Last Sunday, Dazzle earned the third "leg" (qualifying run) needed for his lure coursing title (CA= Coursing Aptitude). Here are some other photos from the Saturday and Sunday runs.
We went from the event in Richmond, directly to Dog Scout camp.
Dazzle enjoyed camp and so did I (as usual)!
He earned 5 new badges:
Manners (not rushing out doors, going to a mat, lie on side on cue, etc.)
Directional Control (I'm able to direct him to targets that are 35' away in several directions, plus a stop on recall)
Carting (pulling a cart, backing up, going through a narrow opening just big enough for the cart, left/right turns and sit/down in harness)
Messenger Dog (Going 200 yards alone and out of my sight back to base, getting "help", bringing that person to my last known location and then tracking me to a new location 100 yards farther away).
Water Racing (This is Dazzle's new favorite activity- lure coursing in the water! Two dogs race for the "bumper" being pulled through the water).
.
Water Racing photos:
.
Waiting his turn (sort of)...
Oops! False start
Now we're racing!
Dazzle and Indi were neck and neck
The last photo is NOT the desired result! The person in the water pulling the lure has an extra toy to throw for the dog that didn't get the lure, but Dazzle and Cate were neck and neck and neither wanted to go for a different toy! Cate did let go and go for the other toy (she is looking at it) right after this photo was snapped.
.
We had some pretty strong thunderstorms go through. Below you can see just how much water was falling at once. The ground at camp is all sand and drains quickly, but so much rain was falling, there were temporary rivers!
Thankfully the storms were quick and didn't last all day as predicted. This let us get back on track with the schedule of events. Like the Devil Duck game!
The idea is for the dog to retrieve as many of the ducks as possible within 60 seconds without picking up the red "devil ducks". Dazzle picked up the red duck on his second retrieve, so we didn't score well :-)
He had a blast running with friends at the water
There were LOTS of great photos like the ones above, but these two were my favorites. He also enjoyed playing fetch the ball at the lake, either by himself or with other friends.
On the last day of Agility class, the instructors set-up a "tunnels race". The dogs ran one at a time and had to go through each of the tunnels twice (set in a rough circle). Dazzle placed 3rd with a time of 21 seconds. He might have won if he hadn't taken the A-frame inbetween. :-) The winning dog did it in 15 seconds.
Overall, a wonderful time. I did come home with a cold though. Two people arrived sick and by the end of the week almost every single person had caught it. :-( It didn't seem to diminish the camp enjoyment TOO much though.
.
If you have a dog, or can borrow one, you really should think about attending a Dog Scout camp! It's the time of your life (and of course your dog's life too!)
.
