Extreme Oregon

So just like three weeks ago it was still 90 degrees, and then this weekend we have pouring down sideways rain stripping all the pretty Fall leaves from the trees. What the heck happened to Spring and Fall? We didn’t get either this year, and they’re my favorite seasons – and usually go on FOREVER. Winter and Summer are usually these tiny little pockets tucked in around a bunch of loveliness. I would like to go back to that. And as long as we’re asking for things that should be happening, where the hell is my flying car? I’ll even take a self driving car, I’m living in the future and I’m not impressed.

Trial this weekend down in Salem, the open sided arena. This did not go well with the weather, the jumps were blowing over, the parking lot was a churned up mass of mud and rain, rain, rain. I actually don’t mind rain, and mud I can deal with – but I hate wind. And what with being nervous about running Bright with her leg anyway, I was not really invested in our runs today. So it was pretty much training in the ring day, I’ll take responsibility for not calling Navarre out of tunnel, so he went WAY off course in the other direction. But he had a lovely threadle rear off a running dogwalk, so that was fun. Bright knocked a bar in Premier, it happens. She also knocked the last bar of standard, which was a tunnel to triple – and it gave us a good excuse to skip jumpers. Navarre oddly didn’t threadle into a fairly straight forward tunnel pull TWICE, even with me standing there, so we worked contacts and pushed on his weaves. I am taking it for granted he’s going to be focused and with me these days! He has started running his teeter, he did at the USDAA trial and then in Premier, and so I really made sure to make it happen in standard today and he still came off four on. So something to work on.

So scratched jumpers and unless it’s just lovely tomorrow (which it’s not supposed to be), we’re skipping tomorrow too. Three weekends of agility is hard, but add in this kind of weather, the open arena and my worries about Bright – yeah, we’ll pass. I should have gotten some video of Bright, she felt normal. I didn’t see anything, but I tried to run her normally. I feel like there is still some weakness in that back right, and during our last walk she did a big stretch of that leg back outwards, just the back right. I’m thinking it feels better, but not all the way.

Meanwhile, Pixel headed back to Carol, things are a lot quieter around here. As expected, as Pixel settled in she got a lot more spunky! She certainly wasn’t a bad dog, but it makes me realize how mild manned my crew is. Haku wouldn’t come out of his crate in the car if she was around because she liked to jump on the border collies’ heads when they came out. She definitely got louder and crazier and more pyrshep-like – which is the Pixel I know and love. Navarre and her played quite a bit, but it was mostly Pixel doing all the work.

The border collies just didn’t quite know what to do with all that Pixel, so she pretty much just took over. She got a lot braver with the cats, and was soon sleeping right in prime position on the bed, next to cats and shoving any border collies out of the way. She got loud and demanding when out playing the dogs, which confused the BCs as she didn’t actually want the toy, but would hang on to them like a little tick, making it hard for THEM to get the toy, and they were way too polite to tell her stop it. Bright would tell her to knock it off in some instances, but she, too, is good at ignoring other dogs to an extreme degree when out playing. So I’m sure Carol’s Briards will remind her how to behave when she goes home.

A lot more energy in the household with a pyrshep, Pixel is always so happy and excited, bouncing around and pinging off the furniture when I walk from one room to the other, which gets the bcs all riled up and then disappointed when I’m just WALKING INTO THE OTHER ROOM. BCs were confused at all this rambunctiousness for no apparent reason.

Had a lot of fun training with Pixel, she’s a smart little thing that picks up things really quickly. No lack of enthusiasm and focus! We played with lots of little things, and she picked up holding an object pretty darn quick. Really fun to train with a highly food motivated dog. We tried playing with toys, and she would do it, but she clearly felt this was not how training should happen, so we stuck with food.

Did very much enjoy her, I love her enthusiasm and happy joyful love of life. She’s really fun to train and has such natural people focus. I do not care for the hair. I have learned to find her scruffiness cute, but the wet beard after drinking – ick. And sticks and things just get stuck in it – it serves no purpose. Very different personality from the BCs, not sure they really know what to do with her. Pyrsheps are still on the list, or, at least, a Pixel puppy if she has a little in another 3-4 years. I do love that little dog. Not as easy as a border collie though. 😉