Good Day For Pictures

Another day of agility and today I didn't get any of my runs filmed. Which is too bad because I had some nice ones! Fancy had another QQ and Pie had a first in Standard and would have had a QQ and first in jumpers, but I did a front cross between 2 jumps in a line and the second was off set and she just ran right by it. Darn! Dottie ran amazing in both runs, but popped out of the weaves in standard (better do some weave training) and sucked into an off-course tunnel in the opening of jumpers. I tried the same front cross with her since I had nothing to loose and I must have been in a better position but this time I also indicated the jump. Both helped, no doubt. Except for the popping of the weave poles (since she did that yesterday also) I am so pleased with Dottie's speed, effort and excitement. I think any day now we will start Qing more consistently. Especially if I do some weave training.

At the trial someone set up an elaborate Halloween prop and allowed us to take pictures with our dogs. Except for that, I didn't get into Halloween at all this year.


The Mals are not scared.



Fancy is....


I hope that nasty rat does not bite Pie's leg. And the terribly huge spider better not eat Dottie. Or me!

After the trial when we were cleaning up, I spotted some people I know practicing a straight lure course. We meandered over and were allowed to join in! Fancy has tried lure coursing in the past, and although she chases real critters every time she sees them, she disdains chasing trash. (The lure is a plastic bag.)

Pie coursed once before and started off strong but got distracted by a bird's nest on the ground along the way. This time didn't go much better. I showed her the bag with a hand signal "mark." It seems she thought I was showing her a squirrel in the line of trees next to the lure because when I released her she peeled away from the lure and ran to investigate the trees like she was convinced there was something up there.

Luckily Dottie saved the day by taking 2 turns and running beautifully. She doesn't care if it is real or trash, she just wants to run!


I think her ears are creating drag. We may need to tape them down next time.


4 off the floor.

Dottie's Missing Canine Update

Still no conclusion as to what happened, but the current theory is perhaps as her big teeth were growing in, the baby tooth had not fallen out yet. That can kill the root but of course I wouldn't have been aware of a problem. If this is what happened the root was dead or dying and perhaps the tooth was getting looser and looser over time with all the chewing and tugging.

This theory is supported through the fact that her grip has improved. For a while she was being very chompy and having a weak grip. K agreed at training on Thursday her grip was much stronger. Wonder if this means she'll be able to hold onto a long bite now. Now that the tooth is out, if it was loose it was probably causing some pain which is now gone, allowing her to bite better.

I know as a baby I had her put under an a lower tooth near her lower canine pulled because it wouldn't come out. I think I waited too long because the tooth that came in under it is all nasty and brown. So if it happened to one of her teeth, guess it could have happened to the other as well.

Still, it sure was surprising to open her mouth and find a canine gone.

Videos from This Saturday

Fancy Saturday Standard.


Double Q!


Fancy Jumpers.



I am wearing sandals because this was my first run of the day and I actually missed her run and when I realized that I didn't have time to put my shoes on. She was moving pretty slow so I couldn't leave her in the weaves like I wanted to.

Dottie Jumpers.



Sort of a disaster. I wanted to run her like an experienced dog and see if we could do it the "right" way instead of the "chicken" way. Not so much! I can get lateral distance no problem in class- but it seems not in shows. She didn't go "out" really at all. That surprised me. Two things to work on! If I had run it the easy way, I wouldn't have learned about these weaknesses. I think she knocked the bar on the closing because it was a very fast line that allowed her to get up to her full huge stride, and one she is in full stride, the jumps are too close. It should have been a two stride jump, but I think for her it was only a stride and a half.

Pie's jumpers run did not get filmed but I ran her the exact same way and since she is more experienced it worked and we got a Q and first place. Pie did a really nice job.

Pie Standard



Nice run- just one jump away from a QQ. Jumping at 24 again- I thought I had entered her 20. I don't want to do 24 twice in a row. That jump came down hard. I think she tried to adjust her stride but it just didn't work. I walked the opening with 2 fronts but the tire was not obvious and I was afraid lateral distance would pull her off. Plus the second rear helped indicate the turn away from the double draw of the A frame and tunnel.

Dottie Standard.



Just naughty on the weaves. Remember how she used to do that a lot? She just ran by- didn't even try for the entry. Odd about the a frame. Yes I was far behind her, but she should go into 2 on 2 off and stay there. Instead she turned around to see what was taking me so long and then put her feet back on the frame. That gave us an off course. Guess I need to be faster. And train for that.


I'm watching the Rhodesian puppy again. She came to the show and visited lots of dogs and people. She and Dottie have been playing pretty much non-stop since we got home. However, now she is past out as only small children and puppies can be after a big day.

I ventured out into the world for a non-dog even last night and saw a play at the community college. The Drowsy Chaperone. A comedy/ musical written in modern day but set in the 20's. Done in the style of a 20's musical but it is introduced by a modern guy listening to the record of the old musical in his apartment. He narrates his favorite parts and gives us little insights into the old actors playing the parts. Creative and funny.

Videos from Last Weekend

I'm behind again!

Fancy Standard.



K is filming and holding Pie because she was running in a few dogs in the next ring. That is her whining and making the camera jump around. And it is Dottie barking from her x-pen in the back ground.

I do have Pie's jumpers run filmed which started off great until I took us off course, complete with a look of stupification when I realized I was lost. After than I ran Pie off course to save wear and tear on her back. No need to post such a lame attempt on my part.

I think I have some more but I'll have to find them.

Dottie- 1 Down, 3 to Go

And I hope they never go because we are talking about her canines.




I do not know where or when this upper canine went missing. K's husband had his 6 month old GSD out at the trial and we were talking about how big is teeth are. Dottie had tiny teeth- they are the same size as Fancy's. When I was relaxing at home, I decided to torture myself by looking at her tiny teeth. Imagine my surprise when one was missing!

There is no redness, or swelling, and I never saw her bleeding. The hole is already closed. I know for a fact she had all her teeth right before the SchH trial because when she was having trouble with the retrieve I checked her teeth to see if they were broken or causing her pain. Since then I would have hoped I would notice if she was missing any.

On Friday I was helping K do some agility training and we heard a dog screaming in pain in my car. By the time I ran over the dog had stopped and no one was in obvious distress. Had Dottie somehow managed to catch it on something then? I checked her crate to see if I could find a tooth but I did not find anything.

K says Dottie can continue bite work.

Any information leading to the discovery of when or why this happened will be offered a reward.

Agility Trial (Dottie AX!)

Gotta make this quick- I'm tired!

Saturday-

Fancy- Jumpers Q- 4th Place.

Pie- Standard Q- Second Place. Had trouble making it over the 24 inch triple after doing 20 inches a few weeks in a row, so NQ in jumpers.

Dottie- Jumpers Q- First Place, off course in Standard.

K's BSD- First ever show- Standard Q (clean run too!) and First Place.

Sunday-

Fancy- Double QQ. Jumpers- 4th, Standard 2nd. I think this was her MXJ P title, but not sure.

Pie- Standard Q- 1st Place, totally forgot the course in jumpers after running Fancy in standard 2 second earlier so no jumper's Q. Ran really great in both runs- fast, happy and jumping well at 24. But she'll still mostly do 2o P.

Dottie- Standard Q- 1st Place in A (Pie was first in B, Dottie had a faster time!) and her Excellent standard title- AX! Jumper- Beautiful Run, 1 bar down.

K's BSD- Jumpers Q- 1st Place! And standard almost Q. Would have had it but she thought she NQed already so didn't fix it when he went around the last jump. Bummer! Now she is beating herself up for giving away a Q.

I have a few videos of my dogs that I'll hopefully post later. But for now, here is a picture of everyone zonked out after a long trial.

Happy 18th Birthday Youngest Brother!

Hard to believe 18 years ago I was in 6th grade and my babiest brother was born. Now he is all grown up. Well, as grown up as the baby of the family (and a boy to boot) can be at 18.

We went out to dinner to celebrate, then home for yummy ice cream cake!


Birthday 18 Year Old. (I don't want to call him Birthday Boy on his 18th birthday, even if it is accurate. No way can I call him Birthday Man. Sorry. Maybe Birthday Young Man.)


Complimentary ice cream birthday sundea. The whipped cream and sprinkles were yummy. I had to do my sisterly duty and dispatch that for him since he does not care for whipped cream.


Cake!


Traditional family photo complete with ghost. Of course Mom was there, she was just taking the pictures.

Good News

The Canon camera is not broken. All the batteries were dead.

I had my second beginner obedience class today. The same 2 dogs. No new dogs but I'm happy the other 2 people liked the class enough to come back!

I'm getting excited for K and her BSD D's first agility trial this weekend! He is such a talented dog. I know it is hard for K since she hasn't been doing agility very long- a month or so? and now she is trying to figure out full courses. I have full confidence for her though.

Resting Dogs

Can't call them sleeping since their eyes are open. All the picture taking woke them up.


Pie helped herself to my bed AND my pillow!


Dottie resting after chewing on her favorite ball.


Fancy keeps her eyes on me while I take pictures of Dottie.


Dottie kind of looks bored with life.

I had to improvise a tri-pod to get these pictures. I didn't want the flash and the only way I could find to turn it off was to select night land scape. That kept the shutter open for a few seconds and the camera had to be still or the shot was blurry.

My Cannon point and shoot with great video capabilities may be dead. Last pictures I took were some of my tire so K could make her own. Went to use it today and it won't turn on. Tried three different sets of batteries but I need to find some non-rechargeable fresh out of the box batteries and see if those work. It wasn't dropped or exposed to water between the tire pictures and today so I think it should be working.

6 Videos From Last Weekend

Dottie Ex A Standard- NQ. Still need to train the table. I allowed the teeter flyoff by not saying touch.



Dottie Ex B JWW- NQ. Distracted at the end.



Dottie Ex A Standard- Finally a Q! Leg Number 2.


Dottie Ex B JWW- NQ. That tunnel got a lot of teams. I should have stopped moving.


Fancy Ex B P Standard. Good girl!



Fancy Ex B P JWW. So cute!

Voting Time

2012 Malinois Rescue Calendar-

http://www.belgian-shepherds.com/copper ... .php?cat=2

Voting time for the ABMC Rescue Calendar! (Hint- I submitted pics to all 4 seasons.) You can vote for as many pictures as you like, but only 3 from each season will be chosen. You have to rate the photos and I think they will pick on number of ratings, not highest rated. So therefore I don't think it is helpful to rate photos you don't like a 1. Besides, that is mean.

I really like the one I used in my Christmas Card with the bows, but due to lack of snow I don't have high hopes for it. I also like Dottie in the purple flowers, pumpkin Pie and Pie in the grass. But so far Dottie and Pie in the grass were both rated 2! Hmp!

I hope you vote for my dogs at least once!

Club Obedience and Agility Practice

Our dog training club had an obedience practice in conjunction with our monthly meeting today. I invited K, then realized it would be good for her dog to get in at least one practice in a show type setting before his first agility trial next weekend, so we added agility also.

I pulled all the crates out of my car, loaded up 5 agility jumps and the folding weave poles. That meant the dog's x-pen and the obedience equipment (broad jump, high jump, bar jump, ring ropes, stakes and baby gates for the go out side) went on the cargo carrier on the back. That thing sure is handy! Sure, all the stuff would have fit in the car, but then Pie would have had to stay home and that really wasn't an option. Fancy rode in the front on the floor, Dottie on the passenger seat (she rides really well- guess she is actually growing up) and Pie had a little bit of floor space in the back.

I left myself 1/2 hr for loading, but with taking all the crates out, it look 45 minutes! I'm happy to let the club use my equipment, but I think next time I'm going to need to get some club members to help me load (and unload.)

K brought my teeter and 6 of her own jumps and a broad jump. Another club member brought a full sized tunnel and tunnel sand bags. We had a great course! A different club member brought her rally equipment. Our little club training day turned into a three ring extravaganza!

We set up at a park at the Channel Islands Harbor. The weather was great and the yachts and boats made a very pretty back drop. A Farmer's Market was going on in the next parking lot over, so at times we had quite a crowd watching us. I took pictures and ran my dogs in agility. Usually I do a lot of "judging" in obedience, but today I managed to skip that. Here are a few of the pictures from today. K took the pictures of my dogs.



Look how this Pap's tail is wrapped around the weave.


Pie was sooooo excited to run! I did her at 16 inches to keep wear and tear off her back. She doesn't care- she was just ecstatic to be playing.


Fancy really is just the cutest thing on 4 legs.


Rottie heeling.


Basenji portrait. So much easier than action shots!


D lookin' really good! Wish the picture was more in focus.


Can't have an obedience practice without a golden. We actually had 2 I think. No wait- we had 3!


Fancy still being cute.


Basenji in rally.


Lab liftoff.


Big ol' rottie.


Cutest pointer ever.


Berner.


A Harrier in agility?? (He does a really nice job!)


Aussie practicing for her CDX.




Lab doing a good job.


This is kind of a "blooper" photo of Fancy but I just love it. I love it so much I made it my Facebook profile picture. Who can resist her fluffy tail hiding behind the tunnel? (Not me...)


Lab practicing rally.


Young papillon doing a good job.


D again.


And Fancy again. :)


Love those weaves!


Go OUT Dottie!


One of our other goldens practicing for his UD.


The rest of the pictures are HERE.

Lombardi's Ranch and K9s in the Park Event

Today was the Saugus Band's Annual performance at Lombardi's Ranch. I performed here 4 years when I was in the marching band and this was younger, younger brother's fourth year. Their marching show is Sound of Music this year. Neat. I watched one performance, walked the scarecrow exhibition with my dad, bought 2 small pumpkins and a gourd, then left.



Getting ready to play.


Doin' a good job on the trombone.


The band and color guard.


Marching out after the performance.


Me and youngest brother. I made him hold one of my pumpkins for the picture and he reported, "Dad made me hold a pumpkin also." Guess great minds think a like. Or at least related minds.

I headed down to the LA area for K9s in the Park, an event to benefit one of the cities K9 unit. There were K9s demos, various booths (I bought a tee-shirt) and you could make a donation and get your dogs speed checked with the police radar. The area was a little small and it took a while for the radar to give a reading, so by that time the dogs were already slowing down. For Fancy it was a basic recall because I didn't have a ball or anything to tempt her to go faster. Even so, she ran 17 mph. Pie was next. The crowd was standing really close and I didn't want her to plow into anyone, so as she came in I made her do a down. I think they rader-ed her as she was going into a down! She was only 18 mph. Later I saw a dobe running slow and he was also 18 and I could tell Pie was much faster than him so I let Pie have another go. This time she was 20mph, which I think is closer to her real speed. Since I did not down her this time my worries almost came true as I tried to slow her down with the toy but she still ended up glancing off the barrier and almost taking down one of the volunteers. I'm glad to say no one was injured. Dottie went next and she was 23 mph. The fastest time of the day! They took our phone number so if she holds onto the fastest time I wonder if we get a prize?




Pie watches the duckie races.


Pie pretends to be a police dog.


Dottie also tries to pretend but she does not pull it off like Pie does.




The K9s demoing some obedience. This is a few cities putting on the demo.


A tactical down.


Shooting stance. Notice the female handler on the end. Her dog is also a female. Someone in the know says both the handler and the dog are the best of the bunch! It is unusual to have a female K9. Most people say the extra testosterone of the male dogs give them an advantage.


Heeling in a group.


Modeling the ballistic vest. Looks good!


Bite demo.


This was demoing what happens if one handler needs help from a second team.


One of the retired K9s got to come out for the demo and get a bite. He was happy to do his job again!


The 9 month old Mal puppy in training.


He was very eager!