The Arch Pictures

Won't You Play With Me?

Patrick's Graduation

Commencement

It was pretty hard take pictures of graduation because it was inside the basketball stadium and the lighting in gyms is always so bad for pictures, but Patrick just happened to be seated in the closest possible seat to where Annie and I were, so I got a few!

The Conferring of Degrees

See him?

Here the Political Science Masters candidates are walking up to receive their diplomas.
The PhD's walked from right to left across the stage (perfect for photos), but the Masters Candidates walked left to right (so no good photo opps - plus they went really fast). above: Kristin, Ross Patrick (the one with the hair)

Walking back to his seat, Master P.
The graduates preparing the sing the Alma Mater, which no one actually knows.

I thought that they should have sung Soulja Boy instead.
Can we get a close up of that hair?
It took me a good minute to decide if that was really Patrick when they walked in because his hair was so long! I suggested that he get a hair cut prior to the ceremony, but he decided that long, unruly hair would be quite appropriate for an academic's graduation. He did shave though . . . I think.


Reception at Candler:

The three from Patrick's class actually graduating on time - Congrats guys!

Agility Class Graduation and Run Through

We had our last doggie agility class (for a while at least) two weeks ago, and last Sunday was the "graduation" and run though. So while we were NOT the best one there, we did much better our second times through than the first. Dagny and Hank are just SO much faster and more energetic than a lot of the other dogs that it makes it much harder because you have to communicate more effectively (although it also means they have a lot more potential than a dog that stays right beside you but goes slowly).

The Table - aka "table" where they are suppose to sit or stay for a certain count

Wing Jump - aka "jump" - It is a little harder that a regular jump because you can't be right beside the dog and they will sometimes follow you around it instead of going over

The Dog Walk - aka "over" - the key is to make sure the dog actually touches the yellow parts at the beginning and the end ("flying" off in excitement is a big problem for the crazier breeds like ours - Dagny does it in the video of her below). It is also one of the elements younger dogs are scared of, although ours were never scared of anything - imagine that!

Some Vidoes:
I wish we could have gotten a video of them doing it perfectly (like that really happens!), but they were pretty distracted by all the exciting things going on!

Hank 2nd Try

Dagny's 2nd Try - notice I say "over" instead of "jump" at the beginning, and she did what I said . . . "stupid human"! Of course, I did not say to jump over the tunnel, but she did BOTH times - I think that was just a little too much excitement over there being other dogs, people, and treats over there!

Hank's 1st Try - sister was trying to participate, which is why the camera is shaky

Our Wonderful Trainer and her Dog - This is what weave polls should look like. Dagny CAN do them, but only if I can get her calmed down and concentrating first (that is her in back ground - kind of obnoxious, eh!). Hank is still kind of a wild card.