Judge humping, is that a sport?

Does anyone know how to capture an image on a youtube video? I got this just taking a photo of the computer screen.

Sometimes we are given a gift!

And it might come in strange forms. Yesterday Rich was talking to his brother who asked what I was up to. Rich replied that I was at an obedience trial with Roscoe. His brother said..........."WHAT??? Roscoe does obedience???". Yes, it does seem an oxymoron, Roscoe obedience dog. But, he has a gift and he has given this gift to me. (This is when she gets all mushy and poetic and sappy and everyone wonders when it will stop) He may be the toughest dog I have ever lived with, grumpy, growly, barky, snappy, anxious, nasty, mean to the other dogs, just plain major pain in the ass, but he has this gift. He works his heart out for me when I asked him to. Especially in the obedience ring.


This morning I woke up and thought about my day. Another attempt at a perfect score in Rally. The thought of entering the ring with Roscoe made my stomach flutter with excitement. I can't wait! I know we may mess up, I may forget a station, he may not hold his stay, his butt may not hit the ground - actually his butt WILL hit the ground today, damnit, that it WILL - but the thought of entering the ring with him no matter what happens, excites me. I know every time we enter, every time we line up and I remove his leash, every time the judge asks if we are ready, I know we are ready. I know he will give me his all. I know it. Every time. He has this gift. And other people see it and comment when we leave the ring. People comment. Sometimes they say things like - "I have never seen a MinPin so good at obedience". "Wow, you did so well with a MinPin, that's really unusual". "Very nice job, he's very enthusiastic". And other words that make me beam and so proud. He is my gift. And I am thankful.



Today he got his first 100 score in Rally-O Excellent B. A perfect score! I knew the judge wanted to give that to him, so I tried like heck to keep him settled and focused. He was and it showed. It was lovely weather, not freezing cold, just perfect for him. Our course did have some stations I have not practiced much at all with Roscoe. Moving drop isn't one of his best, but he does an awesome drop-on-recall in regular obedience, so he should get it. The judge told us at the briefing we could say "down" as many times as we wanted when walking around the dogs, so I DID!! Steve counted 7 times I said DOWN!! LOL!! Whatever, I wanted to be successful and staying in a down on cold, gravely dirt wasn't something Roscoe wanted to do, but we got-er-done! Then he had to do his honor stays in a down while the next dog went. He was perfect. Even resting over on his side for his stay. What a good little man!! My gift!! I thank Sherry Britton for having faith in him even at his most difficult and worst times. She saw his spark and knew it was in him. I didn't believe her, but look at him now!!!!



He is my precious gift. He has humbled me and frustrated me, angered me and scared me, thrilled me and amused me, but regardless of all that he is special and very fun and I am very proud!!!



**Now, in classic Roscoe style as the ribbons were being handed out and the judge was shaking my hand and congratulating me, Roscoe took advantage and started HUMPING HER LEG!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!! Only Roscoe! Thankfully, she saw humor in it and didn't make a fuss. Oh MY!!! He is SO bad! He was definitely feeling pumped up with all the praise he was getting, he was celebrating in the only way he knows. Being BAD!!!!

To see them larger and to see the one of him humping the judge go here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3vtq4bIR5Y&feature=channel_page fast forward to the one minute mark for the humping part.

To see the routine check out "other videos by roscoespur" and the routine is "roscoe100".

Should-a, would-a, could-a!! Rally-O today could have been a 100!!

Today at the Cumberland Fairgrounds, I messed up. Just a wee bit. It was SO cold and wet and muddy. See everyone wearing their winter coats?? It's August 28th, for crying out loud!! My coat needs a bath, it is covered in muddy paw prints, but tomorrow may be just as muddy, so would it be too tacky to wear it again tomorrow? I mean, it is COATED in mud. Poor little Roscoe was SO cold I carried him some and his tiny paws were coated in mud like someone had cemented his feet as if to.......well.......now THAT'S not a nice thought. I digress........where was I ............um............OH yeah, the Rally-O trial. As expected the little buggar was SO high, he LOVES Rally, and some of his heeling was on two feet, but I don't think they take points for that? So long as he is in heel position why would they? Do all four feet need to be on the ground? I don't think that's a requirement. "Heel position" is heal position, four feet or two!!! What happened was on one of his halts he "sat" just a tiny bit behind my leg. I could not see that his butt was not exactly on the ground. Darn, if he were a Pomeranian no one could tell!!!! Maybe I'll put hair extensions on him for tomorrow. Hmmmm, hair extensions for a MinPin?? Probably not. So tomorrow his butt will HIT THE GROUND!!!!

The judge LOVED him and came right up to me and said that she would have given him a 100 except for that one halt. Darn it!! Although, if you look at the video really she was being very kind. He was a little erratic. I never had to give him a double command, but he was kind of crazy at times. Notice during the stand where I walk around him, when he gets into his stand he KICKS the dirt before standing still. That's a trick I taught and even thought I don't ask for it he offers it. It's absolutely adorable and you could hear the crowd ooooohing and aaaaaing and chuckling. I had several people come up after and comment about what a good working dog. All this without having practiced since June!! Good little buggar!!

So, tomorrow is another day! 100 here we come. Same judge, she really likes him, so it's totally possible. If I can keep him settled and not being so HIGH, it's totally possible. That elusive 100!

For a slightly better look and one where I think you can expand to fill your screen. It really shows the dirt getting kicked up on his stand!! He's TOO much!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/roscoespur

What do MY dogs do in the heat?

I don't have a real pool - seriously considered it until I visited my friend's pool and it's icky green and slimy already - but now we are into nice cool weather again, so I don't need a pool any more. I NEEDED it last week. I needed it BADLY! I do NOT handle the heat well at all. My dogs, well, they do have the streams and ponds around us. Sometimes the streams on our walks are low and icky and not great for the dogs to cool off in, but we did get some rain that filled them up and they look cleaner and fresher and fuller. So, my dogs have been enjoying the streams to get cool. The wildflowers are beautiful this time of year along the streams. There are times we all want to go in there with them. George, the border terrier, likes to act like a hippo. Just laying in the cool water and hanging out. See George? See George's leash? Without it George might have gone upstream, found some gopher hole, made Kathy call Nate, made Nate leave work and come home, made Nate bushwhack through the thickets, made me say goodbye, made Kathy mad - George was on a leash, this time.........
Spur and Roscoe. Yep, even Roscoe goes into the stream. Shallow enough he doesn't have to swim..........
Colby was in there farther up, hunting for HuMonGous Frogs or some such thing. Colby, Huntress Warrior Princess.

Ahhhhhhh, to be a dog!!!! And to hang out with the dogs, with George on a leash!!

I need to practice! When bad dogs go good!

Cuz last night in agility class he was WAY TOO HIGH for doing obedience!!! If he stays this pumped he might look like this photo. Heeling while only his back feet touching the ground???..... We are signed up for Rally-Obedience this weekend at the Cumberland Fairgrounds breed/obedience trial. He did so well at the trial in July even though we RAN from the agility ring and had NO warm up, he nailed it. This looks more like it..........

But, really, we haven't practiced since then. Nothing, nada, zip, ZERO practice. It's been TOO HOT! I've been busy with agility! I am going to have to just hope, on a wing and a prayer, that he settles down and focuses on his task. I'll bring my Rally-O flash cards and hope I remember the stations/moves. I love Rally, so it should be fun and he's a pro so we should be fine. I just want that 100 score. Am I asking too much? Nah........he can do it. He has so much enthusiasm. His down fall is too much enthusiasm. One judge even said that.........."He was a little crazy" and scored him a 98. I'll take that over some of the dogs I see getting "dragged" around the ring as if they simply hate it. That's not much fun to watch.

Obedience is something Roscoe has a solid background in. He loves it, he thrives on it and for what ever reason he is really good at it. Colby finds it slightly boring. Maybe more than slightly boring. Roscoe just loves it. So, I want to continue with him and Rally is a great way to do that. In regular obedience his next advancement would call for out of sight stays and I am not leaving him next to a line up of other dogs, no way, no how, I ain't goin' to put him in that situation. He's come too far with his aggression, so I won't ask him to do that. Stays in Rally only occur in Excellent and are done alone on leash. So, it's just not that same thing. Wish us luck. Anyone who wants to come, this should be a nice show. It is four days, Thursday through Sunday at the Cumberland Fairgrounds. It looks like the schedule has us in the ring sometime around 1:00 or maybe 2:00? But, it's really hard to say. Definitely after noon some time.

The day we know that fall is on our heels

The geese are gathering. I think this is a strange photo. I swear my camera focus box was zeroed in on the GEESE, but the blades of grass are in focus, not the geese. They have arrived, are eating the corn that's been chopped up and ready to be plowed under. It seems each morning there are more and more. We figure they gather and wait for the rest and head south when they are all together. We try to avoid the corn fields because too much moldy corn causes diarrhea and can make the dogs quite sick, really. But, there is an advantage to the geese in the mornings.Spur LOVES to chase them. He loves to chase anything with wings. Birds, ducks, geese, moths, flying grasshoppers. Game on!!! Maybe I could hire him out to the golf courses to chase away the geese? Nah, I'll just say he's a working farm dog. Although I don't think the farmers care about the geese eating the corn gone by. Hard to capture that quick moment when he takes off and flushes them.

It's a happy time of year for Spur. He LOVES his geese chases.

Yeah, Yippee, Yahoo, YESIREEBOB!!!!!

The days of poking her with a HUGE needle morning and night are OVER!!!! We made it! No abscessing, no irritation, no apparent complications......WE DID IT!! Me and her, we made it through THREE weeks of injecting 28 cc of thick, Oxytetracycline into her vein. She was such a good girl, absolutely an angel about it. I am so proud of her I can just about burst!! I have spoken to quite a few people who attempted to do this and their horses got so upset they quit and never finished. I can only say we got better and better at it. I found just the right spot and hit the vein every time, she stood quietly, flinching only a little. It IS a HUGE needle. I have never been so happy to see blood. They said if I got outside the vein it could abscess and be very bad, so I made SURE I was in and each time I pulled back and got a nice red swirl of blood I was happy. I guess that makes me a vampire of sorts? Happy about the sight of blood. Oh MY!!



Here is what she thought of the whole thing............... I used up three bottles of this stuff. Icky, sticky, gooey, slow moving stuff that I hope killed all the lyme critters in her body.............

ACK!!!!!!!.....................

Can there BE a sweeter horse? I don't think so!

And just for the record, in case you didn't know this......... I HATE ticks. I hate them with such a passion. They have made my life miserable on WAY too many occasions. Now, we wait 6 months and test again and let's all hope her titer is low. This has been a fairly good tick year. You know what I mean, good in that we haven't had a whole ton, thankfully!! I mean, she could easily get reinfected. But, now I know that oral meds just do not work for her. Crazy thing is the injections were actually cheaper and she handled it better. The oral meds gave her some digestive issues. She had no apparent issues with the injections.

I am just so glad it is over. It was not a fun three weeks.