bummer to hear about cohost (but not all that surprising, unfortunately).

i attended hopscotch music festival the weekend before last. three very full days of seeing artist after artist play music (with a tiny bit of stand up comedy and amateur professional wrestling mixed in). it was great, but boy howdy am i feeling like an old. my feet hurt for days afterward.

the day before the festival, my little dog rode around town with me for a whole 13 miles! that’s her longest ride ever in her backpack, and she did great. i’m definitely going to upgrade her pack, though, since she was shifting side-to-side a bit which wasn’t terribly comfortable.

echo earned her CGCU last week, which is the last of the one-shot titles i plan to get for her. next up is prepping for our first rally trial, including a class that starts at the end of october.

this weekend i’m heading to another three-day fast CAT (coursing ability test) with the little dog. hoping to pick up some advice on stretching her before and after so she’s less sore this time around.

on apple devices: play.

had a great weekend doing fast CAT with jean grey. she was getting PR after PR, with her best being 8.68 seconds (23.57mph / 37.93 kph). we have another event september 20-22, and i’m pretty sure she’s going to earn her second title there! she’s been phenomenal around other dogs lately, which is a 180 from how she used to be: barking, lunging, and growling at them.

my older dog, loki (11 year old australian shepherd), has been on prozac most of his life due to anxiety issues, so i’m quite familiar with its use in dogs! basically it allows them to chill out a little bit. both of them are high strung rescue dogs, so the medication definitely helps after i’ve exhausted all other training routes.

Quite the feat! What’s your trick?

honestly, i keep a pack of cards with me to shuffle through (and sometimes play solitaire with) when i’m bored. i also still have audiobooks on my phone, but i play music from a separate digital audio player. it’s nice not to have the compulsion to open mindless scrolling whenever i pick up my phone to do something i actually need to do. most of my time on my phone is now spent using maps for directions, hah.

echo (border collie) started fluoxetine (prozac) last weekend for her anxious tendencies and obsessive behaviors. she also has her urban canine test on wednesday, which i think we’ll pass with flying colors, so long as there isn’t a leaf blower she can hear.

we’ve had a couple of chilly nights, but i know we’re going to have at least one or two hot weeks before it starts to actually cool down for good.

i’ve been spending a lot of work days at the coworking space, and i’m making a lot of progress on my latest project, so that’s nice. forgot how much that helps me get in the right mindset. probably helps that i dumbed down my phone quite a bit recently, too. no more safari, email, social, or needless apps. down to about 1 hour of phone screen time per day, which is pretty good considering my old averages were around 4-5 hours. 😳

i’m sorry you’re in so much pain!

i believe so! there were a couple of them styled like that; really cool stuff.

spent the weekend with a friend in the mountains. we saw a bunch of bonsai trees (a couple of my favorites below), went to a couple of breweries, and stayed up too late playing video games. 10/10 weekend, would do again.

also: give them good things to bite! i always had toys handy when i had my puppy. (i do not miss those days.)

it was a blast! i highly recommend it if you enjoy big group rides, street festivals, pie, and beer.