Due to an unforseen injury on Thursday morning, agility obstacles were not fabricated on the weekend ::sadface::
I had a very sore back. Now Barbie, bless her, has not yet mastered the art of jumping. She won't jump into my 4x4 because it's too far off the ground for her to contemplate. She will, however, scramble her way into the back seat of Nic's little Honda Civic which is probably a massive 30 cm off the ground if I throw treats in there.
When it came time to go to dog training on Saturday morning, there was no way that I was lifting the little princess into my car, so we took the Civic. Desma had a jumpy little dog with her, which I didn't think was one of hers. Turns out it was rescued from death row at the Gosnells pound. Desma asked for name suggestions and she got two - Bambi & Gremlin. I thought little Gremlin was adorable and looked like a 'small' variety 'camp dog' from the Goldfields. Desma thought she had Basenjii in the mix. She had all her adult teeth and was pretty snappy for treats. My hands smelled like the polony that I had been giving Barbie so when I tried to talk to Gremlin, I got a nip on the finger. When I got home I washed it out with disinfectant but it looks pretty gross at the moment. I thought Gremlin was adorable - I have a soft spot for high spirited dogs. I don't think Barbie shared my opinion, however. When little Gremlin started bouncing around too close, Barbie let out a bit of a warning growl. She doesn't put up with any nonsense, my Barbie.
Bender did better being left home alone this time. There was no crying or barking that I heard. When I got back I wasn't up to taking him out, but they both got a walk together in the late afternoon.
Sunday we went to the dog park. They didn't go last weekend and all their hiking was on-leash so they were both super excited. Bender was so excited that he escaped from the car and ran up and down the car park 3 times before I could talk sense into him. He also was so excited that he forgot to watch where his ball went when I threw it! I had to go after it too and find it for him. Gah.
Barbie took off for some blistering laps. I practiced her recall a bit - it's not 100% - she ignored me once (the chase was too interesting).... and then when I called her she trotted up to another woman, who was closer and similar in height to me. I think she was confused momentarily. I was like 'Barbie, you are meant to be a sight hound!' and everyone at the park laughed. She played chase with a young boxer pup, and it ran into the fence. Barbie almost hit the fence too. The boxer pup didn't seem too perturbed about the whole thing - it came back to her for more, but I told Barbie to leave it and she did.
The Huskies as usual were wrestling and making a lot of noise. Barbie kept zooming past them, passing centimetres from them and half speed - trying to distract them and get them to play her game. Some of the guys laughed at her for that too. She does provide a lot of entertainment.
I saw some sharpeis coming in the gate at one point, and the younger one was barking and snapping and carrying on, so I held Barbie gently by the collar. I didn't want her to get involved. They went for a lap around the park. Bender was getting other people to throw his ball, as usual, and wasn't in the slight bit interested in me. Then Barbie took off and the young, barky sharpei took of after her. He gave the best chase of the day, and he didn't give up but Barbie well and truly burned him off. Then I realised that the older, tan sharpei was Betty! Betty belongs to a friend of mine, who I hung out with a bit in Kalgoorlie. It was cool running into them, and I barely recognised Betty because she was walking a lot better than she used to. Poor Betty had a few mishaps as a pup that involved broken legs - but she is on glucosamine and fish oil and it's done her a lot of good.
The young sharpei's name was Frank. He didn't seem to like Bender very much (because Bender was ignoring him). He was great with Barbie though.
After an hour and a half, we called it quits. Bender was being silly and pulling on the lead on the way out. I think because there were two dogs waiting to come in who always harrass him. I trod on Barbie's foot and she let out the greyhound scream of death. Then she got tangled in her lead and she screamed some more! I told her to stop being silly and somehow managed to untangle her while keeping hold of Mr Boof Head. Everyone thought she was being murdered. She hasn't really screamed at the park before.
She's better than she used to be. She used to scream if you took hold of her collar! She knows she won't get sympathy from me. Although I did apologise for standing on her foot.
