Busy weekend: Dog practice, Santa pics, Christmas gifts

 It was a busy last-weekend-before-Christmas!  I put together 2 mini-photo albums for gifts for family... Our furbaby, Inu, was in several of the pictures - part of the family of course!!  Here are the 2 albums, red and green, and Inu is on the last page - don't you just love taking pictures of your furbaby....Got the gifts wrapped and packaged up to be mailed to family tomorrow, thanks to lots of help from my hubby.

So of course, we had to take Inu to get her picture taken with Santa too
 - gee I remember when I used to do that with my sons when they were little...they grow up too fast and then leave :-(    We went with another doggy friend and even though it was busy, noisy, and close quarters, Inu did very well sitting still and staying on Santa's lap!  They even had little red scarves to put on the dogs in their pictures - see how nicely Inu put her dainty feet on Santa's hand?  Her ears are back just a little - she does that when she starts to feel anxious and stressed.  This was nothing compared to what she went through all day on Saturday...

On Saturday we spent most of the day at Inu's first practice trial (which is a dog agility type of competition that is similar to a real one, but just a practice).  We were volunteering too, so we got there bright and early.  We put Inu into her soft crate with her blankets and water so she is all comfy.  Since Inu has been doing dog agility classes at this place, she is very familiar with it, so nothing new there.  We zipped her in so she wouldn't jump out and go over to the check in area.

Soon there are many more people checking in - there were over 40 dogs signed up at this indoor dog agility practice trial!  That was a great turnout!

Look at all those different dog setups and crates!  But it was very organized and the dogs were mostly well-behaved and not as much barking as you would think....

Inu is in the green crate over there on the left - the first one in the row by the wall.  We would come and sit by her and zip open the crate top when we had a few minutes, and take her outside for a quick walk sometimes too.  My husband was doing timing for the dog runs.

And this is where I was most of the time - standing by the list of dogs who were in each category, checking them in, making changes to the list, and making sure they were ready to go when the dog before them was done. 

It was a great spot to see all the action up front!!

Here all the dog owners are having a meeting with the judge and owner before the event starts.  The anti-fatigue matting is really nice for both the dogs and owners.  There were 3 events:  One with obstacles (like weave poles, dog walk, A-frame, table for staying in a "down" position for about 10 sec.), one called "snooker" (do as many obstacles as you can within a certain time frame and gets points for each), and one with 14 different jumps.  Inu was scheduled as the first dog in the Jumpers at 8" height - Jumpers was the last set of events for the day. 

So she had to wait, and wait, and wait....

Finally, Inu was able to get on her first course run for Jumpers - and looked like she got stage-fright!  Her ears went back, eyes got wide, and tail went down....But she was a little trooper, and did every single one of the 14 jumps that my hubby told her to jump!  I kept thinking, "she's going to refuse to do it at any minute!"  But no, my husband stayed close to her, keep her moving and focused, and she got through the whole thing!  But not as fast as she can go -- She did it all at a trot!  It looked like she didn't quite understand why she was the only dog out there lol!!  When she got done, both of her teachers clapped loudly and cheered for her! 

All in all, it was a fun and educational adventure - got to see lots of other dogs perform, learn what Inu needs to work on, meet other dog owners, and help out - not to mention all the great munchy food there was!!  I was so tired from all the excitement, that I slept for 10 hours that night!! 

Guess I need to get in "training" too....