Good Times

I realized that I hadn't scanned in and uploaded pictures of Bess from our agility class holiday party! We had a lot of fun playing the games and Kathy, our instructor, took some great shots of everyone! Here's the group shot: Pictures really do help to liven up the posts.:0)

This morning I headed out to Sherwood for an obedience match hosted by our obedience club. I had both dogs entered in Novice. I was over all happy with where they were at. I was actually quite thrilled with Heffner's off leash heeling. It was actually better than the on leash portion and his halts are getting so much better (as long as I remember to take a few steps before halting. He doesn't stop on a dime like Bess will). We still need to work on our transitions on the figure eight, but I am in fact working on that. Now that I officially have the dogs entered in Novice at the upcoming great dane specialty in California, I have a lot of incentive to work on the little things that need more work. And just like last year, we're going to have to start practicing on grass again to make sure that we're prepared for the show site. I definitely feel a lot more prepared going into it this time now that we have some real training under our belts. Four months of training with only one month of that under an instructor was just NOT enough time to be prepared last year. Then again, I knew that going in.;0)

Adam's aunt Kathy also stopped by to watch and she brought along her vizsla puppy, Kona! He is ridiculously adorable! Totally wasn't phased by everything going on. He also wasn't phased by Heffner giving him a warning growl when he poked his nose under the privacy shade on Heffner's crate! Heffner was quite good at tolerating the puppy around his crate (he's not terribly tolerant of most dogs being around his crate, though he has gotten a lot better) for about the first half of the time we were there, then started getting a little grumpy with the spry little boy playing around his crate. I think Kona thought that Heffner just needed a hug and a friend and then he wouldn't be so grumpy any more. Heffner thought otherwise.;0) It is interesting to see Heffner moderate his response when it's a puppy that's annoying him versus an adult dog. He let it be known that he wasn't thrilled about the situation, but was content to grumble while laying down in his crate. An adult dog in the same proximity doing the same thing would have garnered more than a grumble and Heffner would have been standing up.

I also realized that there were two tidbits that I forgot to mention in my post yesterday. The first is that I received approval from the powers that be at work to do a "talent" with both dogs at our center wide talent show. It's a bigger deal than it seems since our director passed a rule last year that no dog over 30 lb. was allowed on campus, period. Not even inside someone's vehicle. Because of this rule, I had to get special approval to have them on campus and there's still a form that I have to fill out regarding it. My hopes are that the dogs will do such a fantastic dog and impress the director (who's one of the judges) that she will realise how much better behaved and trained my large dogs are than the small dogs that have been allowed, that she may rethink her decision. Not that I would be able to bring my dogs in to work with me, but there are a few times that it would be incredibly convenient to have them waiting in the truck while I take care of some stuff really quick. Anyhow, we got approval and now I'm putting together a list of things that would be entertaining for them to do and hopefully just a little bit impressive!

Bess also had her first chiropractor appointment on Friday. For me personally, I think it's beneficial to have both dogs periodically seen by a chiropractor to take care of little kinks here and there. It's a lot better than waiting until something minor becomes something major. I didn't have any majors concerns about Bess, I just wanted to make sure that while she was recovering from her chest gash last year, that she hadn't started compensating in some weird way. Thankfully she hasn't. Her right shoulder was a bit sore, but it's hard to say whether that was as a result of her romp with the elk on Thursday night or if the soreness was already there. Either way, she's doing great and will see Sandra again in two weeks to make sure that everything is still good. Then she'll just go to seeing Sandra every few months for routine maintenance, so to speak.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!