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August 30, 2021: The Dog and Pony Show Continues

Third day in a row of sunshine after a near month of rain. Everyone seems to be out and about. Alaska is becoming a highly populated state. The only thing we have to fear here is earthquakes.

I didn’t get to do a lot of horse agility practice this past month because of the inclement weather. Nor did I get to do much dog agility practice this past month for the same reason. The horses – neither Pete nor I knew if we were going to be able to video Raudi, Hrimmi, and Tyra. I thought not. Today was our one window of opportunity, for rain in is in the forecast for tomorrow.


Shadow coming down the dog walk


The fact that this month was a difficult course added to my woes. But after breakfast, Pete and I gave it a go. First, I put Hrimmi through her paces. It took a few takes, but we got a decent round on the photo card. I next did the same with Tyra. Pete said that the line was too tight in the first video (you lose points for this), so we attempted to make another video. It didn’t go well, so we tried to do another after it. Tyra just wanted to jones for treats. So I put her back and we got Raudi out. I figured that Raudi (who sometimes just doesn’t give a damn about doing obstacle work) would be a slacker, but she went right through the course, near perfectly. I think she wanted to get back to eating her hay.

That was all the morning time we had for this sort of thing, so we next headed to dog agility class. It was the final one in the series of six. We arrived at Claudia Sihler’s place and saw that a course consisting of about a dozen obstacles had been set up. Claudia first had Francine, Liam, and Pete, the three handlers, walk the course. They conferred as they did this.

Liam and Cody, his beagle mix, went first and had a near-perfect round. Pete and Shadow, his Aussie, went second and had a near-perfect round. Francine and Cally, her Burmese Poodle cross, did make it over a few of the obstacles. Claudia then had her students do portions of the course in sections; this is called back chaining. All did well. Shadow’s weak link is the weave poles – we haven’t practiced them, but amazingly, she got the idea.

The three then did the course in its entirety again. Oddly enough, Cody and Shadow did better in the first go around. Shadow seemed to me to be a trifle disinterested in agility today – could have been the heat. I am going to work with her using treats and toys.

When, finally, we were both home (today was a book sorting day for me), Pete and I again did agility with Tyra. It was a struggle. I wasn’t as patient as I ought to have been. Tonight we looked at the videos, all are good. The video we submitted of Tyra was the first one we made, in the morning. Imagine that.

Yep, today was the ultimate dog and pony show.

Next: 240. 8/31/21: Small Things are Big Things

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