Blueboy Luca

[blueboyluca]

Elegant

[miss-mania]

snug as a bug

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

imho when you have 200,000,000 olfactory receptors and perceive the world predominantly by smell you probably don’t have to press your cold wet nose directly against my bare skin to get a good whiff of where I’ve been

[blueboyluca]

You probably already know this (and I know this is a joke post), but the touching may be direct absorption into the vomeronasal organ!

The vomeronasal organ is probably why a dog’s nose is wet. Most animals with vomeronasal organs have wet noses, too. It is difficult for an airborne odor to land squarely on the vomeronasal organ, since it is situated in a safe, dark interior recess of the face. A hearty sniff not only brings molecules into the dog’s nasal cavity; little molecular bits also stick onto the moist exterior tissue of the nose. Once there, they can dissolve and travel to the vomeronasal organ through interior ducts. When your dog nuzzles against you, he is actually collecting your odor on his nose: better to confirm that you’re you. In this way, dogs double their methods of smelling the world.

— Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (2009)

[blueboyluca]

What I want to do right now, at this moment, is to just enjoy agility, to stay here right where we are and not feel like rushing into the future. Running courses with Topaz is so exciting and rewarding. I'm further along than I've ever been in this sport, so it's all new and it's sometimes a bit scary, but it's also exhilarating... I can do things with Topaz that I didn't think I'd ever be able to do. I can handle a lot of complicated and advanced techniques that I didn't know if I'd ever have the right dog for, and I can run difficult courses and still have her keen for more. I can push myself and her because I know that we're both capable and eager. We're drift compatible, we're on the same wavelength, we're a team. Topaz is always, always willing to try for me. She's all in. She trusts completely that what I have to offer her is worth her time and effort, and that means so much to me. I have a dog that is ready and willing to go with me as far as I want to go, will learn whatever I'm willing to teach her, and I got so lucky. Topaz owes me absolutely nothing, but she gives me everything she has and I'm so grateful.

[blueboyluca]

Topaz got to have a swim on the weekend.

[blueboyluca]

Bagel digging a badger hole in my dress

[blueboyluca]

Topaz won this blanket at Nationals and Marcie thinks it’s the best thing ever.

[blueboyluca]

🙃

[blueboyluca]

Not a terrible haul for the weekend.

[blueboyluca]

This was the second Open Agility, it was a DQ because I made her repeat the stopped contact. But it was also the messiest run of the night – she hit a bar because I did my blind cross way too late, she jumped early off the seesaw, and she missed a weave which is unusual for her.

[blueboyluca]

This is Novice Agility 2, again the only fault was the dogwalk. But she also broke her startline, so another thing to work on there.

[blueboyluca]

Here is Novice Agility 1, she lost connection in the big gap between jump 3 and the tunnel, so that is something we could work on. We just had the one fault from the dogwalk again.

[blueboyluca]

This was our first Open Agility last night, and our local judge was way too lenient and gave us the Q. I feel bad about it, but trying to dispute it just makes everyone tell you to take the win. So anyway it was a pretty good run but she did not have perfect contacts. I really need to crack this code, it's like the one thing I can't seem to train properly.

[blueboyluca]

And the second Open Jumping was 1st NQ with one refusal. I am not sure why she missed the jump the first time, seemed like her line was clear. Maybe I didn't say the cue? Sometimes dogs just do surprising things.

[blueboyluca]

Excellent Jumping again, this one was 1st NQ with one bar. I was too slow with my blind so she knocked it.

[blueboyluca]

Excellent Jumping also 1st Q! Wasted a bit of time up near the tunnel but it wasn't called as a refusal as we weren't close enough to the obstacle. I nearly forgot where I was going. 😅

[blueboyluca]

Open Jumping last night, 1st Q! That's our first qualification in Open.