Tell Me Thursday
Or Tell Me Weekend, whatever. This was a surprise TMT.
1. What are your plans for the holiday season?
Nothing! A little shopping, a little eating, a little visiting, some dog walking. No training, just chilling for 2 weeks.
2. Do you decorate? If so, what have you done so far?
We do, but not yet. Maybe the week before Christmas.
3. a. Favorite recent dog photo? b. Photo that shows your mood today (or one word)?
Recent Favourite is Rio in a Box.
Photo that shows my mood today is definitely this one. Although maybe it’s better to say that this photo makes me feel all kinds of peaceful and snuggley and in love with my little dog, which today seems a good mood to cultivate.
4. There’s been a discussion on the BC Boards about “don’t train for the novice classes… just train for open and the rest will fall into place.” What are your thoughts on this?
I’m going to class Novice as Grade 3 and Open as Grade 4+, in agility terms. In which case, I think there are different challenges in Grade 3 to Grade 6, and if you go out with a dog who is able to do all the tight turns and pull throughs and difficult weave entries, but can’t run down a line of 5 jumps, you’re going to struggle. On the other hand, if you do the right foundation and have the basic tools then you should be just fine. I don’t much see the point of running Grade 6 courses with my baby dogs though; a Grade 6 course is testing the handler as much as the dog, and if I’m running a baby dog I want to be able to focus entirely on the dog, not so much on where the course goes or whether I should attempt that front/rear/blind cross just there.
For flyball, I guess Novice would be Starters? In which case, I would never run my dog in Starters if they couldn’t do full runs. Starters should be a stepping stone to Open, to check that everything is working as it should be. It’s not a place to fix problems, and I hate seeing dogs in Starters that are not even close to being ready.
5. What are your top five cannot-do-without-them dog items?
Tuggy, clicker, kibble. I can’t actually think of anything else we absolutely need. Weatherbeeta coats for the old ladies, harnesses for flyball? Torch?
