Deuce the ball dog

Was just reading over at Braves Love Blog that the Myrtle Beach Pelicans have a ball dog, Deuce, who delivers the balls to the ump and mingles with the crowd at the pro shop. That is so cool!

Hey Charleston Riverdogs: Zeke loves baseball and is open to discussion about Charleston having Zeke the Lab as an awesome ball dog.

Zeke at Work Part 7

Meet Tom, the newest member of our install crew and also recent addition to the Zeke fan club.

Tom works with Zeke's Uncle Vic. He knows a good lab when he sees one.

Beginner's Class week 7

There is light at the end of the tunnel! Next week is graduation and Zeke is really making improvements (as is mom). Today was just Zeke and Tiger--hope the rest of the class has enough credits for graduation--but we had a good time. Worked on sit/stay and down/stay; Zeke really got some distance up on the sit/stay. Tiger is really doing great. Also spent some time on greetings and walking in a crazy environment (aka Pet Supply store). Micheal showed mom how to work on Zeke remaining calm around new dogs. Then we had some fun going thru hoops and a tunnel. Zeke and mom are both beat. Oh yeah, Zeke was his normal barky self, but mom learned that he was quiet as could be last week with dad.... hmmm.

appetite for destruction

Mom may have just learned an important lesson about putting your shoes away when you leave the house. Zeke has previously only stalked his favorite prey of flip flops, from the looks of it I'd say no shoe is safe any longer.

BUSTED

Zeke, Sadie and I headed off for one of our favorite water holes, "The Ponds". We have noticed over the last couple of months that the community was becomming less friendly to "outsiders". Signs asking us to check in at the office for a day pass were sprouting everywhere. Here is what we found Saturday morning.
Since we generally try to follow the rules we headed off to the Summerville Creek, we are usually there at least 2 or 3 times a week, I have a favorite spot to play and there is some time for the kids to run off lead and get into the water. Here are some pictures of the walk in, note that is is very green now and there is a variety of birds there too. The weather was great, not windy, we had a good time.

Sorry the photos were not sharper, the good camera is in Bermuda with Zeke's Mom.

leaving on a jet plane

Well, Zeke's not actually on a jet plane but he did come to the airport to say by to mom who has to leave him for a few days for work. He got to meet the pilot, Dave and watch mom take off.

Mom misses you Zekers!

Zeke's Easter Basket

Zeke got his Easter Basket this morning, and despite looking put out in his picture he really enjoyed all his treats.

The Next Cadbury Bunny?

Happy Easter and Good Passover!

Wassamassaw Dog Park

After work today, Zeke went to the dog park at Wassamassaw Park, which is closest to home. It is conveniently located in Summerville (turn at the stop light on 78 across from Alston Middle School) but maybe because of its newness it is some times empty or not many dogs for Zeke to play with. Many pups and people we run into there are still trying to determine when is the best time of day or day of the week to come to play.

Zeke and Sadie are up to the task. Need us to check out a dog park? We're on it!

Wassamassaw's Dog park offers a separate area for smaller dogs, that is just as large as the big dog section. It has a tall chain link fence around the entirety and a sturdy gate with transition area for re-leashing.

Here is a wide shot from outside the dog park, it is probably about 60 yards long not super wide.

Inside has several large trees which Zeke says are excellent for peeing on. While its not huge, this park definitely offers plenty of room to run. There are two benches inside for owner sitting along with two "pick up" stations. Drainage seems to function fairly well as we have been here after some wet times, there is a storm drain in the middle of the park.

The one thing we would change is that the watering bowl, while nice, it located on the outside of the dog area. It can be inconvenient. We have seen several people bring bowls in, but once its empty you have to go back outside the fenced area to refill it.

The Anti-Flowertown

This weekend was the annual Flowertown Festival in Zeke's hometown. It is an arts and crafts festival that draws huge crowds swarming through the beautiful Azalea Park and surrounding mud pits. Unfortunately it is distinctly dog-UNfriendly with a strict NO PETS ALLOWED posted all over the advertisement.

Zeke opted to avoid the traffic and crowds and Saturday went for a hike in the national forest. He saw several deer and a black rat snake and had a great swim. Today Zeke went to the dog park, but didn't stay long as we ran into some weird folks. There was only one other dog in the park with four humans and when Zeke wanted to play with the dog the humans got defensive and kept body blocking him. Zeke and mom still haven't quite figured out why you would go to the off leash dog park if you didn't want to play.

Beginner's Class Week 4

Its almost time for Week 5 class and mom still hasn't posted about week 4... what a slacker!

Week 4 was a really good class. Michael gave us more practice on loose leash walking and if you can get the slip lead to stay in the right place Zeke is a champ, but an 1/4 of an inch can make a big difference. We also worked on stay and come when called.

Blog friend Tammy recommended the Illusion collar. It is designed to keep the lead up high where it is the most effective. THANKS!