Roscoe and his housemates!!

Tricks again

2012-01-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday it was too cold. Never got above 18 here. Oi!! I stoked the woodstove all day and rearranged my wall photos and pictures. Useless day, rearranging pictures. I didn't do my newsletter, organize my files and clean up my desk. I rearranged pictures on my walls. For what??? Did I feel better after doing that? It took ALL DAY!!!!

OK, so maybe I do have a different vantage point on each item, but WHY???? Why did I need to do that? It was like an obsession. I couldn't stop. You know, when you start to clean out one closet and that leads to the junk drawer? Like that. Only it was my walls. Then I noticed the 18 years of dust on my curtains. The curtains I NO LONGER LIKE. I thought about tearing them down and buying fresh, new curtains. Then I ran the numbers. I rearranged more things on the walls, instead.

Then I trained the dogs, some trick training. They were bored of my wall arrangement. They always are up for tricks. Especially........Rotten Roscoe. We are working on his "Frog" trick. He's kind of nutty about it because of his "rev yer engines" trick where he kicks his back feet. So, it's a little frantic, but we managed to get some understanding. He's a NUT CASE!!!!

We'll keep at it next time it's too cold for anything else but wall arrangement.

Winter is hard. Did I already say that this week?

2012-01-25T13:37:00.001-08:00

Colby is totally unimpressed with this January thaw. That's WATER running over the farm road. It was just a river in places. Yeah, nice to have 50 degrees, but it sure made our walks icky. We made it to the hill and she got to hunt awakened rodents, but still it was hardly worth it.
Spur works on his core. Those hind legs and stomach muscles needed to be............all buff and strong and........Spur!!! He's in pretty good shape, regardless of the tough going on the farm. HE still manages to run through the snow and slush, no picking HIS way. He just plows through.

This is a small stump we are working on his balance with. It has taken a few sessions, but he did SO well!!!! That's some great balance!!!!

It's a small stump.
What a MAN!!! That takes strength and concentration, good Monkey Pants!!!

Spur's standard from yesterday

2012-01-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

I am starting to get good at learning from my videos. For example, I HATE, HATE, HATE how much I clap at him in this run!! Yes, he goes to sniff the cone set away from the weaves, so I had to clap there, but goodness all the other times???? NO!!! I don't do that in class, so why at trials. Poor buggar!!

He was the very first dog to run and after his run like the next ten dogs all went to sniff the cone! The judge didn't call refusals because the dogs all came back and did their weaves, but she then moved the cone to the wall. Oi!!!

I love in this run his start. He BOLTS off!! YAY!!!! I don't love how I grab him for his start, but he seems unfazed. Good Little Monkey Pants!!! And I VERY much love his DW!! No speed on entry and boy did I have to run to get ahead for that 90 degree turn to that jump. That bit a lot of dogs, especially those with running dog walks. He was really running well and I was a little surprised how I had to kick in another gear to get up there.

I also love how his table probably only cost us one second!! YAY!!! All my kitchen agility training his table has helped!!! :D Brought my table inside and have been working it a lot!!!

We have managed a few snowy walks in this cold

2012-01-22T14:47:00.001-08:00

I guess winter can be pretty. Or just cold?.........

Roscoe is NOT impressed.........

Spur, he LOVES it, cold or not, especially if he can latch on to George's head. Poor George.......
Stella loves it especially if she can BITE GEORGE'S ASS.......

We manages this walk Friday and today. Thanks NATE for making out path so nice!! Saturday we hibernated. The Pin Heads could barely go pee without freezing!! I spent the day stoking the woodstove. January is cold in Maine.

We make the best of it. I am ready for summer.

Winter is hard

2012-01-20T04:03:00.000-08:00

Doing Spur's Daily Teeter takes some effort now. He has to crunch through the snow. I'm just tired of shoveling. As you see, he does it anyway, good little man!

The light in the afternoon draws LONGGGGGG shadows. Love this photo, if only Spur was in focus.
Roscoe was just plain cold, but look at his LONG shadow. Too long even for the camera!!

Colby struggles to see. Poor thing had to be returned from our walk as I just felt it was too hard on her. No fun and just not worth it.

She's extra careful when it's slippery and that's good, but it makes it a bummer for her. The day before was warmer and less hard/slippery and she did great. We take what we can get, but yesterday sucked for her.

I do as much shoveling as I can. It uses muscles I don't use much. You know what that means. I have a massage on Saturday.......THANK GOODNESS!!!! I only shoveled a run way around the garden. Then I slapped on my snow shoes and crunched the crust down enough for them to walk on it. Both Spur and Roscoe slip the whole way to the fence on their first attempts. :O

Winter is hard. It's just plain hard. Today is going to be interesting as the small snow cover we got overnight has covered up the ice. I carefully dodged it on my walks all week. Now I can't even see it to dodge it. May be a day for the Stabilicers. They suck to wear, just hard to move in and heavy, but they sure keep me from slipping on the ice.

Spring is on it's way, right? Not that I am looking forward to mud season, but I am really no longer a fan of the snow. It's always too much work and keeps me from getting my dogs the exercise they need. Next week the tide will be low in the afternoon, so we may get some beach walks in. This week it was high tide in the afternoon. Just not enough beach to make the drive there worth it.

Yay, the cold spell is over

2012-01-16T17:41:00.001-08:00

This was after the snow fall. They rolled and rolled and rolled and ran around and bucked and carried on. So, she was wet from that. I think this photo shows her in fine condition. Plenty of fat on her now! :D She really isn't sickle hocked, she just looks that way in these. There is a slope in the lean-to that makes her stand like that. And being an Arab she does have an extra short back.

The cold and the snow present a whole different scene for poor little Colby. With only one eye, suffering from retinal atrophy, she just can't see well in the glare of the snow. So, she hasn't been on a walk for any length since this snow arrived. Damn it. She is pictured here snuggled next to the woodstove and basking in the sun. -4 degrees out this morning, so NO one had a morning walk.
Spur managed to get out this afternoon on the snowmobile trails. And he managed to run on top of the crust, but that is always scary. A break through could really hurt him. He did once and must have whacked his mouth, but he recovered and was more careful after that.
My barn kitties never left their beds for two days. I warm up "Snuggle Safe" disks in the microwave and put them under their beds every 8 hours or so. They LOVE those. Amazing little things that keep their beds warm in frigid weather. I can put them there before bed and in the morning they still have some warmth!!!

I am always SO thankful for my hot water in the barn this time of year. The horses really love warmed water. And it keeps the water from freezing solid over night even at -4 degrees!! :D Today nearly 25 and tomorrow in the 30's. Then Thursday they are saying in the 40's. I'm OK with that!!!

We are working on our tricks. The Pin Heads need to DO something, so we are working on tricks. The ONE good thing about winter and cold. We do more trick training and they are SO fun to train. Roscoe is INSANE!!! I am going to try to teach him to catch a toy and hold it. The hardest part might be teaching him to sit up and be still. Being still for ANYTHING isn't his favorite trick. LOL!!!!

Winter has arrived.

2012-01-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

And I am not that happy about it. The Pin Heads struggle so in the snow. Colby can't see well, the glare and low definition is just too hard for her failing one eye. Sucks. Very sad to have to leave her home. The ice was too much for Roscoe. He just couldn't get a grip on it and would slip and slide. Following our path from our snowshoes wasn't much fun for him, so he stayed home, too. Spur did great, managing the ice and the path, but I was WORN out yesterday trying to figure out how to get them exercised before TODAY.

Why before TODAY........It's FREAKIN' 11 degrees at 2:00???? That's too damn cold. My barn kitties didn't even sunbath, they stayed snuggled in their beds on top of their warmed up "Snuggle Safe" disks I microwave for them. LOVE those things. I warmed them up last night before doing to bed and this morning they STILL had some warmth!!

LOVE my hot water in the barn. That makes life SO much easier. The water for the horses was not frozen solid this morning. That's AWESOME!! Two buckets of hot water added before bed did the trick!

The horses enjoyed the snow when it first arrived, but now.......they are hovered by the barn in the warmth of the sun. However, here is another video of Jewel being Jewel. She sure seems to feel good! I think she is a little sore from that exercise, but not terribly. It may just be that it's SO damn cold today.

Watch the hooves fly -

And another video from Wednesday night's agility class. Watch Spur nail his contact even going nearly into nothing AND starting with NO speed. Good little Monkey Pants!!!

Damn snow!

2012-01-13T05:24:00.000-08:00

Are we going to have to resort to this?......... Poor Roscoe! He's just starting to feel better with the doxy for his lyme. Now we have 10" of snow to deal with. CRAP!!!

Gone are THESE days for a while, I think. Racing through the clear, snow free woods and climbing on rocks and logs......

And Spur flying around the open fields with George on his heels. Hahaha, LOVE this photo!!!........
I was trying to free up hard disk space. Not sure why I need to, last I knew I had a TON, so it's odd but when I tried to sync my iPad it had trouble because of "not enough disk space". What???? Must get tech help soon. But, it was good to clean up and delete old photos I don't need. Found this one........... It reminds me of Robert Vavra photos. Did I just compare myself to Robert Vavra????? NO, I am just saying it reminds me of his photos. He is master of making his subjects the ONLY thing in focus, with everything around a blur. Me? I make the WRONG thing in focus and my subject a blur. Oh well, it's still kind of a cool photo. Nice to see the grass green and tall and clear. Spur looks very serious and he is, he is hunting rodents. Serious work, for sure!!

I am an idiot!

2012-01-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

Yeah, you read that right.

Poor Roscoe. Here I am convinced he has a bulging disk only higher up than Colby had. He looks that way. Sore neck, shoulder area. Doing similar things that Colby did. (BTW - She is MUCH better!!!) Hesitant to bring him to the vet and hoping it's just sore muscles. He's old, he does crazy things, he gets sore. NO!! He has LYME!!!!

Geesus, what an idiot. I ALWAYS tell people with a lame dog in Cape Elizabeth Maine to TEST FOR LYME FIRST THING. Do I????? Poor little guy has probably been lyme positive now for over a month. What WAS I thinking??? He has had two doses of doxy and already looks better.

Maybe he can get back to doing some tricks and play time agility and even going on hikes before we get snow. Oi!! What WAS I thinking? Or NOT thinking!!!!!

Managed to load my videos from my iPad to youtube. I am SO technosavvy these days and pretty darn proud of that. Hahahaha!!!! Now I just need to figure out how to type well on the new iPad keyboard I got. That's muscle memory. I know.......Daisy Peel would get all snippy and say "muscles don't have memories, brains have memories and they are in your skull, just like your dog!!!". Oi, she is so unpleasant sometimes. Um........just to clue you in Miss Daisy, that's just an EXPRESSION!!!! When she said a dog was "flying" I wanted to say......"dogs don't have wings, birds have wings". I chickened out.

It's SO cool how I walk out all relaxed and not trying to make him stay connected to me, hardly even looking at him and what is he doing??? Barking at me!!! LOVE that. I don't even have to ask him and he's barking at me!!!!

These were good starts to practice my new start line. Tunnel starts are happy starts, usually.

Notice in this standard he misses the jump after the table. I should have put in a front cross maybe? I know, very hard for YOU to see it was not zoomed in, but whatever. He missed it I think because he knew/could feel I wasn't all that happy about him not going down on his table. I try not to get all stressy about it at trials and just carry on. But, that's very hard to do. I am not an actress. I know he feels everything. Why he didn't go down on his table? Maybe he was still thinking about his teeter two obstacles before? I don't know. The table is an issue for us. I need to try something new in training it. He's not even that fast going down at home, so it will not be fast at trials. Must figure that one out.

Fun trial and our starts were good!

2012-01-09T04:06:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't say we are there, yet, but of course WAY too early. However, I sure FELT better. I walked out all relaxed and not caring if he sniffed or looked away at the ring crew or whatever. Funny thing was he started to bark at me. Hahahaha, like........."Hey!! You are not the tense, nervous nelly I remember!! You're all relaxed!! I.......BARK......like......BARK.......the......BARK........new........BARK........you!!!!!" LOL!!!

I made a little video. Shows our threadle work and then a pin wheel start. One of our least favorite starts. Not really how it would be in a trial, but sort of. That first turn would be a major bummer for him at a trial. This weekend's starts were all straight lines, which he loves.

I put Saturday's jumpers start in this video. Haven't loaded the other runs, yet.

He double Q'd Saturday with some really nice runs. Not super duper fast, but fast enough!!!! And I felt really good. Relaxed and pleased with our work. NICE fast table, maybe only one second to his down on Saturday. Sunday, nope.......not even an attempt to go down on the table. It was second obstacle after the teeter and I think that was the issue. I don't know. Our table needs work. We NQ'd that run because he could feel it was wrong and then even though I cued the next jump, he missed it. Still, all in all it was a very nice run. I'll load videos later. He got second in jumpers on a course that ate up most everyone else. Very few people ran it clean. He did GREAT!!!! Feeling a LOT better about everything, but our table!

Winter

2012-01-06T04:49:00.001-08:00

A time for couch lounging, right? Yep, the dogs are bored, BUT without any snow we are managing to get out and walk almost as much as usual. I am LOVING the lack of snow. But, the dogs are a little bored. I have been SO busy lately we haven't done any trick training. I have gotten Spur out doing some agility, though, and even set up my tunnel with my little sand bags yesterday instead of putting it away. What's it doing this morning? Snowing!!! Crap! Hopefully just a dusting.
I was going to wait longer for updated photos of Jewel, but I couldn't help myself. I think it's so funny how these photos are all on the same day and she looks so different. The first two are the same side/angle pretty much. Amazing how the sunlight can alter appearance. She looks brighter and healthier and less ribby in the sun.

And this angle makes her look........well..........dull and pregnant and ribby. I had just taken her night time blanket off, so her coat was smushed down and dandruffy. The blanket kind of packs the dust down into her coat. I hate blanketing, but she is an Arab, a desert horse and doesn't grow a thick coat. Compared to Jazz and Precious who grow two inches of coat!!!!
It's been one month since the vet was here telling me she was WAY too thin. I think she's fine. Winter is boring and fattening to my horses. We don't get enough frigid air here along the coast to make it hard on them, but with no grass to eat they are bored and eat really good hay all day. That makes for fat horses. So many people worry about their horses getting thin in the winter. Not mine. I was actually happy with Jewel's weight before, but here we are plumping her up so I don't get raised eyebrows from the vet. Geez!!!! Now I am worried she will keep this gaining and get TOO fat again!!! Damn it!!!!

I LOVE slow motion!!

2012-01-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is SO cool!!

**Update on my start line. I think I might have something here!! OK, I know I said that before, but the other day I did my session and he had a weenie attack. He SCREAMED like I just broke his leg because I maybe pulled his hair when I held him. Oh my!! So, then he looked like he wanted to kill himself, doing agility with me was THAT bad, but I was just like........"hey, dude, you can do this, stop being a weenie!!" And, you know, he did.

Rewarding with a tossed ball after a tunnel is his favorite game. So, he was willing to weenie it out and keep going. The next day I set up a two jump threadle to the tunnel. He couldn't do it. He couldn't bear to come in, oh the pressure of it all he just had to go wide and serp it, but I insisted. Down to a trot he went. I worked through it some, then quit.

At class last night our starts worked!!! I am trying to be VERY programmed......two times "ready".......a pause and "GO". Every time. "Ready, ready.......GO". Every single time, so he has something he can count on. Same thing, every time. That's taking a little training on MY part. Sometimes I add a "ready". Oops. NO, I need it to be clear and consistent....."Ready, ready.....GO".

Our session today with the two jump threadle was better. I made it easier by angling the jumps more. But, he was really FLYING by the last time and I had moved one jump in a little more each time so it was pretty hard for him. I am pretty pleased. I need to figure out a few more hard jump sets before the tunnel now. Like a pinwheel or something where I have to get in and front cross in front of him or something. I did film yesterday, but it's on my iPad and I need to figure out editing in the stupid little iMovie app that's as basic as can be.

My plan

2012-01-04T04:05:00.000-08:00

I get all sorts of advice, like pick a trick and stick with it. Make him happy, keep him focused, try heeling out to the line, etc. I watch my videos and see he isn’t connected and wanders away, distracted, even on leash, he’s not connected. I work hard at keeping that connection.

Howeverrrrrrrrrrr………….THAT is stressing us out. I am stressed about the lack of connection from the minute we enter the ring to removing his leash. ACK!!! So, I have thought and thought and thought about it. I need to LET GO of that stress. I want to just walk out there, relaxed and not worry about what he is thinking, doing or our fucking “connection”. I need to let that GO! And I think I can do that. Just let it GO and not worry about it until it’s time to take off the leash. Then I connect.

Here is my plan – I need something I can practice at home. Something set, solid and repetitive and something I can build on. He needs to have a pattern. Something he can count on happening every time we step to the line. So, holding him I can count on a connection. It forces him to stay with me, connected. He doesn’t much like it, but I am hoping I can train him to get good at it in the very same way people train dogs to sit stay even when they don’t like it and just want to GO. I tried it today. -

What does he like to train most? His DW. He can’t wait to go train his DW. So, I set up a straight tunnel parallel to his DW. I got his ball and his treats. Just like I would when training the DW and he was pretty pumped. I got him to “the line” as if to start in front of the tunnel and put one hand under his belly and another at his chest, holding him and said “ready, ready….”, and in a moment I was quiet and still, and his ears popped up and I said GO and tossed his ball after the tunnel. He bolted after it, through the tunnel, grabbed it and brought it back to me for his treats, just like we do training his DW. He was happy, happy, happy. I did it again. He avoided me, cringing a little even, not wanting to be held, but I insisted and again…..”ready, ready…..” and then a moment of quiet and the ears went up and again….”GO” and tossed the ball after the tunnel. I then added a jump and did the same thing. He isn’t that happy about being held, but I get him to focus forward, ears up and repeat the performance. I think in time he will be fine with being held as it means he can play that wicked fun game!!!

What’s cool about it is he IS practicing something stressful, even though it is at home and not a trail. (All the other things I tried he would do happily at home, but at a trial the behavior would slowly erode.) I can practice something that is hard for him and he works through it and gets to play. Holding him like that is “stressful”, but then he gets rewarded by his ball after the tunnel. It is something I can practice a lot because he is having fun, he’s learning a pattern of behavior and hopefully conditioning a response to bolt off the start line even when there is some stress. Will it work? I don’t know, but so far everything I have tried has not worked and just erodes as times goes by. I have worked on holding him and releasing to a tossed ball or treats and such plenty, but not exactly the same way as this with the tunnel to ball, which is a favorite activity.

Eventually, I can add more difficulty, like demotivating starts with pin wheels or back sides or threadles, all hard things that we are seeing more and more of that bum him out at the start. Because I can add the tunnel and ball after as reward I think I can get him bolting off the start, practicing those sucky, twisty, turny, demovitating starts at home. And holding him can become rewarding because he then gets to do his tunnel to ball, every single time and back chain the jumps before it.

My goal would be to walk to the line with him on leash and LET him sniff and wander mentally, checking out the ring, the ring crew, whateverrrrrrrr!!! Of course, I wouldn’t let him go up to the ring crew, but I would not insist on total focus on ME. That relieves ME of the whole pattern of “MUST HAVE CONNECTION ALL THE WAY TO THE LINE” shit/stress. Then I remove the leash and do our PRACTICED start. We’ll see. I have tried so many different things that so many different people suggest and all of them slowly erode with time. And the whole thing about must have focus and complete attention all the way to the line is freaking me out and he knows it and it’s just a snow ball becoming an avalanche. LOL!!! NOT working for us! :P

Silvia trained her RDW with Bu using tunnels as reward. I think of so many people who think if you do that you get a tunnel sucker. Not if you train the dog that they need to do something else first, THEN they get the tunnel, right.

I tried it at class last night and it worked fine. He's extra high at class, though. I have to remember to say my "ready, ready" and pause, then "GO". I forgot the first time. I do think he needs that clear, set pattern of behavior before the start because often now I just drop the leash and go and it's a little variable for him.

We go from top dog to major melt down.

2012-01-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

It happens so fast. I make some majorly stupid mistakes and, BAM, we suck........again. He's such a happy little guy it makes me sad when we suck. I was handed his first place ribbon with 25 speed points Saturday morning that my friend picked up from the trial two weeks ago. Damn, was I proud! I am feeling really good. First class, FAST, we need practice, I can do it and I need this.
I make the STOOOOOOOOOOOOpidest choices. What is his worst obstacle? Yeah, right. FUCKING TEETER. What do I do, ask him to do it TWICE!!!! He starts to worry and wring his tiny little papillon paws. Yeah, they are pap paws, not aussie paws, that is for sure. He worries, I suck, he worries, I suck, we are in a major toilet bowl flush spinning down, down, down.

OK, no worries, he has forgiven me stupid decisions before. Um, not this weekend he didn't. His standard and jumpers were pretty much a mess. Moments, yes, he did his "flat" on his table in standard in only about 1.5 seconds and that's something to celebrate, but he wasn't all that happen and we NQ'd somewhere. I don't even remember, I just know that all the precious blind crosses I did sucked and were late and he was confused and we looked really disconnected. :(

Jumpers was the same way........disconnected, poorly executed blind crosses.

So, Sunday I determine to be a better handler. Work every obstacle, talk to him constantly. We q'd in standard. Yay, but it wasn't fast. 46 seconds. My goal after last trial was sub-40. Hardly near that, but at least he held it together and we did it. Jumpers course sucked, I knew it and I sucked at it, so because I am a STOOOOOOOOOOOOpid handler he gets down to a trot after jump three and I finished out with a big out run, speed circle and left happy.

I am wondering if I should be doing Daisy Peel's Mental Management class. Probably!! I sure have Mental Management issues. Poor little Spur. But, if I can get a running dog walk on him and work for two years to do that I can sure fix this issue. It all begins at the start line, I am convinced. I lose him, I know it, I see it on video. Our start lines suck. Yeah, sometimes he charges off. I don't know what I do differently. I know I worry our starts and that doesn't help him. Catch 22. How can I not worry, our starts suck. We are in a pattern of sucky starts and it's SO hard to break that.

Must fix our starts. I am determined. I am tenacious. I WILL get this. He deserves it. He deserves to head to the line feeling GOOD and HAPPY, not stressing and avoiding me.

And since this blog is really supposed to be about Roscoe, here is HIS weekend story.........he is more sore than ever. His neck has been sore for a while, but this morning it's really bad. A call to the vet is in order. Damn IT. Poking and prodding Roscoe to find where it hurts is not easy. He is grumpy no matter if he hurts or not when you poke and prod him. Oi. Wish me luck on that one. And how the heck does one keep Roscoe from boinging??? ACK!!

More Jewel

2011-12-30T06:58:00.000-08:00

I think she looks better. Boy, we had half the manure pile taken away and it is STILL huge!!! And always in the photos, damn it!! She is SO out of shape, and that belly...........

But still maybe a little thin? I really think she looks good to me, but I hate having a vet tell me with such intensity that she is too thin. If it were my dogs I wouldn't even think about it. I would just tell the vet, no, they are just right they are performance dogs and need to be thin. With Jewel, though, since she is sick.......lyme.......I don't want people thinking she is too thin. I want her thin, her laminitis concerns make me want that, but I don't want her without much fat in the middle of winter.

I know, these are better photos with the sun out and no mud on her, but I wanted the mud photos before to show her coat smoothed out and better show her condition.

Maybe if I had adjusted my camera setting first?

2011-12-28T06:37:00.000-08:00

Although, it was set for outdoors. And I have tried the "action" setting before and it didn't make any different. I LOVE this photo of BAM!, but it isn't clear. Damn it!

This one he is moving way too fast, but it's a cool shot. Looks like he is WAY up on a hill, but really he isn't. It's just a little knoll, but the sun was SO low in the sky that the field below is all shady. The late winter light is amazing! That snow fall is all gone today after a night of CRAZY rain. Tonight they are saying wind chill of 5 below and yet this morning it is nearly 50 degrees!!!

Silvia says

2011-12-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Am I obsessed with Silvia Trkman? Yep. I am not in denial, I admit it!!!!

In her latest DVD about Speed and Conditioning she mentions toys. And how you can really just make anything a toy. I get that. Spur's favorite toy that makes him INSANE is a horse's lunge whip. Roscoe, too. Snap that whip and watch the boys go NUTS!!! It's how I taught them REALLY fast weaves. Now, if I could only make that snapping sound at a trial as they are heading into the weaves, they would FLY!!!

Kitties like boxes, just plain old used boxes.............Chloe with the box I brought her for Christmas. She loved it!!!! I tossed a crumpled bit of paper into it and she dove in to get the paper!!!

Another kitty I know likes Q-tips. Or crumpled up post-it notes.

Zep, he likes old stalks of broccoli. On our farm walk yesterday he joined us and being the sheltie he is, he just barks and barks and barks. I needed Excedrin Migraine when we got home. So, I grabbed him a broccoli stalk. He loved it!!!! Until he dropped it and the barking started again. I think he would rather bark than drag the broccoli, but we kept handing it to him because it did give us moments of quiet. Hey kid, shut up and eat your broccoli!!!!

Christmas day

2011-12-26T03:39:00.000-08:00

We shoveled in fish stew!! YUM!!!

My sister is a GOOD cook. Lobster, haddock, shrimp and salmon.

Poured over garlic bread.........

After taking the dogs for a nice long walk, we met up with Nate and decided to also shoved shit! Well, OK, it was a BIG shovel! And Nate did the shoveling. Amazing how much shit there was, even after many BIG shovel fulls taken away!

For a lot of shit!

After dinner we like to play table games. My sister bought a new one at the book store called "Dirty Minds". She said it looked cute and silly. Oh, it was silly alright. Not so cute, though. Here's the first card, which the first person reads one clue to the person on their left. That person then tries to guess the word or words from the clue. You read on down the clues if they can't guess the right answer. This one seemed fine. Didn't get the answer, but OK, game on..........

Next was Jeff's turn to read the clues to Ruby, my neice, his 16 yo daughter. The box did say for ages 17 and up. Sister Sara thought it couldn't be THAT bad, right. Wrong. Jeff starts to read the clues and turns red and giggles a little then finally says he just can't ask Ruby these clues............

Oh My!!!! We stopped playing.

Mud mask anyone?

2011-12-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

What happens when it just turns winter and the days are as short as ever...........the horse's have a full winter coat. Some say they grow their coats by the length of the days and that does seem to be. So, for a while they will have a very thick coat, then once the days grow longer that will slowly shed. They start shedding their summer coats in August. It seems to be so.

Then we get a year like this one where the weather gets cold. Cold enough to freeze the top, um, maybe 6 inches of ground. Then it thaws, about 2 inches and rains and rains. That rain just sits on the ground that is frozen beneath. And that just means MUD.

I am thankful to have a slope and fairly nice drainage around my barn. Notice they are not sinking into muddy "moonscape"? Most barns around here do not have such slope and drainage and the horses are all getting "scratches". A term used to label a crusty bacterial ick that affects a horse below their ankles. It gets crusty and hard and sore. None of my horses have that.........yet.
Today it is 19 degrees. No mud today.

On line classes

2011-12-22T04:15:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned I am obsessed with running dog walk training? Oh, I have, A? A few times? Oh, like a million times? SO!!!! >:/

Silvia signed me up to continue in her January class. As auditor, I assume, I don't need any more help with Spur - he's perfect. :D I told her I was auditing Daisy Peel's class. I felt like a traitor. I even ratted out some of my friends. Seriously, it's not even about that it's just being honest. Ask Amy she'll tell you........honestly. Or is that bluntly? Or without much thought? Or in a dumb way like just not thinking if it would be a good thing to say or not. Yep, Honest Amy, that's me.

OK, so what's the difference in methods? Daisy trained her best dog with Silvia's method. Made some mistakes. Adopted her own method, based on Silvia's method. Rightio. It's really hardly Silvia's method now is it? It's Daisy's method. And what's strange is the only dog trained by this method from start to finish is her young dog Juno. I asked. She was Honest Daisy and said she didn't even think she was qualified to teach it since she had only taught her two dogs with the method. Huh? Solar was taught with Silvia's method. OK, so later she started him over with her method, but that just doesn't count. Sorry, it don't count.

Her young dog Juno is starting to look good. But, she started out really pokey and slow. Good for her that she has her running better now. I think it's good she needed to work through that. But, here's the issue I see. She had success with Juno, a low motivation dog. So, she thinks her method will work with other dogs. Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell.

I do think her method, paired with Silvia's will produce a SMOKIN' and SOLID running contact. But, will it work with lots of dogs? I am not sure.

Here is how it starts..........slow as mollasses!!! No speed at first. OK, I think her plan is to get speed, if possible, but if no speed so long as the dog is running in a running type form you can progress along and she assumes the speed will come. The dogs I see in class are just like loping along. No speed. A few are running well, but most are just loping along. They are all still progressing. We'll see how it goes. It's interesting because there are some dogs in class who already started with Silvia's method, which is ALL about running as fast as possible or forget it. Watching them now just lope along is strange.

I am not liking Daisy's coaching at all. She is rude, snide and very, very strict. I would not have wanted her as a chemistry teacher. She assumes things that are not correct. Her website is HORRIBLE, she designed it, and it makes me INSANE, but I have told her I will hang in there as I am very tenacious.........and obsessed. If I were a participant I would ask for my money back. I know many people have dropped out because they couldn't stand her site. It's INSANE. She is presumptious and self-righteous and really needs to fix her website. She also is proprietary. All those big words to describe one small woman. She is very concerned about people stealing her work. HUH? She basically stole Silvia's work.

I think there is something to her method, but her attitude, her website, her demeanor sucks. Silvia freely offers advice. She's helped like tons of people train running dog walks. She's successful and she site is pretty good. There you have it.

Videos from the weekend

2011-12-20T04:36:00.000-08:00

Prudence Rabbit - misprint on yps. It was 4 yps. He has once before done a 5.75 yps JUMPERS run, but no not standard, LOL!!

His jumpers for a 3rd place. Might have been 1st if he had not regurgitated a treat in the weave and "retreated" it!! LOL!! Didn't miss a beat, though, good little Monkey Pants!!!

I have to say one reason he landed so high in the placements is because two of our biggest competitors were at the AKC Invitational and two that were there NQ'd. Still, I am pretty proud of his runs and, hey - HE RAN CLEAN.
It is so far, his fastest standard time of yet. We are going for sub 40 times and this one was 42:18. I THINK it was his best yps on a standard course, but not totally sure about that.
Race, our teammate from Nationals who won everything there and is out Performance National Champion, NQ'd on this run because of a table fault. Poor little guy actually did a tumble as he slipped to get on and rolled right off. His time would have been about 38 seconds. I am happy if we are less than 10 seconds slower than Race, LOL!! That dog is AMAZINGLY fast and Laura is amazingly good!!! I learn a lot watching her.

Honey Come Quick!!!

2011-12-19T04:22:00.000-08:00

It was a GREAT weekend for mix breed dogs!! For the first time, EVER, a mixed breed was FIRST place at an AKC National event!!! Dana Pike's, Tangle, a little jack russell papillon mix won the 8" jump class at the AKC National Invitational this weekend!!! WAY TO GO Dana and Tangle!!!!!

For the first time EVER Spur-de-Blur WON his Excellent B standard class in AKC this weekend!!! Out of about 20 dogs, many of them very fast shelties!!! Race, our National Champion in USDAA, had a fault at the table and probably would have had a time about 6 seconds faster, but he FAULTED. And Jones, the super fast schnauzer also had a fault, so with those two eliminated Spur ROCKED IT!!! One of his fastest standard times, ever. 5 YPS. And I know he has more in him.

I do have video, but I need to load it. He ended up with nearly 90 MACH points over the two days. The courses were made for us. Nice, flowy, open with just a couple tiny little subtle challenges that got a lot of people. We managed to hang on for a perfect weekend. :D

I THINK he was the only mix breed there. Not totally sure about that as I didn't stay for the Open and Novice.

GO MIX BREEDS!!!

So many hand made ornaments!!

2011-12-17T14:49:00.001-08:00

Rubber makes me sick?

2011-12-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

It's winter, plain and simple. The days are short and dark, the air is chilly and the trees are naked and bare. Except for the one on Wells Rd. where they must have hired a Christmas lighting service to string. Like the WHOLE tree and it's a BIG tree. It looks AMAZING. Not sure if my little point and shoot camera can capture it, but I am going to try one of these nights.

I still have some of my agility stuff out and before we head out on our walk I try to do something like sends to jumps at a distance, the table or the teeter if there isn't a coating of ice on it. But, classes are now indoors.

Last night was my second class at a barn in Buxton. A horse barn with crushed rubber. Lots of it. It makes for really nice footing. A little slippery for us humans, but lovely for the dogs!!!
However..........I seem to have a reaction to that amount of rubber in a barn. This has happened before at certain barns - I get a TERRIBLE headache. I think I am going to have to drop out of this class. I am not heartbroken about that, it is a long, dark drive out there and it is COLD in this barn. I work outside all day in the cold, then to come in and get warm only to head out again into the cold doesn't appeal to me. So, the headaches are maybe a good reason to drop out.
I would probably hang in there if not for the headaches because it is so good for Spur to work in different environments, but the headaches are brutal. I also wonder what is the cause? The "fumes" from the crushed rubber? Is that good for us? Yeah, I do get mild headaches from indoor facilities with rubber flooring or rubber bits mixed into the field turf, but not to the extent of these indoor horse barns. I think because the indoor horse barns get so stirred up and the dust hangs in the air and is visible. I blow my nose and it's brown and icky after breathing indoor horse barn dust. That can't be good. For me or Spur.

My dogs are jerks!

2011-12-13T06:10:00.001-08:00

Spur and I seems to be the only oness who got this joke........ Do they look like jerks? Innocent little dogs, A? Bwaaaaaaa!!!! Actually, they really aren't THAT bad any more, but I have to be sure when someone starts coming on our property with another dog that my dogs will be OK. Roscoe's drugless brain seems to be fine, he's adjusting and doing really well. Still grumpy to the others at home, but not that bad that I think he needs the meds again. Spur is MUCH better with other dogs, but he can still be a jerk especially on HIS turf. Colby is also better as her eyesight fails, she simply can't react like she used to and has better self-preservation. However............

They are still protective little dogs and might not be very nice to an intruder on their property. Like the lady with the husky who joined Mary this morning, our neighbor who walks through regularly with her ancient dog who my dogs have an agreement with. They do aggress at Pepper and she at them, but nothing terrible and we like Mary enough, so we don't mind, it's a deal. But, for Mary to start bringing her friends along without those friends speaking to us............um.......no. I have to be sure I don't have to leash my dogs on MY OWN PROPERTY!!!!

Rich had already spoken to them about this, but apparently Mary didn't listen. I approached them this morning and discussed my asshole dogs to her and asked if her husky would be OK if they were not nice to her dog. She looked kind of blank and mumbled something about the dog is fine at the local park off leash - "she is better off leash". Um, OK, but coming through here the dog is on leash - is she not going to hurt my little dogs if they are jerks? She says my dog doesn't look that little, as she asks if Spur is a border collie. I am starting to feel my blood pressure rising and say......"Well, one of them is 9lbs., and not that is a mixed breed dog". She asks how many dogs I have. What difference does that make??? Again I ask if her dog will be OK if my dogs are not nice to her dog? She just looks away with that strange blank stare again and Mary tries to speak and I have to interrupt and tell Mary I am not talking to her, I want to know if this husky will be OK with my not very friendly little dogs? I don't mind people coming through here with dogs, but I don't want to have to leash MY dogs when they do, so I have to make sure their dog is going to be OK with my jerk dogs. I get a blank stare off into the distance. I tell her I am not getting the feeling she thinks it will be OK. That blank stare again. What's up with that??? I am not getting a good feeling, at all. She isn't sure. Her silence is loud and clear.
Finally, Mary says something about not coming through with her friend. OK. Deal done.
I'm not sure why Mary's friend couldn't speak for herself.

Too skinny?

2011-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

TOO FAT!! Even with her summer coat you can BARELY see any ribs. It is shaded, but she has cellulite on her thighs!!! Fat pockets on her rump and shoulders and what a belly. TOO FAT!

I work really hard to keep my animals lean. Jewel was SO fat for a while there and with adding Jazz this fall I have been able to get her weight down to where I am happy. However, our recent vet visit had the vet saying she is TOO THIN????? WHAT? This is a horse who has chronic lyme and several bouts of laminitis. She SHOULD be thin.

Personally, I think she is just right, but the pressure of the vet saying such a thing has me wanting some weight on her. I hate that. Really, I hate to think my convictions are over-ridden by opinions by others. But, they are. I do feel that way and she'll be fattened up in no time. Damn it!!!

This photo is yesterday after she races around and heated up so her winter coat is flat. You can see ribs......YAY!! I LIKE that.

It depends on the angle and position, here she sure looks fat......

Here she looks perfect (even with her butt whole waving at us. :P).

Looks good to me. She doesn't carry weight on her neck like Precious (a Morgan) she carries it more in her belly and butt. See the top photo. Nice neck even when FAT.

She looks pretty good here next to fatty patty Jazz. Vet said he was just right. Personally, I sure wouldn't want him any fatter.
I don't get it. I think the thing is that most vets see so many FAT horses that when they see one lean they are surprised. I think that goes for small animal vets, too. They are just not used to seeing lean pets. It is always better/healthier to be lean. Studies prove that!!! It just is!!!

I know, eye level!

2011-12-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

It is aways better to get to eye level when taking photos of dogs. It appears I am WAY up above them. I am only 5'6". Weird.

I got a LITTLE lower....
Still not the great photo I thought it would be.
A pack of farm dogs. Someone on facebook said real farm dogs don't wear clothing. Huh? George is THE real farm dog and he IS wearing clothing. You can't quite see it, but he is fashioning his lovely orange vest for high visibility when he works on the farm. George's idea of work? Guess. Did you guess killing rodents? You are RIGHT! There are other killers in the photo. Can you guess? NO not the frufry shihtzu's. Goodness they couldn't kill a fly, could they? Not dressed like that. Fancy pants and fluffy heads and all. The weather has simply been strange. So warm last weekend the mares tried to find shade!!!
Found this photo of Spur. It doesn't look real!! Like his front half is one dog and his back half another. I always marvel at the optical illusions of photography............

Technology time suckers!! Are WICKED fun!

2011-12-04T05:48:00.001-08:00

And totally cute and silly!! Right?

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Christmas cards

2011-12-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

So, finally ordered cards for my clients and businesses that refer to me. OI! A LITTLE late. They probably won't arrive for a couple weeks, then I have to send them out. ARGH!! I am SO behind on this stuff this year......

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

One of Spur's runs last weekend

2011-12-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

We worked on his start, doing the vault and go or vault and then back up and go. This one I should have kept his leash on for the vault as I couldn't seem to break him out of his barking and the barking was GOOD. So, instead I flap my fingers at him and have to INSIST he vault, which isn't good. But, I think it's not a bad start,...............howeverrrrrrrr..........you will see on the second jump he actually LANDS on it and it STAYS UP??? That worries him, thus the trotting after. I tell him he's a GOOD BOY and try to just keep going, no biggie, hit a jump and you'll live little Monkey Pants Weenie Boy.......he DOES live and lives really nicely for the rest of the run!!!!
And not a bad table, just a second or two lost. What I love most about this run is his DW. He NAILS it and if you listen really closely you will hear someone in the background saying......"Wow, nice dogwalk!". I LOVE that and could repeat that over and over and over. OK, so I have repeated that over and over and over. I LOVE that!!! :D It WAS a nice dogwalk. From no speed to an awesome four paw hit!! The judge even says as she runs to see it....."Yep!!", but you don't hear that. I DID! :D

It was a small trial, so this run was actually one of the fastest standard runs. I think maybe only one dog ran it faster. :D Many NQ'd due to missing that down contact. Some tried to front cross, some peeled off like I did, but it didn't matter many dogs missed that contact. I am pretty lucky he took that last jump. It was quite a slice and he could have easily not taken it, good little man!!!

Changes

2011-11-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

Life changes. I mean, really, one day the fields are mostly dry, the next day SOAKING wet. Everything changes. We wonder if Precious is going through changes. Can horses have menopause? Their ovaries must shrivel up at some point. She's SO grumpy since Jazz arrived.

Roseanne Barr wrote this about changes......http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/11/20/roseanne-barr-on-the-joys-of-menopause.html
Seriously funny chick. Although, good grief at age 49 I am not looking forward to the "changes". Damn it!

There are changes all around us and some make me sad. Yeah, I worry about my own body, but I have Roscoe who is 12-14 years old and going through some changes. His neck is sore, his eyes are weakening, his mental state is in flux. He wants to hump everything now and is trying to play with Spur. Poor Spur doesn't believe him and really just wants to KICK his ASS, but he is being good and over-submitting...........just lays on his back so Roscoe can sniff his dick. What is up with that??? Dogs.........it's all about pheromones and scents and things of importance that we don't get. Like rolling in a HUGE pile of cow shit. Why was THAT pile so good and all the others just worth a taste? I don't know. I guess the cow shit goes through changes, too.

I stopped Roscoe's buspirone. He seems to be so much better around other dogs. Other than always wanting to hump poor BAM!, the border collie. He offers to play with other dogs now. 10 years ago that would NEVER happen. He's still an asshole at home, but that never really changed with the buspirone. It helped mostly with his dog-dog aggression and that's just not even an issue much any more. We'll see how that goes, drug free.

He's old and it makes me sad, because I don't have enough time to do the things he likes to do like Rally obedience. But, we still do trick training and now that winter is coming upon us that work will increase and he really loves that. Like Rally? No, he LOVES Rally. Maybe after the new year I can get him back to a regular class in Rally. We'll see, I barely get through my day lately, it seems. The changes I am party to seem to allow me less time in the day. The days zoom by and I don't even know what happened. Damn the changes. What if we all just stayed the same? Would that be dreadfully boring? I don't know.

Did you all have a Thankful Thanksgiving?

2011-11-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

I did!! I am thankful for so many things! For having big open spaces to walk my dogs............
They are thankful for all the smells they find on our walks.......hmmmm.......must have been interesting. Coyote? Fox? Some other dog?............I am thankful Roscoe likes to back up to the compost pile to poop.....

But, lately I am most thankful that every morning when I find my two "feral" barn kitties ready for breakfast. We went to the Harvest Dinner for the Cape Farm Alliance a few weeks ago and the discussions all seemed to center around the "Wolf sized coyote packs" seen around town. Oi. One farmer even hired a trapper to live trap one and relocate it as it was jumping her five foot ELECTRIC fence and taking her ducks. Wow!

I love where we live, but we sure to worry about the foxes and coyotes. I love seeing them, as I love all animals, but I sure do worry about my wee critters. I had a pet sit visit over by Willard Square over the weekend, houses packed together with tiny yards and saw a lovely young fox scoot through the back fence. The next day a big, fat black kitty walked that same path. Oh MY! It's a dangerous place, the outdoors, but what a lovely place it is!!!

Spur learns one of Roscoe's favorite tricks!

2011-11-25T04:34:00.000-08:00

It took a while for him to figure this one out, so we took a break. Came back on Tuesday while it was freezing rain out and did some work on it. He's getting it!! Very cute and good style for an independent "hand stand", I think!!!!

I call it "Bum's UP!" :D

Poor Roscoe

2011-11-22T04:16:00.000-08:00

It hardly seems this blog is much about him, lately. He's old and is retired, except for Rally, but we just only have so much time in a day. I did take him to Rally class last week for the first time since spring and I sure wish I have videoed it. OMG, he was PERFECT! It was breathtaking, really. He never missed a beat!! Good little dude!!! I must get him back to class more, if I can. He LOVES it so much!! Almost as fun as being Captain Roscoe on the boat. Almost.

I must give him credit, though, for all the work with Spur. He helps me a lot by working some and making Spur jealous. It's very important work. Although, doing some weaves the other day I think made his neck sore, damn it. :( Poor guy. So, no weaves for Roscoe for a while.

Took Spur's running contacts into nothing on the road last week. He did WELL!!!! See for yourself -

I am not rewarding the high hits any more. I used to reward everything to keep him "up", but no more. He LOVES the work, so I can be pickier now.

I submitted my wraps to Silvia. We don't do much of this work because when he's "wrong" he starts to worry. Notice his body posture when he starts going to the left and I ask him to go to the right. We had already done three wraps to the left, but my camera filmed them all blurry for some reason. I will slowly introduce these in the manner she likes for training, but for now I am just getting some "muscle memory". He can only do so much, we have short sessions training. Too long and he worries. Unless, of course, it's running contacts, LOL!! He could do those all day if he (and I) had the breath!! He LOVES his RDW training!!!

Trial report from the weekend. AKC. Nailed the Open Fast Saturday. Nice run with a FREAKIN' awesome RDW in standard for a Q. The dogs before him in the standings were all top dogs. An Invitational dog, last years National Champ, a World Team contenter, and others. I wish I had it on film, but I don't. JWW we had some mistakes. I took my eye off him and had a melt down, but cool thing is at the end he ran great and barked as I got his leash on. That is always a sign he is OK! :D

I tried my start line behavior, then aborted it because in Standard I asked him to back up into the wall. What an IDIOT I am. Then at lunch my friends all said I really need to stick with it and keep trying. Heck, it was two years to get his RDW. I have patience, right? They are right. So, in Jumpers I actually even asked for a vault before I took his leash off. Again, I didn't give him enough room for his back up, but it still worked MUCH better. YAY!!! I am hoping I can continue and get this going. Ears up at the start is SO important.

Table sucked in Standard. His first time NOT putting elbows down before the time was up. Oi. They have no position required in AKC, so I have been going as soon as time is up and usually his elbows go down just before, so it's a nice reward. Nope, not Sunday damn it. I left anyway as I am NOT going to train in the ring. In USDAA I will have to insist, or take an NQ. I MUST get his table more happy, too. Teeter again an issue, but he was fine. I can't really do more than I am, I don't think right now. I don't know. It will always be an issue I think. So much to work on!!!

Is Spur a tougher project than Roscoe was? I am starting to think that way, but maybe because my memory of Roscoe's work is slipping away? I don't know, but with Roscoe I could always break through with food. Not so much with Spur. I love the work, though. I love Spur with my whole being, more than breath itself. OK, maybe not because then I would be dead, right? He is worth all the effort and stress, that is for sure. He is THE best little buddy!!!

The long and winding road

2011-11-18T04:21:00.000-08:00

It isn't that long and it isn't that winding, but on film and in my head it is!! :D It takes us to the top of the knoll in the middle of the farm. Up there the dogs find it SO interesting. Rodent Town. I mean, there must be millions or rodents living up there.

The Pin Heads are too short to produce a shadow, but look at Spur's LONG shadow. Love the fall light.
Can you see the Pin Head butts?

Here is what they do at the top of the Knoll, Rotten Town. - They hunt.....
And hunt.......
And hunt......
They rarely catch anything, but the hunt is the purpose. I believe Colby feels it is HER purpose. Her whole reason for being. Hunting. Of course, she would LIKE to catch something, but the variable reinforcement schedule and jackpot makes the act of the hunt almost as reinforcing. Do I sound like a "dog trainer"?

Last night we dropped in at Rally class. We haven't been since the spring. Colby took a while to adjust her eye and remember her work. It's just very hard for her. Roscoe - what can I say, it is his thing. He was nearly perfect. He didn't forget one step, he is obedience KING of this household, for sure Such an oxymoron - Roscoe, obedience dog. Spur - needed some reminding, but he looked great!!!! He's so flashy!! Great fun, I only wish I had more time to go more often.

Chickens and a horse with hives!!

2011-11-17T04:53:00.000-08:00

Look at this ingenious watering system!!! I think he could patent this!!!! The whole thing is on wheels! It's SO cool! Not sure it will work come winter, but I think come winter the chickens move to the hoop house?

This chickens are such cool colors. My cheap camera didn't focus well on them, but you get the idea. Very cool color patterns!!

And funny looking heads!
Poor Precious developed hives last weekend. Weird. She is getting benadryl and they are better, but they started oozing some. ICK! She seems unaffected. We are not sure why, perhaps mental. The stress of adding Jazz, even though it's been nearly two months. She's kind of a mental case. Lost some weight, gets all uptight and ears pinning a lot. Grumpy girl. A vet is coming in two weeks to check things out.

Found a headless hawk in the field last weekend. How strange is that??? The body was in perfect condition and no head to be found. It was in the open field. Aren't you glad I didn't photograph that??? LOL!!! My thought is another bird of prey attacked it and snapped it's head off. Do you think a crow could do that? If it grabbed the head and the hawks body just slung just right I think that seems possible? Or an owl? I don't know, it sure was strange. And why leave the body? A very eerie murder scene!!!!

The sunflowers again!

2011-11-15T03:44:00.000-08:00

Remember the giant carbine?? I really should have put one of the dogs on it to show dimension. It's HUGE!

It looks like they tried to harvest the sunflowers. See the empty stalks on the right and the headed ones on the left?

Then maybe this happened............Oi! A planting experiment that didn't pan out? Not sure the deal, but I wonder if they simply need a smaller carbine? Is there such a thing? I should have asked Nick at the Harvest Dinner Friday night. But, we couldn't stay long as Rich wanted to go see an extreme skiing movie, so we had to sneak out after eating (Yummy roasted beet salad someone made with tons of fresh garlic - I ate TOO much).

One more reason my weekend didn't go as planned. Saturday morning The Spur-minator rolled in something SO stinky it nearly turned my stomach. Probably just fox scat, but who knows...........see on the left side of his neck a tiny smear of black shit! That stunk SO bad and was on his back, too.

Bathing Spur isn't easy, it takes time to get him fully wet. He's "waterproof". But, now he's squeaky clean and fluffy, but that was an hour I really didn't NEED to waste on Saturday.

Time sucking technology simply sucks time!!

2011-11-14T05:56:00.001-08:00

I had the weekend "off". I had this list of things to get done on my first weekend off in months. I mean, this was a FULL weekend, two whole days with no trial, no matches, no jobs, NOTHIN'. I could get SO much done, right?
Um, no.........no way, what do I do instead??? Time suck, get sucked into cyberspace, iPad searches, video searches, making movies..........OMG.........I was about ready to smash my computer. OK, not really, I am not a violent person like that. Yeah, you might here me SCREAMING at my dogs like if they don't come the FIRST time I call them, I am going to KILL them, but really I have not killed my dogs, ever. I do think of it at times, like I say those words.........but, no, never have I done that. They all live long lives and die of natural causes, like heart disease or old age. Only two of my dogs have ever died. Well, yeah there were the dogs growing up, but only two of my adult life dogs have ever died.

I digress.........the weekend of catching up on my list of things to do. What did I do? My list -

*Wash windows (we have 43 true divided light windows, meaning a LOT of little panes of glass, both sides and the storms) - none got washed.

*Dremel Colby's nails - got that done!!!! :D

*Trim Jewel's feet - nope, didn't get done.

*Clean up all the gardens - Hmmmm, does it count that Rich did most of the ones in the front? I got half the vegetable garden done and that's not very much.

*Vacuum bedroom and wash sheets - nope, gonna have to do that today!!!

*Ride Jewel - nope, chose to go visit my friend Mary who is recovering from open heart surgery instead. Well worth not riding Jewel as I sure would want my friend Mary to come visit me in that situation!! Mary's doing GREAT! Gave her the last pumpkin whoopie pie that Rich was saving for himself. He thought I ate it and was pissed. Not sure he felt any better that Mary ate it. YUM!!! Thanks Kathy for making all those yummy pumpkin whoopie pies!!!

*Get the scooter running again. - Nope, it just stayed where it was, collecting dust.

*Vacuum the Cube - YEP!! Kind of got that done. I did the front and just what I could see in the back, which isn't much. But, that job is on the "done" list, really. I mean, no, I should have removed everything and vacuumed it all, but I didn't. So, shoot me!!!

That's it, that's all. What else did I do that took all my time - technology sucked!! Seriously, I decided to do some running dog walk work and film it. Rich, good man, helped me - with much begging. Then making ONE fucking movie took me an hour. It's a 1 minute movie!!! I was ready to kill my computer.

Then I had the brilliant idea to try my iPad to film. Wow, cool quality. Much better than I thought and way better than the camera. But, making a movie? Nope, there is that Apple proprietary issue. I need to spend another $50 to get the right app. They sure have that done. Suck you into their technology and your money right along with you........can you hear that sucking sound............ssssssssssssssssssssssssUCK!! I didn't give them my money........yet.

I leave you with something really cheery, so you aren't feeling that sucky feeling from all that technology sucking. One of my favorite scarecrows from around town. Love this gal!!! -

She's really COOL! And strangely flexible. I know I can't move like that!!!

We have a new path!

2011-11-12T04:43:00.000-08:00

The cows have taken over the back pasture. This is Bunny at the old path.

She is entertained by us and we are entertained by her!

Kind of looks like we are walking backwards.

Yes, this is a reverse photo log!!

We are on the other side of the rock wall now. It's a pretty little meadow, but not every sunny.

This is our new pathway into that meadow.
The dogs are STILL not sure why the cows are in the pasture. Notice Spur's tail all flagged up!!! And that would be Rosoce, ready to charge at a moment's notice. He did that once. We encountered baby Beacon loose in the sunflowers and came upon him by surprise, so he bolted down the path a little with Roscoe hot on his heels. :O Um, little Dude, chasing cows isn't in your Pin Head blood I don't think!

The shadow is funny. I looke like I am wearing a big skirting coat. No, just my three quarter length down coat, it was FREAKIN' cold that morning. The snow is all gone now and it's just WET out there.

Wow, where does the time go???

2011-11-11T05:05:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or is this time of year hard to keep up with time? This week just flew by and I am SO far behind. OK, behind on shit like housework. But, that starts to irritate me. I like to keep up!

Had a full load of walks and the weather was SO good I think I spent a little extra time with each dog so I didn't get home as early as I usually do? That's my excuse anyway and I do think that's true. It was SUCH a nice week!!!!!

My walks have changes some and I am walking farther and harder now, which is awesome!!

I am also trying to do lots of training with Spur while we have the ground and light to do it. That will be lost soon.......Hello Winter.

My friend Mary had open heart surgery and I HAD to make sure to visit her because last week I had a little cold and sure didn't want to visit her then. Saw her yesterday for several hours and that was really nice. She is doing amazingly well!!!! Planning her next agility sessions already, good girl! Hard to keep and active girl down! Just amazing! She is bored and was happy for the visit. We talked dog training and dogs and training and dogs and more dogs and, well, we must have talked about something else, but I don't remember what????? Oh yeah, we watched some videos of dogs on my iPad. Dogs, dogs, dogs.

Laura, Lance and Vito!! - No worries about our start line. I am SO happy to have Spur doing so well I never get too bummed about our issues any more. I know we can work through them now!!! I didn't always know that, but I do know that now!!! He is SO resilient, it just amazes me!!! Good Little Monkey Pants!!!

USDAA BARK trial report!

2011-11-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

OK, so my start line plan kind of fizzled. At first I thought it looked OK. His ears came up for JUST a moment as I pushed into him to back up, then off we went. But, it seemed to kind of not work as the runs went on. Too much pressure? Perhaps. What I noticed, though, was I was too disconnected from the ingate to the start line. I need to do what I can to keep him focused on ME. He wants to go say hi to the ring crew, if possible, or just look stressed. So, what seemed to work best was to remove leash and GO! Keeping him connected, running to the line at the last minute, then tossing off the leash and GO.

Even in Relay where we ran second that worked OK. I could crouch and talk to him and keep him close and focused on me, then last second remove leash and go. Taking off the leash, then asking for the back up gave him JUST enough time to stress and leave me, go say HI to the ring crew which at this trial sometimes was RIGHT there at the line it seemed.

It was a tough trial, really. I was worried about trying the new start line behavior, I was worried about how he would be after his experience at Nationals. He actually was pretty good, event awesome at times, but then we had some major melt downs. Teeter was a big issue. He knocked a bar in jumpers, ...........gasp..........that's almost as bad as a scary teeter, maybe worse. But, he recovered quicker than ever, so that's cool. I made a video to show some of the contacts. He missed a DW contact and an a-frame contact (left him and took off ahead more than I would normally), but I am not surprised. This wasn't his most comfortable trial. And we seem to be in an "experimental" stage.

I am most pleased with how well and quickly he recovered from things. It was big learning experience for us. I was SO thankful for my awesome teammate who totally had no expectations and was completely supportive. Spur actually had some incredible moments, but had two E's and not many points in snooker or gamble, so we ended up dead last. My teammate E'd in standard, too, so I felt a lot better after that. LOL!!!

Here's my little video (*disregard the editing, my text didn't go where it should have. The slow mo DW was a miss. The slow mo a-frame a miss)-

I see here that the issue with the teeter is how heavy it is and how long it took to go down. I MUST put the weights back on my teeter and have him doing different weights again.

A new start line behavior????

2011-11-04T06:07:00.001-07:00

I just have to brag about my ability to learn from my experience at Nationals! What a great experience that was for us! It wasn’t that I wasn’t aware of our “weaknesses”, but I had kind of put them on the back burner. Nationals brought them to the front burner, for sure! It is hard to be self critical, but I am trying very hard to do that and learn. Our weakest thing - start lines, for sure. That showed up big time in KY.

So, he has had the last two weeks off, basically. No RDW work, no classes, just his daily teeter and some tricks. And………………start lines. But, not really, I just wracked my brain trying to figure out what trick I could do at the start that would get his ears up and get him focused and happy.

Everything I had tried didn’t work. He LOVES his tricks, but when I asked him to do one in the ring he would go blank and not do it. So, I have settled for holding him and then just letting go to start. He has never liked it that much, it has worked just OK and we have gotten by. I needed something to do where I didn’t touch him and where he couldn’t go blank. And something that got his ears up!!!!

One of his favorite tricks is his launch off my leg to a twist, spin. Wicked fun, he loves it. But, in order to do it well he needs some distance from me, so I asked him to back up. He backs up then charges at me to launch for his push off into the twist/spin. That’s my start line!!! Not the launch part, though. LOL!! I ask him to back up and just take off!! Last night at class I tried it for the first time. OMG, it SO totally worked! I had practiced it at home during his daily teeter with a jump before the teeter, but last night was his official coming out of our new start line!!! He was ON FIRE and charged off his start, ears up!!! He ran SO fast last night he was slipping on the floor and he’s never slipped there!!! I think it might work! He can’t go blank and not do it because I always have to put SOME physical pressure to get him to back up, so back up he does, ears come up quickly, and off we go!!!!

**I have no expectations, as always with him, it could end up not the right thing, but I kind think it might work. This weekend will be the bigger test. USDAA trial. First trial since Nationals.

Scarecrow city!!!

2011-11-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Not really sure what one "wins", but around Cape Elizabeth has been a "Scarecrow contest". It's SO cool!! They are every where!!! I wish I had taken some photos before we had that storm. It kind of trashed some of them. This one here was completely fallen over, but they resurrected it!!!

I actually took these photos before the storm as it was right on my route and easy to get a photo of from my car window. If I were a judge THIS one would WIN, for sure. It is SO creative and cool!!!!

Halloween is a very creative holiday!!! I LOVE it! Wish I were 10 years old again so I could go trick or treating and dress up as a cowgirl. I was always a cowgirl. I don't remember ever being anything else?

Sunflowers, for naught?

2011-10-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

See, the trouble is the ground is FAR too wet to get in with the carbine. For naught, nah.............the rodents and crows and songbirds and other wildlife are having a lovely meal.

They are simply falling off the stalks.

I mean, seriously!!! How the heck was this thing going to get in there to harvest them?? It is ENORMOUS!!!

At this point I don't think a harvest is possible. Simple too much rain. This sure has been one wet October!!!If I had thought to bring my camera today I could have shown the water these are basically sitting in. Darn it!!! Sure was a pretty scene. Now, just brown and kind of sad. Well, not so sad for the little birds, crows and other critters. It is a rodent's buffet out there!! The dogs enjoy it, nosing deep into the grass, sniffing out tiny mice and moles.

This year's costume!

2011-10-28T04:49:00.001-07:00

Seemed appropriate this year!!! :D My Little Sunflower!!!!

Surely no one thinks I made him do all those costumes in ONE DAY??? Those go WAY back. I think the clown ones were about 9 years ago. Notice no grey on his muzzle??

I had more, but I guess they never made it to this "new" computer. He wore a Harley Davidson skull cap and sat on my scooter one year. Then he was in a cowboy outfit and sat on a saddle on Gabe. That one was awesome!!!!!

And, yes, Laura, Lance and Vito - he owes me this. But, seriously, he is more uptight each and every day, lately (snow last night and in our near future!!!), when I have to put his coat on to go for a walk. He hates wearing clothing. So, ultimately he is dressed up in a "costume" every single day come cold weather. At least for Halloween costumes he gets a pile of cookies!!!!

Halloween season!

2011-10-27T04:55:00.001-07:00

Is that really a season? YEP!! Or a holiday? YEP!!! Around here it is!! And it is really fun. Especially if you live in Cape Elizabeth. There is a scare crow contest going on. I MUST get photos! Some of them are really awesome!

Roscoe spent many years entering Fetch's Howlaween costume contest and winning many times. It was a great way to practice his sit-stays and self control. For those who think dressing your dogs up in costumes is mean and unfair, um.........think of all we do for our dogs day in and day out!! We pick up their shit, clean up their barf, vacuum up their hair and dirt they track in our houses, pay hundreds and thousands of dollars in food and vet bills, provide them comfy cushions and beds and toys and treats................excuse ME???? Mean and unfair???? We love these dogs every day and provide them safe homes and awesome lives. I think for our silly and warped amusement they can deal with a silly costume or two for all of a few minutes. Certain ROSCOE can!!! For all the times he has caused us trouble and anxiety and embarrassment over his rotten behavior I think it is a very small thing for him to do............dress up in a costume and get some cookies. I promise you he knows the drill now and sits still and waits for his cookies and it is ALL worth it to him!!!! The only thing Roscoe will not do for me for cookies is swim. Dress up for a few minutes in a silly costume, piece of cake!!! He's got that one down!

Sure, there are some dogs out there (my sweet Jess was SO embarrassed, she was horrified!) who should not have to do it. However, I firmly believe that most dogs don't think it is the worst thing they ever have to do, no matter how sad they look. I think most dogs feel worse every day we walk out the door and leave them behind. Dress up in a costume? Not so bad, really. For most, it's attention and they get cookies and made a big fuss over. For some, maybe more attention than they usually get in a day - just saying.
It's just not that horrible a thing. It just isn't, so no more "Poor Roscoe"'s! Roscoe he would rather dress up in a silly costume than get his nails done and I have to do his nails many times through out the year. Dress up? Once a year. He can handle it, it is sure not the worst thing in the world! And handle it he does!!!

So, I don't want to hear another word about how mean I am and how sad Roscoe looks. Whatevaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa......................he owes me this and he gets his cookies!!!!!.............The clown saw Marge Simpson's hair dresser -

Harry Potter -

Ba-Roscoe-bama -

Spidey Man -
I'll post more. I have been posting these on Facebook, too.

Cows took over!!! And a sunflower update.

2011-10-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

We call him Pin Head. Not like the Pin Heads in our house, though. He IS a Pin Head. Just look at him!! He's ENORMOUS and yet, his head is so little. The cows have bigger heads and are probably half his size.

I'll have to try to get a photo of him side by side with a cow. I did have one, but his "lipstick" needed to be put back. :O NOT appropriate for a blog. Ick!
I mean, really, he has enough hanging out. We don't need to see his "lipstick", too.
They took over the back pasture. They are happy cows! The dogs? They can't quite get the new route. Years of passing through this pasture and not we have to go around??? It's a nice, new path, but old patterns are hard to break. I am NOT going into that pasture with Pin Head. He sure seems mild and gentle, but..............did you look at him, he's HUGE???? Plus, there is now another line, the fence is doubled, so not as easy to just walk under it....zap!!!. I'm OK with that, not getting zapped. Walk around, that's just fine!!!! Roscoe isn't so keen on the new path in spots. The woody stalky bits left after mowing it hurt his tender little toes. It will get better, but right now it is a little sharp for him on one section.
We are all curious about the sunflowers. The carbine has arrived, but it's FAR too wet to get in and harvest. Some of them seem a little moldy? But, really, many of them look perfectly fine and just as you would expect a sunflower seed to look. I'll try to get a close up shot.

Two more runs, but they are pretty blurry.

2011-10-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

My crappy camera can't really do well from way up in the stands. Not sure if she had zoomed in if that would have been any better. It was hard because the only other person I knew in my group was Laura, my teammate, and she and I often ran back to back. So, we would find someone to film us, but that wasn't easy for that person to do going from camera to camera immediately.

This was his PGP quarters and he placed 10 and they advanced 12. Very proud of that, even with his trotting into the weaves!! He was definitely over-whelmed, but he sure holds it together nicely for 10th place!!!!

This run looks pretty good, but definitely too slow. It might have been in the placements at home, but at Nationals it sure wasn't enough. We were 17th after this run and they took 10 to finals. I am still so very proud of him!!!! Such a good little buddy!!!! This was PGP semis and in this class were all the dogs with "byes", which means all the dogs who qualified at a regional event to automatically make it to this round, so the competition was much stiffer. Basically, all the REALLY fast and competitive dogs ran this class.

We made it to the beach yesterday and even Colby got to run. Her back seems much better and she seems OK for that run on the beach. Nice, flat footing for her there. It was a great way to shake off the cobwebs from the week.

That trip seemed to take a lot more out of me than I had thought. As I come out of the fog I realise how hard that was. Long trip, lots of personalities to deal with, noise and crowds, all things I am NOT used to. I work outside and alone most of the time, so that trip was definitely out of my comfort zone. I think I did pretty well and tried REALLY hard to stay positive and happy and not complain.

And honestly I DID have a really great time!!! I was SO thrilled to just BE there with little Spur. Just him and me, that was very special!!!

However, I did hear a lot of complaining from top competitors and that stinks. It's supposed to be a FUN hobby, but some make it such a serious thing. I know, some make a living out of it and have to take it that seriously, but when you are dealing with animals one must have patience and a sense of humor, I think. Otherwise, I see no point in it. Some really poor sportsmanship occured there and some not so nice behavior from very experienced people. At big things like this there will always been some stuff I am not so happy with, since it involves animals I can get pretty critical. I AM opinionated. Those who know me know how very true that is and holding my tongue isn't my strong point. You want my opinion, just ask. You will get it! And sometimes you'll get it without asking.

I also saw some really great sportsmanship and some really incredible agility from people who are very kind to their dogs, so it was a roller coaster ride at times. I guess in any big sport this is just how it goes. The good, the bad and the ugly. I SO very much enjoyed the good. Hard to block out the bad and the ugly, though.

Will I go again? Maybe if it comes a little closer. Next year, outside in CO. Nope, won't be doing that. WAY too far and outside could be nasty in October in CO. Maybe I can qualify Spur for AKC Nationals and maybe in 2013 it will be in the North East. Who knows............what I do know is that event made me a better handler and taught me a lot. If I can implement what I learned I will be even better!!!! :D LOL!!!

Slowly getting back to "normal"

2011-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Boy that trip just took it out of me!!!!! You have to forgive me if I am repeating myself. The days are blending together.

I sure wish I had taken more photos. But, here are a few more -
The crate area. Not exactly sure how many dogs, but on average with 1000 runs per/day and most people had 1-3 runs/dog, that equals 600 dogs maybe? Does that sound right? There were a LOT!!! It was a very big event. I do believe it is the biggest dog show event in the world, as far as how many dogs come. And this year there were 400 less runs. WOW!!!

I was surprised at how early it was done on the first few days. We were able to get back to the hotel and have a beer or shower before heading out to dinner. Lots of restaurant possibilities from the room, which was nice. Of course, Friday and Saturday nights were a lot later. Saturday we didn't get in until nearly 11:00, which stinks because we were SO exhausted no one wanted to get up for our "fun runs" on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM. Ugh. We just slept in that morning.

One night we headed into Louisville and ate at Joe's Crab Shack on the river. That was SO fun!!!! I have never been to a Joe's Crab Shack and it was an experience!!! Bought Rich a t-shirt, tie dyed orange and yellow "Peace, Love, Crabs" and unfortunately left it in the room. They might be able to send it to me, though, so I left the top housekeeper a voice message and she returns back to work this morning and hopefully has it.

Then after that dinner we took the dogs for a walk along the Ohio river walk. It was LOVELY!!!!! Warm and a big, bright moon!!! Very fun!

Never made it to Churchill Downs, though. I hear it isn't the big deal you might think. A green expanse among the cement. Louisville really just looks like any other city. Mall after mall after mall of the same stores.

We did drive past the Kentucky Horse Park on our way home and THAT was amazing!!!!! Hundreds of acres of white double fencing and neatly mowed pastures. A magnificent sight, for sure!!!!

Why didn't I take pictures???? ME??? I take pictures of my dogs eating grasshoppers, but do I take pictures of my trip to KY????

No, I take a picture of little Spur yawning in his "penthouse" crate in the car next to me after hour number........um......8 maybe, on our 13 hour last day heading home. I can't say he was physically tired, but mentally, YES.
Would I go again? Hmmm..........maybe. There were people who went just to volunteer or just to watch. Not sure I would do that???? I mean, it was a great experience and I know Spur and I both learned a ton, but it was not an easy trip. It was a lot of work, a lot of noise, a lot of dust and dirt and a lot of cement. I work outside walking dogs on the beach and sleepy little neighborhoods, I am not used to such bustle and buzz. And all that sitting!!!!

Two of Spur's runs

2011-10-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

We definitely lost a lot of speed on our starts. I think the lack of fans at the in gate made a difference and I must figure out how to work through that and keep him happier by myself at the start. He sure was fine in the crowds and walking the grounds, always pulling to get back in the building, never looking worried walking around, but we sure showed a lack of speed and a bit of a melt down during the first few obstacles as the week progressed. I know he never looks real happy when I hold him for our starts, so I want to get HAPPY on the start lines. My winter project, for sure.

His dog walks were PERFECT all weekend!! Absolutely perfect! In fact, I think he was happiest doing tunnels and DW's. I just need to get him happy like that during his starts and at other sections of the course. I am still VERY PROUD of how well he held it together at such a HUGE event. Over 1000 runs some days!!! Five rings going from 7 AM to well into the evening some nights. He sure did well, good Little Monkey Pants!!!

He was National Champion of Cuteness, that was for sure. I had more people stop us and ask about him and exclaim about his cuteness!!!! Of course, he LOVED that!!!! :D

This was PTeam Standard I think -

This was PSJ semis. Not good enough for finals, for sure, but a respectable run. -

Must get better about instructing my videographers to zooming in. It's hard to just grab anyone and toss them a camera. Most of the other videos are SO blurry and SO far away they are not worth posting. One run was simply never even filmed because I didn't set it right, doi!!!

I wish I could post here my teammates winning video, but she posted it to facebook not youtube and I can't capture it. She was 10 seconds faster than us for one of our runs. Usually we were about 4-5 seconds slower. That's a LOT of time. His PGP quarters we were 7 seconds slower and I thought that was one of his better runs, LOL!!! They are just out of our league, or we are just out of THEIR league!!! :O

Honestly, her dog is too good for Performance and really should be in Championship. He is brilliant and SO fast and she is a very experienced handler, a past World Team member. They really don't belong in Performance. Her dog is a brilliant jumper and can easily jump the higher jumps. I don't usually say that as I feel most dogs have to work too hard in their heights, but not this one. I believe she is going to move him up now. Now that she cleaned up in Performance Nationals, LOL!!!

HOME!!!

2011-10-18T08:32:00.001-07:00

Wow, epic driving trip!!! 13 hours in the car yesterday and my ASS hurt! But, home now and re-living it all. WHAT a BLAST!!! Definitely not as hard as I thought it would be. I hear the dust and walking between rings on cement was really hard last year, but it didn't seem to bother me like I thought it might! :D

I suppose since I walk a lot of dogs on pavement every day I am used to that. They watered the rings each night/morning so the dust wasn't as bad, I hear. I SO wish I had taken more photos. What was I thinking? I had my camera every day, but you know, it was SUCH a HUGE event I was just taking it all in and kept forgetting to get photos.

Nearly and sometimes over 1000 runs each day made it quite an event. SO glad I had my "ass pad". I have a gel cushion seat I bought earlier this year for bringing to dog shows to sit on and it was SO nice to have. I am not used to all that sitting and my ass/leg/hip starts to hurt. My ass pad helped SO much.

I do have some more photos and some videos to post later. Right now I need to bathe Spur. The dirt was really nice to run on, but............well........it was dirty. :O He needs a bath. And I have a bunch of laundry to do.

Internet at the hotel was a bummer. I managed to check email and weather, and then tried to post here, but would get shut down, damn it! And there was unfortunately no wifi at the facility. They didn't want to clog up the server at the site because of the live-feed. Oh well. My iPad doesn't have satellite capacity, so I depend on wifi.

Spur did SO freakin' well I am bursting with pride!!!

Baby Spur (hmmm, he's four, but with 12 year old housemates, that makes him the "baby"!) really held it together at Nationals in KY!!!! Such a good Little Monkey Pants shelter dog!! Held it together to make it to semis in both PSJ and PGP and miss finals by only 6 dogs in PGP!!! With nearly 1000 runs every day it was a little over-whelming for us, but we had a BLAST!!! He ran clean in every run!!!

He was 10th in quarter finals, 17th in semis (they took the first 12!!), so we didn't make finals. But, what a good little buddy!!

Ugh!!!

2011-10-14T19:06:00.001-07:00

I tried to post videos yesterday, but I guess it didn't work!!

Spur ran GREAT yesterday and just out of the PGP finals by five dogs!!!

Then he was a little overwhelmed by the long day and no where near finals for PSJ, but still he ran clean in everything so far!!! Good little Monkey Pants.

My team mate has won everything and is making me feel WAY out of my league!!!!

Photos are of the shopping and our crate area. I have been good and only bought Spur a nice harness.

so, since we didn't advance only one run tomorrow. Booooooring, but this is such a HUGE trial that and that is how it goes!!!

Great first day!!!

2011-10-11T18:39:00.001-07:00

we went to a lovely farm in Indiana and used an indoor arena to practice. spur did great. Then had our practice run at the site. Spur ran clean!! A little overwhelmed by the whole scene, but he did so well. I bet he just runs better and better!!! I am so proud!!!

2011-10-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Had a lovely walk in a state park just down the street. So pretty and the dogs loved it!!! felt great after our 18 hour drive!!!

No longer a Waffle House virgin!!

2011-10-10T12:13:00.001-07:00

Notice how Spur got the Penthouse suite in the car!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

He is ready!!!

2011-10-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

Is this our next National Champion!?

Yep, he's a Champion, for sure.

Champion of Cuteness!!!!
Are we ready? Ready as we will ever be!

Stay tuned, I hope I can keep updating while I am in KY.

Test again

2011-10-07T04:38:00.001-07:00

Trying a video, which required...... Yep, another app!!!!

YouTube Video

Doing a test

2011-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am trying configure out if I can post here on my iPad while I am at Nationals.

Looks like I can, but I will need to load photos to Shutterfly first, which is a pain.

Maybe I can figure out an easier way.

these are my test photos.

Spur's RDW videos

2011-10-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a bunch of videos. I found that Movie Maker locks up only once a day, so if I make more movies after the first lock up it works great!!! Go figure?

Spur's runnings into nothing are when he is going left. Towards the course and a jump is going to the right -

Silvia says I just need to be up ahead with him for now. Not sure I see where I am any different during the leaps, but maybe?

At home he isn't as fast. He sure likes an audience!!! LOL!!! Plus, my dog walk is wooden and only 10" wide, so it's like a highway on a rubber 12" dog walk at Anne's.

This time going left is into a tunnel, going right is into nothing -

This video he is a little faster. Can you tell why? A friend (Hi Lisa!!!) is videoing! He likes his fans to watch!!!! :D

The first part of this video going right is into nothing, left going into a tunnel. At 1:25 I switch to curved tunnels either direction since we need to practice good hits before Nationals next week. :O Yikes!!!

**Laura, Lance and Vito!!! I watched Lance's Utility run and it was AWESOME!!!! Very impressive!!! He sure looks happy!!!! Congrats, well done!!!!!

Weekend trial report!

2011-10-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Did one day USDAA. Spur was AWESOME!!! He loves this sight now. He won his jumpers with a really nice run first thing! Then won Snooker for his third Super Q, which was nice. Only one other dog got as many points. Good little Monkey Pants! Then I totally messed up in Standard and........gasp......he missed his contact!! :O

Good GRIEF, I feel like that is just falling apart! It was from a stop, so no speed with a naked single jump after. Oi.

So, I did it in his gamble class and he was good, ran it great and hit it fine, but then I totally turn into a Gambletard!!! Messed up his approach to the a-frame, which didn't matter, I just then sent him to a tunnel, but then my plan was all messed up and we ended up in a very bad position for a VERY easy gamble and didn't get it. I had plenty of time to regroup and reposition to get the gamble, but do I? NO, I fucking fall apart and just keep going and good little man did what he was supposed to for how I was positioned, but that wasn't part of the gamble. This was an EASY gamble we should have gotten. And that's all we need for his P-ADCH - four more gambles!!! OMG - it's like a curse. A gamble curse.

We won pairs, but gamble was the last class so I drove home cursing myself. He was a good boy, though, but DAMN IT!!!! That makes two easy gambles we haven't gotten. ACK!!!!! Glad the Nationals will only have a time gamble. Much easier. Sigh........

Yesterday rained all day, but during a mild break I put a tunnel at each end of the DW and ran him back and forth. Six reps with success each time. I will practice that set up all week to get some good reps in and MY confidence back that he can do that nicely. After Nationals I will challenge him again, but not before!!!!!

Our homework

2011-09-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

For Silvia's on line class was to teach the dogs to back up. Roscoe already knows that, but Spur is just learning.

I added Roscoe at the end of this clip. He's too much!! His reward? A half a summer squash I picked out of the garden. Crazy old man!!!

Some lovely photos from Helen!

2011-09-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

This one is my favorite!!!Doing his launch-flip trick!

I was impressed he did well with two people right in front of him with big cameras. He wooooooooooooofed at Helen's son Alex once, but then seemed to recover and do fine!

He is just SO cute!!!!
www.hpeppe.com

**Laura, Lance and Vito!!! I can't seem to post a comment on any blogs, even my own, that are blogger.com sites. How stupid is that?? Anyway, thanks as always for your kind words. And your Lance looks awesome in Utility!! What a fun class. Never did it because I won't put my Pin Heads in out of site stays, but they are trained through Utility and Colby LOVES her articles!!!

Lovely agility trial site!!!

2011-09-26T04:15:00.000-07:00

I like any place that has plenty of shade and LOTS of areas to off leash walk the dogs. This place was GREAT!!!!! LOVED it!!

It was very wet Saturday. So wet they put shavings down on the course and heavy along each side of the weaves. I wasn't sure what Spur would think, so I grabbed a handful and brought them to the practice jump. He thought they were SO wrong and avoided that spot like the plague. On course, he was slow, but recovered and by the time we got to the weaves he did GREAT!!!!

Both DW's were perfect, good little man. First one was tunnel to DW to table. Nice set up for him. Next day was big open run to DW with a lovely tunnel staring straight at him, but the course went 90 degrees to the right ending up 180 degree different direction. Good little buggar never even looked at the tunnel and read my decel perfectly!!!! Came in second only to our current National Champion. :D

I was asked by my Nationals teammate if I thought Spur was a contender at Nationals. I said, nah, he's just not that fast. But, you know, he is consistent. This weekend if the National Champion or my teammate with Race, a blazing fast sheltie, don't Q Spur wins. This is the second trial like that. If those dogs make any mistakes, Spur wins. If they run clean, we come in third. That is becoming pretty consistent. The only thing is often we are 5-10 seconds slower than either of those dogs. :O That's a LOT slower!! LOL!! Not sure even in a big indoor crowded noisy trial he will gain that much speed. Who knows? He sure likes those kinds of trials.

His outdoor performance is just not that fast, yet. Indoors he is much more comfortable. I guess we will find out soon enough.

A big bull!!

2011-09-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

And he had one thing on his tiny brain. Poor old girl. Goodness! It's like robbing the nursing home for crying out loud!!!!

They say the maples won't have much color this year. I think this section of woods will be OK and look pretty in a few days.

Here is another video of Spur's "experimenting". 80% which isn't so bad. And I REALLY like some of his hits. Deeper than ever.

Today we had two sessions. First one was about 70%, lots of experimenting. Second session was 100%, but I can tell he was tired. It was after our first session and after a long farm walk and after his dinner. About an hour after his dinner, but still I think he was tired. However, he was thoughtful and had some interesting hits. Experimenting.

Tomorrow and AKC trial. Damn it, supposed to rain. I am really getting sick of bad weather for outdoor trials. I mean, shit, this is fall in New England and supposed to be the ultimate in good weather. SHIT!

Mouse and a mouse?

2011-09-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Miss Mouse is getting more and more comfortable. Not sure why this photo is so blurry? Spur was not 10 feet from her, which does concern me a little. She is pretty comfortable with the dogs. Spur sure looks like a large fox. Also, I am a little concerned she is hard of hearing or even deaf. She sometimes seems like she doesn't know we are there and then spooks. Strange. She is still a tiny bit congested and on occasion sneezes, but she looks great!!
Betty had to go back to the vet's and the Friend's of Feral Felines took her into their sanctuary to try to get her healthy. I felt that my barn was too dark and cold for her to recover well and she was in no condition to release. Hopefully, we will see some sun soon and she can sunbath there. She may come back, or we may try another so long as it is vaccinated because I am sure Mouse is a carrier at this point. The vets are all saying this is a horrible year for respiratory diseases with these cats and some of the worst cases, ever. Certainly, Betty was the worst case I ever saw.Now for the mouse - caution - this is GROSS!!! Last night at dog class I kept smelling something icky. I was wondering if somehow a bag of poop made it into my car???? The smell was gross and I couldn't figure it out. None of the dogs had poop on them, I checked, you never know especially Spur sometimes some poo sticks to his britches. Nope, nothing.

Then, I spotted it!!!!

OMG - how absolutely disgusting!!! Poor thing, must have climbed into the tire and didn't escape before I started driving????? And how long had it been there? I think back now some of the dogs I walked the last couple of days had smelled that tire. I just figured I had run over some "road pizza". NO, I had a dead mouse IN my tire!!!! How strange is that?????

By the time I got home it was gone.

Huh, an "experimental" stage?

2011-09-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

That's what Silvia said Spur is going through. Geez, I send my entries to a big event, the USDAA Nationals, and Spur has to go through and experimental stage. Good news is he is doing that NOW and not during the event, right? Oi!

One issue going on in this video is the first session the hit-it boards were not stable and he started to avoid them. ACK! Poor little guy. The next session I put only the one on the very end with the thought I would HUGELY jackpot any hits that low. Never did, except going the other way without the hit-it board. Hmmmm.

What I found interesting watching these are the strange one hind foot strides he does. Some he does on the contact, other times his second stride on the down ramp. It's like his one foot just goes along for the ride? Strange. I have noticed he has done that before. It's just an odd thing, almost like he is really heavy on the forehand and using his front to travel. I know he has to make adjustments and that may be one way. His power from one hind is slightly less than the power with two hind, but still it's a little odd?

Fleas?? Really!

2011-09-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

So, my mom came for a visit with Joe, her dog. She has been having trouble with fleas as many people have this year. What can I say........no Joe can't come? I mean, seriously, I walk with dogs I know have fleas, I stay in hotel rooms with dogs I know have fleas, I work and walk dogs for a living who I know have fleas. It's just part of having dogs. But, I refuse to let them take over this house, so....................I worked till exhausted yesterday making the best effort I possibly could to stop that from happening. Spur got a bath and after he was dry I applied Advantix. The Pin Heads got Advantix. Everyone is telling me that's the product this year for fleas. It's tick season again, so it was time for something.

I vacuumed. Put a bit of flea collar in my bag and I vacuumed and vacuuumed and vacuuuuuuuuumed. I did the WHOLE house, under the beds and couches and chairs. I washed all the dog bedding that is washable. I washed the throws and comforters. I washed the sheets.

I refuse to let fleas take over this house!!! I will vacuum every other day this week with a fresh bit of flea collar. I am determined. We have been very lucky here and have not had fleas, so I am determined. I may be exhausted, but I refuse to have fleas.

It is all so interesting!

2011-09-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting session with Spur. It seems he needs to learn to work into “nothing”. The leap at the trial was basically into nothing, into an open corner of the ring and the next obstacle was off a bit, a chute, but the whole corner was empty of obstacles.

Yesterday’s session I ran him into “nothing”. Big open field out ahead. At first I placed a chute barrel, no fabric, about 20 meters out. Going back towards the house and into the course he was fine, but lots of leaps going into “nothing”. What is not on this movie are two more reps at the end where he was deep in with three strides and definitely into nothing I removed the chute barrel after the break, but they came out so blurry I deleted them. So, at the end of this session he did do three reps deep in the contact. I guess I need to do some more sessions like this with him going into “nothing”?

Thing is it almost seems uncomfortable when he leaps. He lands pretty hard and if he would just keep running normally I think he would hit the contact low. I wonder if he thinks higher up is his only option? It's curious. Waiting to hear what Silvia thinks.

Trouble on the horizon? I think not!

2011-09-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

Trouble was not "on the horizon". Trouble was right there in their laps! GEORGE!!! Does he look like trouble? The other day during our walk he was on leash, as he usually is........because he is trouble.......and he starts sniffing and racing back and forth by the stream. Kathy lets the leash out some and down he goes into the thick brush. Ooops........I smell it immediately and start to yell.......OOOOOOOOhhhhhhh NOOOOOOOO!!! She pulls him back, yep skunked. He gets into trouble even when ON LEASH!!! LOL!!!

Been a busy couple of days around here. Little feral Mouse was getting really antsy to get out of her cage. So, she was no longer having sneezing fits, just a tiny bit congested and I thought it would be best to let her go. Being confined may just be prolonging the cold and the stress might be making things worse. Out she went. That night she found her way to the loft!!! Amazing, she figured that out so quickly, but Leta may have shown her the way. She is now down, eating on the grain bit, hanging around. I can't believe how comfortable she seems!!! I can get quite close to her!!!!

She still sounds like Darth Vadar, but she seems OK. Betty, on the other hand, while no longer neurological is STILL quite sick. Goopy eyes, sneezing, congested. It has been over a MONTH!!!!! OI!!!!

Ut oh, trouble on the horizon!!

2011-09-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

That's what Nate said to Kathy when he saw us walking. Lisa came over for the first time in.......weeks? And we took a nice farm walk. Before doing that, though, I asked for her good videoing help. Spur did four lovely DW's at the trial Saturday, but one he LEAPED............gasp. That is only the second time since we have a finished product. So to speak. The first time was that blind cross I tried to sneak in and took him by surprise.

He also leaped his a-frame which he has NEVER done even in practice. :O Oh my!!!! So, I decided since Lisa was coming we might get as much excitement as at a trial. It worked, he was PRETTY excited. And this is the result..........

Wow, how interesting!! Just about a week before I had my friend and trainer over for a quick visit and she watched him run his DW perfectly about 8 times. I did that because I needed to get back his speed after doing turns. It was perfect, every time. Now this!!! Yikes!

I sent it to Silvia. Her answer was basically that since it is really hard for him with three stride and nearly impossible with two that I may need to do more maintenance than most. Oh great. Love that. I just recently commented on a group list that RDW's were maintenance free. It seemed they were, until this weekend!!! Oi! Of course I have to have a dog with an "in between" stride. Two stride isn't enough, three is too many. But, he has been able to adjust with three strides pretty well, so we just need to do a few refreshers, I guess.

Or, she said we could lower the DW and really push for MORE speed and try for two. But, with the Nationals coming up next month that seems risky. So, for now back to as it was and doing a few sessions to refresh things.

After our session we headed to the farm. Nate saw us from the window and said to Kathy "Trouble on the horizon". Hahahahahaha!! Yep, that would be us, "trouble". So, out they came on the golf cart to meet up and Kathy and George joined us the rest of the walk. The pack, almost intact. Minus Colby who is still on lock down to try to heal her sore back. Poor thing. She stays home with a stuffed Kong.

Yay, this seems to be working!

2011-09-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

Colby appears to be feeling much better. I wasn't totally convinced that stopping her farm walks would be a good idea as she had seemed better after them. But, it appears the vet was right. She has not had any walks for two weeks and is down to her prednisone once/day and seems so much better. She has once jumped off the bed, bad dog. OK, bad ME! But, in a way that's a good sign as she wasn't wanting to do that before.

I just have to be a bit more careful and make SURE she doesn't jump off the bed. She has also resigned to her fate. I can give her a Kong and leave her now and take the boys. That's cool, as I was on occasion if Rich wasn't home to babysit leaving poor Roscoe home with her. Of course, he was happy to have his Kong, but he sure loves his walks.

Trying a new strategy with Spur's table. I did some shaping work, no cue word at all. I brought him to the table and just waited. No down and I would toss him off. He leaped back on and if no down he got pushed off. Finally, he offered a down - CLICK and BIG jackpot!!! Tossed a treat off, then again he jumped back on and if he didn't immediately go down I pushed him off. We played this for a bit.

This morning I didn't say anything and stood there and he offered his down. :D I can't say it is lightening fast, but it's faster than it was. Trying to decide if I use a cue word and change it. I was saying DOWN and I can change it to FLAT. Or just nothing at all and wait him out. I am pretty sure in the heat of a trial I will say something. I know myself that well. But, I am going to try like heck to be really relaxed about it. Right now I am totally relaxed doing the training. I just stand there all relaxed and wait. It seems to be working. Time will tell. Today I will bring out different treats. High powered ones for the down and boring Charlee Bears for tossing off.

The table has been costing us precious seconds in USDAA. Thank goodness for AKC's positionless table. The count starts as soon as all four feet hit the table. They must stay on it, but they can stand, move around, down, sit, whatever. Of course, since we do so much USDAA I will be asking for a down, always. But, a slow down doesn't cost us anything.

You steal the sunflowers????

2011-09-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

Remember the sunflower fields? Well, they are quickly developing and going "to seed". That's the point! The seed will be harvested and made into sunflower oil. OK, so apparently some people feel they can march right onto the farm and pick them before they go to seed. Um......HELLOOOOOOOOO..........first of all - this is private property! Someone OWNS this land, my friends The Maxwell's, and this is their CROP! These plants were not planted in huge fields for your veiwing pleasure or for free picking. I just can't imagine that???? What goes through their heads???

Nick got off his tedder and spoke to this one lady. She said the flowers were "dying" and she wanted to pick them before they died. He was livid!!! He kicked her off the private property!!! And made a nice little sign saying to STAY OUT! People feel entitled and I don't get that??????

Over at the community garden next to the sunflower field folks are growing ENORMOUS sunflowers. No one has just marched in and picked them. They are amazing!!

Can you imagine growing this only to find some stranger marching in and picking it because it is "dying". Who does such a thing?????? It makes me INSANE. People are so thoughtless sometimes.

On a lighter note, take a look at this little fellow!!! Very cool little garden creature.

Nothin' like a good worm roll!

2011-09-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

A lovely way to get one's back in alignment again!!! :D Roscoe had just finished and now it was Spur's turn. I didn't have my camera ready for Roscoe. Colby took a turn, too, but she was always turned away from me and I was reclining on the chaise lounge and too lazy to change locations!!!! It was Labor day after all and I was NOT about to labor any!!!
Notice the foamy drool?....

USDAA trial report!

2011-09-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no video. I couldn't get anyone to do that for me, although I didn't try too hard. Kate videoed a couple times, but then we both realised she used someone else's camera!! LOL!! How funny is that? That person will be wondering what the heck!?

This was Spur's first outdoor trial in a while and he was a little out of sorts. Kind of sniffy at one point and slower than his norm lately. He did better in Snooker and we had an awesome run going, surely a Super Q which he needs, but I didn't support # 4 and.....TWEEET.....we only ended up with 35 points. You need 37 to Q. Darn it!!! He qualified in Steeplechase, but was kind of slow for a third place since I am a LOSER and missed my walk through and only got to see five dogs run ahead of us before running it cold. But, he Q'd and ran OK.

Sunday was better, but WICKED hot and humid. He wasn't super fast in Standard, but it was a very hard course and he nailed it for a win! None of the other 12" dogs Q'd. Then he ran really well in Grand Prix for a Q and a win! Again, none of the other 12" dogs Q'd. It wasn't that hard a course and we did a Jenny Damm move! She was there trialing after doing a week of seminars and I saw her coaching my friend Mary. It was a rear and then blind that worked perfectly to get a tight turn and not open up the off course tunnel. Spur loves blinds and we did five on that course, one being that cool Jenny Damm move. I introduced myself to her on Saturday and she was funny, looking at Spur she says......."What's that?"...and everyone chuckled. I said probably a pap/aussie and everyone agreed. He flipped up his papillon ears!

We ran a very nice Steeplechase finals but again a third place. Super fast Race and Sparkle beat us. By several seconds!

Last run was Jumpers and he won it and Q'd, but seemed very tired and slow. It was really hot.

My take on the weekend is that Spur likes loud, crowded indoor trials SO much better. I hope it's really loud and crowded at the Nationals.

**Laura, Lance and Vito - I have decided, with Silvia's suggestion, to stop working turns. She thinks he is too much like her Bu and worries and will end up slowing down if we work on them too much. She said with some dogs like Spur and Bu turns just get better without any training. She suggested I keep working curves, since he is higher on curves and try to get deeper hits with those, but stop working turns. I think that's a good plan!!!! We did some straight exits Friday and he got his speed back and was deep and awesome!! YAY! Perfect at the trial! :D

Working turns with Spur

2011-09-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

After reviewing the video I see that placing the "stick" farther out actually made him worse? It looked better at first, but that's when he was going slow. He worries some with new stuff and is slower because of that. Silvia wanted to see if we could get him deeper on the flat as he was VERY high on the full DW. Not sure it is much better. Some, but the trouble is I really can't see his hits from my position very well. Hard to see how deep he is. From the camera angle it's easy to see. :P

His pivoting is so cute. He sure enjoys it. Not as psycho as Rock Star Roscoe, who can't possibly pivot because that's just too slow. He ends up whipping around in a circle, front feet come off the platform, he's just NUTS. Spur is way more thoughtful.

He sure looks HUGE in the pivoting part, A? I mean, shit, he's only 14lbs.

Wow, Spur-de-Blur!

2011-08-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

So, finally able to check the full results and Spur's standard time was beat only by three big, VERY fast dogs!! I can't even believe I am comparing him to dogs like that!!!! WAY TO GO Spurminator!!! He ROCKED! SO cool! He is definitely ready for Nationals! :D

We lost cable during that storm and it is amazing how lost I was without internet. I can live without power, but not internet. GASP! I had to drive to the town hall and sit in the parking lot using their WiFi. How sad is that???

I was going through my photos and found these I took while walking Wylie. This rock wall garden is FABULOUS!! Absolutely totally cool...........

Those are called "Hens and Chickens". Not really sure why?
Don't look like hens or chickens to me? And aren't hens and chickens ultimately the same thing?
It is simply so pretty!!
Poor little Mouse and Pebbles. They STILL have colds! I asked the vet about it and she said to just let it run it's course. Sometimes it takes a while. I have pulled back more of their cover, so they can look out more. They are getting braver, but Mouse still HISSES at me everything I reach in to clean the cage. Pebbles is more affected by the cold, she sounds like Darth Vadar with her breathing. :( And her eyes are a little icky. Poor thing, but both are bright and alert and eating well!! They are just BORED to no end! They don't try to escape, though. Happy enough I guess to have shelter and food?

Another Double-Q for Spur-de-Blur at the AKC trial!

2011-08-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have to RUN MY ASS off to get in a front cross so he didn't take the tunnel after the jump after the DW, but I did it. I can RUN when I put my mind to it!! :D Tunnel after a DW is how we train, so that could have been an issue. What I really like about this run is even with that front cross he still charges into his poles. He has always been thoughtful and careful, often slowing to a trot to get his pole entry. Not so this day!! He pretty well charges into them in his JWW run, too.

Placed 3rd in JWW out of 22 dogs and I THINK he won his standard class. I left as soon as it was done, but it was a SMOKIN' run! 42.05 seconds, which some big FAST dog probably beat, but I don't think anyone in the 12" class beat. It was a challenging course, lots of dogs took the tire at the end of the run as it was tough getting a tight turn to that last jump. Many did a nice back cross, but some drove their back cross too much and still got the tire. Spur went a little wide, but he made it!!!

Standard -

JWW -

Again, he was the only mixed breed dog there. Good little Monkey Pants! He was SO happy and fast!!

OK, so now my bitch. My friend filmed me, she actually offered.and that's nice. But, when I asked her to zoom in she said I would have to ask someone else as she didn't have her glasses on. Um.....what???? Why is filming so hard??? You aim the camera at the movement in the room and you got it!! You really don't even have to look through the camera. You can't miss US!!! It's one big room and we are the only thing out there moving. Just aim generally at us and you got it!!!! Nope, can't do it, she was firm about it, so I gave up. I didn't have time to instruct anyone else on turning the thing on and zooming. It just seems SO simple to me??????

Kitties and dogs and........more SUNFLOWERS!

2011-08-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

The poor feral girls still have colds. It's bumming me out! Their release date would be Sunday, but with the hurricane coming I sure won't let them out during that. But, I won't let them out if they STILL have colds. They should be over them by now, it's been over 10 days. Ugh......but, they are getting braver and actually eat in my presence now. They still hiss at me when I reach in to clean their cage.

This patch of sunflowers is the other field. It's just amazing! I am worried, though, how they will do with Irene. ????
Headed out for our walk the other day and Mr. Foxie was chowing on corn. Didn't even look up when I yelled. I made sure the dogs didn't see him/her.

Trimmed Spur's belly fur. He splashes on it when he pees, so I decided to just trim away. Kind of over-did it a little, but it is growing out and looking better. Sure defines him better, handsome boy. Squinting in the low sunlight.

There is something about Roscoe's ears when he runs. Can they BE any CUTER???? He's such a dork when he runs. No aerodynamics about Roscoe!

**Laura, Lance and Vito!! Since I can't seem to post comment on blogs these days, I'll reply here and hope you see it. Ran three DW's last night in class and Spur was as perfect as could be. Go figure. Silvia suggested I try the 180 turns on a FLAT plank and see if I can get him deeper there. And then maybe move the stick a little out from the end of the DW and see what happens.

What happens to time in August?

2011-08-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Will it get better in September? I don't know. I am SO far behind. Maybe I just need a bitch session.
Maybe that's not the right thing to do.
I mean every time I try to train Roscoe to stop barking, it never works. Like an uphill battle. Like a train out of control. I just quit. I can't ever get that to work.
I do want to fix things and that's really hard. How does one fix so many things? Pebbles, the new feral kitty, STILL has a snotty nose and eyes. I can't release a sick kitty!!! OI!
Colby is better on prednisone. Oh, you didn't know she wasn't well? See, it's been that long since I updated anything here. She has been sore in her lower back. Not doing stairs well, but doing flat out running OK. She is better once warmed up. We tried nsaids and cold laser, but they didn't work. Drugs, good ole powerful steriods and she is MUCH better. We have an appointment with the neurologist Friday.
Little Leta feral kitty smashed her canine tooth. Had to go to the vet to have that removed and the shards taken out of her gums, poor thing. She ate that night. Must have hurt BAD!
Back to dog shows. This weekend AKC so long as the hurricane doesn't interrupt our travel.
Training turns with Spur, which has weakened his dog walk some. Missed it or nearly missed it last night in class. Silvia said that might happen, but would eventually get better and better as they figure out all options. OK, but it's still pretty scary to see the misses or near misses. Hard to see with little Spur.
I think everyone has been notified about me going to the Nationals. DAMN, that is tough. I have a lot of people to notify and find dog walk coverage for. Not everyone got coverage, but as a self employed sole proprietor it's just something my clients have to deal with. I need time off like everyone else.
Is life good??? YES, it sure it, but it sure is packed full.
August - as a farm kid it was my least favorite month. Too much to do. Crops to harvest, hot sticky weather, tourist to deal with and winter to start thinking about. August can be my least favorite month. My head starts to spin and sometimes I am happy to day goodbye to August.

Wow, whirlwind time of year!

2011-08-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Bill just managed to get three teenagers up and out of the house by 6:30. That after going to bed at midnight. I am seriously impressed. I didn't think he could do it! What a crazy weekend!!! Family, family, family and it was all GREAT fun. Friday out on the boat swimming in the river, racing the thunderstorm back to the dock. Dinner and a movie at home with Bill and the three kids. OMG, three teenagers can sure invade a house in no time!! More boating and activity and then a huge lobster dinner and party with bonfire and gifts!! Craziness!!!! The Carlson's are a loud and active family!!!

The girls were adorable, but WAY too much eye liner. What's up with that? I told Sarah it made her look tired, the thick black liner on her lower lid, and she should try it just on the top lid. She didn't do that. It was applied even thicker. I am not good at parenting, I guess.

Bill rocks! He got those teenagers up and out of the house by 6:30!!! I am still in awe. I mean, you should have seen their bedrooms!!!!! Rich said he made them pack up last night. Good parent. He seriously rocks. Lost a ton of weight and looks like Mr. CT again. Amazing!! He puts in a lot of hard work and he gave me crap for my 1.2 mile jog. Which I admitted I haven't done much in the last three weeks. MUST do, I know it helps me a LOT. Gasped at agility class last week after my runs. Damn.........IT!!! No one is going to be calling me Miss Maine, but I can do better and get back to my jogs (I do NOT run) and improve my "gasping" after agility runs. MUST get back to it, since we are going all the way to KY to kiss some agility ass!! No gasping in KY!!!

Rich took the kids flying in the morning. Bill and I went to photograph the sunflowers. He brought his camera in a back pack. Really!!! I put mine in my pocket. I haven't seen his, yet, but I have to say mine came out pretty good for a pocket camera that didn't need a back pack!!!! They are looking INCREDIBLE right now!! Seriously amazing.............

Roscoe is wearing his Red Sox bandanna so the kids know which dog not to touch. Spur was rolling in shit and rodent guts (seriously, like pink innards were stuck to his fur and shit was all over his back!!!), which is why HE isn't in this photo, he's off rolling in something while I am not paying attention - MUST pay attention to Spur. Ended up having to bathe him when we got home. Damn IT!!!

They seem to take on a life of their own. Like happy faces having a conversation with the world. They make you FEEL happy!!!

Some of them are a little beaten down from the rain. The petals took a wet beating.

Finally found the other photo of the new kitty. Meet Pebbles. She has a wee cold, due to being housed with nearly 100 cats. She is still snotty and I hope it clears up by next week when they can be released.

Miss Mouse again. She hisses at me every time I reach in to feed or clean them. These two appear to be the MOST feral kitties I have ever gotten. Really unsocial. :( I hope they come around.

We had another baby over on the farm last week. Meet Sunflower!!!
Whoops, just realised that isn't Sunflower, that's Beacon. Hmmm, where are my baby Sunflower photos???

So, there is now Bunny, Beacon and Sunflower. It's been a busy few weeks around here!!!

I am enjoying the peace and quiet now. Downloaded my first e-book. Started reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". SO interesting!! About a black woman in the 50's who had cervical cancer and they harvested her cells and the cells grew and grew and grew and from what I believe are still alive today!!! Helping research in so many ways. Very interesting book!!

August, WOW!

2011-08-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

It is the busiest, craziest month. Family visiting, birthdays GALORE, and tons to do outside. It's nuts, August. No dog shows until the end of the month, but I did make the big leap and entered Spur at The Nationals. Our team name is......"Spurred into the Race". He is teaming with a dog named Race!!! :D

I put my order in for two feral kitties. They recently had to big hoarder cases. One with 50 cats and the other with 100. Not sure which one these girls came from, but they are pretty frightened. I also don't know WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER PHOTO????? My dinosaur computer is not being nice to me!!! Anyway, this one I might name Mouse. She has a pointy nose and kind of looks "mousey". LOL!! The other one Rich named Pebbles. In the mind set of my new car which reminds everyone of a Flintstone vehicle. Hahahahaha!!
They will stay in the crate for two weeks to acclimate. They each have a tiny cat crate inside the big wire dog crate which is set up by the grain bin and where we feed Leta. They are tiny girls!! Probably only about 5 months old, poor frightened little things. So, if you don't see me here much it is because we are BUSY. In-laws just left, now I have to wash sheets and get ready for the next crew. Three teenagers and brother Bill! All fun, we love family, so it's all fun, but it does leave me with little time. And on top of that I have a work load FULL!!!!!

OH my gosh, what do I do????

2011-08-11T04:32:00.000-07:00

Spur and I have just been asked to team with a very competitive team. Like I was shocked she asked ME....and SPUR. I know he has been doing well, but really, just recently. He's still quite a work in progress. There are a lot of more consistent and competitive teams out there. This is a young dog, but the handler is VERY experienced and this dog is well trained. Super fast. I don't know what to do.

Here's the deal. It means about 10 days away from home because it is a five day even with two days of travel each way. It's in Louisville KY!!! I have a ride and room to share with my good friend, so that's not an issue. Rich is supportive, so that's all cool. He would have to tend to the Pin Heads and horses. He's never had to do that for that long, but he's totally capable.

Probably my biggest hesitation is the dust (and two days travel - think numb butt/leg....ugh!). I heard the dust was pretty bad last year. I get headaches in dusty arenas. But, I can probably deal. Spur is probably ready although not a lot of experience on dirt. What do I DO?????

There is also the issue of covering for my dog walks. But, I have to take time off and people have to deal. It's tough, though, getting all that figured out.

Young hawk!

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hangs around the compost pile. Peeps for it's parent to feed it. The parent is significantly smaller. Any ideas what kind of hawk? It's pretty big, like over a foot from head to tip of tail.Happy Flowers!!! Makes you smile!

Spur's very first double Q and a nice one at that!

2011-08-08T03:34:00.000-07:00

Did another AKC trial, just the one day. GREAT trial, they run it SO well. Do all the Excellent runs first, starting with Jumpers, then Standard. So, we are done before noon!!! FREAKIN' awesome! Spur's Jumpers was fine, not super fast, but clean. His first run of the day is never his fastest. That's why USDAA suits him so well, the more runs the better he gets! But, it was still good enough for a fourth place from a very large 12" class. Largest class of the trial. And he was the ONLY mixed breed dog there! He ROCKED it!!!

His Standard was SMOKIN' for a third place and only by hundreds of a second! :D Good Little Monkey Pants!!! The crowd went nuts!! He has SUCH a big fan club! Just getting to the line is fun. He greats all his fans and they all pump him up. GREAT fun!!!! His dog walk hit was a little high because he did a 2-3-2 stride, but he got it. Barely. :P I really must instruct my people to zoom.

Was home by 2:00 and had a nice long farm walk. Just a perfect way to have a trial!

Saturday we worked on turns after the DW. Silvia wants front feet hits only now, so they land with hind feet to make a tight turn. Spur is hitting with both front and back, but always landing front first. I think his turns look fine, though, and to be pickier seems unnecessary. I sent her this video for review.

Progressive flowers!

2011-08-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

**First, Colby's vet report -
Sore lower back. She totally reacted during manipulation right at that spot. Nothing else caused that reaction, so we are trying some cold laser and Metacam. She seems a LITTLE better today.

OK, now for the flowers. The farm is growing sunflowers for restaurants to use the oil. Then, I guess, it will be recycled as biofuel. It has been VERY fun watching them develop. This is a HUGE field that was planted!!Last week the heads were really developed.One lone flower opened up.

Until today!!!! A whole bunch along the edge have opened!!! It is going to be SO pretty when they all bloom. They are all at different stages, I guess because of the soil, the moisture, whatever.

Just phenomenally pretty!!! The bees are very happy!!!

Colby's lame, or sore?

2011-08-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

Her spring time snap test was a "weak positive". At that time, not lame. Now, she has been slowly looking lame. I brought her in for a C6 and it came back negative. Low score. Hmmm, that seems odd. To have a weak positive snap and a negative C6?

She seemed better. Now she's worse. Was just in the morning and after our walk and during the day better. Last few days, even in the afternoon she is sore. She hesitates to jump on the couch, walk the three steps to the back yard. She runs in the fields and woods OK, but there are chippies, you know!

We have a vet appointment today. I hate to doubt the lab test, but it sure seems lyme-like. Last night it was a front leg. The other day a back leg. Most often just seems like over all sore.

Maybe it's just arthritis.

What did Spur get for his birthday?

2011-08-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

A new frisbee, of course!!! His old one is about to disintegrate!!! It no longer has the plastic supports that make it solid and "floppy", so it's basically just a rag at this point!!! He is SO happy!! Although, the old one made him just as happy, really. :P Jazz is fitting right in. Look at him deep in the lean-to, not worried about the girls.

He just blends right in! Can you tell which one is Jazz?

I tried to get all three horses and all three dogs in a photo with my garden, but just couldn't do it. Still, what a nice shot, A? We think about selling and building a smaller house and then we see this and it's hard to think we can ever replicate it.

Happy Birthday Spur-Minator, Spur Man, Spur de Blur, Mr. Monkey Pants!!!

2011-08-01T05:25:00.001-07:00

These went in the wrong order, so try scrolling from the bottom up to get a better time sequence!! These are some of my favorite photos of the little guy!!

Spur de Blur!!!!

Thanks Joy Elliot for this lovely shot!!!!

Helen Peppe took this one. He stole BAM!'s ball!!

Helen Peppe took this one, too!

And this one.....

Nice tail!!! :P

Just home for Christmas!!!

At the Bishop Street shelter. Poor little munchin. :(

Hard to believe he is four years old. Where does the time go? I still call him Baby Spur! I think he will always be our baby until we get one younger. He's still a baby compared to the Pin Heads, for sure. He is the sweetest and most charming dog we have ever had. Just a pleasure! I love him so much!!!

Pretty, pretty!!!

2011-07-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

The Liatris (sp?) has really spread!!!

Nothing says summer like sunflowers!!!

My little vegetable garden. Roscoe is waiting for me to pick him some green beans!

I bought this verbena plant as a very sad look sale special that was almost dead. Wow!! Look at it NOW!!!! It is SO happy!!

Love my flowers this time of year! I spent my day just being among them yesterday!!! :D

Meet Jazz!

2011-07-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

She says he isn't fat. Um.....really??? I think he's pretty FAT! She wants to put even more weight on him. I can't understand that, unless he loses so much in the winter months. That would happen with Gabe. He sure looks fat to me right now.
He reminds me so much of Gabe. Just a nice ole fella!!! Mellow, easy going, no fuss, a gentleman!

The girls are IN LOVE! Jewel first, she went instantly into heat. He's gelded, but whatever, he's a HE! LOL!! Precious didn't like him at first because Jewel liked him so much, but now I see/hear her flirting with him. Goodness, mare flirting can sound so crazy!!!! We are very happy to have him here!!! Hopefully, he will live out his days here.

Spur de Blur and Roscoe is just old!

2011-07-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

I calculated Spur's super fast Jumper's time from last Saturday and he was 5 yards/second. That's pretty fast! I mean, we are talking Spur here. Little wring his paws puppymill bust dog who I had to beg to do agility!!

He really was Spur de Blur!!!! :D

Roscoe's blood work came back all good. He's just old. We will continue training, but his competition career may be over. He's just not that into it and it costs too much money. He will still do classes and an occasional seminar run here and there as long as he is happy and into it!

All clear!

2011-07-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Roscoe's blood panel came back perfect. So, his aging is just that......aging. Nothing more to worry about, which is nice to know. :D He is an old man and I have to accept that. He sure wasn't pleased with his vet visit. Vet tried to clean one waxy ear. I told her I never clean his ears. They never look dirty. She did just that one and.......OH MY.......the drama!! She then said she sees why I don't clean his ears. LOL!!! Again, she had more new girls there. It makes me NUTS. She so badly needs an office manager. All the other vets have left, for what ever reason, I don't know. It's kind of unnerving. But, she gives me a nice discount, just cuz. She and I go way back and she does treat me well. I totally trust HER, I just hate the turn over of office help there. Oi!!!

Made a movie of Spur's contacts at the trial last weekend. He sure isn't as fast as in training, but I do like how he is adjusting. And I LOVE how he turns so tight into the tunnel off the dog walk. We have not trained that, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did!!! Good Little Monkey Pants!!! Love the two strided down. I also notice he has learned he doesn't need to jump the apex's, he can run along them and that makes for easier stride adjustments, I think. He is SO figuring it out on his own!!!

Another small trial!

2011-07-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

NO videos, damn it! He had one of his best Jumpers runs EVAH!! A 23+ second run, beating all the dog's times! Amazing!!!! He won his PGP and got his fifth pairs leg with a good friend. It was a very fun trial. So small we did SIX runs by 3:00!! My kind of trial!!!! Spur loved it!!

Roscoe may have run his last run. I have scratched him from all other trials. He just isn't running that well and I am starting to suspect he may be older than 12. Goodness, I can't believe I may be running a dog nearly 14? But, it sure is possible. He hasn't been that into it at trials. Still crazy, nutty, super high and super fun in class and seminars, but losing some steam. Tomorrow morning we go in for a full blood panel. Haven't done that in two years and I feel bad about that, but he is always so healthy. Colby is the one that always needs some medical care.

I just feel he isn't into it at trials at all any more. He used to be hot or cold, but now it's just cold, it seems. So, maybe that was his last trial run. We will see. Maybe some pairs runs where he can run second. He always likes those where he has to wait while the first dog runs. Go figure, but waiting at the start always makes him a little nutty.

So glad the heat is gone. That really is just plain miserable for me. The flies LOVE the heat and the poor horses are miserable. Fly spray works for about five minutes. Then it dries and the flies bite again. Tonight, nice and cool.

Had a lady over today who wants to bring her old gelding here. YAY!! We LOVE the old geldings!! I hope it works out.

Videos are loading!

2011-07-20T17:52:00.001-07:00

This first one is PIII Standard. He had a tunnel sucking issue. Took the red tunnel TWICE after the table when he was supposed to do the dog walk. Nice dog walk Spurminator!!! Two strided down! WOW!! His norm is a three strided down, so it's cool he is adjusting and getting it in different strides.

I know, I know, hard to see the tiny black dot. I really must get people to zoom in. He sure looks happy, though, doesn't he? He had a GREAT time at that trial. And never tired. He would have happily done the last run on Sunday, but I was tired. He has amazing stamina!!!!

Performance Grand Prix -

We had a few bobbles, but he was having a blast!!

Performance Speed Jumping first round -

We placed second to Blink, the super fast sheltie run by John Nyes (think World Team sheltie Rush! John runs Rush).

Performance Speed Jumping finals -

I love how our fans cheer us on! Very exciting and fun!! Spur LOVED it!!! Again, he was second to Blink, BUT only by 2.5 seconds. He has been consistently 4-5 seconds slower than Blink, but not this run!!! :D Good Little Monkey Pants!

Laura! Blogger won't let me post a reply to your comment for some stupid reason. Here is my reply - Laura, I think because of the stationary start he does a three strided up. He normally does 2-3-3. So, he his last third stride on the top ramp was nearly on top of the second apex, he was farther down starting his first stride down and he second got him deep in. :D

still no computer!!

2011-07-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

I am always amzed at how much I miss it. Actually, right now it's all about my obsession with running dog walks!! I want to make a movie of Spur's DW's from the trial. I watched them in the TV and he has some unusual striding. I am simply amazed at how he is adjusting and still hitting the contact so nicely!! And he is ever so slowly getting faster. Does that make sense? "Slowly getting faster"? LOL!!

Have I mentioned I am obsessed???? I think It must be a high of some sort. Like a drug I am addicted to it. I don't feel bad about that. I could be addicted to drugs or alcohol or jewelry or shoes, maybe chocolate, but no I am addicted to RDW training.

There were two dogs at the trial with SICK fast RDW's, but they were not consistent. I wanted to ask how they trained them, but never did. It will be curious if Spur stays as consistent as he gains confidence and speed. Silvia says it will only get better. I am seeing that lately, but it is hard to believe. His usual striding has been 2-3-3 and a couple ovet the weekend were 2-3-2, which is amazing!!!

I WANT MY COMPUTER BACK!!!!

I'm BACK!!

2011-07-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT three day USDAA trial at BARK in RI!!! spur was faster than ever and had the nicest running contacts!! Not the best Q rate because of my poor handling as I am getting used to this new speed!!!

It was awesome hearing all the nice compliments!! I haven't had time to load the videos, but hopefully will get that done tomorrow.

He placed second in PSJ only to Blink, the super fast sheltie run by the guy who runs a world team dog, so that felt good. Spur has consistently been 4-5 seconds slower than Blink, but yesterday's run was only 2.5 seconds slower!!!

More tomorrow as I have no computer and am trying to do this on my new IPad and it is very hard to learn!!

Where am I?

2011-07-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation!!! Have been since my last post!! YAY!! Two FULL weeks off!! What am I doing? Well, a ton of stuff, packed full two weeks. Last week I visited with my highschool best friend!! She lives in TX, so that was wicked fun! Took her out for a boat ride with her new guy and then out for a nice dinner in town. Awesome! Then a visit home to see my mom. Wonderful visit and watched the Castine fireworks, which were awesome. Lots of crazy shapes! Hearts, figure 8's, smiley faces, very unique fireworks!!! Ate fried squid at the local lunch spot. Yum!!!

Last week I took photos of the "Sunflower project". They have planted huge fields of sunflowers for sunflower oil which will be used by restaurants, then recycled into biofuel. How cool is that?? AND, just imagine how pretty this is going to be when they bloom.......

Enjoy this week. If you like heat today is for you. If you don't, well......you are complaining like me. >:/ NOT my favorite weather. I am sitting inside with a fan on and posting on my blog. LOL!!! But, I will settle down to another book. Just finished "Tails of an African Vet" that my dad gave me for my birthday. Fun little book.

So, I may not post again for a while. I am off on Thursday for three days of BARK trial. YAY!!! Climate controlled building with awesome field turf and the dogs love it. Great hotel, fun friends, should be an awesome time. Spur loves it there. I leave you with a cool photo. Did you know Rosa Regosa petals are heart shaped? -

Second day AKC trial report

2011-07-03T14:44:00.001-07:00

Love, love, LOVE this trial! They run all excellent runs first, so we were done by noon!!!! That is so awesome for me, as a morning person I get my agility trial done, then head home for a nice long walk and get stuff done around the house, too!!

Roscoe was again just OK. He at least got all of FIVE MACH points in JWW today. Missed his weave entry in standard, strange thing. Both dogs did. I think the weaves were hard to see with the pattern of the wall perhaps? You will see in Spur's video here that it seems like he simply didn't see them. He had already NQ's after the teeter by taking the chute instead of going to the table, so when he did do the weaves I tried a fancy blind cross after. We practice that, but I am never brave enough to do it at a trial. Worked great!

Spur had another awesome day, looking HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY and showing off for all his fans and he has a LOT of fans!!!! He had a blast!!!

AKC trial report!

2011-07-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Roscoe was still kind of down, even for indoors. So much so that he barely made time and got all of ONE MACH point. :O But, two hours after that he ROCKED his standard, but called for a refusal at the tunnel because he went past it some before going in. DARN! Go figure, I have no idea his mind set and why so down in JWW and so up in standard??

Spur missed his weave entry in JWW, not really sure why. Hard entry and I probably applied too much pressure because he went past them and entered wrong, but otherwise ran great. Then he FREAKIN’ ROCKED his standard for a fourth place out of 28 12” dogs!! He was beat only by some WICKED fast dogs. His time was 44.12, which is a really nice time! I TOTALLY got in his way on my blind after the a-frame. Doi! He was going faster than I expected. His teeter was iffy, I really need to make sure he rides it all the way down. That would have been a fair fly off call, had she called it.

He was the ONLY mixed breed there today! :D Very proud of my little mutt!!

I can see myself with a staffy some day!

2011-06-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is Stan!Ebony's Wicked Sharp Tool. Stanley, for short. Great name, A?
He has a small wee wee for a bruiser of a dog. We LOFF Stan, the Man!! He was visiting at the agility show last weekend. He used to do agility. He was a top Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the country at agility. Now he does tricks. He has a back issue. He is a COOL dog! So friendly and funny. And powerful. His sisters now do agility. Eddie and Halle. I didn't get photos of them.

I love that you can feel their warmth through their thin coats. I love their huge smiles. I love their powerful bodies. I could see myself with a staffy some day. His sister Eddie is a top staffy in agility right now. In the country!!! Halle is just starting her career. These are our fellow students in Wednesday night class.