First Day at Camp

Well, this post will have multiple photos. Please indulge me as I include the "more than a thousand word" images.

One of the first people I saw when I arrived at Camp was my dear friend Amee. She has 3 Collies, two of which came to Camp---Loki, a beautiful white boy and Spirit a young blue merle bitch 

Another friend I met right away was Barbara. She has Goldens and rooms in our dorm....They call it "Lassieville" sometimes because we have so many Collies. But actually, it is Happy Valley Dorm.  Barbara had a tee shirt on to try to level the dog breeds.....

It reads: "If Lassie had been a Golden, she would have retrieved Timmy from the well all by herself."  

I think that's a glass of wine in her hand....

For our first "activity" on Sunday night, I brought paints and a paw-shaped stamp to decorate our tee shirts. I drew out the circle and the lines for a peace symbol, and the girls in our dorm stamped their shirts. Then, on the back, I printed "Peace....Dog.....Happy Valley."  They really turned out cute. And they were fun to wear all together one night to supper.

Monday morning early found us on the Agility Field. Prosper had a BALL, and I learned a TON of stuff! Those Agility teachers are just incredible, and even if you mess up royally, they always have something positive to say about your run. It is a great empowering and confidence building class.  Here's Prosper sporting his new Gentle Leader head halter. It works great, and he's actually okay with it. 

My friend Jamie from Oklahoma City went to "small dog agility" in the next area. This is her first year, and she had a blast. Even signed up and paid her deposit for next year! Here she is with her little schnauzer in her arms.

Now, if you will indulge me a few pictures:

Ck out my purple shoes!

The Agility Teacher is doing what we call "targeting." She has a treat for Prosper at the bottom of the A-frame. This helps to assure that he will make contact with the yellow portion of the obstacle. In competition, if a dog hops off before he touches all four paws on the yellow, he will be disqualified.  So it is a good thang to teach this right away. You can SEE by his swirling coat how Fast he is going. The Target helps him to focus on the final contact point.  Always setting the dog up to succeed......

The days literally began to run into each other, and I cannot remember each and every activity that we did. Of course, we took LOTS of Freestyle Dancing courses with Bev Blanchard. We had a private session with Barbara Janelle. And we herded and played Hard!

One afternoon, Baden and I went to the activity named "Pawtraits."  Here's a few shots to help you understand what it was:

You tape a piece of art paper onto a board. Then run a line of paint on all four sides of the paper. Next, you ask your dog to walk around on the paint, sometimes making footprints onto the paper.

Here's Jamie again with her Schnauzer.

Baden takes his Art very seriously.

Here's the finished Pawtrait.  I think it was the Very Best one in Camp!

And, of course, there's the liddle "painty toes."  

There's more to write, but I am headed for bed. Tomorrow, I travel South to Knoxville, Tennessee. There I will meet my sister for an overnight "sister moment."  After that, I will go West to Little Rock and my family there. But I should be able to blog more in the meantime.