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Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
"Jack of all (sports), Master of none!"

28 November 2014

Bronze...

had a good ride home last night even though the wind was picking up...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 23.4/37% (apparent temp same)
start time: 4:45pm
total distance: 17.43
total time: 47:01 (including 0:50 stopped time)
avg speed: 22.2kph
total calories: 439
avg HR: 120

got to the dog club just before 6:30pm...there was no real instruction on what to do so basically people just went from station to station in random order!...there was lots of waiting and lots of dogs to deal with as the Sunday participants had to attend as well...the wind was also picking up and quite cold...

first up we did "loose lead" walking around a course - this was one of the three components pieces which was required to be passed...a fail here meant he would not achieve Bronze level...fortunately he was very good and passed with no issue...phew!

next was "play" (compulsory), "tricks" and "fetch"...play was to show that your dog would engage with you...he did a figure of 8 around my legs as his trick...the fetch was difficult as it has to be done on lead (so not a long way!) and he got tangled first go and tripped himself up!...Suze was the assessor for this one and he jumped all over her (lucky she wasn't doing the "meet & greet" station!)...three passes!

next was "on your mat" - standing about a metre from the mat, you send your dog to the mat and he has to stay there for 30secs...it's not something I do a lot of with him as he doesn't come inside but again he passed...

our next station was "body positions" and "static turns"...body positions means he had to sit next to me for 5secs and then stay in a down for 5secs...all good...static turns (90 degree and 180 degree) has always been a bit hit and miss with him and so it proved that this time was a miss time...not to worry, it wasn't a compulsory pass component...

we had a long wait to do our group "sit stays" and "down stays" (a compulsory pass component)...mostly due to rude people just pushing in front of others who were clearly waiting...the bronze dogs have to stay for 30secs and only need to pass one of the two while the silver dogs have to stay for 60secs and pass both...Hodge was good and passed both as did the other bronze dog (some of the silver dogs were not as good!)...here we also did the "walk past another dog" test - no lunging etc allowed...again we passed...10 down, 3 to go...

the three remaining components were "mealtime manners", waiting for 20secs after the bowl was placed on the ground to be released to eat; "meet & greet", staying in a sit position beside me and not jumping up on or moving towards someone coming to pat him; and, finally, "return to handler" where he was attached to a 5m lead to move away from me but to come and sit in front of me when called...at first he didn't want to leave my side but then the assessor called him over and was really good on the "come"....again he passed all three...

so with 12 passes out of a possible 13, Hodge was the proud owner of a Bronze ribbon & certificate...all up, we were there for two hours and he was a very tired puppy on the way home...

Sunday I'm planning to take him to the Come & Try Sports Dog Day at the club from 9am where we can check out rally obedience, agility, flyball and dancing with dogs...I'm keen to see how he would go at agility however he has to go on the waiting list which he can join now that he is 12mths old and wait until he is at least 14mths old...once a pot opens up, he will also have to pass an assessment to check responsiveness to me, his behaviour with other dogs and people, fitness and movement before commencing agility training...

this morning I elected not to walk him but will do so after work...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 14.8/58% (apparent temp 14.5)
start time: 7:54am
total distance: 16.64
total time: 40:31 (including 0:39 stopped time)
avg speed: 24.6kph
total calories: 448
avg HR: 127

FkF was warm as you'd expect but not unpleasant, about 25 runners I think...my handicap was back out to 12:00...I managed to sneak under 25 thanks to trying to stay ahead of Tony O who was being accompanied by Jen...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 22.6/39% (apparent temp same)
start time: 12:27pm
total distance: 4.99
total time: 24:55
avg pace: 5:00
total calories: 315
avg HR: 150

splits: 4:41, 5:03, 5:14, 5:00, 4:57

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