Mariner's game

This afternoon we went to a Mariner's baseball game to present the new Mariners-CCI calendar. I am very excited about this calendar because OMSI is Mr. December 2008!! Also, another of Blaze's puppies, Risa, is Miss September 2008! We had a booth on the first level of the stadium where we could sell the calendars. The cool thing about it is that all the proceeds ($10 per calendar) will go to sponsor Skilled Companion teams (I think for kids from Washington). The Mariners are not keeping any of the proceeds for themselves, and the printing was donated. The calendars are also being carried in the Mariner's team store. Anyway, OMSI and I spent about an hour before the game at the booth and walking around the stadium promoting the calendar, then we watched the game for a while (it was great! the Mariners won 11-5, so there was a lot of action! Plus, it was a sold-out game since the Mariners are in first place in the Wildcard race). We spend the last couple innings at the booth again. Overall, OMSI got lots of pets, and a naptime in the middle. He was very good with all the crowds and noise and stuff, like usual. There were a bunch of CCI dogs there, and here are some pictures of some of them.

Last agility class :-(

Today was OMSI's last agility class. We took two series of classes, and we had a lot of fun! Tonight we did a series of 5 obstacles (tire, jump, jump, jump, tunnel), but there were two rows of jumps and we practiced sending the dogs through in a zigzag pattern. This was the most difficult thing we've done so far, and after a couple tries we did it perfect! He runs faster than I can think of what to tell him next, especially if he does something unexpected, so all our mistakes are definitely my fault. Agility handling is much harder than it looks! OMSI is also doing very well with the weave poles, and they only need to be off-set a couple inches now. He is starting to stop on the contacts on command on all three contact obstacles, and he has never had any problem with the teeter-totter, which some other dogs in our class did not like. OMSI and I will definitely continue agility training if he decides that a career as a service dog is not for him :-) I have no pictures of him doing agility, but here's his 13 month birthday pictures.

Stanwood Fair

Today OMSI and I, plus Risa and her raiser Lisa, drove up to Stanwood and went to the Stanwood-Camano Island fair. I used to go to this fair when I was showing in 4-H, and it's a small, cute fair. OMSI and Risa got to meet lots of different animals, and their owners were nice enough to let them approach and say Hi. He got to meet a goat, a dairy cow, some pigs, some sheep, rabbits, chickens, and geese. Plus, we watched the horses for a while and some dogs practicing agility (boy, OMSI wanted to go practice, too!). We also walked around the rides area and through the food booths. It was a great experience for the dogs and they both did very well! We had numerous kids come up to us and ask to pet the dogs, and both pups were very calm while greeting them, and did very nice "shakes". Afterwards, we let the dogs run in a sports field by where we parked. Then we went to eat at Red Robbin, and the dogs enjoyed a nice nap on the floor under the booth. Enjoy the pictures!

Annual picnic

We had our annual puppy raiser appreciation picnic this afternoon, which is always a lot of fun. I think we have 13 puppies turning in from our area. In the picture below there is (L-R): Heidi, Tevy, Nariko (?), Hermione, Levi, Dacey, Lago. Missing are: Karilee, Mellis, Aiobe, Ella, Llano, Paris, Rebecca, and Darva.