A post from Connor and Ian

Earlier this week I got a voicemail from my friend Julie, a.k.a. "Ian's Grandma," checking on Connor and Ian. She said she wanted to make sure both of them were still ok since Devon and Page had taken over the blog. You know it's serious when Julie actually asks about one of the Goldens! But I know she has a soft spot for Connor since she used to dog sit him (just don't ask her to evaluate his intelligence level).

You can all rest assured that Ian and Connor are getting two meals a day, full supplements, plenty of out time and the usual spoiling. Connor still sleeps in the bed (when Devon doesn't kick him out); in fact Connor sleeps anywhere his little heart desires.

Ian feels he needs to be trained more, and he's still not sure about that wiggling little monster that invaded the house a few weeks ago. The most often used phrase in our house these days is, "Don't chase the black dog!"

However, I just realized a couple of weeks ago that it's Ian's fault he's getting chased these days. He's starting to engage with Page, and as soon as she engages back - and she's very appropriate when she does - he freaks out and runs away from her. Poor Page can't figure this out! He was the one who wanted her attention! Maybe she should just follow him and see if he needed her! Now you see why I'm saying, "Don't chase the black dog" at least 2-3 times a day.

Things are slowly getting better. Ian actually got the nerve up to stand still and be sniffed by Page after he engaged with her yesterday. I told them how good they both were, and everyone went about their business.

Today was actually a good day for the boys. The kennel club has member training a couple of times a month, and today was one of those days. So I loaded all four pups in the van and we trained for a couple of hours at the kennel club. The agility course that was set up was challenging for Ian, and I was able to run several sequences after I ran the course. Ian did great.

Connor even got to come in and run the course and some sequences before I changed the jump heights. Here's a little clip of the retired agility dog having fun.

I know Connor has lost muscle tone since being retired, so I made sure I warmed him up pretty well before he ran. Even so, I noticed he preferred to run with his rear legs together for more stability as older dogs do. I'm not worried about his hips, but it was a little sad to see he's starting to show his 9 years of age.