Zoooooom!

The above video is what we worked on last night. After Rascal's first NADAC trial this weekend (he was awesome, BTW), it became apparent that we needed to do more work on obstacle focus and driving forward. The jump arc is something I've been playing around with Secret for a while now and her obstacle commitment has gone way up. Not to mention her speed! :o)

I like the arc because it's quick & easy to set up & leave standing in the yard. I'll usually integrate it into Secret's play sessions on nights when I'm too lazy to do "real training." She seems to think it's great fun! All of the jumps are at 20" now, but I figure I'll soon start to bump them up again. The arc will be a good spot to increase height, I think.

We had so much fun in Zumbro Falls on Saturday! Secret was a good girl at the trial. I took her out during one of our breaks and we went to the big field beyond the ring to play fetch & tug. I just pulled one of the random toys we'd gotten at a previous trial out of the bag and thankfully she was in the mood to play with it. She was able to burn off a lot of energy, which is good since there is always so much down time for her at trials. Secret got to come out and meet a friend's 11-week old BC puppy, too -- And it was SO CUTE! She kept play-bowing and bouncing around him, letting him jump all over her. Secret loves puppies.

The highlight of her day was surely after the trial when we let all of the dogs run around together. Greg was there with Peppy & Neeko, plus we also had Rascal. Kaiser even got to go off leash since it was a giant field and there wasn't anywhere nearby that he could get himself into trouble. They had so much fun! It was neat to see all the Border Collies (and a Klee Kai!) running around together.

Speaking of dogs running around, I have another video to share!



Max is home with us. I picked him up Sunday evening on my way home from the Humane Society. Bethany came over and helped me take all four dogs for a walk together. Secret was horrid at the start and kept trying to attack Max (much like she started when we did our walk last week). She got better, though, and by the time we returned to the house and let everyone loose, everyone had settled and the introductions actually went quite well.

Since then, Secret has decided she loves Max. They play, and play, and play, and play some more. Max thinks my back yard is Disneyland and generally wants to go straight back outside after we come in from playing. The weather has been nice, so I've been letting them burn off a lot of energy out there. Kaiser likes to control things a lot, so after a while I call him inside so that Secret & Max can have their fun, Border Collie-style.

Tomorrow I'm taking Max to meet his potential new owner. If it works out, she has already expressed that she would like to come over for play dates and to start Max's agility training with me. I'll miss him, but it will be awesome if I get to keep in touch and still visit!

Oh! I finally have a weight update. I stopped into the vet's office and took all of the dogs in for a weight check (individually...). Secret is 42.5 lbs -- So I think she lost weight? Or at least she's holding, and she's looking great.