VP1 U-Rock!
Thank you Julie for making this possible at such short notice!
Alta-Tollhaus U-Rock (U-litter: Gavin – Zucca) at the Nature’s Coast Working Dog GSD Club of America, Groveland, FL, 6-9 months Puppy class Winner with a VP1 title! Yeah!!!!
I am so proud of this little guy. He did everything so perfect, as if he was doing it for years.
Barb, Susan, John (& Grizz), Carol, Scarlet, & Mike – thank you all for the moral support today. It was great seeing you all!
Zucca News
Batman’s New Friend
On our walk today, we met a 6-year-old boy with special needs named Bakhruz. It was obvious when I saw Bakhruz and his mom walking towards us that this little boy loves dogs!
I showed him how to play with Batman using his ball on a stick. Batman is not usually around children, and he had not met a child with special needs before, so I made sure to keep his leash on and monitored him closely. He did wonderfully and was very gentle with Bakhruz. I was so proud of him.
Batman-Tested and Approved DIY Agility Cavalettis
As part of our never-ending quest for rear-end awareness, I made a set of Cavalettis for Batman this weekend. Cavalettis are short hurdles most commonly associated with equestrianism. I wanted to buy a set of 6, but at over $30/each with shipping, I decided to make a cheaper version using 4″ PVC pipes and fittings. Cost: $10/each. They’re not the most aesthetically pleasing, but they do the job and are dead simple to make.
Batman, doing quality control over the materials.
Just making sure there aren't any squirrels hiding in here!
Let's do it!
I like Cavalettis more than the agility ladder for indoor work because the agility ladder I made isn’t very portable and thus lives outside on the balcony, and also because Cavalettis are more flexible. You can arrange them in different configurations all around the house, fan them out, practice doing turns, and other creative things.
Batman is so fun to teach. It helps that he’s so food motivated, and so smart. We just tried this exercise for the first time yesterday. This morning, we came back home from our walk, and he ran into the room, saw the pipes, and tried to run across them, even though I had pushed them all together the night before to get them out of the way. He leaped on top of the pipes and plunked his bat paws in between them.
Luckily I had my camera in my pocket, so I could capture the moment:
Why are these all bunched up? Here, let me space them out for you! Now where's my treat?
Julie, have I told you how this puppy is the light of my life? He makes me laugh everyday.
Batman Can Read
Of ALL the books he could possibly eat, which did he go for? Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats, of course! He was probably trying to taste the recipes through osmosis.
Gee, Batty, who did this? Any idea?
BUSTED!