The cows needed a scolding

The cows haven't been in the pasture in a while. Today they were out there and Roscoe was just not sure they belonged there. We were all the way on the other side of the sunflower field and he just saw the pile of them all together and I'm not totally sure he knew they were the cows, but he was sure they needed a talking to, whatever they were.
Look at the hair on the back of his neck. LOL!!
I spoke to him and got this expression.......
They got a tongue lashing........... I tried to tell him they actually belong on the farm, they LIVE there and that HE is actually a trespasser, but that didn't stop him from saying bad words to them anyway.

Did you know there are only 24 days left until spring?? We count those days. The dead, brown grass is getting old. The mud is disgusting, the damp, grey landscape is a bore. Time for spring to arrive and some bright colors to return. I am happy we don't have a pile of snow, but the mud and brown grasses are starting to bore us. I actually broke my shedding blade yesterday. It's what I use to scrape the mud and loose hair from the horses. It was probably 30 years old, but living without it for ONE day was NOT nice. I went to the pet store and bought a new one. I'm trying to imagine the size of the dog this one is made for. Definitely like a bernese mountain dog or malamute or saint bernard. Or horse.

Class last night

We are SO lovin' our classes with Kim. It's just the most supportive group and everyone seems to have a great time. This was a fun course and I thought the wrap after the first tunnel would be really demotivating for Spur, but he sure handled it just fine I think! My worry was that he would not know he was turning right and would then back jump it. Nope, he did that just fine, nice blind cross execusion there? Maybe I hesitate just a wee bit?

The last tunnel jump is hard to see how difficult from this angle, but you really had to push the dog to the other side of that jump as they came out of the tunnel. For the big dogs that was REALLY hard. For Spur I pushed, then blinded it and he did fine. He does look at the off course blue jump as I run to the last wing jump, but he stays with me good little man. I just needed to connect a little more.

I LOVE his speed off the start. :D That's really been holding up for us!!! He's very careful with his weave entry and always is. That's a good thing, but some day I hope to see him diving into that entry as that really wasn't that hard an entry. He never misses his entries, his weaves are really rock solid. :D He shortens his last stride on the DW a bit more than necessary, but with all those options available I can see why he would. He is nicely in, regardless. I could have pushed harder to get more speed on his DW and I must remember to do that. I get careful sometimes, quiet and inhibited and he wants lots of info and coaching and "cheerleading". He needs that and the more I talk to him and encourage him the faster he goes.

Fun course!!!

Ewwwwwww

OK, I am going to admit here that I am not a doodle fan. At least, not of the giant variety. The smaller ones are cuter, to a point. Sure, they can be really nice dogs sometimes, but so often they just seem very dumb, big, dirty, not at all visually appealing to me. I know, snob, right? Standard poodles do nothing for me visually, either. I know they are very smart dogs, but visually, nothing, nada, ugly. Sorry doodle/poodle fans!!! And I know some really sweet ones, but visually....ugly.

This morning on our walk we learned we have a new neighbor. A giant, grey, ugly, goofy, doodle. We heard and saw the guy in his car calling for his dog. As we headed back through the woods we could hear the dog barking. GREAT, I envision it standing in the manure pile barking at the horses. I have our three approaching and that just isn't going to go well. My dogs don't "do" doodle. Thank goodness Rich was with me and I handed him a leash and some cookies and I stayed in the woods with our three. He got the goofy thing on a leash and headed off to the house we were pretty sure the dog belonged. Of course, no ID on it's collar. >:/ Guy just moved in, right, no ID. Shit.

Poor Rich, the guy is still out driving around apparently. He returns with the doodle and we are about to tether it and call the police hoping the guy has reported it missing. We aren't TOTALLY sure it belongs at the house we think. Suddenly the guy drives past and we wave and he comes in. Um...........hi there dude, you need some ID on this dog..........I look up and the guy has a HUGE pile of chaw in his mouth. OMG, I seriously felt my stomach turn. We do introductions he explains why no ID......yeah, whatever, there IS no good excuse.........and then proceeds to exclaim how he knows us through Rich's brother. I am SO grossed out I can barely keep talking to the guy and force a smile on my face and try like heck to be neighborly. It's before NINE and the guy can barely talk he has so much shit in his mouth.

And to think I took off my glove to shake his hand because it had his doodles slimey manure drool on it. Not sure someone with a mouthful of ick would really care about manure drool doodle slime? Sorry, that was simply the most disgusting thing so early in the morning and definitely NOT a nice first impression. EWWWWWWWWWWWWW.................GROSS ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! That is DISGUSTING!!!!!!! The only saving grace is at least he didn't have a cigarette hanging from his mouth and so that I would have to breath the second hand smoke or get the smell on MY hands after the handshake. But, still, it just turns my stomach. And I'm sorry nice new neighbor if you are reading this, your mouthful of ick is disgusting. It just is!!! GROSS!!!!!

Working on Spur's Magic Word

I signed up for another on line class with my idol, Sylvia Trkman. Her agility foundations class. Here is one of the pre-class homework assignments.......finding a special word that makes your dog run fast. I use "shhhhhhhhhhhh". It works for tunnels, for chasing birds, for playing chase me at the beach, for going faster in weaves, for any time he runs fast I say "shhhhhhhhhhhh" and it gets him pumped!!! I combine it here with his start line..."Read, READY? GO!"



I used to use it when he and Roscoe did the chase me game, but that's what resulted in the loss of Roscoe's front tooth. :( Now he won't chase Spur any more, can you blame him? Ouch. Can you blame him?

That damn teeter

They added nearly 300lbs of weights to the bottom and it feels different to the dogs. Most have gotten over it, it probably feels good, nice and solid, but for Spur it was "different". And it's going to take him some time to get used to it. We trial here a lot and he knew how it felt before and now it feels different and it has spooked him. But, he ran well and did an awesome turn off the dog walk into that tunnel. I have only trained that like 2-3 times!!! He likes his tunnels!!!

I LOVE how he starts this run. That is really holding up for us!!! :D




However, after this nice run he had a very slow and pokey Jumpers with weaves. 36 seconds! That's VERY slow. He qualified, but he should have done it in about 30 seconds. Was he worried about the teeter? Maybe because about half way he sped up. Did he suddenly realise this was a jumpers run and there would be no teeter? Maybe. Who knows, we have our ups and downs, for sure.

I'm feeling really lucky right now

So, what's my most favorite thing to do, like ever? Walk dogs. I could walk dogs all day. Oh wait, that's what I DO! I am SO lucky. I get paid to walk dogs. Does it get any better than that? OK, maybe if I got paid to walk my own dogs? Imagine that. Who would pay me? Me?

This is one of my paid jobs. Wylie! He's so fun and so cute and so happy. And my legs look SO long. I think photo illusions are strange. Wylie's head is NOT that big and my legs are NOT that long. And my hair is NOT that grey. OK, well, maybe that last one is true, but no my image of my hair. It's definitely still brunette with highlights of blond and red. Really pretty, but not grey.

I get to walk dogs in hoods with funky doorways. Purple and sage green. I love those colors. I love this doorway!

And past lawns with hippo benches. I want this in my yard! It's too heavy to steal. Where does one get such a thing? I have never seen anyone sit on it. I would sit on it if it were in my yard.

And past sheds with little flower containers that look like bicycles. Sweet.

I am a lucky person. I think that little wheel has hearts for spokes. It's all about hearts this week. I like Valentine's week!!! Spread the LOVE!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This one I sent to Silvia. She loves Roscoe!.............