ON Tuesday, it was a glorious warm day near 80 degrees! I took Dolphin and Bacon to the bird dog club just to run around and explore. We had a grand time! The creek was really high due to the excessive rainfall we've had lately, and it was deep enough for Dolphin to actually swim! Bacon followed him in the water, but she didn't venture deep enough to actually swim. I didn't push it, we will hopefully have lots of time for that if we get to Florida this summer (God willing). I noticed Bacon is extra brave whenever she is with Dolphin. She kind of feeds off his lack of fear and she follows him everywhere. He is a good big brother!

On Wednesday, Noodle had agility class and she was pretty goodBacon had her obedience class in the evening and she was amazing! I love her focus and REALLY love her enthusiasm! She is excited to work. I am really surprised at how focused she is working with me in a crowd of other dogs and handlers. I never would have expected that, she has so much less focus when it's just a couple of us working. I never thought I would enjoy obedience class so much, but I do. I think I will keep going, if for no other reason than in is a great bonding exercise for the two of us.

This morning Pizza and Dolphin had agility classes. Pizza was spectacular! Man that girl has talent! Dolphin was pretty slow today. I got out his ball to entice him and he was excited for about half a run and then he wasn't even interested in his ball. I was SO frustrated at him, he wasn't even trying! I know he could tell I was frustrated and I really tried hard to hide it but I couldn't help it.

After I got home, Dolphin got more and more lethargic, and then he threw up. He was definitely not feeling well at all. I felt SO guilty getting mad at him when he was sick the whole time! This eats me up inside. I should have known something was wrong. I just thought he was being lazy like he usually is in class. I am so mad at myself!

Dolphin did not eat his dinner and that was a sure sign he definitely wasn't feeling well. I gave him some probiotics and we watched him carefully for the rest of the night. By bedtime he seemed a little imptoved, and by the next morning he ate breakfast and was a lot more like his normal self. Thank goodness!

I did an agility seminar with Pizza this morning. She was amazing. Almost too amazing, because she made so few mistakes we had far less ring time than everyone else. She was feeling pretty spicy today, which is a little unusual for her.

Later in the afternoon I did some training with Bacon. It was a pretty mediocre training session. She seemed slightly reluctant to work this afternoon. I know this can happen as she is not a robot, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed after I left.

We stayed home this Easter Sunday, mainly to keep Mark away from crowds of people eating. The chemo has lowered his white blood count so he doesn't have great immunity right now.

I took Dolphin and Bacon to our training place for some training. Mainly I wanted Dolphin to have fun there after we had such a miserable time in class when he didn't feel well. He did awesome, and he definitely had fun! He also served the purpose of getting Bacon fired up about tunnels. She was still really reluctant to go in them, but once I turned Dolphin loose, she ran after him in and out of the tunnels with confidence.

I took Bacon to my friends for some field training. It was warm out - about 65 degrees. I didn't think it was too hot, but about halfway through the session Bacon was wheezing and roaring when she was panting. I am sure this is because of her heart defect and it KILLS me. This is the first real sign that she isn't normal, and can't handle really hard exercise. She definitely will struggle in the heat this summer, I am going to have to be very careful. It makes me cry inside. It's so unfair.

On a good note, she never put a paw wrong in the field with every single bird - went on point, held her point for the flush and the blank shot without moving a foot! So much talent! Breaks my heart even more.

Yay Noodle! I got the e-mail today that she qualified for the Championship class at the AKC Rally National Championships. We are not going as it is a miserable experiece (we went in 2023 and 2024) but it's cool to qualify for the top class this year.

Today I took Pizza to a local agility trial just to hang out and absorb the atmosphere. She hasn't been to a trial in several years. This probably wasn't a great one to take her to as it was jam-packed and crowded, but it was on our 'home turf' so that added a level of comfort. She was pretty nervous for the first part, but the relaxed and I was able to get her out and work her on the practice jump and she was focused and relaxed, and happy. This is just another step in getting her ready to trial. I will never give up on this girl!

After Pizza and I got home, Mark and I went to Lowes and I took Bacon to do some obedience training in the aisles while he shopped. She did great - pretty focused, very relaxed, and extremely confident. Today I made my entries for the Weim National Specialty (hoping and praying we can go!). I was bold, and I entered Bacon in not only Novice Rally, but Beginner Novice Obedience! Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Hey, why not?

I had entered Dolphin in an agility trial at our local training club over a month ago, just in case he didn't finish his MACH at the trials I attended in March. I only entered one day, and I rarely go to these trials because Dolphin hates running here. He knocked a bar in Time 2 Beat, but surprisingly ran halfway decent in his other classes (started slow but finished strong in all of them) for a nice Triple QQQ! This makes Triple QQQ #9 towards his TQX title, only one more to go! This is also Double QQ #1 towards MACH 2. We start again on a new journey! Dolphin had such a good attitude all day today. I know he doesn't love this place, but he loves me and you can see it all over him.