Tater Tuesday :)

May 2006, I have always loved this picture of Tate in our driveway in Thunder Bay......

Tate doing agility 6 years ago :)......



In August 2006 Tate gets his CKC Agility Intermediate title & I was skinny ,sigh ......

Fun Match

Today I hauled my butt out of bed early & took the boys to an Obedience Fun Match.
It was good to see where Kort is at right now with his training. His heeling was wonderful, he sat every time I stopped & had no "sideways ears". The sideways ears mean things are about to fall apart & he is stressed :(
He did not drop on his recall which was kind of weird as he has been doing it well in class. Next was the retrieve on flat & he started to look at the floor for food, wandered away from me, & did the whole avoidance thing. Amanda suggested I step out of the ring & give him a break then come back in & finish the exercises. That worked like a charm. He did a lovely retrieve on flat & a gorgeous retrieve over the high jump, except for anticipating it LOL! I will take that for now as he ran out with gusto & was happy to jump. He aced his broad jump!! On the out of sight long sit he laid down at the 1 min 20 sec point. He was good on his long down. So we still have a way to go before he can put the full routine together, but I am super happy with him & can definately see his progress !!!
His Rally Excellent routine was awesome, he performed all the stations well & came out with High Score & 100/100 !! What a good boy!
I brought Tate out to play as well, he never really liked to do the whole obedience thing, but every once in awhile he enjoys hanging out with Kort & I. I had my hands loaded with treats because these days Tate's all about the food! He is just so stinkin cute! In the video you will see that he has forgotten how to do a left 360, hahaha, but he had a great time & I am soooo thrilled he is still having fun!
These are the first videos taken with my new fancy digital camcorder :)

Words To Live By

LIFE isn't measured by the number of breaths we take....
But by the MOMENTS that take our breath away

Tater Tuesday :)

Tate's very first Agility title, CKC Novice, July 2005.......

The last jump for Tate's first CKC Intermediate leg, Sept. 2005, I was a bit pleased :) ......

Tate was still competeing in the Specials ring in 2005, here's a few pictures.....

Here Tate is waiting for his turn in the ring.......


The 2 below are in the Herding Group ring...he got a 4th :)

A Promise

No one is Perfect...that's why pencils have erasers :)

When I got Kort I had a dream. I wanted him to be my first UD dog. That was the most important thing to me. Kort & I have been in training toward this goal of mine since he was 3 months old. Taking classes, working hard. He has done phenomenally well, is a great worker, has drive & determination... he also has ring stress. Why?? Because I rushed him, I moved forward too fast when I shouldn't have. What was the result? A dog that was so stressed in the ring he shut down, totally. I didn't see it at first, or I just didn't want to see it. I believed that he was strong & confident. He seemed to be a confident dog in all other areas, but I was so wrong.
Last August at the Spruce Meadows Rally trial he shut down on me the first day, I couldn't even get him to do a simple sit. The second day I asked Amanda to give it a try, to see if she could at least get him to go through the stations. She did & Kort performed beautifully for her, getting his second Rally Excellent leg with a score of 98. Did I celebrate? Nope, I cried. I cried because I could see that it was me who had shut him down, my high expectations of him had caused him alot of stress. The good thing to come out of this was that I finally put my ego in check, & realized I had alot of work to do to make Kort enjoy working with me again.
I have been so lucky to have Amanda to help guide me. She is wise beyond her young years :) She has been working with me to bring back the "old" Kort. I have been doing pretty well following direction, I have room for improvement though, I am very stubborn & stuck in my ways, but Amanda hasn't tried to strangle me yet.
I am seeing the results finally. My old Kort is slowly coming back. It is hard not to want to skip ahead & do things quicker when I see progress. I must remember not to get greedy!!!
Now I make learning for Kort a game, everything is a game, from sitting in front of me, to sitting beside me, heeling , retrieving or taking the high jump. All of it is FUN!!
Once I stopped expecting perfection from him, both mine & Kort's stress has decreased. We have a long way to go, my goal is for trialing again in 2013.
I do however have him entered 1 day in Red Deer next month. We are going up for Scenthurdle & staying overnight. I entered 1 Rally Excellent trial as we will be there anyway. HOWEVER, I am totally ready to not enter the ring if Kort is not ready. I promised him I would never make him feel that kind of pressure again & I will not break my promise .
I love my Korty dog ♥

The Quilt

My sister in law Wendy had this quilt made for my sister Joanne. It is so beautiful & was such a wonderful thing for Wendy to do. Wendy's sister made it, she is very talented!!
As you can see it is a quilt to acknowledge Joanne's fight with cancer. The saying that is written below on one of the squares is in Latin & means "Through difficulties to the stars" ....beautiful
Joanne is doing great, her treatments are finished. In April she will go back for a CT scan to see where the cancer is at, then we will take it from there.
Joanne has been an inspiration to me, she has taken this all on with such courage, actually handling it better then me. How I love her ♥

Tater Tuesday :)

All the following pictures were taken in 2005 when Tate was 3 years old.

Tate laying among the apple blossoms......

This is Tate & I tracking in one of the gorgeous fields surrounding Thunder Bay......

The following 3 pictures were taken at Kakabeka Falls. The falls were only 20 minutes from us. Brad, Tate & I would go there almost every weekend for a walk......

Famous

This picture of Kort is one of my favourites! It was taken by Amanda.
Someone decided they liked it as well & "stole" it from my blog , put the Assistant Branch Manager slogan on it, & then it went viral!
I have been seeing it pop up on business sites, breeders Facebook pages & American Rescue organizations! When I see it I alway write them to say who he is, at least they will know whos dog he is, his name & who took the picture.
At first I tried asking people to take the picture off, but that didn't work, so now I just enjoy seeing Kort be a famous face :)
That is the risk we take for using the internet I guess.