Here we go!

Tonight Bess and I are travelling up to Sammammish, WA to stay at a friends for a dog show in Monroe, WA this weekend! It's going to be a major in bitches as long as everyone shows up. Therefore, today has been pretty laid back. I took the dogs on an easy hike this morning. Fridays are now our normal hiking days, so they were expecting to go some where.;o) Because it was raining (typical Pacific Northwest fair for this time of year, and I have to admit that I enjoy it) and a little chilly out, I brought coats along for the dogs. Originally I was planning on hitting one of our favorite spots along the highway on the way to the coast. As I was driving, I got to thinking about my time constraints for today and getting ready to leave tonight for the show and realized that the original plan wasn't a good one. That trail is really better for times when I don't have a list of things to get done in a relatively limited amount of time.:) So I decided to go hit up Linear Park instead! It's a nice easy trail with plenty of spots that the dogs can go off and do their own thing. However, the coats that I packed for them were a bit heavier than absolutely necessary for this trail. It ended up working out alright, but I would have preferred a lighter rain coat than the ones that I brought (one of these days I'll do a post on the break down of the different coats I have for the dogs and what conditions I use them for. I know, the more blog posts I write, the more my dog related OCD comes through!!). At any rate, the dogs had a good ole time! The jaunt only lasted about two hours, but I think it worked out well for them. I took just a few pictures to spice up this post.;)



Since Bess and I are heading out tonight, we're going to miss another week of agility league.:( I'm especially bummed because our agility instructor is out of town at the USDAA nationals (I think that's what it is) this week and we havne't had any practice. I was able to filch a little barn time from someone else at a different barn last night with Bess, but that wasn't a whole lot. We need our agility fix!LOL I guess that's just what happens when my schedule is so all over the place!


On the up side, it sounds like we're going to get to go visit some 1 week old great dane puppies on Sat. night!! I'm soooooooo excited!!! Mercerwood Great Danes had a litter born on the 7th and they look so stinking cute!


So keep your fingers crossed that Bess and I can pull off that Winners Bitch spot at least one of the days!! That would knock off her other required major and then we'd just have four singles left after that!


My Doggy Appreciation Though of the Day (DATD) goes out to my Bessy Boo! My girl has got some rock solid stays! Under distractions of other dogs and in different locations? Check! At a distance? Check! At trials? Check! She likes to chase and she loves the opportunity to go from zero to crazy speed in no time flat, so I started working with her on her stays at a distance in combination with her recalls as a way to improve these areas and to also burn off some of her energy. Once we did it a few times, she totally caught on and thought it was the best game ever! Initially she would get some serious zoomies, but her stays were always rock solid!