Ak’is on the Puppy Obstacle Run
12 weeks old

We had a couple of cooler days so I had energy to scrounge all over for new things to put in the obstacle run – leaky birdbaths that I just couldn’t put in the garbage, and other things. 

We waited until 7:30 tonight to let the sun’s heat get off the obstacle run.  The light was worse than I expected due to the haze from wildfires nearby, but at least Akis didn’t overheat.  Oh, well, I keep saying, “This heat, too, shall pass. Eventually.  And we’ll be able to do dog things in the daytime.”  But the low light coupled with Ak’is speed on this second time on the obstacle run (which meant I was often moving fast trying to keep up with him) made for blurry photos.

We didn’t even notice before we started to run Ak’is that the wind had blown the pool several feet from the start and that it was blocking the entrance to the dogwalk.  When we noticed that, we moved the pool back to its proper position.  It sure gave Ak’is practice in choosing where he put his feet before we moved it.  He kept that concentration when we restarted him at the beginning with the pool in its proper place.  Good boy!

I was really proud of my idea to attach two old doggie doors to an old lawn chair frame.  He goes through the house doggie door – and the puppy yard doggie door – so I never anticipated any problems.  But he couldn’t figure it out.  So we took out one doggie door and curled up the other, and he finally was willing to look down and bend down a little to go through the doggie door.  It’s always fascinating what visually challenging things we humans miss on the dog’s level.

I get the biggest kick out of his tail.  I never notice when we’re running, but when I edit photos I see that when he’s thinking he will kink it a little.  The photos of him finally figuring out to turn away from Sera and look at the tunnel opening are fascinating.  Once he figured that out, he never hesitated.  When he figures something out, he remembers!  She no longer has to go into the run to get close to the tunnel opening.  Nor does he struggle with the 90-degree turn.  In fact, he speeds through the tunnel so fast, I can’t get photos.

I’ll have to watch when we’re training to see if he does the tail kink then.  It would be a good tool to know when he doesn’t quite understand something I’m introducing.

I had to laugh on the run back to the entry.  He went through the tunnel and over the A-frame so fast that he left me behind.  He went through the dogwalk and then came back, looking for me.  Then he ran through the dogwalk and again looked ack for me.  He’s going to be fast!  And I’m getting much slower as I get older.

see Ak’is doing the Puppy Obstacle Run the first time
see the third time Ak’is did the Puppy Obstacle Run, handled by a five-year-old
Ak’is’ page