Great night at agility class

Kozmo had a great night at his agility class. I am still beaming with pride. It was our last class of the session and we had a very special guest. One of my oldest and dearest friends happened to be in town. Being a dog person she didn't think it was odd that I invited her to go to class with me.

Our trainer was very impressed with Kozmo. It was a great way to end this session of classes. Kozmo worked on some new skills. He did the chute, which is similar to the tunnel. The dogs start through a barrel but there is fabric on the end that they have to push through to get to the other side. Kozmo went right through when his trainer held the fabric up and he could see through the chute. He tried to back out once she left go of the fabric. I stood behind the entrance so he couldn't back out and he quickly realized there was nothing scary about going into a dark chute and finding his way out.

The next new obstacle was a broad jump. Boards are placed on the ground and he had to jump them without touching. He's good at the high jumps and got the broad jump on the first try.

The dog walk was set up. Koz and I struggled at first. You have to approach the dog walk perfectly straight because it is so narrow. I was moving my arm and leading Kozmo at an angle and he wanted to jump off the ramp. It took a few tries, but we figured it out. Below is a video clip our special guest managed to capture with her iphone. Kozmo did the dog walk perfectly and the best part of this video is that you can hear our trainer's praise and enthusiasm.

Kozzy really impressed his trainer last night. Not once did he decide to run around the room and be the class clown. He did everything we asked him to do. Now that we are practicing the weave poles with a wooden spoon and spray cheese rather than holding a treat in my hand and having Kozmo's sharp teeth nipping we are both doing much better. Kozmo is starting to get the hang of weaving his body through the poles. It won't be long until he can start to pick up speed.

Kozmo learned another new skill last night, the bump out. We did two jumps in a row that were on angle. The second jump was placed at a 45 degree angle from the first jump. I had to set Kozmo up to do the first jump on an angle then quickly place my foot so he knew to shift direction, say "out" and then send him over the second jump.

Because my friend was sitting beside me I whispered to her that this looked really hard. Our trainer said since I was talking I could go first. Just like Kozmo, I get in trouble in class. We entered the ring and I was nervous. To my surprise, and everyone else in the room, Kozmo did this perfectly the first time. He did it again three times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Kozmo finished this session of agility classes by doing a course from start to finish. He did tunnel, dog walk, weave poles, jump, and teeter consecutively. It was so much fun. We can't wait for the next session of agility classes to begin. We are also going to try a rally class at the suggestion of our trainer. I don't know what to expect but our trainer is really excited to get Kozmo into rally. I'm sure it will be fun.

Calendar Contest Winner

Kozmo doing what he loves best, fetching a stick and swimming

As you can see from the photo above, Kozmo is happiest when he can run and play, especially when water is involved. I've always wanted a water dog and am trilled Kozmo loves the water as much as his humans.

As most of you know Kozmo entered a contest to possibly have his photo featured in a calendar made by the shelter where we adopted Kozmo. The calendar entries were not judged on cuteness or votes, only on how much money each pet raised for the shelter. I bothered all of my friends and family and made a donation. I kept telling myself that it didn't matter if Kozmo had his own month in the calendar, what was most important was helping raise awareness about our local shelter and raise money to help other animals like Kozmo.

For those of you who know me, you have to know this was very difficult for me. I am a little competitive and as much as I wanted to help the shelter, selfishly I wanted my dog to have his photo featured in the calendar. One of my goals is to make him an ambassador for all shelter dogs.

Last night we got some great news, Kozmo will have his photo featured in one month of the 2013 pet calendar!! He was one of the top 12 fundraisers and earned his own month. We are very happy and proud.

The photos in the post are from a photo shoot with Kozmo trying to get the best possible calendar photo. This is very hard for me. As Kozmo's human I love every photo with him and think he is the cutest dog ever. However, as a photographer I can find a million things wrong with every photo.

The photos in this post are some of my favorites as Kozmo's human, but ones that didn't make the cut for our quest for the best possible photo of Koz to submit for the calendar. These photos were taken on a hot Sunday afternoon at Trough Creek State Park. Kozmo had no idea it was a photo shoot. He was just happy to be in the water and playing with his humans.

Stay tuned, now that we asked  you all to donate for the calendar contest we will soon be asking you to buy copies of the calendar!!

 

too busy

Last night the other human wanted me to go to the grocery store with him. I can't, I'm too busy, I replied. I am busy. I have no less than 7 billion things that all need done, yesterday. So while the other human was at the store guess what I found myself doing? I stood in my kitchen with a half dozen Kong toys in various sizes lovingly stuffing them with precise alternating layers of plain yogurt and dog food. I stuff Kong toys with yogurt and dog food and freeze them. These frozen treats not only make Kozmo happy, but they keep him busy.

It's funny how much my life has changed since Kozmo came into my life. I am very busy, but somehow I find time to make sure Kozmo gets to go to the park every day and always has a fresh supply of frozen Kong treats.

Stay tuned, Kozmo will have some exciting announcements soon. We are waiting on the edge of our seats for his DNA results to come back and tell use what combination of dog breeds make Kozmo so darn cute. We also find out this week if Kozmo raised enough money to have his photo featured in the Humane Society 2013 calendar. This week is also Kozmo's last agility class for this session. We have a week off and then Kozmo is going to take both a Rally class and Agility. Rally will help him with obedience and make him a better agility dog.

Friends: Old and New

One of my goals for Kozmo is to expose him to as many different people and situations as possible so that he can be able and welcome to go everywhere I go. Well, almost everywhere, I still can't change the huge institutional policy in place to keep him from coming to work with me or being allowed in restaurants. I had to take my car to the garage for tires and an alignment. The garage is very close to Kozmo's groomers. I decided to take him with me and walk over to the groomer's for a quick nail trim while we waited.

I should have known that nothing is ever simple. Turns out my alignment was more involved so Kozmo and I had about 2 hours to kill waiting at the garage. He was such a good boy. He never once barked. He sat politely each time he met a new person. Most of the customers wanted to pet him. By the time we left he was the unofficial garage mascot.

We walked over to the groomer's and Kozmo tried hard to be a good boy. He is still not happy having his nails trimmed and he struggled a bit more than at his last appointment. The groomers still gave him a treat and told me he is a very sweet boy. Back at the garage, Kozmo was even offered a bottle of cold water from the fridge from one of the mechanics. Kozmo seemed to like the tile floor in the waiting room and happily chewed his bone until our car was done.

I wasn't sure about our last stop of the day, but am really glad he went. I took Kozmo back to the shelter where I adopted him from. I entered Kozmo in a contest to possibly have his photo in a calendar printed to raise money for the shelter. I thought it would be fun for him to go with me and drop off his application and donations. It wasn't until I pulled in the parking lot that I started to second guess my decision. I was worried I could traumatize Kozmo by taking him back to the shelter. He didn't seem to recognize the place and happily walked in with me. The overworked and underpaid woman at the desk took one look at Kozmo and said, "please don't tell me this is another stray". I felt bad stressing the poor woman out. I quickly told her why we were there and you could visibly see the relief. I asked if she remembered Kozmo, I had to remind her that when we got him and that his temporary name was Kirby.

All of a sudden every volunteer was saying "It's Kirby" and Kozmo was the center of attention. Everyone came out to see him and couldn't believe how big he got. It was funny, several people also commented on how calm he was. I don't think of Kozmo as a calm dog, but when I think back to our first meeting at the shelter, I guess he has really calmed down. I'm glad I took Kozmo back to visit. He made lots of people smile and took the whole experience in stride.

Kozmo had a great day making new friends and visiting old friends.