Pumpkin Fest

Spent a few hours at the big Minges Pumpkin Festival today.  Here are a few photos:

That's-a-lotta punkins!

Just one of the many outside "isles" between booths

There are several inside isles too

Dazzle liked the baby Alpacas.  They ignored him

Another pose with the pumpkins

Last year at the Halloween party hosted by the training club, some nice photos were taken of the dogs in attendance.  Dazzle and I were a K-9 team and Bear had is "Right Wing Attack Dog" shirt on (not for the photo).  I finally got these photos last month, so I'm sharing them now that it's the right season :-)

Fall colors

Spent some time driving around taking photos of the Fall colors. Enjoy!

Not Fall colors, but I like the shot

My new favorite photo of Dazzle

So helpful

This is Lilly.  We watch her when her mom is out of town.  This is where she typically spends a lot of time while she's here (on "cat watch").
Of COURSE the cat has her own room! :-)

It's even more exciting when the cat plays along too. The cat is smart enough to stay in her room when Lilly visits :-) I don't think Lilly would hurt her, but so does get pretty intense and I trust Splash's instincts.

As I was laying on my belly taking photos, Dazzle decided I needed help.  First, he shoved his head under my chin and did the wiggly body dance in front of me. Then flopped on his side and wagged his tail.  

"Hey!  I'M supposed to be the subject of all your photos!"

 Then he tried to lay ON me and then used his nose to try to "lift" me while making interesting play growl noises.  I asked him to lay down next to me which he did, for about 5 seconds... but then he did a complete roll over.  It started with his back against my side and ended with his feet doing gentle play shoves on my shoulder and hip.

When all that failed to do anything but generate laughter (and barking from Coyote) he decided that maybe what I needed was a toy, so he brought me one and dropped it on my head.  THANKFULLY it was just paper!  But when I didn't play with it, he took it back and shredded it... with his body blocking the photo :-)

So helpful... :-)

Broken toe?

I took Dazzle to the vet for a swelling on his toe.  It didn't seem to be bothering him in the least (no licking it or limping) even after hard exercise. But it felt hard so I wanted to get it checked.  X-rays revealed a small sliver of bone (or maybe arthritis build up) had broken off. It is floating next to the side of his foot and is surrounded by the swelling.  I was really surprized at that since even when the vet was moving it around he didn't really react.  Since it doesn't seem to be bothering him, he was ok'd for Agility practice and classes.

The vet said that he will likely develop some calcification or scar tissue around it that will be permament. He did show some other arthritis on the same side of his foot, but in the higher joint.  No idea what he's doing that is putting more wear on the inside edge of his foot. 

IDPA pistol match

Ok, so not dog related like my usual posts, but still loads of fun! I attended and participated in my first International Defensive Pistol Association match today in Oxford OH. 

It started with check-in and paying $15, then a brief safety talk for anyone new to IDPA (there were several new people today).  Then we got assigned to a 15 person group. Some clubs, from what I understand, have new shooters shoot a few targets just to check that the person understands how to handle a gun safely and can follow directions. 

As people arrived and got checked in, each group formed and once a group was complete, they were assigned a station to start on. 

There were 7 stations, each with a different scenario (video below).  Each group rotated counter-clockwise through the stations.  Each station has a description describing what needs to be done at the station. You can click on the photos below to enlarge them.

 Each person took a turn shooting the station based on the way they felt was the best way to accomplish the goal within the scenario parameters.  For example, some people started on the right side, others on the left (when there was an option).

It was a "cold" range, meaning no one had a loaded gun until it was their turn to shoot and the safety officer told them to load.  Some stations designated how many rounds could be loaded (to force  the shooter to do magazine changes) and others were open to the max number of rounds (10 rounds per magazine).  For the folks using revolvers, they were always fully loaded up to 6 rounds. Any gun that can reasonably be used for concealed carry is allowed.  The holster also needs to be able to be used for concealed carry and the holster/gun should be concealed at the start of most senarios.

The first station (which I didn't get on video) simulated 2 bad guys breaking into your yard pointing guns at you while you enjoyed your morning coffee.  It was started with the shooter seated at a table with the gun on the table.  The shooter had to start with a cell phone in the left hand and cup of coffee (empty) in their right hand.  At the start sound, those items get dropped and the shooter picks up the gun off the table to engage 4 targets.  The first round has the shooter engage 2 of the targets with their strong hand only.  The second round is engaging 2 different targets with both hands on the gun.

After all shooters complete each station, the group moves (all together) to the next station in the rotation until all the stations have been completed.  There were 4 groups today, so about 60 shooters.  I mostly only met the folks in my group, but it was a great group of folks.  Very supportive and encouraging of each other.  Dan and Cheryl were my mentors and answered all my questions about the rules and proceedures.

The weather cooperated too. 68-78 and sunny.  The storm clouds were just starting to move in as we were finishing up (about 1:45pm).  I'm definitely hooked!  I sure hope the weather is as nice next month! 

VIDEO: Several of the IDPA stations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UacBR0YB7w4

1 Q- no title

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.

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...

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. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R29ps8k65Qs

Enjoy the very few photos that turned out ok:

Here are the types of photos I was trying to get (captured from video)