Today, Hardy attended his Shiloh Shepard friend, Lance's first birthday party. He has been taking puppy class with Lance's younger brother, Kai, so John took him to the party. I've heard from Lance's people and John that Hardy was generally a perfect gentleman, although he got very excited when he saw Linda and jumped on her. He met a ton more people and had a fabulous game of chase with Lance and Kai. Apparently, Lance didn't make it around a corner and a hurricane lantern was destroyed but a great time was had by all!

Hardy has an eye infection

Heard from Sue this morning that Hardy had a nasty eye infection. She took him to see Dr. Mark at Cornell Animal Hospital where he checked for corneal scratches. There were none - apparently Hardy had just put his face into something teeming with bacteria (like a swamp or the manure pile or any number of his and Uncle Eco's favorite places) and got an infection. He has eye drops and should recover with no problem.

Hardy attends a teddy bear picnic and meets a hockey team mascot

Hardy is continuing to have a great time in Guelph. Today he attended a teddy bear picnic and got his photo taken with some kids and a hockey team mascot. Here are some photos:

Hardy, John and Stormy

John, Hardy and some kids at the Teddy Bear Picnic

Heading back to life in Cleveland (and waiting for the little brown puppy to come home too)

Hardy and hand Zen

And now, floor Zen

We've had a couple busy wonderful days in Guelph and we're leaving first thing in the morning to head back to Ohio. We took Laurel and Hardy Thursday afternoon to Fergus to see our friend, Sharon practice herding with her Shelties. Hardy sat on my lap while we watched - he was very sure that he could chase the sheep and didn't seem to understand the finer points to herding. We headed back in time to make it to our last Thursday night puppy class and graduation. Hardy was a terrific little guy in class and passed Level 1 again. He did beautifully on the recall game and was very competitive in the down stay competition. Here are some photos from our last Thursday night puppy class.
Friday during the day, we got all packed up and ready to go and in the evening we attended Sue's seminar on dog play. Laurel and Hardy were featured in several of the videos so that was kind of fun! 

Hardy doing his down stay

Today, we attended a loose leash walking workshop all day. I handled Hardy and Brent worked with Laurel. We had a great time, although it was a very long, very hot day! Then we took Sue and John to our favorite restaurant, Fugi's, a great all-you-can-eat sushi place. First thing tomorrow morning, we head home.

Getting ready to go home

Wow! After a really terrific summer here in Guelph, Ontario, Laurel and I are actually getting ready to go home. I have decidedly mixed feelings about leaving - of course, it's not easy to be leaving Hardy, even though I am convinced that is what's best for him; everyone here has been terrific and we have made some great friends; Sue and John have been so generous and have made me feel at home here and I feel very sad about leaving. On the other hand, of course, I am very excited about spending some time with our son, Devin and Brent and our cats; being home again; getting to see my mom and step-dad and our friends at home. It will be nice to be back in our home and in my adjustable bed. We took Hardy to get his rabies vaccination early in the week. According to the doctor, he looks great, seems very healthy and is growing nicely.
Brent will be here today in time to go see a friend do some herding practice with her Shelties and then to attend Hardy's last Thursday night puppy class  and graduation. In the meantime, I am spending extra time playing with my little brown boy and thinking about packing up everything.

Good and bad news

So, this week we have some good news and some not so good news. The good news is that my chest wall, and hence, breathing and moving, are feeling much better. Laurel has relaxed and I'm feeling much more comfortable. Hardy is continuing to do great! He loves our training time, loves eating his breakfast out of a food toy in the little yard (and hasn't escaped from it into the big back yard recently) and is getting along with all the big dogs! 
The less than good news is that while my van was parked in front of the house, another vehicle clipped the front drivers side, damaging the quarter panel, bumper and light. Obviously, we'll have to get it fixed but no one got hurt, the van is drivable and it didn't affect the ramp or other mobility modifications. So although it will be inconvenient, it isn't devastating.

Back to Cleveland again!

After a busy, fun-filled time at the Hillside Festival last weekend, Laurel and I headed back to Cleveland on Wednesday (July 28th). I had medical treatments on Thursday and Friday which went well. On Saturday we relaxed and Sunday we represented Lake Erie Assistance Dogs along with Canine Affair Center at Dog Days at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. We had a blast, a lot of people stopped by and the volunteers and staff at the Garden were incredible to work with. We will definitely plan to go back and do it again next summer.
Before I left Guelph, Sue and John gave me something to think about with regards to my future plans for Hardy. We are scheduled to all go home August 15th to spend some time with our son, Devin. Sue and John suggested that we leave Hardy behind for four weeks so that he could do some more puppy classes, loose leash walking and socialization with them in the continuing hope that having time away from me will help him avoid separation anxiety. He'll understand that I can come and go and that time away from me is no big deal. Part of me thinks that it is a very generous offer and the other part doesn't want to leave Hardy. I talked to Brent and Sue and thought hard about it. If there's a chance this is in Hardy's best interest and since I trust Sue to know that, I've decided to leave him until Labor Day (3 weeks).

See, I can eat my way down the stairs

and then up the stairs again!

While we were gone, on Thursday, Hardy went and met some little friends at a Guelph Museum. Although it didn't make it into the paper, a newspaper photographer took a great picture (which I can't show you because we don't have rights or permissions). Hardy has also been busy working on stairs, the proof of which Sue put on Facebook. And I've put a couple photos with this post.