When it's hot, we're NOT

Yesterday was the first really warm day of Spring here in Eastern Ontario... Some might not think that 15 celcius degrees is THAT warm, but a certain brown beardie boy just wilted after a short play! Sorry buddy, but you better get used to it! :-)

Interesting that Mick doesn't seem to have the same heat sensitivity. Both are quite sensible and will stop playing when they're too hot, so watching for overheating isn't a problem. We take frequent water breaks and the boyz are both quick to seek their special shady spots in the yard when they've had enough. I generally stop whatever we're doing when I see the first signs of slowing down so that they're keen to play next time.

That said, the sessions were very short yesterday :-).
Criteria for the session: Take the first steps to changing up the weaves to make things a bit more challenging. Also, to reinforce the down of the dog who's not working.
Environment: 15 degrees, Sunny, no wind
Time: 4:45 p.m. Immediately after work, played ball/frisbee in the front field for about 20 minutes to warm up and release some energy.
Reminders: Hold my ground! Get a bit more animated.

So let's see how we did! For the first session, I just wanted to get Bryce into his comfort zone with the weaves by picking up where we left off the previous day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULu32p0XAqI
Observations: He was fast -- got 100% of his entries from all angles. When I brought myself into the picture and ran beside him, he got the entry but popped at pole 10. I rewarded with food (the "thanks for coming out" reward) instead of his toy (the "OMG!!! I adore that thing!!!"). He was suspicious the next set, but went through on his own.

During the second session, we set up 2 sets of 6 in a speed circle thanks to a wonderful suggestion (thanks, Sue!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkvFGL8jzeA
Observations: Bryce got all his entries and was driving harder with each successive circle. I'll run with him next time to add a bit of challenge. I noticed him starting to slow in the second round because he was getting hot. I cut the session off after one, as I don't want to reward slow weaves! :-) I'll start with this tomorrow...

The third and final session for the day involved moving the weaves to a more challenging position. I'm also adding a little more lateral distance with each set just to see how far we can get.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4BXyebXTk
Observations: I'm still not animated enough and should remember to get a bit more amped myself :-). Bryce was getting hot again, even after a fairly good break, so I'm curious to see what he'd do if this was first and he was fresh. Hmmmm..... We ended on a positive with a simple send through that he did with vigor and enthusiasm!

Poor Mick! He managed to keep his down, with play breaks between each session, but serenaded us with his squeaky frisbee and even managed to bark WITH the it in his MOUTH! :-)

We ended the day with dinner and a nice 5k walk on our quiet country road to watch the sun set. Gorgeous!