On Friday I had to be at work late into the evening and I also had an agility trial in Fillmore. I was able to split my work day up and attend the trial without having to take the day off. Pie was my only dog entered and she got a double Q with 2 third places.
On Saturday I attended our club's SchH trial. Fancy was entered for her BH (for those who don't remember, the BH is a temperament test with an obedience portion and a road test portion.) Fancy passed and the judge gave us some very nice comments about how well she worked, our teamwork, her attention, and the fact that it is nice to see a non-working breed dog do good work.
I had hoped to go on and attempt Fancy's SchH obedience titles at a future date, but I recently discovered she does not like the gun shots. Fancy's never been skittish around car backfires or other noises that set off some gun shy dogs so it is a little surprising. I hope I might be able to get her over it, because she does a job and is very cute going over the large jump with the heavy dumbbell. If not, she can still try the tracking, but it will be a while before she is ready for that.
In addition to Fancy's passing BH, the trial was a lot of fun. The judge's critiques of all three phases for the other dogs were very helpful to help me understand what is most correct. Three of the dogs entered for SchH 1 passed including the lady in the club who helps me so much (both of her dogs passed). A SchH 3 dog also passed and got enough points to qualify for the Nationals. It was neat to see a 3 routine.
On Sunday we went back to the agility trial and all the dogs played in the river and had fun. Pie got a little tired and wasn't super fast, but she still got a double Q and two more third places. Very consistent.
Now I am at my parent's house to celebrate Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
This Blog Post Brought to You By...
The never ending agility trial! I'm using my mobile internet and blogging at the park. "Never ending agility trial" reminds me that when Fancy is first shaved she looks like the Luck Dragon from Never Ending Story. After the Memorial Day agility trial I drove through Pizza Hut for lunch and Fancy was on the front seat. As I was pulling away I heard the girl who served me ask her fellow employee.. "Hey- Did you ever see that movie, 'The Never Ending Story?'" I thought I knew why she was asking!
Now, catching up on a few things from the past days....
After celebrating at our house I took the hats to agility class (it is Pie and Fancy's class, Dottie just is along for the ride) and some of her friends joined in the picture taking. Stir on the left and Shasta in the middle.
I bought this toy to keep Dottie busy while she is in her crate while I'm at work. You put treats in in and they come out as she plays with the toy. Unfortunately Dottie thought it was better to chew the top off. It used to be shaped like a bowling pin. This was the first day I gave it to her. Since the missing piece was not in her crate I knew she had eaten it and after I took the picture I made her throw up to make sure she didn't get an obstruction. The pieces that came up were small enough that they would have come out fine the normal end and sure enough the next day there were bright blue rubber chunks in the potty yard. So much for that toy.
At the show over Memorial Day weekend Pie converted a new fan. A young girl sat next to her pen all day and drew this picture of her. I think it is pretty good! I especially like the way she wrote her name.
Over drill weekend a few of us spend the day pulling large bushes out of the ground using a backhoe and chain and we cut down a tree using a chainsaw. I did not do any cutting, but I did convince the guy using the chainsaw to cut the pieces small enough so they might make good firewood. Most of the pieces should fit in the fireplace. I brought all of this wood home in my car in one trip, with out even taking any of the crates out. I thought the car looked like it was riding a bit low...
And lastly, while pulling the bushes up by the roots we broke a chain. Strong bush. We were being safe and standing well back while the backhoe was at work so no one was injured but when I was loading the wood in the car I found the piece of broken chain. It had flown quite far and was very bent.
The agility trial went well on Saturday with both Fancy and Pie earning double Qs. Today they both qualified in Jumpers and I waited many, many hours in the heat for their standard runs. I put Fancy off course because I forgot where I was going and Pie knocked the first bar. That was lame. Then I wished I had gone home after jumpers rather than sticking around so long in the heat. But while we were waiting my dogs did get their nails ground down with a durmmel and apparently they really needed it.
Now, catching up on a few things from the past days....
After celebrating at our house I took the hats to agility class (it is Pie and Fancy's class, Dottie just is along for the ride) and some of her friends joined in the picture taking. Stir on the left and Shasta in the middle.
I bought this toy to keep Dottie busy while she is in her crate while I'm at work. You put treats in in and they come out as she plays with the toy. Unfortunately Dottie thought it was better to chew the top off. It used to be shaped like a bowling pin. This was the first day I gave it to her. Since the missing piece was not in her crate I knew she had eaten it and after I took the picture I made her throw up to make sure she didn't get an obstruction. The pieces that came up were small enough that they would have come out fine the normal end and sure enough the next day there were bright blue rubber chunks in the potty yard. So much for that toy.
At the show over Memorial Day weekend Pie converted a new fan. A young girl sat next to her pen all day and drew this picture of her. I think it is pretty good! I especially like the way she wrote her name.
Over drill weekend a few of us spend the day pulling large bushes out of the ground using a backhoe and chain and we cut down a tree using a chainsaw. I did not do any cutting, but I did convince the guy using the chainsaw to cut the pieces small enough so they might make good firewood. Most of the pieces should fit in the fireplace. I brought all of this wood home in my car in one trip, with out even taking any of the crates out. I thought the car looked like it was riding a bit low...
And lastly, while pulling the bushes up by the roots we broke a chain. Strong bush. We were being safe and standing well back while the backhoe was at work so no one was injured but when I was loading the wood in the car I found the piece of broken chain. It had flown quite far and was very bent.
The agility trial went well on Saturday with both Fancy and Pie earning double Qs. Today they both qualified in Jumpers and I waited many, many hours in the heat for their standard runs. I put Fancy off course because I forgot where I was going and Pie knocked the first bar. That was lame. Then I wished I had gone home after jumpers rather than sticking around so long in the heat. But while we were waiting my dogs did get their nails ground down with a durmmel and apparently they really needed it.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
A List
A List of Non-Dog Items I Bought For the First Time Because of the Dogs:
Salad Tongs
Cottage Cheese (image the guy at the Supermarkets face when I asked for help finding the "full fat" cottage cheese
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Various other foods such as baby food, tuna, ground beef
PVC Pipe, glue and cutters (what a great tool!)
Hacksaw
Baby Diapers (got a comment from the cashier about late night runs to the store for the baby)
Other things such as an SUV, Construction/ Worklights, Play sand etc, but the first items struck me the most as "how strange I am buying this for or because of my dogs"
I just worked with Pie trying to keep her attention on my face while heeling. Bait spitting is the key. I have the hot dog piece in my mouth and when she is staring at my face I spit it at her and she catches it and eats it. She was catching nicely the other day but today apparently it was more fun to snap frantically as it arcs through the air towards her, then allow it to bounce of her nose and finally root around in the grass for it. I think she will improve (in heeling, and probably in hot dog catching also) but it will most likely take some time. If I want to do it right that means to showing until she is reliably better or I am allowing her to be wrong in the ring, which is the last thing I want.
Speaking of the last thing I want, Dottie is horribly handler focused. Which is super in obedience but killing me in agility. I want her to be obstacle focused. As it is, she runs along beside me (ie- not very quickly) and doesn't take the obstacles because she is staring at my face. NO Dottie! I am not going to spit hotdogs at you in agility!
I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here but last weekend Fancy stopped eating. I took her to the vet and her blood and urine work is perfect. She has slowly been regaining her appetite but is still being picky. I'm feeding her anything she will eat including (ugh) Science Diet kibble. I had one can of Natural Balance venison left and she ate that entire thing in pretty much one gulp. This morning she ate some cheek meat which was encouraging because she hasn't been wanting anything raw. Of course, she is allergic to all this stuff so she is itching and licking, but at least she is eating. Her tummy is so full it looks pregnant. Being that Fancy has a sensitive stomach I'm worried I'm going to wake up to some kind of mess so much to her unhappiness, I made her sleep in the shower. Easy clean up.
June Gloom is here with a vengeance. But it burnt off finally late this afternoon and the evening was very nice.
Salad Tongs
Cottage Cheese (image the guy at the Supermarkets face when I asked for help finding the "full fat" cottage cheese
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Various other foods such as baby food, tuna, ground beef
PVC Pipe, glue and cutters (what a great tool!)
Hacksaw
Baby Diapers (got a comment from the cashier about late night runs to the store for the baby)
Other things such as an SUV, Construction/ Worklights, Play sand etc, but the first items struck me the most as "how strange I am buying this for or because of my dogs"
I just worked with Pie trying to keep her attention on my face while heeling. Bait spitting is the key. I have the hot dog piece in my mouth and when she is staring at my face I spit it at her and she catches it and eats it. She was catching nicely the other day but today apparently it was more fun to snap frantically as it arcs through the air towards her, then allow it to bounce of her nose and finally root around in the grass for it. I think she will improve (in heeling, and probably in hot dog catching also) but it will most likely take some time. If I want to do it right that means to showing until she is reliably better or I am allowing her to be wrong in the ring, which is the last thing I want.
Speaking of the last thing I want, Dottie is horribly handler focused. Which is super in obedience but killing me in agility. I want her to be obstacle focused. As it is, she runs along beside me (ie- not very quickly) and doesn't take the obstacles because she is staring at my face. NO Dottie! I am not going to spit hotdogs at you in agility!
I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here but last weekend Fancy stopped eating. I took her to the vet and her blood and urine work is perfect. She has slowly been regaining her appetite but is still being picky. I'm feeding her anything she will eat including (ugh) Science Diet kibble. I had one can of Natural Balance venison left and she ate that entire thing in pretty much one gulp. This morning she ate some cheek meat which was encouraging because she hasn't been wanting anything raw. Of course, she is allergic to all this stuff so she is itching and licking, but at least she is eating. Her tummy is so full it looks pregnant. Being that Fancy has a sensitive stomach I'm worried I'm going to wake up to some kind of mess so much to her unhappiness, I made her sleep in the shower. Easy clean up.
June Gloom is here with a vengeance. But it burnt off finally late this afternoon and the evening was very nice.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Happy Birthday Dottie
Dottie is my first puppy and she is now one year old. June first was her birthday. It is true I don't know her exact birthday but that was the day I picked for her. We celebrated at agility class with human and dog cookies and I took pictures with birthday hats back at the house.
You can see the pictures here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26058&id=100000152104007&l=e6d0908ddb
Before class we had time to take a nice walk in the orchard at the ranch where agility is held and the dogs played in the little bit of water that was in the wash.
Nothing else new here excdept the warmer weather means the flys are back. I'm sitting outside on the laptop and the flies are very annoying. The neighbors horses attract them.
You can see the pictures here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26058&id=100000152104007&l=e6d0908ddb
Before class we had time to take a nice walk in the orchard at the ranch where agility is held and the dogs played in the little bit of water that was in the wash.
Nothing else new here excdept the warmer weather means the flys are back. I'm sitting outside on the laptop and the flies are very annoying. The neighbors horses attract them.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
New Email Address
Looks like my old account will not longer be accessaible soon so please use this one instead.
It is first initial middle initial last name @ gmail.com No spaces.
Also, you may still use my work one, especially if it is durring work hours as I won't be checking the gmail at work, unless I bring my laptop and do it at work.
It is first initial middle initial last name @ gmail.com No spaces.
Also, you may still use my work one, especially if it is durring work hours as I won't be checking the gmail at work, unless I bring my laptop and do it at work.
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