This Is Gonna Be Really Fun!

Yahoo! or as Mikey would say, 'Aaaroooo'! J agreed to running both Mikey and Holly every week in agility class. Tonight was course night and we all had a great time. Mikey was ON! and Holly has really stepped up her game too. Not only is running both dogs going to be harder physically, but it is also going to be harder mentally. The handling techniques are different for each dog and I really have to think about what I'm doing as I switch back and forth between dogs.

For example, with the weave polls, Mikey is much faster and does better if I stay quiet and just use body language after the first command to weave, while Holly is slower and needs both the body language and constant verbal encouragement to 'weave, weave, weave'. So quiet for Mikey, chatty for Holly, same body language, but sloooow the body language down for Holly, and keep the body language brisk for Mikey. By the way the body language is swinging the hips and flapping my elbow in time to their weaves to encourage them to weave in and out of the polls.

Like I've said before, I'm sure that I'm going to learn much more about handling by training both dogs at the same time, and I don't really have a choice, they're only going to be young once, and doG only knows how long I will physically be able to do agility. Besides, it really is sooo much fun, for all of us!

In other class related news, Holly and I are starting a Rally Obedience class Saturday. One nice thing about this class is that it is held once a month for two hours on Saturdays. What a great idea! My dad is taking this class too, with his young Brittany, Meg. We're planning on driving together in his SUV, so it will give us rare chance to chat since the class is about an hour away. We've both really enjoyed sharing agility, obedience, and tracking and occasionally getting to take classes together. How often do fathers and daughters really have an interest that they can share in common?

In other good news (Ha) a fourth tooth has started hurting and I have an appointment tomorrow morning to get that tooth checked before I make the appointment to get all of my rotten teeth worked on. Let's all pray that all four teeth don't need root canals, because that will cost a pretty penny (not that it's going to be cheep either way!).

Enjoy the pictures of the last full moon; I just can't resist trying to capture the perfect shot.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi' and 'We're all tuckered out!'