Sounders enjoy dog day of April

The Seattle Sounders seemed to enjoy training in the warm weather today, and afterward seemed to enjoy a visit from some dogs from the Seattle Humane Society

“It was good,” coach Sigi Schmid said of the work. “We wanted to get some work done today and work a little bit and we got that. We stayed big a little bit with the 11v11 today. We’ll do our final prep tomorrow before we leave to Houston. … We wanted to bring the goals in tighter. We wanted to get them in front of goal more and get some confidence. I thought we scored some really good goals, so that always helps. A win helps: You get a little more confidence. The guys are starting to get to know each other a little bit better, and that all helps.”

“Today was our first what I would call our first truly warm day of training. So it’s maybe going to be similar to what it is in Houston – maybe a little bit warmer. But when you’re coming off cool weather and you go into hot weather, sometimes that’s a little bit of an adjustment, not only physiologically but psychologically.”

As for the dogs?

“It’s great,” Schmid said. “The guys worked hard today. The attitude at practice today was really good, and the spirit was good. That’s what pets are for people: They make you smile, they bring joy into your life. A lot of these guys have dogs of their own.”

(Schmid was asked if he had a dog as a kid. He did: a cocker spaniel-poodle mix named Rusty.)

The only cloud of the day was Nelson Valdez sitting out with an apparent leg injury.

“He’s doing all right,” Schmid said. “It’s nothing we see as anything long-term or serious, but it’s still bothersome to him and we’ve got to see. We wanted to keep him inside again today. This Sunday is maybe too early – we’ll know more tomorrow. … When he jumped, he landed and he felt a little bit of something, but it’s nothing extreme.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Sounders enjoy dog day of April."