We’re planning a final beach trip with the dog this year before it gets too cold to go. In fact, it might even be nicer this time of year, if it’s not 9,000 degrees out there.

We’re also going to take the pup to a six-week obedience training school that’s put on by the City. We’ll take her to the local rec center once a week for a class amongst 7 other dogs. Even more than “teaching her tricks,” I’m hoping that taking her to formal training will spark Colette and me into being more attentive to how we do and don’t allow her to behave. She’s a little bit crazy, skittish, and off-the-wall at the moment. And while she is only 1 year old, a lot of her behavior is, unfortunately, a result of how we’ve behaved around her for the last 12 months.

I’ll post updates as they happen…

We took Chloe to the Honeymoon Island dog beach again. She absolutely loves going there, but she has a hard time just settling down and hanging out. She’s genetically programmed to pay attention to every dog and person around her at the same time, which results in her running back and forth around our spot trying to check everything out. It’s funny to look back on how much different she is from the puppy version. Doesn’t seem like that long ago that I actually carried her through the swampy trails over to the beach.

The old days:

Now:

We plan on taking her back there this weekend. I love how tired she gets after a long, active day. It brings a welcome change from the insane, hyper, crazy pup that is the norm.