Tuesday night agility is awesome!!! Steeler is now running with Solo the briard in the ring. Steeler hasn't even looked at him with any intensity in the last two weeks. And this week he did the dog walk with Solo about 8 feet away and in his line of sight. He didn't quite meet my 2 on 2 off criteria - and he kept glancing at Solo - but he didn't bail off the dog walk and he might have been looking at Solo because I was glancing at him to keep track of what they were doing. Last nights course was a lot of fun ... and had some hard parts for Steeler. And it was still raining and misty - so I was thrilled with Steeler's attention and desire to play in the rain. He is not a dog that enjoys being wet! LOL - he did earn his nickname of "sissy boy" a few years ago as his grandma will remember. Last night he did the A frame at almost full height and was able to hold onto his contacts a couple of times. When he didn't - he was clearly thinking about it and knew that he was supposed to stop. Yippee! I think full speed at a trial is going to be interesting the first time out, but we shall see. He is really starting to put things together and I think I better start a sprinting program! He is "border collie" fast!
Last weekend we went to Maine Friday and Saturday to hang out with friends at the agility trial in Cumberland. On Friday there was a match after the show, and we were pretty much looking like drowned rats by then. I had signed Steeler up for 4 runs, but only did 2 of them. The weather was just miserable! I didn't really feel like I got a lot of agility out of our runs - but he stayed with me and he played tug with me in the ring! So all things considered I feel that it was a successful afternoon for us. He handled Sara running under the easy up with Carina before I even saw them coming with no issues at all. Steeler knows Carina - but only see's her a couple of times a year so I was thrilled that Carina could run into his space and he didn't care one bit. We had a bit of a growly moment with Axl the GSD - but I think I caused that by tightening up on the leash and pulling him back. Later that weekend he was fine with Axl hanging out within 6 or 8 feet. After the match we drove back to Dawn's, picking up dinner along the way. Of course once we were on our way home the rain stopped and the sun came out a bit. After drying out - Steeler got to play with Aura, Dawn's sweet little liver girl. Aura warmed up to Steeler much quicker this time and they played well together. Then Rachael and family dropped by with Jenna who Dawn was showing in the breed ring on Saturday. I thought that Steeler and Jenna would play quite a bit since they had spent a whole week together last year at the national - but Jenna was being a little bit bitchy this weekend. Steeler took it in stride though - and I used it to practice calling him away from another dog. He was just the BEST!
On Saturday Steeler and also worked on being near Corey (another one of Sara's dals - he's 4 and still intact) and both boys handled it well. Sara is working hard on Corey's attention because he wants to play with EVERYONE! We also saw Laurie with Solo and met her husband Dave and the rest of her crew ... Rio and Shadow. Steeler practiced walking past their expen several times - and he had absolutely nothing to say about it ... just walked on by wagging his tail as if to say - Mom - I already know Solo!!!! I've been warned that once Steeler like Briards that he will probably like all of them - but they are not all as nice as Laurie and Dave's crew!
On Sunday - Ann came over and brought lunch, which was a good thing since I haven't been to the store yet! We watched the Sara Kalnajs DVD Am I Safe. Well we watched disc 1. We had to keep stopping to talk about what we saw vs what Sara was seeing. It was fun! We are going to do disc 2 at some point.
OK this is long enough for now. Look for a posting on the Suzanne Clothier seminar that I went to a couple of weekends ago! I have to say - she is a great speaker, and FUNNY! If you ever get a chance to see her it is well worth the money!
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