Accel / Decel Workshop

We drove south on Friday afternoon. The danger of a California tsunami was minimal by then. The ocean looked peaceful. I wondered if the sailors aboard the tanker in this photo saw any big waves, prior to churning under the Golden Gate bridge and into port....



I couldn't stop thinking about, and praying for (such as I do), the people of Japan. And maybe something's wrong with my priorities, but I couldn't stop also thinking about and praying for their animals.

This is a photo from the 2009 USDAA National Championships in Scottsdale. It's labeled "Team Japan dogs"....which may or may not be correct. Either way, I prayed for these handlers, and their dogs.


Friday was a gorgeous day in the Bay Area. We drove through a chichi SF neighborhood called
"Sea Cliff"....


....and past the Veteran's Hospital. There's a little roadside shrine near there. I've always been curious about who built it. And who is the little green doghouse for? Fallen K9 warriors? (Really small ones.) Does someone put water in the bowl?




We were going to take our usual route, but the tsunami warning lingered, and Highway 1 was still closed....


So we turned back into town, made our way down 19th and on into the South Bay.
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Saturday morning Riff and I got up early for the Laura Manchester-Derrett "Accel / Decel" workshop. (After chatting with you I'll type up all my notes, complete with diagrams. Who knew agility would involve so much study time?!)
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For you, a few photos:



[If you make it past the Swiss Park Bar, there's a good chance you'll be able to "run fast, run clean" at the Jump'N'Java agility field.]

[Workshop participants and auditors setting up for the day. Lots of folks showed up.]

[Flat work. Acceleration!!!! This is "Lexy." Lovely dog.

Riff was very good at accelerating. Not so good at decelerating. More training needed!]

[Riff really isn't calm about watching other dogs accelerate and/or play with toys. He wants to lunge, whine, and bark. So I put a sheet over his crate. As always, I kept him uncovered as often as possible - when no dogs were on the course, and/or when I could help him keep his cool. One of my strategies is to give him a "binky"....a toy he grabs and mouths when he gets really wound up. It keeps him busy, and it keeps him quiet. Unfortunately it also gets him really worn out. So I let him have his binky only during the morning session. By the afternoon he was more relaxed. I let him watch me put the binky away. He seemed to miss it for only a couple of seconds.]

[This is the course layout we worked on during the afternoon. The order of obstacles changed for each exercise. We had some very tricky sequences....]

[This is "Roo" a "half-husky, half-sight hound." His handler is very nice.]

[I think this malamute's name is "Trevor." He's a substantial 82 pounds, and surprisingly light on his feet. Anne was handling him for his owner.]

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[After we got back to our friends' house in Redwood City, Riff just wanted to rest his head under the glass of their coffee table. He wanted to keep a polite eye on our friends, and the nibbles, without too much effort....]

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PS.... Have you heard the Alison Krauss CD "Lonely Runs Both Ways"? Listening to it now. So lovely....
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