs I saw on the drive in, including a St. Bernard that was dragging a lead so I made a mental note to stay far from them, just because I usually associate a dog dragging a lead to have a bad recall or to in some way need to have an option for the owner to get a hold of it quick.

Anyway, we walked around for a good 40 minutes, just me moseying and her going full tilt and practicing recalls (100% again, I might add) and just generally kept our distance from the other dogs. We did do a bit of exploring behind the row of wooded area the runs the length of most of the fairgrounds. It looks like someone might grow crops back there and there is a bunch of soccer fields as well, though it was more like a swamp than anything! The low temps didn't stop Izzy from splashing through the huge puddles though, she had a grand time.

I was hoping there wouldn't be anybody down there as it rained pretty much all day. Didn't turn out that way though, and all the dogs there today were big! The smallest dogs I saw were a pair of oversized goldens!

We didn't stay long today as I have a bunch of homework and I won't have any time to do anything on Wednesday or Thursday as I work both of those days, so we headed back to the car after a good 45 minutes. While I was packing everything up and getting ready to leave a gorgeous Great Dane and it's owner were walking past where we were parked so I decided to work with Izzy for a bit on a modified version of the Look at That! game from Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed. She did awesome! One time I went too long between rewarding her and she gave the dog a bark, but it wasn't at all an aggressive bark. I even stopped the game and went back to getting ready to leave while the Dane was still in sight (the closest he was to us was probably only about 50-75 feet, but he was running and very flighty, which usually makes Izzy nervous), and she was fine. Watched it still, but wasn't overly tense or reactive.

Getting her to stay on her toweled seat while I walk around and get in the driver's side is another story! I rode home on a wet seat.

In other exciting news, I ordered a pair of Muck Boots for the fairgrounds!
I think my feet are still thawing from today! My shoes and pants were soaked through, it was bad. I know it'll only get worse this winter so I figured I might as well order a pair while they're having a sale.

Izzy and Frodo recieved some stuff in the mail a few days ago and I have pictures, I figure they'll go up tomorrow.

Back to homework, finals next week!