Perri Novice Parkour PKD-N!

Perri and I successfully "avenged" our Novice Parkour NQ! And I think now I have the hang of the Parkour association rules.

We did quite a bit of this title at home. You are required to do only three of the fifteen required behaviors "outside with naturally occurring obstacles". (Not placed for the purpose of the title.) We certainly did that with more than three but it was nice to be able to work on this at home. Creativity is the only limit - you start to look at everything and think "How could I use that for Parkour??" 

For Perri's title I started working on it when we drove out to our raw co-op pick up location at the beginning of the month. I saw the cool bench with the two wooden labradors en route and did our "10 Second Wait" on that. We did a nice walk at a park that was loaded with too many people. (And Ein wanted to come along for the ride but he got overwhelmed on our walk. That seems to happen with him sometimes with his aging/cognitive issues.) After our pick up we kept encountering lots of people out enjoying their day, so it was nice to be able to retreat to my quiet back yard and work on our title. What I am saying is, I like that you can do a whole lot of the Novice title at home. Especially with a dog who has environmental and dog reactivity issues, like Perri.

The rest of the title was done at a small local park with a nice walking loop. It is not terribly popular, though people definitely do go to it. I brought Molly along each time since it is smooth walking for her. You can hear her screeching with frustration in the background of some of the videos. <Smile>

This video is all of our behaviors except for "Creativity" and "Three Obstacle Sequence". The "dog getting off obstacle" and "5 second wait times" shortened for the sake of length. The dog getting onto and off of every obstacle is required, and the wait times on the obstacle are listed in the rules. 

Creativity:

Three Obstacle Sequence:

I do not do much training with Perri anymore, other than Nosework. It was a little strange to come back to her pace and remember to respect her time limits and confidence drops. But I also found that I enjoyed working with her, laughing with her and revisiting a goal that we worked on in the past together. We have both come far over the years. There were a few times that a set up did not work for Perri. I am able to recognize that so much faster than I used to. I am able to set up success for her and keep her feeling proud of herself. She has taught me well.

Leash Free Exercise and Garmin Astro 900 Review

I am an enormous advocate of legal off leash exercise for dogs. I am very fortunate to have quite a few places within an hour drive from my home to be able to do so. Perri is a hunter and enjoys spending her time sniffing after chipmunks, chasing squirrels and bunnies. She's never fast enough or clever enough but she certainly enjoys the thrill of the hunt! Occasionally...there are deer. I can often recognize the signs of a deer chase about to begin and Perri will recall to me then. But once she gets started with a chase, there is no recalling her. Usually we are in the rather deep woods, alone, when this happens and she always returns to me in less than five minutes. With tongue dragging. One time with her entire toenail split and quick badly damaged.

Most of the time there is no wildlife chasing. There is running for the sheer joy of it, sniffing, exploring and strengthening mind and body. Perri and Zorro play with each other, chase each other and swim together. Their recalls are strong, and I always have delicious food rewards to give them for recalls. I always feed them for "checking in" with me (returning from their explorations to connect with me.), and they do so often. I have treasured off leash exercise with my dogs ever since Ein was a baby dog nearly 15 years ago.

And so! And so. One day, like any other of the hundreds of hikes I have enjoyed, one moment Perri and Zorro were in front of me. The next they were gone. Gone! There was none of Perri's normal increase in frenzied sniffing and hunting behavior that predicts that she is scenting a deer, there was no barking and screaming. They were just. Gone. I'm not going to go into the details other than for 45-60 minutes I could not find my dogs. For Zorro especially, who has shown not interest in hunting or wildlife chasing, this was highly unusual. I searched and ran and called and ran and whistled and cried for them and cried in misery at my own foolishness in trusting them. In the end, both dogs separately tracked their way back to where my vehicle was parked. And they waited for me there. Perri first, the first time I came back to the car and Zorro second.

I will not compromise on off leash exercise for my dogs. This was a major exception to our normal order of operations. I do not understand, still, what happened. Did Perri go on a very long chase and lose her way back? Did Zorro turn back from his run with Perri to answer my call and then get lost entirely? There was a very heavy wind that day and it certainly could have carried my voice and scent in confusing ways. I still do not believe either dog willfully tried to run away from me for that length of time. Why would they? I do not deny them freedom. This was not their one big chance at having a good run through the forest. And Zorro would literally live inside of my body if he was allowed to do so, "connected at the hip" doesn't begin to cover it.

I had been curious about GPS tracking collars for quite a while, but the cost deterred me every time I researched them. But after that experience I decided I will never feel that way again. And clipping the leashes on for good is not the answer for me. I quickly realized that Garmin was the only company producing anything worth buying for this purpose.

I found a refurbished Garmin Astro 900 unit with one collar. I purchased a second collar separately. I preferred the Astro line of Garmin's GPS Tracking offerings because it is Tracking-only. Garmin also offers an Alpha unit option which is both a tracking and training unit.

The collars are bulky, you definitely can't miss them. I have already gotten questions about them! I was disappointed that the "mini" collar that Garmin makes was not compatible with the Astro 900 unit. (Only with the slightly older and couldnt-find-refurbished-and-cheaper Astro 430 unit.) There is no mini collar at this time compatible with the Astro 900 unit. A bummer since Zorro is a rather petite guy and a slightly smaller collar would have been nice for him. Still, the dogs do not seem bothered by them. I expected Perri to act strange about it but other than worrying when it is first put on, she acts like it is not even there.

Perri finally has her very own antennae!

Two weekends ago I finally got a chance to test drive our new toys! If that would ever happen again, I would now know exactly where my dogs were. No guessing, no running aimlessly and feeling terrified and helpless. The unit is impressively accurate. If one dog is even a foot ahead of the other on the trail, the screen reflects that. The Garmin interface was simple to use and understand. It also helps that the GPS unit that I use for geocaching is also made by Garmin. I was able to add both collars to the unit easily and custom name each collar "Perri" and "Zorro". (You can track up to twenty collars on one unit so, I could have 18 more dogs!) The collars and unit are water resistant. This is good since the dogs do often get wet or run through mud. They will not be swimming in the collars, though! The collars are rugged so they can handle dogs blasting through the woods.

We have done two hikes since getting the collars and I could not be happier with the unit and collars. I have not had much of any cause to actually rely on the collars though. Having GPS tracking is no substitute for proper recalls, leashing around other hikers and preventing deer chasing whenever possible. We did have one rodent excursion from Perri and when I lost sight of her I could watch her path...and breathe a sigh of relief when I saw her arrow turning back to where I was. It was a very cool feeling. The collars themselves are rechargeable and both came with their own chargers. The GPS unit takes AA batteries and after only two hikes (each hike was about 5-6 hours time powered on for the unit), those batteries are nearly dead. This is comparable to the amount of time my geocaching GPS will last with two AA batteries. (a Garmin eTrex20.) When I was reviewing the specs for this review, I see that the Astro 900 is able to be used for Geocaching as well. That is something I will look forwards to trying and a definitely plus in my book.

The collars also track average speed and distance traveled. It is fascinating to see how much more ground the dogs cover versus what I cover. They run back and forth to me so much and it adds up! It is also interesting that while Zorro is given much less time off leash, he still covered more ground than Perri. (These stats were from our first hike with the collars.) I am happy with the battery life on the collars, we had been out in the woods for quite a few hours with only "one bar" lost of battery life. I plan to recharge the collars after every hike.

I may have more thoughts as I continue using the Astro 900 but so far I am thrilled and the peace of mind is worth every penny. Happy trails!

December Trial Catch-Up

December was a fun month for trialing. We started the month off with a bang at a cluster at the local expo. The girl dogs got to play AKC Scent Work, and Zorro got to play Rally Novice. It was exciting to be busy with so many fun activities for the dogs, even if it meant some stressful conflicts!

Perri was only entered in Novice Containers each day and she absolutely crushed it! Not literally box-crushing though! She earned first place with super fast times both days, no cataloguing and total confidence. It was wonderful. She will need one more Q for her SCN title. The video is her first Container search of the weekend.

Not to be outdone Molly did a fabulous job in Novice Interiors with first places on both days, fast times and earned her SIN (Scentwork Interior Novice) title. She also earned her SBN (Buried Novice) title with a lackluster performance. Our Container performance is still suffering. I changed the way I was handling Molly and tried a tight leash approach. She began alerting with a look back to me. In training this was going really well until it wasn't. In the same training night she had her finest container search of all time and the literal next search was a disaster of false alerting. Of course, this night was the Wednesday before the trial. She was very conflicted in Buried (they're truly "just another container") but got the job done, and abysmal in Advanced Containers. Her better day there was Sunday, she correctly alerted on one container before doing a false alert on a different one. Ah well. Back to the drawing board. I am trying to come up with a way for Molly and I to both enjoy Container searches, with her enjoying the search and not destroying the containers. She is currently on a Container training break although it will be time to start up in the New Year. This video is her lovely Interior search on Saturday.

Zorro was able to earn his Rally Novice trial since the cluster offered two rally trials per day. How fun! He certainly enjoys heeling! Some further training is needed on the Slow Pace, he kept trying to sit. Otherwise we sailed straight through with scores of 97, 99 and 99 for his RN title. Yay! The whole weekend inspired me to enter an Obedience match and perhaps continue to work on some foundation skills for the game as the winter goes along. Zorro loves heelwork and I believe I finally have a dog who will love to play Obedience with me.

The following weekend was our training club's USDAA trial. We weren't able to play much this year. Sunday is a Starter/Advanced trial and I had a family gathering for the holidays to attend later in the day. We barely had enough time to play in the first two classes of the day as it was!

Zorro had his first USDAA measurement at 18 and 1/4" (I believe, I know it was 18 and something!) which puts him solidly in the 20" height class. We will need two more measurements, and one of them needs to be a CMJ. 

We got to play Snooker and Jumpers and I was a total anchor for poor Zorro! In Snooker I sent him on a wrong course and in Jumpers I didn't support a jump with him coming out of a tunnel. I now know he needs a little more support on the reconnection when he comes out of tunnels. Hey, I had a headache and I my attention was divided with fretting over the time I needed to leave. Whatever! He went home feeling great about himself and that's all that matters. 

And today was our final trial of 2019 - Zorro's AKC Agility debut! I admit to having quite a few moments of gratitude washing over me. I am so excited and honored to have a sound agility dog who enjoys playing the game with me. That is such a simple thing, yet it has been elusive for us between Molly's health and soundness issues and Perri's stress.

Zorro had been measured at a trial back in the fall, so we did not have to worry about that. He is a 20" dog until his final measurement when he turns two years old. This trial's format was to have all of the Novice classes at the end of the day. Our first walk through was not until after 3 and since this trial center is nearly two hours away it was great news! Novice Standard was first. Beautiful contacts and table, pinch me! We earned one refusal and I honestly think he was magnetized by the weave poles, they have such a heavy reward history. He then fails his first time but weaves nicely and then I kind of crammed him in with a late front cross for the ending. Great run all around!

JWW was a little bit of a hot mess but we got it done! Z missed his weave entry both classes today but this is his first time ever weaving at a place other than our regular training center so imma chalk it up to baby dog stuff! He was quite happy to weave nicely and I think his entries will come with more mileage.

Today's trial wrapped up our 2019 trialing year. I am so excited for what 2020 will bring for us in adventures, both trialing...fun road trips and hiking outings!

Molly SCN and Washington Crossing State Park

Today Molly and I ventured out in the freezing cold to play some more AKC Scent work. Today was only our second trial and the hosting club was offering: Handler Discrimination, Buried and Containers, two trials per day. I have not trained Handler Discrimination with Molly but I did enter both rounds of Containers and both of Buried.

This trial was run a little differently, and the dog did back-to-back searches. So, Trial 1 was our first search and Trial 2 was several moments later and a different search. We started with Containers. Molly and I have been focusing all of our Nosework training on polite alerts and respectful searching. No smashing the box, please. It all went out the window today. She flew off the start line of Trial #1 so fast I could barely keep up, sniffing the boxes at lightning speed and came to the hot box with a paw smack and I called alert! I thought, "okay! that was good, she didn't smash it hard, just a little bit. something sunk in."

No.

We went to the next search which was on the dirt footing of the agility ring. Let that sink in. Ugh!! Insane doesn't even begin to cover it. The next search was an embarrassing bowling alley. Boxes flying, a false alert, a box put up on its side, spinning and springing and then finally annihilating the hot box faster than I could even think. We got a fault for all of the destruction but we did pass and that was her Novice Container title.

Next up was Buried. Same thing, back-to-back. The first search was pretty quick! She alerted on the first box on the right and I hesitated a moment but did call it. Sadly the screen/grate on the container of sand was crushed through from her "alert" of perching on it with her front paws. She has never done this when we practice Buried, and my screens are even flimsier. Anyway, the judge said if I had called it faster it would have been a two second search. Ha!

We went to Trial 2, on the dirt footing again.... And she did the exact same thing. Alerted on the first box on the right. Now, I was really nervous. What were the odds the hide was the same place in both trials? What were the odds shenanigans were happening out on the exciting dirt footing and scene of earlier debauchery?? I....asked her to search the rest. And she false alerted on the sixth container of sand, right before returning to the actual hot box. The one she had told me about in the first place. I really did feel terrible, like I let Molly down. On the other hand, I was so absolutely fried doing so many container-type searches in a row with Molly and I guess I just wasn't reading her fact vs. fiction as sharply as I usually can. Sigh.

I feel embarrassed with how destructive Molly is with containers. Doubly so when a judge seems completely disgusted by the whole thing. I know that they have to replace the hot box and reset the search area and I truly do feel bad and Molly and I work on this. I don't just carelessly enter trials and ignore her behavior. The first judge today seemed to truly enjoy Molly's enthusiastic spirit and antics. The second, not so much. All I can say is that Proper Perri balances out the universe when it comes to Containers, she is so dainty and respectful! And now that Molly is out of Novice, Perri will get a turn soon. Well, at least the containers in Advanced will be a little more sturdy than cardboard....

We shifted gears after the trial and visited a new PA State Park! Washington Crossing State Park was nearish, and I have not visited it before. It is another one that is rather close to me, but it was added after I made my goal to visit all then-120 PA State parks. The number is now 121 State parks and Washington Crossing makes #103/121.

The dogs and I walked along the canal trail, we explored some hiking trails on the NJ side and then Perri and I did a nine-step Virtual cache through the historic area back on the PA side to end our day there.

Delaware River

Summer's End

After Perri earned her Coursing Ability title, we turned our attention to Fast CAT. This is a straight 100 yard, timed test. Whatever your dog's MPH is for each run is how many points they've earned. As I have said in posts past, Perri had some worrying issues with the Fast CAT. I figured out that as long as somebody else was releasing her and I was the one to catch her at the end of the 100 yards, she did not have any issues.

That "Perri policy" changed when we went to our next Fast CAT event in June and discovered a new challenge. "Continuous loop" system. The lure is on a closed pulley system, much like regular CAT, but since it is a Fast CAT the 100 yard strip is a narrow snow fenced bowling alley type area instead of a wide open field. (always the case with Fast CAT) Bottom line: with continuous loop, the line that the lure is attached to is always on the ground. Years and years ago when I first introduced Perri to coursing, she was afraid of that line and shut down. Over the years, her prey drive to chase has helped her to overcome that and in regular coursing / CAT events she can keep a bit of lateral distance while still coursing. She cannot do that in Fast CAT. The coursing line is directly on the ground in front of her and at this June event I saw a lot of conflict for Perri. It was a double trial so she did get to do two runs that day, but her first run was sub 20mph because she hesitated nearly at the end of the 100 yards and came through only when I encouraged her. The pause was not long but it was enough to affect her time as well as her enjoyment. Her second run that day I could see her running but there was a lot of conflict and concern about the line on the ground.

"Drag Lure" style Fast CAT

So, drag lure only for Perri. With drag lure, the lure is actually drug along the ground with a four wheeler/gold cart lateral to the fast CAT track and the dog only sees the lure racing up ahead of them. No line on the ground. I don't know the exact mechanics of how Drag Lure operates but I do know it is what Perri prefers! And the only club I have seen offer this style is nearly a two hour drive for us.  (it is more time consuming to run an event with drag lure style.) Thankfully, I love that trial site! We returned last weekend to earn the final points Perri needed for her "BCAT" title. 150 points earned at Fast CAT events and the first title opportunity. There are titles available to be earned at higher point levels but I am unsure if we will be pursuing those.

Perri had two nice runs in the low 20s mph and enjoyed herself, she earned her BCAT title on the first run. She only needed 13 points, I believe.

Overall, Perri enjoys the 600 yard CAT far more than the 100 yard Fast Cat. She likes the wide open field and the turns, she takes them with ease and she barks while she courses and is able to really "open up". We may do more coursing events in the future, as our travels take us to our beloved Freehold Fairgrounds. It has been long since I have been able to play agility there and I have missed it. It is one of the few opportunities to play agility outdoors as trials move more and more to indoor venues.

My favorite coursing photo of Perri! Looking mighty insane while earning her CA title earlier this year.

The closest that I got to agility was having Zorro's AKC measurement done! This will save me from having to show up super super early at his first AKC trial, whenever that may be. He will still need to have another measurement done when he turns two years old. Perhaps we will not even trial in AKC Agility until after he is two, but perhaps we will. That is all up to Zorro and how his training progresses. In any case, Zorro measured 18 3/8" and will be a 20 inch jumping dog in AKC, as I expected. The judge was wonderful and took much time with Zorro, letting him settle down into the measurement and trying to get him under 18". I appreciate judges who are patient and take their time with young dogs.

The last part of our day at Freehold was that the hosting club added dock diving to their cluster of events so Molly got to enjoy that! Two jumps in the Junior division. I had bought a new pack of chuckit balls for her as the Dock season began this year but that pack had been sitting unused due to Molly being on rest for her biceps injury. I couldn't bear the thought of using them for any of my dogs but Molly. We finally got to open the new pack up and I used one new ball for each Splash. Made us both happy!

We have had a fun summer for sure even if it was not entirely what I thought it would be! Not as much Dock but plenty of coursing and Scent Work fun. Zorro's first agility trials. And plenty of hiking. We end our summer trialing season with a sweet day at Freehold. Can't ask for more than that. Here is a final photo of me capturing Perri to get her off the lure. Not the most flattering one of me but I know that one day I will treasure every together photo I have of Perri and I, perfectly imperfect.

NACSW Elements Trials

Today was a NACSW Elements trial day for the girls! Perri got into a Level 1 Container trial, and Molly got into a Level 1 Exterior trial. Time to redeem yourself, Molly!

The container trial was first and I was glad of that. Perri especially does not do well in the heat and I kept wondering what I was thinking entering her in a trial in the summer. Blech!

But before any trials, we arrived at the trial site...there was a long driveway and alllll the cars were lined up with nowhere to go. Turns out, the field where every body had parked the day before had received 4 inches of rain the night before and was now a wet and muddy mess. The trial got started a little late as cars were juggled and parking was found. Long story short, nearly everybody just parked each other in along the driveway and that was that. I got lucky, depending on your definition, by being parked on the next property over's driveway. I was within walking distance of the search areas and trial site, under the shade, and not parked in.

The trial site was on a farm, there was a creek running through and there were woods to be enjoyed. We were so far away from the main trial area that before and after searches, my dogs got to enjoy the creek or going for short walks in the woods. Heaven, really.

Perri was the first dog in the run order in the Container trial. The first search was on the grass and it was plastic shoebox type containers with tissue paper inside. It was also right near a barn door entrance. Perri was obsessed with the barn. She wanted to get inside of there so badly. She was only half searching and kept disengaging from the search to try to get into the barn. I kept my head and kept her on the search and she did alert and I called it and we passed that search. Then we had to go...into the barn. 6 ORT style boxes, with only one minute to search. The stuff of nightmares! And Perri was even worse in there. There was a goat paddocked outside of the barn, there were creature smells inside of the barn (the property owner even stated, "rats only run through the barn every now and then.") Perri wanted to hunt and not for birch! It was hair raising and I will be surprised if our time was anything below 59.59 seconds! I really thought we were sunk but I kept asking Perri to check each individual box and she alerted. Whew!

We took a break in the creek and back to the car, and waited for the run order to finish and then we had two more searches. I felt a little more secure in these searches. One was in a foyer of a house. Like, inside of a building with no rats or livestock smell. And the next was on a wooden deck. Perri was her normal self, mildly worried about ghosts or whatever it is she sees when she stares all over the place but she finished both searches and earned her L1C (Level 1 Container) title. Wow, Perri! Today was kind of cool for P-dog because she titled under the judge that was so dismissive of lower drive dogs at her first NACSW trial and she got to title in the element that she failed in her second NW1. So, kind of a vindication day for the poodle.

There was a break in the afternoon, and exodus and re-shuffling of cars as well as new arrivals for the Exteriors trial. Then it was Molly's turn.

We started off by blowing the trial on the first search. Dammitall! Kind of embarrassing to fail a second L1E trial! The search was on a front porch. There was a walkway, stone steps and then a porch full of little ornaments. But there was an ornament at the base of the steps. Molly had run past it. And then she was swirling all over the porch, searching for odor but mostly looking at herself in the glass reflections of the windows alongside of the door. I remember getting her off the porch and resetting her direction. I swear I gave her time to try to catch odor down off of the porch but back up she went. I will be purchasing the video of this search. I mainly remember a lot of focusing on the windows and looking inside and then false alerting at the door. Or, pawing at the door. Whatever you want to call it! Either way, another L1E blown. Looking back, I wish I had taken Molly back to the start line, paused and did a little reboot. 

Molly went on to do a lovely job on the second search. It was in the barn that had so distracted Perri. Molly was not distracted, she found odor and while she did blast past another threshold hide, she was beautiful working odor and following it back to source. 

A short break and then we returned for the day's final two searches. We searched a back deck, table and chairs. Molly did not find odor right away and got a little silly but got back into the search and did a great job working back to source on one of the chairs. No attempts to jump on the table. The last search was alongside the barn, on a step stool and Molly walked right to it and indicated. Super quick.

We finished strong and now Molly has a "leg" towards her L1E title. If she passes 3/4 searches at our next L1E trial she will title. My goal would be to still pass 4/4 searches but hey, at least we improved from the last L1E. I'm frustrated that I let myself get flustered by Molly in the first search and did not handle her well when things got sketchy but I will learn from it!

It was still a great day out with both girls and we had a fun time at a perfect for us trial site.

Appalachian Trail: PA 94 to Center Point Knob

Much like my PA State Parks goal, my goal of hiking all of the Appalachian Trail in PA has gone on a years long hiatus due to travelling barriers and finding reward in closer geocaching and dog sports goals. So, it was really exciting to get to finish another section of the PA AT this past Saturday! I took Zorro for a dock diving lesson at the place where we usually trial, an outrageous 120 miles from where I live, and could only get a training spot at 8am. That left me the entire day to go hiking someplace.

That some place was PA 94 to Center Point Knob, and connected with a 2012 hike that I did from Boiling Springs to CPK that finishes Section 11 of PA for me (PA 94 to Boiling Springs.) It was very satisfying to chip away a little bit at one of my dormant hiking goals.

My friend Dawn and I met at a Gamelands section within walking distance of the AT and drove to Sheet Iron Road to begin our hike. (I later hiked the .2 miles to PA 94 to "officially" complete the section, like a good nerd.) We hiked North from there, towards Center Point Knob.

It was not long before the trail began to ascend into switch backs and we encountered some enormous....rocks! Very fun scramble through the enormous boulders and lots of fun photo-ops. And no snakes encountered.

Poppy, Perri and Zorro

Down and up another hill, and surprise...more rocks! 

After that was another dip in elevation and a stream for the dogs. I did like this hike very much for the sake of the dogs staying cool and hydrated. There were regular streams. We went back up again, of course and stopped so I could eat some lunch because I was feeling rather hot and drained. I had gotten stuck working a 15 hour shift on call the night before and had to get up at 5am for a dock diving lesson for Zorro before this hike (which netted me about 4-5 hours of sleep.) So, I needed to get hydrated and eat some lunch. Poppy and Zorro were most interested in sharing my sandwich!

Photo by Dawn! 

We continued on through a beautiful fern section, which I always love to see. The only downside was that there were storms in the forecast and the sky was starting to look pretty angry. We checked the radar and found a huge system heading right for us! Fortunately the Alec Kennedy shelter was only .1 mile ahead! So after another downhill and stream dip for the dogs and back uphill we were able to get the the shelter, use the privy and be inside and dry while a fierce windy thunderstorm rolled through for the next hour. Talk about perfect timing!

photo also by Dawn. I failed to get one of the ferns and it was really a lovely section.

I found some ponchos in my pack, they had been there for years. Dawn and I had both forgotten our rain jackets so, they went to good use. Perri was so frisky after the rain, pouncing around and hunting and downright silly. I love when she is like that. One more up hill on switch backs and we reached Center Point Knob! Woohoo!

Western PA State Parks Road Trip Day FIVE (Final Day)

My adventure leaves off on Day 5, at Cook Forest State Park. In the tent. And the temperatures dropped down to below 40 overnight. We did not sleep well to say the least! My bag is rated for lower temps than that, but Zorro was cold. He does not like to sleep under a blanket, so he kept shaking the blanket off. And then being cold. And then getting covered again. You get the idea. I finally got up at 5am and packed the tent up, and loaded the shivering dogs into the car. 

I was tired, hungry and cranky but I decided to check out Seneca Point. A mile or so drive down a gravel road, beautiful vista all to ourselves. The morning was chilly and beautiful and I felt gratitude. I could complain on social media about my cold and sleepless night. But my discomfort drove me to wake up early and visit a beautiful spot in the cool still morning. And I had it all to myself. 

From there it was the drive West down I-80, with random State Park stops peppered in. The first order of business was breakfast, and it was not long until the first stop, Simon B Elliott State Park. This was a small day-use picnic area type park and it was a quick visit.

Very nearby was Parker Dam State Park and this was a much bigger park with lake and campground. I took a short walk with Zorro down the boardwalk to check out the water and let him have a potty break and then back on the road.

From there it was nearly an hour's super scenic drive to our next destination, Black Moshannon State Park. Another lake park. I took some time to do a short hike to a geocache so that the dogs could have some time out of their crates and enjoy some walking.

Back on the road for about half an hour until the next stop, Bald Eagle State Park. This was one of the parks on my travels back home that I felt a little sad that I did not have more time to properly visit. Gorgeous lake park, geocaches and some trails I would have liked to explore It would certainly be a fun place to return to for a camping trip!

In 2013 I visited Sand Bridge State Park and McCalls Dam State Park. Close to those parks was Ravensburg State Park, but juuuust a little further than I wanted to drive on that day trip. I was sure to stop there on my way home this time. This park was very small, day-use area type vibe, but it was the trail head for what looked like some cool hikes.

And the final stop was Milton State Park and it was so very much like a local community park, it was surprising to me that it was a state park! 

And that was it! From there it was the long 3 hour drive home on familiar roads, back in my "territory" of adventuring. This was my longest road trip yet and I made memories I will never forget on the road. 26 state parks total with my grand total being 101/121 parks visited. Getting real close!

AKC Scent Work, Coursing and Tricks!

Intermission from road trip posts (there is one more to come on that subject!) to write about our great weekend of various AKC events and fun!

Molly and I had our first try at AKC Scent Work on Saturday. I entered her in Novice B Interiors, Containers and Buried. I also volunteered for the entire afternoon trial (volunteers were given priority entry and I thought that if I gave my time for an entire trial, I might be more likely to get in!)

Interiors was a small search space with a lot of clutter. Tough on the leash handling. Molly flirted with the judge and then wasted no time shoving a small cooler two feet across the search area. Alert! I am glad we did not get a fault for that.

Containers was next. We have done agility in this barn, quite a bit of open training and some trials. Molly always gets a little environmentally overaroused there. Today was no different. As we walked across the platform and made a right to the next search area she was squeaking and getting "buzzy". i don't know how else to phrase that. By the time we got to Containers I knew I was in for some trouble. I tried to do "zen hand" at the start line. It did not help. Molly did not even wait for my search command before blasting into the container search and flattening the first box she got to. I thought, "Well, was that an alert??" And now I was embarrassed she ruined a box, worried I was ignoring an alert... I asked her to continue searching. If it was the hot box, she would alert on it again. She godzilla'd down the boxes and then completely annihilated one, smashing and clawing it. I called alert on that one and apologized over and over. She was really on a roll! Ugh! We did the pass the search though. Whew!

Buried was last. Now I was super nervous Molly would tip the container of sand over. Buried is a whole new search element for us and we had only practiced it twice. With soil. There were 6 identical plastic totes full of play sand and in one box the hide was buried two inches deep. Molly searched every box but looked at me after each box she sniffed. That is new behavior for her, she wasn't entirely confident in the search. There was one box I noticed her lingering on more and I made a note of it. When I brought her around the second time she again lingered there and as soon as I saw a paw coming up I sort of body slammed her off the hide and called alert and fed her. I also fed her the whole way back to the car. Molly is confident enough to handle being pushed away like that, but no way was I going to let her topple a huge box of sand and ruin the search area and hold the trial up!

Today, Perri got her day and we spent it doing CAT and Fast CAT! We started the day with her third CA leg and earned her Coursing Ability title. And then Perri returned to Fast CAT, this time with my friend releasing her. No scary people in the catch pen! She ran 24mph for the first run and 23mph for the second run. Perri's personal best is 25.65MPH so, no beating that today but I was very pleased that she followed the lure all the way down. No bailing! I believe that brings us to 93/150 points for Perri's BCAT title.

While my friend and I were finishing lunch and waiting for the afternoon FCAT to begin, I saw the huntmaster from the CAT out of the ring and with a handler and her rottweiler puppy. She was doing a trick dog test! When she was done I asked her if she would be willing to do a Novice Trick Dog test for Zorro and she said absolutely! Zorro did: Jump through hoop, go through tunnel, sit with hand signal, kennel up, nose touch, spin in a circle, go into a box, climb on top of a box, two paws up, jump into my arms from the ground. It was super fun and a nice little unexpected "cherry on top" of a very fun weekend!

Western PA State Parks Road Trip Day THREE

That was the view from my campsite on Sunday morning at Pymatuning State Park. What a great way to start the day!

 The dogs and I were up early for the one hour drive into Erie, PA. Because what is a road trip without agility?? We arrived at the trial site with plenty of time. Perri was entered in P3 Jumpers, her first time in P3! And also the obligatory P2 Standard. The trial entry was light so we were not even there past 11am. Perri was stressed at the trial site, there were plain white walls which she always finds worrying as well as a lot of off leash fetch inside of the building and near the ring, and dogs that otherwise scared her.

Jumpers she started off slow and then got sassy and zoomy, which is typical of Perri when she is stressed but not entirely overwhelmed. In Standard she ran under the tire and I chose to just move on through the course anyway. Perri DID weave but very dependent on my motion and encouragement. The tire has become an issue again for Perri. I am trying to decide how much I actually care about this issue, since Perri is very much on a “whenever we feel like it” plan as far as agility goes and does not respond well to actual training goals. Anyway! The point was: “Just happy to be here, played some agility while on the road trip. CHECK!”

 Our next stop was two of the most popular geocaches in our state! A virtual cache named “Auto Art” was first, with nearly 700 favorite points. Very fun! Next was the oldest geocache in PA, “State Gamelands 109”. The dogs were thrilled with a chance to run off leash after following the leash laws in all of the state parks we had been visiting! I of course could not find the “trail” that led to the cache so I hiked straight through the swamp and got my hiking boots soaking wet. But, I found it!! Now it was time to shift gears back to state park visiting. It was very sunny and hot so I took some time to hang my tent up and dry it out in the parking lot before moving on. We were to stay at a hotel that night so I didn’t want the tent to stay wet in the car.

"Auto Art"

State Gamelands 109

And then it was off to Erie Bluffs State Park (with a stop at a local winery en route, I came away with their Cabernet blend.) The park was smallish with a lovely half mile trial out to an unmarked vista on the Bluffs, overlooking Eerie lake. The water was different shades of blue and really pretty.

After that hike back in the car for our last stop: Presque Isle State Park and I planned to spend the rest of our day there. There were many geocaches, but my goal was to explore, let the dogs swim and with geocache priority on the virtual cache near the end of our loop drive around the isle. Presque Isle was VERY peopley, it is a gorgeous well maintained park and truly as good as going to the beach! The driveway in was two lane and reminded me very much of rush hour traffic!

Regardless, I enjoyed my time there. I pulled over to check things out if I wanted to and most importantly, I found a spot on the beach for the dogs to swim and play fetch. Perri and Zorro are like fire and a match when it comes to fetch together though, since they both love to play keep away and chase. They are not good at containing themselves to the game! (Unlike Molly who is laser focused on fetch and only fetch) Still, they had a blast. My only regret was my camera wasn’t set up to autofocus as quickly as it is capable of, my fault, so I missed a lot of great shots due to them being out of focus. Bummer.)

We ended our time at Presque Isle by visiting the Perry Monument, because I love virtual caches. And I am finding I am more interested in history as the years go by. The monument was in honor of Commodore Perry's actions during the Battle of Lake Erie. The monument area was beautiful and a storm was rolling in so it was windy but still lovely. Not ready to storm just yet. There were many people around but they were all relaxing people, enjoying and discussing the monument and asking questions about the dogs. Just Right. A perfect way to end our time in Erie.

We topped off the night by staying in a hotel room at my favorite Red Roof Inn instead of a tent. There were some storms and heavy rain overnight and that little room felt like a palace to me since I did not have to worry about the storms, or keeping the tent dry or packing it up in the morning. Ahhhh!