Finish line greeting!
This morning I ran in the Cleveland Marathon…I’m not that crazy, so I ran the half. Chris came down to meet me at the finish and brought my favorite training buddy! There were 20,000 that ran today in addition to tons of spectators and Roman was on his best behavior. We received the usual “he’s gorgeous” “he’s so big” compliments, but my favorite were “he’s sooo well behaved”. He truly is fantastic in huge crowds and I know it’s because he’s got an amazing temperament, as well as coming to many of my runs. He finished my bottle of water and my popsicle, received many pats and headed home. Later today, we’re going to our city’s annual Bark and Bone-anza festival with bff, Nina!
Roman camps for real
Roman went on a real camping trip…not the back yard, to Headwaters Park in Ohio. The weather was perfect! Roman spent half the night outside of the lean to on guard duty and the other half inside curled up next to me on the sleeping bag. The two Shiba Inus also felt the need to sleep on my sleeping bag, as well. I didn’t get much sleep, but was super warm! The other shots are Chris chopping fire wood and me, filtering water.
Roman ups the herding ante
Oh no!! They're gonna get away!
C'mon!! Hurry and take my leash off!
"Come by"
"Away"
Easter Sunday was a gorgeous day here in Michigan, so we packed up and headed out for a hike at Kensington Park. Roman decided to get his herding game on and work the swans for a bit. Funny thing was, he didn’t bark once and while he was swimming around, more and more swans came over to find out what in the world was going on.
Roman’s 1st obedience trial
We entered Rally Novice A and Novice A obedience at the Medina Kennel Club this past weekend. Rally was first up and Roman did great. The points we lost were actually due to my errors. He took 1st place 
A few hours later was Novice Obedience. He did great fussing on and off leash, and a perfect stand for exam. He executed a flawless come on recall with a perfect front, except that I didn’t call him. Ugh. Next on the figure 8, which he is usually great, he decided to stop and scratch himself…twice! Finally, we went out for the long sit and down. On the way to our positions, two other dogs started barking at each other. Roman decided he needed to chime in and all of us were excused and had to do the walk of shame out of the ring. Roman can nail his long sits and downs, but oh well. I seriously have so much respect for Lynda and Ivan and all the hard work that they do. Obedience can be a very humbling experience. We had a great time, however, and need to work extra hard. I was very proud of Roman’s work and considering he was in a new environment and all the distraction, he did really well. Sorry for the stamp on the pic. I don’t have the original pic, yet.