I'll start the long update

I guess I'll start with last Sunday, I don't know how far I'll get though! Last Sunday we had to go down to MA early to take care of our cocker friends Sage and Tupelo, so I figured I'd hit up this puppy play group that happens on Sundays with Tara cause I'm never in MA on Sundays. So it was at a petstore and Tara was wonderful with the other dogs of course, and ORion was even invited to play because it wasn't just a puppy groups it was for any dog. So they both played with a 6 month old puggle, and 2 dachsunds, apparently the rest of the dogs that usually come couldn't make it. They both had a fun time. on Monday night Tara had her puppy class at Gemini and she was the biggest puppy there this week! That's never happened before, but all the other bigger dogs graduated apparetnly. She ended up spending most of her time playing with an nine week old lab puppy who was almost as big as she was, at least in terms of weight, not in height though. She also played with a pug puppy and this silly looking puppy that's in the class that's half beagle and half shitzu. Silly looking dog really. She is so good in puppy class. When we practice recalls she is so wonderful at returning to me and sitting. What a good girl. On Tues we had obedience class and since none of the other puppies showed up there we had a nice private lesson. Her heeling is just phenominal, and even Paul was impressed I think, and I don't think he's easy to impress. So we had a fun time then too. She is so eager to please. We had actually gotten to class early and went to a different pet store down the road where she met a ridgeback and a goldendoodle. We also practiced our sits and downs in the store and in the parking lot. She's a very good smart puppy. Wednesday's are pretty boring for Tara in comparison, because I'm very busy, but she still gets to play with Orion and Dreamer (my mom's poodle) so I think its still a good day for her. On Thursday evening we went into Cambridge and went for a 30 min walk around Harvard Square. All in all I think she handled it well. She met a few firemen and a police officer which are on our socialization checklist (it's important puppies get to meet these important people in case there's ever an emergency and they need to come barging into your house or car, it's helpful if they aren't afraid of them) and lots of other people. A few people actually guessed she was a collie and not a sheltie, yeah! : ) She was very well-behaved and was always paying more attention to me than everyone else. Sometimes I wish she would check everything else out a little more so that I would know that she's actually seeing everything else and getting socialized to it! : ) On Friday we picked up our four friends and I drove up to Maine in 4th of July weekend traffic. Since then there has been a lot of fun going on and not so much training. I think she's been really tired though with all these dogs here which is good. We did get a chance to train a little bit the other day and we reviewed all her basics and then started working on teaching her to spin. She caught on pretty quick. I thought it would be fun to teach her something cute. We went for a long walk, just the two of us last night, and I let her drag her leash pretty much for the half hour, even though we were walking on the road, it was a dirt road and not very travelled, I think 3 or 4 cars came and there's usually fewer cars than that, I think they are visitors for the weekend. But she was very good on the walk and we practiced all the basics (sit, down, come, heel) and she had a good time. Now that she really likes water she wants to go investigate any stream we come to. : ) We are trying to find a kiddie pool to put out in the backyard for the dogs to play in , but have yet to find one!