Tonight we had Agility. Due to some spectacular planning, Eric couldn’t come (therefore no photos). So, it was just Midas and I. We had a good time. He was a little obnoxious but not too loud…just mostly non-stop.

There were some new obstacles, and I can’t lie, I was really nervous about the regulation height A-Frame. Midas has a tendency to think he’s invincible and jump off of things he shouldn’t. But, he didn’t, he was a good boy. He was also rock-solid on the dog walk tonight - thank goodness!

The teeter-totter was a new aluminum-framed piece and he approached that with the same zeal that he always does - full speed ahead. I had to block him every single time and make him wait…I hope he learns that soon.

The weaves were still completely hopeless . We will keep practicing! We set a jump up to the height he would actually have to do in competition, it seemed so big, but he flew over it now problem and the instructor said he had plenty of room to spare .

He had no issues on the chute-tunnel or the table or any of the jumps really. Class went over about an hour so he was getting pretty lazy towards the end. But, he completed everything correctly. Our major distraction for this evening was a dog that alternated between staring, unblinking at him and flopping around on the floor with a giant stuffed toy - but I blame the owner, not the dog. *sigh* there’s one in every group it seems. All else went well and we had a lot of fun. He was exhausted on the ride home and I look forward to our next class .

Today we got up bright and early and packed up the boys to head to Kalamazoo for another UAD event. We thought about bringing Kya, discussed it, and decided she’s making such good progress we don’t want to set her back…thank goodness we didn’t bring her. Neither of us had any idea that the event was going to be as insanely large as it was! There were hundreds of dogs, all breeds, all genders, all sexes, everywhere. It was insane.

We quickly scoped out a spot and set up our EZ-Up and the boys’ kennels and registered. It was a gorgeous day out, bright and sunny (lovely after the predictions of rain). We registered for both splashes and I did a couple of practice jumps with each of them. Even Midas jumped right off the end with no hesitation (and no distance lol).

Saturday Splash #1

Mason jumped in the first group and got 6′1″.

And 7′10″.

Midas was in a later group and got 6′.

And 9′1″ - woohoo he’s finally breaking 9′ lol.

Then we had a little break before our second Splash. During which time I lounged by the boys and Eric took photos of the gazillion dogs roaming around.

Saturday Splash #2

Mason jumped before Midas again and got for his first jump 7′4″:

And for his second jump 6′9″:

While Midas and I waited our turn we did a little pacing (to keep his mouth toned down to a low-level whine vs full-throated, banshee screaming) and had several dogs jump on/in his direction and one growl at him. Ugh.

He jumped for his first jump in the second Splash 6′9″:

And for his second jump 9′10″!!!!!

Here I am trying to snap his prong back in place to bring him back to the crate so he doesn’t go barreling back up the dock for his “turn” lol.

They both made it into the Novice finals, Midas as first and Mason as fourth.

Midas jumped first and only reached 7′4″ and 7′5″ .

Then the little dude, he got 5′8″:

…and 7′10″, beating Midas by 5″…

They ended up with 3rd and 4th place in Novice.

The event was a good time, we met some people we had only known through the forum:

Celebrated a birthday:

And saw some friends:

Along with some other events:

Good times, as usual, with the UAD family The rest of the photos are here.

After Mason’s last Intermediate Obedience class I asked the instructor about enrolling him in her next Canine Good Citizen class and then taking the test at the end. She said she thought he could pass without it. A month after this class ended and limited training geared toward the CGC test I emailed her and asked if he could take her class. She basically told me no lol. She repeated again that she thought he would do fine…and he did!!!!

There were only three of us that showed up to take the test. Because of this, we didn’t have much of a “crowd” for the Walking Through a Crowd task. So, we started out with that task and the instructor had the volunteers for the Humane Society come over to stand in as our “crowd” (it was closing soon so they would be leaving). Mason went first, he did very well. He did sniff two people on the way by but when I said “Leave it!” he went right by, no tug on the leash needed.

Next we did the Reaction to Another Dog test. In this one the instructor had two dogs sit about 8 feet apart and the remaining dog (the one being tested) had to do a figure-8 and then sit next to one of the other dogs. We went first again and as we went around the second dog, it started sniffing Mason and then jumped on him! He was such a good boy though, he just ignored the dog at my command and kept eye contact with me and we made it through!!

The rest of the test went really, really smoothly and quite fantastic really! I heard several comments about Mason’s amazing eye contact . There was one part that I was really nervous about, the Sitting Politely for Petting task. He had to stay in a sit/stay while the instructor came up to pet him and he couldn’t lift his little wiggle-butt off the ground. We only practiced this a handful of times with Eric and Adam before we left so I wasn’t sure how it would go - he did it!!!!! He glanced over and checked in with me once but kept his little behind firmly planted! I was SO proud!

For Appearance and Grooming he started out standing and when the instructor knelt to check his sides/feet, he collapsed onto his side - it was hilarious - the whole group laughed. When we did sit and lay down he was really good. Then he had to sit/stay (and we’ve been practicing me walking away with my back to him, it worked ) and when I walked to the end of the room, I paused and then I said his release word and Come - he raced towards me - making everyone smile again. He’s so darn cute!

Our last part of the test was supervised separation and he did fine, no problems what-so-ever. We signed our form to send out and as we were walking out the door I heard the other two ladies that were left say, “We shouldn’t've let him go first, now our dogs are going to look way worse”!!!