Top Dog CPE Trial Recap, March 12-13, 2011

Last weekend the dogs and I headed up to Elma, WA el caravan style with our friend Jen and a crew of dogs. Wow, a crew of dogs. We started the evening off by having a late dinner at Chevy's to ward off the traffic we would otherwise just be sitting in. We've never competed in a trial hosted by the Top Dogs before, but it seemed like a great opportunity when we could share expenses. Jen and I had fun. The trial was held at the Gray's Harbor Fairgrounds. Although it was a one ring trial, the club had rented the entire arena so crating was in the second ring. Surprisingly it was even heated inside which was nice. We got our crating areas all set up shortly around 7:30 Saturday and the club was good about promptly getting things started. Our judge was someone we had never run under before, Terry Scofield, from Michigan. Can I just say right now, his courses were great? The balance of challenge, strategy, and fun was just right. Plus, he nests his courses extremely well which means that course building is done in a breeze. I learned he runs Newfoundlands which was really cool, too.

Alright, so with five runs a day, here is how our courses laid out:

Saturday
Small > Tall
Full House Level 4, Jackpot Level 3, Standard Level 4, Snooker Level 4, Colors Level 4

Sunday
Tall > Small
Jackpot Level 4, Wildcard Level 4, Standard Level 5, Snooker Level 4, Jumpers, Level 4

First up was Full House on Saturday. My only goals were enough points under time with minimal tunnels. The run of jumps straight up the center was a perfect starting point for Miss V. We've been off agility for five weeks so having a setup like that let her warm up with a nice long run. Oh, I should mention, too, this judge used the whole ring space! There was a lot of room between obstacles letting Vegas really run. He didn't crunch his courses into 2/3 - 3/4 of the ring like we see from time to time. It was awesome! So we took the run of five jumps up through the center and arcing toward the back right. Into the tunnel, across the double, and from there I don't recall our path. We had an allotted 35 seconds. Our time was 31.68 with 30 points. We finished first place in the 24" class finishing our Level 4 Full House requirements.

Jackpot has been a game we've struggled with for a while. We seem to run out of time to get the points we need. This was a traditional Jackpot course that didn't allow us to move on to the send bonus until the buzzer sounded. Usually we struggle with those even more. Although I didn't like the tunnels for this one, it was early in the weekend and Vegas handled it just fine. Were we to complete this course successfully we would complete our Level 3 title. We needed 20 points in the opening and to complete the Jackpot for an additional 20 points. Because of the tunnels in the closing we were allotted a bit more time. SCT was 50 seconds and we were done in 41.27. My plan was to take Vegas up the center again like our Full House run. The footing was a little loose and with such a stretch between jumps Vegas wasn't reading me as well to go ahead. We almost had a collision right near jump three as she turned back toward me. It caused us to miss out on the first jump in the two-part combo. We kept moving and arced back to the a-frame. I sent her over the jump following the a-frame, wrapped her around, and took her back over the a-frame. From there we hit the five-point combo, the double, and then wrapped around and took the weaves. I sent her through the second set of weaves and ended up going over the jump at the end and moving into the Jackpot send. She handled it with flying colors and I knew we'd Q'd. Another blue ribbon with 44 points. Go Vegas! Finally that Level 3 title! The Top Dogs had completed title ribbons, too. They were similar to the green qualifying ones but with two more ribbons hanging down plus they were imprinted in gold with Qualifying Title Completed.

Success on this Standard course meant we got to move up to Level 5 on Sunday. Our SCT was 53. The first handling decision I had to think through was where to be for the weave entrance. Did I try to make a front cross at #6 or did I rear cross into the weaves for #8? I did the latter; it just made more sense for Vegas. She took them without hardly batting an eye - pretty typical for six poles, but nothing to take for granted. I was a little late and also ahead of her and just plain out of position to rear cross at #11 - at least where I wanted - so I believe I just came around #11 on the left side and rear-crossed into the #12. I have to say, I was very proud of Vegas for sticking her a-frame contacts, too, this last weekend. I intentionally chose them where I could to work them and she's really responding. We've always had a running contact but sometimes her stride gets off or she leaps and sometimes that's all it takes for "game over." Our running time was 47.75. We qualified and finished second place. Whoohoo - two titles complete!

Next up was Snooker Level 4. I watched a good portion of the shorter dogs run and they had a really good plan taking the red on the far right into the tunnel #6, over the red, through #5, taking the red just out of it and then taking the tire twice to finish the opening and start the closing. However, tunnels are rarely something I choose when there are alternatives for Vegas. While I wanted to try to get all 7s if I could, it was also a little more doable to avoid the tunnels and have a hope for enough points. See below for my chosen path.

I mentioned Vegas did well with weaves thus far. We had only seen sets of six poles, but she took them without a blip. What happened here was just one of those snooker things. It happens sometimes. We got out of sync, probably because she was still gung ho for the day and I was out of position. We ended up fighting about the weave poles the first time. The first time I can accept as my fault but the second time was definitely her. I'm not sure if she decided to be a looky-loo or what but it was a fight to get through them which cost us time. Finally through them Vegas made an awesome run from the weaves to the tire and took it at amazing speed at a slight angle and dove into the tunnel. We ran for all we were worth but we'd lost too much time. Game time was 45 seconds. We were at 51.74 by the time we reached the table and had just 28 points, four points shy of a Q.

Our last run of the day was Colors. I love Colors - partially because it's a shorter course so runs quick.

My choice in mapping a course was either two tunnels or three. Of course I chose two which meant the circle course. We had 30 seconds to run it and were finished, clean, in 25.49. Second place and our third Level 4 Colors leg.

We headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit and I was able to feed Vegas which made her enormously happy. Jen, Nina, and I headed to Joseppi's, a local Italian and pizza joint I'd enjoyed on my December trip to Elma. Due to the rain, Vegas' bed, coat, and a blanket were pretty nasty so when we got back to the hotel I started a load of laundry. Unfortunately I was exhausted and had to stay awake waiting on it to be done. It ended up being way too late of a night for a trial and I was sure feeling it Sunday.

Sunday we got another shot at Jackpot, which was cool since we're a little behind on that game. This time it was a non-traditional course. We both didn't have to wait for the buzzer to do the Jackpot but we also got to make up our course Jackpot. Anything completed with the dog inside the lines and the handler on the outside was worth double the point value. Any obstacle could be completed twice for points.

Interestingly enough, we had run a Jackpot like this during league last year. The following is the course I plotted for us.

It worked out fairly well although even with two tries I couldn't get Vegas to take the weaves and stick them. We finished with 48 points in 46.01 seconds, another blue and our first Level 4 leg. Woot!

Next up, Wildcard. We needed two Bs and an A. I had chosen 2b, 4b, and 7a. Unfortunately Vegas had other plans and I didn't fight it when it seemed inevitable. She took 4a which meant we had to nail 7b. It just meant two tunnels when she could have had just one. Oh well. We qualified for another blue and our third Level 4 leg in 21.29 seconds. Way to go, Vegas!

Standard was up next.

I think this is the first time I've seen a Standard course without a dog walk. It meant we saw the a-frame twice - no problem by me! The hardest part about this course was the full 12 weaves. I fought Vegas the whole way. She really wanted to pull out. We made it but I could just feel the strain as we made our way through. I guess that's the detriment to having sets of six poles all weekend to that point. The end was a little tricky too with some obstacle discrimination and a slight push out to the tunnel, albeit not as bad as I'd thought. Our time was 44.47 on a 55 second course. Red.

Our path below.

We were a little slow through the red > 6 > red > 6 loop up top, but we made it and drove into the tunnel. We got as far as #4 and were part way through #5 when time was called. With five seconds to the table, we made tracks finishing in 50.82 with 32 points. Just enough but we did it. We now get to move up to Level 5 Snooker. Yahoo!!!

Last game of the weekend - Jumpers.

This is probably the only course all weekend I was really disappointed in. Jumpers is almost always the last of the weekend, certainly the last of the day, and it's almost always tunnel heavy. This was no exception with four tunnels, all but one fairly lengthy. Poor Vegas. She's such a trooper though and we pulled it off, barely. I slacked on my handling after the last tunnel and we passed by the #12 jump. I brought her back around and we managed to take it correctly without an off course. Our time was 36.91 with 40 seconds allowed overall. We were second and our friends, Lori and Averna, took first. You can see the video her husband was kind enough to take here.

We got loaded up at that point but stuck around to see if the club needed help working the remainder of the class and to get our scores. The higher levels ran the very last class of the day so from there it was time to head home. I had a stop in Castle Rock at my dad's house plus to grab a bite to eat along the way. Vegas got a dry cheeseburger from Burgerville, too, to tide her over until we got home and she could have a full dinner. Unfortunately it was a super late night and led into a crazy week, hence the extremely late blog. Here's how tired Vegas was...

And tomorrow we start the first day of a three-day AKC trial. I am so excited! Vegas is snoozing away on the bed and that's where I'm headed. The truck is loaded and we're ready to get up and get at em' in the morning. Hoping for some clean runs and a lot of fun.

Nose Work Week 5

Tonight was Vegas' nose work class. Hard to believe this session is almost over. We worked three finds tonight. The first was off leash in the workout area at the armory. One hide was in the entrance area but very low, under the lockers. Another was up about three feet on an upright post of a bench press, and the third was about the same height but on the flat surface of another piece of gym equipment. As we began the search we were to hang back in the entrance to encourage the dogs not to just enter the room. Since a hide could be in the entrance, it's important for the dog to recognize what we, as handlers do, with each search. By hanging back it encourages the dog not to barrel into the room and possibly miss odor at the entrance. Interestingly enough, Vegas picked up odor at the entrance right away but she didn't stick with it. She moved on and then picked up the second odor on the bench press almost immediately - and again, didn't stick with it. After giving a passing interest and greeting to some of the other handlers in class, she pretty much cruised right to the third hide and got her reward.

Our instructor has this little carrying basket with eight cups to put each of our treats in so she has them handy to pair with the odor. During this search she put it on top of a ladder at the far corner of the workout room - no where near the hides. After getting the first hide, Vegas went around that large, central piece of gym equipment and almost beelined for the ladder. She and another dog clearly smell food when present. It took more than once to call her off that, to "leave it," and proceed with her search. In her mind, she had obviously found source!

She then fairly quickly made her way back to the front of the room and identified the first two odors she had not "stuck" with before.

Our next search was in an office area, again three hides, and we worked off-leash. Last week and this week we've worked higher up hides and lower ones and have been learning to watch the dog's head tilt particularly when they are searching down low or under things. This one wasn't too hard for Vegas either and she found the one hidden under a table first. From there she quickly turned around and nailed the one hidden under the old-fashioned heat register (the kind that is about two and a half feet tall, shallow, along walls/windows). Her final hide was in close proximity to the first two but up higher on a copy machine.

Our last search of the evening was another box drill but this time in lines. We had set up two lines of seven boxes each. I didn't know which one contained odor and this exercise was unpaired. Vegas seemed to jump right in at first and was searching the boxes but, right near the end of the first line, she suddenly became disinterested in the boxes and seemed to start to shut down. It took some doing but I got her back and, after a couple of passes on the lines, she found the source and my "alert" was correct.

All in all a good class - we skip next week since our instructor has her hands full with the trial the following weekend but we'll finish the class the following and then take a week or two off.

An off day?

After work tonight I rushed home to pick up Vegas. Then we headed over to the park just a half dozen blocks from our house to meet Pam, Jewel, and Gigi. With harnesses, long line, gloves galore, flags, and treats in tow, I started laying track as Pam arrived. Jewel ran through three tracks in quick succession and then it was Vegas' turn. I'm not sure what was up with Vegas but I can say this: tracking sure triggers her potty response. She had already peed before we got started on her first track and she proceeded to pee, poop, then pee again before we were done. She seemed to really be disinterested and it literally felt like I had to prod every step out of her on top of cheering her on like a stuck record. I hope it was just "a day" and not indicative of a lack of interest in tracking.

Late Weekend Recap

A lot going on and never enough time, like usual. Saturday I was completely lazy. The kids went to their dad's house Friday night and I stayed up way too late getting stuff done and dinking around, too, online, then reading a book. Saturday had been up in the air with so many possibilities - perhaps that's why I didn't do anything. Too many choices!

One idea had been to go to the mountain again. Mt. Hood has gotten dumped on, literally, in the last couple of weeks with tons of fresh powder. With a crazy hectic agility weekend schedule coming up in the next months, this might have been one of the last opportunities to go. For instance, as I write this, the snow report for Timberline Lodge shows 12" having been received in the last 72 hours with a 148" top and base. Fantabulous!

I had also been kicking around running over to the ASCA trial being held in Yamhill, OR to get a couple of runs in since we've been out for five weeks. I figured it'd be a good chance to get Vegas some exercise, fun to try a new venue and see who all is there, and possibly use it to start desensitizing Leo to the environment plus expose him to a new venue to work in.

Another possibility I had considered for Saturday was the Portland Saturday Market. This weekend was their kickoff for the year and we hadn't gone much last year. Saturday was supposed to be dry and I figured, good for a nice, long walk with the dogs.

Well, that didn't happen. I finally got up and about and did a few chores. Just before 6 o'clock Vegas and I headed out to the barn for drill team practice. We were missing our favorite furry dog, Wally, and our choreographer but the time was well spent. We ran through the first 20ish counts several times then worked out some ideas for areas we didn't have a plan for yet. For a couple of novices as far as choreography goes, I think we did well planning it and going through the motions to try to see what would work. I'm excited to think of where we might be in a few months and a bit more consistent practice. Should be a blast and really cool to see our crew work together - two Danes, a Corgi, and a Tibetan Mastiff.

After going home I was up too late again getting some things done and then Sunday morning we went tracking again at Champoeg Park, this time with our friends Pam and Jewel, too. We met at 9 o'clock and began with me laying a track for Beth's Orra. This time she had me lay 75 stride legs. Interestingly, the area we were in was right in the midst of the Frisbee golf area that a bunch of guys were starting at. Beth was totally cool with that; she said Orra could handle the cross-tracks. And, of course, this would give it time to age.

Then we were off to the other side of the parking lot to get started for us newbies. Beth laid tracks for Vegas first. The first one was a 5, 10, 20. Vegas did well and seemed to get working a bit easier - after she had a potty break. Not sure what it is about tracking and pottying, but she seems to need to go every time. Our second and final track was longer. Beth laid a 10, 20, 40 and it was significantly more difficult for Vegas on the 40 stride leg. Enough so that we figured not to make it "not fun" by calling it quits then.

After Leo had a chance and then Pam's two dogs, Jewel and Gigi, we chatted a bit and went our separate ways. I loaded the dogs and headed over to the other end of the park for a hike. We spent right around two hours out meandering around, exploring, going off-trail a bit, and then doing some distance recalls. It was a glorious day and the dogs had a ball.

Dirty feet

Geese nesting

So we wandered toward this water because there was an incredible sound of frogs. I would have expected to see thousands of them from all the noise. Would you believe we didn't see a single frog? 

Vegas displayed a unique talent, too, in the last 3/4 mile or so of our hike Sunday. She "spooked" at one point and before I knew what it was, I egged her on like usual with a "Get it, Vegas." She started to but was still slightly spooked and had a guarded stance. As I neared where she was standing and saw what she had her eye on, I was glad she hadn't taken me up on it. She found a snake that was easily three feet long, although skinny. Fortunately he was slithering back into the underbrush, presumably having been out sunning himself as the day was warming. 

Not 100 yards up the trail, we encountered another snake, this one different than the first, and smaller at around two feet in length. It took its time but did make its way into the brush, too. At the same time a woman and her three young daughters came along and I pointed out the snake. They pointed out yet another!

All three snakes were different which leads me to believe I need to do a little bit of homework on what they were. I'm accustomed to garter snakes and even yellow racers, but these three were none of the above as far as I know. We don't have poisonous snakes near us that I am aware, but with my luck and Vegas' sensitivities, if she were bit we might have a problem. So once I figure out what the snakes are I'll report back. 

And that wraps up our weekend. Things were pretty low key later last night after the boys came home as we all prepared for the week ahead. Tonight was pretty simple. Vegas and I just played hide and go seek a few times and it was interesting to hide in places I could catch glimpses of her searching. She's 'quite through but it wasn't as easy as I expected for her even though our house is small. A fun indoor activity that engages her mind. 

Nose Work Week 4

Yay for nose work Wednesdays! Seriously, I was excited about going to class tonight since yesterday morning. I think I need the structure of a class and the challenge and involvement of learning something new aside from agility. Not that I'm not still a crazy agility addict, but I think I just need to keep learning more training stuff. So tonight was crazy to start. I got off work and went home after an uber quick stop at the grocery. Unloaded everything and grabbed Vegas' and my stuff and hit the road at 18 minutes until class time. Ugg! And then we had every slow poke in the world in front of all but about a mile or so in the middle. I hate being late so was all stressed about getting there. And then our teacher wasn't there. And wasn't there. And wasn't there. Until Andrea called. Ooops! She's super busy with classes and organizing a nose work trial for later in the month that she mixed up our class times and thought we started at 6:30. Fortunately she lives just a quick moment away so showed up and we got started.

Our first exercise was four finds along a bank of lockers. The purpose of the exercise was to teach the dogs to work vertically. One of the hides was even in a locker and the dogs had to pick up the odor through the vents on the locker door! At the far left end one was under the lockers on the floor. Then about a half dozen or 10 lockers in there was a hide on the face of the locker about 30" up or so. Midway down the bank of lockers was the hide inside the locker. And finally, down toward the far right was the final hide, also on the face and up a bit higher.

We were to start at one end and work the dogs up and down. Shelley said they may make three, four, or five passes the length and completely miss some. The one that was the easiest for all the dogs was the one on the far left end on the floor. It was at a corner and as they rounded the corner they picked up odor and it drew them right to it. Vegas got that one right away, and her next was the one inside. It took a few passes and a bit of me holding her back to that region but she nailed it. From there I felt like I was losing her a bit. She seemed very distracted and like the lockers were a really boring place to work. I had to keep telling her "find it" and she would turn around to work and then almost as quickly turn away from the lockers and or look at me. Shelley kept making motions to "move" the air currents and draw Vegas into the search and they would work and then she would mentally drift off again. By the final hide of this exercise, I started praising her as she was actually sniffing and it seemed to help her stay focused. I chatted briefly with Shelley about it and she suggested that before I make a concerted effort to use verbal praise to instead simply set her up for success by doing some simple, repetitive and slightly varied exercises where she can be successful and she'll start to click with it more. I think right now she's not finding success as easily so wants to shut down and searching on a flat metal surface, especially like the bank of lockers, is difficult.

Our second exercise was upstairs in the conference room. There were two hides. One was of relative difficult and something we hadn't tried yet, at least not something with such precision necessary. The odor was hidden underneath your typical wheeled office chair, but the spot it was situated was in this slightly recessed place underneath in the center of the chair. Plus, for Vegas, it's such a low spot. The other hide was in a desk tucked on the keyboard tray area. She actually got that hide first as she beelined through the room and made a quick half loop around the tables and came back right at it. The chair one wasn't as difficult for her as I would have thought. In fact, she seemed to hone right in on the chairs around the one with the hide and was sniffing them thoroughly all over the arms, etc. Interestingly, I think she was more engaged because she was off leash. There's something about being on leash that shuts them down a bit sometimes and we'll have to work that one out.

Our final search of the night was just a box drill similar to what would be used for the ORT (odor recognition test). There's a test coming up soon and several students in the class are taking it so we've been prepping a bit each week. I didn't know what box the odor was in when we started out. The boxes were set up in a circular, horseshoe pattern. When I sent Vegas on her search, she headed left immediately just like the rest of the dogs had. She almost immediately just followed the curve, barely giving notice to any of the boxes. She made it to the seventh or eighth box before she gave any notice then she ignored it, moved on, then turned around and headed back where we'd come from. Just as I was starting to think she had no hope yet with this exercise (like last week), she homed in on a box and flattened it. Bingo! She got it!

And that was class. On a side note, we often stop on the way home from nose work class Wednesdays at the post office. Tonight was no exception and for some reason the dogs always like to go in. Of course by almost 9 pm, the post office was deserted. So in we go and Vegas is just delighted to be there. She's so funny. Perhaps its just the novelty of going into a place other than our home.

Lazy Days

This wraps up one of, if the the, laziest weekends I've ever spent. I'm working on getting over cold #2 of the season and this one has struck my lungs and caused a horrendous cough that's making life no fun. Like usual, the dogs wouldn't let me get away with sleeping in without getting up to put them out around their normal time so both days saw me up and letting them out and serving breakfast around 7 am. From there it was back to bed and restless dogs that clearly needed to get out and do something. I'd had hopes to try to get out yesterday as today was supposed to bring rain and, while very cold, yesterday was to be dry. I just couldn't do it. By today, not doing something wasn't an option. The natives were restless.

We made it to the big park in town around 10:30. This time I wore shoes that were waterproof so I wouldn't feel miserable and be forced to cut our outing short. I decided the dogs and I would get some tracking practice in first. We had originally planned on going out with our friends, Beth and Orra, again but I hadn't felt up to the drive and the extra hour early - and honestly hadn't planned to leave the house at all today. As we all know, plans they do change. The first track I laid was for Leo. We're still working on 5-10-15s in a straight line. I got him out and started to work. He was having a really hard time. He charged to the first article and then just went veering off in a long arc between 5 and 10. I'm still speculating how much of that was goofiness and how much of it was my fault. I remember reading that you should track into the wind. We finished our first track with more than a little help from me, and I laid another track for Vegas. This time I tried to lay it into the wind. She seemed rather clueless and I, more than once, considered letting the dogs romp first and track second. They were both excited and distracted - mostly because we haven't been out of the house as much as they are used to and we hadn't been to the park in quite some time. She, too, required a bit of paw holding for our first track but we got through it.

I put her back in the truck and got Leo out. I had him work her track, all freshly double-laid again. Wouldn't you know it, the little stinker sighted in on every article and basically sight-tracked the thing. Obviously a much quicker method but not our ultimate goal.

Leo put away and third track laid. This time I changed direction again - because the wind did! Boy was this getting complicated. I swapped Leo for Vegas and got to work. She was a bit difficult again and I despaired of her "getting" it. And then she did what I so thoroughly enjoy watching her do in nose work class - she put her nose down, her tail up, and she got to work. For the third stretch from 10-15, she worked beautifully. Yay Vegas!

Of course her time out was over too quick and I put her away to lay Leo's third track. I'm excited to say that he, too, "got" it this time on the third leg. I have to tell a secret though.... I got a little craftier this time around. Last week when picking up the kids from their dad I was wandering Fred Meyer and noticed they had gloves and other winter wear on clearance plus 70% off. I snagged four pair of stretchy knit gloves in forest green and brown. Can you get where I'm going with this one...? You got it. Less ability to site in on the article. Aha! Foiled that little Leo for sure. :) I'd be wearing a pair of green ones with the intention of using them but hoped to get my scent on them first. After his little sighting game of tracking I decided I needed to switch gears. I had been using a white sock and a pair of black and orange leather gloves but they are readily visible on the grass. The green gloves - not so much. His third track was much better!!!

I know by the time I laid Vegas' third track I had spent a lot more time laying track than I had working the dogs but I guess that's just how tracking goes. It was very exciting to see her work it more the third time. We struggled greatly with the wind today, but we had some positive results and I'm learning. That is the exciting part - seeing success and not having my dogs shut down like they lack interest. Leo is sometimes a little too fun-loving and enthusiastic but I won't dampen that. His love of life and his happy spirit are what makes me enjoy and adore him so much. Vegas even when she wasn't working was looking to me for direction. She wasn't shutting down; she just doesn't get it yet. This tells me we need to continue to take it slow but they will find success and ultimately, they will enjoy the work, I believe. Another really cool thing is they're both working out on the line when we get going, too. I just have to remember to hang back and let them work at a distance - something we're so not accustomed to yet.

After we were done with our tracks and everything was picked up, the dogs' harnesses removed, and the truck locked up, we headed over to the dog park for a few. There was only one dog in the large off leash area and two Dobermans in the smaller fenced area. Not sure why they couldn't be out with the rest but it made for pretty boring times and we started to head to the top of the park to instead venture into the woods. A lady came in with her Golden Retriever and Vegas and he took to each other for a few, romping and running. It did my heart good to see her play like that; it's such a rare thing. She really enjoyed playing chase with him and then the cat and mouse of pouncing at each other and whatnot. Shortly thereafter we did head into the woods, an adventure the dogs both adore, and here's a pictorial of our time there.

I'm not sure what this is all about. The last time we wandered the woods it wasn't there. I'm quite certain its man-made...

 Such a good girl, she climbed up here and waited for me to take a picture and give the release command.

 Looking out at the Willamette.

 The city parks department has been at work. This is new, too.

As soon as we got out of the woods and up to the grassy area of the park, Vegas cut loose and did several large, looping laps. She was so silly.

 The stick she wouldn't retrieve behind her.

 The Leo sized stick she did retrieve, and ran around with for a while.

We were home by noon and spent the rest of the day blissfully lazing about, alternating between snoozing and reading a book. The fresh air and romping did the dogs good although Vegas still had a bit of the zoomies tonight with her toy.

And that's that. A weekend under wraps already and heading into a Monday at the start of a very busy week. I'm trying to make up week 6 of the foundation agility class I am teaching by teaching tomorrow night since Leo's session is over and the barn is free. Then Wednesday would be a triple header if I could be in three places at once. Instead of going to the Willamette Valley Great Dane Club meeting or the Sherwood Dog Training Club meeting, we'll be at our fourth week of nose work class. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Tuesday evening I'm going to try to get some tracking practice in unless it's too darn wet and maybe, too, work on some nose work and ball exercises with the dogs. With such a long stretch between agility trials I feel like I need to get "on the ball" to keep Vegas limber and moving. Hope y'all have a great week!