Border Collie Insanity

Firecrackers

2011-12-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

I LOVE MY DOGS. I love them all, each and every one differently and for so many reasons.
But one main one is that they are all crazy :-)
And I let them be. They make me laugh, they make me giggle, they make me anxious and make my hair turn gray, but I love them all nonetheless.

Days will start to get longer from now on, so looking forward to riding winter out. Although it is Christmas time, we've only had one big snow storm. Otherwise, the little ones come and go without leaving a mark. It's been nice, at least we can still practice agility outside, and most days have been sunny.

Will be cuddling up with the pups this holiday season, watching the baby grow legs, ears and tail and will be thinking about what 2012 is going to bring. While optimistically looking forward, already making New Year's resolutions to better myself in everything I do, to stick to my guns and stick to good routines and most of all try to stay healthy and keep my four legged ones as healthy and fit as they can be.

More playtime, more running, more fun games to keep everyone happy, crazy and tired ;-)

Here's hoping we all have very

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Being Thankful

2011-11-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

The last couple months have been marred by many old dogs leaving us. Many of them were the first ones; first pet, first agility dog, the dog that started the whole madness. In their last years they've stepped away from the main arena, they've been forced to give up their own time with us and share with the ever growing pack. They've been the mentors, the support, the fun police at times to the newbies joining the household. And always ever so understanding, just being there, they've become the permanent fixtures we got used to seeing, cuddling, expecting to always be there. It is hard to see that whole generation slowly whittle away. The void they leave is felt by so many, not just the ones of the pack, but most everyone around, as we all grew up with them.

My own pack has grown in the last five years. Deeply inside I feel as though I need to have new projects coming in, mainly to not be able to dwell on the fact that my very first dog has retired now. Although only 10.5 now, Grommit has been battling shoulder injury for years and that injury flares up now a lot more than it used to. Not wanting him to end up crippled for the rest of his life, it is time. He's been enjoying basking in the morning sun in the window on the back of the couch, going out on those chilly morning romps while the others madly chase the ball and exercise hard. He's been taking it easy, as he should :-)
Though I don't want to even fathom it possible, Banshee is just not a spring chicken anymore herself, turning 9 years of age this last month. Time has been catching up to her as well, slowly, but noticeably steady. The joint stiffness, sore muscles, hotter than usual areas after training and exercising, this girl has got to start taking it easy too. Seems like only yesterday we've started really clicking together, maybe it was, or maybe it just feels so short because time has flown by so fast while having a blast. Who knows.

While many will be giving their thanks for having food and a home and family and health this week, I will be also grateful for having been blessed with my wonderful four legged companions who have changed me forever. I can not think of a greater joy than living with the constant demands for butt rubs from acting-like-he's-starving Grommit, the gentle nuzzling and evening cuddling on the bed from the one that reads my mind Banshee, the bear hugs and unavoidable head butts from must-be-the-center-of-attention Blink, the joyful chattering and butterball snuggles from must-do-everything-fast Riot, the timid hugs from the every day growing more confident Mouse and of course now the whirlwind leaps, the licks and the exuberance of Deja, the Tasmanian redheaded devil ;-)

Thanksgiving holiday also marks a start of winter, at least for me. And boy has it been making itself known. Though not much snow yet, it's been cold, and wet. Short days. No agility trials. Ugh.

I have been trying to keep on training, but after the last Colorado agility trial, I have given Riot and Banshee quite a bit of a break, focusing now more on Mouse and the puppy.

After two months of two poles, we have finally made progress within a week. Not sure if it's the cold weather and the break from training while the others and I were busy trialing, Mouse has finally figured it out. We are up to six weave poles straight up inline. Wahoo! It has finally clicked for her. She has been kicking my ass as far as training of anything goes, so this little breakthrough is huge for me.
Last weekend at our first indoor flyball practice of the season, she's been also consistently getting on the box and getting the ball off the velcro and snapping off to the tug like a maniac. Another major breakthrough. Even after freaking out about the slippery cement floors surrounding the mats, we worked through it and she forgot about all the 'scary' parts.

Looking forward to starting some indoor agility training through the winter, another workshop with Stacy and one last agility trial of the year.
USDAA World Games are in Colorado next year, practically in our backyard (yes, I consider an 8 hour drive a short trek). The girls each need just one more Grand Prix leg, though they each already have Byes for Regionals. Riot still needs a team Q, hoping we get it soon.

We will be enjoying the next four months of quiet home time and getting ready for a crazy year to come. With the USDAA Nationals so close and more Regionals available, the flyball U-FLI Nationals also moving closer next year, we will be spending many weekends on the road trialing and trying to qualify.

This is going to be one crazy year and I can not wait to enjoy every little bit of it :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Beyond Belief

2011-10-25T17:32:00.001-06:00

Annual Jumps and Jackpots Flyball Tournament. The last tourney of the year for us. It's become a tradition; biggest, longest, grueling, lots of teams, lots of friends, awesome competition, fantastic racing .... every year!

This year was no exception. Except that Riot also made her debut in that one. She was awesome beyond my wildest dreams. Factoring out my lousy starts, she ran 3.9s. Way passed my expectations for her first time in the racing lanes. She thrived on competition. She was flawless.

She even subbed for Grommit to save the team from scratching when he came up lame and officially entered into flyball tourney retirement.
I couldn't be more proud of the beanie baby.

As in agility at the beginning of this year, when Grommit ran his last AKC run and Riot ran her first, this last tournament Grommit passed the flyball torch onto Riot.

Grommit retired from competition with a celebration from his team mates with cake and cookies. He will be a happy dog, basking in the morning sun on the back of the couch every day, going for morning jaunts, playing happy frisbee and not having a care in the world. He has been the most amazing first dog I could have ever wished for. He has put up with all my learning steps, we've been through a lot together. He's Sir Grommit, Granpa Grommie, the sweetest gentleman ever.

Blink's team, the Hell Razers set another club record slowly chipping away fractions of seconds.

Blink had a great time as always, though sore legs and scraped feet could not slow him down and he set his own personal best time of 3.977 with a pass.

I for myself am riding on fumes, since 4 hours of sleep for 3 days straight riding on adrenaline rush only, have now caught up with me. Which is just A-OK. It means it was an awesome weekend and I wouldn't want it any other way.

The amazing flyball shots taken by Len Silvester, TTL Photo

And to add to the amusement, here's a quick video of Riot's few runs, couple singles as well as her debut in team.

Happy Birthday to My Girl

2011-10-13T15:08:00.000-06:00

Today marks the 9th Birthday for the best dog in the world, my sweet Banshee girl, who's been my pillar of strength and fun times.

I know the time has gone by too fast, it always does. But I can honestly say that there hasn't been a day in any year that I have not been grateful for this amazing dog.
She's trully been and will be for the rest of her life my soul mate and my partner, that has never failed me, though has kept me always on my toes.
Though I adore all my dogs (and cats) she's the most possessive, as she possesses the biggest chunk of my heart.

With all my LOVE, Happy Birthday Babe!

Getting Inspired

2011-09-20T15:02:00.005-06:00

This video circulated around today and I've watched it now I don't know how many times, taking in not only the atmosphere of the "BIG" Event but the amazing speed and maneuvers of the handlers and dogs on some intricate courses.
It just gives me goose bumps every time I watch it and I almost feel like jumping out of my seat to race to an agility field and to run run run, trying to emulate the enthusiasm, the adrenaline rush, the excitement of conquering a course on a world scale.

Of course deep inside I am wishing it was me somewhere in that video. Every time I made to the USDAA Nationals it was an incredible experience. But some day, yes, some day I have hopes to run with the best of the world. Maybe not tomorrow, next month or next year, but some day ........

ENJOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKZ7FUGDw10

Busy Season

2011-09-14T11:04:00.003-06:00

Where to even begin? Summer has gone by so fast.
Agility season is now in full swing and we are trialing like crazy.

Baby dog turned two last month and she's the most mature pup I have ever seen at that age, physically and mentally (OK, only after Grommit). There is nothing that ever phases her and she takes in anything and everything that's thrown her way with unrivaled enthusiasm. I have yet to stump her ;-)

We now have two USDAA trials with qualifiers for the 2012 Nationals behind us and Riot has already earned her 2 Steeplechase Qs and a Grand Prix Q with a bye for Regionals. Can you say 'Go Beanie Baby'???
Team event coming up in few weeks and this will be her very first 'big girl' event - the TEAM.

Flying meatball

We also did 4 straight days of AKC agility (ugh) over the extended Labor Day weekend and Riot's now in Excellent in both Standard and Jumpers.
Our biggest hurdle right now are dropped bars when she gets antsy, bouncing the table and disregarding my cues from off-course tunnel entrances. Contacts however are holding up and although I'll be tweaking those some more, I am very happy with her performance, especially those sliding teeters
......... even the fly-offs ;-)

Kamikaze move due to poor approach to the DW at full speed, not enough room to straighten out, but she totally stuck it and hit the contact beautifully.

Banshee babe is my best friend as always on and off the course and I am relieved that finally her shoulder/wrist have healed, which has been a huge relief given how many trials I have planned out, afraid she wouldn't hold up. But she seems to be in better shape than ever and definitely less sore than she has been. Though still the upcoming 9th birthday is starting to weigh a little heavier on the old joints and bones. As always extra TLC and lovin' helps her bounce back :-)
We had an awesome weekend in Idaho at the local USDAA trial and she was just on fire.

Grommit found extra energy last weekend in Idaho as well and totally surprised me with his speed and enthusiasm. There was not one course he didn't joyfully "Woof" through and totally smoked Performance Steeplechase coming just about a second behind Banshee, who incidentally did have the fastest time.
My old man's still got it and boy did he enjoy himself, especially the eating, snacking and snoring on the bed part in the hotel room.

Last month was a tough one as quite a few of my friends have said Goodbyes to their old furry partners and friends, many of whom I remember starting agility with, when we were all just beginning it all.
Ever more so, I now hug Grommit and Banshee and Blink and Ri-ri, every day I try to find time to be grateful for being together, even if the whirlwind life shuffles us around from morning to night.
Banshee for sure is my pillar of strength and emotion, my soul mate, and there are no words to describe how much I love her and how much I depend on her.

As the weather is cooling off, we will be going back to our morning and night runs again, which means that my days will be once again very short on available hours. Such is our insane border collie (and ehm, half staffy) life :-)))))

It's Raining Birthdays

2011-08-23T13:46:00.002-06:00

HAPPY 2 BIRTHDAY
to my awesome and sweet beanie baby

Through Thick and Thin

2011-08-15T10:40:00.003-06:00

Happy 5th Birthday to my very special border collie.

The Season Is About To Begin

2011-08-10T16:35:00.001-06:00

So it is, more than half way through the summer already.

It's not even worth catching up really, or this post would drag for miles.

All I can say is that our competition season before the summer break has been just awesome.

Starting with the local 4-Star USDAA event, going onto fantastic Rocky Mountain Regional event, then closing up with a glorious AKC show.

Both girls, Banshee and Riot have been stars. Riot is showing so much promise it is almost scary to think of what's ahead. This baby dog is certainly coming to her own. Her tournament appearance resulted in two Second place placements and her first six Tournament points from just two Steeplechase runs. How is that for a debut at major events?

Banshee and I had a wonderful showing as well at both of those events and she seems to be still holding her own and certainly enjoying the Performance classes at lower jump heights.

The slew of success just culminated in a final day of a 3-day AKC show and the final 20th Double Q needed for a MACH (Master Agility Champion title) combined also as a 6th Q needed for AKC Agility Nationals 2012. Incidentally the same AKC show and the same club have been very lucky for Grommit as well in the years past, where he earned his 1st and 2nd MACH titles.

As for Riot, she's also now in AKC Excellent A Jumpers and started her first quest in Starters Standard, very succesfully as well, so far.

We shall see how it all unfolds, as her running dog walk is still a big headache of mine and we have been tweaking it and working at it, all the while me pulling my graying hair.

So the 2012 USDAA qualifying season is about to begin with our first of the fall season trial in Laramie, WY. It is one of my favorite trials and sites which I don't think I have missed in the last 5 years. So we are starting with a bang and Riot is entered in ALL of the classes, from Starters Std and Pairs, (first show) to Advanced Jumpers, Snooker and Gamblers, to Steeplechase and YES, Grand Prix!

We have about three shows planned out, unfortunately all out of town. But those are shows I really enjoy attending, they are well organized and at pretty nice venues, all things considered. We even have a team lined up for her, with two seasoned dogs and handlers who swear they don't care about baby's antics and who are totally willing to take a chance and support us. We shall see if they still talk to us after that weekend ;-)

Though I am keeping positive and believe in her that she can hold her own as well.

Banshee is going back to Championship for the next few months, or at least until AKC Nationals in April, to stay in shape at the jump height. I am hoping she will not break down any time soon. Even if she will be celebrating her 9th Birthday in October.

Where has the time gone?

Speaking of aging, old man Grommit is coming with us to the next couple USDAA trials running in just a few select classes, hoping that he still enjoys himself.

Last but not least, Blink has been shaping up nicely with lots of added swimming activities this summer and is getting ready to hopefully help break another team club record in the upcoming flyball tourney in October. His team set a new record in June, by shaving yet another .2 of a second from their previous best. We have all been training very hard and hope we can burn up the mats one more time.

Here's how we spend our weekends

And this is how we spend afternoons during the hot weekday evenings

Banshee is quite fond of her pool time

And on a personal note, I am 30lbs lighter and once again have nothing to wear. Losing weight is rather expensive in that department.

Playing Catch-up

2011-05-10T12:22:00.008-06:00

It's almost end of May and we are still cold and wet. It's been raining like it's Seattle. We maybe get one or two dry days in a week, the rest it just rains, pours, drizzles ..... oh and sometimes snows too. UGH. We are in serious down right foul mood.

Managed to attend a few agility shows. USDAA was at the end April during the three perfectly dry days. What luck.

Grommit's still got it

Riot rocked her very first USDAA show, scoring a Q in Steeplechase. This was also her first outdoor show and of course it was all new. But, she was on it.

She takes her job very seriously

Solid as a rock. This was our Steeplechase run, round 1

She simply smoked it; efficient where needed, extended and like a speeding bullet where she could. I couldn't believe it and was on cloud 9. She even posted faster time than Banshee!!!

We followed that awesome weekend with couple days of AKC agility where we tried some more contacts (HAH!) and jumpers.

She knocked one bar in each of the jumpers runs, so no Qs, but again her times were phenomenal. I have to actually calculate yards/sec to have some frame of reference, since, quite frankly there are no dogs in her jump height that even come close. So it's hard to gauge. Most dogs (with the exception of, ... oh ... 3-4) in Novice/Open are pretty sluggish and a lot have been there forever too without ever advancing, or so it seems.

She wasn't very impressed with the chute

Next we followed with another USDAA trial in Boise, ID with a very small trial and all three, Grommit, Banshee and Riot rocked it.
Grommit steady as always, I entered him only in two runs per day, he's ten afterall, but he loved every one of them and he was woofing all the way through all the courses. Banshee and he took 1st and 2nd in Perf, Steeplechase finals earning some small cash and a vanilla shake afterwards :-)

Banshee styling as always

Riot also got a second Q in Steeplechase with a wild Round 1, then a spectacularly cute off course into a tunnel in Round 2, which I could do nothing about, but watch her bounce from one tunnel to the off course one in a split second. This girl leaves no room for error, she means business every split second on the course! I love it, she keeps me on my toes.

Similarly this last weekend at a one day AKC show we entered, I bobbled sending her to a jump and had to step into the pocket to push out, which caught me flat footed and consequently had absolutely no time to get out of there for the following straight line of jumps (ugh, those open straight courses ...) and she ended up reading my being behind as deceleration and naturally curled into me, taking an off course jump. Again, split second decision. This girl takes no shit from anyone :-) SHE GOES!

I love it. We will eventually grow into a solid team at full speed. She and I have a lot of learning and understanding of each other to do. What a trip!!!!
I would take a speeding bullet on a course any day, even if it means those unplanned 'technical difficulties' than a dog that you could jog through a course with and maybe have a sip of coffee while you wait for it to come around ;-) He he he, almost like my ol' man Grommie. Although he still demands running. No walking involved.

Timing, timing, timing is what I need to get. Oh and RUNNING !!!!!
Guess it's not just the dog that should be agile in this sport ;-)

Which is why I am still continuing on this steady, slow but determined weight loss. Hopefully my knees will thank me too.
Now if only the weather would cooperate so that we all could start some conditioning, because trying to do sprints on wet grass screams twisted ankles and bashed knees.
And of course, I always worry dogs will pull something and get all gimpy again.

We're all itching to get out and looking out the window right now, today evening is not going to be the day either. Guess it's going to be tricks night again.

Again awesome photos courtesy of Carol Clawson as well as Randy Gaines.
Thank you, they are priceless.

Tire is not a Tunnel and it is NOT a Teeter ....

2011-05-04T14:04:00.007-06:00

aaaah, yes, but it is a round flashy thing to go through .....

It's all in the 'T's. Yeah well.
Couple weekends ago, we had our first of the year local USDAA trial. Fun as always, very pleasant judge and really cool courses.
But I swear, the winter of not trialing much must have done something to competitors as most came out of that winter lull complaining, bitching about/at this or that, in foul moods to begin with and just clearly dissatisfied with their lives. So why even bother spending the weekend with the dogs if all they can do is pick out all the negatives, some totally out of their control, but most of their own doing, or more like lack of. UGH. As a course builder I had the advantage of staying out of most the negativity and putting down of the dog or the handler, or sky, or the grass or I guess life in general. But even in the ring, couldn't escape raised voices, choice words, or whining. Really ....

It all started with day 1 and the break away tire that was used for the first time. Oh my ......
It all of a sudden became a subject of so much controversy and discussions that by the end of the day, the tire has morphed into some unimaginable obstacle never seen by the dogs or handlers.
Up until it became a faultable obstacle, the tire has been totally taken for granted. It became obvious how many do not teach the execution of the tire and assume it is just a donut with a big hole, much like a tunnel is, that the dog is just expected to go through .... well hmmmm.
When it started to show that many dogs tend to drop their rear on top of it and have gotten used to dragging themselves through it and earning a fault as a result of the tire breaking away, the tire was deemed a totally different obstacle and that it just wasn't a tire. Really???

So of course the beast did not make an appearance again on day 2 or 3 of the trial. Although we all witnessed a pretty spectacular crash into the regular tire the next day, with the dog doing a somersault as it catapulted through. And that was the first obstacle, so clearly this had to have been a reckless execution, as the dog did not have any speed, handling confusion or bad approach. The handler did admit she would have rather taken a 5pt fault hit than to put the dog through that experience.
It also interesting to see how quite a few people changed their handling while the breakaway tire was in place to facilitate a good, clean approach and thus have the dog sail through it. Hmmmm, makes you wonder how it is taken for granted.

Then of course there is the teeter ... well to me that weekend it became a tunnel. Twice I had called it a tunnel while sending Banshee up on it. Good dog that she is, she ignored my mumbo jumbo perfectly and executed the teeter with a beautiful slide into two on two off.
Gotta love those perfectly trained, independently thinking agility dogs.
Next weekend I am just giving her the maps to read and study and I will just go tag along on the course.

I on the other hand had a fantastic weekend and the girls did amazingly well. Banshee got her first set of Performance Steeplechase and Grand Prix Q's for the Regionals and Nationals (should I decide to venture out on a long trip this year).
Riot ran like a champ, winning first round of Steeplechase. She even beat Banshee in time. How's that for an awesome USDAA debut for a 20-month old???
I was so proud of her.
But alas, yes, the contacts still need lots of work and mileage to be just right. I felt some were just too close for comfort, even though she got them, I did not like this borderline execution. We'll just keep on running and running, till she gets it just right ..... :-)
So still limited amount of trial runs for her when it is work in progress.

Aaaaah, so the weather is going to be quite nice this weekend. Which is a good thing since there is a four day huge AKC show in town. Lots of shopping to be done there :-)
Banshee, Riot and I are only doing two days of it, one because I still have this 'work' thing and two, Sunday is Church, as in Church of Flyball and we wouldn't miss it for anything, or at least Blink wouldn't forgive me.

You better not be talking about not going to flyball

No, trying to not skip any practices so we can get better and ready for our next flyball tourney in June. Blink is all excited about his new UTB green digs, a brand new and TOTALLY GREEN crate.

Well, looking forward to some 70 degree temps this weekend, and although very tempted, the shorts will stay in the closet for at least few more weeks. I am not feeling that brave, just yet.

And I leave you all with an agility montage of Riot's USDAA weekend

NOTE: that awesome shot of Riot in the tunnel was captured by the talented eye of Mia Larson, thank you so much.

-20

2011-04-05T10:22:00.005-06:00

No, that's not the temperature outside, although even after a few spring teasers, winter is still pretty much well settled in here and just does not want to let go.
Last weekend we had one day in the 60's

Happy bunch, excited to be romping outside

and the next a nice snow storm and temps dropping into the 40s.

Back to reality, winter has not left

But speaking of numbers .... minus 20 is the number of pounds I have lost so far this year. I have to say that this has been done totally without dieting or exercising since I love food and have been sick all winter long so haven't been getting out much nor have I been able to exert myself. No this is not a magic pill or formula. I just started watching my food portions as well as fat/sugar/sodium intake per day without eating crappy substitutes or tasteless foods and thus making living worthless. Being sick has pretty much been hell the last three months. Eating with a clear conscience has been easier than I thought. Once my body went through withdrawals when I cut down to a bare minimum the sugar intake in the afternoons or evenings and virtually stopped stuffing my face with processed foods. The difference has been amazing. An average one pound a week loss has been painless, yet now quite rewarding. I am shooting for another ten pounds and then hopefully be able to maintain the weight, now that I have established a much healthier eating pattern.

In other news, pups are doing great, but have gotten a little chubby so they went on a diet, at least until we can get out regularly again.

And Now For Some Serious Training

2011-02-24T14:36:00.004-07:00

After this of course :-)
Two test trials this winter to see where we're at. I have to say, love the progress.
Now gearing up for two months of training to top off with a full day of agility workshop with Stacy to fix it, fine tune it and challenge it.

In the meantime, enjoy:

As for me 10 lbs down, 15 more to go, lots of sprinting in the program for the next two months as well. Gotta be ready for this little monkey :-)

18 and Finally Legal

2011-02-23T09:33:00.008-07:00

HAH! Today is March 23 and beanie baby aka Riot is turning a legal age: 18 months.
It is the earliest that USDAA (and most other venues) dogs can start competing in trials.
AKC allows them to start at only 15 months and although in my opinion that seems a bit early, I am beyond belief how fast this little border staffy matured and how agility has totally clicked for her. By last weekend she has already two AKC trials under her little feet and flawless runs. She's now one Open leg away from moving up to the Excellent level and running with the 'big dogs', like her sister Banshee.
Why am I so anxious to be in Excellent?
While novice courses have indeed gotten significantly more difficult over the years, they are still an open race track, requiring very minimal handling; and AKC's 6 weave poles are a totally ridiculous notion of fooling a competitor into believing that their dog can weave.
In my opinion, if you have to guide your dog by the nose through five openings between six sticks, your dog has no clue how to weave. Take the time and teach independent obstacle performance, just as you would expect a dog to go through a tunnel by itself without the handler having to crawl into the other end to pull the dog through.
Riot and I have spent a lot of time learning our respective positions between jumps. While I expect her to understand (which I taught) how to jump, turn, collect and accelerate, it is up to me to indicate all that to her while on the course.
This team work really shows on courses that require a lot more mutual communication, i.e. at higher levels.
I feel we have that connection, I feel that while we are still learning each other, we are doing it together; not me trying to adjust to her, not Riot trying to figure out what the hell I want.
Although we both need to learn more skills together, the basic skills we already have certainly allow us to work as a team to conquer a course. The fine tuning is part of the fun.

Several people asked me why we didn't do any Standard runs.
The agility skills Riot currently has, do not allow us to enter any Standard courses.
While I dabbled in FAST (where you can make up your own course really) to test her teeter and running dog walk skills, I have not yet seen the satisfying performance on either of the obstacles.
Not to mention the A-frame, which will be a beast of its own to perfect.
Other obstacles that Riot still needs to train on (even though she can complete them) are chute, tire and the broad jump. I feel more training on those is necessary to have a safe, confident and fast performance at trials.

Not to be outdone, Banshee laid down quite the performance this last AKC trial. A couple mis-communications kept us from getting more than 1 Double Q this weekend, however I have to say that this girl still got it in her.
I am almost seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as we are 3/4 of the way to the MACH. Now if I keep on entering AKC trials this year, it might happen this summer. It also means we are now half way to qualifying for the AKC Nationals and if the rumors are true, they are moving west next year and if the real underground rumors are true, they might be in Reno. What a treat that would be for Banshee to finish her AKC career with her running in a National event.

This last trial hosted by the Group IV Terrier club in Farmington was truly a girls weekend out. I had only brought Banshee and Riot and the three of us spent a very fulfilling three days together, despite the snow and rain and mud.

Winter trials are such a tease. I want to get out and train and all we get is more snow, just when you think we are done with it and there is a glimmer of hope that I could actually pull out my agility equipment again.

Riot Runs with the Big Dogs

2011-02-14T10:24:00.003-07:00

Riot's ASCA debut, Elite Jumpers run. Yes, she CAN handle it!!!!

WW - just because ...

2011-02-09T13:35:00.003-07:00

she's so dang cute

Photos credit Gaines Photography

The End and the Beginning

2011-02-02T11:40:00.010-07:00

It was a bitter sweet this last weekend of January.
We had our first agility trial of the year.
Grommit retired from AKC agility with a spectacular 60th Double Q and a final AKC title of MACH 3. My first dog, my first agility and flyball dog is turning ten years old in a few months. I have decided that while he's still a great jumper, I will not be competing with him at full height, 22 or 20 inches.
Last December he earned that last elusive Pairs leg and a final Championship title of ADCH-Silver. From now on, he gets to jump only 16inches with a lowered A-frame.
After last fall AKC trial, he was one DQ short of a MACH 3, and I promised him, no more after this trial. He knew it, he smoked the courses on the first day, placing 3rd in Standard in the 20inch class, right after Banshee and Lexie. Not bad for an ol'man.
The rest of the weekend was his, lounging at home with chewies. He did not seem to miss us at all.

Meanwhile, the girls and I continued on with the weekend in Farmington and some awesome runs.
Riot made her agility debut on Friday with a shaky FAST run. We were both lacking confidence on the course and probably in each other. It's been over 6 years since I had a novice dog and I am sure my nerves and a near panic attack rubbed off on her.

The second run though was something different. We got it together and connected.
It was a clean Jumpers with Weaves run and a well deserved Q.
The next day we did it again and even faster. The serpentines, the 180 on the jumps, backcross into the weaves, front and rear crosses, all flowed so smooth.
I was beyond belief how well we were putting it together.

Sunday was even more awesome. Even though she knocked a bar toward the end, the run itself was the fastest one, of the class and for her.

As I will be adjusting to running a small dog, with shorter stride, we will be experimenting for a while. I am however thrilled as to how well we both ended the weekend and I am looking forward to a great journey with this baby dog.
Here's the video montage of her runs, from day 1 to day 3.

Of course in all that, as my first dog retires and my third dog gets her paws 'dirty' on the agility course, Banshee holds her own. She and I perform like a well oiled machine all weekend, going for 5 of 6 clean runs. That one NQ was Banshee brain fart moment when she decided Touch-Stay on the Aframe cue from me was over rated and she much preferred leaping off.
The next day, she didn't get to run the contacts at all and had to hold 2on2off on both the DW and Aframe. Too bad, so sad :-)

Winter and the cold is still well settled in, so the winter blues continue. It's hard to train when the temps dip to single digits and it doesn't even get above freezing during the day.
Would like to emerge out of my hibernation status pretty soon though. I've got so much to do, so much to train, so much fun just waiting around the corner .....
:-)

Photo credits go to Randy Gaines Photography.

Grommit Stands by It

2011-01-17T14:26:00.004-07:00

Recently our flyball club has gained yet another new and valuable sponsor: Morinda Care, maker of Tahitian Noni supplements for dogs. We have tested their product for a while before we decided to embark on a partnership.

Most noticeable differences started showing up in our senior dogs and Grommit was no exception.

3 months shy of 10 years of age, he will not pass up on a good game of frisbee

You can read our testimonial here.

Yes, I am very pleased with the supplements. They certainly are not meds, yes, they are only supplements and benefits vary from dog to dog, just like with any other supplement.
But in my pack, Grommit sure is the one who scored the most.

Oh yeah, he's still got it, the sparkle in his eye and the bouncing step

By the way, my flyball club sells the canine product line directly if anyone is interested.
All you have to do is contact me :-))))

1/1/11

2011-01-02T10:16:00.002-07:00

Sun came out on January 1st, 2011 and the dogs were itching to get out, so we headed to the mountains. This is Jeremy Ranch. Usually, this is a dirt road that links two counties, each of which is accessible through two separate canyons. In the winter, the road is plowed in one county, then the state maintenance ends and the only way to continue on is on foot.

Park City got almost two feet of snow during the last snow storm

and the frigid temps kept it nice and powdery.

Yes, it was way over Riot's head

Chilly frosted trio

Found It

2010-12-31T09:39:00.003-07:00

Yes, we found snow and didn't even have to look far.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

In Search of Snow

2010-12-27T13:33:00.004-07:00

Apparently it snowed in the mountains, but all we got was slush and rain.
Backyard turned into a mud pit and dogs are going stir-crazy.
What better day than Christmas day to head out in search of some white stuff.

Rail Trail at Silver Fork, all we had was a narrow padded path.

The snow turned to ice, it was hard, crusty and sharp.

It wasn't a cold day at all, but the iced over snow was not melting

Never miss a photo op

Didn't Quite Make It to Tuesday

2010-12-20T17:34:00.003-07:00

Nothing more horrifying than waking up to a seizuring dog right by your head.
I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.
Blink didn't make it to his usual Tuesday (which would have made a whopping clear 3 weeks) and at 1:45am went into his normal Grand Mal seizure, however short.
After about half hour and a scoop of vanilla ice cream he was up and walking and STARVING. Few snacks later I got him all washed up and back to bed we went.

The rest of the nights he spent dreaming and me half asleep listening to every stirring noise he made.
I just hope this is not a new pattern.

A WOW Week

2010-12-06T11:56:00.010-07:00

This past week had been a bit of a roller coaster.
First bottoming down with Blink's repeat seizure on Tuesday and then steadily climbing back up to a super high this weekend.

First off, on Wednesday an awesome (as usual) agility workshop with Stacy Peardot-Goudy.
Man can she be creative, whipped our butts into shape for sure. Really cool and challenging sequences and learned yet another little trick didn't know I could do. Banshee didn't even blink.
Later on had a fabulous private with Stacy where I worked Riot. That girl is the bomb, but needs to get out more. She did all the masters sequences, I taught her the new trick and then VOILA, we did the whole course, 21 some obstacles, tight wraps, sends to back of the jumps, boxes, forward sends to a wrap, front crosses galore, pull throughs and that girl did it flawlessly first time through.
I was in shock when we reached the last jump. SWEET!!!!!!!
It is quite an adjustment running a much smaller dog I have to say. Very much so that Stacy had to hold me back few times as I tended to rush things, also forgetting I was running after all a very, very green dog. But Riot reads those front crosses beautifully and sends to a jump like a pro.

After all that, then it was time to get ready for a full weekend of agility as we were hosting a USDAA trial, the very last trial of the year.
It was a brilliant weekend for Grommit, Banshee and myself.
It started off by me getting Banshee's Lifetime Achievement Award, a bronze plaque, that Stacy had picked up for me at the USDAA Nationals where they were awarded, since we didn't go this year.

Then it was off to a winning streak, Grommit and Banshee both won the Steeplechase in their class, followed by fantastic Std and Gamblers runs and to finish off the day with the last needed Pairs leg for Grommit's final Championship title:

Agility Dog Champion Silver (ADCH-Silver)

with great help from our dear friends Lexie and Andrea who stood by us throughout this endeavor.

ADCH-Silver MACH2 Grommit TM-Gold

The next day was marked by even more awesome runs, more Std, Snooker SQs for Grommit and Banshee as well as a coveted Grand Prix win for Banshee and a bye to the Regionals.

Both dogs were just on fire all weekend, it was that special time when we were all ON top of our game. That feeling of togetherness and gelling sure gives me a high. I think the dogs know that too.
We were great teams.

Of course now I just want to get out and train some more. Every trial and every run teaches me something new. There are still so many more skills I'd like to perfect.
A new opportunity for training in the winter has opened up.
We'll be joining an afternoon group at the Legacy Center that has opened up a day to the dogs. It will be all an agility day.
I am looking forward to getting Riot out into new surroundings, different atmosphere and on different equipment. What a great experience that will be.

This week Riot baby started a Canine Good Citizen class. It's a lot different training environment than what she's used to, so I think it will be very beneficial to both of us. The first class went great and I am looking forward to the next.

Houston, .... We Have a Pattern ...

2010-11-30T10:05:00.005-07:00

Yes, I believe there is some kind of pattern.
When we play, which is usually on the weekend, after a day's rest, the next day, Blink has a seizure.
It's always (with one or two exceptions) on Tuesdays.

Thanksgiving weekend we played in the snow after we had two wonderful snow storms bring us few inches or beautiful white sparkly powder. We all headed out to our golf course and the dogs just ran and played.
I guess two trips in three days was too much for Blinkie.

Question is now, do I lock him up in a bubble?
He's already forbidden to play around the house. We hardly ever play fetch when we go out. He usually just runs around with a toy in his mouth, which I will occasionally throw, but never over and over. Blink just gets too frenzied as the game progresses and his brain shorts.
Wish I could just re-wire him.

Poor little dude. Life just sucks when you are a border collie with misfiring brain.

It's a Plane ..... It's a Flying Squirrel ..... Oh Wait

2010-11-29T14:13:00.003-07:00

It's RIOT!!!!

WW - JUMP

2010-11-24T12:10:00.003-07:00

Fresh White Stuff

2010-11-22T12:19:00.007-07:00

Yes winter has arrived. From 60 deg temps one day we dove right into the thirties. Brrrrrrr.
This weekend the first real snow storm dumped anywhere from five inches to several feet of snow. We got about half a foot or so. It all came down over night so the dogs were very surprised in the morning getting out to pee.
Later on in the day I let them out to run. Of course they all loved it, even though the wind was kinda fierce out in the open and rather blustery. Shivering or not, they ran like maniacs.

Weeeeee, run, run, run

Say what now?

Nothing like a good game of frisbee to get them all involved,
even Grommit joined in on the fun

Full speed ahead

One very happy puppy

Notice there was no Banshee. Yeah she stayed home.
We made an impromptu stop at the golf course on the way home from flyball practice, so just the flyball dogs got to run.
.............shhhhhh, don't tell Banshee, she'll be pissed ;-)

Welcome Back to Reality

2010-11-11T11:28:00.004-07:00

Well, about couple hours after I had posted the glorious accolades about Blink's weekend in Las Vegas, he had a seizure.
Really? It wasn't even a Tuesday, it was Wednesday. Did the time change screw up the days of the week too? Ugh.

So much for me being happy about how well he's excelling at all the stuff he does.
Is that some kind of a sign? Should I just put him in a glass box and marvel at how pretty he is?

I don't think Blink would like that at all

What is the deal here, I wish I knew.

Nothing for 14 months and now 2 in 2 weeks. Hope it's not a beginning of another long year like the 2009 was.

Viva Las Vegas and Goodbye Summer

2010-11-10T10:05:00.006-07:00

So last weekend, Nov 4-7, 2010 was the Splash Dogs National Championship held in warm Las Vegas.
I had hotel reservations for over a month, I had registered for the last needed qualifying waves and for the championships just in case. But I really didn't decide to go until about Wednesday night.
Kinda late, I know. I wasn't sure how Blink was going to feel just ten days after a seizure.
But Wednesday came and he seemed to be doing just fine.
So out came the suitcase and bags and I started packing for the 3-day trip.
Banshee - my co-pilot, Blink - the champ and Riot-the must try everything in life and I headed out towards St. George on late Thursday afternoon. After a night there we headed to Las Vegas early Friday morning and arrived at the Pro-Bass Stores and the site around 9am, just in time to set up and check in.
First wave was at 11am and Blink earned his 5th and last qualifying leg for the Pro-division.
I tried one more wave with him at noon and he earned a 4th qualifying leg for the Extreme division. One more and we could be jumping with the Big Guns :-)
Well, unfortunately I noticed shortly after that he started limping and I discovered that he had shredded his rear pads on the parking lot asphalt.
GREAT! Two more days of jumping and he's already handicapped.
Well, nothing that vet wrap can't fix and for the rest of the weekend Blink was sporting awesome green booties on his hind feet and didn't even care.
I think he even liked them ;-)

So I pulled him from the last wave where I was hoping to get the last Extreme Q leg and decided to just stay in the Pro division for which he was already fully qualified.
Saturday he jumped in the semis and qualified 5th for the finals, with the top 12 going through to Sunday, out of 25 pro competitors. It was tough.

His finals jumps were awesome (23'9" and 23'1") which secured him a third place finish and some really cool prizes.

Very fitting ALL green prizes - bag, frisbee and ball
to match his green life vest

All in all, it was a great weekend. Other teams from Utah did awesome as well, it was way fun to see so many personal bests and so many accomplishments. The dogs were on fire.

Here's a small video compilation of Blink's 3 jumps, before the finals.

We headed home Sunday night, slept in St George and drove up home leaving beautiful fall weather behind and being hit head on by winter.
UGH.

On a side note, Riot is a freaking riot and a maniac on the dock. There is no stopping this girl. Once she figured out the jumping off the dock part on Friday, I couldn't keep her off the dock. She's now totally obsessed with dock diving, going from 7 ft jumps to almost 15ft by the end of the weekend.
This girl will be competing in dock diving for sure! Never seen anyone have so much fun doing this. I think she even tops Blink with her enthusiasm on the dock.

Look out all Lap Dogs, here comes Riot in 2011!!!!

I Hate Tuesdays

2010-10-26T23:27:00.003-06:00

It's been over a year. As a matter of fact last time it was mid-August. Today we are Tuesday, October 26, 2010 and Blink had a seizure.
The damn Tuesday again.
It was a small Grand Mal and had it not been for some very subtle signs I would have never discovered that he actually had one.
He seemed 'perfectly normal' for Blink that is, when I got home from work.

First thing I noticed was that he was slightly wet on one side and I could smell some urine on his hair. But since he had just been outside and it's been raining and snowing, I figured he either brushed against a wet bush where the boys had peed or sat in a spot that the boys had just marked. Then though my husband asked if Blink was limping cause he ran funny. At a slow walk we couldn't see anything. Then he pointed out that Blink must really be hungry today, cause he'd been checking out the counters, not something he usually does.
OK, so while giving Blink a hug, I noticed he had some bubbles of saliva around the front of his mouth, but yet again, given that he's been outside, he sometimes drools after the girls had peed, the typical male that he is.

All of a sudden though the red light started flashing in my head; wet, drool, uncoordinated, hungry .....

I asked my husband if he had put Blink in the bedroom at all throughout the day and he said that only in the late afternoon when he went downstairs and to separate him from Riot as the kids tend to get rowdy when not watched.

OK then. Off I went investigating the bedroom.
His bed was clean, so were the other dog beds. I crawled under our bed and found some fresh drool. So I grabbed a flash light and paper towels and crawled back under to clean it up and investigate further. It could have been one of the cats, since they've been known to leave this sort of deposits often.
I padded around the perimeter, sniffed the carpet all around, nothing.
Then went to the other side of the bed (it's a king, so it's wide) and crawled under again. There I found the wet urine spot. So it did happen afterall.
Dang it.

Guess I was celebrating too much and too loud Blink's fantastic flyball weekend and his team's awesome accomplishment to be able to live in peace and stay happy for a long time.
I was even starting to make plans and seriously considering going to the Splash Dogs Nationals in November to Las Vegas and letting him compete.

Way to spoil it all. Rude awakening for sure.
Need to remember to take it day by day, literally. It is what it is.

Right now, I'll be focusing in getting his motor skills back to normal, as his rear is weakened and his awareness of it all messed up, hence us noticing him moving weird or more like tripping over his legs while running.

Of course, extra hugs are in order too, not that he doesn't get those already ;-)

New Record

2010-10-25T13:05:00.003-06:00

What a blast we had this weekend, Oct 24-25 in Hurricane, Utah at the annual Jumps and Jackpots Flyball tourney. Words can't even describe it.
Long in the coming, our team finally set their new club record by almost a second faster run. We knew we had it in us, we just could never put it together. This weekend was it.
And we did it. Blink ran low 4's but helped best with a run of 4.005 sec, with a 4 foot pass.
We have so much room to improve too, which is very exciting.

Enjoy our celebratory video from Hell Razers' awesome weekend.

Click on this LINK.

Eight Years of Banshee in Review

2010-10-13T15:46:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday to my best friend
Banshee

born October 13, 2002

It's called Weeeeeee!!!!!

2010-09-27T12:55:00.004-06:00

Well I don't usually post videos of the training steps because they are pretty much tedious to watch.
But this time I decided to take on Susan's Garrett 2x2 weave pole teaching program. I wanted to see if I follow right down to the letter if I can get Riot to learn 12 poles in 12 days and nailing the entrance.
So far so good I have to say. We are at day 5 and she can nail entrances better than Grommit.
Still not fool proof obviously, but I really like the progress I am seeing and the fact that she's thinking about it.
This morning she did all 6 poles, totally closed and from different angles, no guiding or anything.

Here's a summary of her first five days.

Since her dog walk is awesome and now just needs proofing and more practice basically, I thought it might be time to take on the A-frame.
YIKES. Here's our first pass at it. Notice 3 strides on the first couple tries. Also, keep in mind she's a little dog. OK, this will take some time and some imagination to figure out how not to let her take flying leaps over.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .........................

In the meantime, we've been working on jump grids, also going back to a lot of rear end awareness exercises again, double time!

In other news .... this week we are going for Xrays, I need to know I am not seeing things.
Next week she's getting spayed. I am hoping to be able to progress through the poles so that when she's recovered we'll be able to start working on more tricky parts.

She's a Riot, that's for sure!!!!

Fall and Summer all in One

2010-09-23T16:03:00.000-06:00

Signs of fall are pretty obvious, at least up in the canyons.
Last weekend we went up to the reservoir for what might be our last swimming expedition of the year. The minute we started up the canyon, we were hit with the bright colors of yellows and reds.

The weather was still great, although the light breeze made it just a bit chilly. We couldn't stay long because the dogs started shivering within an hour, even the hairy ones. Riot got cold a lot sooner of course given that she's got no hair, but of course she wouldn't quit playing for anything. I finally had to hide all the toys and put a stop to it when I could hear her teeth chattering from a few feet away. Silly dog.
The water dropped by at least ten feet from the beginning of the season, which actually made for a nice beach, that was relatively rock free, at least large rock-free. The water was shallow and the dogs loved just running in it, which incidentally made for a great workout.

Happiness = being Blink

Baywatch babes and a dude

WW - The Stick Dance

2010-09-22T15:59:00.000-06:00

courtesy of Grommit

Rants and Raves and Playing Catch-Up

2010-09-09T12:27:00.004-06:00

Oh my, where did the summer go?
Seems like only yesterday it was starting to get warm and almost uncomfortably hot. And today, I am digging into my closet in desperate search of a sweater.

We enjoyed the couple months of summer for sure. It was a fairly relaxed one; lots of running around and playing in the baby pool and loosing a few teeth. Yes Blink and Riot's jaws met and the staffy head proved to be way harder than the teeth. All is well though :-)

Blink sporting a 'redesigned' smile

Got to go swimming few times at a local reservoir and Riot definitely took to it like fish to water.

One wet bs

Blink the 'special needs' dork in the life vest

Banshee stylin' as usual

The dork and his frizz

Yes, even Grommit got wet

In June we hosted a Rocky Mountain Regional here in Utah.
It was a rather smallish trial for a Regional. But us, locals, sure didn't mind it. It ran very well and smooth. Banshee and Grommit did an amazing job. Grommit and his PVP partner Rumor won the Performance Team Regional and received a gorgeous plaque. This is Grommit's second year in a row team regional win. Awesome partners make awesome teams. LOL.
Banshee had great runs placing in most team runs and also earning a GP bye.
Sadly, I've decided to skip this year's Cynosport Games. The USDAA Nationals have moved to Louisville, KY. After much deliberation, I looked at my budget, I examined my precarious job situation and decided to be sensible and forgo the almost $1800 expense and 10 days off work.
It sucks, because really this would have been Banshee's last year at Championship level. She's turning 8 in a month and truly I am debating how soon I should be moving her to performance just to extend her agility career and get her ready for the Nationals again.

Grommit too has been on a roll. This dude just keeps going and going and woofing all along the way.
He had an amazing AKC trial this last Labor Day weekend. Basically 3 double Q's in four days. He's now 1 DQ away from a MACH3 title. When that last one is earned, I will retire him for AKC agility and continue to compete with him in USDAA in Performance at lower jump height until he tells me he doesn't want to do it anymore.
In USDAA he's able to compete at highest level but at lower jump height. AKC however, makes the dog start all over at novice level when the jump height is lower. That's the reason why I decided to finish with AKC once the very last DQ is earned. Not only do I believe that it's unfair for an excellent dog with multiple Championship titles have to compete against brand new novice dogs, it's also dumbing it down for him and for me hitting me in the pocket book to make up all the levels to reach the excellent level all over again, where he belongs.

Labor Day Holiday was also the weekend of the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championship, which is as always a treat to watch, and of course Splash Dogs. I managed to get up there to Heber Valley just in time to catch a couple waves and just in time on Monday for the finals as Blink was in the top 5 of the 24 qualifiers for the finals.
The boy was jumping this time!!! This year there were medals for 1st, 2nd, 3rd placements and recognition at the bottom of the hill during the awards ceremony for the sheepdog competition. THAT was amazingly fun.

HAH, notice all the border collies looking at the sheep in the back instead of the photographers. The Splash Dogs Top 3 are at the left side of the photo (including me and Blink!!!)

YES, we did!!!! It's a silver medal

From left to right;

KC and Bravo (3rd), Christy and Salix (1st) and Me with Blink (2nd)

Blink's weekend loot

Blinkers also turned 4 years old in August and has been healthy for almost a year.

Enjoy this little recap of his first 4 years that went by in a Blink of an Eye ;-)

Fall is coming and despite my efforts to keep a low key, seems like again, almost every weekend is filled with one of the 3 Ts; trials, tournaments, training.
A few more USDAA trials are lined up for us as I am trying to get Grommit's last 3 and very elusive Pairs Q's so that he can move to a lower jump height in all the classes finally and of course, finishing his ADCH-Silver!!!!
Banshee's tournament ranking just keeps getting better and she's just a couple tournament Q's away from the Tournament Master Platinum (highest tournament title possible right now). That girl is just one in a million. She's chomping away, hot on Grommit's tail in my pursuit of ADCH-silver for her as well. It's not that far off anymore.

Riot just turned a year old. Where has all the time gone? Seems like the first 7 or so months we were trying to get to really know each other. Then things just took off. She's matured tremendously in the last couple months and I believe she's finally come to the conclusion that I am worth her while. I am finally feeling our bond getting stronger and stronger.

Riot is just such a joy to train. There is nothing that she won't tackle.
Agility training is just going amazingly smooth. OK, maybe we're a bit hung up on the weave poles, but hopefully this too shall pass and it will click for her. Her jumping is improving with every exercise. Her teeter progressing great. Her dog walk, now at full height as of last week, is a thing of beauty if you ask me. LOL. She's sequencing beautifully and we are perfecting the front and rear crosses. I am also determined that by the time she's running at full jump height, she'll understand completely how to dig in and extend over jumps as well as power down and wrap when necessary. I am taking extra extra time to train collection and understanding jumping, period.

I have managed to teach Banshee collection and reading front crosses in the last year and a half and it has been an amazing turn around in our performance. I have to say, the faster the dog the easier the front crosses, ironically ;-). The bummer of it all is that I should have done this when she was 2 years old and not 6, but better late then never I suppose. At least now we get to enjoy running courses together and I enjoy strategizing and pushing both of us to the best of our abilities. Every course to me is a challenge to push myself. I no longer complain that it's 'too tight, too open, too technical', ....blah, blah, blah. I often set up sequences I wanted a 're-do' to see how I could handle them better or just differently. It's been an amazing journey for me, which really in the most part has been thanks to training with Stacy P-G and her amazing coaching.

I am taking my time to teach Riot lots more foundation than I have ever done with Grommit and Banshee. Of course I have also learned so much in all those years.
I cannot wait to see what the future holds for my little Riot monkey.

This was taken at the AKC Labor Day agility trial by my friend Lee and it was a very chilly morning. Thanks Lee for this very cute pic.

Happy Birthday Riot

2010-08-23T06:06:00.000-06:00

Happy very 1st Birthday to

On Target Miss Demeanor
aka RIOT

August 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Blink

2010-08-13T09:23:00.003-06:00

Happy 4th Birthday
to my sweetest, most loving, gorgeous little guy

In a Blink of an Eye aka Blink

born August 13, 2006

Hot and Fast Weekend

2010-06-30T14:46:00.003-06:00

WW - 3.998 the Magic Number

2010-06-30T00:09:00.000-06:00

WW - Happy Birthday Riot

2010-06-23T10:24:00.003-06:00

(10 months)

WW - Shake It Baby

2010-06-09T04:25:00.000-06:00

The Heat is On

2010-06-07T12:02:00.004-06:00

I think summer is finally around the corner.
At least Blink thinks so.

OK, it was pretty darn hot last weekend. But we all loved it.

Blink got to go dock diving with Splash Dogs and the Blink-man is BACK!
Not a single nose diving jump. They were high and gorgeous. He only jumped 23'10" (his PB is 25'6") but it is so nice to have him back to his old form. Yippeee!!!!

I broke out the baby pool and all the dogs got to enjoy splashing in it all day, it was Riot's first chance ever to play with water and well ..... it was a hit!

Randomizing

2010-05-27T15:26:00.005-06:00

Ehhh, spring really hasn't come here yet. I'm still waiting.
We just had two inches of snow couple days ago. It's been raining, no I take it back, pouring every couple days, for the last few weeks.

Today seems like a tease again, 60s, feels great. More rain to come and cooler temps again.
I'm still waiting.

We get to play outside, really???

Backyard is like a mud pit, but the grass is green. Usually it just dies, maybe it will survive longer this year.
I did manage to throw in a few training sessions during the fleeting dry spells.

Yeah, that's what I' talking about

Riot's doing great on foundation. I raised the dogwalk to two cinder blocks now and she didn't even skip a beat.
Her wall work is sketchy, working on getting her to use her rear legs to push off.
Here's one of her somewhat good turns, the rest usually not so good ;-)

Banshee is still on rest, slowly working up the activity. Gotta get ready for the Rocky Mountain Regionals.

Life sucks, all I get to do is rest ...

Agility trial this weekend, it's just grandpa Grommie and I doing it again.

For some reason I seem to be very busy, but just no with the things I'd rather be doing. Oh well. Someday.

WW - Cat in a Box

2010-05-19T02:48:00.000-06:00

WW - Demolition Man

2010-05-05T01:02:00.000-06:00

Kangaroo Boy

2010-04-27T13:40:00.007-06:00

Blink at the Fly'n Aces 'Need for Speed'

U-FLI tourney
in Las Vegas, NV at the LV Motor Speedway,
April 24, 2010

Blink sets his new personal best of 4.05 sec with a two foot pass.

photos courtesy of Nicole Hrustyk

I think the photos sum it all up. He's not having a good time - NOT!

UKI

2010-04-19T13:56:00.004-06:00

UK Agility International has broken ground on the US soil last year.

This last weekend we had a fun match hosted by Wasatch Agility. Our judge was one of our own, in training to be a USDAA agility judge and perfectly qualified for this event.
His courses were great, flowing, requiring some tricky handling and along the UKI type.

I brought Banshee, Grommit and Blink.

Yes, Blink even got to run. Since it was hosted at a place where we train, he was very comfortable with the surroundings and equipment.
He did better than I imagined. He ran Gamblers, did the gamble, but we were overtime, since we had a miscommunication on the course earlier and the buzzer surprised us a bit too early. But I insisted on running the course I made up for him and so we did and he did the gamble beautifully. It was a jump to a teeter to a tunnel. What a good boy.

Then the Standard course he ran perfectly. His contacts were great, he read direction changes spot on. He had a bobble at the weaves, he had too much speed so he ran through them. But since there are no refusals, I called him back and he got them and we finished the course.

By the Snooker time he was frazzled. Then again, Snooker was not the best flowing course for him I could come up with and he got confused and then started second guessing me and just trying to do stuff. He was really trying to do his best.
So we just ran along, finished what we could as if that were the course and got done.

Banshee had blasting runs, great contacts. I am very pleased with her. Her confidence on those has improved. I thought one of her DW contacts was a bit iffy, but others were spot on.
The teeter has improved tremendously as well and we are almost back to her sliding teeter. WooHoo!

All those spectacular photos courtesy of Carol Clawson 1TouchFoto

The day was fabulous, felt like summer. It was so nice to get out.

On Sunday we had flyball practice and we worked on Blink's striding to the box a bit. This boy is very weird and if something changes on him he can't adjust. We have to be very careful how we tweak stuff with him.

Riot did awesome, she did full recalls with a dog in the other lane and raced like a pro.

We're getting ready to leave for Las Vegas for a flyball tournament and it is going to be a blast.
This is going to be one of those where many clubs come together to help each other out and this type of camaraderie is exactly what flyball is all about to me.
There is really no other dog sport like this.

But before we head out, just as pre-icing on the cake for a fabulous weekend, Banshee and I have another day with Stacy P-G and as always it is a total treat and always a new learning/improving experience.

Contact!

2010-04-16T12:55:00.000-06:00

Finally some sunny days on the horizon. Since my newly established routine, I have been more diligent about going out and training according to my little plan I thought of weeks ago while it was still dark in the mornings, wet and cold.
So now that my yard is finally snow free, I pulled out all my agility equipment out of the storage room and set out all the contacts. The dog walk needs to be redone, the wood is rotting, but it is also very old, as I bought it about four years ago and it was already used.
One of the to do things for this summer is to actually change all the wood on it. Last year I did the teeter and built the A-frame. I figure the dog walk in itself shouldn't be any different than the other two combined.

Riot has been doing very well. Every week she matures more and more and does things that amaze me. She's wicked fast and turns on a dime. Yikes. I hope she settles in growing, cause this hovering around 16in and small change is just to nerve racking. Gotta make sure she knows how to stand relaxed, cause this tippy toe shit will end her USDAA career.

And no, for those who will suggest that there is always Performance, I am not thrilled. By the time Riot is ready to enter the competition scene, I will have my two other dogs in Performance as well. In an area where there are barely a dozen of Performance dogs total, three of them would be mine and at the same jump height. Total insanity - not happening.
So for now we just play and wait and hope and measure every day!!!!

Back to the fabulous weather and all. All contacts are out. Banshee's running A-frame training is progressing great. Got some cinder blocks and set up the dog walk at knee high for Riot.
She's taken to booking down the whole length in no time and quite likes running on the wobbly planks. She's such a monkey.

Here's a video of the teeter training progression over the last few weeks and her first session on the dog walk.
I gotta get in shape and fast. That little turkey butt will give me the run for my money.
The plan is to have running dog walk and a-frame of course, but stop on the teeter, well sliding teeter I hope.

All the other puppy steps are going well too. She loves playing on the balance disk, now can stand on her hind legs and balance. Really likes the ladder and I have caught her out there walking back and forth all by herself.
She's definitely very jealous when I work the other dogs so I play that card sometimes too.
Unfortunately screaming in the kennel while in the backyard is not really all that conducive to maintaining friendly relations with the neighbors, so we keep that to an absolute minimum.
Playing Crate Games by Susan Garrett has helped tremendously with her self control and putting her drive in focus.

This weekend we will be playing at the UKI funmatch; new agility venue making its debut in the US. Hopefully it will take off in Utah and that the local folks will embrace the variety and new opportunities and show their support. It sounds like a lot of fun stuff that they offer so I am hoping it is here to stay.
It is going to be in the low 70's and I can't wait to pull my sunblock out.

WW - They Play Like Cats and Dogs - NOT!

2010-04-14T12:49:00.002-06:00

A Killing Routine

2010-04-13T13:48:00.008-06:00

Well OK, either I will die or I will get in shape.
I'm hoping for the latter.

First off, Grommit needs to get out more, but he doesn't need much running, olde' man, he's better off trotting otherwise we're risking him tweaking or pulling something, again.
Second, Riot needs to get out of course as well, but can't be running like a lunatic either, puppy bones still growing after all, and she certainly doesn't need to get amped and go into the chasing/cutting off/t-boning and 'screw-you' mode. So the two are quite the good pair for each other.

Then there is Banshee/Blink pair that needs quite a bit more running and exercising.

So the routine has become a run in the morning and a run at night. YIKES.

The alarm goes off at 5:30am, then I get about ten minutes of snuggle time with the dogs and Bix. After everyone has checked, double checked and triple checked that I am indeed awake, they line up by the door, puppy gate waiting to burst out of the room and run out to potty.
I make coffee, get dressed and Grommit, Riot and I are out the door shortly before six. We make it to the golf course around 6-6:15am.
By 6:30 the sun is starting to light up the mountains. Pretty cool. I am starting to see the dogs too ;-)

After 30-45min of running and trotting, we head back.

Breakfast by 7:30am
Then it's my time for a little bit.
I make it to work by 8:30 to 8:45am. Luckily it's a less than a ten minute drive. I'm lucky.

While I'm at work the dogs nap and rest. I know they do, cause when I get home they're ready to go.
I usually make a point to train Riot and Banshee as soon as I get home. They are bouncing off the walls. Then a little play time with all of them.

Dinner is served between 7 and 7:30pm, depending on how long the training session was.

Then it's Blink and Banshee's time. We head to the golf course to check on the geese, they like to fly in for the night, so there is usually work to do. The bcs get at least an hour of running, solid running, whether it's working the geese or playing fetch.
We roll back home around 9:30. Everyone zonks out.
I get a wee bit time for myself and off to bed we go.
Cause the next day we do it all over again :-)

Of course the dogs should be getting in better shape, especially Grommit, he needs the activity, otherwise, he'd just be vegging on the couch all day.
I'm hoping to loose some winter weight myself by the summer and more throughout, so I guess I'd better stick to this plan for a while.

Why oh why?

2010-04-05T16:20:00.008-06:00

Why did I go to KSL classifieds?
What the hell was I looking for?

Well, I know what I was looking for. I was looking to see if the jackass who bred Blink is still breeding the male that should have had his balls cut off long ago. Thank goodness to a generous person with a big heart who took Blink's mother and placed her in a home where she will never be bred again. But Kit was not the problem. Mack is, and his father and who knows if not the grandfather. People lie to make a buck, people lie instead of fessing up to shit they do.
Yeah, you can tell I am on a rampage here.

Maybe because it was last year this month when Blink's world went spiraling down. Today Blink lives in a frantic little world of his and we walk on egg shells not to rattle the fragile stability we can provide him.

Every time I read "cute border collie pups, great family pets, smartest dog in the world, etc." I just want to puke. Why, oh why do clueless idiots breed?
Leave it to people who know what they're doing and understand what the repercussions might be and will take full responsibility for it. The dogs will not be dumped at the shelters.

Cuteness is not a valid genetic trait and the only reason to put two dogs together.

The proof is in Blink. Cuteness factor - TEN, health factor - big fat ZERO.

LOVE you tons my Blinkie boy, just wish your world wasn't so screwed up.

We have herd ...

2010-04-05T13:46:00.009-06:00

that the weather was going to be OK for the Easter weekend. Well, it wasn't the best to say the least, but Sunday turned out to be dry.

After a mind blowing, mind mining, intense, organizational meeting with Ann on the future of our flyball club (welcome Ann to your new ownership!), Aimee and I and the dogs headed north to Kelley Creek Farm for some R&R, we can call it herding ;-)
Aimee's sheltie Cynic has just started this gig and they are both very excited about it.

For me, I just wanted to get out of town. I really wanted to walk out with my Banshee girl, a bunch of sheep and trek across the hilly field, back and forth, fetching, driving, penning and sliding in the mud!
It's been way too long since Banshee got to work sheep. I think she needs that to keep her mind in check. Last year we got so busy with agility, all the intensive training and getting ready for the USDAA Nationals that I skipped out on herding. In addition Blink's seizures throughout the summer kinda put me in a funk as well and I just couldn't handle to go herding, knowing that all the hopes I had for Blink being my awesome herding and trialing dog are gone forever.

At seven years old now, Banshee will never be able to do a USBCHA trial. She's done all the ASCA and AHBA levels and that's already huge for us. Banshee has no guts really, if a sheep challenges her, she gives. The sheep can sense it for sure and can take advantage of her. Even though she has a heart of gold and tries really hard, the demons of bad clinic past have not been erased. For one, we will never be able to do a shed, she's mortified by the stick. Even a slightest movement on my part sends her flying, she'll never come into me for the split. Oh well.
I know she loves to work sheep so I let her, with her demons and all. Though we're not perfect, we're still awesome.

It was a great time out there, it's such a gorgeous place; the fields, the mountains, the air. We walked through the fields, dogs ran around like lunatics. Riot had a blast. Blink as usual was being his retarded self, frantic and over stimulated, but enjoying life as it presents itself to him nonetheless.

We got home in time for dinner and Banshee was one, content dog.

The Rare Time ...

2010-04-05T10:08:00.002-06:00

... when Bix is NOT sitting on top of me or following me around the house.
Caught him here catching a few zzzzz's on the back of the couch when the sun came out for a short time this weekend

Just Because

2010-04-02T16:13:00.004-06:00

Good dogs never make history .... OK, so not quite the quote, but true nonetheless.
So here's Grommit's moment in history, the blog. Just a cute one year old pup, no expectations, no grand moments, yet.
Little did he know what career was shaping in his future.

Grommit is 1 yr old here and such a scrawny puppy, no hair, no chest, just the smile as usual

Master of Ultimate Frisbee

So tired after playing with those toys ....

WW - 3.5 border collie pack

2010-03-24T09:17:00.000-06:00

WW - Riot in the Arts

2010-03-17T10:14:00.001-06:00

courtesy of photofunia.com

WW - Blink's Got His Gallery

2010-03-05T16:03:00.004-07:00

courtesy of photofunia.com

WW - Cuteness

2010-03-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

WW - SWEET ONES

2010-02-24T01:09:00.001-07:00

Wicked Fast

2010-02-22T10:48:00.005-07:00

Tomorrow is Riot's Sixth Month B-day, so there will be more about that later.
All I'll say is that in the last couple of weeks, she's had a major breakthrough.
She and I are finally starting to interact as a team.
I have been able to reintroduce the clicker and it has made a huge difference in training.

Yesterday we had an awesome flyball practice. This is the second time we've had Riot do side by side recalls with two other dogs running with her, only about 10 feet away. WOW!
She's extremely competitive, you can see her checking out the other lane, waiting for the dog there. Eventually she couldn't help herself but run after River, he's a barky, bouncy and rowdy youngster and soooo hard to resist.
Still, that was after like, second session, after few reps and we did set her up. Until then, she was focused, only eying River as he went by and racing as fast as she could.

Here's a video of our practice, we also had some awesome newbies join us and they all did so well.

Cone of Fame

2010-02-19T11:33:00.005-07:00

I have been developing a velcro dog in the last couple of months.
Riot and I have been working hard at learning how to work and play together and I have been encouraging closeness.

It's time to start 'unleashing' that velcro dog.
So far the only 'send out' we've done, has been a send to a down onto an ottoman inside the living room, simulating a table.
My table is busted and needs a new top, so the ottoman (and the couch sometimes) was the closest thing.

Last night I finally pulled the cone out of the garage and did a quick intro session with Riot and a little refresher with Banshee.
This morning we did a good 20 minutes of playing around the cone.
Lefts were a lot easier after yesterday of course. At the end I introduced right turns.

Here's a quick montage of the session, crappy splicing job, but it was a quicky done during breakfast.

New Toy

2010-02-18T12:51:00.003-07:00

New toy fun.

Banshee and Riot were all over it.

Grommit ran off, Blink couldn't handle the excitement.

I think I overinflated it, it has these indents on the sides, I don't think that's how it should look.
Next toy to buy is the balance dome, but gotta save up some $$ first. It's not cheap.
Then we could sequence the two.

Great Day in Dismal Weather

2010-02-15T16:26:00.004-07:00

Again, what the hell? Woke up to sleet which throughout the day changed to rain. Who predicted that? It was supposed to clear out and warm up. Yeah right!

Despite the urge to stay in the warm bed listening to the water coming down my roof I decided to get up and go to the ASCA trial this morning.
Banshee was thrilled to go, she always is, rain or shine. She was very happy about the rain and wanted to stay out to play. But between the dirt in the arena and the rain outside she was becoming a wet stinky mess. She got to run in it after her runs and she was grinning.

I'm so glad I went to the trial. I entered 2 standard and 1 gamblers classes, all because of the contacts.
Our first standard run, tiny trial, second dog on the line, so not ready.
We line up, I lead out past the second jump, turn back to look at Banshee, raise my arm and .... off she goes. OOOPS and DANG IT, I really wanted to run that course, but with a heavy heart I said 'Thank you' to the judge and walked straight back at Banshee, who by then realized 'Oh shit, I shouldn't have done that' and was lining herself back again. Sorry girl, you had your chance.

The second run she was brilliant and I gave her 'Good Girl' and then a loud and cheerful 'OK' and off we were. Awesome run, fast contacts, no stopping, no million steps, just like I was hoping. It was a course made for running contacts as the next obstacles were in straight lines. Perfect.

Last course was gamblers. Of course she held her startline. Guess just once in a while we need a little reminder.
We did Aframe, tunnel, DW, tunnel, DW, tunnel, Aframe, jump in straight lines and then an awesome 30 foot send to the weave poles at an acute angle. Sweet.
Result: missed first DW contact, no leap just strided right over and second Aframe was a little iffy. But the most important thing I was looking for we got; Banshee was running in full extension over the DW and Aframe. No more million little steps coming down. Woo Hoo.

OK, so it was worth getting out of bed at 5:30am, hanging out in a cold horse arena and getting soaked walking outside in the rain.
All in all, I was hoping for a good day and today was one of them.

Day Two of Oddities

2010-02-14T18:56:00.002-07:00

Well, not as many at least.
Courses were very different today than yesterday. Which I can totally appreciate, at least it shows that the judge was thinking about different challenges and was not stuck on the same patterns. I really dislike when day after day, with a same judge you get the same damn sequences.

Jumpers course was all about rear crosses. I had to force myself to find two places on the course to put in a front cross to just reconnect with the dog. Banshee got two, Grommit only one.
I felt like I was in slow motion and Banshee was almost tip toeing. We just couldn't get the speed going. Both dogs minded their T's (turns) and Q's (cues) and ran nice overall.

Standard course was challenging in a couple of places.
Grommit ran clean and was on fire, even on his dreaded A-frame.

Banshee had a flub and I could have baby sat the sequence, but I was running, running, running. On the middle jump of a sort of a serpentine sequence, even though Banshee jumped already angled as she read the direction correctly, the momentum carried her sideways and without being able to dig in and plant her feet in the ground, she skimmed the corner of the Aframe with her rear, instead of coming in tighter into the tunnel. Off-course.
Everything else was very nice. Her actual Aframe performance was fast but questionable and I will have to review the video in slow motion to see if she did indeed hit it or miss it. Dog walk today OK, but there was no opportunity to run through straight.The table was about 18 feet ahead but we had to make a sharp left, 90 deg turn off the DW. Otherwise high speed front crosses - WOW!

So Double Q for Grommit, nothing for Banshee.

Tomorrow, if Banshee is not too sore, we will head out to the ASCA trial to play some more on the contacts: 2 Std courses and 1 Gamblers. Should give me good opportunities to test few things.
Thank goodness for day-of entries!

Odd

2010-02-13T19:59:00.005-07:00

Well first day of agility and it was pretty odd.
Odd in a sense that Grommit knocked a panel jump and I mean really knocked it with his front legs, I watched the video in slow motion. The jump was straight, off the teeter and he added a baby stutter step, go too close and didn't have enough lift off. Then he wasn't too keen on taking the A-frame. We stopped and we walked off and he was limping.

Odd? Yes very! Grommit has not had a knocked bar in years and these are just 20in jumps too, not the 22in like he always jumps.
I pulled him from Jumpers later that day to rest. Massage at home and some arnica.
We'll see tomorrow.

Banshee had a beautiful Std run even after tumbling and eating dirt out of a chute, the first obstacle, and STILL hit her weaves beautifully. So chute wasn't staked and just as I aligned Banshee I saw that one of the timer eyes was right at the chute's edge. I asked the judge to move it and told her that there were no bags. In retrospect I should have asked to have it bagged, but I just ran. So Banshee took the whole chute with her and then got tangled at the very end. I should have known my destructo dog!
The chute was fixed after our run :-)

Oddly again, she's also ticking bars. I am suspecting the surface really. It is hard, rocky, wavy and uneven, hard to get a good grip.
I'm glad I entered only two days. The third day would have been like running on cement. Cause no one here in Utah believes in prepping the surface after each day. Just too much hassle.
Oh well, there is the $68 I get to keep in my pocket instead of spending it on another day of agility.

Courses are not bad, challenging in their own ways, but still flow OK. Lots of possible of courses, but not so obvious that they're in your face. Kinda got tired of the pinwheels though which seemed to be the theme of the day.
I think it came through in Jumpers when I just decided to skip (OK ... forgot) a pinwheel altogether. DOH!

FAST was a joke, even though both guys got it, the scoring was pathetic. Good thing I don't chase those fancy triple Q's or I would have been a lot more pissed than I was. Grommit got the SEND, but they never circled enough points to add up to a Q, not even the pointed obstacles that made up the SEND part. I have to say that would have been quite a trick to get the Bonus points without taking those obstacles.
HA HA Grommit the super dog!

Banshee had an awesome, flawless run, under course time and skipped one 1-point jump, for 1 point less than the max possible points, yet she was missing over 18 points. Really????

I gave up, no one gives a $#!^ really, if you try to rectify, be ready for being put down for trying your best. Here people just want to get through with minimal effort.

No one likes to challenge themselves.

I do and both Grommit and Banshee LOVE IT!

Soggy Day but a Good Weekend

2010-02-11T11:35:00.008-07:00

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning, quite unexpectedly I must say, because really, it was NOT in the forecast last night. It was coming down pretty good all morning, thick, wet slushy snow. Dogs were happy of course.

Well another weekend of agility is upon us. I wish I had more time and more chances to train some things before attempting to test them at a trial. Unfortunately I only managed one training session between the last AKC trial and this one in which we worked furtively on a running through a DW contact.

It's another AKC trial this weekend. Even though it is another 3-day trial, I've only entered the first two days.
The surface of the horse arena gets very hard after a while and the dirt is even more compact than the last one we were at. So trying to preserve my feet and my dog from hurting for days afterward, we are only running in 5 classes total.
Unfortunately running concurrently (yes some poor planning) is an ASCA agility trial.
I am hoping that if we are not too sore, we will go Monday to run in few of their classes to do some training, depending of course how we do in the AKC runs.

I am really trying to get some speed on the down ramp of the DW with Banshee, but haven't had enough chances to run through full DW with no stopping. ASCA would be perfect for that, especially if Banshee consistently misses contacts at the AKC trial.

This time I am also going to be working hard with Grommit and not slack off like I did couple weeks ago.

On another note, a fun little thing arrived in the mail recently.
It is such a bitter sweet reminder of the success and the sad reality that followed.

Shortly after competing at the ISE in March in 2009 and posting a spectacular jump of 25ft 11in which earned him the above recognition, Blink started having seizures which continued through the summer. Consequently his motor skills took a hit. His jumping deteriorated quickly as his brain couldn't process the right striding on the dock, he would miss the lift off and dive bomb into the pool. Even though his enthusiasm for jumping never diminished, his excitement level would push his brain cells into overdrive and short on occasion.
February is in full swing, but March is just around the corner and spring on its heels. I hope this doesn't bring another wave of seizures which we managed keep at bay since late fall and through the winter.
Guess we will continue to take it day by day.

WW - FLYBAAAAAAALL

2010-02-10T02:57:00.001-07:00

WW - Donut

2010-02-03T10:26:00.002-07:00

I Am NOT Afraid

2010-02-01T14:53:00.004-07:00

My name is Gosia, I have a fast dog and I use front crosses.

Yes I am no longer afraid of front crosses. As a matter of fact I believe they are great, where they are useful of course. I would still use a back cross if that meant better deal for the dog and me.

He he he ... I just had to scream it out loud.

I had another one of those 'AHA' moments this last weekend at the AKC trial. I used both this last weekend and tested both and decided that motion is far better than lack of it. I'm out there to run with the dog, not wait for her. Ha ha ha, not rocket science is it?

I am no longer a slave to 'I can't get there' ... because I HAVE a fast dog and I CAN get there. While she performs her obstacles I can get into position and cue it just fine. No more standing, mini-stepping on the course waiting for the dog to come around the corner so I can 'butt steer' in the other direction all the way praying that the dog will see my butt pointing at her and read that as a cue to come follow it because that's where we're going next. No more bending myself left and right as if gale force winds were converging on the course from every direction.

I can't wait for spring so we can go back to some training, so I can finesse my timing and my cues, so I can gain a better understanding where front and rear crosses would be best used.

I have total confidence in Banshee and I will be there for her :-)

3 for 3? Absolutleeeeee!

2010-02-01T10:15:00.007-07:00

First agility trial of the year and I have to say my old girl and I, although both rusty in the joints, sure had a fabulous weekend and some kick-ass runs. The courses were fantastic, tricky enough but open, flowing and fast. They allowed to push for speed yet strive for tightness as well.

Although still a bit of loose gelling between Banshee and me in some spots, most of the times we were on it. The front crosses, IMO, executed great and Banshee was in tune to them. I did a couple running DW and 1 running AF, the rest I asked for 'Touch' which means stop at 2on 2off, fast releases but I saw her come in low for the touch and shift the weight. Aframes were pretty fast for her and I was very happy with her dog walks. I ran my guts out and was loving it!

Nothing like needing oxygen at the end of the run to know we both just gunned it out there. I also tested her ability to work jumps and could see how she was calculating her own timing without me rushing her.
On the last Jumpers run on Sunday, I did a back cross, so rare for us nowadays (geeeez never thought I'd say that), it only proved that it made us both more laid back and if I were to fight for tightness I would have had to put in a front cross. I think I am starting to understand this stuff .... guess it's about time, isn't it?

Result? 3 Double Q's to get us to a half point.
I only wish we had gotten on this road years ago, so I didn't feel like I shortchanged her through all her younger years when she had to put up with me and my mediocre handling and lack of good solid training. She's my One in a Million for sure.

This photo was taken by Carol Clawson last year in the fall at our last AKC trial.
I like seeing Banshee's eyes so focused on me as she zooms out of that tunnel.

I can't believe Grommit will be turning 9 yrs this April. He had great runs this weekend and his Aframes were best I have seen in a long time. He was weaving like fiend too. We got two DQ's, well would have been three but that last run of the weekend ... I got lazy and cut out of a pinwheel too soon and pulled him off a jump, worse, I wasn't keeping my eye on him. He got confused and came with me.

What a good dog.

He is just so no nonsense, hard working little agility machine, never breaks down unless you stop maintaining it. I am very hopefull to finish his last double Q's this year and retire him from AKC. He'll be perfectly happy just playing USDAA in Performance classes and certainly continue to play flyball. That's plenty for our 'rather be a couch potato' Grommie!

3 for 3? We Shall See

2010-01-28T06:47:00.001-07:00

First agility trial of the year this weekend; three days. Soooooo looking forward to it.
We haven't trialed since beginning of December, our last and so awesome USDAA trial. Haven't trained much either and our last training was a train wreck. Oooooops.

This weekend is an AKC trial. Geeeez haven't been to one since .... oh, Labor Day I believe.

Since USDAA Nationals are in Kentucky this year, which is like a two and a half day road trip each way, I am still on the fence as to going or not going. Both Grommit and Banshee are qualified anyway, they both have GP byes to the Regionals and we have a Rocky Mountain Regional held here in June. Things are kinda lined up without having to chase Q's around.
Both dogs have completed major milestones last year; LAA, ADCh-Bronze, TM-Silver and Gold. We do USDAA for the pure enjoyment of the games and the rest just falls on the silver platter. I kinda like that sort of game. Cutting down on traveling, just going to try and go to the shows we really have enjoyed over the last years.

I'm setting different goals for us this year. I guess I will start entering AKC shows a bit more and finish Grommit's MACH ... (gasp) ... 3 this year. We have so many local trials that we should be able to manage that. Then the dude will retire from AKC agility since I don't want him to keep jumping at 20in and though he's an excellent jumper, he's turning 9 in April and he's a shorty.

Then there is Banshee. I suppose she deserves a chance at a MACH too. Few years ago, before she became the USDAA queen, we'd get ONE DQ a year. I figured at that rate one of us would be dead or bankrupt before we got to the 20th. But last year's consistent training with Stacy Peardot-Goudy has tightened and gelled us together so I am confident Banshee and I got what it takes to get us there.

I will be experimenting with Banshee's contacts this weekend; running vs. stop, and see what I get without loosing a stride.

Onto packing, bathing dogs and sleeping.

WW - Weeeeeave

2010-01-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Five Months in Review

2010-01-20T22:59:00.004-07:00

Saturday Riot will be a five month old puppy. She's at almost 20lbs and getting way too close to 15in. Her body and nose are getting longer, she's almost done teething, finally.

So what do we know by now? A lot and not enough. It's all relative I suppose.

I have been working mostly on focus on me and attention and building up the drive.
From the very beginning I had one thing I wanted her to understand and that is never be in front of me bouncing. I have set a specific goal for myself (which also includes anyone that comes in contact with her) to always, always and always reward with her on the side.
This obsession comes from one of those 'AHA' moments I had at one of our every other month agility training sessions with Stacy Peardot-Goudy. After struggling through a sequence it became clearly apparent that Banshee did not understand parallel path. HUH? Yeah, I didn't either. Well of course since then I had gone to work on that and we have made a major break through.
Since then, I was dead set on having 'my next dog' understand that from the get-go. Little did I realize how incredibly difficult it would be to maintain the discipline to be consistent throughout the whole teaching process.
It is often so tempting to just throw the cookie at the puppy that's so cute right in front of you.
But it is paying off, slowly. I have been finding Riot now more and more at my side. Guess she's figuring out where the cookies come from ;-)

Of course while she was on bed rest for the last three weeks heeling her bruised (but not broken or torn - Hallelujah!) leg, we were playing tricks and as part of rehab during the last days we had started on perch work.
Started off with a phone book and moved to a large round plastic container. It was pretty easy to get her to move around since she was already quite accustomed to be by my side, on either left or right side.
Her heeling and shadow handling understanding is moving ahead well.
Sits, downs, stays are understood, now working on speed, consistency and duration.
Left spins are done, now working on distance and speed. Also started adding the spin to the right, but no verbal on that one yet.

Her nose touches to either hand are awesome.
'Leave It' is almost 75% proof.
The 'Ready, Set, Go' game drives her wild and I started to add 'Line-up' on the left and 'Side' on the right when we play fetch.
Since all my dogs know it, I am teaching her to jump up in my arms, upon invitation ONLY, to encourage more closeness and coming into me.

In the last few days we started on 'Where is Your Toy?', 'Go Get It' and 'Bring'.
The 'where is your toy' game started as we were driving home and she was hanging around on the console between the seats. Then all of a sudden disappeared in the back seat and I thought she was tangled in her harness, but she was looking for her little toy, which she brought to me and set by the arm rest. So we played and I tossed it in the back again and asked 'Where is Your Toy?". Next thing I knew she dove back and found it and brought it forward. So now as we drive home from work we play this silly game every time we are stopped at a red light. Otherwise she's learning to patiently wait, laying down until the next game time.

Her 'Out' is spot on, she lets go fast, for now ;-).... I have a feeling when she really gets into tugging, this might become a bit of a challenge. But I'll deal with it as I see problems arise.

Next on the list is 'Back', which I had started weeks ago but did not follow up as we were working on other things and didn't want to overwhelm her. Also need to get her on the target stick as well.

WHEW!

After reading Susan Garrett's post on 135 things to teach your puppy, I thought it was a ridiculously insane list. But now, looking at it, we sure are getting things done.
I figure if we can conquer 90% of the list, within the first year, I will be quite pleased.

Here's a sample of few things we are working on, when I remembered to set up the camera; perch work, shadow handling, sit stays, leave it

And last but not least, the most difficult task right now is to make her understand that she can't pounce on cats and try to lick them to death, although they do enjoy the ear cleaning... most of the time. She also has to stop tormenting poor Blink whose eagerness to play at moment's notice also turns him into Riot's personal tug toy, which she tries to drag around. NOT fun.

Will Be Making a Brand New Dog

2010-01-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Supervising

2010-01-13T12:36:00.001-07:00

The Two Wise Men

2010-01-07T11:53:00.001-07:00

Grommit and Bix, the two old guys in the house. Blink doesn't count, he's still a child and will always be one.

Millcreek Hike Again

2010-01-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

Last day of my extended time off has finally come to an end. It was nice to just do nothing and relax; no errands to run, nowhere to go. I did take Banshee and Blink one last time up Millcreek Canyon to get another look at the valley and rise above the haze. The snow was melting fast on the south facing slopes and it was warm. I was wearing just a sweater, how is that for January thaw?

The view of the valley was hazy and the inversion setting in covered the Oqquirrhs, couldn't even see across.

Up towards the canyon though, the skies were blue.

These are two very happy and quite tired dogs.

2009 is Gone

2010-01-02T14:06:00.001-07:00

and good riddance......

Even though Banshee and Grommit had an excellent year, it was vastly overshadowed by Blink's seizures that carried through spring, summer and fall. Our routines have changed, making playtimes and training more sporadic and much more rare.

In the fall we said goodbye to our first baby, Masha who was 18 years old and lost it to a year of living with cancer.

Fall time was a bit hectic. New arrivals marked many changes in our household.
Bix joined us fairly early and filled the void that Masha left. The cat realm changed and adopted a new dynamic while everyone had to make adjustments.

Not long after that, Riot joined the border collie pack and definitely added more variety and certainly a bit more instability into the norm.

Riot at four months of age. Finally loosing that JRT look, yey!

The 3.5 border collie pack in December of 2009

Blink has had difficult moments through it all, although we have managed to keep seizures at bay in the last three months of the year, but his mental state and behavior have been visibly rattled. He's had days of fears and worries, clinginess and wanting to be away. All in all, he just needs special attention and love. We love him dearly for that :-)

Blink having a cow, ha ha
(this is a Tuffy Cow, which I am hoping will last a lot longer
than the usual stuffed toys, we shall see... )

Riot trying to tackle the Tuffy Moosesaurus

Happy New Year from Banshee, Riot and Blink

Millcreek - Long Time no Visit

2010-01-02T12:21:00.004-07:00

It's been since early 2007, when Blink was only about six months old that we last went up Millcreek Canyon. I don't really recall why we never went up again. My pass had since expired and I kept thinking to myself how I missed hiking, yet couldn't get myself to actually going again.
After some nice snow fall the last few days and having almost a week off at home, I decided to grab Blink and Banshee and revisit our old favorite trail, the Rattle Snake Gulch and west Pipeline to the valley overlook.
It was so much fun, man did I miss that. Although feeling a bit out of shape as far as hill climbing I wasn't as badly winded as I thought I'd be. We made it up the top flat part in pretty decent time, given the time off I've had. The dogs of course are in great shape and covered about five times as much trail as I have running forth and back, up the trail and back down to me.

First part uphill and all the new smells.

Blink kept getting the zoomies

Banshee couldn't resist making her usual snow angels

First stop with a peak at the Salt Lake Valley

Final overlook point of the whole valley

Maybe I'll consider getting a pass again, which I am hoping might give me more incentive to get up into the mountains to get my moneys worth. I sure miss the nature and it wouldn't bother me if I could lose a few pounds in the process ;-)

Finally SNOW

2010-01-01T22:57:00.003-07:00

OK, well we've had some snow here and there but it was all just piddly amounts. Just after Christmas we got a bit more and it was a blast to take the dogs out running. Banshee and Blink had an absolute blast and a great workout.

Blink waiting his turn

SNOW, what snow?

Throw it already, will you?

Happy boy and his frisbee

LAA for Banshee

2009-12-09T10:46:00.003-07:00

Dec 5, 2009 USDAA Agility
Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA)

Banshee earns her 150th Q.

I Hope She's Got It, Hope She's Got It, I Hope She's Really Got It!

2009-11-30T11:27:00.011-07:00

Starting off with the youngest...

Well Riot is three months old now and she's come a long way from the first week she started her new life here. I feel like we are now somewhat bonding and she's starting to seek me out.
Of course now when I have food and she knows it, she's all over me, 100% attention. That's OK, I just make a point to always have pockets full of goodies when she's not in her xpen alone.
In the mornings now, she knows to check in in the kitchen where she ALWAYS gets a cookie. I think she now recognizes the sound of a baggie with cookies or the cookie jar lid .... he he he.

Thanksgiving Treat

Getting Clean for a Family Dinner

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, when I was at home for four days, we did a lot of stuff. First it was the dinner with family where she got to meet new people, visit a new place and meet two maltese. Then we got to train agility for three days in a row, in different places and flyball on Sunday. Riot did great with all the activities and dogs around her. When it was time to work, she was all on me. YEY!

For those who are not friends on Facebook here's a video of Riot's first flyball practice for your enjoyment.

There are so many things to teach a puppy. We have been working on some heeling and shadow handling; left side and right side and crosses. Nose touches to hand are her favorite so far, but I started to teach her spin to the left. One time she got so excited she tried to grab her tail when she noticed it trailing behind on one of her spins. So funny. I am not putting a lot of behaviors on queue just yet, simply because I don't see her being very responsive to voice. She sits by default, for a cookie, for food, for the door to open, etc. I am insisting on her understanding the 'OK' release though.

So innocent ...

Recalls are getting better and better. One time she was playing with Daniel, the cattle dog, while Cinch, the baby bc puppy was trying to get a quiet moment in the corner of the yard to do some business. Well both Daniel and Riot desperately wanted to play with Cinch. So at one time they both ran up to her clear across the field. I called Riot from almost 100 feet away. She spun around and took few steps in my direction, then the urge to jump on Cinch's head was just too great and she started to head back. I called 'Ah ah, Riot here', she whipped around and raced full speed toward me. I couldn't believe it. That was just awesome given how hard of a call off that was for her and honestly I shouldn't have expected her to be able to perform like that just yet, not with her 'love' for me.

At three months

Although she's a project in the making and has been a challenge that I did not expect at first, she's been the easiest puppy to take care of and has learned house manners beautifully.
Except for the first night, she's slept through the night without a peep, often wanting to sleep in as well ;-)
She's great in the xpen and crates, no fuss no whine, except when she needs to potty. We had one accident on the carpet, ONE, and that was totally my fault. It was right after a bath and I didn't want her to go out in the cold so quickly. Guess, she needed to go real bad after a warm bath. I did catch her in the act and directed her to the back door to which she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. She went again on grass so she really had to go. She now also understands 'go potty' and focuses on the task very nicely :-)

Another ongoing project has been playing on our wooden deck on the front porch every night as she seems to be quite terrified of it and the three steps leading to the front door. Amazingly though, she can scale ten steps to the back door up and down with no hesitation. Hmmm... But, nothing that some chicken or cheese wouldn't fix. We are down to the first resistance of getting on the deck, after that she's quite happy now to run around on it and do some tricks. She has been to pet stores twice and has had an initial fear of entering through the door. But then she warms up to it once we get passed. Same thing happened at my sister's in law place where she had to walk three cement stairs to the front door. She splatted flat on the pathway and wouldn't budge. I had to put her on my lap while sitting on the stairs for her to settle down and stop being afraid. Next will be steps to our rooms downstairs, which right now is closed off, but when I opened the baby gate and invited her to come with me, she took one look down and ran off. Our dogs are generally not allowed to go downstairs, except when invited to play pool, so there is no rush at pushing her to get over that fear just yet.

In Other News

As the temps drop Grommit gets a little stiffer. But he's still up and around, enjoying a good run.
Banshee's hip seems to have stopped bothering her at the moment. Maybe it's because we started going more regularly to the golf course and she's been running more and not laying around. The geese are trying to come back and settle in for the winter. Our golf course running is now intensified and with a purpose. Both Blink and Banshee pretty much know where the geese like to hang out and take off in that direction immediately. It's fun to see how excited they get when the geese finally take off, it's almost as if they know they got the job done and cleaned up the place. Riot comes with us occasionally as well. It's a great practice for long distance recalls. With all this open space she's absolutely fantastic. She practically stopped chasing the dogs now, checking in with me quite often.She now prefers just running around as opposed to getting in their faces. I have tested her recalls in different situations at different distraction levels and rarely do I have to call her name twice. Even now, when the dogs run off in one direction and I turn away and walk in the other, she follows me. That's such an improvement from couple weeks ago. It's almost as if she reached a new maturity level in a weekend.

All the dogs enjoyed lamb or beef bones on Thanksgiving.

The cats are finding warm and cozy places to sleep now that the temperatures have been dropping below freezing. The girls still have spats and hissy fits with Bix, but generally they coexist pretty well. Bix is annoying as usual monopolizing my lap, however he did discover recently a stuffed dog on the back of the couch and has taken a liking to hanging out there, just behind my head. Probably cause he also got tired of being stepped on and crushed by Blink, who pretty much has no space concept and lands on my lap regardless whether it is already occupied or not.

Bix and his new comfy spot

All in all, life is good.

Today, Seven Years Ago

2009-11-25T14:29:00.003-07:00

Everything changed on the day before Thanksgiving, when Banshee stormed into our lives with all the cuteness and exuberance in the world, packed in one tiny puppy

Aaaaah, peaceful rest at last

WW - Let It Snow

2009-11-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

3.5 Border Collies of Insanity

2009-11-20T11:51:00.008-07:00

Thanksgiving Thanks to My Wonderful Pals:

Grommit - You're the Man

Banshee - She's my Babe

Blink - the 'Special Needs' One, what can I say?

Riot - You're gonna Rock the World

The Trip to Cynosport 2009

2009-11-17T11:03:00.009-07:00

That time of the year again has come and gone; our fourth Cynosport USDAA World Agility Competition is now over.
This was probably our best participation yet.

First and foremost Banshee's awesome team with Lexie and Andrea and Ticket with Liz was a total blast and we made it to the final relay on Sunday in 12th position.
Although we bombed big time during the relay, we still had a fantastic time running in the main ring with the baton in hand to the tunes of James Bond soundtrack as per team name 'Shaken, not Stirred'. There were 175 championship teams entered, top 30 of which were running in the final relay run.
Banshee and I ran great in all team events. Unfortunately, where it really could have worked even better for us, would have been in Steeplechase and Grand Prix semi finals, in which we had just one stupid mistake or another that cost us time and qualifying for the finals. It's obvious that at this level of competition it's all or nothing. It seems as though when pressure is on, we just can't pull it together. It's a mental game too and I have not learned the ropes of it yet. Banshee's slow aframe contact and a knocked bar in Steeplechase were just things that just should not be happenning at this point. It just is not something that we should be dealing with on a flowy, fast course. In Grand Prix on Saturday, I just pushed as hard as I could. I almost had Banshee race me. Again, unfortunately, after a straight line there was a left turn to the weaves and with her speed, Banshee slid into the third weave pole, missing the entrance. It's something I did not anticipate, because Banshee has always been very consistent at hitting the poles, wrapping that first pole. If only I could have foreseen it, I should have taken one less step forward, to cause a hesitation and thus assuring her getting in. Oh well, the exhilaration of running and competing at this level is quite thrilling, even though it's all pretty much out of our league.

I spent great deal of time massaging her rear leg muscles, they were tight, I could almost feel as though they would snap. I know her arthritis in her dysplastic hip is starting to bother her. But I am thrilled that in all those runs she only had one bar down.
She kept it together, even when the long days did wear her down.

Grommit as usual ran flawlessly, not a single bobble, just nice clean runs. But again, just not fast enough. He had a awesome Snooker run, placing him 9th in the P16 class. But once contacts came in, his times were not as stellar. He missed the Performance GP cutoff for the finals by about half a second. Which is a lot at this level of competition. Performance Speed Jumping had two Aframes which pretty much had sealed his fate. He was almost four seconds past the cutoff for the finals. Oh well. But because of his clean, flawless runs, he placed 8th as the overall highest pointed dog in the P16 class.
After the first two runs his PVP team was is second place, unfortunately in the third run his partner had a tragic back jump causing an off course and her elimination. That caused the team to drop to 48th spot. They both ran great gamblers course as the last run moving up ever so slightly, just not enough to bounce back.

The best part yet was his Lifetime Achievement Award Plaque that I picked up there and it looks really cool.

Blink spent the whole week bored out of his mind. I did not have time to jump him in Splash Dogs during the day and by the time I was done with the last run, it was getting too chilly to jump. Yes, chilly! The whole week was fabulous as far as temps, the weather was partly cloudy with temps in the 70s, just perfect for agility.
But, no dock jumping this year for Blink. Don't know if I will ever get the guts to put him up on a dock again.

Riot did exceptionally well in all the mayhem of dogs and activities. The first day was a bit overwhelming and she was getting way too wound up. The trip down was tedious for her, lots of hours in the crate, even though she never complained, she was ready to bounce once out of there.

But as the days went on, she was paying more and more attention to me and seemed to be enjoying the usual attention puppies get and strutting her stuff around. She got to see three of her brothers again; Felon, Kai and Decker and she beat up on each and every one of them. Felon's mom and dad had a great camera and we got some puppy pics and family shots taken.
It will be fun to see each other again next year and see how grown up they all got.
I got to see Zing, from the second Scorch/Mav breeding and she's gorgeous. It's not just the looks, it's like Kai's mom Laura said; it's the whole perfect gorgeous package.

On the way home we went hiking around Page, AZ and then up in the mountains of Utah and the first snow. The weather was gorgeous, warm and sunny and the dogs just loved to stretch those legs.

Of course couldn't pass an opportunity for a photo in the snow.

Coexistence for Now - Experiment 1 Earn the LOVE

2009-11-06T10:44:00.010-07:00

Well, so I have never had a puppy that after a week wouldn't be interested in me or show as little interest as Riot is. It's been two weeks now.
Basically, I can be as silly as I want, roll on the ground, tap, clap, cheer, or fall over dead and Riot simply looks at me, then whips around and goes FU bouncing off the other way. Hmmmmmm. She will chase me for a recall, but doesn't come into me if I am just sitting or crouching down.

Last night I did an experiment. I took my Sudoku puzzle and sat down on the ground with her in the xpen. She didn't even acknowledge I was there except when one of her toys rolled under my legs, then I was simply in the way. After a whole Sudoku puzzle, it was Level 1 though :-) , she eventually started to notice me, especially my sweater as a potential tug toy. Eventually, she started crawling on my legs, seeking out my hands. That took over 20 min of me sitting there with making weird noises off and on: whistling, squeaking, pssst-ing, etc, without even as much as a head turn and rarely even an ear twitch. WOW!

So experiment continues, and I am now feeding her dinner and breakfast from my hand, often asking for her to touch my leg with her front paws. Also, I ask her to come in even closer, way to my chest. I will be hanging out with her in the xpen for a while as well, at least until maybe some day she'll start noticing me.

I have considered giving in and putting her in the Ruff Love program. But I feel she's too young and would like her to get a lot of exposure and socialization all around. If I limit her exposure now at this age to just me, I fear that it might backfire later on. So I will hold off for a while. She's a happy puppy and I would like her to grow up as such without putting too much pressure on her at this moment.

Interestingly enough though, she totally understands where breakfast/dinner are served, i.e. xpen, sitting politely waiting for the food. If I let her out, she comes to the kitchen while I prepare meals and sits waiting quietly as well. If I let her play with Blink in the living room, I can also call her and she'll come racing/skidding into the kitchen. She's awesome at pottying, no fuss whatsoever, does her business and runs up the stairs to the back door when done.

She totally gets the nose touch to my hand; either hand, high and low.

But as far as showing unsolicited interest in me, not a chance. So, go figure.

This morning we had an awesome game of tug, I think I even heard a little growl come out!!!
Must be all that tugging she's been playing with Blink, he's such a good teacher, offering the toy and waiting for her to grab onto it. She's gotten so much stronger and more confident at it.

She can get quite wound up and then fur flies, as in Blink's fur, while she tries to latch on to his ruff. That we put an end to at once. Here's a pic of her with some of the BC fur still hanging out of her mouth - the shark.

This morning though, it was just Banshee, Riot and me in the backyard. I was training with Banshee, taking a moment here and there to focus on Riot. If I ask too much, I will loose her. But this way, she was way interested in what Banshee and I were doing, but when I turned my attention to her, she loved tugging on the dead Wubba and retrieving it, even at 20 or so feet away.

All in all, it's a trip with that little bug, she's just adorable with her grunts when she wakes up and her butt wiggles.
Blink is happy to have someone give him some attention, Banshee is used to her, Grommit is still appalled at the little pest and is showing quite a bit of restraint and stoic patience while the little monster tries to climb on his back. I wish he'd just lay into her once so she understands that it's just too much. Banshee sure did, Riot really respects her and it's interesting how much restraint she shows towards her, definitely does not try to hang herself off of Banshee's tail or ruff anymore.

Banshee also found a clever spot away from annoying, in your face puppy antics, just wonder how long this will last before Riot jumps in there herself.
The funny thing is that Banshee even tipped that chair so that she can hide and chew her bullystick peacefully.

She's Just Not That Into Me

2009-11-03T12:32:00.006-07:00

Well, at least not yet and I have hope she will. We are trying to figure each other out.

Miss Demeanor is Miss Independent for sure. So, she gets very little chance to make that choice.
She's such a terrier right now. Cracks me up how she loves to dig in our pile of dirt and likes to run up and down, circling it and bouncing on top of it

In the last couple days, she started shaking her toys now. The wubba is by far the favorite but still quite heavy for that 7 pound body. She sure tries her best.

Every time before feeding we do some operant conditioning. Given that Riot doesn't go bonkers over treats, we train when she's hungry.
Yesterday I started nose touches to my hand. She figured it out quite quickly. This morning she was pouncing at my hand. It's fun to see the wheels turn in her head.

She now understands she needs to sit politely in the kitchen as I prepare everyone's food and she's really good at it. Everytime I look down, there she is, ears straight back, looking at me and smiling, I swear that dog grins when I say 'good girl'.
She also knows that eating happens in her xpen and now races to it, bouncing up and down and twirling. She jumps right in when I open the gate and literally plops down into a sit to get her bowl. It's quite cute.

We play chase and tug games. I want to make her come in to me for a tug. We've been working on it as she can be quite aloof about all that. Also she's getting the 'ready set go' game and now is starting to bring the toy back to me.

So here are her digs.

Twice now though, she managed to open the door of the xpen and walk out. I have yet to figure out how she does that. Last night I was sitting watching TV, Blink on the couch next to me. I hear whine, whine here and there and some rattling of the xpen but don't pay attention as she likes to dig around for a good spot to settle down for a nap all the while talking/whining about it.
Well, next thing I know, is here comes the puppy bouncing in front of me trying to get on my lap. Holy cow, I look back and the door is wide open. Now the door has to be latched in three places before it even closes, so it's not like I left in unlatched. How in the world does she do that?
So we still snuggled on the couch nevertheless, as I took advantage of her wanting to be so lovey.

Of course, since she likes to rearrange things in her xpen, she probably learned how to push the latches up so they pop open. I think I am going to set up a video camera on her next time.

Riot now goes up and down the stairs to the backyard. She knows what 'let's get in the house' means and races up the back stairs and plops in front of the back door. I usually hold her back and say 'ready, set, go' while I open the door. That shoots her full speed into the house as she races down the hallway to the front room. I am happy to report that she now chooses to ignore the cats that might be in her path. Even though she might still look or pause, she still chooses to leave them, without pouncing on top of them like she'd do last week. It might have been the fact that last weekend Jupiter, I think, finally laid into Riot, fed up with her jumping on her head. Needless to say, few yipes later, Riot was quite more respectful of the cats. She still tries to lick them and occasionally runs at them but doesn't pester them any longer.

Well, that's that for the latest Riot news. The days have been gorgeous here lately and we are fully taking advantage of the nice weather, before winter really comes roaring in.

PS. And of course I should have mentioned that we've have had absolutely no accidents in the house or the crate. Riot sleeps through the night and some. Sometimes have to wake her up in the morning and she loves to stretch out in her crate and talk while I rub her belly before actually having to get up and go outside to potty.

9.5 weeks and Growing Fast

2009-10-30T12:56:00.003-06:00

After the snow storm and bleak days, we finally got one nice day this week.
Riot finally felt like staying outside and not feeling miserable. I think it was all the leaves falling which made for a great playground.

Our outdoor wubba doesn't stand a chance against those sharp puppy teeth

Blink is finally happy to have someone to play with.

What a weird perspective

Happy to report that as of Wednesday Riot has been sleeping through the entire night, that's eight solid hours baby!!! She's very happy to wake up in the morning, but not very eager to get out of her warm cozy bed. She always has to stretch and roll around and get some rubbin' before actually stepping out of the crate

WW - Flying Fast

2009-10-28T11:05:00.001-06:00

photo courtesy if TTL Photo

Baby Has Arrived

2009-10-27T11:48:00.008-06:00

Meet On Target's Miss Demeanor aka Riot

Thanks Heidi for capturing 'the moment'

She's nine weeks old, spunky and full of herself ......
and that's about all I am going to share right now

Comfortably Comfortable

2009-10-19T14:18:00.003-06:00

Definitely reached a new comfort level.
Guess when you are a food hound, like Bix is, nothing matters.
Here's Bix on the left, Luper on the right and Georgie below.

Yes, he's quite the mooch for affection.
Bix arrived one week after we said goodbye to Masha. He filled part of the void that Masha left.
He's extremely affectionate and lovey and attention monger. Loud and obnoxious in the morning, cause he's hungry. Demands being pet, see below.
The only difference is that he doesn't like to be held. Every morning Masha demanded to be picked up and snuggled. She'd stand on her hind legs reaching out to me whenever I bent down to talk to her. Bix reaches out too, but only to press his giant head against your hand or arm. We're working on his manly status to change his girlie meows to ones that become him, the man of the cat harem that he is. He he he.

He and Stella have definitely hit a truce. They do not get in each other's face and carefully avoid crossing paths, but no longer avoid the room or area the other one is in. Basically Stella is no longer wigged out and doesn't freak out, which made it easy for Bix to ignore her.
Bix and Jupiter though are still working out some issues. If one hisses, and either one takes equal shares to start it, the other one doesn't back down easily. We end up with hissy fits.
However, yesterday they seem to have reached some equilibrium in the pack.
I don't know what the order was in which they claimed their spots on the couch, but here we have Bix, Jupiter and Grommit

WW - Tabby World

2009-10-14T12:48:00.001-06:00

Feeling Right at Home

2009-10-08T04:59:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been ten days now since Mr. Bixter arrived in SLC and joined our household.
Before I left for Colorado he was still pretty skeptical about Jeff's most sincere attempts at becoming friends. But, since I was gone, he figured eh, WTH, might as well. The two bonded within a day. Now Bix stays out with everyone else. Not sure I am going to leave him alone still when we are gone to work, but will see how it goes this week while Jeff is still at home.

The cats have kinda gotten a settlement down. Luper aka Momma cat, pretty much ignores him. Georgie is still fascinated by him and likes to follow him and watch him. He seems to like her too. Jupiter is still wigged out and gets nervous when he gets too close and looks at her. I think Stella had something to do with that. Stella is now more or less OK when he's out, the two just prefer to stay in different rooms. If one comes in the other one leaves. Fine by me, they seem to be working it out. Nights are still interrupted by spats, but they're working it out and no incidents other than lots of hissing and yowling.

This morning Bix joined us on the bed for the morning wake up routine and was quite thrilled rolling on the bed.

He now found where the actual feeding trough is and I moved his yellow bowl so that he gets used to finding it outside of his room.
Next gotta migrate his litter box to the common area, but will do that in steps.

All in all, he feels right at home, hanging out with us and the dogs watching TV, assisting with making the bed and of course investigating every cabinet the minute the door gets opened ... otherwise he opens them himself.

WW - dead tired

2009-10-07T05:15:00.001-06:00

After a full day of agility:

USDAA weekend recap

2009-10-06T17:28:00.004-06:00

This is the third year in a row, we've gone to Fountain, CO, for a USDAA agility trial hosted by ACAT, a great club, where all the tournament qualifiers are now for next year's Nationals ..... wherever they may be .....

This is our first trial of the 2010 season, but it is the last before the 2009 Nationals in AZ.
We had team classes and Grand Prix and Steeplechase and regular classes, double games all in three days, which made for pretty long days.

Now Banshee, Grommit and I will be training pieces, trying to improve, polish and work out some kinks ... no more trialing.

Grommit had a great weekend as usual, although noticeably slowed down by mid Sunday in Rd 2 of Performance Steeplechase and our last class of the day. Amazing he still got 2nd place.
Racked up tons of Q's, most importantly Team, GP and Steeplechase. He had some awesome runs all weekend long and a hysterical A-frame bobble where he tried to defy gravity by standing sideways on the upside. Gravity got the best of him and he ended up going back down but he sure tried his best to hold on and go back up.

Banshee had great moments too. We weren't quite at the speed of light but had it together and worked as a team. I'm very disappointed in her contacts which have just come to a crawl. She hold her 2on/2off but practically tiptoes to the bottom with million little steps as opposed to just two or three. But she does stop, often without me saying anything. The dog walk is still fine, but the A-frame is a shame and teeter seems to have suffered as well. Not sure what it is anymore. Even at home, at super low, knee high frame she still takes many little steps to the bottom, although they are fast, the overall performance suffers. At the trial, she took many steps to the bottom too, at least this time she wasn't pausing half way down like she used to. So maybe we just need to keep working at it and it will get better. Bummed about her teeter though that I noticed this weekend, not driving to the end as hard as she used to, no more sliding to the edge. Hmmm, not sure if asking her to do 2on/2off caused that, she used to be all 4 on the teeter.

But all in all, she placed in many of her runs, we had a nice Gamblers and Snooker runs. Ran a tricky Jumpers course almost in the dark and we had a flowing run even though the course required lots of side changes, no bars, no bobbles. She even placed in one of the Standard runs, which hardly ever happens because of the slow contacts. She would have also placed 3rd in the second STD, because she was flying, but had a knocked bar. Here's the video of the run.

Came home with Team Q, a GP leg and Steeplechase money, some placements in team classes.

Photos are by Ken Gee, couldn't help myself and had to buy them.

A routine 9 hr trip takes 22 hrs ...

2009-10-06T14:33:00.008-06:00

First weekend of October is usually our first chance at qualifiers for next year's USDAA Nationals. So every year Banshee, Grommit and I head over to Fountain, CO, near Colorado Springs for a three day agility trial.
This year was no different. We headed out early Thursday morning East on I-80. Got to Colorado Springs in 9.5 hours straight.
I was expecting some fall colors on the way, but only found this one spot

but instead it looks like winter has already set in Wyoming.

The weather was just perfect, cool but when the sun was out if was quite warm.

We started to head back home around 3 pm on Sunday. Kristin 'of Doom' and I decided to caravan together. After a quick late lunch/early dinner at Denny's in Denver, we hit the road shortly after 4pm. We knew we'd be arriving home late, we just didn't know how late..........

We hit heavy fog around Fort Colllins and stayed in it all the way to Laramie. We made a quick pit stop, got gas and started back toward Rawlins. We got to our routine stop at the Flying J just past Rawlins. It was pouring rain. We started back again and about half way through to Rock Springs, WY, we hit snow, which turned into a major blizzard, with sideways blowing snow within just a few miles.

After having missed two exits, with roads quickly getting iced over, we passed few vehicles in the ditches already, we finally found an easy, smooth exit ramp and parked ourselves just a bit off the exit. We slept in our cars, watching the freeway traffic just come to a snarl and temps drop to low 20s. We decided to get back on the road around 7am, as the visibility has improved and the snow had stopped, temporarily.
Well, the roads were still a mess we made about 10 miles further and exited again. Another wave of snow was moving through and we had to wait it out.

Started back up again, hoping to make it to Rock Springs. The blizzard intensified and the roads were so slick that even driving at 20 mph was unsafe. We stayed within a caravan of many trucks and vehicles trying to stay on the road. We made it as far as the City of Rocks, gas station and restroom. Waited out the blizzard again. In less than half an hour this is how much snow accumulated while we were inside sipping hot chocolate.

We got on the road again this time made it to Green River where we came to a dead stop.
The freeway was shut down both ways due to multiple accidents within a half mile stretch.
When we got out of our cars, we were sliding all over. The road was completely iced over.
Out of boredom we made a trek down the hill to check out the wreckage. Saw a lot of hits and near hits on the way.

Dogs were lucky. They got to eat brekfast on the freeway and happily marked their spots and the cement barriers.

About a couple hours or so later, the roads were thawing out, snow melting on the side of the freeway. We decided to squeeze through the opening in the median, flip a U turn and head for the nearest exit.

WHEW - we got out!!! We stopped at Arctic Circle in desperate need of a restroom and rewarded ourselves with a root beer float.

Happy to report that the rest of the trip was relatively uneventful and we arrived home at 1:30 pm on Monday, exactly 22 hours after leaving Fountain, CO.

Recap of a very succesfull weekend otherwise will follow in a separate post.

WW - SNOW .... Nooooooo!!!!

2009-09-30T12:43:00.001-06:00

Bix Day 4

2009-09-28T21:42:00.002-06:00

OK, so last night around 1am I suddenly got awaken by 'hiss, hiss, pffft, spat, mreow, meow, hiss hiss.....' Ran out of the bedroom. Cats were running around, down the hallway a bit freaked out. I realized that Bix broke through the barricade and decided to venture out of his room into the rest of the house, where he obviously met up with the rest of the tabby pack. So trying to identify which tabby is which in the dark, I followed the hissing trail to find Jupiter against the wall hissing back at Bix about two feet away. I yelled at the two to knock it off and Bix ran to the bedroom. Conveniently though he jumped up on the desk, so it was easy to find him. I put the escapee back in his room and this time I shut the door, wanting to have a quiet rest of the night.

Well wasn't quite able to go to sleep right there and then, as I had a freaked out border collie, after all the cat commotion, practically sitting on my head. Between using my head as a seat and the rest of my body as his pad as he'd throw himself down on top of me trying to lie down, Blink was a basket case. As everyone finally settled down and Banshee came to snuggle up on the other side of me, Blink finally relaxed and went back to sleep to his place, under the bed. I think Bix must have run under the bed first before he jumped up on the desk when he ran into the bedroom and probably woke Blink up from his usual deep sleep and scared the crap out of him.

Whew. Here's the little trouble maker, peeking out.

This evening, after everyone had their dinner, me included. I let Bix out to venture out into the rest of the house. Obviously after last night's trip out, he was already feeling quite at home.

Can you tell which tabby is which?

And it didn't take him long to find the bed and thoroughly enjoy it.

After a while though, got a little too wound up so back in his room he went.
We're going to try that again tomorrow.