Mystic and the Campers

Because Mystic comes to work with me, and because my office is right off of the room where camp is held, the children attending camp have dubbed him the "Camp Mascot".

It's not unusual for me to have to shoo children away from the baby gate across my office door in order for me to get in and out of my office. Mystic really knows how to play his adoring fans. At the first sound of a childish sing song voice calling out "Myyyyystic!" he comes strolling out of his crate and acknowledges the kids with a sniff, before turning sideways and leaning against the gate so as to make it more convenient for them to pet the entire length of his back. And with 3 or 4 kids squeezed into my office doorway there's plenty of hands to give him a nice massage.

Many of the kids have attended camp in previous years, and so they know that Mystic knows many tricks and that I usually show them off before the end of the camp session. Word spreads to the newcomers, and all week long I get asked when they'll get to see Mystic do his tricks.

Yesterday I was appalled when guest speaker Ginny Marchel, who is a HAWS dog trainer, brought in her American Eskimo Seika and showed off all of her tricks. Seika not only knew all the tricks Mystic knows, but she knew a few more. How could I follow that act?

One of the things Mystic does do, that Seika does not, is Agility. In the past I've used the kids as obstacles -- they've made jumps out of their arms, weave poles out of their legs, and tunnels as a group. Mystic has gone through kid made obstacles one at a time, and at Winter Camp we paired kid weave poles with a kid tunnel. But I decided to try to expand on it.

In the video you'll see 3 jumps, a set of 6 weave poles and a tunnel. Mystic had a beautiful run this afternoon!