Yesterday, we had a busy Sunday, but we had time to run over to the UKI Trial at Heart Dog Agility for a few hours. How cool is this kind of dog agility? Show up at 11am, just in time for a couple runs. Some of our friends flew all the way to Minnesota for their weekend agility, we just drove up the hill and had time to get extra coffee on the way.
Ruby even got to do the tiniest, mini, teensy baby run with some jump bars on the ground and a tunnel. I hope she can still walk today, I gave her drugs. BOY was she excited. I sure wish me and Ruby could still do agility together.
Gustavo and Otterpop each had 2 runs. And I had a sandwich. In UKI, you can run around with a toy if you declare your run Not For Competition. Can you say Gustavo? I was possibly the only handler out there running around with a cardboard paper towel holder, but Gustavo thought this was a fabulous idea and had 2 awesome runs. Also, I rolled up the paper plate from the sandwich, and he gets a brand new dog toy for tomorrow. There's some agility reduce, reuse, recycle for you.
I ran Otterpop without her frisbee, sort of an experiment since it was a trial, but it was a trial where we always practice. A confusing quandary for a dog who makes the choice to sometimes run well only when practicing, and not necessarily in the show ring. We practice at Heart Dog every week and she is always one manic, loud barking irritation ball of an agility partner.
Like those balls you could fill with fabric softener and throw in the washer?
Are those real or did I just invent that?
Otterpop reminds me of them, except she's filled with irritating loud barking which secretly cracks me up and I encourage. At dog agility I encourage. What I hear right at this instant coming from the yard where I can hear the dog game that involves stage diving through the daisy bush, I am just trying to ignore.
She certainly didn't run slow, but she wasn't her loudness fastest self on her runs. She had this paranoid look slinking through the dogs to get to the startline. Not very many dogs. But more than zero. With people watching her with their EYES. Oh, Otterpop. It's supposed to be FUN! I just said you were like a thing you fill up with FABRIC SOFTENER, Otterpop. Once she made it off the startline, she warmed up and ran great. Otterpop just says no to the whole trial vibe. Maybe I should have shown her the sandwiches.
I took these pictures in the windy field on the way home. I did take pictures at the UKI, if you go on my facebook, you will find them there. Thanks, UKI Agility!
3 comments:
there is no way to see too many photos of team small dog, in my opinion
Are you allowed to play with the toy during the course or only hold it while you run? I think this would be great for my large, black shrinking violet, Zodi.
Yes, in UKI you can effectively turn a run into a fun match run and reward on the course. You can decide to do this on any run-you just declare it NFC to the scribe before you go into the ring. You can't bring food into the ring, but you can bring your toy and reward whatever you want. Brilliant!
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