she weaves again and Christmas pictures

My dad bought me a set of 12 weaves when Amber was first starting to learn agility. They're spaced 20" apart. Amber and Rye never had a problem practicing on them even though at trials they used weaves set 24" apart for a long time. Indi has been learning on stick in the ground weave poles which feel a lot different than a real set of poles with a solid base. When she got the hang of six straight poles I attempted once to run her through my set of 20 inchers but quickly realized she is much too long and tall for them!

So Indi's Christmas present came a day late. A new set of six 24" weaves! (I'll have to save up for that second set)

Here she is the morning after bringing them home, weaving a real set for the first time. I thought maybe it would look and feel different enough that she wouldn't be able to do them right away but that was not the case. She does every once in a while get caught in them like I've seen larger dogs do.

She still doesn't always want to bring me back her toy and I think we need to work more on recalls! She was super excited though and that makes her more likely to do victory laps instead of returning.

The weekend before Christmas we went to visit our family in New Meadows, Idaho.
There, Indi got to drag Emma, my inlaw's Vizsla around with a toy.

Help open presents.

Help break down boxes for recycling.

And best of all, play frisbee in the snow!

We hope you all had a most beautiful Christmas day!

the river in December

Our once weekly foray to the river. It's getting low and that means, a little swampy and green. I really should give Indi a bath after getting in it but I am lazy. I use a spray on shampoo (argh, how do I get rid of these link thingies?) and brush her coat really well instead.
I gave Rye a haircut on Thursday. I love how shaving his coat down a bit really makes his spots show.
Here he is on duck watch, his favorite passtime. He usually doesn't get out any deeper than this in the water so he doesn't get smelly.

Indi has started to point!

Indi loves to stick her whole head in the water and take big mouthfuls and then turn around and RUN straight at me. She gets wild!

The scratch between her eyes happened while playing with another dog. I really hope the hair grows back in!

And finally, here is Rye being his beautiful setter self.

 

she weaves!

Four poles!
We've been doing the two by two method which is how Rye learned. Amber learned with channel weaves. I can't say either one was better for us since Amber almost always had really solid weaves and Rye didn't in competition but that may just be an individual dog thing. I do like the idea of the two by two method better. It feels to me that the dog really learns it well independently. It is working well for Indi since she is so toy motivated.

Next up, add two more off to the side and slowly move those in line with the other four. I started these about two weeks ago, working a few times a week and just yesterday she really had the idea down.