The past few weeks

I don't feel like I've done a true update in a while, so here goes. A few weeks ago we started taking Riley to the dog park. We started at the Plymouth off leash park, with her auntie Abby there to show her the ropes. She is, surprisingly enough, really well behaved at the dog park. She plays well with other dogs, doesn't go too far away, and comes back when we call her. If only we could get her to do that at home... We've been trying to take her to a dog park each weekend, so we've visited the Plymouth park a few times, and tried the Elm Creek dog park today. That one is really nice, with trails and a smaller fenced in play area. I wish I would've brought a camera, because Riley had her first experience with ice today on a frozen pond. She did great - chasing Tom and crashing into other dogs. The best part about dog park days is that she is very mellow for the rest of the day. We can usually get her to lay on her dog bed (instead of attacking and wrestling it) after a good trip to the dp. Our dilemma now is whether to keep going to the farther away parks, or to bite the bullet and pay the $60 Minneapolis dog park fee. There are several parks close by, but she needs another tag in order to go to the mpls ones.

In other news, Riley recently passed level 2 pup class. We started her in level 3... but we don't really enjoy the level 3 trainer, so we missed this week, and we're pretty sure that our training pass has now expired. We'll see if we decide to renew it, or just train her from home. I think we pretty much know what she needs to learn, and how to go about training her - we just need to make the time.

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday, but I don't think Riley liked it at all. Tom and I went to his family's house for a great mid-day meal, and then to my parents' house later on for Thanksgiving round 2. It's been a big year for both of our families, with new babies and engagements on both sides.

This weekend Ry is going winter camping with Tom up north - it's so weird to be in a truly empty house - even when Tom's gone, I'm used to having my pup!