Daily Squeak

Nick figured out how to grab things and stick them in his mouth. Lovely.

Daily Squeak

Hi Dad!

Back in the (agility) saddle

Two weeks ago Polly and I went to our first agility class in five months. We train at Jumpin' Java and Anne was very nice to find us an accommodating class time. The good news: Polly still really likes agility. The not so good news: bars were flying everywhere, go-ons were nonexistent, and "you want me to do what on contacts"? Yeah, we're a little rusty. So today we got some backyard practice done.

Are we gonna do something? Huh? BALL? Play? Now? Right now? BALL?

First, I had to make sure Nick was reasonably entertained. The weather was nice, so I parked him under a tree with his baby gym, hoping that he could self-amuse for half an hour or so. Being the best dog ever, Tony came over and plopped himself next to the baby, presumably to make sure I don't make the baby do agility.

Nick is mildly curious about what we are planning to do.
Tony looks skeptical.

We practiced some box jump drills from AgilityNerd.

The setup.

Polly is ready to go. Pardon our crooked sit.

After a bunch of runs through the course, Polly was, in the words of a friend of mine "ready for a doggie equivalent of a martini". We did get some good practice in with front/rear crosses, threadles, and 270's before she collapsed though. The baby was also quite cooperative, only periodically requiring re-positioning on the mat to bring some new part of the yard into view.

That was exhausting! I need a break!

Agility is boring. Tony would rather take a nap and Nick finds his
toys much more interesting.

We are not quite ready to trial yet, but we are getting closer. Guess I am going to have to bring the baby gym with me to agility trials though. 

Daily Squeak

Wow...hands...so fascinating..

I think he's broken!

Polly finally acknowledged Nick as a human. Yesterday she play bowed when he stared at her. Cute, but somewhat dangerous, as labrador play bow is usually followed by labrador zoomies, where said labrador runs around like crazy knocking down everything and everyone in its path.

In Polly's mind all humans are required to perform two tasks. Throw BALL and play tug. Preferably 24/7. Therefore, as we were sitting on the couch this afternoon, minding our own business (well, actually I was watching Top Chef and Nick was watching his own hands), Polly decided that, being human and all, Nick needs to get with the program. I promise, I did not prompt or cue her in any way, I just recorded the events. This is why we have four cameras scattered around the house. To record stuff like that.

First, she found a BALL. Usually we keep all BALLs picked up, to avoid endless pestering. This was a rogue BALL.

Hey, small person, here's BALL. Do your job.

Umm, dude, we've been over this many times. This is BALL. Humans throw BALL. You are human. Throw BALL.

This continued for about 10 minutes (during which time Nick continued to intently contemplate his hands), after which I put BALL on top of the dog crate and told her to chill. She went outside and came back with a stuffy.

Ok, buddy, clearly you are a little defective in the BALL department. Let's go to the next lesson. This is a toy. You take it and tug. I tug back making ferocious growling sounds.

I had to take the toy away eventually, because I didn't want Nick to start gumming it. On a related note, I have a reasonable idea how to teach a dog not to take kid's toys. I have no idea how to prevent the kid from taking the dog's toys. So this is promising to be quite interesting.

Sheesh, I think this human is broken.

From the archives

Let's go very very small sharklets!
(three days old)

Daily Squeak

Let's go Sharks!