From a hotel room in Medical Lake

Maple is entered in a hunt test this weekend.  She'll be in Started (the beginner class) in NAHRA (North American Hunting Retriever Assn).  A couple months ago, at her first NAHRA event (and her second ever hunt test), she did great on her morning water retrieves in steady rain, wind, and temps in the 40s.  I don't know how she would have done on her land retrieves because, during the interval between water and land, we took a walk and Maple picked up a dead porcupine.  Yikes!  It was a long afternoon in a vet clinic.  

The conditions this weekend will be the opposite of her first NAHRA trial.  It will be hot and sunny.  Maple does much better in cold, wet, wind.  The big challenge tomorrow will be making sure she doesn't overheat.

So, it's Friday evening and it's just me and little Mapies in a hotel room in Medical Lake.  This afternoon, we checked out the walking path along Medical Lake.  The path is a nice biking path, but doesn't have very many places where we could get down to the shoreline.  Luckily, on a hot Friday afternoon, there wasn't much competition for the good shore locations.  We found a secluded spot where I could throw bumpers for Maple.  After a long drive, she needed some swim time.   I worked on getting her to carry the bumper out of the water and come directly to heel without dropping the bumper to shake first.

I brought a sheet to cover the hotel bed spread.  A damp and tired Maple is snoozing on it right now while I update my blog.