Pogo's new trick

Pogo can now turn off our hall light on command (see video below). The next step is to train him to toggle the switch in both directions. Good thing he doesn't seem inclined to do it randomly on his own.

Spring scootering

Our beautiful snow is melting in this 40 degree weather, so I took Pogo and our neighbor's dog Daisy out scootering along the bike trail today. It went well, and the dogs sped up as we got closer to the dog park.


At the dog park, we met another standard poodle who likes to pull. Hopefully Pogo and Daisy managed to convince her how much fun dog pulling sports are.

Team Oodle in the Dells

Team Oodle ran well at the Christmas Mountain Village dogsled race yesterday. Musher Annie stayed upright and did not finish last this time! Here they are in the starting chute, with Summer and Pogo in lead:

I was excited to get to try a dorsal hitch dog sulky after the race. The suspension and brakes worked well, and I was amazed at how smooth the ride was. Boy would I love one of these!

One guy built his own dogsled out of skis and hockey sticks:

And I enjoyed this scene:

Team Oodle in Naperville

On Saturday, we had fun dog sledding. We gathered a 5-dog team consisting of three doodles, a poodle, and a husky in Naperville. Here are Pogo and his buddy Summer during their pre-game strategizing session:I took this video while driving the team with Summer's mom, Annie:

Team Oodle at Winterfest

Pogo ran in his first sled dog race today at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Winterfest. He was part of a 3-dog team along with his goldendoodle buddy Summer, driven by Annie on her kicksled. Team Oodle came in last partly due to a tangle at the beginning but finished the race and enjoyed the scenery (and apparently also peeing on the scenery). I was proud of Pogo for pulling hard. Thanks to our other neighborhood Fluffy Dog, Daisy, for helping him train earlier this week.

After the race, I took Summer and Pogo out to try the kicksled myself
and found this historic bridge (see video):

For more photos from the race and ice caves we visited afterward, check here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/chaopricha/WinterFestOodles?authkey=Gv1sRgCNuoq_2Qpt2Y7QE#

Skatejoring!

It turns out that Pogo is good at pulling people on ice skates, too! Wingra Lake was smoother today than I've ever seen it before. Pogo pulled me and Pat together all the way across the lake without our help. Here's him getting warmed up:
He also gave "rides" to several of our friends:

Snow!

Turns out that Pogo loves the snow as much as I do! We tried skijoring together for the first time today, and Pogo pulled well. Here are two videos. He went faster when we promised him breakfast on the way home.


After a break, we headed out to fetch our Harmony Valley Farm CSA fruit box from the other side of the neighborhood. Pogo pulled it home in his wagon through the snow. Even though not everybody had shoveled their sidewalks yet, and the curb cuts were filled with snowplowed drifts, Pogo pulled the wagon happily straight through it all.

Over the moguls and through the snow,
To fetch our fruit box we go!
The dog knows the way
Across the highway
Through the white and drifted snow....oh!

And in case you are getting sick of winter already, I just found a couple of goofy dog photos on Pat's camera from this summer: