What better way to start the day than running around the Paul Smith’s College campus?

oday is Nico’s third birthday! To celebrate we headed to our local Tractor Supply and walked all the isles while letting Nico sniff absolutely everything.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Nico is really good at being a dog model. Historically, I’ve approached this project as a documentary or lifestyle photography project. Most photos attempt to capture Nico’s personality, an activity we are doing, or in some way convey a story about the day. Recently, I’ve been using this project, along with short winter days, to dabble in this use of artificial lighting.

When Nico has less stimulating days, we sometimes feed him dinner through training or puzzles to give him mental stimulation.

This is the look I get when I forget Nico’s post-dinner Fresh Kisses treat. Nico is a very expressive dog in his facial expressions and mannerisms.

Fly Nico, Fly. I haven’t been shooting action with Nico for a while. The reason is I tend to leave a particular lens on my camera for a period of time and work on shooting within whatever focal range that lens is.

Nico got his dinner by way of a folded-up towel this evening. We’ve been using this as an enrichment exercise.

A little bit of running through the snow is a great way to tire a young dog out. I’ve been thinking of easy ways to help Nico get in more exercise.

The theme for this month’s Dog Photo Contest is dogs doing goofy things. Nico is a big goofball; throw a snowball toward him and see what happens.

Nico was putting serious effort into begging for a second dinner. He does a pretty good job of putting on a famished dog act if we spend time in the kitchen after he eats dinner. In his defense, we’ve likely inadvertently reinforced this by one of us accidentally feeding him again. He is polite about it and always lies outside the kitchen threshold. And forgive the banged-up threshold; our house is over 120 years old, and we can’t bring ourselves to replace a piece of wood that’s been walked across for over a century. Khyber and Nico have added their marks to the wood, giving it more meaning.

I’m not going to lie. One of the best things to come out of Nico’s time at the Upstate Canine Academy and our focus on training since then is this cute little face staring at me a lot more ask, “ok Dad, what are we doing next?”

All nestled in for the evening.

Big fluffy snowflakes were coming down in Saranac Lake today. There is something magical about a black(ish) dog covered in snow.

Nico spent most of the day home alone. His face is a pretty clear expression of how he feels about that.

Nico has been at the office with me most of this week. Going to work is actual work for him. Everything we do during the day turns into a training session.

I’ve started bringing frozen Kongs into the office with me. To get them from the house to the office, I put them in the water bottle pouch of my backpack. Nico’s heel is 100% on point as we walk into the building because he’s got his nose right up against the left side of my backpack.

Honestly, I never fully understood the value of a ‘place’ command before bringing Nico to Upstate Canine Academy and watching Tom Davis’ videos.

Ears.

Nico came to the office with me this morning. We’re continuing to solidify being neutral, calm, and respectful at work. We’re still working on Nico holding a ‘sit stay’ when new people walk into a room or space, and he isn’t on a leash.

We walked around Saranac Lake this afternoon, looking for things to distract or challenge Nico. It was a quiet day in town, and Nico is getting good at staying neutral and in his heel with everyday things like people, cars, trucks, etc.