Walkies and This Weekend

SUMMARY: Guadalupe River walk and USDAA trial.

For this week's Friday walkies, we strolled (fairly briskly) 2 miles along the Guadalupe River Trail from the percolation pond under Highway 87--

--alllll the way to Almaden Lake Park, where the view with Mount Umunhum (with its well-known radar station) in the background caught my eye.

The section between the two is level, paved, and mostly very very straight:

Just a few touches of fall color here and there. Oh, and Tika and Boost.

Here's walkies friend's "I've had plenty of periodic cancer scans, thenk yew very much" t-shirt for this week:

This weekend won't be nearly so laid-back. Nunes Athletic Field's last USDAA trial of the year is also our last of the year--not because there aren't trials, but because I really am cutting back and the idea of two months off appeals greatly to me now (although the dogs get antsier by the day). Six runs (per dog) on Saturday, five on Sunday (or six, if we Q in Steeplechase).

Training we've done? Pretty much NO. THING. Weekly class, of course, where actually Boost is doing better at running and less at inserting refusals or runouts, but still knocking bars. Tika looks great; as usual, her contacts are fast and perfect at home and in class. What will they look like this weekend? Prediction: Slow and accurate or fast and fly-off, as usual.

Sooooo, what titles could we get this weekend?

• Tika needs 1 Standard Q for her Performance Standard Bronze (15 Qs). We have 2 chances. Prediction: We'll get it. She's Qed 8 of the last 11 at the last 6 trials.
• Tika needs 2 Jumpers Qs for her Performance Jumpers Bronze. We have 2 chances. Prediction: 50-50. She's Qed 12 of the last 16 at our last 9 trials, so she'll probably get one of those Qs.
• Those two would complete her Performance Championship Bronze! In just over a year! She likes Performance.
• Boost: Pleeeeeeeeze could we get jumpers Qs and SuperQs? two chances at each. But still need a bunch of both before we approach titles.

So now, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, I bid you all farewell until Sunday night or Monday. Hope you all have as wonderful a weekend among friends and furry companions as I plan on having!