It's September 22, 2010, and Tempo is one year old today! It's been a long time since I've updated the Blog...With the popularity of Facebook, the blog has fallen by the wayside. But I'll try to catch up.
Much of July was spent taking the dogs swimming at the lake. Too hot to train, but swimming built up their muscles nicely, and they LOVE the lake!!
July 31, we went to one day of an indoor USDAA agility trial in Hatfield, PA. August 21 & 22 was an indoor AKC agility trial at New Hope Farms, awesome to have a trial so close to home! Dandy did great, qualified both days in Excellent JWW, finishing his AXJ with a 1st place, and he earned his 2nd leg towards his AX with a 1st place in Excellent A Standard. Token qualified in Excellent B Standard with a 3rd place. They both ran really well especially considering they had NO training at all for several days prior.
In August, I spent 4 days travelling to Barto, PA, for Kinetic Dog Agility Camp, which was a Foundation level for puppies & young dogs. So Tempo was enrolled in his very first training camp. He did really well, I was pleased with his attention & focus in a new & highly distracting situation. And we learned tons of stuff!!!
Then over Labor Day weekend, another 3 days back & forth to Barto for the Masters Level Camp, for training with Dandy. We were really challenged and it was a great learning experience. I'm blessed to have such a talented dog as Dandy :-)
September 10-12, our traditional Blackthorne weekend...3 days of USDAA Agility. Token was only entered in a couple of classes each day...he was wild at first, but by day 3, he was running nicely, we missed clean runs by just one error. Dandy ran really well all weekend. Friday was the 5 classes of the team event, he took 1st place in Team Gamblers & 2nd place in Team Standard. His teammates were another Border Collie and a Rat Terrier and their name was "The Flying Monkees". Our team qualified and took 4th place overall! Saturday & Sunday, Dandy qualified in Master Pairs to finish his RCh title, qualified in Master Gamblers with a 2nd place, qualified both days in Master Jumpers with a 2nd place & 1st place, and he won 26" Steeplechase. We didn't enter ALL the classes that were offered, but he Q'd in everything he was in except the two Standard classes. We had unfortunate things happen in both of those, including hitting the tire jump and doing a handstand into a somersault as a result of getting hung up on the tire. Thankfully he was not injured, and I got him to the chiropractor after we got back home, to put him back into alignment.
Hard to believe but in 3 short weeks, we will be in Louisville, Kentucky for the USDAA Nationals! The competition will be of the highest caliber, it should be very exciting! I'm looking forward to having fun and enjoying the experience...it's a honor just to be there competing. I have not been to a National event since 1999, in Cleveland, the last time it was a reasonable distance to drive. (Arizona was just toooooo far!!!)
Tempo is getting sporadically trained...when I find time and when it's not been too hot. He's starting to learn flyball, the boxturn is coming along nicely. Next we have to learn how to run with other dogs running, too ;-) His agility training has been mostly flatwork & foundation. I started his jump training recently. Now that he's a year old, we can start training weaves, too. We have lots of projects for the winter!
Can't believe a year has gone by since I saw Tempo being born...he sure isn't the 'buddha belly puppy' anymore!
