feelin' hot, hot, hot!

After a hot, humid but nicely breezy weekend of agility trialing in Manotick, I am again reminded how much I dislike working in downtown Ottawa during a heat wave. Surrounded by concrete, the heat and humidity just seems to be intensified to an unbearable level. I REALLY didn't miss this last summer!

Our weekend was wonderful and I am happy to report that Joshua did not disappoint us one bit (like he ever could! :-) ). He was phenomenal all weekend. He seemed to really enjoy being around the dogs (and mimicking them when they yipped with joy) and always wanted to get to where the action was - and ran every step of the way! I had a few comments from my fellow competitors about REALLY junior handling - I wasn't kidding when I said I give him a year before he wants to be the one running around with Shadow!

With all that running around in the fresh air, Joshua had some of his longest naps this weekend - and Mark and I had our first two completely uninterrupted nights of sleep! I guess he was pretty worn out... or maybe the high humidity, coupled with his fan on high speed non stop is the secret ticket.

The weekend was a successful one for Shadow and I as well. We had a great Saturday - with 3 "almost" perfect runs. One run resulted in a new agility title - Shadow is now "Masters Snooker Dog of Canada" - our second of a possible 6 masters titles. Sunday was a bit more crazy - my pooch had decided he was 6 months old again and had to let his ya-yas out... but after roping him back in, one and a half out of 3 runs were wonderful and we managed another qualifying run in the steeplechase.

Joshua seemed to enjoy spending time with the other dogs in out gang too...

When Loki (one of Shadow's standard poodle buddies) decided to go lie down for a rest in HIS crate, Joshua looked completely baffled (though he seemed to want to, we decided it wasn't such a good idea for Joshua to be allowed to join him)

Thanks to everyone who came out to watch (special thanks to Tiana, who was such a big help with Shadow!). And a BIG thanks to all those that helped Mark wrangle Joshua - it really did help me stay in "the zone"!

Try not to melt out there!

J