Pretty low key day today, more heeling on our walk and some work on sits, downs and stays while I was chopping veggies for dinner. (Maggie will work for carrots and green peppers.) I've noticed that Maggie increasingly hangs out in a loose heel position when we're walking, which is pretty neat! Though I should add that this is *only* true when we're walking in familiar areas and there aren't a lot of distractions around. @Nick Benger (or anyone!): I'm curious if this chill behavior is likely to automatically transfer over to novel contexts on its own with time, or if there's a way to train so that Maggie doesn't lose her sh*t every time she goes somewhere she hasn't been before...

Day 49 (Saturday): more (mostly fruitless) efforts to get her less freaked out by her ear medicine, plus the usual heeling on walk, stays in place Day 50 (Sunday): went on an off-leash hike with her best dog friend Frank in a new spot, and I'm not sure if it was the novelty of the location, the fact that I've been traveling a lot so working with her a little less consistently, or both, but her recall was *not* the greatest. She always comes back when called, but yesterday she was definitely taking her sweet time about it. Every time I think her recall is rock-solid I get a wakeup call. So.... back to work on longline and off leash in familiar places, I guess?

Another day of bitty training sessions - did some searches this morning for a stuffed elephant - you know, looking for the elephant in the room <groaning>. It went really well Ito finding the toy, but we’re still struggling with the ‘give it back to me and we can play again’ bit. She will now let me take it off her without trading for food, which is progress. Other sessions were working on the backing around me and some recalls past good distractions.

Took Maggie to a park we haven't been to in a while that allows dogs off leash. I was planning to practice her off leash recall with distraction, but forgot to bring a high value treat (i.e. cheese) along with the boring old training treats. The squirrels were out in full force and I tried to recall her off one exactly once before giving up -- she's just not there yet. On the bright side, we got some good off leash heeling in.

**update** If enough interest and it's a success (no reason why it shouldn't be!!) Then yes, we can make it the 66 Club AGM 😁 Could anyone who is interested please remind me where you're based so i can find a location that suits everyone? Hello everyone! I'm just putting some feelers out to gauge interest in a 66 Club Members meet up? Would anyone be interested in this, and if so, do you want to vote on what kind of meet you'd be up for? Personally, I'd enjoy any meet up but being a nerd I'd love a slightly more structured day where we could exchange some knowledge and maybe talk thru some of the stuff we're interested in, training for, have learned something about etc. People could do a little demo with their dog or we could even train a trick or behaviour together? I'm thinking of your scentwork knowledge @Lynda Comerford , your muzzle stuff @Diane Gollowitzer , @Nick Benger s IGP journey and maybe some of the STSK9 stuff @Piotr S ? I've zero experience organising such a day and what would be feasible but I'm 100% enthusiastic so first step is to see how many of you say aye!