Leader of the Pack

Toskey is learning to greet me at the door by sitting and waiting before I come all the way in now, since she's had a tendency to jump up on me in excitement.  Coco has some trouble with jumping when she greets me too, so I've been doing the same thing with her.  If either of them gets up out of the sit when I open the door (or gate, in Coco's case), it immediately gets closed and I have them sit and wait again.  If they jump on me once I step in, I immediately go back outside without them.  After a moment, I have them sit and try it again.  While it sometimes takes several tries before they calm down enough to wait, it teaches them that they don't get what they're so excited about (heading out for Pack Activities) until they're polite about it - and it has been working well, as neither of them jumped on me once today.  They'll both be wonderful greeters before long!

At the park, Coco wrestled with a German Short-Haired Pointer named Bella who she's seen before.  For a little while, Coco was lying in the grass and Bella would approach her in a cautious, stalking manner until one of them made a sudden move and Bella would dive onto Coco.  Most of the time, Coco would pop up and interrupt Bella's pounce with a tackle of her own, but there were a couple times she wasn't quick enough to her feet and Bella ended up flopping her over onto her side in the grass.  Meanwhile, Rucksack and I played fetch with his favorite yellow soccerball.  Occassionally Rucksack joined in a short chase with Coco and Bella, still holding that ball in his mouth.