Height dog or speed dog?

The flyball tournament was awesome. Both days were sunny and warm (a little too warm, actually, at 80 both days), the grass we were running on was dry by 9 for racing to start, and the host club did a great job keeping things going.

Now, most people look at the pictures after a tournament and have some amazingly compelling photos of a solid dog, elegantly, quickly, working. What I get is something else entirely.



I'm not sure if Pallo is funny looking on purpose, or if it is just a happy side effect of being a silly dog. He sure does do good at it though.

You may not be able to tell from the pictures, as my dog doesn't exactly look fast and powerful, but Pallo man beat out his previous best time.



In fact, he is well on his way to being a speed dog for our team, as well as a height dog. This makes for his fifth tournament, and every time his speed has increased. This weekend, this amazing, funny looking, silly dog, ran a 5.0 on grass in 80 degree weather after a full day and a half of running every heat of our 5 races, 5 heats each, per day.



I'm very proud of my boy.

I think, with our next tournament on mats and indoors, his time may improve even more. I hope it does anyway. The huge party I plan on throwing when we break below 5 seconds is on the edge of my mind. I keep telling myself 5 is an awesome time of a 9 inch height dog, but the lure of having a dog run in the 4 second range (even the top end of it) is there for sure.

Pallo did have a lot of lag time on the box, even with his amazing speeds.



I wonder if the box wasn't firing fast enough for him. His turns are very snappy and fast, and if the ball came out even faster, I'm sure his turns would be even better.

As it is though, my dog is pretty damn amazing. I am so proud of him, and can't wait for our next tournament.

One last look at his eternal elegance:

Detour

Big detour in fact. But a very, very beautiful one. Instead of taking I-5 down to LA, we ended up taking Hwy 1 most of the way. The day was just so amazingly sunny and warm that wasting it all day on the freeway seemed just plain stupid.



The coast line was amazing, way different from Oregon, and yet nothing like the coast down here in Santa Monica. It was all windy roads, steep cliffs, and big hills.



We even got to see baby sea lions on the beach.



Pallo so wanted to go investigate, but he stayed on a nice short leash the whole time to stay out of trouble. This big guy would've ripped Pallo up if he'd've come down there.



Of course, the detour added about 3 or 4 hours onto an already long drive, but it was totally worth it. You know, minus the speeding ticket I got anyway.

Pallo is now occupied with finding all the tennis balls that are lost various places around my friend's house we are staying at, and in trying to catch the fish in the pond. Silly, annoying dog.

Road Trip!

Well, me and Pallo are well on our way to LA for our vacation/flyball tournament. Koira had to stay home, but since she has some anxiety with the car, that is probably for the best.

Today started out with a light dusting of snow, but when we hit the coast the day turned sunny and bright, getting warmer and sunnier the farther south we traveled.



We stopped to see the carnivorous plants at Darlingtonia Botanical Preserve, which was pretty neat, but would be much better in the spring when they are blooming. The observation deck was icy too, so we slid our feet over it instead of walking, and Pallo was pulling me along, using his toe nails to dig in to the ice.

We stopped to take some pictures of a nifty gold bear statue. Pallo was terrified of the thing at first, barking, hackles up, and everything. He got close because I asked him to, but peed a bit from fear. Treats talked him into posing with it though.



And, of course, we had to stop and see the redwoods.



It was getting dark by the time we got there though, so we didn't get to spend much time exploring. We did stop by a "drive thru" tree and did the drive through of it, and did the drive-on tree, and then played in the giant bird houses. The houses are about perfect size for Pallo, but the steps were a bit too steep and slick for him to get up on his own.



Thats our trip so far. Pallo is passed out now on my feet in the hotel room, ignoring his chicken thigh dinner, as per normal for traveling (he never likes eating away from home unless Koira is along).