Agility Training

Levi and I have been taking agility lessons for a little while now and as we slowly progress I get more excited about the day that we'll finally be ready to start trialing. I've gotten to go watch 2 agility trials in the past month or so, one of them even featuring Levi's superstar mom, Sport, as well as half-brother, Jackson, and litter-mate, Thistle. I didn't get to stay to see his Thistle's runs but it was still a lot of fun and I can't wait till we're there trialing too! Here's a little video of some of our agility practice from a month ago.



We've now started weave pole training and we just started contact training in class on Monday. I started Levi on the 2x2 weave training method which I'm excited about and I'll try to post some videos of our progress.

Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome Dad for building me my agility jumps and weave poles!

Folsom Lake Walk

Levi and I apologize for neglecting the blog so much the past few months.  Don't worry, we have still been up to lots of fun stuff we just haven't had time to blog about it.  So look for a few blog posts in the upcoming weeks.

Way back at the end of April I took Levi for a walk on the American River Parkway to where it ends at Folsom Lake.  It was about 4 miles each way with some swimming time at the lake in-between.  I've walked other portions of the Parkway in Sacramento and they were more secluded and trail-like.  This section was not as pretty and was a super popular path for cyclists since it's paved.  Unfortunately I had to keep Levi on a short leash since we had cyclists zooming past us every few minutes.  It wasn't quite the tranquil walk I had in mind.  Oh well, it was good exercise for Levi and me and it led to the lake at the end which was the ultimate goal anyways.

Happy 2nd Birthday Levi!!!

Levi is 2 years old today!  Yay!  I remember when he was a puppy, thinking that he would be past his puppy antics by 2 years old which seemed like forever to wait.  Now looking back it feels like it's flown by!  He really has matured into a great dog, I couldn't be happier with him.  I've also come to expect some of his antics as just Levi-isms that aren't going anywhere no matter how old he gets, like bringing me shoes and socks when he wants attention.  Or maybe that's his way of telling me it's time to go for a walk and he's just trying to be helpful? 

We went for a birthday walk on the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach and it reminded me of the times I walked him on that trail when he was a puppy.  My he's grown up a lot since then!

11.5 weeks old compared with 2 years old

In the evening we had a little birthday celebration for him and he got to eat his homemade doggie cupcake and open all of his presents.  The cupcakes were Apple & Chedder Pupcakes from my baking heart adapted from The Dog Ate It.  Levi thought it was delicious and tried to eat it in one bite. I also made him some peanut butter dog cookies as well as some special tuna treats that were highly recommended by his doggie relatives.  He was quite a fan of all of the treats and attention (maybe not the hat though). ; )

Cute doggie cookie cutters that I found :)

Afterwards he got to open all of his presents.  I got him a little bit fancier of a bag than the paper bag he had last year (only $1 at the dollar tree!).  He was quite a fan of all of the toys and couldn't decide which to play with.  I made it easier on him by putting some of them away after he "opened" them to save for later.

Levi says thanks to all of those who wished him a happy birthday and he wishes a super duper birthday to his siblings Avalon, Chelsea, Jamie, Ronan, and Thistle!

Marin Headlands Hike

Today was day 2 of the three day weekend and Levi and I spent it hiking in Marin with 4 of our friends and their three dogs.  We had quite a diverse pack of dogs including Aedan (golden-doodle), Jill (terrier/dachshund mix), ChaCha (pit/ridgeback mix?), and of course Levi (most wonderful breed-golden retriever).  We got lucky and it was a gorgeous, sunny day in the Bay Area.  Levi enjoyed frolicking on the beach for a little bit before we headed out on the hike.  He even met a 5 month old Golden Retriever puppy named Axel that was very cute and wanted to follow us around.  Unfortunately I was thinking all about hiking when getting ready and forgot about the beach part of it so I forgot to bring him a ball or toy to fetch in the ocean.  We made due playing fetch with some sticks though.

Puppy Axel

The humans of our pack

Fisherman fishing off the huge cliff

Careful!!!

Levi says that he had a fun and busy weekend and he's ready for a nap now!