Agility

It is such a busy time. Work is hectic of course, plus the pit orchestra for Wizard of Oz is in full swing, plus Rocco's dog obedience class ended, and the chance to join a puppy agility class arose. I had been thinking about doing this with him because of his behaviour at home: fast running, sharp stops, good fetching skills, and the ability to run under the couch at full speed in pursuit of his ball. I had some doubts though. First, it is hard to squeeze the class in - I have to go from school, drive for 40 minutes to beyond Huntsville, then come back to Burk's Falls for play practice at 6:30. Second of all, doing obedience training with Rocco was OK, but not his favourite thing. He grew to love the rough and tumble playtimes with Sarge, Skipper and Red - all male puppies - but practising the commands sometimes made him even more wild in revenge. However, agility has been the exact opposite. He is a natural - in my biased opinion! He loves practising and remembers easily how to do things. He also is not afraid of the equipment, and took right away to the tunnel, and the intro to the teeter-totter. The work is harder for me! You have to really know all the "right", "left" moves, starting out with the dog on the correct side in order to move through the stations and end up in the right place - with a treat in the appropriate hand. The only other thing I have done that compares to this is the footwork in tennis. I guess bowling would be the same - or triple jump! Anyway it's new to me, but the instructors are great and I hope Rocco and I have a lot of fun getting better at this new skill.

Rocco

When I got Rocco I had a week between seeing him and picking him up to think of a name. It was shortly after the inauguration and I wanted to commemorate the election of President Obama, which for me was one of the most significant world events in my lifetime. It falls into a category of positives like peace in Ireland, the fall of the Wall or even the moon walk, rather than that other list. But Barack is no name for a dog, so Frank suggested Rocco instead. So he’s not named “after” the President, just sort of in honour of that moment in late January when Barack Obama took office. (I wish people would stop asking me if he’s black…) He is beige and consists mostly of teeth and hair at present. I’m looking to the Monks of New Skete for help with controlling the former.