Master Gambler? Really???

Yep, Roscoe is now a Master Gambler!! He got two Gamble runs this weekend to complete his Master Gambler title!!! All he needs now is a Relay for his championship. We teamed with a very accomplished team this weekend, but they had an off-course. BUMMER MAN, we wanted that HUGE APD ribbon from BARK for his Championship!! They have the NICEST ribbons. Darn it! I can't believe it is down to one Relay leg. Never in a million years would I think that. I thought we would be going for that last Gamble leg like forever. Nope, tiny 9lb Roscoe is learning to work away from me quite well and ran off to the last jump in the gamble which was like a MILE away!! Good little Master Gambler Roscoe!! Wow!

What a FUN weekend!! Colby teamed with Jones, the schnauzer and Tiki, the papillon for a DAM Team Q. We were in FIRST place the whole day until our last run and we had one tiny mistake. How cool is that?? First place among ALL the big, fast border collie team, first place of EVERYONE!! We were the littlest team, ending up finishing 7th overall for a very respectable finish! What fun!

Spur - he ROCKED!! His debut was all I thought it would be. Happy, happy, happy and NO issues with the teeter at all, he was pumped to finally get to run at a trial!! Even when the alien took over my body yesterday in his Gamblers run. What was I thinking entering him in Gamblers? Like I am good at Gambles? NOT! Well, OK, me and Roscoe are, but that's because we own them now! Spur? I handle him like I have never handled a dog before, like really, never - green horn, stupid novice, dumb ass wierdo out there, and Spur just takes it in stride. The alien takes over my body and I turn into a flapping, uncoordinated, mushy, dumb-ass whack job that hasn't a clue what I am doing. Wait don't I have a Master Gamble dog? How can I be such a loser in a Starters class???? Poor Spur! Damned if he didn't run beautifully anyway. Zooming for his teeter, running to the end and not freaking at the recoil. I'll load the video later. It isn't great because I forgot to tell Blanche how to zoom in, so he looks like a tiny black ant with a fluffy tail, but at least you can see how happy he is how fast he flattens into a down on the table, how fast he zooms onto his nemesis - the teeter. Seems the teeter just isn't an issue any more. What a good little man!! I could not be more proud!!!! Spur - agility dog. Who knew? I did, I knew he could do it, I knew it was in there. I KNEW it!!!!

Juno makes herself at home!

Her first night free she found a bag of catnip and opened it all over the floor, then proceeded to roll in it and get high all night! In the morning I think she was hung over! She must have decided this was a pretty cool place to be. They supply drugs, a warm bed, a handsome dude. In the photo below, the white towel is covered with catnip. I haven't cleaned it up because she is still enjoying it, her contraband supply of drugs. I pat her sometimes and she is covered in catnip! Silly girlie!! She is hardly feral, which in some ways bums me out, she probably should be an indoor kitty, but my house of hound horrors isn't exactly cat friendly. Perhaps she will acclimate and come in and handle them. She is trying REALLY hard to win over Zeus. She goes so far as to try to head butt him, which just makes him mad and risks a swat to her. She will learn. I am debating adding another female. The Friends of Feral Felines have another girl, who is "very playful" and perhaps might do well with Juno. I just don't know, I haven't had the best track record with feral kitties this year. Two ended up quite sick and not making it. And I think I better give it some time to see if Zeus and Juno end up sick from whatever he/she Leta had. That does worry me.

Things I learned yesterday......If you can't find Juno, you might look on the seat of the tractor. I called and called her yesterday morning, shaking her junk food jar and no Juno. I sat there for a few minutes, really quiet and felt eyes on me. Like Zombie eyes, creepy and weird feeling. Has Metis come back from the dead, over-seeing the new addition? I looked up and there she was on the seat, looking at me like I was an idiot. :D I am off to the BARK trial early tomorrow, so I won't be blogging until at least Tuesday. I am pretty excited about Spur's debut!!!!! His REAL trial debut! Although, I am a little worried about those darned contacts. He launched his A-frame both Tuesday and Wednesday nights at class. My running dog walks haven't carried over like Sylvia Trkman said it would. I don't know how she does it. Her Border Collie had FANTASTIC A-frame running contacts at the Worlds. She could even peel off and leave her and that dog ran right to the bottom, never stopping, never launching.

Yesterday I messed around with four-on-the-floor. For you non-agility people that is when the dog drops into a down on the ground after running over the A-frame. I worried that stopping Spur's momentum would worry him and slow his whole performance. When I asked for a definite hit on his hit-it board on the dog walk contacts, demanding that performance he got slow and started trotting his dog walk, worrying about making sure he was right. So, for that I have slacked off and started using the hoops to keep his head low and will just have to hope we get contacts on the dog walk at trials. At least, for now. The A-frame is different, though, and he seemed to really enjoy his "FLAT" at the bottom of his A-frame. That's my cue word........FLAT. I thought a different word might be helpful? Probably makes no difference at all, but I may not demand a held position, instead ask for just the behavior then move on. When I ask him for a "down", I want that behavior until I release him, like when he has to go down on the table. He must stay there until I release him. I have to mess around with this some and see what I want to do, but at least he isn't bumming out and seems to love running the frame then dropping into his "FLAT"! I'll take that, for now. He is such a project.

Last night at Rally class he looked like a different dog! We haven't done Rally class all summer and the other students saw a difference in him. He looked happy, motivated, working hard and not the worried little paw-wringing, melt down punkin head he was last spring. I was VERY proud! He is absolutely adorable when he heals. His fluffy fur flies, he prances along with his tiny white paws marching along to his beat, he loves it!!! He has come a long way this summer!

The ups and downs of it all!!

I LOVE fall. Have you heard that already?? Well, I do, I really, really do. I love the cool air, the colors, the thought of soon sitting by the wood stove reading book after book. Yes, I love winter, too, or some parts of it anyway. But, yesterday was all FALL. I love how the light is low and bright and highlights everything. The dogs love the smells and Spur loves the gathering geese.
The geese in the newly planted winter rye. I guess they are probably eating that? Fresh, thick grass?

Spur spots them, but chasing them over the newly tilled up ground doesn't impress him.He found a different course. See him, that tiny black blur in the left corner of the photo?

Roscoe isn't too impressed with Fall. It means morning dew, colder temperatures and many morning he has to endure clothing, which he HATES. But, look at him!!! He is pathetic and perhaps I should have put his coat on? It is a fine line, most of the walk was in enough sun for some warmth, but in this photo we had just gone through some thicker wet grass, so he got cold and wet. Pathetic.............

Our afternoon found us at Ferry Beach walking with Kathy and George. High tide, so not much beach, but it was LOVELY!! Our first fall beach walk. Just a fabulous fall afternoon! Not many people there, probably because the tide was so high. We still loved it!

Now for the down part................poor little white Leta kitty saw the vet yesterday and never came home. Turns out she was a he and was very, very sick. She/he had stopped eating on Sunday, or at least was only picking at his food. His mouth was getting worse looking. By yesterday things looked pretty bad. Poor thing was TERRIFIED at the vets, a very feral kitty, so they sedated him to get a good look at his mouth. It was FULL of ulcers. Treating such a wild kitty would have been near impossible, so we felt it best to put him down. I am bummed. But, I take some comfort in the fact that he didn't suffer a long, slow starvation in the wild. He did OK up until the last couple of days and really probably didn't suffer too much.

Little Juno has been released from her cage and is exploring the barn. She lets me pat her, has gone nose to nose with Zeus, so hopefully we have a successful feral kitty introduction! I am going to keep my dogs out of the barn for the next week, so she can settle in. She seems healthy and fine and hopefully whatever Leta had unaffected her.

I am moving to Slovenia!!

OK, well, not really. But, you all knew that. I am SUCH a home body and hardly ever go anywhere outside of New England. Yes, I know, I went to CA once. That was ONCE, you read! Once in my life!

Here is why I am "moving to Slovenia" -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUPQ8EnQiCI

This is Sylvia Trkman's tricks class. HOW MUCH FUN are these dogs having????? My dogs all love tricks and this just makes me want to teach more. She is such a fantastic dog trainer/teacher. She was one of the World Team members I watched run a few weeks ago in Austria (video on demand - no I didn't go to Austria!!). I watched her runs over and over. I just love how her dogs work. They are happy and brilliant. Trick training may seem silly, but it teaches the dog to think and strive to learn more. Silly tricks are also so much fun for us!

One thing I look forward to with winter arriving soon........more time indoors to just play with my dogs doing tricks. Right now I have wood to bring in, perennials to cut back, windows to wash, agility to train before it gets to cold, pastures to tend to, lawn furniture to put away and the list goes on, so I haven't focused much on tricks. But, I do have a three day USDAA dog show coming up this weekend that looks like a HUGE trial and that means I will probably have plenty of time to hang out between my runs and work on some tricks with my dogs. Colby knows the head shake from side to side, but she doesn't move it that much or quickly. I need to tighten up that trick and get her shaking her head further from side to side. I'll try working on that this weekend, but she is on a Team which means she will be running the most this weekend. She doesn't have a Team Q, so that would be nice to get this weekend. We are teamed with two great dogs, so hopefully we can pull it off.

www.amysanimalcare.com

Oh NO, I have been talked into doing a website for my pet care business. I don't know why I have hesitated, it really should be done. Being married to a media marketing specialist means I have finally been pressured into launching a website. I really do need one, I need to stay current, continue to build business and stop just blogging stuff about ME and my animals! I am going to need some help, though. I will be contacting some of you for permission to post your pet's photos. I know some of you have some AWESOME photos from Helen Peppe I can post.

It's pouring rain today, so it was a good day to get started. However, my ass hurts, my head is spinning, and I bow to all of you who sit at a desk all day. HOW THE F#@K do you do it???? Seriously, I have been yelling at my dogs - the little rocket scientists have decided to re-arrange my living room, or so it sounds like from my office chair - I snap at Rich when he walks by - he did after all talk me into this and set up my account, and I REALLY don't like the color of the couch he just bought for HIS office (it is his office he should be able to chose whatever color he wants, but I still have to look at it and it really is like Barf Beige and very well made so I will have to look at it for 30+ years I suppose!!) - and I still don't like what I got done!!!!

People say rainy days are good for this sort of thing. Up yours! You may never see my website up and running. Click on the link, it will just say something like "work in progress". Yeah, that's right, it's work in progress. Not "fun event coming soon", or "for a good time call", or "what are you lookin' at jerk?"........no it will say something like ......"site in construction". Well, my construction abilities rival Winnie The Pooh, who couldn't get his head out of the honey jar.

Oh, you want to see the couch? So far I have had several people say they actually like it. They must really like Rich.

Spur's running contacts. Oh MY!!

I finally got some videos of his hit-it board, running contacts. Since he now runs with SPEED for a ball I wanted to make sure he got it and started using hoops. OH MY! He can still launch right through the WHOLE THING! However, I would say we have 90% success rate with at least ONE toe hitting the yellow zone. Probably 30% he gets it with both feet. Computer illiterate as I am I messed up the launching, flying through the whole thing videos, darn it. And I have no idea how to do these in slow motion, but if you manage to stop them at JUST the right time you can see how he hits it.

At this point I am just going to go with this work. I need him happy. If I start to manage the zones he starts going really slow, even trotting it like you saw in his Debut videos. Worry, worry, worry, he starts to wring his little papillon paws. I know this is risky, judges are not good at seeing back feet hit the zone, as we saw with Colby's photo a few posts back. That contact was called as a missed contact, but clearly in the photo her back foot hits the zone. That's all it states in the rules, one foot must hit the zone.

Luckily, Spur runs with his head down, even without the hoops, so that's nice. Colby runs with her head up. I think all my Sylvia Trkman running board work on the flat and low height helped that. He has so much practice running head down as a youngster. I just do not want to ask him to stop at the bottom, like many people do. I think that will end up with worry, worry, worry and trotting. I want him happy and RUNNING. I am just going to go with this for a while because at least we have speed back and that's a good thing. Happy, happy, speedy, speedy, that's certainly a good thing.

These first to show good hits. All four feet. Perfecto!!! Just what I want, every single time. World Champion!!

These two show one or two back feet. First one shows both back feet, second one just ONE back foot!! :O

Oh, not perfecto. Would take a very savvy and focused judge to call that a good hit. But, he's happy, he's fast, he DOES hit it, technically, his head is down. All good things, right?

Meet Juno and Leta!

Friends Of Feral Felines brought me two feral girls last week to live in the barn. Juno is the grey and Leta is the white. Juno is quite friendly! I would hardly say feral??? She lets me pat her and stroke her and comes for treats. Leta never leaves her crate when I am there. Right now they are both in a large wire dog crate, near Zeus' food and the horse's grain bin. They get used to seeing Zeus and where food will be. They see other activity from there and get used to the smells and sounds of the barn. Recommended time is 1.5 - 2 weeks before release. Juno may end up coming inside if she can handle the crazy dogs. She is very friendly. As with all the barn kitties I have taken in they are all welcome to come in if they want, but most have felt too trapped and FREAK out when brought in. Zeus will come in for short periods, but they when he wants out he makes it VERY, VERY clear. LOL!!!Leta may have to go see the vet next week, however. She won't let me touch her, but I don't like how dirty her mouth looks. They did get vet checks and were spayed and given Revolution for parasites, but I don't like the look of Leta's mouth??? Just seems odd it is always dirty! She doesn't seem to clean herself very well? She is eating, I can put food in her crate and shut the door so Juno doesn't get it and it's all gone in an hour. But, still doesn't it seem strange how dirty her mouth is?