Dog Time

Since we haven't been working on the house, Jeff has had extra time to work/play with Shasta. She's finally doing well enough at the dog agility training that Jeff can start participating in agility events. The weave was the final challenge, and she finally has it!

I signed up on a Northwest Dog email list and occasionally folks offer items for sale. We've gotten lucky the past week and found a couple of fun items for Shasta.

The first is a wagon. The harness is a bit too big for Shasta and needs to be altered, but it works pretty well. It has side panels to hold stuff in the wagon that we'll use once we get her comfortable enough to go to the market.

And another dog scooter.

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but during the remodel (summer 2011), someone stole Shasta's awesome Pawtrekker dog scooter. It was taken right out of our backyard and they didn't take anything else, so Jeff thinks they came just for the scooter. Our theory is one of the day-labor guys that floated through the project thought it would be nice for their kid to ride; you'd just need to pull off the side arm and it was a very nice, solid scooter.

Anyway, I looked into buying another one, but the company didn't make it with the side arm anymore. So, Jeff and Shasta lost their fun exercise option. Last week this one came across the NW Dog list. It isn't as nice as the scooter we had, and it needs some work on the brakes, but it is better than none.

Shasta's 4th Birthday

Shasta had a big day today—she got to run in her very first agility competition. Today she ran in two events: Novice Tunnelers and Novice Jumpers.

We got there early because Jeff offered to help out during the event so I was on dog-sitting duty most of the day. Shasta and I spent several long sessions playing fetch over by a horse corral and the rest of the time we just hung out watching the rest of the competitors.

I think they did well for the amount of training Shasta's had; she's in the third of four classes available in the group we're playing with.

Anyway, both events had a mistake, but she finished and they both had fun, which is really the most important part. Good job Shasta and Jeff!

This and That

Jeff and I spent the entire weekend goofing off. Last Saturday, we went off to an SCA educational event where I had recruited the volunteer teachers. Jeff taught fingerloop braiding—a late-medieval technique for braiding cords and flat trims. We enjoyed ourselves and now that the bulk of our house restoration is complete, we'll probably spend a bit more time goofing off with SCA on the weekends during the next few years.

Then, on Sunday, Jeff volunteered at a dog agility event. He spent the day resetting jump heights and building the course between runs. He had a good time, and it helped him realize Shasta is probably good enough to try beginner category runs. So when he found an event fairly close by on September 9—Shasta's birthday—Jeff signed her up. He's going to try running her in the Tunnelers and Jumpers categories. I definitely have to go so I can get some video. =)

Otherwise, I've been terribly unproductive the last couple of days. I was lacking in motivation.

But today, I finally resumed work on the house. I've been trying to finish up the shellacking in the bedrooms. When I rushed through shellacking a couple weeks ago, I got lazy and didn't shellac the interior edges and the sashes of the windows because I needed to take the windows apart to get to all the edges. Today I finally did it in the guest bedroom. Tomorrow, I hope to finish up the master bedroom windows as well.

Once I'm done with the windows, I'll turn my shellacking efforts to the newly stained wood in Jeff's closet.

Shasta's Agility Class

Jeff and Shasta are about to finish up their second agility training course. They are doing really well. The jumps aren't competition height yet because in these early classes, the point is to first learn the behavior and commands.

I was able to join them for class today and took several videos. This is the best one.

Shasta actually did quite well in all but one of her exercises, when she got distracted by smells on the course. The other videos were not good because of camera operator failure. =(

Dog Agility Training

Jeff and Shasta started dog agility training a couple weeks ago. This is something Jeff has wanted to do for a while, but we just found a good training program in Wilsonville, offered through the Columbia Agility Team.

Based on Shasta's early enthusiasm for the equipment, we believe she'll be quite good at it. Since she is still pretty spastic even at 3½ years old, it's probably just as well we didn't jump right into agility training a couple years ago after the obedience training.

This is the wobble board that helps the dogs become accustomed to unsteady footing.

Wobble board

This is the teeter totter. Apparently the training is started with the board all the way down, and then it is gradually raised. This get the dogs used to staying on the board while it is rocking and then gradually the height.

The teeter totter board

 Shasta was a natural at the dog walk ramp. She was practically running by the third time across.

Dog Walk Ramp

Shasta enjoys the tunnel. Sharon tried repeatedly to get a picture of her going through, but Shasta was just too fast for her camera.

Tunnel

At the end of a run, the dog has to get onto a table and hold for 5 seconds. This was another easy one for Shasta.

Table

It should be no sweat for her to pass this class!

For fun, This Old House has an article on how to build three different pieces of agility equipment. We'll have to do this soon.