Having Fun Is Important!

 

  

Bravo and Radar had an awesome weekend!  We spent the weekend at the Shamrock Splash put on by Splash Dogs and at the International Sportsman's Expo doing Dock Dogs. 

I firmly believe that while Bravo may be a full working dog he needs to have fun as well!  Bravo’s best jump this weekend was well off his personal best but still a respectable jump of 21’4” in Big Air and 6 feet in Extreme Vertical!  Our local newspaper The Deseret News has some great video clips of the Dock Dog event.  About halfway through there are some great shots of Bravo doing the Extreme Vertical.   Click Here!

Radar is a fair weather dog!  He likes to jump when the water is warm or when there is something that really gets his attention…like a remote control speed boat!  His big thing this weekend was Course-A-Lure.  I call it “crack for terriers”!  Below is a video of Radar attempting Course-A-Lure.

 

As you can see from the opening picture Bravo had a very respectable weekend!  Dock Dogs has an event called Speed Retrieve.  We had never seen this event before, let alone try it.  The jest of it is that a “flappy” (bumper) is suspended from a electronic timer box at the end of a 40’ pool.  The dog must be behind a electronic eye at 20’ on the dock.  There is a light that blinks yellow 3 times and then turns green and you release your dog to go.  The dog then must jump in the water and swim to the object and grab it thus stopping the timer.  Bravo’s first attempt was a little over 8 seconds!  Not blazing fast but still respectable!

Bravo qualified for the finals in both Big Air and Speed Retrieve.  During the Big Air Finals we were just getting ready to attempt our first jump when I felt my blood sugar dropping.  I decided to go ahead and try and push through it.  I set Bravo at his normal start place of 32’feet on the dock, walked to the end of the dock, and called him hard to come jump.  He raced to me…threw the brakes on, stopped at the edge of the dock, looked me in the eye, and then jumped 7’.  “Excuse me, mom…..I like this stuff but your blood sugar is low!” I came off the dock ate 2 bags of gummy bears, 4 tabs, and a bag of peanut mix. Round 2 went better, but Bravo’s heart still wasn’t into jumping.  He jumped a little over 17’ and took 8th in the finals. I on the other hand went and took a glucagon shot!

In spite of the low blood sugar attack, we had a awesome weekend.  It never ceases to amaze me how Bravo can override all of his training in other venues and still tell me when my sugars are low!  He was trained in obedience, field, agility, and jumping long before he started alerting…yet somehow he overrides all of that training to tell me when my sugars are low!