Happy New Year!

The new year brought another new experience for Secret -- Her first stay in a hotel room!

We drove up to St. Paul, MN on New Year's Eve, as both of the boys were entered in the MMBC NADAC trial on January 1 & 2. I opted to leave later than usual so that we would have less time to kill in the hotel prior to bed time. As it turns out, I really didn't have anything to worry about, as Secret settled right in and was very well-behaved! I'm quite sure the worst part of the experience for her was spending nearly three hours in the cramped little kennel during the drive up. She will not fit in that crate much longer!

Secret was pretty overwhelmed again when we first arrived at the trial (in a horse arena) on Friday and spent a bit of time hiding in the back of her crate. As usual, however, she warmed up quickly and soon was happy to hang out with me and walk around to visit people.

We had a few times where she was snarky with other dogs (generally the hyped up ones), but there were several dogs that she submitted to and even rolled over and showed her belly. If I were to notice a trend, I'd say she does better with boys right now and isn't that fond of girls.

Back at the hotel Friday night, the boys just wanted to crash -- but Secret was bound and determined to stay up as usual. Thankfully the bully stick I bought her earlier in the day managed to occupy her for some time. She tried to get Kaiser to play with her, but they were unable to do their usual zoomy/wrestle routine in the cramped quarters of the hotel room. Eventually she did settle down on the bed and because it was so early (8:30-ish), I let her stay up there with us as we all fell asleep. Imagine my surprise when I woke up a while later and found her back on her pillow in the x-pen! Guess the bed was a little too crowded for her tastes. ;o)

Secret had another good day at the trial on Saturday. I felt bad about sticking her back into the little crate for the ride home after spending all day in one, so I ended up leaving the door open and letting her ride loose with the boys in the back. I'm quite sure she ended up dominating the big pillow in the back for most of the trip, leaving the boys to scrounge for free space. lol She seemed to travel well, so I will likely get rid of the little crate soon and see how she does. Mostly I just worry about her pestering Luke.

We had a terribly lazy day at home yesterday and did practically nothing. Surprisingly, Secret was very amiable to this and joined the boys in an all-day nap fest. I didn't do a training session, but we played for a while with the new toys that I bought this weekend. One was a HUGE hit -- It looks like a furry squirrel tail attached to a tennis ball. She LOVED it. I am keeping it put up between play time, as I'd like her to view it as an interactive toy with me -- and I don't wish for anyone to destroy it in a matter of minutes! lol I let her play for a while on her own with the squeaky chicken I picked up, but had to take it away when Kaiser got hold of it and started to rip it up. That Kaiser.... The chicken will be another supervised toy, I guess!

My agility class is back in session this evening and I'm looking forward to having a training/play session with Secret at the arena!