Mailbag
Sarah here! After last week’s episode on road trips, we heard from several of you, and a few people brought up Live to Run Again. I’d forgotten about this program where competitors at a trial could browse a table of audiobooks and borrow one for the drive home. Does anyone know if Live to Run Again still exists? Please let me know!
Also, one listener sent in a great tip: Love’s Travel Stops have fenced dog parks at many of their locations, which you can find at loves.com/dogparks.
Podcast: Using the Course Map
Whether you even get a course map, and how far in advance, depends on where you’re running. Different venues, different countries, and different events all handle this differently. Technology has changed the picture quite a bit too. Maps are usually available online now, sometimes hours before the walk through.
I like to use the map as a preview. I’ll sketch out a rough strategy and pinpoint the spots where I’m likely to need a cross or a specialty maneuver. Some of those spots will have multiple options, and I usually wait to see how the course is actually set up before I commit. Course maps don’t always reflect the real-world spacing once the equipment is on the ground, so finishing the plan too early can be a waste of time and mental energy.
So for me, the course map is useful for loose memorization of the course and early planning. The finishing touches happen during the walk through.
I’ve missed plenty of walk throughs over the years, and when that happens, I’ve found it helpful to watch other handlers run the course before my turn if I can, and combine what I see with what I got from the map. It’s not as good as walking it yourself, but it’s a workable substitute.
When I’m looking at a standard course, I always identify where the contact obstacles are, especially the dogwalk. My recent dogs have had running dogwalks, so I want to know early how I’m going to manage that piece of the course. I also give the weave entry and exit a quick look.
There are times I skip the course map entirely (usually due to time constraints) but in general I prefer to have one. It shortens the time I spend in the walk through memorizing the course and sketching out a plan, which leaves more of the walk through for the things you can only learn by being on the field with the equipment.
For more on course maps, including Jennifer’s “changes in concavity” theory, give this week’s podcast a listen!
Episode 393: Using the Course Map
Cautiously Optimistic in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Hannah’s last day of school is tomorrow and The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters this Friday, and we’re excited! Isaac is home from college for a few weeks, we have tickets for Friday morning, and the whole family is together again. Let summer vacation begin!
The Star Wars universe is vast: movies, shows, books, video games, comics, toys, Legos, and more. Unfortunately, the quality of the content varies widely. For every Rogue One, there’s a sequel trilogy that did things to Luke, Han, and Leia that I’m still not over. I didn’t love the prequels when those came out either, so maybe it’s me and not them.
Still, we thought the second season of Andor was very well done. Andor leads directly into Rogue One, which leads directly into the movie that started it all, Star Wars: A New Hope. The entire family also enjoyed The Mandalorian, which made all of us Pedro Pascal fans. However, the draw of the show has always been Baby Yoda (I don’t call him Grogu because I don’t love that name, and I suspect I will always call him Baby Yoda). The first two seasons were great but the third season lost me a bit, and so we’re going into the movie on Friday hopeful but with low to medium expectations.
If you see it this weekend, let us know what you think!
Anti-Aging Drug for Dogs?
Sarah brought this Fortune article to my attention. A San Francisco startup called Loyal is working toward FDA conditional approval for LOY-002, a daily pill for senior dogs that’s being marketed as a lifespan extension drug. The pitch is that it targets metabolic dysfunction, the underlying biology of aging, rather than treating individual age-related conditions one at a time. Their pivotal trial, called STAY, enrolled 1,300 dogs across 70 veterinary clinics. Enrollment closed last summer, and the dogs are being followed.
I have some questions.
First, what is the actual drug? Loyal has not publicly disclosed the active ingredient in LOY-002. If you’re going to ask me to give my dog a daily pill for years, I’d like to know what’s in it and how it actually works in the body. “Targets metabolic dysfunction” is marketing language, not a mechanism of action.
It would be great if this medicine works. More time with our dogs is a wonderful thing. But I’d like to see the active ingredient disclosed, the mechanism explained in plain terms, and the STAY results published before I’d consider putting one of my dogs on it.
Remember, I want to hear your thoughts on The Mandalorian and Grogu whenever you watch it!
Email me at team@baddogagility.com!
Happy Training,
