Trying my hand at teacup...

Our BRAG building had a TDAA trial in it this weekend - hosted by Central Ohio Dog Sports. One of my agility pals was running her dog, so I dropped in on Saturday to watch.

I'm pretty sure TDAA stands for "Tinies Doing Adorable Agility" because that's what it looked like to me!

The next day I came back with Popper to give him a run. First thing in the morning is a "familiarization" time, so your dog can get used to the (much smaller) obstacles. Popper had no problem or hesitation with any of it. In fact, he REALLY seemed to like the smaller tunnels. A lot. He's never been a tunnel sucker, but I'm pretty sure if we did teacup regularly, he would fast become one. The only time he was a bit taken aback was over the a-frame. His expression clearly read, "is this IT?!"

We did a Beginner Standard run, very similar to a Level 1 CPE Standard, except there was a teeter. Unfortunately, I had forgotten, since Popper hasn't trialed in a long time, that he was starting to do "daddy checks." He doesn't actively LOOK for daddy, but when he sees him, he tries to go to him. Only at trials.

So he ran away I think four times, but we did manage to complete the run, and when he was paying attention to me, he was awesome. Focus is a HUGE issue with Popper anyway, and so daddy has now been banned from watching both of our dogs run agility LOL!

I decided that I'm going to register Popper with the Teacup Dog Agility Association, and a couple times a year, we'll have some fun on the teeny tiny equipment. It's a great, relaxed atmosphere, and since I get stressed at trials, I think it'll be really nice for Popper to have some runs that are stress-free for him AND me!

Working on a few things...

Updates I've made recently include: new silhouettes for the Otterhound, Australian Cattle Dog, and Portuguese Podengo (smooth), and the Zazzle store now carries the Berger Picard (Picardy Shepherd), Black Russian Terrier, Barbet, and American Water Spaniel. Right now I'm working on going through all the dog breeds and making sure each one has all the designs it has supposed to have, including embroidery.

Quite ambitious, as I've only got about six completely done LOL. It may take me all of 2010 to get this one done!

AKC throws out "Separate but Equal" Garbage

Apparently, having received tons of negative feedback about mixed breed dogs being "inferior" and receiving "separate but equal" titles in dog agility, rally, etc, the AKC has nixed that practice, and mutts can now compete against purebreds for the same titles.

I mean, DUH AKC!

Read the letter here.