Winter running contact work

I tried some work on the full dog walk, but the snow is deeper out there and very hard to toss the ball. I switched to the frisbee which skims across the top and that worked pretty well except it skimmed into the horse pasture!! It may take some adjustment. I may try raising the practice planks in the dog yard.

Everyone knows I love to read

So, I got a lot of great books for Christmas. The first to be opened?..............

"The Beautiful Jim Key" about a very smart horse! Similar to Clever Hans, except that I had not heard of Kim Key before????? This is a very interesting book. Kim Key was also a proven case for humane animal treatment because he was trained completely with kindness and food rewards. Humane societies supported his act at events and shows. A very cool horse!!! A wonderful book!!

Strange that Jim Key was not more famous!

Your dog's favorite toy this Christmas?

Um, mine would be the TICK!!!! Bwaaaaaaaaa!!!!

They all loved the tick!!! So glad to have such special toys while the weather is SO lovely.......not........
It's just FREAKIN' COLD out there!!! Even furry Spur had to come running in holding up his cold paws yesterday. YIKES!!! I am SO done with the WIND! Yet, unfortunately it is STILL here. But, at least the sun is out, the horses are able to enjoy a sun bath and roll in the snow. I locked them up during the storm. They would much rather be standing at the tree line, covered in snow and ice and shivering, instead of snuggled warm in the barn, but that's just them. Silly girls strong natural instinct over-powers them at times. Don't really get it, but whatevahhhhhhh...............they have their natural instincts. I have mine. Stay warm and snuggled by the wood stove with a good book. That's my over-powering natural instinct.

Testing my new camera!!

OK, so it isn't exactly what I would ultimately like.......a really, really GOOD camera, one that takes super nice guality photos..........but it is new and hopefully won't have function issues like my old one is having AND it is small enough to fit in my pocket!! YEAH!! And it has pretty good video capacity. I did a test. Not sure I am thrilled with the quality, but it has features that my cheap little flip doesn't have, like I can do super slow motion on the play back screen, like even one frame at a time if I want.
And outside it may show better quality, but it is snowing like mad again here this morning, so I am not going out to video anything at the moment.
Here is my test this morning.......



Took about half an hour to load on youtube, but whatevahhhhhh.

I may be too busy to get on here tomorrow!! So.....

Merry Christmas from the Crazy Carlson Canine Crew!!!

Spur, Roscoe and Colby!!

I took like a million photos, again. Too dark, too blurry, too crazy, devil eyes and then the ones that came out great, but while loading them the other dogs got CUT OUT!!! WTF???? Digital issues. It happens more and more. I am hoping I am not wearing out my camera? I mean it isn't the greatest camera. Or did you already know that because I bitch about it all the time?
This photo may have cut out Spur and Colby, but it is wicked cute of Roscoe!! Sometimes he can look SO sweet and innocent. Doesn't he look sweet? Innocent? NO??? Oh, that's just because you KNOW him. If you didn't know him would you not think he was sweet and innocent in that photo???? SO cute, SO sweet.............SO innocent..........yep, that's my Roscoe Rotten Roscoe. Recalcitrant Roscoe. Right On Roscoe!!!!! You sell it, boy. You are sweet as sour apple pie!!!

Technically challenged, that's for sure.

I can NOT seem to get a photo in focus in our DZ. We call our front room the DZ because it is sort of separated from the rest of the house. Like a foyer/room all to itself. Nice because Miss Colby likes to open presents, so if the tree is in a room she has access to we can't put any presents under the tree. Rich's dad named it the Decompression Zone. A room company can arrive and settle before being exposed to the MONSTERS. He has a good point. So, it's the DZ. I think the tree is a little small this year. NICE, but small. Jay Cox trims the trees beautifully. Much better than his dad. We love getting our fresh trees from our neighbors and it's nice that Jay is so particular. He IS particular and it is a lovely tree!!!

Colby has been wearing her bling lately. Lisa gave it to her when she got her MACH. See the MACH bar behind her!! :D She is such a Princess now. Retired, pampered, that little throw she is sitting on is a gift from Lisa this year. She loves it, so soft and perfect for a Princess (damn, I wish she had full ears)..........

Yesterday Rich, big ole softie, was carrying her around showing Renae Colby's bling. OH where was my video???? How many guys would carry their little dog around and show of her bling????

ACK! I am SO behind!

OK, so it's my own damn fault. Decided to work this holiday. Decided to do that AKC trial last weekend. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? Next year, NOT WORKING! Do a trial the weekend before? Maybe! :P

So, I did manage to get most of my Christmas cards out. Except one for my sweet neighbor who helps look out for and care for old Zeus. He's doing GREAT right now. Fat and happy for the winter!!! We are figuring it has to be irritable bowel issues to have recovered so well. If it was cancer he would not be doing so well. I have to take him in for a re-check on his thyroid. NOT looking forward to that. It is a good time of year, though, since he is staying in the barn a LOT with the bad weather. So I should be able to catch him and when I bring him back he may not leave for several days pouting.

Poor Jewel hasn't been ridden in weeks. Poor Jewel??? Hah, she's happy as can be. Really, does a horse ultimately LIKE being ridden? Nah.........they are grazing animals and what makes them most happy is to just be peaceful and graze all day. I know some, and Jewel is one, who do enjoy heading out on a trail ride. It's exciting and something different and interesting. Horses are curious animals, so they do like exploring. But what would they chose? To graze peacefully all day. I am sure of that.

OK, enough........MUST finish my wrapping and housecleaning..........Rich informs me the other day his folks are coming Christmas day for the night. OK, cool. It IS cool, I love his folks, but the bedroom isn't set up right now!!!! ACK!!! I told him he HAD to help me with housecleaning. That's usually my duty, but with all the work I have he has to help out. He will, he's great about that and he has done most of the shopping. He is a good shopper. He did all the shopping for his whole family. GOOD GUY!!!!!

I'm tired. Baby Spur got into Excellent Jumpers this weekend!!

YAY!!! This trial was well run, but what they did would have been GREAT if both dogs were in Excellent. They ran both Excellent classes first, then started Open/Novice after - around 2:30 each day. Spur having only done a few AKC trials so far was still in Open, so he sat around until the afternoon to run.

This was his first time trialing at this location since last winter and I was nervous. It is TIGHT quarters in there and a difficult crate room area and not much room getting to the in gate. As always with little Spur I turn into mush, a nervous Nellie, worried that he will have some sort of melt down and I won't be able to support him properly. We did pretty well, I have to say!!!! :D

His standard run Saturday he was worried. My start line behavior is non-existent at this point still, so he didn't get going that well. But, he wasn't THAT bad. And he got going after a bit and I managed to pull it together. He refused a few things (stress) and I decided to insist. There are times that might not be right, but I felt that he needed to wear his big boy pants and OWN IT, so I insisted. I think it did him good. He had moments of brilliance and we even got some really nice comments. We had many refusals, so certainly didn't qualify, but I was very pleased as he looked pretty proud of himself as we left the ring and that's BIG!

Jumpers I really tried to relax. Breath. I opted to try a start line behavior......I held him around the chest with a "Ready? Ready? READY! GO" release and it seemed to work. I have only ever done that once before and on film it looked pretty good!!! I did it that first time because he was wanting to go say high to the leash runner and ring crew and leave me. I simply held him and MADE him stay with me, then released. On film he left the start line really well. So, I tried it again in Jumpers. It WORKED!!! He was still a little worried, but we did fine and he recovered really nicely and ran clean!

Sunday I decided to try that start both runs. And to really relax as much as possible. The start went well both runs, but I can't say I was too relaxed. Better, but still a bit uptight and weird. He did better!!! No Q in standard, but he did better and again had moments of brilliance! Jumpers was PRETTY!!!! He ran happy, pretty fast and clean!!! It looked nice, except for one late front cross, but the rest was awesome and the crowd really cheered us on and he LOVES that!!!! He did GREAT!!

It was a long weekend having to be there first thing in the morning to run Roscoe (he did fine, not great, but fine for a double Q Sunday and a Jumpers Q Saturday) and then waiting to the end of the day to run Spur in Open. But, it was worth it because at least now he is in Excellent Jumpers!!! Phew!!! Still needs two Open Standard legs, but at least he is now in Jumpers.

Roscoe had a little trouble adjusting to the rubber footing. He slipped first run and that bummed him out. All the running he has done on field turf or dirt has spoiled him. He isn't an athletic dog, so good footing is important to him. More than I thought. He did fine, but not his crazy little dirt running Roscoe. It is a tough place to trial with the crate room SO packed and small, crates stacked on top of crates and barely enough room to get dogs in and out, but they did fine!!!! I now wish I had entered some of the other AKC trials there this winter. Spur simply needs as much time as possible at locations. He always gets more and more comfortable as time goes on and it's a slow process. He needs a LOT of time. But, I am so pleased that he does better and better. And we got a lot of nice comments as we left the ring yesterday after Jumpers. Lots of people who had never seen him before commented on how nice a dog he was and how well he ran. That felt good! AND he was the ONLY mixed breed at this AKC trial. Wahooooooooooo!!!!

Photos for my newsletter!!

I just tried to get all three dogs in front of the tree. Both cameras kept taking blurry shots. We even tried putting it on the tripod!! Damn it!! I just don't get it. TOTALLY frustrated.

I was finally able to get THIS one shot out of like a MILLION!!! It isn't great, but do you think it is newsletter worthy? I am trying to get a photo of my dogs in their Apache River coats. My favorite winter coats for dogs. I am thinking this one is acceptable. He doesn't look miserable, it does show the coat and it isn't TOTALLY out of focus. Thoughts? Is it newsletter worthy?
This one was from a beach walk a couple weeks ago, but the dogs look cold and unhappy. And it's SO dark. I hate my cameras, but buying a new, GOOD one isn't in our budget right now. After all, I did ask for an Ipod, but Rich priced them and at $900, plus $25/month for internet access also isn't in our budget.

So, I am stuck with a crappy camera taking crappy photos. >:/

Huh, and people think I am nuts with my dogs?

Seriously nuts! But, OH so cute!!

Party of ten!

What does ten dogs in the house look like? -



I know some people think it's nuts that I let Recalcitrant Roscoe with all those dogs, but you know what? He's fine. First - he knows these dogs. Second - he's much better about dog/dog aggression. MUCH better!!! He can still be an asshole, but with these dogs the worst he does is try to hump the border collies. That's NOT good and I don't allow it. Normally, I might say let the dogs work it out, but when the humper is 9lbs and the humpie is 35/40lbs I put a stop to it ASAP. The humping attempts stopped once everyone was settled. He simply gets over-stimulated when we have that many dogs around and he just doesn't know what else to do. So, does that mean humping is his default behavior???
Yes, I think it is, but only with this crew. And only with the male border collies. He certainly didn't try to hump Page. She would not allow any slight attempt, I don't think. She is clear - "don't even think about it, shit head!!" and her signals are barely apparent to me, she is that clear. She's such a good girl!! The boys kind of shrink at his presence. BAM! knows he needs to behave, but will curl his lip (which Roscoe doesn't respect, dumb ass!!) and Kelso TOTALLY shrinks and it COMPLETELY grossed out by the humping prospect. I tell the boys how good they are and stop Roscoe immediately. Luckily, the idea left his head once everyone settled in.

The crew from the weekend!

This shot is minus Page. She hates cameras and at her age she doesn't need to pose! So, from left to right we have BAM!, Colby, Jones, Roscoe, Kelso, Spur and Zep. Page used to be really grossed out by the Pin Heads. Their busy, growly, talking would irritate her and me always having to yell at them to be quiet in hotel rooms bothered her. She hated the sight of them. Now, not so much. She's going deaf, so it just doesn't bother her any more. In fact, this photo below has her sleeping right in front of Roscoe's bed. And believe me he grumbled at her about it, but she was oblivious. :D

My friend Lisa came over to help trim the tree and brought her shih tzu's. What was two more? Ten!!! Here they are posing with Mr. Jones. The groomed dogs..........

10 dogs here last night!

I don't usually take in dogs. Roscoe can be tweaky with strange dogs, but these dogs are my friend Cindy's and we often travel together to dog shows and stay in a hotel room together with all the dogs. Er.....no....not the shih tzu's, they made the 10 last night. But, sometimes my dogs and the shih tzu's stay together, so really all the dogs are very familiar with my dogs and.....Roscoe. And it was a last minute family issue (gramma died), so they needed a place for the dogs quickly and what the heck. What's 5 more dogs for one night?

I'll load a video later. It's a LOT of dogs. Thankfully, it was about 45 degrees in my dog yard yesterday and they got to play and hang outside for a while. They were pretty zonked last night. Lisa came over with her two shih tzu's to help me trim my tree. We let the littles (the ones under 20lbs) into the room with the tree. The bigs are just too big for that small room and the tree. Zep got a bitch speaking from Stella, the shih tzu, so he went back with the bigs. The Pin Heads wanted to stay by the warm woodstove, Colby had designated that her compound and put a 5 foot zone around it/her. Bitch. Jones fit right in, he has stayed with us before. He posed nicely with the shih tzu's.
Sure wish I could figure out how to remove the white eye. Yikes..........possessed dogs!!

Spur's running contacts!

His speed is definitely improving. Now, though, I am seeing some stride adjustment as he looks for me to toss the ball in advance. Way less stride adjustments on the down ramp, but now just as he reaches the top he adjusts and if you look closely on some runs he turns his head ever so slightly to watch me toss the ball. I'll have to ask Silvia about that. I may have to vary more when I toss the ball.

This session had an 80 percent success rate. I'll take that since the two jumps were probably more to do with bad throws. With gloves on the ball was sticking just a little and my throws were horrible. One, you can see, ends up under the dog walk. Doi!! That's the one where he stops dead at the end.

I love action photos!

I wish I was better at them.

This is little Fergie, my newest mid-day dog walk charge. She is now 8 months old and SO sweet!!!

She is learning to catch a frisbee!!!

She looks SO grown up from the first time I met her. They grow up FAST!!!!

It comes and goes

I made it through the night with the help of a Cepacol throat spray and nighttime NyQuil. Ick! That stuff is GROSS! Slept pretty well, though.

Made it to the grocery store and bought bags of throat lozenges. Now I have to brush my teeth all the time.

First walk was FREAKIN' cold. It felt cold. Little Max seemed happy as could be, not cold for little Max. Max never complains. I wore my new Sahelia winter pants. Fleece inside, smooth outer. SO cozy and warm. And hair doesn't STICK TO THEM!!!!! Sorry winter fleece, you have been outdone! Love my new winter pants!!!!

By walk number four I was dragging. I tried to stand tall, good posture helps, and walk briskly. I mean, that's what I get paid for. I felt my shoulders sag and then............oh no.........I coughed..........OUCH! That SO hurts my throat. Stood tall, walked briskly. I did it, really, I did!

Had lunch, drank "gallons", headed back out. Feeling pretty good! I took one Excedrin Migraine. Those are GREAT! Actually, it's just some acetaminophen/caffiene/aspirin. And one did the trick. I felt energized and managed my afternoon walks and a couple kitty visits feeling pretty chipper. Got home and thought .....wow....I feel pretty good doggies, let's go for a farm walk!!!

They were PUMPED, since they didn't get their morning walk. OK, I felt it coming...........I got colder and colder and my shoulders started to sag.......got all the way to the farthest away and the WIND hit me as I turned back for home. DAMN IT!!!! I started coughing - OUCH. My eyes watered. I tried to call the dogs back to me and could barely squeak out words, my voice is GONE! I just hoped there were no foxes around for them to chase and me to have to yell to recall them. That would not have happened. No voice. No foxes, thankfully, and I managed a weak recall and kept them close to me the rest of the way home.

Now I am drinking tea and contemplating if I have energy for a hot shower. What WAS I thinking???? Supposed to go shopping with Cin tonight. Not sure I can summon the energy. Already told her she might not want to be infected. Maybe that hot shower will re-energize me.

Clean dogs and a sore throat

Colby, drying by the wood stove yesterday. I kept it going all day today, too. It's just grey and cold. I don't think it ever got over 35 degrees here! No sun, grey sky, it's cold.

Fluffy Spur! Look at his pearly white mane. Or is it a beard? And his sparkling white toes!! This photo just doesn't show how fluffy he is. He wouldn't stand still to show his full body and crazy, fluffy fur. Can you see the focus on his face? I made the mistake of holding a ball to get his attention. He started barking and bowing and backing up and every other trick he could think of to get me to toss that ball!!
Roscoe, snoozing on his bed in his bathrobe. He gets such a chill, but Colby had already taken the warm bricks. You might think there was enough to share, but that is rare. One usually gets grumpy with the other, so they agree not to share. I guess. That's their business. I don't get involved unless they start fighting.

Oh, yeah, and that sore throat. Um, what's up with that????? I am SO not used to being sick I don't even know what to do. Drink tea with honey, right? Rest. Hmmm, not sure what that is, either. I did try taking it easy this morning, but ended up doing some decorating and printing of photos to make a plaque for my mom. But, seriously Muffin Heads, who gave me this cold???? And what do I do about it? I can't think of the last time I got a cold. I think I actually DO get one every year, but they are so mild I hardly notice. This time...........I noticed. I noticed it last night as I kept waking up with in coughing fit. I noticed it all day today as I coughed and gagged everytime I tried to make a return phone call. Sadly, each call ended up with an answering machine and I had to apologize for my gagging fits. OK, that's NOT professional.

What is up with that? I can't even leave a short message on a machine without a major gagging fit??

If I had a parrot like my friend Laura it would start mimicking me!! Did I tell you that? She thought her parrot was sick and took her to the vet. Vet asked if she, Laura had been sick recently. She had, some minor flu like symptoms. Hah!!! The parrot was simply mimicking Laura and was perfectly healthy!!! How funny is that????

Tomorrow, some sun to brighten my day would be nice. Thank you very much.

Trying to get in the spirit

Went shopping at 9:00 this morning to beat the crowds. Claustrophobia isn't good for Christmas shopping and I do most of it on line now - LOVE that. But, I needed some craft supplies and some pet supplies. I managed to combine the pet store and craft store in nearly one stop. Phew! Somehow I dropped nearly $200 and I am not really sure how? Between the $24 dog toy I bought my friend Laura to celebrate her dog's ADCH and the nice ribbon I like for wrapping gifts, plus.....um, shit,.........what else added up to nearly $200??? I'll have to look through my bags. Shit!

That didn't leave me much for the open house at my friend Lydia's craft shop. Oi! Ate too much chocolate at Lydia's.......oink, oink.

Thought about finding a poinsettia and decided I didn't need one. Really, I don't. My house is festive and bright anyway because I love colors and Rich bought a garland I will put up in the kitchen later and, besides, I bought some paper whites. Those always add holiday cheer and a strange smell. OK, so some of them are going to my friend Laura to celebrate her ADCH. But, some are for here!

Took the dogs on a muddy farm walk and decided it might be a good day for baths. I don't bathe them all that often, but Colby sheds like you wouldn't believe for a little MinPin and it helps to really loosen up the dead hair follicles on occasion with a good scrubbing. And they are all a little itchy right now. I think the mold has many dogs with skin issues right now, so a good selsun blue bath would do them good. Spur looks so soft and fluffy!!!!

I stoked the woodstove for them to dry near. It's about 75 degrees in here, but they are lovin' it! I'll try to get some photos.

Professional or kind of home made?

I am SO far behind. I just realised I have no Christmas cards, I have no photo for Christmas cards. ACK! The thing is, ordering them now means then arrive in a few weeks. Um......Christmas isn't that much farther than a few weeks. OI!!

I ordered them anyway. I used this photo from last year. I cropped the top so you can't really tell there is a huge tree knot coming out of my head. Roscoe looks cold. -

My friend Helen took photos this summer, but none of them are just right. I need to try again next year. It's hard to get one where all four of us are looking good. Especially now that Colby squints all the time. Poor girlie.

I decided to only order 20 cards. I'll use the professionally done ones for my mid-day clients and vet clinics and pet stores who refer folks to me. All my other clients will get cards I will have to go buy and I'll print out the photo on our printer and glue it inside. So there. That's my decision and I'm stickin' to it!!

I mean, here it is December first and I haven't done......oh wait......it's the second isn't it?................... I haven't done ANY Christmas shopping. WAaaaaaaaa.............

I promised my Mom a painting of her dog, Joe. Damn, I better get on THAT!!!

Still trying to climb out of the ditch of despair

slowly and methodically. Lo and I are writing back and forth. She is so nice about trying very hard to help us. She is always telling me Spur will make me a better handler. Sometimes I agree with her, Sunday I felt like he was making me a terrible handler. I told her Spur and I would make her a better coach. Hahahaha! It is definitely a learning experience for everyone. Except maybe for the others in the seminar. For them, it just sucked bad, too. Watching us spiral to mush wasn't fun for them, either. Oi!

Took the dogs for a nice walk on the beach yesterday. Cleared the fog some.
Played ball with Spur. One of his favorite things to do. He loves his ball. I am always losing his ball. The other day I don't know where it went? Usually when we lose it I find it outside the fence. Nope, couldn't find it. Gave up and grabbed another. We have a good selection. It's necessary to always have a ball. He will get a stocking full of balls for Christmas.

My windows are in bad need of washing. I just never seem to have time lately. But, yesterday I spotted his ball out the window!!! Can you spot it? It's about four feet above the bird house stuck in a branch -

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!