Weekend fun!

Boy this past weekend was a busy one!  Pepper and Taz got to play a game called Dare to Double in the Friday night Just For Fun league with D & S Dogs of Course.  I have played this game before with Pepper and found that my best laid plans always went out the window so this time I decided just to make it up as we went.  Well did that ever go wrong!  Besides her stopping and sniffing the ground because of the lack of direction, we went over time and our points got halved.  Bummer eh?  It was fun nonetheless. 

Taz got to go out and have fun as well.  We have now found out that he doesn't know how to collect himself before a jump (he likes to fly to the jump) and ended up taking down a bar.  This, of course, caused him to shut down for a few minutes.  I did get him to do another tunnel and the A-Frame afterwards but boy, do we have work to do!!

Flyball Saturday was AWESOME!!!  I had two successful passes with Rudy where Pepper brought the ball back to me.  You see last year, Pepper and Rudy collided in the racing lane when she was coming back with the ball.  Now she is giving up the lane early to him to avoid another collision.  Taz had the pleasure of running past Bandit (who was standing still) and Hazel.  He ignored Bandit each time!!  Next week, maybe we can have them move a bit to simulate Bandit taking off.  Taz is getting the hang of this flyball thing!!

Sunday saw Pepper running in another Just For Fun league, except this time it was at Sondog.  Slightly different rules and some different equipment.  I can tell you she enjoyed running on the rubber covered dog walk and A-frame.  The Hoops were something new but by the time we were done all 6 runs, I believe she understood that "through" meant to go through the hoop!  She had loads of fun and so did I!!  I can tell that she likes to work at a distance and really reads my body language.  I accidentally pulled her off a couple of jumps just by rotating too much too quickly!  We will be working on that in the future!!

Last night Pepper had her normal agility class and we brought out the weave poles.  Our instructor had us send the dog through on side (handler on the right hand side) to see if the dog's could find the entrance and work the weaves.  Well that was a piece of cake for her!  Next challenge.... off side weaves (handler on the left hand side of the weaves).  Well she found the entrance but only did one weave.  We had our work cut out for us!!  By the end of the night, however, she was able to weave through 6 weave poles, off side with a jump infront of and behind the weaves.  YEAH Pepper!  For everyone out there learning how to weave, your motivator is the key!  It must be thrown low and at the right time!  Weave poles are fun and should be trained that way!  Don't worry about speed because that will come with confidence!!

Now for a lovely little break of no dog sports until the weekend again.  Look for Pepper and Taz tearing it up on the racing lane at Paws 'n Train this weekend!  I love tired dogs!!