Big, fat, hUmONGOUS frogs!!!!!

So, we head out to Lo's for a private. A MAJOR treat for me on my vacation!!! I was thrilled she fit us in, since I know she was keeping a light schedule the week after three weeks of BARK camp! I can only imagine how tiring that is having three top agility instructors (read - three primadonnas) staying at your house. Not to mention all the irritating, demanding, pushy, rich and wacko students that come. Yes, I know I am one of them, I admit it! Irritating - yes, my voice starts to squeak and get really high when I get nervous. Demanding - yes, I admit it I will only do seminars and camps if Mean Jean isn't in my group. Pushy - well, that's who I am, so deal with it! Rich - yes, I married the man, so get over it! Wacko - no explanation needed.

She fits me in and on my way there I get stopped in traffic. Just a bunch of cop cars at the light making people turn around. WHAT????? Turn around???? I have a precious one hour private with the best instructor in the world, so there will be NO TURNING AROUND!!!! I call Lo and she is pretty much helpless as far as how I would find my way another route. But, she does say she has a half hour lesson after me and if I can make it we can do it after that lesson. As I am talking, I am the next car at the light to be turned around and the cop points to the light, gets into his car and they all drive off!!! I am THE FIRST to just head on my merry way!!!!! I start giggling to Lo and tell her I will be there soon.

I am about 15 minutes late and ask if I can have that last 15 minutes after her half hour chick's lesson. She's fine with that, so we get started. Spur is pokey and worried and hot. It's HOT. We do some recall games on the lowered dog walk. I show her my work, she's cool with it and with the recall games he starts really driving and doing well. We do some course work, he starts to get all pokey again. I bring out Roscoe and make Spur bark like a maniac in the x-pan and we work with Roscoe. Bring out Spur again and he works OK. 45 minutes is up, goddamn that was fast, and the next chick arrives, so I gather all three and head to the pond for a break.

What goes on at the pond is plain fun! Spur swims and retrieves sticks. He's starting to get this swimming thing down well!! Colby goes back to her frog area to hunt. She's knows this area, remember we were just there for BARK camp. She LOVES her frog hunt area!!! I am busy taking photos of Spur, when I look over and I swear the biggest RIVER RAT is leaping along the edge of the pond with Colby giving chase!! I mean, it was like a RIVER BUFFALO!!!! OK, so upon close look of the photos once I get home and enlarge them on the computer, I see they are just big frogs, but they are BIG, I mean HUGE FROGS!!!!!

I guess I need to use different color letters? It says.........."who says MinPins don't swim". Colby is a good, strong and happy swimmer. Especially if frogs are the goal.

The boys check out what's so interesting and just don't get it -

If you look closely there is another GIANT frog in the water -I can not imagine her catching one. I think she might kind of freak at the slimy skin, but maybe not. Thankfully, they all escaped her canines and lived another day. We all know it's not just the hunt with Colby, she is after the kill. She has a wall of death at home, preserved heads hanging proudly in her study next to her swords and muskets. OK, well, maybe that's a wee story, but she would if she were human!

What followed was a thing of beauty and I don't have photos. When we returned for our 15 minutes of remaining lesson, Spur was ALL PUMPED and ready to ROCK AND ROLL!!! It was AWESOME!! My World Champion showed up! Lo was SO happy to see it and I even heard her say......"He's fast!"...........OH my heart swelled up so big! I could not have been more proud!!! My little worried hang ringer pounded his fists and got er done!! She was very pleased to see he has it in him. It's just up to me to bring it out. And I will!!!

See what a little sun and heat can do????

I don't like the heat. I totally melt, find myself searching for shade or cool things to do. I don't ride my horse, I don't do agility trials, I sit around and complain in the heat. That's me, that's what I do. But, this year maybe I am not complaining. Maybe I have had SO much rain and clouds and damp that this hot spell feels pretty good??? Besides, look what it does for my gardens and plants!!! My planters that for months were just green things with buds, now have actually COLOR!!!! Yesterday I planted some black eyed susan's, a pink hydrangea, a pink echinachea and some impatiens under my weeping crab apple. I also found some basil seedlings at Jordan's farm on Wells Rd., so I added those to my struggling basil plants in my vegetable garden. We have zucchinis and summer squash now and I have even been eating a few beans!!! YAY for heat, I never thought I would say that!!!!

Roscoe likes the sun. He absolutely LOVES to sun bathe on his lounge chair. Yes, it is his. He owns it. He races outside to snag it as his spot before the others do. Of course, the others really don't care. Spur doesn't want to sun bathe and Colby is too busy hunting rodents. He gets sleepy..................I think the sun is just another one of his drugs!

Summer time........and the livin' is easy...........

Kathy called to join up for a farm walk. That's always a risky proposition with Kathy and George. The day before yesterday the call was....."George just chased a deer and headed your way."...........to which I pack up my three and head out with cell phone and treats. George was caught by Nate, but since we were all out we took a walk with George.......on leash..........that was until the dogs wanted to race around and play. Kathy??? What were you thinking???? George and Colby headed into the rock pile after a chippie. Colby came when called, but George??? Finally Kathy called Nate to come get George. She didn't want to fall trying to navigate the rocks getting George. Back on leash...............that was until the dogs wanted to race around and play. Is this sounding familiar? I quickly saw George looking thirsty and recalled everyone and told Kathy to get him leashed! Phew, crisis averted. Yesterday was another story. Or was it the SAME OLE STORY!!!!

Before we get to the story I will show you how much fun we had. It was hot for the first time since .......last year??? Pretty much, I don't think we have hit 80, yet. With all the rain the farm ponds are pretty clean. Often, since they are pumped out for irrigation, they are slimy and muddy and icky. With 8 inches of rain just the other day (no, I am not exaggerating, I think it was like 10 inches of rain!!!!) the pond is full and the streams are running fast, so it's pretty good swimming for the dogs. Spur is still learning to swim. Roscoe and George help out along the edge. They don't swim, but they can tell Spur where the Charlee Bear is I tossed in. Roscoe, little black and rust furry stomach hates swimming so much he won't even go in for a Charlee Bear!! George would just rather have a ground hog. Charlee Bears are WAY over-rated. You don't see Colby, she has already eaten most of the Charlee Bears, she is a great swimmer, and is busy hunting frogs and rodents along the edge.

Spur still worries some about swimming. Notice the facial expression? Just not totally comfortable, yet. He likes it and wants to do it, but needs to work a little on his form. He's getting it, but needs some more experience/confidence.

So, wanna know how our walk ended up?? Notice George's leash in that photo along the edge of the pond?? Well, the dogs wanted to race around and play after their swim. Oh, heck, I don't need to lead you on, you KNOW what happened......George got thirsty and headed to the stream before we could get him leashed. This time, we were near the very thick brush lined area of the stream. An area where it isn't mowed, the poplars and alders are starting to look like small trees, the raspberries are thriving, it's THICK along that edge. We can't hear him, we can't see him. The other dogs are starting to get tired of hopping through the thicket. We call, we offer treats, we bush wack and get scratched and irritated. I think we were irritated the minute we saw him head off that way, but we are sure irritated now. NO George. Finally, Kathy says she will just go get the golf cart and come back and hope he appears. What else can we do? I leave her and head home with my dogs, even Roscoe. I say that because she offered to trade me and said she would even trade George for Roscoe right now. Oh MY! That's saying a lot! She said she thinks she and Roscoe would get along great, since they both have an "attitude". Yeah, she had an attitude alright. Definitely an attitude right then and there!! You have to have an attitude to want to trade your dog for Roscoe!!! That's some attitude!!

We head home. An hour later she calls to report George, home and safe. He was stuck at the head of a ground hog hole and would not leave it. He was right under our noses all along, but was not going to leave that hole. He's a terrier, what can we say.

Our walk home brought out the deer flies!!!

The dogs do the "deer fly dance". I tried to capture it, but only got the head scratch. Those things BITE!!! Poor Roscoe seems to always have them bite his ass. That's always fun for us, swatting deer flies attached to Roscoe's ass. :O

Today is another hot day. Not my favorite weather, but at least it isn't raining. Seriously, we got like 20 inches of rain the other day!!! In about an hour!! Honestly, it was like 40 inches of rain!

Hey, but I am not complaining, I got 100 bales of hay in the loft!!! Coarse, scratchy first crop, but it's hay and it's dry and I am HAPPY!!!! They made it last week during the "dry spell". Now they can't even think about getting a tractor on the fields. 50 inches of rain takes time to soak in.

Run, run, run, run, run then JUMP????

ACK!!! I am worried about Spur's dog walk contacts. Now that he is going at good speed again I am getting a lot of jumping. So, I went back and started over. I trained him using the Sylvia Trkman running board method as a pup. But, he is SO bouncy. I read through her website and she does say that 2 out of 100 dogs might need a stride regulator at the top of the down side of the board. So, I played around with it yesterday. This video is without the stride regulator. Yikes! He just jumps the whole contact. **Notice the slight hesitation going into the tunnel? Yesterday he ran in there and stopped dead in his tracks. Zeus, my big barn cat was curled up asleep in there!!! :O

This one is with the stride regulator. Notice the small white bar on the plank? Looks pretty good. However, I did get some with him jumping even with the stride regulator. Damnit!!!!

And just to compare, here is Roscoe without any stride regulator. He just gets it! Yes, he has leaped off it before, but it is a rare even, he somehow, regardless of how high he holds his head, manages to run the whole board. I do wish he would not keep his head on me like that. I do have a loaded target for him to run to, but he knows I have the WHOLE BAG OF COOKIES. The target just has one tiny one. He just knows!

And just because maybe it makes me feel better here is another one of Spur running the contact with the stride regulator.

I may mess around with it some and see if I can get more success rate. The next option is to use a "Sand Box", named for Rachel Sanders A-frame box method and something I used when retraining the Pin Heads to running contacts and it worked pretty well. Gave them a definite for what behavior was needed at the contact. It is just risky because you can't use a box in a trial. Basically, it's a pvc box that covers the contact zone. I have used that for the A-Frame with pretty good success. I had hoped to train Spur using just Sylvia's running method. Which is essentially running the board, over and over and over and very slowly raising it. I thought it had worked pretty well with Spur, but now I see that I never had him at full speed before since he was having such a meltdown after his teeter issue. Now, with speed he jumps the contact zone.

Then to make me feel bummed again, here he is leaping off even with the stride regulator. Goodness!! What AM I going to do???? Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwww............

Mixed breeds in AKC = Segregation????

I did try to ILP Spur as a papillon. He's 14" and 14lbs. and looks very papillonish, but the AKC said nope, not a papillon, but a mixed breed. Oh well, it was worth a try, but they did take my $35, damnit!! Now the AKC has decided to accept mixed breeds in performance events. Read more here -http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3810

What started after this news were heated discussions about the AKC creating segregation. Putting mixed breeds "at the back of the bus". Seriously, discussions started that were comparing this issue with - Segregation. HUH??? We are talking about DOG AGILITY here, people!!! Not racial discrimination!! Not preventing someone from making a living or from entering a public place. Dog agility and in a pure bred organization's performance events. Not racial tension here! Pure breds have been competing in other venues for many years. This is a pure bred organization finally allowing mixed breeds to compete. Yes, they are being stupid about it and separating them from the pure breds, but SO WHAT????? It's DOG AGILITY!!!! I, for one, am thrilled! I spent many years attending AKC trials with my MinPins while my beloved Jess (MinPin/Aussie mix) just tagged along and could not compete. Now I have Spur, most likely a mixed breed, who will be able to compete at many of these AKC trials I attend. How cool is that??? So what he will be in a separate class???? What difference does it make? I understand, yes, he will not be allowed during a breed show competition or at National events. But, honestly I could care less. He won't have to tag along and just hang out at many of the trials I enter. He can run and compete! Wahoooooo!!! And besides, there are plenty of other venues that allow mixed and pure breds to compete all together. Those have been around for years and we have had that choice all along.

This came up again at BARK and one of the instructors said she didn't know anyone with a mixed breed who would be entering AKC trials next year when they start allowing it and the whole comparison to racial segregation came up. I quickly piped up and said I WOULD and that I can't wait!!! I left it at that, however, which might surprise you. I kept my mouth shut. This was not the time for a "political" discussion.

I just don't think it is nice to compare the AKC's mixed breed rules with racial segregation. If I were black I would be livid at this recent discussion/comparison. It just isn't right to compare the two. Racial discrimination is/was a horrible, terrible thing and comparing it to the AKC's stand on mixed breed dogs is simply not right. It's DOG AGILITY, for crying out loud, not world peace or racial tension!!! It just isn't and this sort of comparison makes me crazy!!! Just stop it, people!! Have a little more respect for blacks and minorities! During segregation they were prevented from making a living or entering a public building or riding anywhere on the bus. Keeping mixed breed dogs from competing in the same class as pure breds doesn't stop anyone from a job or entering a public place. I simply do not see the similarities! Just STOP IT!!!!

As the world turns, strawberries to blueberries

As soon as the strawberries go by, the blueberries ripen. We sure need some more sun, but there are some ready to pick. Picking blueberries is a favorite past time for me and the dogs. I am reminded of "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey - wonderful Maine writer! The dogs are reminded how yummy they are. Little furry stomachs, that's what Jen Pinder was calling some of the dogs and my three fit that category, for sure! Certainly Roscoe is one black and rust, furry stomach. Plain and simple, his life revolves around his next meal. I gotta say I am not far behind him, I do finish one meal and think about the next. Heck, it was one of the things I most look forward to at BARK camp........the FOOD!! I know, I know, it's supposed to be all about agility and training and tightening up those pin wheels and serpentines and doing collection and extension jump grids and analysing jump style and form, discrimination's and send aways, but seriously, Lo's Mom is a great cook and the food is fantastic! Oink, oink, oink............ He has it down pretty well, feel/taste for the ripe ones with his tongue and munch away!! Look closely, his tiny tongue is right on the bluest one!

OK, just after this shot Roscoe went "Roscoe" on the others for invading HIS patch of blueberries. Going Roscoe? - I am sure you all know what I mean. Kind of like when someone tries to take the last brownie after cutting in line at the BARK camp food tent. I might have "gone Roscoe" on them, just a wee bit? Or when Ronnie passed me by, thinking I had already been given my frozen Reese's Peanut Butter cup afternoon snack offering at BARK camp. Maybe I "went Roscoe" on him for that??

BARK, one day with Roscoe

Roscoe was starting to bum out, being used as a "jealousy" factor with Spur. He would run, then quickly get tied up or put in the x-pen while I ran Spur right away. The "J" man, used and abused, just to make Spur jealous and want to run better. The party after had to wait and he wasn't liking that. It's all about the party, with Roscoe. I think he likes agility, but he likes the party more. Party on Garth!!!! At first, I didn't notice him getting bummed, but then his performance was weakening. Just not so much drive to go. My crazy little man was not himself, looking pokey and worried. The instructors noticed it and I felt like a bad mom, using little Roscoe to benefit Spur. What was I thinking? So, he got a special day of just Roscoe at BARK yesterday! He loved it! We worked with the Master's group and worked on really hard discrimination's. Dark green tunnel up against a bright yellow contact. Hmmmm, which would YOU chose???

Can you see tiny Roscoe set up on the other side of the yellow wing jump in a sit in this photo? The idea was that he would have been taking that jump from the other side, landing there where he is now in a sit and I would run on the left side of the A-frame, but tell him "Tunnel" and he should take the tunnel and not the A-frame. Nope, not happening, no go, up the A-frame he went! Love that big yellow A-frame! Much more inviting than a dark, dreary tunnel! So, we set him up in a sit, I stood still and said "OK, go tunnel". I ended up having to move closer to the tunnel to get success. But after a few tries he "GO IT, MOM!!!"I moved in front of the A-frame, and again said "Go tunnel" and leaned towards it some. See his cute little brown butt entering the tunnel? I know, black dog, dark tunnel, hard to see, but his brown little butt is there, honest!!Yeah, TUNNEL!!!! Look at the happy expression, "Yah, Mom, GOT IT!!!" You say tunnel, I go tunnel! Even dark green, dreary tunnel, I got it!! Watch me go!!!

"Yeah, I am THE BOMB, mom loves me and just me, only me, the other two are stuck in the car, hahahahahahah, it's all about me, me, me, me, no one else, just me!!! She loves me and only me, I am the man, the top dog, I even ran off to bark at the photographer standing on the hill, yep, I told her, I did. She didn't belong, it was all about me, me, me, me, no photos, man, not without my signed approval and a fee, then mom said it was OK, we needed the photos for our resume'. What the heck is a resume'? I'll bite that resume'."

This last shot I had to put in to show his "LOVELY" jumping style!! He has heart, but he sure doesn't have good form! ACK!! And don't ya just love my hair when it's damn and humid??? Oh, yes, just LOVELY!!!! >:/

Back from BARK!!

Having withdrawals, already. I want to go BACK!! It is SO much fun! Spur did remarkably well, especially with his teeter performance. Rachel Sanders said it is time to get back to working on his end behavior before he has a fly-off. Wow, how cool is that?? She really thinks it is time. He did SO well. However, his jump work looked poor and showed my lack of training there. I have been so focused on the teeter lately. He had some times of showing great drive, other times of being in his funk. I felt like a broken record because each day had a different instructor........."See, there is this thing about Spur, he had this teeter issue and shuts down sometimes.............."But, he performed about what I expected from him. Although, his obvious lack of jump work training showed a glaring gap in our training program. Man, this pup is a project!

Roscoe only had to come out for his jealousy work a couple of times.

Roomie was fantastic!! Kirby's little Sophia is FREAKIN' adorable and Spur thought she was THE BOMB! It was very cute!! They live in NYC and Sophie goes everywhere with her in an LLBean carry bag made for dogs. She came into the restaurant with us and no one ever knew! Who would have known a tiny Bichon would be such a cool agility dog!! That dog has jets! She was flying around the course!!

Weather could not have been better. We finished each day with play around the pond. Colby and Spur swimming with all the other dogs and Roscoe hanging around waiting for his treats. Roscoe doesn't swim! I should have taken more photos. Roscoe and I will be heading back for one day Thursday. He deserves a day all himself.

From Bat Dog to Drum Band?

This is a fantastic new video from Sylvia Trkman, my most favorite agility instructor. I know what I will be teaching next winter!!! And certainly Roscoe will have to be band leader!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuEyCONyCX8


We played around with the sequential photo feature of the camera at agility class. Lisa managed to get this one of Roscoe. I guess next week we will have to try from the other side where the sun is so he isn't a black shadow blog. We got a lot of empty tunnel holes, but we will keep trying.

I am off to BARK camp tomorrow, yesterday dogs got nails done, Spur had his paws trimmed, and the start of my TWO WEEKS VACATION!! YAY!!! It doesn't mean I won't be posting here, I go to BARK camp until Monday - oh I can't wait for BARK - then the rest of my time is here at home. Home, home, home, I love my home and a vacation at home is the greatest thing. I plan to ride sweet Jewel, garden, read books, paint the house, play with the dogs, have a swim date party for Spur. Little buggar needs some extra lessons on swimming. He WANTS to swim, but isn't that confident, yet. I will get to meet my friend's new African Grey Parrot, Lebec. She picks her up this weekend and I can't wait to meet her. TWO WEEKS VACATION!!! This will be the third time in my life I have taken that much time off. Wahoooooooooooo!!! Now, if it will just not rain the whole time that would be OK with me.

Look who showed up yesterday, hunting varmints (that's odd, I think of a fox as a varmint, too, and come to think of it perhaps there are days I call the Pin Heads - VARMINTS!!!! That means they all hunt each other? That's true, absolutely!!!) in the freshly mowed field. Handsome buggar! Miss Colby Carlson could smell him/her and was barking like crazy in the yard. I guess she wanted to hunt that varmint!!! Obviously, she didn't scare it off. I am just glad I didn't head out for a walk. We were going to, but AGAIN the radar showed a batch of red heading right towards Cape Elizabeth! It ended up just south of us and out to sea, but the sound of the thunder had Roscoe too nervous.

Heading in for a snack. You know a freshly mowed field often ends up with dead rodents that couldn't get out of the way of the tractor..............

Spotted me with my camera.........

I rained on it's parade.......

and off it went...........can you tell what it's thinking?..... Damn that human, what the heck, I was just out for a meal. Can't they share the bounty? Moments later it was back and I let it be. This morning it was joined by a juvenile. Cute little buggar!!!

Sequential images! I figured it out!

I had to read the directions and use trial and error, but computer idiot I am actually figured it out! Rich let me have his camera since he rarely uses it. Mine is so basic and old and the quality of the images is really poor. Very little zoom, no timer, basic, basic. His is the same type, but with much more quality........probably quality isn't the right word, some computer word for that like mega-resolution or something......... and features. Farther zoom, timer, those would all be called features, right? I sat and read the directions, then tried a few sequential shots of Spur. I am looking forward to doing more of these!! The Spurminator happily obliged me, since catching his ball while I sit in the chaise lounger with Roscoe.........who ain't catchin' no ball for no photo shoot........... is a favorite thing to do.
I was actually out there to photograph the birds who were having a ball in the bird bath. I suppose the presence of three dogs changed their minds, cuz they never came back while I sat there quietly. Colby is, after all, a bird killer. She prefers baby turkey, but I think a robin would do.

Doing some housecleaning and simply could not toss this card away, yet.

What, you don't believe I was doing housecleaning??? I do, and my house is actually not so bad. At least, it's all relative, right?
Last Friday was my birthday! I don't like to make a big deal about my birthday, but it is a fun time of year for a birthday. Usually awesome weather, and believe it or not it was, and a great time for drinks and socializing on the patio or boat or someplace outside, which we did! Some friends came over and brought gifts and cards and wine! And this card is just too cute not to share. Maybe because it is SO true! I know, yes I DO have an attitude. I have strong feelings about many things and my family knows me as "Honest Amy", rarely holding back, sometimes just blurting out what's on my mind. Maybe my family calls me other names, but they are not as blunt, so maybe they call me those names behind my back? Sometimes it's a good thing to be so honest, sometimes not so much.....and maybe that's why I think I might be called other names. But, no one wonders how I feel about things, most times. I have an attitude, I admit it, so I guess I enjoyed this card............ a lot! I was a kid who knew exactly what I wanted to do when I "grew up" and I did exactly that. Work with animals in some capacity. That has never changed. Seriously, from the minute I could properly care for a critter I had many. There was a time as a child I had mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, chickens, goats, a pony, a dog, cats and a parakeet. I loved my parents! They fostered my animal needs well. I was born knowing what I wanted. Yes.........a chick with an attitude, .............clearly! Maybe there are other names for me, but "Chick with an Attitude" doesn't sound SO bad, now, does it?

Colby's eye exam. Good news, out a bunch of $$$, but good news, I guess.

Nothing "bad" going on. Just the Iris Atrophy. Luckily, in dogs that doesn't mean she will get glaucoma like it does in humans. OK, so Iris Atrophy isn't "bad"??? The poor thing has to nearly squint her eyes shut on bright days. The UV rays have a greater chance of damaging her lenses now. It just means she will squint......Um, I knew that and you took a pile of my money to tell me that?? .......... and that will continue to get worse. That's not "bad"?????
Luckily, we have more and more indoor agility trials available!! Even though she much prefers outdoors and never runs as well indoors, but at least she doesn't have to squint. She said many dogs are comfortable wearing googles or visors, but that seems a stretch for Colby. I'll give it a try with tons of cookies, but if you look on my blog you will see my first attempt. :P Something tells me Colby won't be wearing no goggles, even if I did change her name to Daisy or Mitzy. I am sure a dog named Daisy or Mitzy would wear goggles.
She said everything else looks really good, so that is a relief. It took all of about 10 minutes for the exam. I suppose the cost is for all that fancy equipment she used to test and examine her eyes? I peeked myself and could see some fraying of the edge of her irises. She then says......."I'll show you some photos"..........and idiot I am got all excited and stopped peeking, thinking she had some fancy imaging machine she was taking photos of her eyes and I would get to see COLBY'S eyes on little print outs. Nope, she sits down and pulls out a book showing some old mutt's frayed irises.

I tried to find a photo that shows how much more she squints than the other dogs. This one is maybe the best. Especially, you can see how much more she is squinting than Roscoe. I told her I would be calling her Squinty until she submits to wearing goggles. Squinty, Squinty, Squinty. I tried it on her and she just looked up at me with that expression she is so good at.........."Where's my cookie???".

I cropped it so you can maybe see a little better. Helen Peppe http://www.hpeppe.com/ is always complaining about Colby squinting. Perhaps her modeling days are over? BTW - Helen Peppe is responsible for many of the photos here. She is an awesome photographer and uses my dogs as models often. My "payment" is free photos. Check out her site!! I know Helen Peppe calls Colby, Squinty.

Dr. Marrion seemed to think she would handle a visor pretty well and that many dogs handle goggles, but if Colby doesn't a visor might do. Oh.................yeah.........right......... I was trying to keep a straight face, but my eyes were probably rolling around, my mouth corners were likely smirked into crinkles and my stomach was starting to move in that way that only happens when a giggle is about to burst out of me. I tried........., I really tried, but COME ON.........Miss Colby Carlson wearing a VISOR???? Maybe a Harley Davidson Visor, but even then she is just not one to be OK about something on her head. I know, I'm supposed to be some great dog trainer, after all I taught Roscoe how to "Be A Bat", but really Roscoe is special and we all know that. I mean he is "special" and being a bat wasn't a stretch for him, right? I dunno, I do worry about the extra UV rays coming into her lens and after a while I think bright sunlight is going to be uncomfortable, but hanging out in the yard, hunting moles with her Harley Davidson visor on doesn't seem likely. Can I call a dog wearing a Harley Davidson visor, Squinty, or Daisy, or Mitzy? Probably not, I would have to change it to Bruiser or Masher or Killer. Hmmm........Killer might be good. Turkey Killer would be appropriate, don't you think. Baby Turkey Killer. BTK. That's it, Colby's new name is BTK Squinty!!!

Oh those elusive double-q's!

We did get one over the weekend at the AKC trial in Derry. And watched a friend try for TWO MACH's with both her dogs, talk about greedy, and not get them over the weekend. It's just how it goes. Probably since this is my first dog to get close to a MACH I am IMPATIENT!! Colby did well! It was all silly things. Roscoe did great and I am very pleased about that. No mental breakdowns at this trial. He double-q'ed on Sunday with some great runs!!

Watch closely at the start of this Jumper's run. Roscoe tries to start before I ask, which shows I have a dog at the start line! Much better than his meltdown the previous trial. He wanted to run all weekend, even coming in 5th yesterday in standard. He rarely gets that close, he just isn't as fast as those super fast shelties and schnauzers, but yesterday he ROCKED!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/lwalker316#play/uploads/6/uBlxnOICAOE

So, our next try is the first weekend in September. I did set my goal of getting this by the end of the year. Sigh........

Here's a video of Roscoe doing his "Bat Dog" routine. Cute buggar just loves that trick!!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/lwalker316#play/uploads/1/rMa1xcEWoi4

Off this afternoon to see the ophthalmologist with Miss Colby Carlson.

Seriously?????

Colby's "Doggles" arrived. I have seen photos of search and rescue dogs wearing goggles to protect them from dust and debris at crash sites and such, but SERIOUSLY how the heck does one train a dog to keep them on? I kind of thought the mesh thing would help get her used to wearing something on her head. NOT!!! She would really like to know what I have been smoking and perhaps I could go "on the wagon". She is sure I have lost my mind and haven't a clue what proper dog care is all about and the thought has occurred to her to report me to the humane society. She has decided if she has to wear these she is running away from home and would like to know if any of you would take her. She is housetrained, alerts intruders, requires very little except for faux fur snuggle beds in every room in the house. I tried to tell her to stop being such a baby, it's all for her own good, cutting out the UV rays from entering her lens since her irises do not constrict properly any more. She is sure I have joined the land of Hollywood and soon will be asked to ride around in a pink purse with sequined collar and lace slippers and her solution is to simply squint and there is no need to worry about Irises, those can be cut and put in vases or planted along the driveway.

Nearly 5 inches of rain??? Really?? Oh yeah, I have no trouble believing THAT!!

This was what we had to walk through this morning! I watched the radar ALL day, cuz that's what I do lately......watch the radar. Well, then there are the baseball games to watch and at night I don't need the radar as much, but during the day I don't want any TV, I just watch the radar. I am obsessed by it. I don't know if it is my imagination or it really happens, they did say Cape Elizabeth got nearly 5 inches of rain, but it seems the red and yellow radar colors just hover and spin around MY HOUSE!!!!

This is the second planting of corn. At least the soil didn't wash away too much. But, many farmers like corn "knee high by the fourth of July" and this is maybe ankle high. But, look do you see the blue sky????? I see it, I see it, I see it, IT'S BLUE!!!!!!! Wahoooooooooo!!!

This corn got a boost this spring. They covered it with Remay covering. It actually has tassels on the corn cobs!!! :D

This is "Chipmunk Hollow". The new kid on the block over at Red Neck City had to clear cut the pines for his new house. The stumps are now piled in a "ditch" in the wooded section along the fields. The chippies LOVE it there and so does Miss Colby Carlson!

How long do you suppose it will take for those stumps to rot? More than my lifetime, I think!

Remember I mentioned the snails love the grass clippings along our path? Finally dared bring my camera since the SUN arrived this morning. They seem to love the dying grass clippings!

This is the new hay field. The golden tips are the seed heads drying up. That's NOT a good thing. They won't be able to get in there to cut it for a while. It is totally saturated. You can see they cut a little along the edge last weekend and hauled that over for the four cows Nick has at Red Neck City. Hay is extremely hard to find right now.

Miss Colby Carlson may be having some eye troubles, but her vision is fine! I wish my camera was better, this is a COOL shot!! Hard to tell, but that puddle is about 4 foot wide where she is jumping it. She clears it easily! She is SO athletic!

And, believe it or not, we still have pick-able asparagus!!!! Some of it has bolted (grown too tall and gone to seed heads), but there is still plenty to pick and eat. We are going on three months of picking asparagus!!! YUM!!

Yesterday when we were RAINED OUT OF AGILITY CLASS........AGAIN.........I decided to go to my friend's shop at Pine Point. http://www.nduck.com/AboutUs.htm and do some shopping. I seem obsessed with the radar and also with burning candles. I am so tired of the moldy smell, the way the house holds every cooking odor imaginable, so I have burned all my candles and what better way than to go shopping on a rained out night. Mary's store is very cool!! She was having a sale on some of the Yankee Candles, so that worked out great!!! You really should check out that store, it is very fun! Cindy and I brought little Zep, the sheltie puppy, down for some socialization. He was a HUGE hit there. They love dogs, as you can see from her website. Mary has two awesome black labs!!! Zep met all kinds of people, kids in strollers, kids on foot in crazy rain outfits, big people, little people, boys, girls and grandma!! Good stuff for a 14 week old pup!!