COSSA AKC Trial Saturday

We just got back from our Open JWW run at the Central Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Association Trial! This is the weekend that mom decided to enter us in the JWW only on both Saturday and Sunday and what a good decision that was! We left around noon and the temperature was in the upper 80s already! I was very happy to get out of that building!

So our run went well. However since we trialed there last (at the horse arena), they changed the dirt/mulch stuff and put in a sand mixture. Today was the first time we all got to try it. And it was so different! Very sandy and deep - it was just like trying to run in the sand at the beach (and not that nice hard wet sand at the water's edge either!). So it was very hard to get your footing as your foot/paw slid out from under you. Our run went very well (sorry about the little hiccup in the video when I went into the tunnel - videographer error!). Mom voted for "drop and run" at the start line and it seemed to work ok. She babysat me in the weaves - not sure why cause I'm a good weaver! - then shortly after the tunnel, I knocked my first bar ever! That darn sand felt weird and I pushed off to jump like usual and didn't quite make it. But I think mom and I did really well at navigating around that twisty course! It was a much harder course than our last open JWW course - our most difficult course at a trial yet! And we did it!!!

Here is the course map so you can see all the twists and turns!

And here is the video:

So now I am going to take a well-deserved rest and we'll see what happens tomorrow!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Visiting and some walking

We just came in from our morning walk - sun is out but it's 19 with a wind chill of 10! Hello March! Spring is right around the corner - can't you tell?

Thursday and Friday mom and I went to visit my cousin Wilson (and my aunt, uncle, and two human cousins and my other dog cousin Sandy)! The weather was supposed to be warm but cloudy. (Warm meaning in the 50s). As soon as we got there - it's about a 2-hour drive - we loaded up my aunt's car with the two big Goldens and me and headed off for the park. They have a nice park not far from their house - an almost two-mile walking path around a lake. The only bad part is that one section of the path goes close to a major highway - so you guessed it - I do lots of barking there. It was not warm at all - very windy - I loved it but mom and my aunt were complaining. After the walk we hung out at the house - the yard was too soppy for ball playing but I got to follow Wilson around every where he went in the house. On Friday it was even colder and windier and wetter, but mom and my aunt still took me for another walk at the park. Poor Wilson and Sandy had to stay at home - they are a lot more trouble than me since they are so big! After lunch mom and I left to drive back home - I am always happy to go visiting, but it exhausts me - I sleep soundly all the way home and then usually go to bed very early in the evening!

We found out during the week that we could go to a trial to get officially measured even if we are not entered in the trial - did you all know that? Now that I am two, I have to get measured twice to get my permanent height card. So mom and I got up early yesterday and drove to the same place where my trial was held two weeks ago - there was another trial this weekend. We were hoping to get measured by our instructor again - but she is sick with a very bad case of the flu and couldn't be there! So we decided to wait and go to get measured during a trial in March - we can't enter it because mom has to work. The next trial we plan to enter is on April 4th and 5th. Hopefully I will have my height card by then and it will say I am 14" or under!!!!!!

Then yesterday afternoon mom, dad and I went for a cold walk up at the lake where we frequently go - the temperature was in the upper 20s and mom was hoping that the ground would be frozen. Well, no such luck for her! We started out walking on a closed road that leads to the sailboat club but some stupid people had been there and broken a lot of glass on the road! Why? So we got off the road and took a grassy path. The path was cool but the ground was not frozen and there were puddles and mudholes every where! Soon I was pretty wet. The path leads down to the beach and the lake - at this time of year the beach is really big because the reservoir lake is low - so I had tons of room to run and run on the beach. Then I was covered in sand too. Mom almost had a heart attack when she saw how dirty I was getting but dad just laughed and laughed! I had a BLAST!!!!! I didn't care how dirty I got or how cold it was. The wind was terrible - mom's eyes were watering, her nose wouldn't stop running and her cheeks were fire-engine red! It would be great to have some photos or video of all this - wouldn't it? But who can take their hands out of gloves to do the picture-taking? When we finally got back to the car, mom got a towel to try to dry me off and found that my belly, legs and chest were covered in sandy, muddy icicles!! What a mess. There was nothing to do but put me in the car and go home!

Hope you all are having a fun and enjoyable weekend!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky