No theme this week.
I am happy with this picture. It’s in focus, the framing is good, the background is clean, the exposure is right, and Mol’s expression is perfect. It’s the first photo in the whole 52 Weeks series where I feel like I’ve done Mollie and the camera justice. Although the project is about Mollie, it’s also about me learning to take advantage of the capabilities of the K-x, and hopefully getting better photos as a result. I feel like I’m getting there!
Tough day for fatman Dylan today! Flyball training in the morning and then an agility training afternoon over in York. Ideally I would have skipped flyball, but we have Drax coming up and I really want him fit and ready. We’re making an effort to do more two lane training at the moment, and it’s making Dylan work really hard. He has a habit of lazing around in training when on a single lane, so running him against the faster dogs pulls him on and makes him put some effort in. He was stretching like mad against Jet; he was going 110% and she was cruising at 80%, and she still beat him by a nose. Poor lad, no wonder he has an inferiority complex, he’s constantly getting his ass kicked by girls.
So he had a hard flyball session, and then I whisked him off to agility! I’d booked onto a training day with Dawn and Katie Long, since loads of people have recommended Dawn to me recently and when the opportunity came up I was about ready to snap Julie’s hand off! I had a great time and it was well worth it, so I can safely say I’ll be furthering the recommendations.
We did a lot of work on contacts, which was great for me and Dylan. Particularly for me! I’ve always been fairly confident in Dylan’s understanding of the 2o2o position, but I’ve never dared to truly test it. Well, I got put on the spot, and Dylan was brilliant, so I’m very very pleased. He drove to the end regardless of where I was, and only looked around for me once he’d stopped. His Aframe was especially good; I raced him to the start of the Aframe, and then stopped completely before the up-ramp and let Dylan complete by himself. He nailed it every time, and only peered around once to check where I was (and he left a toe on the bottom … cheating slightly!) Spent plenty of time getting him to really drive over the dogwalk, and some new techniques for getting him more confident on the seesaw, so very positive.
We also spent some time working on weave entries and truly independent weaves, which again was great for me and Dylan, because he was awesome! More about my handling than anything, and Dylan was pretty exhausted by this part of the session, but he’s always willing to try.
I didn’t learn anything which is going to fundamentally change the way I handle or train. But I’m viewing that a positive thing. Means we’re doing something right!
Had so much fun with this. I was after Mollie’s 52 Weeks shot, and I’d seen someone else try this idea with their dogs.
Some dogs got the idea quicker than others …
… others were under the mistaken impression that I would just drop the kibble into any open mouth.
Eventually everyone got the hang of the game, but some were more successful than others. For some dogs, every catch was a triumph.
For some dogs, who may or may not be practically perfect in every way, every catch was a success and a chance to show off their photogenic athleticism and elegance.
For some dogs, it’s not about looks or triumph. It’s about 100% dedication to food.
Since Kim’s quite the bitch about sharing (she’s the first child), I do have a few pictures which probably would include quite a lot of extremely bad language if Kim could speak English. I’ll leave you to interpret what she’s saying …
Theme was NOSES.
I toyed with this idea all week, but only got around to trying it on Sunday evening. I wish I’d had some more hands on deck to assist, because it was really hard to focus the camera/take pictures, and position Mollie! She’s not abused, by the way, just clumsy. The pink mark on her nose is either a graze, or possibly a little burn mark from sniffing candles (she never learns!)
Katie will be thrilled to know that the only thing that she would behave for was her Yumove tablet.
Beautiful day for photos, even if my dogs had all collapsed into small panting heaps in the shade. It’s a warm day for flyball training! Kim is at home, of course, having had 8 stitches in yesterday. More on that later, I think … ! In the meantime, has anyone noticed just how hard it is to photograph an 18week old Viszla puppy?
Emma has been struggling to get some good shots of puppy Diva, because she only has two hands and you need at least three just to control the puppy. Since I had my camera at flyball training this morning anyway, I volunteered at flyball to try my best … not sure if that was a good idea or not! Diva really lives up to her name, she’s demanding and intelligent and gorgeous. She also does not like to stay still! 
Thankfully we did get some good shots in the end, although I think it was more fluke than skill.
