Lucy and Walter 2008

Our second annual compilation video:



I had a lot of fun making the video as a little souvenir of our year.

Didn't think of it until now but I should have also included mention of Walter's first ever 0 point Snooker. :-)

Bo-bo

Walter gets little lumps from time to time. Some of them are growths on top of the skin just like his mom gets (um, by mom I'm referring to his actual mom, not me). Sooner or later those go away on their own. But some of them are under/in his skin and they grow slowly but steadily and need to be removed. His latest of those was on his right arm. Didn't bother him at all until this week when he started to lick and nibble at it quite a bit. So in he went today to have it chopped off. Unfortunately for him and my wallet he had to go completely under because of its proximity to a vein. The good news is he's fine now and will be sporting a lovely Christmas tree decoration until next week. This is the first time we'll have had a Christmas tree in our house, and his even has a fancy golden star at the top! Thanks to the co-op student at the vet's for making the bandage look so darn cute. In this photo, Walter's still a bit groggy and trying really really hard but somewhat unsuccessfully to not look completely exhausted.

Not so agile

Don't get me wrong, I was rooting for underdogs Andrew and Dan (who finished in third place on tonight's series finale) on this season of The Amazing Race, but the scene from a few weeks back where poor Andrew simply could not figure out how to march is one of the funniest things I have ever seen on tv. Here's hoping he doesn't come back in a future life as the dog of someone with aspirations in agility or, heaven forbid, freestyle.

AAC Regionals and Nationals

Exciting news: The 2009 AAC Ontario Regionals as well as the AAC Nationals will be held right here in Ottawa! Both will be at the Nepean National Equestrian Park, a mere 20 minute drive away. Regionals will be on May 29th to 31st, Nationals July 30th to August 2nd.

If all goes well next spring and Walter remains healthy and injury-free, it will be a lot of fun to run him in what would be our first Regionals. Last year's Regionals were a 7 or 8 hour drive away. I didn't go because it coincides with a really busy time at work and would have entailed several days off, but also we were still a really green team back then with only a few Masters runs under our belt, so probably best to wait another year before "jumping" into something way over our heads. Of course, we're still pretty green but at least we've accumulated another year of experience. Lucy will definitely be sitting this one out as she will still be on trial hiatus at that point while we work through some issues.

Walter's the sort of dog who's always very aware of his surroundings, so I've learned that any time we go to a new place for a trial he tends to be a bit unfocused for his first few runs, running past obvious obstacles while eyeing the new scenery. So, my biggest challenge will be to try to keep his focus as best as possible, on top of dealing with whatever course challenges are presented!

Whatever happens, it will be fun to have the opportunity to watch competitors from all over the province and country right here in our hometown.