Home at last

Our now 15-week-old black labrador retriever, Reggie, came home to stay this weekend. His core training is nearly complete and we all agreed it was time.

We have another hot, sultry weekend and we’ve been balancing staying indoors for the hottest part of the day with getting outside. Reggie loves to go on rambles and is getting to know our fields and woods very well. He’s actually just being introduced to a leash this week, as well as a harness for car rides, and when the late afternoon rolled around we took him for a walk at a local nature trail. Youngest son took responsibility for the leashing up and the walk and did really well. So did Reggie!

Getting a feel for the new harness at home:

Putting on the leash at the start of the trail:

On the trail:

A nice little diversion into the water:

A final burst of energy at the end of a hot, but very pleasant walk:

The whole day was pretty much about Reggie. We had to make our own pallets for his training (used as targets for him to sit on/stop at in his routines), which we did from left over wood and some old velvet curtain fabric (rather plush compared to the carpet pallets used by the breeder!), and installed some curtains in our mudroom to both darken it and make it cooler for the dog when he’s in his crate. We’ve been meaning to do this for months and months, as over time we’ve really noticed how hot our mudroom becomes from the late-in-the-day-sun that pours into it, but of course it was getting a dog and wanting to make him comfortable that tipped us into action!

Now that we’ve got those things dealt with, tomorrow I’m really wanting to get caught up with some more cooking as there is a lot ready to be harvested in the garden right now. I’m hoping the heat won’t keep me from roasting some veggies (turnips and beets) and cooking up a few other things.