We needed 2 qualifying runs today to get the level 3 UKC Rally title, but only got 1 Q. :-(
The day started way too early at 6:45 so I could arrive in Dayton to register for "day of show" entries. There were 2 trials today and after arriving at 8:30, the first trial didn't start till 10am and level 3 was after all the level 1 and 2 runs. So we didn't get into the ring till nearly 1pm. That was a LOT of waiting around, which Dazzle doesn't really like much. Plus the room the show was in was not air conditioned, so it was quite hot. I chose to crate him in the non a/c area so that when it came time to show, it wouldn't feel even hotter by contrast. In hind sight, I should have just gone for a drive or something, but I didn't know how long the level 1 and 2 were going to take.
Dazzle was clearly tired. After all the walking and crowd navigation at the largest Indiana gun show yesterday, throwing the ball for Dazzle this morning before we left (because I thought he needed it), all the practice time to keep him from getting bored and the late start, he did pretty well considering. He had several moments of brilliance where he looked good, but his "down" seemed to not be working. I had to use multiple cues to get him to lie down. Wer managed a score of 90 and the only Q of the day.
After that, we had to wait for all the 1's and 2's to run again for the second trial. It was, thankfully, in the air conditioned part of the building. But we didn't go in the ring till about 5:30. By that time, Dazzle was really tired and moved about as fast as a newfoundland dog after a full day of swimming.
My throat was sore from all the cheerleading I was doing to try to get him to speed up. He was the total "anti-Malinois" :-) He was often quite distracted and took LOTS of cues to get a response. All he wanted to do this run was lie down, but of course the run had a sit on nearly every station. I chose to use food as the "motivator" just before we went into the ring and I'm sure that played a big part in his total LACK of motivation. I was worried that with as tired as he was, trying to get him excited about a toy and then not letting him have it would not have gone well and a tantrum of leash pulling or barking would have likely ensued :-)
What caused the NQ was the fact that he tried to go THROUGH the panel jump instead of over it. It was only 14 INCHES high, but he hit it so hard it nearly toppled over. I don't know how he managed that and I didn't get video. He didn't deserve to Q on that run anyway. I think it was his worst ever!
Given how tired he was today and the fact that I would have to be there really early again to enter, and it will be in the non a/c part, I'm not going to bother going tomorrow. Oh well, maybe next year.
---------------------------------- All about the life of "Dazzle" --------------------------------
August 27, 2011
August 23, 2011
Sprinkler re-do
I got video from the start of a sprinkler play session and included a short slo-motion segment at the end :-)
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fM_yaRDAUk
Here are some screen shots from the video:
Here's a sequence:
I thought this one was funny!
Awww, poor Dazzle...
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fM_yaRDAUk
Here are some screen shots from the video:
Here's a sequence:
I thought this one was funny!
Awww, poor Dazzle...
August 21, 2011
Sprinkler!
I got Dazzle a sprinkler to play with. I was afraid he would hurt his teeth on it (or carry it into the dog door) but so far it's been working out really well. He only pulled it out of the ground once. I'm not too sure how much water he is ingesting though.
I was having a really hard time with the damn digital delay on my camera. I could have SUCH good photos if it would actually TAKE the photo when I press the button (such an antiquated concept apparently). He was leaping really high through the water, but all I was getting was after the landing :-(.
So I switched to video, but by that time he was getting tired. I'll try video again when he's fresh, but I'm uploading what I took to youtube.
Enjoy the very few photos that turned out ok:
I was having a really hard time with the damn digital delay on my camera. I could have SUCH good photos if it would actually TAKE the photo when I press the button (such an antiquated concept apparently). He was leaping really high through the water, but all I was getting was after the landing :-(.
So I switched to video, but by that time he was getting tired. I'll try video again when he's fresh, but I'm uploading what I took to youtube.
Enjoy the very few photos that turned out ok:
Here are the types of photos I was trying to get (captured from video)
August 16, 2011
Indiana State Fair
I took advantage of the $2 Tuesday and went to the Indiana State Fair. It only cost $2 (instead of $8) to get in and parking is free if you arrive early enough to park on the Fairgrounds property, which I did.
My first stop was the scooter rental and I was so glad they still had some left when I arrived because there is NO way I could have seen any where near as much as I did without it. It was 85 degrees and sunny, so I did my best to keep Dazzle off the hot blacktop which in most places was pretty easy.
We spent 4 hours touring the Fairgrounds and I think we saw almost everything! On foot, even for an able bodied person, it would have taken way longer that that! Here's the map of the grounds (click to enlarge):
I was really impressed by how accessible everything was. Nice wide isles, ramps and wide doors. Only draw back was no HC remote doors, but there were plenty of people nice enough to hold doors open for me.
Dazzle did really great with all the noises, including loud carnival rides and this chainsaw demo.
He was facinated by the critters, but I didn't let him get too close. We avoided the rabbit/chicken barns :-)
" LOOK OUT! There's a huge otter behind you!"
Dazzle was freaked out by the huge fish in these tanks :-) He wouldn't get between the scooter and the fish! He wanted to be sure to keep me and the scooter between him and the alien beings.
I think these goats are really beautiful. No idea what kind they are.
One of the goats was just as curious about Dazzle as Daz was about him
Goat calming signal? :-) (He started to scratch)
Again with the alien fish! He really wanted to look, but was ready to bolt away if the aliens attacked :-)
Getting braver...
The longer he watched, the more relaxed he got that they weren't going to jump out and swallow him
They often swam with their top fins out of the water and Dazzle was both facinated and freaked out at the same time by that.
They seemed as curious about the people as the people were about them. I think they were called paddle fish and they had a flat "bill" with no teeth.
This statue was created for the fair (a couple dancing). I used a head collar on Dazzle so he wouldn't try to pull the scooter like he does with a wheelchair.
These acrobats were AMAZING!
Balancing on one hand, on top of a stack of chairs, that are balanced on 4 bottles!
It's hard to see the bottles at the bottom. Click on the photo to make it larger.
Art out of cans. VERY creative pieces! The "smoke" is bags of marshmallows :-)
"Souper Bowl" The ball is made of sardine tins
Another view. You can see part of the "combine" to the right. I tried to get a photo of it, but it came out really burry for some reason.
Mega pumpkin carving! Yes, that says it's a 444 lb pumpkin! The winner of the biggest pumpkin was over 800 lbs! I didn't get a photo of it though (it wasn't carved and was actually rather ugly :-).
LOTS and LOTS of Legos!! I was in awe of these! Sorry for so many photos :-) This first one is Lucas Oil stadium. The "Big Screen" in the corner was actually a working TV screen!! Click to enlarge. Sorry it's a bit blurry, the lighting was poor.
Info about the lego stadium
Some close ups:
This was a stunning set-up from the ocean to the mountains. It said it took 8 hours to reconstruct it in place. I don't recall how long it said it took to build it originally but it was a pretty long time!
River valley (not sure why Shamu is trying to jump the waterfall :-):
Downtown:
Mountain:
Love the landscaping:
Notice the Starbucks cart near the top of the mountain :-)
Along the front of each display, there were pages saying "can you find..." with multiple things listed. People of all ages were having fun locating the various things. Can you find Darth Vader? :-)
Mountain Spring (Can you find the moonshine still?)
A permanent fixture at the fairgrounds is the Hook's Historical Drug Store. A VERY cool place! It serves old time fountain drinks and sodas.
Medicine prep area at the back of the store:
This place reminds me of the "I spy" books :-)
My first stop was the scooter rental and I was so glad they still had some left when I arrived because there is NO way I could have seen any where near as much as I did without it. It was 85 degrees and sunny, so I did my best to keep Dazzle off the hot blacktop which in most places was pretty easy.
We spent 4 hours touring the Fairgrounds and I think we saw almost everything! On foot, even for an able bodied person, it would have taken way longer that that! Here's the map of the grounds (click to enlarge):
I was really impressed by how accessible everything was. Nice wide isles, ramps and wide doors. Only draw back was no HC remote doors, but there were plenty of people nice enough to hold doors open for me.
Dazzle did really great with all the noises, including loud carnival rides and this chainsaw demo.
He was facinated by the critters, but I didn't let him get too close. We avoided the rabbit/chicken barns :-)
" LOOK OUT! There's a huge otter behind you!"
Dazzle was freaked out by the huge fish in these tanks :-) He wouldn't get between the scooter and the fish! He wanted to be sure to keep me and the scooter between him and the alien beings.
I think these goats are really beautiful. No idea what kind they are.
One of the goats was just as curious about Dazzle as Daz was about him
Goat calming signal? :-) (He started to scratch)
Again with the alien fish! He really wanted to look, but was ready to bolt away if the aliens attacked :-)
Getting braver...
The longer he watched, the more relaxed he got that they weren't going to jump out and swallow him
They often swam with their top fins out of the water and Dazzle was both facinated and freaked out at the same time by that.
They seemed as curious about the people as the people were about them. I think they were called paddle fish and they had a flat "bill" with no teeth.
This statue was created for the fair (a couple dancing). I used a head collar on Dazzle so he wouldn't try to pull the scooter like he does with a wheelchair.
These acrobats were AMAZING!
Balancing on one hand, on top of a stack of chairs, that are balanced on 4 bottles!
It's hard to see the bottles at the bottom. Click on the photo to make it larger.
Art out of cans. VERY creative pieces! The "smoke" is bags of marshmallows :-)
"Souper Bowl" The ball is made of sardine tins
Another view. You can see part of the "combine" to the right. I tried to get a photo of it, but it came out really burry for some reason.
Mega pumpkin carving! Yes, that says it's a 444 lb pumpkin! The winner of the biggest pumpkin was over 800 lbs! I didn't get a photo of it though (it wasn't carved and was actually rather ugly :-).
LOTS and LOTS of Legos!! I was in awe of these! Sorry for so many photos :-) This first one is Lucas Oil stadium. The "Big Screen" in the corner was actually a working TV screen!! Click to enlarge. Sorry it's a bit blurry, the lighting was poor.
Info about the lego stadium
The back of the stadium (no idea why this photo refuses to center):
This one is a Nascar track:
Some close ups:
This was a stunning set-up from the ocean to the mountains. It said it took 8 hours to reconstruct it in place. I don't recall how long it said it took to build it originally but it was a pretty long time!
Some close ups:
LOVE the sun bathers :-)
River valley (not sure why Shamu is trying to jump the waterfall :-):
Along the front of each display, there were pages saying "can you find..." with multiple things listed. People of all ages were having fun locating the various things. Can you find Darth Vader? :-)
Mountain Spring (Can you find the moonshine still?)
A permanent fixture at the fairgrounds is the Hook's Historical Drug Store. A VERY cool place! It serves old time fountain drinks and sodas.
Over all a VERY enjoyable day to take my mind off our recent loss.
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