After getting home later than planned last Tuesday, we left again the next day at 3pm for the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors conference in KY. Thankfully it was only about a 2 hour drive, which seemed pretty short compared to the long drive from MI the day before.
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It was a great weekend and Dazzle got loads of compliments! Everyone kept saying he has the most stable temperament of any Mal they had ever met and he was really good looking too! I had to keep a close eye on him because several of the trainers were joking about taking him home with them :-) He did a stellar job, especially considering he just turned 10 months old on Thursday. He got along well with all the people and dogs, especially a female that was starting to go into heat. He was respectful of her rebuffs and was able to go about his business even if she was close-by. I was very impressed by that!
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He did cause me a bit of sleep deprivation however, because any time a person slammed a door during the night, he had to give a single quiet "woof" to let me know, which always woke me up. I had a sound machine on as loud as it would go, but because the hotel doors had to be slammed to get them to close, he was still able to hear people coming and going. By the end of our stay, he was ignoring most of the doors, but would still let me know about a particularly loud one.
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Then there was the fire alarm that went off about 1am. He didn't bark at that and we both laid in bed for most of it. I was on the ground floor right next to the exit door, so I wasn't too concerned that I wouldn't be able to get out if there really was a fire. I checked occasionally through the peep hole for any sign of smoke, but didn't see any. I later found out it wasn't a fire, but a burst pipe! Apparently if the water pressure in the sprinkler system drops below a certain level, the fire alarm goes off. I'm thankful I wasn't in one of the rooms below the burst pipe in which the occupants had to change rooms at 1 am! It never fails to amaze me how much stuff one person and one dog NEED when travelling and how fast it seems to multiply around whatever amount of space is available :-)
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The "tour" for the conference attendees was the KY horse Park. I've been there several times before, but it's fun going with new people and sharing in their experiences and observations. Dazzle did great and we even went on the horse drawn carriage tour, something I had never done before. I got a bit of video of Dazzle on the carriage, but don't have it edited yet.
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I didn't have my camera out much, but several other attendees took photos and I'll post them when I get them.
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Here's a few I took at the horse Park:
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This is a beautiful Mountain Horse (if I recall correctly.) It's my favorite color of horse, chocolate or liver with a flaxen mane and tail. They also have a really smooth gait.
In the breed barn, Dazzle met a 1 month old Miniature Horse foal. The mother was only a little taller than Dazzle and the foal was much smaller than he was. The foal was really spunky and curious, so the person holding him didn't let him get loose. Dazzle was a bit unsure about these critters and kept his distance. The distance in the photo was as close as he got to them. 
This was a stunning Friesian. Another favorite of mine. He's looked jet black in person, but I think the camera washed him out. If I changed the settings when editing the photo, most of his face disappeared into the darkness of the trees. 
This little pony wasn't much taller than Dazzle, but pulled the guy in his cart around the ring through the thick sand till he wore himself out.
Dazzle and a few of the other dog's favorite activity during the weekend was to play in the middle of the hospitality room floor. Someone commented that they were like kids at a wedding reception. All the adults around the room talking and laughing while the kids played and wrestled oblivious to all around them. LOL I know a few good photos of their wrestling were taken, so hopefully I'll get those from the photographer soon.
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I was impressed with how well Dazzle did laying quietly in his open crate during my 3 hour presentation. Only once did he come out and go under the table to peek under the table skirt at the crowd :-) The rest of the time he was asleep. I don't think he was getting much sleep at night either. During my other presentation on Dog Scouts, he was my demo dog. I hadn't set-up his crate, so he decided the skirt of the table created a pretty good place to lie down. He poked his nose/head out from under the skirt several times and chose to lay that way, so Joanne got some really cute photos of him. I saw her editing them during the weekend, but don't have them on my computer to post just yet.
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Over all it was a great weekend with some new experiences for Dazzle and myself. He did VERY well and was a great ambassador for Malinois and positive training. I was flattered to be invited to speak to such a well respected group and enjoyed teaching the attendees what I know. We made lots of new friends and learned new things- what could be better?
