A weekend of... non destruction?

This past weekend was our big Agility trial (We'll have another in the fall around Labor day), and I'd initially considered not going. After giving it some thought and deciding I could just come home if things went poorly, I decided to just go.

I arranged with some friends to stay in their tent trailer about 10 minutes drive from the trial site. If you've been around the blog a bit, you'll know their place from the photos of the dogs playing in the lake.

I arranged to borrow the SUV to take both dogs, and a young, keen friend with me to the trial. We packed the car on Thursday (almost an all day endeavor, as we unpacked various boxes looking for items!) and left Friday morning.

Archie got the middle spot behind the front seats, in his 400 crate (the brown one that Reiker destroyed.. but it still keeps Archie in!), and the cooler and bin-of-food rode behind his crate. Reiker got the back spot, in a 500 I picked up a few months ago. It's got a hole in one corner near the door, so I was hoping he wouldn't decide to dismantle the crate via the door or the hole. I put an old wool-type blanket in there for him to rip up, and provided an almost endless stream of bones and stuffed kongs all weekend.

I brought the chuck-it (then proceeded to forget to bring it home. sigh.) and about a dozen free tennis balls. By Saturday, Reiker was willingly bringing and dropping the ball each time I threw it, playing "real" fetch. He also dropped the ball while I was holding it a couple of times. That is huge progress.
He swam in the lake (on a long line!), fetching balls and chasing fish. He ran in the offleash trial area with Mary's rescue westie and did fantastically. He also ran with a belgian and westie pair, and did okay until he found someone else's chuckit and orangeball in the corner of the yard! I couldn't convince him to trade me the orangeball until I got back to the car and found the ISqueak ball.

At night, the boys slept in their crates in the car, quiet from last pee around 9 till morning around 7! Archie managed to get a couple of Starters Gamblers Qs, and will now run Advanced Gamblers. Wooops.

Reiker spent lots of time on leash near the rings, watching course building, walking and even some dogs running. He laid underneath the table in the score tent while I worked for some of the time, and ate bones and kongs in his crate the rest of the time. It was a nice cool weekend, so I didn't have to find shade to park in, either.

Overall, a fantastic weekend. If our trips continue as they have been, I'll feel like I can take these two almost anywhere! :)