Preparing for the National Finals

With the weather warming up quite well, I decided to work the girls on sheep in some heat today. We are going to the rather large Lacamas Valley STD up in Washington in a few weeks, and in two months, we have the Finals to trial at, both of which could be pretty hot during the afternoons.


Like us humans, our dogs need to train in the worst of weather and in the best of it. Their bodies need time to adapt to the stresses that training has put on them. So today, I waited until it was 83 degrees outside to work them.

I did notice right away, that Kate was much slower in the heat. I usually don't get a chance to see her work at the slower pace that she did today, so I know that I did the right training procedure in getting her used to working in heat.

The same goes for Tam. Her lung capacity is not as large at Kate's is, so she will need more conditioning than Kate.

Interesting though, I really didn't notice much of a difference with Chris today, and by the time I got to her, it was much warmer, approaching the 90's. Maybe because she is young, who knows?

After their workout, the girls got to play in their pool to cool off. By the time I got back inside, it was a balmy 93 degrees. The girls survived the heat, and we will start practicing in it more often from now on, until the National Finals.

Sep 25th 2019 Original post 1 Aug 2012

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