Club training starts again

Training started up again today. After the usual December training hiatus it's still been on hold due to the terrible floods in January. I've been working with Tristan a bit every day when we do our park outings to try to maintain his obedience. It's great to be back officially training with the club.

Tristan and I tracked on our own. I had to go quite a distance to lay his track so it would be beyond tracks already laid. Tristan did pretty well considering the field seemed to have a lot of cross tracks on it. He only had trouble on one turn where he lost the scent but he quickly regrouped and was back on it.

On the way back to the car one second I was walking and the next I was face down in the mud. Splat! I didn't even see it coming. Tristan was there to help brace but the mud was so slick my feet kept slipping out. Luckily another member had joined us and gallantly helped me up. Later in the day I took another nose dive at the training field but it was on a small bank on the edge so I easily righted myself from this not-so-big tumble.

In obedience I worked with Tristan on the hurdles. He loves jumping and especially scaling the six foot wall. Another member helped by showing me a better way to get Tristan back over. It's important the dog learns that going around on the return is not an option.

Tristan had a hard time waiting for protection. It's his very favorite. We stayed out of sight until our turn but super dog was super whiny. He knew it was protection time and he wanted it now! Tristan hasn't done a blind search for so long and it was fun seeing him go to the empty blind when directed without hesitation even though he knew the helper was in the blind right behind him.

The weather was great and it was fun getting back on the official training fields. It started out really foggy and then cleared to our first sunny day for ages. On the drive home late in the afternoon there was a lot of low lying fog rolling in which is always magical.

My knees have been better recently but my acrobatics today didn't do them any good. I can barely walk tonight. I know I overdid it and I'm hoping it's just a minor setback.

Safety first:


It's bird hunting season and hunters are in the area where we track. It's a bit disconcerting to hear shotguns nearby so I'm making sure they don't mistake us for Big Bird..