Training Day

   Today was nice and I felt like my ankle could handle a bit of a workout, so Kelly went out to Happy Tails Dog Park with me to do a little pre-work for Taylor's inaugural agility class. The park was crowded with big, wild dogs (mostly labs), so it was even more of a challenge than it should have been. Despite that, both Tay & Aki took to the equipment, much like their other attempts (first / second). Their favorite is the A-frame: they love to climb!

"This is easy. Got anything harder?'

Tay's in the tunnel...

Now it's Aki's turn...

"All together now!"

"This is FUN!!!"

"Put 'er there, pal!"

   Then things got interesting. A big, CRAZY lab wouldn't leave me alone. He knew I had treats and he kept throwing his whole body on me, practically knocking me down (yeah... ankle surgery... bad idea!). So I decided to fight fire with fire! You want treats? You'll have to WORK for them, buddy! And suddenly I was training three dogs at once.

   The dog's owner was guy about my age (who looked surprisingly like my buddy, Dave D) who barely noticed what was going on. He sat on a park bench over 100 yards away and played with his phone. No wonder that dog is nuts! I'm not a big fan of labs because most of them act like this, but I'm even less of a fan of that type of dog owner.

Happy Tails to you...

I was grilling bison burgers and had a plate of cheddar & buns on the side shelf. I went into the house for a MINUTE to check on the other dishes, and when I came back, the plate was EMPTY. And then Taylor burped at me. Nice. He must have leaned from the steps onto the side of the grill. Quite an acrobatic feat for such a portly little guy.

Off to the Meetup: I arrived at the dog park in Lee's Summit for our Meetup, just in time to get this cool shot as the sun was setting:

Shortly after we arrived, the shibas excitedly swarmed a scotty.

Who wasn't Bruce.
Happy Tails dog park has agility equipment. I have ALWAYS wanted to try agility, and suspected that the shibas might be good at it, if they ever choose to listen to me. Aki was apprehensive but capable. And Taylor was ready to go! He showed very little hesitation. We might have ourselves a contender...