Dogs Dogs Dogs
Lately all I've wanted to do is train. I'm still so so heartbroken over the loss of DDS. That space was amazing and I wouldn't have given it up for any sum of money the world had to offer. Still, I can't change what happened. What an awful time to close, too. With all the bitter coldness and snow outside training is hardly an option except for class with Ven once a week and downtime training between working at a friend's space. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic place, but is about a third the size of DDS, so it's harder to set up your own thing without disrupting the course set up for class.
I just want to do agility. Ven is rapidly gaining skill and we seem to be figuring out what we're doing as a team. It's a great feeling but I also have no idea how to handle such a dog. He's so vastly different than Kai that I'm still finding holes in our handling rules that I didn't even know could exist.
Ava's doing really well considering that I've been down most of the time I've had her here in CO. She generalizes equipment like a freaking pro, has no fear of strange equipment or atmospheres, walks right up to people for butt scratches but pays such close attention. The goal right now is to figure out how to get her to weave, which I think will be fixed soon. I bought some snow-markers to put PVC over and stick in the ground to make faux-channels. Hopefully we can get her weaving 6 almost-closed ones so I can switch to 2x2 bases and open up the channels again. I'm also going to experiment with long sequences of 15 or so obstacles, mostly to see if she's ready for a run in Starters Jumpers. If not, I'll scratch her but again with the loss of DDS, we don't have very many places to train with adequate space. Maybe I should join a club, see if they have secret drop-ins that I don't know about....
Kai's still on an agility break. I can't remember if I mentioned considering retiring her in the previous post, but it's been on my mind. She seems to be injured alot and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth having her get hurt over and over again. They're minor injuries, but can be chronic and makes me feel uneasy. She's slowly getting to come walk with us again, which is nice. I've forgotten how lovely of a recall she can have when we're hiking. (which is funny because she seemed to have no recall in Texas)
I'll finish this post off with a photo, since I never really know how to bring these to a close.
Dog.
