The drumming challenge!!

My favorite dog trainer, Silvia Trkman, has put out a challenge to teach your dogs to drum!! Roscoe got it in no time!! He LOVES to drum!!! LOL!! It so feeds into his frantic hyperactivity!! Notice he adds some singing? I tried adding the tambourine, but he seems to prefer to drum.

OK, so here is the deal. Please click to "watch on YouTube" and then click the "like" button. If we get enough likes I win a free DVD!! And please pass along the link to your friends so they can "like" it, too!!! I have until June 5th, so I will be bugging you all for more "likes"!!! :D

USDAA trial report!

We had a GREAT day on Saturday!! First Roscoe, got the gamble which had a teeter 16.5' away!! He nailed it, good little gamble dog!! But, we ran out of time because the buzzer went off and we were in horrible position on the far end of the ring, damn it!! It was a hard gamble and very few were getting it.

Then he had to run pairs after being pulled from the car during major thunder. His tail was down, ears sagged, I wasn't sure he would run. But, several turkey meatballs later and he ran fine!! Helped a friend get her championship with that run and that felt GREAT!!!! Good little Roscoe is SO consistent I told her if anyone could help her it was Roscoe and he did! She has NQ'ed with a bunch of other partners, so this felt great!!!!! YAY!!!

Now for Spur de Blur!! OMG, he was ON FIRE!! He is blossoming right in front of my eyes! First run was a SMOKIN' jumpers with one tiny refusal where I simply did not support the jump enough. He was FLYING!!!! Then got snookered in snooker, oh well, fun course! Forget the gamble with a teeter 16.5' away!!

Now for his wins! He won standard with the second fastest time of ALL the P dogs!!!! :D He looked great!!!! Love his dog walk on this run!! Just perfect.



Then he also won PGP for a voucher!! YAY!! His first PGP win!!! He wasn't impressed with the teeter third obstacle, but he managed. His time would have been sub 40 had he nailed the teeter. That wee hesitation put his time at 41.07.

GREAT weekend trial report from BARK!!

Our team Q'd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was HUGE!!! I have screwed it up twice for team, so I really wanted to pull my weight this time. Spur was ready and he LOVES the BARK site and busy trial, so it was his turn to shine and SHINE he did!! I only have one video I will post later. I really must get better at grabbing someone to video because he had some awesome runs! Nailed his contacts every time!!

We had one very frustrating NQ in team jumpers when my hand whacked one of the poles and TWEET we got an E. I didn't really understand that because later in the day a friend ran into a one of the tunnels and got a 5 point fault. So, how is that different from my hand touching the poles?

Anyway, regardless of that bobble and my team mate having two E's Spur had some extra good runs to boost our point rating and put us 12. The top 15 teams Q'd, so we pulled it off!! YAY!!! I am SO very happy. I just hated to cause an NQ AGAIN, so it felt really great to get that Team Q yesterday. Especially with Spur running SO well. He beat Blink and won his standard run on Saturday which felt incredibly good. Yes, I know he spent some time making sure Blink stayed on his contacts, but STILL on the score sheet Spur was before Blink!!! Wahooooo!!! Just to be able to say we beat Blink is HUGE!!! :D Feels really good.

Then all weekend I kept hearing people talking about Spur. "Who is that cute little black-tri dog who is doing so well??" and one person asking my friend Cindy about him and then saying......"And he's fast, too!!".......I just beamed!!!! That guy made a point to come up to me and comment about how nice a dog he is. I felt like the proudest mamma!!!! Other people who know him also made comments. And all were well deserved, he did awesome!!!

Roscoe ran first all weekend, so hearing me pull Roscoe out and run him first caused a bit of jealousy and by the time I returned and pulled him out he was so HIGH!!! Screaming to run!! He was very fun! Had a BALL!!!!

Roscoe ran great, too, but his team mate made some major bobbles and we didn't get a team Q. Roscoe never E'd, good little man!!! Got "snookered", but still got 22 points, and he got tons of points in gamble, so he sure pulled off his part of the deal!! That's OK Roscoe already has two team Q's and we really don't need a Q for anything. He's twelve, I don't have plans for him other than slowing down some and taking it easier. He ran two nice runs on Saturday, placing third in Standard and getting a lovely gamble Q. Good little old man!!! I believe he ended up top over-all 12" dog in the performance point standings!! :D It was very good weekend!!!!

Spur's gamble run. I must have lost my balance and veered off, pulling him off the a-frame, damn it! It was a pretty easy gamble we should have gotten. But, I am SO pleased with his dog walks. Especially the second one. He was going pretty fast, good little man!!! Got off the start line a little slow. You can see the plexiglass window was rattling for some reason. I think that happened when people came in the door on that side of the building. Strange and it bothered him a little as we set up, but then he recovered nicely and took off!!!

Weekend trial report!

Saturday was AKC. Spur did GREAT!! His first run was FAST and he was ON FIRE!! I love in the video when Kim says......"OMG, look at him GO!!!". He was FLYING and that caused him to jump over the finish jump and end our run without collecting enough points. Oh well, I am thrilled at how happy and fast he was and how awesome his dog walk was!!!



Then he Q'd and won his Open standard!! Yay!! One more leg and he moves up to Excellent. He did a nice teeter and again and awesome dog walk.



Then he ran clean and fast in his Excellent Jumpers. Good little Monkey Pants!!

Roscoe double q'd for number 17 I believe. He was awesome in standard and a little off in jumpers, but he did fine. Not his most favorite location.

Sunday was CPE here in town. Spur, again, was ON FIRE!!! He did the teeter nicely!!! The dog walk was a nice set up with tunnel dog walk tunnel. Great fun and he did awesome until his last standard style run. Looks like he missed all three contacts!! He was really pumped and even though the judge didn't call any of them the video (which I deleted because I don't want to look at it!!!) he clearly missed. Maybe one toe in one, darn it. It was fullhouse, so I could do it three times and I guess the tunnel dog walk tunnel was just too exciting. Or the fact that since Silvia's approval we haven't trained it at all and it was something we were training weekly. Time to do a little training, I guess. Just a wee reminder of his job. All in all, I am really pleased because the ones he got were super good. And he was SO happy!!!

He had some incredible scores. His jackpot score was 60 points. More than anyone else by nearly 20 points! He had the highest snooker score. This is the WHOLE group, Muffin Heads, all levels, all dogs, all heights. He blew everyone away!!! He was simply having a great time!!! Barking at all his fans, running his heart out, he had a great weekend!!!

I do have some of the CPE videos, but they are REALLY blurry and I haven't loaded them, yet. I was tired last night and in bed by about 8:30. I think he is ready for our team event in a couple weeks at BARK. I DO plan to get a team Q that weekend!!!

So, I decided to write a book

A book about Roscoe. My publisher friend, Cheryl, has been bugging me for a while saying she really would like the book written while he is still alive. She doesn't like reading about dogs and then their death is always the last chapter. So, what the hell, I decided to do it.

I have twenty five pages!! I am actually amazed at how easy it is. The words just flow, my memory of him is strong. I got to the part about his first obedience trial and just writing about it made my heart pound!!!!

It seems interesting to me, but honestly with SO many books about dogs out there right now who is THAT interested in Roscoe? But, what the hell. It's more fun than I thought, so I am charging ahead. Once the weather improves I may lose my momentum, but right now I seem to manage about a page/day or more.

Collie Club trial today at the Marriott!

I first have to walk six dogs and hope I can make it over there by 3:00. Then decide if I scratch Colby, or not. She still doesn't seem quite right and I didn't take her to class last night. Her poops are better, but she just seems off. I know, a simply Rally-O routine isn't a big deal, but not if she isn't feeling great.

Roscoe, he was awesome last night!!! He's ready and I can only hope he can hold it together. Last year he was SO high in that room. I don't know why, but he was NUTTY!! I am happy that he gets happy doing Rally, but really some self control and calmness is good, too. He is entertaining and we entertain everyone, but calm and cool is OK, too. We shall see. Lots of friends entered, so it should be really fun!!!

The only glitch in our training is I realized last night he doesn't really know "moving stand". That might come up today. We worked on it last night and since he is brilliant he got it no trouble so long as I say STAND STAY. But, it isn't something I have trained, for some stupid reason. He didn't continue the regular obedience work into Utility like Colby did, where that is a regular part of the Utility routine. So, for some stupid reason I haven't trained that with him. Maybe it won't be there today. It sure isn't solid.

Spur de Blur!!!!

That's his new name! My friend Kate came up with that and it's awesome! He was a blur this weekend!!! Super pumped and happy in his jumpers runs to finish his Open title and advance to Excellent where on Sunday his time was beat only by three super fast, very experienced dogs!! Wahoooooooooo!!!

He did refuse the teeter in both standard runs, darn it. Gotta paint a new board and put my teeter together and start working on him owning that again. In the summer it is right there on our way to our walks and he charges to it every day before our walks. Now, it's taken apart because of the plank starting to rot and winter here. Time to get to the lumber yard and start the painting process ASAP. It's hurting us again at trials, poor worried buggar.

But, I can not be more pleased about his jumpers!! Jumps have always worried him. He has always jumped HUGE avoiding knocking them because oh....dear.....the sound of PVC on the floor is worth melting into a ball of mush for. That's why quiet trials worry him, he hears every knocked bar from another dog and worries and worries.

Now? He is OWNING his jumpers!!! So fun to watch him shine! He had a 29+ second run even with running over to say high to the leash runner as he came around one section!!! Mr. Social!

Open run. Starts a little slow, but then kicks in the jets! -



His first Excellent Jumpers run, good little Monkey Pants! -



Roscoe? He did fine. Not super great, but fine for two more double Q's. He may not have felt that great. Folks who know him thought he looked off. He did fine, but he may have had gas or stomach issues or sore back or who knows. He's twelve, so he is going to have some off days. He needs 3 more double Q's for his MACH. Might need a bunch of speed points, but I am not sure. He is never a fast dog. He simply isn't athletic or well built for it, but he tries and has always done well. Good little ole man!!!

I have to add that it was one of the best run AKC trials, ever. The judge was awesome! She didn't linger and kept to a tight schedule with walk throughs. You had 8 minutes and NO more, at minute 7 she would yell out....."One more minute, walk fast!!!". Her briefings were....."Know the rules, in at the tire." or whatever obstacle. That's it, that's all. No long stories about what kind of dogs she runs, where she is from, what she had for breakfast, nope just the basics. Quick, simple and efficient and everyone appreciated that. The trial was done by around 5:00 each day. Amazing for an AKC trial. I LOVE that judge!!!!

APDT Rally trial yesterday!

At the last minute we decided to run over in the snow storm to the APDT Rally trial yesterday. It was full, but they "squeezed" us in for one run. Roscoe ROCKED! I got 5 points off for "handler error". Did a finish-left when the sign said finish-right, damn it! He would have had a perfect score. The judge called me a bonehead. She's right, he had a lovely routine!!! He enjoys obedience work SO much! And it was great fun for him to go all by himself and be the ONLY one for my attention. Good little Roscoe!!!! That was his Level 1 title. We hardly ever do APDT rally, but with this new training center maybe there will be more we can do.

This is one of those "idiot" posts.

I don't know if I have categorized "idiot" posts, but I guess I should. I am going to start with this one and label it idiot. I am an idiot. Well, it isn't my fault, my muscles are tired from trying to pick up poop with big fat mittens on all week and gripping leashes and scooping frozen shit out of the ice in the dog yard and carrying buckets of hot water for the horses and.........wow......this week was hard. Not sure why, we didn't even have any storms. But, it was cold. Windy, cold. And I was busy. Not one single cancellation, so all dogs needed walks, me bundles in my warm clothes, but I am getting weary. The dogs are weary. The roads are covered with grit and ice and the conditions are just plain challenging. So, my excuse for being an idiot is my muscles are fatigued.

Is that an OK excuse? I dropped the clicker on Spur's nose last night at rally class. Oh, please world, don't crash in on him AGAIN. There was no stopping it. The world crashed in on him. I tried to recover him, I glued cookies to his nose, shoving one after another into his mouth. He gobbled them down, he likes his cookies, but that's about it. I finally put him away. He doesn't learn anything in that state. I felt bad. It just seems that with Spur something like that is always happening. I know, we DO have really good stretches where nothing melts him down, but then there are times like this. He is such a weenie. Last night he didn't have his monkey pants on.

Then Rockin' Roscoe was SO high. I know everyone loves to watch his enthusiasm, but I really need some more self control. He gets NUTTY high and all I hear are my fellow students saying......."Well, he is still in heel position". Um......really? When is heel position pogo sticking along my side. He goes from heel position for a chihuahua, to heel position for a great dane. Boing, boing, boing, leaping up and down and being NUTTY. It's not really good behavior and when he does that I just don't know what to do with him. I love that he loves to work, but GOOD GRIEF dude!!!! DUDE!!!! Calm down and FOCUS!!!!! And the worst thing is I end up starting to giggle and that just fuels his fire. Sigh...........he CAN be the nicest working dog in obedience. His stand is phenomenal, his heeling freakin' adorable with his high stepping hackney pony action, his self adjustments when he messes up are really cute, he is sharp and on and fun to watch, he loves it, but then he can get OUT OF CONTROL!!!!

It wasn't the best class last night. I was grumpy, too, because of the cold. It is getting to me. I am weary of ice, cold, snow and fat mittens and bulky jackets. I am tired of hauling three dog crates into the room so my dogs can stay warm and back out again at the end of class, nagivating the ever shrinking parking lot and slippery ice under foot. And, yet, we have a fair amount of winter left to endure................

There was screaming!

Not here. Here he was navigating the yard.
Not here. Here he was peaceful.
Not here. Here he was sleeping. Last night at agility class. There was SCREAMING! I hear Sharon say to here dog....."It's OK Sophie, he isn't dying"........to which I think Sophie wanted to reply......."Yeah, but I can help him do that if it will shut him up!". He was SO high!!! We tried to figure it out and it dawned on me "Rodent Syndrome". That's what Dodman says he has. Likes to be closed in like in a box, a tiny rodent box. He does like his crates, covered and cozy. Class is now in a very small room. It's tight. It's do-able, but tight. Roscoe LOVES it there!! He was CRAZY!!!! I forgot the hoop for his up a-frame and he SLAMMED into it the first time. Damn. He's TWELVE, he shouldn't be slamming a-frames. We put the hoop there, he crashed the hoop and dragged himself to the top. Brought out a bigger, easier to see hoop. OH MY!!!

He was happy, happy, happy and I loved it. I love it when he's happy and works like a champ. He does start forgetting about collection when he gets really high, though, and I had to alter my path some. Did that, he scooted between my legs as he tried to stay wide. Um.......dude.........no.......you have got to avoid ME and take the jump - nice and tight. Finally, we figured it out.

Crazy High Rodent!!! No, Crazy High Screaming Rodent!! That was Roscoe last night at agility class. Sophie didn't get her wish. He lived to see another day and next week, just to let you know Miss Sophie......he really doesn't have to die. He's just crazy!!

All Dog's Trial report

I have video, but not sure it's worth loading. We did well, really. Gamblers was first and had weaves 15 feet away. Not something Spur and I have practiced lately. In fact, our weaves are not independent much at all, I know. If I am throwing a frisbee, he nails them and I can do jumping jacks while his weaves to the end, but he doesn't generalize that to other settings and won't go after his frisbee in the presence of strange dogs, so it isn't helpful at class. I may start trying his ball for the weaves, but we never seem to have time after training his dog walk and doing some obedience. And since my yard is under two feet of snow, there is no weaving at home right now. :P

Roscoe, weaves are a given, so it was do-able, but coming out of a tunnel entry that was also 15 feet away. Should have been do-able if I had held back and driven to the weaves. Instead I kept going and my motion drew him to me no matter how much flapping and yelling "WEAVE, WEAVE, WEAVE" to him. He ended up coming to me, then flipping around and getting the weaves, good little tiny dog!!! But, he crossed the refusal line and spun around, so was called for a refusal......"TWEET", whistle blew, but he got a good cheer from the crowd for going back and being a good boy!!! Then he layered a jump, which many dogs took, so he essentially got the gamble, sort of, good man!

Standard was nice from both dogs. Spur beat Roscoe by several seconds, which he SHOULD and by more than several seconds, but I am always pleased when he does beat him. Roscoe is a good boy, but hardly athletic. His time wasn't that fast because of some miss-cues. We are still working it out at trials. Our start line was OK, but I need to clean that up. He is doing well with me holding him and focusing him and then release and go, but I think I can be a little more calm and focused myself. I get all frantic and wierd and hyped and that doesn't help him any. I also need to work every SINGLE obstacle completely. I wish we had more verbals. I am trying to learn Silvia's cik and cap and am a complete failure with those verbals. I can never get them right, so those are essentially failed verbals. I did teach him "wrap" last summer and I am not sure why I couldn't use that word for cik and cap, both directions, just using my body cues to cue direction?

I know he needs more information. He guesses a lot and when he starts to guess he starts taking obstacles and making his own decisions. That's cool, in a way! But, not if we want to Q. LOL!!! I must get better about giving him his information often, early and clearly. Yesterday, we were a little off. He got his standard, good man and won his class, but it wasn't a fast time. I always check the championship times and Tiki the pap was 6 seconds faster. Tiki is a world team contender, if they can get a decent measuring. He's pretty fast. Last weekend's difference in standard = Tiki was only 2 seconds faster.

We left early after pairs. Scratched Spur from snooker and jumpers and Roscoe from snooker, so we only missed three runs. Spur ran clean in pairs, Roscoe wasn't entered. The conditions outside the facility were HORRIBLE. They used safe salt at the door, but not the parking lot and there was NO place to walk/potty the dogs. My dogs ended up SCREAMING in pain from the salt burning their paws and at one point I had a dog under each arm, totally miserable. Not sure why that wasn't happening to the other dogs!!!??? Maybe I just didn't see it. It SUCKED!!! The weather was coming in and I didn't want to drive in nasty, freezing rain. SO glad we did, it looked, sounded aweful. We ended up having time to have a nice snow shoe and the Pin Heads managed the whole time!! That was WELL worth it. The weather started shortly after we got in. I lit a fire and snuggled down, thinking of my friends who stayed and if they made it home safe. Read on facebook later about their misery traveling. Yikes!!! But, everyone home safe.

Stand UP!!

I can hear my agility coaches yelling at me about that during our earlier training. I am better, I don't bend over as much. I still DO it, but not as much. In obedience........I FREAKIN' BEND OVER!!! It's hard with tiny dogs. They are SO far away. I mean, seriously, poor Roscoe has been stepped on too many times. OUCH! No wonder he hesitates to be REALLY close!! This is Roscoe's partial routine from last week. I am not sure I like my hand plastered to my thigh. I used to hold it in formal position on my stomach/waist, but my elbow was always in the way and he ended up forging SO much.

After getting Silvia's heeling video I decided I really want to try to get my dogs heeling with my arms swinging freely. Um.......OK........I have been doing obedience with my dogs for like.......oh geez.........10 years? More? The Pin Heads are twelve this year. Old habits are VERY hard to break. I am trying. You'll see I am a TINY bit better with Spur. But, my hand is more still than I would like. I am holding the clicker in that hand and treats in my right hand. Spur does not forge, but I would really like more eye contact focus and not as much dependence on my hand/arm. We are getting there, but not there, yet.



This is Spur from last night. I tried like HECK to stand up straighter. Sigh........work in progress, let's just say........I must tell Judy to yell at me........STAND UP!!!! He has a bobble on the slow pace. He wants to drop. I have been working on the moving drop, good little monkey pants. Obviously, I am slowing down when working on that because that was his cue to drop! OI!!! The great thing about video is I can pick up these things and remember them. So, this week I work on slow pace, no drop and moving drop from a normal pace. But, Spur's pivots and heeling position does look much better. Silvia's work on the pivoting was HUGELY helpful! He looks over all much more comfortable. This room has always been hard for him. It's so close, he and I have knocked into the signs before and......gasp.......that's enough to send him into a major junk. And the closeness of the other dogs is hard for him, so he is looking pretty good for how he has been in this room. :D LOVE his tiny white prancing paws!! They make me melt..........



We are off tomorrow to another USDAA trial. We may head home early if the weather starts coming in like they say it will. STOP IT WEATHER!!! Just heard about ANOTHER indoor arena collapse. That makes four. My poor friends. :(

Bored on a snow day!

I can't believe it, MORE SNOW! Just when the snow mobile trails were getting good for the wee dogs, more snow. UGH! Must get to the beach for some EXERCISE!!! It's just been too darn cold and at this point GETTING to the beach means trudging through the deep snow, unless we go to the popular beach and that just ain't happening with my wee dogs and Mighty Mad Spur.

So, we handle the boredom with silly tricks. I decided to just see if Spur would bring me a Kleenex when I sneezed. He retrieves well, so why not Kleenex? Yep, not an issue he got it! Roscoe? Hates to hold things in his mouth and the tissue grossed him out. Wierdo. Colby wanted to tear it up, but I think with some work she would have it pretty good. Spur, he got it. :D

I have been working on Spur with the suitcase trick. It's easy and fun and he was getting it. He is nervous about it, so we have worked a few sessions slowly. Roscoe? OMFG.....it's a trick made for him. The first session he had it down. Second session I had to hold him back!!! LOL!! He is a peice of work, that Roscoe!!!! And Shannan asked for video of his "Rev Yer Engines", so we stuck that in there. His signature move!!! :D

Hopefully she is not sore any more, but I am!

All this snow has made it hard to get these little dogs exercised. And too cold on the days we make it to the snow mobile trails. But, Spur has had a few times out snow shoeing. Roscoe, nada. Just way too cold for him. Both Pin Heads made it to the back pasture gate one last week, but that was IT! Not enough time after work to get to the beach or the tide was too high. But, Rich plowed a big path to our wood pile, since we need to restock the basement and it makes for a nice ball tossing/chasing spot. Not icy, soft snow, contained to that area. I bring out Spur's Chuck-it ball and Colby's special. Roscoe just goes after a few tossed treats, but at least it's something. I toss Spur's chuck-it then toss Colby her special. Somehow I got mixed up one time and BAM! - Poor Colby got NAILED in the head with the Chuck-it ball! OUCH!!

OH, I felt SO bad!!! She comes to me for attention, looks fine, I think I just beaned her on the head and she is wanting her ball again. I mean, her special, it is SOMETHING to her. The only ball that she will chase and she LOVES that thing. Off she goes, shaking off the head beaning. Or so I think.

I bring the Pin Heads in and take Spur for a 1/2 hour snow shoe. Come back and there she is shaking on the chair, eye swollen and half closed!!!! OH, NO, what have I done??? The poor thing!!! I call the vet who thank GOODNESS can see me right away on a Friday afternoon. Phew! She looks closely into her eye, stains it for scratches, nothing, says it looks like there isn't any concerning trauma, but to watch it carefully and we give her some Meticam for the pain. Poor little thing is not happy, it HURTS.

The next morning she looks TEN times better and off we go to the dog show. Immediately I notice she has diarrhea. I am thinking from the Meticam? Bummer dude! Nothing worse than being at a dog show with a dog with the runs. It soaks into the snow, so it's miserable to clean up with a baggie. It continues all day as I worry about her in her crate and take her out like FIVE HUNDRED times. ACK!! This morning? She seems fine. She is resilient, but goodness me that was a tough day yesterday.

Now - trial report!!! OMG, The Spur-minator was ON FIRE!!! He started off a little slow first class, gamblers, but O-MY-GOD he NAILED IT!!! He sped up soon after his slow start, did great and we managed to be in the right place as the buzzer went off and off he went like a champ doing the gamble with ease!! Which completed his P-MAD!! Wahooooooooo!!! I can't believe The Spur-minator is a P-MAD dog!!!! Unfortunately, the only run we got on tape was his standard, but that was a GOOD one! Perhaps his greatest start off the line, ever. I am trying our new start line of holding him and then a slight push back and GO!!! It's kind of hard to see in the video, but watch how fast we start. I had to run with everything I had!!!! :D Then, dumb ass I am gets in his way with my blind cross after the tunnel!! I really wish I had gotten more video. It is SO helpful. But, also watch his teeter. O-MY-FREAKIN'-GOD, he ROCKED IT!!! Zoomed to the end, let it drop and charged off!!! It's always nice to have a tunnel or chute after the teeter. It causes the recoil to be forgotten and probably not heard, so that is always nice. Also, what his dog walk?? Not the fastest, but he does accelerate on the down and runs BEAUTIFULLY through the contact as I peel off!! Nicely DONE Spur Man!!!


We got snookered in snooker, but then he got another Pairs leg and WON his jumpers!!! Spur! Yes, I just said Spur WON his jumpers! This is a dog who is a little bit afraid of jumps. And it was NOT a great course for him. Lots of front crosses had to be done and I am not great with those. I think I did OK, so maybe it wasn't that bad a course. He was PUMPED!!!! What a good little Monkey Pants!!!

Roscoe? What can I say, poor Roscoe was definitely "second fiddle". He ran second all day and that just stinks for him. Spur can handle that much better, in fact it may help him to come out and run "cold", but there isn't anything I can do about the running order. Roscoe suffered a little bit, but I tried like heck to tell him how important he is for being there and trying. And he did try. He had a couple moments where he looked really good! Of course, one was during pairs and it caused an off course for us. And he looked great in Jumpers, but damn IT I forgot the course. How the fuck does that happen, I JUST ran it with Spur????? I felt like an idiot/novice/loser.

It was a long day. I am very sore. 10 runs on rubber makes me sore and with Spur I had to RUN like the wind at times!!!! I am NOT complaining, it is a lovely problem to have!!! :D He was ROCKIN' it yesterday!!!!

Wow, he got metal!

I had to go look up what it means. It means he has 15 standard legs. Not sure what the letters would be to tag on behind his name. Sometimes I get emails from people who list their dog's titles. It goes on for like two paragraphs? They have titles in rally, obedience, agility, tracking, field trials, weight pull, dock diving, lure coursing and on and on.

Roscoe, I am not even sure how I would "letter" him.

P-ADCH Roscoe CD (amazing, he didn't bite the judge for stand-for-exam!!), MX MXJ, RX, FN, CGC (THAT'S funny!!), LAA - Bronze

I think that's it. ??? And I am not sure this "metal" would be listed as LAA - Bronze. Not sure how one would list a bronze performance dog?

I am pretty proud of him, regardless of how few letters follow his name. He is the most accomplished/titled MinPin in USDAA agility at the moment, I am pretty sure. There are a couple with some nice accomplishments, but as many as Roscoe. And he has been a top ten agility AKC MinPin for the past three years. That's pretty cool, too! For a dog who isn't exactly athletic!! LOL!! But, he has heart. He tries. He works for me.

What am I most proud of? That CD. That was SO hard for us. Competition obedience is HARD. Especially for a dog who bites. That he managed to deal with the stand-for-exam and the sits and downs with a group of strange dogs is pretty amazing.

I am pretty proud of this Bronze title, too. It was a surprise. I don't keep track of his Q's very well. Although, I did just check how many double Q's he has in AKC and he has 14, so we need 6 more for his MACH. We are behind on that because I jumped him at 8 inches in preferred for years trying to get him comfortable in the ring. Agility was a tough venue for him being dog-dog aggressive. But, it was also the best thing I ever did. He is now hardly a concern with other dogs. It's just awesome!! Of course, his happy pills have something to do with it, but not all!!!

Roscoe - good little Bronze dog! YAY for Roscoe!!!

Torture tags? Or license tags? Or some sort of joke, like how funny is that dog with the bullseye!!

It's like nearly 1/4 the size of his collar, for crying out loud!He might end up like the dog on the Grinch. Tipping over and walking on his front legs. It's a JOKE!!!
We never use tags. I can't stand clanking, dangling, clinking, obnoxious "jewelry" on my dogs. If I were a dog, PLEASE do not load me down with tags. Especially a 9lb dog!! Put a name plate on my collar, so I can live in peace. I know dogs get used to it, the sound of metal to metal, the whapping of their necks as the tags bang around, but seriously Muffin Heads.........Would YOU want that flopping around as you navigated life, every single minute you moved? Clanking and banging and whapping you in the neck? I think not. But, you - know it is the law. Technically the law. I keep my tags in my purse and have lovely little name plates with the dog's name and our phone number on them. To me, if I were a dog, that's what I would want. Sorry law.

Yesterday we did more running contacts at a new place. I have video, but I figured out how to capture stills from video. I am getting SO techno geeky!!!! Stills from video aren't that great, but he does LOOK fast, A?
We had moments of brilliance, but being this is a fairly new place - he has been here a few times before and been on this dog walk twice before - he was a bit slower and had more stride adjustments. Although, interestingly the stride adjustments occurred on the up and top. Down ramp had more speed and fewer adjustments. The last session at HT's he was two strides up and two/three on top, then stride adjusting on the down. He's an interesting subject, little Spur-minator!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Party of ten!

What does ten dogs in the house look like? -



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

Oh man, that sucked

Long weekend. REALLY long. Thanksgiving was driving 3 hours to CT, dinner there, driving 3 hours home. Ugh. Friday a seminar with Lo Baker. YAY!! One of my favorite trainers!! It was a beginner seminar and I brought Spur. He did AWESOME in the morning. Not super fast, but really awesome contacts, and some other great stuff..........then BAM..........he crashed the double.

O-MY-GOD the world came down upon him. His tailed tucked down, his ears fell, his head hung low.........he melted into a furry mass of worry, worry, worry. Lo is aware this can happen, so she quickly had me do a tunnel and reward. OK, this is all well and good and yes he did that tunnel and got that reward, but that doesn't inflate him again. He deflated and started his paw wringing and I turn into a pile of worried, unthinking mush along with him. We both crumble and melt. We are like a pair of nervous field mice scrambling to escape the sure grip from the circling hawk. It sucks the life out of me and Spur.

It's like my brain goes black. Can that happen? Can you turn your brain a dark color? Maybe not black, there are still some thoughts in there, so maybe a foggy grey? Very foggy.

He seems to recover OK, but just OK. Did a few awesome teeters, where Lo commented on how nice they were. OK, the fog cleared a little. Just a little.

The next day was a USDAA trial. First class........Jumpers. OK, the fog is there and I can't help it. Not his favorite class. Jumps, all jumps. He does just OK. Actually moments of OK, so we are pretty pleased. Each run he does better and his last run was actually pretty OK. No qualifying for him, but moments of pretty OK. I am thinking we are on the road back to inflating and brilliance and color!

The next day was supposed to be Roscoe's Master seminar with Lo. On Friday I told her that and she said she wanted to see Spur back. At least for some of it. I thought and thought, it would have been a BLAST to run Roscoe. But, Roscoe is trained and experienced and Spur needs all the work he can get. I make the decision to bring.........just Spur.

Not sure I have made a worse decision in my life!!!??? I mean, I feel that way now because yesterday was a bad day. I mean, seriously bad. I cried half the way home from the seminar. It was that bad. I felt not only deflated and foggy, but crushed and confused and depressed. That bad, really, THAT bad.

Spur started out OK. I had that flutter of hope. Then, BAM, another burst to our very soft and barely round bubble. I mean this time a TOTAL burst. I stumbled into a jump and knocked it over while he was doing his weaves. He melted into a pile of nervous fur. And at that point I had trouble getting him back. Like a LOT of trouble. He didn't want me to touch him, he didn't want to take a jump, he ran off away from me. It sucked. Seriously sucked. Lo tried to help, tried to get me out of my fog and into SOME sort of positive vibes. Not much worked. We did the best we could to find some glimmer of hope and end on SOMETHING positive each turn. His bubble was burst and there was not much repairing it.

I turned into the handler from hell, reinforcing him when he was slow, or interrupting his speed when it's good, all wrong choices and poor handling and Lo hadn't a clue how to help us other than try some distractions, some restarts, nothing that worked, really. We were spiralling down......... We got the life sucked out of us both yesterday. A big sucking sound around me and Spur...........sqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqquuuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiii........big SUCKOLA!



I would take him out to potty and he looked lost. The Pin Heads were home, so he didn't even have them to support him when out in the field for potty breaks. I saw that, I saw him seeming lost and worried.

Everyone was so encouraging, but honestly, I think they were just trying to help. I mean, we were a mess. It was not fun at all. I was exhausted, mentally and physically after each turn. I felt beat up and torn apart. I wished I had brough Roscoe.

It was decided I should run another dog in front of him and was offered Ripp, a big strong wicked fast, noisy awesome experienced aussie. I could use Ripp to make Spur jealous. Ripp is a good boy and will work for anyone. Spur watches me work Roscoe and it TOTALLY pumps him up and makes him jealous!! Working Ripp? It WORKED! We got SOME drive, SOME glimmer of hope, my crazy Spur was back!!! He screamed his head off while I worked Rip. Lo just held his leash so he could watch and he screamed and screamed. I then swapped dogs and got a few obstacles out of him! A few. Hey, I took what I could get and we all felt a little better. It wasn't really coaching us in any way, which is ultimately what I need. I need help when I morph into "handler from hell". I need coaching and tips and ideas.

That was pretty much our day, so while we did end up with SOME good stuff, I cried half the way home. I was exhausted. Nothing feels worse than working a dog that looks like he doesn't want to do it and knowing that you turned into HFH for the day (handler from hell). That feels SO bad. I never know what to do with him when he gets into that funk. I don't want to work him if he doesn't want to do it. What sucks so bad is I know he does want to and has had his moments of brilliance!! But, getting through to me and him when we are in that state seems to be an instructors dilemma. We get lost. It's like we are all just lost trying to figure it out.

We may have to take a break. I wish I could have yesterday back. I feel bad I missed that chance to run Roscoe. Roscoe is eleven years old and his time is limited and he would have LOVED that seminar. And I would not have looked like HFH.

I will regroup, make a plan. Perhaps some time off. Work on tricks and small jump skills perhaps. His contacts are as solid as ever, so that is one good thing. He ran his dog walk over a dozen times of the weekend and every single time he hit his contact perfectly. So, there is that. That's pretty big! I even tossed the ball far in advance and he didn't leap. So, there were SOME good things and I will focus and regroup.

Dirt, dirt, dirt, we LOVE dirt!

What more can I say? Dirt agility is THE BEST!!! Of course, staying with the in-laws only 6 minutes away is sweet, too! I mean, with all the talk of bed bugs, staying in a nice home is just SAWEEEEEET! Even though we did spot a chipmunk running through the livingroom one morning. The dogs missed it.

And the dirt. OH the dirt!!! I think Spur would say that field turf is just as nice and I will agree with him cuz it's not dirty, but Roscoe? DIRT!! Muffin Heads, it's just HIS FAVORITE!!! He gets all squeaky and pumped up and runs like the manic MinPin I know he is. He LOVES it!! I love it. It's grippy and soft. I read on facebook one competitor complaining it was hard packed dirt. Huh? I didn't think so at all. I thought it was LOVELY!!! Yes, there were some areas more packed then others, but far nicer than running on rubber. And Spur liked the big trial and busy scene. He feeds of that, for sure. The one down run we had was when they stopped to change the table height and it was all quiet just before his run. I have to try to keep his energy up and the atmosphere charged for him before his run. He definitely likes the busy, loud atmosphere!! Funny little guy!

We had a great time and I only wish we had done both day. Lisa had to get back to grade papers. Next time? Both days. I LOVE that site!! My dogs LOVE that site!! It's dirty, yes. And it was a little cold, but I dressed right. Roscoe did fine. I had his coat and took it off at the last minute. He was happy as could be!

Spur beat him in PGP, which he SHOULD, but I am still happy about that. He should always beat Roscoe, but his worries sometimes prevents that speed at trials. He beat Roscoe by over a second, so that was nice. His turns were tighter, that's all, really. Roscoe was maybe running with more intensity, but because he was he went wide several times. Both boys nailed their contact even though it was the second to last obstacle heading straight for the outgate. Always a risky one. That yeehaw as we finish up can often produce a leap. Nope, both boys ran beautifully right through the contact with perfect hits!! I was very pleased!! I'll post the videos when I get time.

This week, YIKES..........one very busy week for me!

Glastonbury CT horse barn you are in our future!! I won't be doing the November trial there.......brrrrrrrrr.......but, next April that trial site is a DEFINITE in our future!! Dirt, the boys LOVE dirt!