My little brown doll is growing up! 

Locket turned 6 months old today and to celebrate she was required to do 3 rally novice courses at dawn!  Squeezing in dog sports while homeschooling your children takes some motivation.  I’m so happy she was old enough to do this before the cut off in December.  It is likely AKC will continue the virtual program past the end of the year, but it is always best to take advantage of these opportunities as soon as possible.

It will be interesting to see her scores.  I didn’t practice the runs with her, and we had some crooked sits and the occasional tight leash.  Overall, not bad for a young dog and an out of practice handler.  Learn to walk in a straight line, Becky.  Pull your hair up, Becky! 

One major lesson.

When setting up these courses in the early morning, it is best to look at the camera position BEFORE you lay out the course.  The first two courses were fine, because they were at the same place in the field and the sun wasn’t shining right in the camera.  Course 5 moved the camera, and I didn’t realize it would be facing directly into the sun until after I set the entire course.  I hope they accept that video.  If not, I’ll be setting up another course soon.  This was our last run and we were both tired.  We will see what they say!

I’m super pleased with such a young dog being able to focus all morning while I set up a course, make her quickly run it, tossed her back in the crate while I worked on laying out the next one.  She was super happy to nap or play!