Thanksgiving weekend, Nimbus showed in his first UKC Conformation show. He also finished his UKC Championship that weekend. I was so proud of him. He did wonderfully, not only in the show ring, but being away from home for the weekend. He did well in the hotel room and at the show. He did get a little stressed the first day, but after some time he started to calm down and did quite well. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but I know he exceeded those expectations with his behavior. I met some nice people that also handle Sammys that weekend. It was refreshing to see people who were willing to help or offer some advice and not have ulterior motives. I was quite disappointed in what Nimbus did lose to the first day, however, I know that is going to happen. We are just going to keep having fun with the sport and see where he goes from here. Our next show is in February. It's an AKC show in Indianapolis. I am hoping to pick up some points that weekend towards his AKC Championship. I am sure he will do well. He has been maturing some the past couple of weeks and looks nicer every day. Biscuit ears and all. Oh how I love my 'bus.
We have started some light agility training. No jumping or anything like that, but we have started working on post turns and front crosses and putting "jumps" together. He runs thru the standards and the tunnel. He seems to enjoy it. Honestly I think he would do anything I asked him to do as long as we were doing it together. He loves to work. It doesn't matter what we are working on. I have noticed tho he would rather work with me than the husband or the son, but he will tolerate working for them if need be. Especially if I am there "supervising".
Nimbus loves and I mean LOVES the snow. He will go outside and root around in the snow for hours if I let him. He will pounce and paw at it. Sniff in it, lick it, eat it, roll in it. He absolutely enjoys being out in the cold, wet, snow. I am not a big fan of freezing, but I have learned to at least tolerate it for about 15 minutes at a time to give him some time to play in it when I take him out to go potty. He is just so amusing when we go outside sometimes, the freezing myself is almost worth it. There are sometimes tho when he would rather just come back in and snuggle on the couch. I love those times much more than the "hey, momma, look, I found an icicle that fell, oooooh shiny, what was that in the snow?" Or I'm gonna knock you down and roll you in it. We have gotten to the point of letting out in the yard with the minis for a time so he can play with the neighbor's dogs thru the fence. They like to run up and down the fence and bark at each other or sniff each other...I have even caught Nimbus trying to get them to play tug thru the fence like he does with Harley. They don't quite grasp what he is trying to do and they have this "you are a strange puppy" look on their faces.
Nimbus believes everybody and everything should be his friend and want him in their face. We are working hard on this. I am so afraid he's going to get hurt greeting a strange dog in this manner. However, it's not just dogs he feels this way toward. Kolton recently got a rabbit and it's amusing to watch Nimbus try to be as small as he can be so the rabbit will play with him. He does with the squirrels in the back yard and stray cats. Pretty much anything he thinks should be a play mate he will do this to. Last week I watched my younger niece and nephew and the first thing 'bus did was splat on the floor wagging his tail trying to be small. It doesn't take long for him to forget that he is not a small creature and gets over excited and intimidates someone or something. He is just so friendly and wants so much for everyone/thing to love him. Gotta love the puppy brain.
Talking about puppy brains. OMGoodness, training has become entertaining to say the least. I forgot about the whole teenage stage of puppy hood. If he listens to the command, I get back talk before he decides he wants to perform the command. That's if he listens...most days he just waits to see how he can wait before not getting the treat. Lately that time frame has become shorter and shorter. He needs to know that when he is told to sit, he needs to sit or whatever the command is he needs to do it when told. He has been testing this theory a lot. We have made some headway with loose leash walking. He has started to realize that there is a person at the end of the lead and that person may have some good treats if he does not drag them to the point of interest; oh and that person my not budge should he be trying to drag them. We have been trying to get a good measurement of him so that I can order a harness for him. He definitely needs a chance to do some pulling, even if it is lightweight pulling. I want to start training commands for a rig, so that when he does mature he can do some kind of rig work. I am positive he will enjoy it.
Christmas came and went in a whirlwind. We did not forget about the dogs tho. For Christmas all of the dogs received an antler for chewing. Nimbus loves them. He will chew on an antler for hours. The minis like them enough...that is when 'bus is not hoarding them by stealing them and then laying on all of them while chewing on one. I have a small box for the dog toys and every night I put all of the antlers away in this box and the next morning when we get up he goes and gets them all out, has them spread all over the living room until the minis are up and then he starts again with hoarding them. Nimbus all got a tangiball for Christmas. It is from Discovery Toys. He loves this ball. It is strawberry scented and has nubbies all over it. He likes the fact that it squeaks when he bites it...but I like it cuz he can handle it without putting a hole in it. It was well worth the money we paid for it.
Nimbus is now 8 months old. I can't believe it. His next show he will be in the 9-12month class. The past 6 months have flown by and I can't believe how much my 'bus has grown. He is still very driven and can be a bit stubborn...but I wouldn't want him any other way. I just love my 'bus. So until next time....oh yeah.. I am adding pictures from the UKC show. Hope you enjoy them.
Nimbus...what a handsome boy UKC Championship photo November 28, 2010
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