Swimming

Throw the toy!

The original plan was to hike, but with the temperatures in the high 90's and 100's, we decided a trip to the lake would be just the thing! Summit's 7 mos. old cousin decided to join us. I took my camera and got some great shots of Dash and Summit.

Meanwhile, Jen is flying out to Ontario, Canada this afternoon to pick up her new puppy, Bode. He is a Tru x Divot puppy (Tru is Summit's mom and Divot is Summit's great-uncle). Bode is very cute and reminds me a lot of Summit. He is a "thinker" and really crazy about his toys. I can't wait to see the little puppers when they return.

Next weekend is the AKC trial in Latigo!

Dash racing back with her frisbee

Look what Summit "caught" in the lake!

The cousins posing for a picture

USDAA Rocky Mountain Regionals

This was my first Regional competition. Since Sage is already qualified in DAM team and since I didn't want to risk re-injuring her shoulder, I did not enter her in the Regional. I am confident I made the right decision but I really missed running my girlie and she would have done so well on many of the courses. I would really have liked to seen how she would have done on the Team Snooker and Team Jumpers - two very challenging but fun courses.

Summit was entered in DAM team and the regular classes. Since I have never entered him in a tournament before at the local level, he was not qualified to run in Steeplechase or Grand Prix at the Regional. But between all the Team classes, regular classes, and my being responsible for hospitality at this trial, I am glad I was only running one dog.

On Friday, Summit qualified with a first place in Starters Jumpers and earned his AD title! This was the last leg we were waiting for to get his title. The course was very nice and not so wide-open with straight lines. It was actually the more technical Starters Jumpers course I have seen and which is why we did so well. Summit collected nicely and had tight turns. He had a lovely run in Advanced Standard except for taking the tunnel (4 times!) instead of the dw (note to self - train verbal tunnel/contact cues for discriminations).

He had some nice runs in Team Standard and Team Jumpers but did not run clean. This was the first time he has run Master's level courses in competition and I thought he did very well. They were some tough courses too.

Saturday Summit had a blazing-fast smooth Advanced Standard run but dropped ONE bar! He did well in the Team classes and even made it to the closing in the very tough Team Snooker course. He dropped the bar on the #4 jump but many Masters-level dogs did not make it that far. However, the highlight of our day was the 60-foot lead out I did. It was the best way to handle that Snooker course by starting with the farthest red. Summit not only held his stay but recalled to heel without taking any of the "options" on the way. What a good boy!

Sunday, I could tell my little guy was mentally tired. He only had three runs on Sunday but I had already decided to scratch him from Starters Snooker. He had a little meltdown in Team Relay and he had no collection in his Advanced Standard run and dropped two bars. This was a very big weekend for such a young dog. Three rings with many runs per day. It was hot and humid and luckily, we had the lake near by so he could swim. There were also a lot of conflicts so many time he would finish a run and immediately we would go to another ring to start another run.

Brad was there on Friday and Saturday taking pictures and got some really great shots of Summit in the weavepoles.