Monster Match 2018

I took the girls to their first disc trial in almost two years! Wow! Time really gets away from you sometimes!  Being a secondary sport for us, disc tends to lose out to agility trials... and there are so many agility trials that there are frequently conflicts between sports.

Kili had a lot of fun but had a bit of a rough day. She slipped and fell on the second throw in her first game, and ended up doing a couple of rolls so I pulled her from the rest of her run to make sure she was okay (she was). She played well, but in typical not so focused Kili fashion, for the next couple games, and then seemed a bit off again in her last run so I basically pulled her from that one as well. I think she may have just been tired by that point as she didn't seem to be sore.

Kenna was a rock star though. We got off to a difficult start when she saw the ducks in the pen beside the field and wouldn't leave them alone. We ended up having to move the ducks in order to get her to focus. It was a bit surprising because she's my super focused dog, but also not surprising as she's my better chaser in lure coursing (though I'd still argue that Kili is my higher prey dog). But the rest of the day went quite well. Kenna even earned 2 ribbons. She was second in 4-Way Play and I was super stoked that she got fourth in Freestyle! It wasn't an overly exciting showing, but I was pretty happy with it considering we didn't have a routine and hadn't practiced any of our tricks in over a month. Maybe next time around I'll actually do some practice and come up with a real routine!

And although by most disc dogger's standards both of my girls are epic in their gentleness with their discs... there is a significant difference between Kili and Kenna. In our world, Kenna is a disc destroyer. I've bought her new discs after just 2 years - her old ones are salvageable but need to have all the rough edges ground down with a dremmel. Now, many disc dogs completely destroy discs in a single session, so I can't complain about not absolutely needing to replace discs after 2 years... but compare to Kili who still has discs from 5 years ago. Not only does she not puncture discs, she barely even leaves a mark. I think these photos illustrate the difference....

 As you can see, Kili basically catches with her incisors while Kenna chomps a whole mouthful!

5 months - Sport Training

Kenna is 5 months old! How time flies! The tiny puppy is no longer so tiny! She weighs in at 17.9 kg... she's got about another 10 kg to go and about 5 inches.

She's also not such a baby dog in terms of her training anymore. She is coming along nicely in both disc and agility, and I'm super excited to see how she turns out in both sports. She has been to several disc trials already, as you have all seen, and I recently started running her in agility class. At the end of the month we will start an agility foundations class for young dogs specifically for her, but for now she's just getting a turn at Kili's competition class.

I am liking her enthusiasm for playing with me. And I'm really loving how fearless she is! As you'll see in the video, she just about falls off the top of the dog walk (slow down and watch where you're putting your feet, Kenna!) and then turns around without prompting and runs right back on. Crazy little demon!

19 weeks - UpDog

Kenna attended her third UpDog trial. Kili came along and I allowed her to play one round of Throw 'n' Go so she wouldn't be too jealous, however she has a long week coming up and I wanted her rested and sound. Kenna played two games only as she's still quite young and I don't want to overwork her.

Kenna had a great time and I was super happy with both her rounds. 60 seconds is a long time for a puppy to stay engaged and she did quite well both times. I let her play Throw 'n' Go and also Frizgility, which she loved because there was a tunnel... and she loves tunnels in case you can't tell!

Kenna - UpDog trial

The girls went to their second UpDog trial this month. Kenna continues to play puppy rollers. UpDog rules stipulate that dogs cannot chase/catch thrown discs until 12 months of age, because for safety reasons young dogs should not be leaping. Primarily this is to protect growth plates until they close, similar to why we do not jump full height or learn weave poles until a certain age in agility training. Rollers are also a great way to incite the chase instinct, and also teaches the dog how to track and grab the disc as rollers are far more predictable than throws.

Kenna is showing some very good disc drive at this young age. She is, naturally, more focused when we work at home than at the trial where she gets distracted easily by all the people and the new things in the environment. Still, when she did pay attention she showed some very good disc drive. And she was not the only puppy to get distracted by something that was not a disc. Another puppy picked up one of the pylons and ran around with it for the majority of his run. (Kenna also picked up a pylon, but fortunately it happened after her second run when she was already off the clock.)