Weight Watchers: My Dogs Love It!

  About a month ago, I woke up at 2:00am and thought, "Get your fat *ss back to Weight Watchers and get back into shape." And seven hours later, I walked into a meeting and joined. I am very tough with myself in the middle of the night. As of yesterday, I've lost 10 pounds and I feel great.
  My dogs are loving it, too, because on the WW program, I can earn "activity points" and exchange them for food (or a glass of wine, in my case). I've been running for 30 minutes, three days per week. On the other days, I am walking the dogs. I can get 4 activity points (equal to a glass of wine) for walking 90 minutes. I split this into two sessions, with different sets of dogs. I used to walk them for about a half hour, so this is significantly more exercise for them too. An added bonus is the wear on their tonails!
  I even took Cozy to run with me on Monday, to the dog park at Palmer Park. It's a little stressful for me, because all the dogs are off-leash and they are ALL bigger than Cozy, but it went well.

 On Tuesday morning, I took the three Highlanders (Cozy, Wager, and Jackson) to Lake George for a long hike. There's a Scottie in this shot, in the trees on the left. They are good about staying within earshot. Wager even scared up a bunny and chased it for a couple of minutes.

Cozy is smart and stays on the trail so she doesn't have to fight the snow. In the deep spots, she follows in my steps.

  The next day, all three dogs were exhausted, and Wager was limping a little. I suspect he over-did the rabbit hunting. He limped a short time on our on-leash walk today, so I'll continue to keep an eye on him.

  Last weekend, we competed at the Poodle Club trials in Castle Rock. The weather was perfect for crating in the car (cold and sunny). The courses were fun. Cozy would have been 4/4 except that I was an idiot and sent her off course in JWW on Sunday. She got QQ #18 on Saturday. I really tried to stay with her visually.  

   Jackson took 4th out of 23 dogs in JWW on Saturday. It was a nice run. In standard, he flew off the UP ramp of the dogwalk. The rubber surface was bouncy and surprised him. He continues to have problems with popping out of the weaves on uneven terrain- such as when the big dogs run first and dig deep divots in the weaves. My plan is to take my weaves to the local school and set them up in the sand under the playground. It's a terrible surface for agility!

  Coming up is our only free weekend in January. Besides weaving at school, I'm going to set the grooming table up and take some fur off of some dogs. And sneak in some reading: "This Body Of Death" by Elizabeth George. I love Inspector Lynley!

Happy New Year, Amarillo!

 Cozy, Jackson, Wager, and I went to the agility trials in Amarillo, Texas, last weekend. The weather was fabulous, both for the 7-hour drive there and back, and for the trial. Sarah Dow Beathard was the judge. the courses were fun, with some interesting challenges. AOTC puts on a fine trial. I especially enjoyed not breathing horse barn dust for 2 days, and having convenient parking for crating in the van. The people at the trial were very friendly.
  I didn't get any video, but Wager went 4 for 4 in Novice. He did the teeter on the first try both days, and seemed to have even more confidence than he had a month ago. He already has his Jumpers title, so I tried some more challenging handling moves. He ran around the first jump on a long lead-out, but nailed it on the next run. He was a little slow on the dogwalk, and got a refusal on it on Saturday. It might become the next issue. Several people complimented me on Wager's runs. I've moved him to Open JWW for the Samoyed Club trial in 3 weeks, but he's staying in Novice Standard for right now. He'll probably get his Preferred title before moving up.
  Cozy QQed on Saturday. The soccer facility is pretty dark inside, and she seemed to have a hard time seeing. I'm not complaining, though, I just needed to be more verbal for her. She wasn't particularly fast, either, probably due to the low light. It will be interesting to see if she performs better in Castle Rock next weekend. It's brighter in there.
  Jackson got an Ex Jumpers leg, second place and 14 points.He also got two first-place Time2Beat legs. That's a good class for him- he doesn't have to do the dogwalk. Sarah's T2B courses were great- they allowed the dogs to really open up and RUN FAST!
  I was amazed that the motel was quiet on New Year's Eve. I went to bed early (around 10) and was able to sleep until past 7am. Apparently the Motel 6 isn't a popular party place.
  Amarillo is a nice city. It's large enough to have lots of amenities, but small enough that you can get somewhere in under 20 minutes. I found a FABULOUS grocery store close to my motel, so I was able to have healthy meals from the fridge and microwave in the room.
  On the way out of town on Sunday morning, we stopped at the Thompson Park Dog Park. They have a separate small dog area, but it's tiny. Thankfully, at 9am on New Year's Day, the big dog park was empty, so we stretched our legs in it.

Jackson, Wager, and Cozy in Amarillo

Jackson, enjoying a run in Texas

  It's a big dog park, but it includes a pond. Jackson and Wager wanted to chase geese, so we stayed on the far side, away from the pond. Thankfully, neither boy really wanted to get in the water. Cozy has more sense than to chase geese.

  Next weekend is the Columbine Poodle Club trial in Castle Rock. Close to home!