The things we do for agility...

For something that really is a tiny part of our lives with our dogs I sure find myself thinking about Agility a lot. Trying to figure out ways to be better, to push myself, and my dogs more. In the whole scheme of things Agility is just a game, a fun weekend away, a night out, a puzzle really.

In any case there are a few things that need to change in my dogs lives that will make them better agility dogs. And really by "them" I mean Pixel. Pixel is a funny dog. She is quick, really quick. Not as fast as Wicca but still fast. Why then does she trot around the course at agility? Well, why should she when she has fun for free, and toys, and playing, and wrestling whenever she wants.

So all the toys are going away in the house. And by all the toys I mean anything that can be perceived as a toy- old bones, boring yard toys, etc. She needs to see value in toys, and wanting to be with me and this is a quick, easy way to do that. She is going to hate it and will be very confused when she discovers that Lambie, Rooster and all her other favorites are not in the toy box. It may even be a little sad...but how excited will she be when she sees lambie at agility next week?

It is something I recommend to students a lot. And have done in the past. It seems pretty mean, but really they do just fine. :)

I will also be enforcing the "no wrestling in the house" rule. Wicca's gonna be mad.

The Forest 36/52

The Forest 36/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

not only was the trial fun, but it was beautiful and provided me with some new scenery for Boone's 52 weeks project. :)

Kimberley Videos

Wicca


Pixel

OMG

What a great weekend I had. It was probably the best agility weekend I've had in forever.

Not only did I feel connected with my dog (Wicca) in every run, but we had some AWESOME runs, and Q'd in Jumpers. In Jumpers! Do you know how long it has been since we've had a Q in jumpers? January. Serious.

I am so proud of my dogs I could burst.

I will have more time tomorrow to do up some video, but for now here is the breakdown.

Wicca-
Saturday
Gamble- Q- 94 pts. Tough gamble- a turn off the teeter out to weaves. This is her 13th gamble Q.
Std 1- one bar. serious.
Std 2- one bar. serious!
Jumpers- one bar. omg serious!
Sunday
Std 3- 15 faults. a bar or two? and something else? can't remember.
Steeplechase- Jolayne tried to run her and the weiner ran to me! I ran Tag and Q'd. :)
Snooker- Q- 47 points. Super fast path- thanks Sarah!
Jumpers- Q. FASTEST TIME OVERALL. 28.19 Seconds. Serious.

I am so proud of her- she listened SO well, and tried very hard. The bars were my fault, not hers. She worked her butt off. I have a very great dog.

Pixel
Saturday
Std 1- 5 faults- dogwalk contact....
Std 2- Q! This is her starters title! ADC
Adv.Gamble- it was a little too tough for her- a turn out of the poles to a jump.
Adv.Jumpers- Q! She moves to Masters!!!! Not even kidding. It is pretty unbelievable!
Sunday
Adv. Std 3- 5 faults- i think a refusal
Snooker- she was a little naughty and we got tweeted on out closing.
Steeplechase- clean, but we had to redo the weaves, and were over time.
Mas.Jumpers- clean, but overtime. (4 seconds) She was pretty tired after the weekend and was definitely slower.

I am so proud of this dog- she seems so young, and inexperienced to be running such tough courses. It just blows me away. We have lots of work to do though, and lots to improve on. Mostly speed, and motivation. :) Oh, and those contacts and weaves.

Boone
No Q's, but lots of pretty great moments. He had a bit of a rough start on Saturday. Very disconnected, and flighty. Didn't leave the ring or anything, but was certainly doing his own thing for parts of the weekend. I was thrilled with his contacts and weaves though- he has improved so much with those. I've decided with Boone that part of his issue is that he becomes overwhelmed on long courses (i.e masters). I am going to run him FEO in starters for a bit, and build up to longer, tougher courses at trials. At home I am only going to do tough stuff with him, with lots of rewards, and hopefully it will make things seem easier for him.

Some random photos
The lethbridge Go Dog Go'ers...we took up half the trial almost!



We had a great potluck BBQ, and campfire Saturday night. It was a great end to the day!



Videos Tomorrow!

Go Team. :)

Our Scenthurdle team. It's amazing how far all the dogs have come in a short time. I'm pretty excited about it. Our first official race will be in November.

Aside from the dogs on the video we have four more who are still training fetch and discrimination. Pretty Cool eh?

------------

This weekend the dogs and I are heading to Kimberley BC, for an Agility trial. Should be a fun weekend!

People Suck, and that annoys me.

I seriously am amazed I can make it through a day without swearing at, hitting, or punching someone. People are dumb. Seriously dumb. They don't listen, and generally do exactly the opposite of what you've told them. It annoys me, and makes me grumpier than I am normally............

I don't know why I even bother doing rescue anymore. I can hardly stand to talk to stupid people, and just when you think you've weeded out the losers. BAM. Loser. Major Loser. It's frustrating, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Missy is a great little jack russell who we've had for FOUR MONTHS. That's months folks, not weeks. She is a great dog- happy, obedient, great in the house, loves all people. Her hang up? Dogs. She is aggressive and cannot live with other dogs. She lived with mine perfectly fine because *I* am the boss, but it was important that she go to an only dog home (and no cats....). So, finally- the perfect person for her applies, everything is great. I tell her all about the dog and what her issues are, and how she will never be the kind of dog that can live with, or engage with other dogs. She can tolerate them as long as they aren't in her space, but you have to be on her. All the time. So what does this perfectly capable, smart person do only two days after taking her home? That's right. Introduce her to her friends dogs. "They only wanted to play" were her words. She was horrified at Missy's behavior and now wants to return her. Of course we will take her back. But seriously.........WHY DON'T PEOPLE LISTEN?!

I just don't get it. Perhaps I should have re-worded dog aggressive to "will try and rip off other dogs faces if they approach her..."

Sigh.

Blast from the Past

Baby Vito. Before I decided to keep him. Seriously cute.

Early Morning Ramblings..

Pixel has been the easiest dog I've ever owned to train. She is just so smart, and wants to please me (which is where she and Wicca differ the most). Everything I ask Pixel to do she does without question, and with gusto.

She earned her rally title in three straight attempts (although spread out as I don't trial much). She has been to two full agility trials, and one day- and is only one Q away from her Starters Standard title. She is in advanced in everything else, and only one Q away from being in Masters jumpers.

Is the dog a genius? Or just a well trained dog, handled by an experienced handler?

Yes, she is smart and she is a very good dog. But her success is due to her training, and my handling. When she was a puppy I knew what I wanted, and devised a plan to get there. With the exception of her contacts she is exactly where I thought she'd be at this age.

With a different trainer and handler Pixel would be a very different dog. I truly believe that our dogs are what we make them. Yes, there are some dogs that are brilliant despite their owners, but imagine how great those dogs would be with good training!

I think that all dogs have potential to do great things- and that we as owners need to step up our training for our dogs. If I had known then what I know now Wicca would be incredible- not just a fast dog that flings herself around the course. But of course we all need to start somewhere, and with each dog we become better trainers....or so we should hope!

I am looking forward to great things with Pixel. She not only has natural ability, but she has had great training. As long as I continue to do my job, she will do hers.

Relaxed and Refreshed

I had a great long weekend with the dogs. Mostly we laid around the house and went for walks. I did the odd rescue thing, and did some training. But mostly did whatever I wanted. Yay for Long Weekends!

Impending Collision...

Collision..., originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

I laughed out loud when I saw this photo. Not great technically, but a great story.

Oh, and Wicca (whose nose you can just barely see on the left) got the toy....

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling Rivalry, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Wicca ALWAYS gets the toy...and Pixel always chases her, and Boone always chases Pixel, and Vito is rolling around on the grass behind me completely oblivious...

lol

I took all the dogs to the park near my house and had a great time with them. I sat on the grass and enjoyed the sun, and the dogs ran, and ran, and ran, and ran some more. I have tired dogs now.

Happy long Weekend everyone!

Vito's video...

this dog makes me laugh so much. he could NOT focus on what I wanted him to do, and all I could do was laugh at him.



here is the non music version as youtube is being weird about the song...the song really makes the video though, you will all just have to imagine Hootie and The Blowfish- All I wanna do is be with you....

Happy Birthday Kate!

It's hard to believe she is 12 years old. She still looks pretty awesome for an old Shepherd. She's been dealing with Pannus for a year now and it is under control and not bugging her much. She still beats up Drew, and plays the odd game of fetch. Mostly though she likes to lay in the sun at my mom's feet. Her mobility is getting worse and worse- she is pretty unsteady on her feet some days, but she is happy, and can get from A to B although slowly.



I am grateful that I still have her at 12. I go and see her as often as I can, and cherish the moments we spend together. She still adores me although I think that my mom has taken over as "the one whom must be followed". She has been a great dog- one that has taught me a lot. She is still funny and playful- she can de-squeak a plush toy in under five seconds, and de-stuff it in ten. :) She doesn't listen at all anymore, she is not deaf- just selective. She is quite the princess in her retirement....



I love this dog. Happy Birthday Kate.

Thank you to Wendy for the wonderful photos.


This post is a day late (but not forgotten, just couldn't find the disc of photos and then forgot them anyway! !)

Photos Galore!

Wendy set up shop on the weekend as the trial photographer and got some GREAT shots of my dogs. There were LOTS to choose from, so I made a collage of a few of my favorites of each dog.

Wicked.

a slight issue with decel at about 36 seconds, and then me being out of position for the chute to tunnel, but otherwise great- NO BARS!!! Freakin' awesome.

Snookered

A Masters Snooker Q- even with a few little bobbles. You can see that although he was paying attention he was still a bit odd- at .45 seconds he goes completely the wrong direction. He's such a dork. lol

Weekend News

Too busy to post much but we all had a great weekend! The dogs were awesome, and the trial was a lot of fun.

Boone-
Masters Snooker Q, Steeplechase Q
He had a great day on Sunday- and we were connected in the ring all day. Saturday not so much- he was happy, but pretty flaky. :) I am happy with him though, and he certainly enjoyed himself!

Pixel
Adv. Jumpers Q, Adv. Jumpers Q, Starters Snooker Q, Starters Gamblers Q. Starters Standard Q Earned her Starters Game Dog Title.
She was a little trooper and ran hard for me. She is such a good girl and does whatever I ask her to. She had some contact issues so I didn't do any contacts at all with her on Sunday. We still have much work to do in that department. :)

Wicca
Steeplechase Q
She tried SO hard! We had two bars ALL WEEKEND. Seriously, that is awesome for her. She paid attention and did what i told her to. Her contacts and weaves were awesome. I am very proud of her- we had some awesome runs with just a little blip here and there. I need to continue to work on my decceleration issues with her; Sometimes she reads them too soon, and some times not at all. We really need to find the balance....oh, and we very nearly ran a Jumpers course clean until I forgot number 14 and got lost.

Vito
no Q's but had LOTS of fun. He was fast, and weaved, and did the tire. :) He was seriously cute. He did leave me every run to go visit with the ring crew but I'd rather that than have him leave and bark at them!

Here is a video of Pixel's 1st Advanced Jumpers Q. She is such a good girl! I can hardly believe she is in Advanced already!

Let the Weekend Begin!

The Whoop Up days Demos were a huge hit all week. We had great crowds, and the dogs and people all did a fantastic job. It was fun- but a LOT of work! I am fricken tired.

Now we have our trial this weekend- today is the last day to finish up the odds and ends of organising a trial, and of course setting up. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day today. :)

I am looking forward to the weekend though- my dogs all ran great at the demo (and I managed to remind Pixel how we're really supposed to do the frame....) Pixel is entered in a full trial for the first time, and this is Boone's first trial back since Winter and his mysterious shut down/injury. Wicca is feeling awesome, and Vito learned the tire a few weeks ago so should be good to go. :)

I am also looking forward to going to trial and being able to go home to my own bed (well, couch but that's another story). We only have one local trial a year so it is pretty awesome to just be able to go home and chill.

So yeah, Happy Friday to everyone. I am sure I will have lots to blog about on Monday!

Note to self:

Don't forget to bring the "hoop" to the demo tonite for Pixel's A-Frame...

Last night she thought she was superman.

Playing Hookie...

to attend a parade. :) Thankfully I have a nice boss. This year our dog group was asked to perform in our towns festival (called Whoop Up Days). We are doing two shows a day- Tuesday-Thursday. We also thought it would be a good idea to participate in the parade. Hence taking a Tuesday off work to walk in a parade....

The parade was lots of fun- I took just the girls and they did great. Wicca surprised me and was really, really good with kids, and Pixel soaked up all the attention.



There were only a few of us that could come (because the parade was on a TUESDAY?!) so we invited our friend and her mini horse Charlie. He was a hit, and pulled a little cart the whole way. I think everyone enjoyed the dogs, and of course they had a good time.

Sarah took most of these photos, although a few were from her friend Cathy.

The whole group! Don't the dogs look snazzy in their bandanas?

Wicca's adoring fans...okay, that's my family...but still. :)

Pixel was a little freaked out by Charlie. She was okay with him when he was a little farther away, but he was trying to sniff her...lol

Wicca resting in the wagon while we waited, and waited, and waited at the set up point before the parade. We were there for a few hours....

and my favorite photo of the day..
Ronald McDonald was quite happy to visit the corgis and kept calling them the Queen's dogs. He even imitated her voice and the wave. I was laughing too much to correct him...

The demo's after were fun, and went off pretty well. I was SUPER tired when I got home last night at 8:30 after having been gone all day. Two more days of demo's, and then our local trial is this weekend....not sure what we were thinking!