"Under the Lights" with Team Menapode: Part 2

We had a *fabulous* weekend!

Both dogs made the finals and placed second in their jump group (Master for Kes, Junior for Aeri) and KESTREL HAD THE LONGEST JUMP OF THE ENTIRE COMPETITION before the finals! Wooo!

Aerten's full video (had music but it's been removed :( )


Kestrel's full video:


Kes got to do Speed Retrieve again and while he didn't qualify for finals, he still performed well, tying his PB from Cherokee. We did try EV, but Kes didn't really understand the concept. In practice he managed to grab the bumper at 4'6", but in the actual competition he looked at me like I had 3 heads and stood on the edge of the dock and barked - we've obviously got a bit more training to do there before we're ready for Iron Dog.

Given how well the dogs did this weekend, and the prize money they earned paying for their entries and most of my gas, we've decided to drive down to an event in GA hosted by Dixie Dock Dogs. We'll be staying with my friend Heather, so it should be a fun time regardless of how the dogs do!

"Under the Lights" with Team Menapode: Part 1

Kes, Aeri, and I helped at the Carolina DockDogs dock diving demos at the Lee County Fair tonight. I figured that 1. it would be a great way to get both dogs familiar with the dock they'll be jumping off on Sat/Sun and 2. it gives us a chance to give back to our club and share the joy of dock diving with more people.

The biggest news? AERI JUMPED!!!!!!



At the last minute I threw Aeri's life vest in the car just in case. The vest has given her more confidence in the past and has handles that would allow me to lower her into the water if needed, so I figured it might be helpful.

As at the Cherokee event, Aeri didn't want to jump all on her own, but I held the handles and started to lower her into the water and she finished getting in on her own. The next round, I held the straps but she jumped on her own, and then after that I just threw the toy and she did the rest.

After a few nice vested jumps, I went ahead and took the vest off and that's where the video picks up. :)

Kes did nicely as well, especially given that the pool was set up at a *fair*, only about 100 feet from the food vendors, and after dark!

We had a ton of fun and can't wait until this weekend!

Casual Saturday!

The dogs and I got a chance to attend a fun day at a local pool yesterday!  It was a great opportunity to get Aeri jumping off of a low surface (the pool deck) and in a new place in preparation for our next event. 

Dogs are poor generalizers, so making things easy in a new location can often help a dog gain confidence in their performance faster than trying to get them to jump at standard height in the new place where the setting can be intimidating, especially if there are spectators and lots of noise like at most events.

I'm hoping the extra exposure and recent practice will help prevent us from having another "Erin goes swimming" Big Air Wave. ;)