Kinderpuppy

Tonight was the first night of Kinderpuppy. I like the word Kinderpuppy. I've probably said it 50 times today. The boys did well. We had mingling with saying their name, grabbing the collar, and then a treat; sitting without the word "sit" but using a hand signal and the "Yes!" for the butt on the ground; and then down, which Betel was only able to do twice while everyone else did 25 times. Then we held them between our knees and rubbed their ears (Orion's needs to be cleaned), rubbed a circle on their muzzles, rubbed our fingers over their teeth, touched their feet, then stood them up and rubbed their backs and tails. And that was it for the first day of Kinderpuppy. (See? It just rolls right off the keyboard.) So we practice all those things three times a day (or more) until next week.
Then we went to the barn, where the boys went on a walk while I got Mercury ready for his second big jump day, and he did really well. I only rode him 45 minutes because he did two series in a row really well, so we are probably going to the Derby on the 5th and 6th. The boys fell asleep in their soft crate while I jumped and Kevin watched and moved poles.
Orion's legs are getting long. He is almost as tall as Betel now. He is a lot more shy than Betel, and likes to follow me and stand between my legs.
This next part is gross, so stop reading if you don't like gross things. For the second time, I found a poo smear in the bed. It has to be Odin (I don't think cat). The first time was several months ago, and I found it in the morning. I asked the vet, and she said to watch and if it starts happening regularly to let her know. Sometimes older dogs lose some control, but I'm not ready for Odin to be incontinent and need to wear a doggie diaper, which is a lot less fun to type than Kinderpuppy.