Bear drops a dollar in the bucket during a previous fundraiser.
I didn't take any photos, but today Dazzle and Bear and I went to Bass Pro Shops to do a fundraiser to help a local K-9 officer get to a National level competition (which he has to pay for out of his own pocket). Several troop members also arrived to help and I thank them emensely! It really makes a difference when there are more people and dogs to draw the crowd and help explain to folks what we are doing there. One of the troop members is putting together a YouTube video of his dog fundraising, so I'll post that if it has any of Dazzle taking money.
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Dazzle started out distracted, not really wanting to "get the money" and "put it in the bucket", so Bear was doing all the work and filled his bucket pretty quickly! Then Koda arrived to help take some donations and put them in her own bucket. After Dazzle got over the excitement of having several of his girl friends there (and after Dianne gave me a few pieces of freeze-dried liver) Dazzle decided he would work, even gently taking money from Bear's mouth a time or two! (They both got treats for that retrieve :-) Out of the $330 we raised, Dazzle put $75 of that in his own bucket.
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He was really more interested in sniffing and greeting and leaning on people than taking their money, but he did do it about 70 times (he got a $5 bill :-). By the end of our three hour session though, he decided he was done and laid down to take a nap. But that was at about 2:50 and we finished at 3:00 :-)
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We have also been working on his freestyle routine and he's doing well with it. He seems to really enjoy it when we practice in time to the music. If I try and work on pieces of the routine while the music is playing in the background, he isn't as excited. But if I wait for that part of the song, he's more animated! I think he already knows the song better than I do and he loves the ending pose :-) It's one of his favorite moves plus it's always followed by his reward, so that helps too. I'm really looking forward to performing on the 26th and 27th, but the only thing I'm not sure about is how audience applause during his routine will affect him. We haven't done anything in the ring while people are clapping, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that he will be able to focus!
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Maybe I can give the troop a sneek preview of the routine after the troop meeting and they can applaude to see what he will do.
