There was soooo much to like about this event. The fair was great, and we were smack in the middle of it. Pico was thrilled about the frozen custard booth a mere dokken dft’s throw from her tent, Granite was thrilled with the hundreds of people who stopped by to pet him and tell him how gorgeous he is, and I loved everything, especially the weather - cool and breezy! When you are fetching and carrying for two dogs all day long, cool weather is appreciated.

Pico’s big air jumps were good, but not so great for her. This is always my fault because of throw timing. She had most of her jumps in the 24 foot range and didnt get up to 25 feet until day 2. So, she decided to find herself a new handler, two actually. She test drove a junior handler, 15 year old Chris from the Keystone club. He did a fantastic job throwing for her and Pico hired him immediately!! They will be teaming up again shortly!

She also let Bill Helfer try his hand with her. She said he did a good job, but I think she was only being nice. What is with these lab owners and their short throws??

Because there were so few dock dogs there, there was plenty of time to try EV with Pico, though I didnt think she’d want to do it. I was wrong! Bill and the dock dogs staff AJ and Shaun taught Pico in no time. She LOVES it. There weren’t enough dogs for a competition so Pico and Scram did a demo for the hugely enthusiastic crowd at the end of the day. Pico went from 5 feet to 6′8″!!!

She followed that up by putting her new junior handler thru his paces in a final big air demo for the crowd, and then enjoyed a frozen custard as a reward for her efforts.

I’m so glad Pico likes EV. It will give us something else to do at events. We’ll be able to do it at cynosports too, and Pico can go head to head with her sister Emmy! I’m especially glad because I have no intention of wasting my money in big air (or whatever they call it) at the splash dogs event there, but SV or EV, is pretty cut and dried no matter who is judging or competing.

Who knows, maybe I will “teach” Pico snooze retrieve… err, I mean speed retrieve and compete in Iron Dog…. Ummm… Nah, I dont think so! For one thing I’d need someone to wake me up when it’s our turn to go up on the dock. That discipline is a sure cure for insommnia.

We wont be able to go back the rest of the weekend, so no finals for us. It is just not worth contending with Jersey Shore traffic on a Sunday night. But this was a great event, BEAUTIFUL scenery, a perfect site for the pool, lots and lots of enthusiastic spectators, great dock dogs staff, spotless portapotties that were cleaned even when they werent dirty, a shade tree for Pico’s playpen and a constant breeze.  We’ll be back next year!

There will be no Hamburg event for Pico this weekend. She hurt her paw somehow two weeks ago, and although Pico says she is 100% recovered and should be taken to agility class and dock diving events IMMEDIATELY, I am going to listen to the vet and keep her on the bench for the amount of time prescribed.

No matter, there are several good events on the horizon, one in the Syracuse area on 4th of July weekend, then Worlds, then (or instead if gas prices keep climbing) an event in Bel Air Maryland with 11 waves. Pico will have plenty to keep her busy!

I’ve put together our spring event calendar and we will definitely be concentrating on agility and sticking close to home. Luckily there are trials within a reasonable drive every weekend from late March on, and usually several to choose from each weekend.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said of dock diving. There havent been any local events, at least not any worth getting out of bed for, and I dont see any on the horizon yet, so we’ll be putting that on the back burner til summer.  Pico won’t be happy about that, but my bank account will be!

Her run was great, but there is some work that needs to be done before we can consistently Q in classes where refusals count. Open standard and jumpers might just be for practice and experience tomorrow, but you never know…