Our #RiddickPup Is Eleven Months Old!

This afternoon we took Riddick to an off-lead dog park.
I have been a little nervous to take him because we battled with Volt's recall, and when we took Volt to a park he'd take off after the other dogs and it would be a mission to get him back...! That said, I was a nervous first-time-puppy-mom with Volt, and I was terrified I'd lose him! His dog distraction (his love of other dogs and wanting to play) was a real problem though, so my fears were realistic to a degree...

But my confidence is way up with Riddick! Having seen how well behaved he was when he was off-lead at SAGA and seeing how he listens when I call his name we decided to chance it.
It was fantastic! It was exactly the way I had always hoped a dog park experience with my own dog would be! He is respectful of other dogs though he seems a little wary of playing with them. He's well behaved around the people too and doesn't jump up on anyone. He doesn't chase the balls thrown for other dogs, though he loves his own one and happily chased it down many times over - even with a Collie cross trying to catch it too. He didn't get into the big water trough for a swim as he's never been mad about water, but he drank lots of water and we did two circuits of the park with him running and investigating behind and ahead of us but returning to us when called or just to make sure we stayed close. At one point we were sitting on a bench under a tree and he stayed sitting right there with us!
It was glorious! We will definitely be going back more often.

On Friday SAGA's College of Mobility had a Cansa Shavathon and we went along, taking Riddick with us.
He was very well behaved and showed respect to the older dogs whilst being playful with puppy Jenna, and he greeted the people happily without jumping up. We played ball on SAGA's lovely expanse of lawn and he showed off his recall, his Doggles, and his fast-improving benching behaviour. 
We were very proud of him.

My husband shaved his head after making his R50 donation to Cansa, and I ran around taking photographs, I donated my R50 too but I didn't shave or spray my hair.
I got to visit briefly with the 'K' litter puppies who will be going home to their puppy walkers this coming week, and we were told that we may be able to get an 'L' litter puppy to raise towards the end of April!! So exciting!! SAGA's brood bitch Jelly is pregnant, so depending on how many pups there are we should be getting one soon (her last litter had 9 pups). We're thinking up a list of names for boys and girls starting with 'L' so if you have any suggestions let me know.
And we saw Volt's trainer, who says he is doing incredibly well! He did his first walk with his trainer blindfolded, and it was a perfect trial with him guiding her perfectly around all obstacles! We are so proud of him!

This week past we made great progress with Riddick's nervousness of passing cars after his accident a while ago. He hardly batted an eyelid although the bigger cars and vans still made him slightly wary. I am very relieved that he's gotten better so quickly! Our walks will soon be back to normal again.

On Saturday Riddick found an apple next to my bed. I know it smelled interesting because it immediately caught his attention, but I think he thought it was a ball... He chewed on it for ages before it fell off the balcony and he forgot about it.

I had a giggle this week, we were watching Spaceballs on TV and towards the beginning there's a scene where "Dark Helmet" walks onto the scene. Riddick barked and ran at the screen as though the character was walking into the living room! He didn't like it at all! It was so funny! I rewound the movie and played the scene again but the second time he just looked at the screen and walked away.

Some gratuitous puppy cuteness...