Busy day for the hound

Sir Henry had a busy day today! He's a pooped pup. We went to Henry's first cyclo-cross race today where there were tons of dogs and bikes everywhere whipping in and out around him. He was really nervous at first and it took a lot of treats, coaxing, and walking back and forth to get him where he was finally calmed down enough to be near all of the bikes and dogs. I think he get nervous and that's when the howling comes in - but he only howled for a few minutes before calming down. I walked him back and forth far away from everything and let him get a good look at everything and then he was fine. He ignored the other dogs for the most part and really focused on us (we had tons of treats for him). Overall I was really happy with his behavior and thought he did awesome - especially because he hates when people ride bikes (or horses). The good thing about him is that once he gets used to something he's completely fine so after a while he ignored the bikes/riders for the most part.

We found out that the park where the bike race was at had a dog park so we headed there after the race and let Henry run around with some friends for an hour - his behavior was awesome! The only time he barked is when he first got there and then when the other dog he was running around with didn't play with him (aka played chase with him). But he played really great with the 3 other dogs that were there. We were really proud of him and I loved letting him run around without a leash on. He also did a really great job with recall, whenever he ran away to the other side of the park we tried calling him and most times he came bounding back to us - a great sign! 

The dog park was right next to a river so after we took him to the river for a drink and swim session. He did so good in the dog park with coming back to our calls and staying next to us that we let him off his leash to go swimming for a bit. He wandered away a bit (just enough to make me a little worried) but we started walking the other direction and called him and he came sprinting back to to us - I'm so proud! 

Henry going for a dip

 

Doesn't he look like he's smiling? When his ears are back like that I call them Dobby ears