Randomness!
I haven't been updated recently about training or exercising with Faith, but we've been pretty busy this week. I'm always kind of superstitious about the week before a Big Event (in this case, our agility trial) because I don't want to be able to say, "If only I'd done a better job with Faith beforehand, we would have done better!" If Faith gets uncontrollable zoomies this weekend, it's not going to be because she didn't get enough brain or body exercise.
We had agility class on Monday, which went quite well. The worst part about that was that for the first time ever, we ended the class with walking a course and only the promise that we'd get to run it next time. How unsatisfying!
On Tuesday I spent hours clipping Faith. She's now completely clipped for the trial, although I might end up doing her face one more time because I am anal like that.
Poodle-owning is not for the faint of heart.
More destruction:
On Wednesday we went to flyball class as usual, and Joey came along, too. Yet again I must blather on about how great Joey was. The Bichon, Rascal, fell madly in love with Joey the first time he saw him. Rascal refused to do the jump practice part of class because he would leave Laura's arms and make a beeline for Joey instead of going over the jumps to his calling owner. So Laura decided to use Rascal's infatuation to his advantage and stationed Joey and me at the end of the four jumps. Rascal shot down the lane when Laura released him over all four jumps, his beady eyes fixed on Joey! In addition to being Rascal's incentive, Joey did a very good job himself. He's now up to three jumps, and he did good box work with a squishy ball and everything. Faith was also great, but she's less exciting because we just did the same thing that we did last week (although she was still very successful).
Today I skipped Data and Algorithm Analysis to take Faith and Joey to the park. It was slightly too windy, and when the wind blew it was cold, but otherwise the weather was great--sunny and warm. We were the only ones in the park for most of the time we were there, but that was fine with me because otherwise I have to keep an eye on Joey. Occasionally he decides dogs need humping. They ran around and around while I sat in a lawn chair and threw their toys.
They have a game where they each carry the frisbee while they trot along.
Sometimes Faith tries to play this game with another dog, but the other dog never gets it.
Faith and I also went to Petsmart this evening after my lab for some obedience practice. There were some annoying people there. One was a lady with a terrier thing who wanted to eat all the dogs in his vicinity, and of course she had him on an unlocked flexi-lead. He kept lunging and snarling at dogs walking by (including Faith, who did not appreciate it). The second lady was not really an idiot in the same way, but she accidentally dropped the leash to her Westie as Faith and I were walking by, and the Westie came running after Faith. "He won't bite!" she assured me, and I actually had the presence of mind to say, "SHE might!" Faith probably wouldn't really bite, but she might snap her teeth when she's on a leash. Plus, it just annoys me when people think that just because THEIR dog is friendly, it's okay to let them visit. Faith was very good about the Westie, though. She wasn't scared, and she put her attention right back to me once the lady got her Westie's nose off Faith's butt.
Tomorrow my parents and Kiwi are coming into town, so I and maybe Kristen will meet them at the park so Kiwi can run. Before that I might go over to Jan's to just do a little bit of agility practice, and I also might drive to the agility trial site to make sure I know where it is. Then Faith will get a bath tomorrow evening.
Last night my nervous dreams started in earnest! I was having bizarre agility trial experiences all night long. I've had the night of weird dreams before our first couple of flyball tournaments and rally trials, but I think three nights in advance is a bit much!
Faith loves Joey so much.... She will lie next to him and lick his face for a very long time. He doesn't seem to either enjoy it or dislike it. Personally I would rather not have a large pink tongue in my eye.
We had agility class on Monday, which went quite well. The worst part about that was that for the first time ever, we ended the class with walking a course and only the promise that we'd get to run it next time. How unsatisfying!
On Tuesday I spent hours clipping Faith. She's now completely clipped for the trial, although I might end up doing her face one more time because I am anal like that.
Poodle-owning is not for the faint of heart.
More destruction:
On Wednesday we went to flyball class as usual, and Joey came along, too. Yet again I must blather on about how great Joey was. The Bichon, Rascal, fell madly in love with Joey the first time he saw him. Rascal refused to do the jump practice part of class because he would leave Laura's arms and make a beeline for Joey instead of going over the jumps to his calling owner. So Laura decided to use Rascal's infatuation to his advantage and stationed Joey and me at the end of the four jumps. Rascal shot down the lane when Laura released him over all four jumps, his beady eyes fixed on Joey! In addition to being Rascal's incentive, Joey did a very good job himself. He's now up to three jumps, and he did good box work with a squishy ball and everything. Faith was also great, but she's less exciting because we just did the same thing that we did last week (although she was still very successful).
Today I skipped Data and Algorithm Analysis to take Faith and Joey to the park. It was slightly too windy, and when the wind blew it was cold, but otherwise the weather was great--sunny and warm. We were the only ones in the park for most of the time we were there, but that was fine with me because otherwise I have to keep an eye on Joey. Occasionally he decides dogs need humping. They ran around and around while I sat in a lawn chair and threw their toys.
They have a game where they each carry the frisbee while they trot along.
Sometimes Faith tries to play this game with another dog, but the other dog never gets it.
Faith and I also went to Petsmart this evening after my lab for some obedience practice. There were some annoying people there. One was a lady with a terrier thing who wanted to eat all the dogs in his vicinity, and of course she had him on an unlocked flexi-lead. He kept lunging and snarling at dogs walking by (including Faith, who did not appreciate it). The second lady was not really an idiot in the same way, but she accidentally dropped the leash to her Westie as Faith and I were walking by, and the Westie came running after Faith. "He won't bite!" she assured me, and I actually had the presence of mind to say, "SHE might!" Faith probably wouldn't really bite, but she might snap her teeth when she's on a leash. Plus, it just annoys me when people think that just because THEIR dog is friendly, it's okay to let them visit. Faith was very good about the Westie, though. She wasn't scared, and she put her attention right back to me once the lady got her Westie's nose off Faith's butt.
Tomorrow my parents and Kiwi are coming into town, so I and maybe Kristen will meet them at the park so Kiwi can run. Before that I might go over to Jan's to just do a little bit of agility practice, and I also might drive to the agility trial site to make sure I know where it is. Then Faith will get a bath tomorrow evening.
Last night my nervous dreams started in earnest! I was having bizarre agility trial experiences all night long. I've had the night of weird dreams before our first couple of flyball tournaments and rally trials, but I think three nights in advance is a bit much!
Faith loves Joey so much.... She will lie next to him and lick his face for a very long time. He doesn't seem to either enjoy it or dislike it. Personally I would rather not have a large pink tongue in my eye.