What A Weekend

Busy busy busy.

But awesome.

Zeke first, since he's the youngest :)

What. An. Epic. Puppy. This morning he was a bit less on the ball- delicious duck poo and it was stinking hot for only a quarter past ten in the middle of August. But even still.

Ten and a half weeks old, barely done any sort of "real training" much less trained in the middle of a ring with tonnes of people pressing up against the sides... And he didn't even notice anything but me. I got awesome tugging out of him, he did his mat and his target and his feet on the box despite having only started learning the very beginnings of each a few days ago. He didn't try and run off to say hi to people or to play with Lewis. He was just awesome and I was so surprised and so proud of him. For being a real handful of a dog he has his moments where he just blows me away.

I also did a lot of socialising with Zeke- might as well make the most of an opportunity. It's not everyday you have so many weird and unusual sights and so many people just waiting to introduce a puppy to. I walked him all around the different stalls, he met all these people from babies in prams to seniors, we wandered up through the crazy ride alley of the oval which was full of screaming and running kids and flashing lights and loud noises and sudden movement and he wasn't bothered by anything. Balloons popping right by him: nah, couldn't care less. He had a fair bit of play time with the other dogs in the team as well which was good for him and today he even did his very first tunnel which he loves. After only a few attempts I got it semi curved- and it's a bit, heavy, dark tunnel as well. He rocketed through it- faster than I anticipated, actually, so I was a bit off guard when he launched at the toy- without issue. We did some running to a dead toy as well and God, if I think Charlie's fast to run I think I'm going to get a rude shock once I start Zeke.

Charlie was his usual special self :) He did semi-good heelwork, with moments of wonderfulness and moments where he was just like lalalalalalala. Did all of his stays and his recall at the end like a pro, and he loved his agility runs at the end as per usual. He was only nailing his weave entries if I "helped" him find the entry by checking him slightly to bring his speed back a bit, and even though he absolutely hates these weaves (they're short, and flimsy, and the spacing's off, and he only sees them a half dozen times or so a year at demos) and I don't blame him, I really do need to start addressing his entry independence.

Overall we had an absolutely awesome weekend; it was a lot of fun, I've got two very tired doggies who won't bug me for at least a couple more hours, and I got a very pleasant surprise in the form of a focused Zeke.

Zeke's performance this weekend has made me even more excited about the future with him. I think he's going to shape up to be a really special dog; he has every element he needs to help him do bloody brilliant in pretty much any area, so now it's all up to me to make sure I keep him on the right path and don't stuff him up.

No pressure :P