We just returned two days ago from our trip to the Florida panhandle coast and the agility Invitational in Orlando. It started with three wonderful days in a beach house near Cape St. Joe with the Larsons. It was very dog friendly and nearly private. We took a lot of walks along the beach with the dogs, most of it off leash. I couldn't get Shasta interested in the water. I did many "test/reinforce" recalls and felt very comfortable having her off leash. She really enjoyed playing and chasing with mostly Tori but with the rotties some too. It was nice to have a young dog I could trust and we had a great time with all the beach walks.
Then there were the exhausting days at the invitational. Long, long, long walks from the hotel to the show site and back. She didn't get much attention but I did walk her around the rings a couple of times, doing my "acclimation walk". She handled those walks around the ring really well. She was focused doing her tricks and seemed happy and comfortable walking around in that environment with lots of energy, noise and stress.
One thing I did notice was that Shasta seemed a little more independent in the shared beach house. Not sure why but she didn't hang around me as close as she does at home. I can't determine if that was a bad, good or neutral thing as far as performance goes but I didn't like it because I missed having her close by.
Then there was the spongy Florida grass, especially the grass at the hotel that was incredibly thick. And spongy. And Shasta wanted NOTHING to do with it. She jumped straight up in the air the first time she walked on it, about two feet! Pottying was an adventure all three days. We hard many stories of other dogs having the same issue but it's hard to imagine many had the same level of hatred toward that grass!
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