Weekend Traveling

This past weekend we traveled to Columbus for a TDAA show. It was a small show - no more than 30 dogs entered. Boo and Kodi were entered in Sunday's runs, 5 in total. There were 3 standard runs and 2 games. Boo is in Superior level (the highest) and Kodi is in Beginner level. Kodi is a great dog, but lacks drive - so although he does all the obstacles, he does them at this slow pace. Boo is much better, she has good speed and is a great listener. Boo did not qualify any standard runs this weekend because of handler error. I got in her way a few times and did not make the commands known in time. TDAA courses are small, you have to be ready for tight turns and fast changes. However, Boo Q'd on both games. The first game, Helter Skelter, was basically a spiral jumpers course, full of jumps and tunnels. Boo placed 4th out of 9 dogs. Kodi did not make time. The second game was Futbol. An odd game that included 3 footballs the handler had to kick or toss through the tire. Most agility handlers have very little kicking/throwing ability so it was a rather amusing game to watch... not only that, but dogs are very prone to chase moving balls. There were several dogs who abandoned the course to chase the badly thrown ball, including both of mine. One dog actually stole the ball and hid in the tunnel to chew it. My Boo got 4th out of 7, not bad considering she wasted time chasing every ball I threw. Kodi, however, did not place because he got so excited by the ball; he ran around in a big circle and finally ran out of the ring. It was the fastest he moved all day!! Overall it was a really fun day. My parents went with me and we drove our new trailer for the first time. It is very nice to have the whole back of the car for the dogs to relax in. The trailer leaked, as it was raining the whole drive, and our chairs got wet, but that was a small price to pay. I also got to see one of my former students in her first show. They did great, I was so proud!! TDAA is my favorite venue, except my large dogs can not compete so we do not do them very much. Our next 2 shows are in March and they are CPE.

On monday I left for Washington DC to visit with my fiancée, Serge. We saw the Natural History Museum - my favorite parts were the Gems, Stones section and the Bones section. We also visited the Air and Space Museum - Serge knows a lot about the exhibits there. We walked around DC, ate dinner and just spent some time together. It was a lot of fun.