Our weekend at Pawsabilities

We had a great day Saturday at Pawsabilities in Harrisburg, PA. And it got me really excited about performance events (not including confomation).

First, we got there at 9:45 for the breed match. I brought Shelby, and Kit with me. I wish I could have brought Penny, she LOVES shows and events, but with her being pregnant, I didn't want to stress her. I was showing Kit, figured it was good practice since Kit has her first AKC show this Thursday. Anyway, we had a good time! The judge liked Kit and was very impressed with her self stack! The match was a few hours drawn out too long, so of course by the Best in Show puppy judging, Kit was falling asleep in my hands.

Afterwards, we decided to walk around and enjoy the venues, etc. I found a little area that said "Try agility, $3". There were trainers there who helped people guide their dogs (tons of people brought dogs to this event) through two jumps, one hoop jump, one a frame, one set of weaves, one tunnel, one dog walk, and one pause table. I have been training Shelby for agility at home since she was 8 months old, so I was eager to try. I thought SHelby would be distracted like she was for the rest of the day, but no way! After the first jump, she flew through the course flawlessly and listened to my every signal. We went back in twice, we had so much fun! Everytime was the same, she listened and did it all right. Well she was just enjoying herself so much, she kept wanting to go back in. Shelby loves agility.

Then there was a huge crowd gathering around a dock diving event. I saw a little thing that said sign up for a fun jump, and since Shelby and I practiced for dock diving last summer (Shelby would leap into our pool after her toy, swim across the entire length of the pool, then bring it back), I figured we could try it. 100% of the other dogs were biiiig dogs. So when me and Shelby, a 5 pound Dachshund, went out on the stage, everyone went "Aaaaaaaaw!" I threw her toy and she was just about to jump, until she looked down and well there was a problem. A lot of empty space between the water and the stage. I guess Shelby thought she was to jump down into nothing! She kept trying, but didnt want to jump into the unknown. One lady said to me from behind the gate "She doesn't know there's water down there, my boy had the same problem, bring her around to the ramp." So we opened the gate and Shelby flew down that ramp into the water!
Then turned around and came back. Oh well, we tried, and Shelby wasnt the only one who refused to jump that day. At least we gave them something to talk about! "There was a little Dachshund!"

It was a great day, and I cant wait to go next year!