A Full and Fun Saturday

On Saturday I attended an agility demo at a dog adoption event.  There weren't many dogs for adoption, but I hope the raffle raised some money for the group putting it on.  Maybe the lack of dogs to be adopted contributed, but more than just a few people wanted to know if my dogs were available for adoption!  As we were setting up and before I could put the shade cloth on top of the x-pen, so many people had their hands in there petting them that I put off attaching the shade.  A lot of people asked about the Mals, and I think I did a a good job educating anyone who would listen.

This is the group that was still around when the photo was taken, later in the day.

I love doing demos.  The people watching want to see your dogs, and they aren't thinking critically that your dog is too slow or jumps funny or you are a bad handler.  There is no pressure because if you mess up, the crowd doesn't care (or know) and you haven't just "lost" a chance at a Q or "wasted" money.  I suppose demos help me treat agility like what is is- something fun to do with your dog.  When there is a Q on the line, I have more trouble doing that.

The demo area itself was very small, so we just had a few jumps and a tunnels.  The only bad part was I had to park quite a long distance away.  My tablet said it was .6 miles.  Which is not very far to walk at all.  Until you are also dragging your cart with your agility gear, threading your way through crowds, and attempting to control your three dogs who think you are there to go to the beach.  

Really, it has to post sideways?

Someone filmed all the participants, so our vidoes are below.  I managed to mess Dottie up.  No wonder we can't Q in a trial, if I can't get this simple course right!  And she missed the last weave, but no one knew except me.


Dottie


Pie


Fancy

After the demo we hung out some more, then I packed up and headed back to the car.  I stopped along the way and took these pictures.  I think Santa Barbara is one of the prettiest towns around.  

The sidewalk was a bit narrow, so it was easier to have Fancy ride the cart, and have only the Mals walk next to me.  That way I wasn't stepping on the dogs, or running them over with the cart.

After getting home, I headed over to a friend's house who is out of town.  I was watching her dogs only for that one day, and someone else was covering the other days.  I took the dogs for a short walk, and brought Fancy along too.  I think they look like an Oreo Cookie.

Next I headed out to my paren'ts house and youngest brother and I saw the movie Looper.  We weren't sure how crowded it would be, so we got there and hour early and were first in line.  The theater did end up filling up, but if you go there before the previews, you had a seat with your friends.  I read my VST book to pass the time.  The movie was good, although I think the writers and I disagree about how time travel works.

Fancy had a nap in the car, but then she woke up to play a little frisbee at the house.

ONE photo that didn't post sideways.