Summer lovin' -- Lovin' Summer

We're in that month-long lull between trials at the moment, so life is pretty quiet at the moment. That's not a bad thing, though -- especially when summer has decided to finally be GORGEOUS and not gross and sticky. Last weekend it was actually cold, which is a little weird for July. Today was beautiful and perfect, and I believe tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

We got our proofs back from the photographer from that shoot we did while my brother was in town. I totally forgot to share them here! The picture on top is probably my favorite -- I ordered an 11x14 of that one.

This one was probably the second best, so I got a 5x7 of that and I figure I can take it to work or something to have an actual personal item at my desk. lol

I thought this picture was fantastic, but unfortunately I think it's a little unfocused (Secret especially), so it didn't make the cut.

I think our photographer must have liked Kaiser, because he got his very own picture.  :o)

And that one is just included to prove that I actually have a family other than the dogs. lol

We haven't been up to too much lately. My hip has improved a lot over the past week with all of the stretching, icing, more stretching and regular doses of Aleve (works way better than Tylenol!). I started walking more this past week, still threw in roller blading when my hip wasn't quite feeling it -- and today I finally was able to take my new running shoes out for a test drive! It's been a good two weeks since I've been able to run, so it was nice to have a good, pain-free & successful run today. I guess shoes make a big difference, because straight out of the gate my first mile was just over a minute faster than my average first mile, and the whole run clocked in about six minutes faster than average. My other shoes were a little on the snug side and that affected me more than I realized I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason behind the hip hurting, too. Hopefully we are back on track now -- I'm almost half-way to my goal of losing 30lbs by Champs!

After we all woke up from our nap this afternoon (have I mentioned how NICE it is to have my weekends again?!) I decided to set up the most recent Happy Hurdle course posted on Ann Croft's Agility Coach page. I love these things and they've definitely taken over my Backyard Dogs addiction (not helped by the fact that I let my Clean Run subscription lapse a while ago...).

Secret "wins" this round because she managed to get through it totally clean twice. The other two only once, and that took some effort... Namely the jump after the first set of weaves killed us because it was a backside that was approached by going between two jumps. Luke and Kaiser both struggled with that one, generally going wide and taking the off course jump. Secret did very well, although sometimes I really wish I had wider jumps and/or wings because I think it would make some of this much more clear. Oh well, it's good practice.  :o)

Kizzy is doing well, but no, she's not advanced enough to run that course just yet. lol  She is doing great with sending through tunnels, though, and with the little jump work we've been doing. Today I started Crate Games with her after a friend loaned me the DVD for a refresher (I haven't watched it since Secret was a puppy!). Kizzy did great with steps one and two, but struggled a little when we got to the "yer in, yer out" game -- obvious that she's never had any shaping experience whatsoever. She did figure it out, though, and we ended on a good note.

I went and got in the shower shortly after that session and imagine my surprise when I stepped out of the shower and saw Kizzy laying all calm & relaxed INSIDE the open crate! lol  That dog has never voluntarily entered a crate for any reason since I've had her. It was too funny, but I guess that first session made a positive impression on her, so we'll keep it up!