MORE PUPPY AGILITY

Everyone enjoyed the puppy agility pictures so much I asked Katie to send me more.......these puppies are 6 weeks old & from a litter born last year.....the puppy that is trying to climb on the dogwalk, pictured above, is none other then Katie's own golden Henley who you have seen in other posts.

NEVER TOO YOUNG !!

My friend Katie is hoping to get another puppy this year. Her breeder, Jane, of DocMar Kennels, sends Katie pictures regularly of the puppies. Katie drove down to Duluth MN. this past weekend to have a look & take some pictures too. These picture show it is never too early to expose puppies to all kinds of new experiences, supervised of course! The puppies are 4weeks old in the photos......do you think they would enjoy agility!!

GOOD IDEA???? MAYBE NOT !!!

So I decided to make Tate more comfortable on our teeny tiny deck......after experimenting with a few ideas, I picked up these interlocking foam squares today to try out. They are alot softer, & look better, then just the deck floor. Then I put up an umbrella for some shade.....now doesn't that look cozy to you? Well, Tate usually lays outside with me as long as I am on the deck, & sometimes he just goes out by himself , if I leave the sliding door open for him. Since I have made it more comfortable out there he hasn't gone out once!.......he did pop his head out, took one look at the matts & went back in under the kitchen table.....perhaps the colours are not to his liking??!!......I'm determined that he will like this, so I'm not giving up quite yet, stay tuned.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER!

What a fun day, Wendy & I went out to Park Lake Provincial Park to look for birds, we didn't find alot to view, but we still had a great time walking & talking, & Perkins had fun checking out all the gopher holes! Wendy was doggy sitting Perkins, the dachshund, who is a Paws On The Run "regular", & who just happens to be my favourite pooch there.....he stole my heart from day one with his happy personality & fast & furious kisses!! So, we headed out with Perky Wirky, as I call him, & Tate.....Perkins was kissing me in the 1st picture, you can see his little tongue hanging out.....what a character he is! Tate was just hot & refused to "use" his ears!

We then headed for the nature reserve where we saw lots of geese & these ducks, which I have since identified as Northern Shovelers. This was an area that dogs were not allowed in, so we had to leave Tate & Perkins back in the van for a very short time. Tate of course was less then impressed with this, so we had to photograph his face as we returned. I think he was saying to himself " I thought this was a dog "walking" service, at least that's what they claim on the van!!
I also had Wendy take a couple of shots of the High Level Bridge for me so my friends in Thunder Bay could see it......one shot is with the Coulee's, & if you look closely in the other, it has a train going over it.
Now doesn't this seem like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon? !

AGILITY

I wish I could still do agility with Tate, but his recent diagnosis of arthritis put a stop to it. I found these 2 pictures of our first Intermediate run on Sept. 15/ 05.....Tate NQ'd this run, but I was thrilled with it as you can see in the 1st picture, taken at the finish line. Later that afternoon, in his second run we did Q, with a first place in our 24" class!

Guaranteed to make you Laugh!

Brad & I had some fun on a recent trip through Vulcan!.......I've been calling Brad, Captain Brad Kirk ever since!

Back to Basics

Tate & I started an obedience class last night. I figured that since he is now retired from agility & only needs one rally excellent leg, maybe I'll put a CD on him next year.....he is my only collie not to have his CD.....both Ben & Drake had theirs in Canada, as well as the US. The last time I was in the obedience ring was 10 yrs ago when Drake & I went to Duluth to finish up his title.....things have changed, I need to work on foot work more for one thing. We'll see how it goes, I'm not going to worry if we don't do it, but it's fun to be doing something new & I think Tate would agree.

Improved version

So I cropped these pictures on my Picasa to make them larger & look better.......I think I did well! Please ignore my crabby look, I was 14 & at that age when I hated my picture being taken!

Special memories

Sometimes memories are hard to face, for instance my dog King, who I got as a present for my 13th Birthday. I wanted a collie (even then!!) & my mom not knowing where to get a collie , took her mom, my Baba, down to the humane society & came home with King, a "collie X". I think he was a border collie cross. I came home from school to find this little ball of fluff with a yellow bow around his neck. I still have the bow!!! King only lived for 2 short years, he was very aggressive with people, he would chase the mailman down the street & on the day he died he pushed open the front door & bit the 8 yr old paper boy. I did give him the best life I could at 13, but it still haunts me to this day that maybe I didn't do enough & that's why he was aggressive. I did much better with my next dog, my collie, Ben.
I have cropped & put the pictures in the above post.....

Buddies

Ben & Buddy were the best of friends.....here's 2 more of my favorites, the top photo was in 1984, & the bottom was in 1987.

More of my trip down Memory Lane

My trip down memory lane wouldn't be complete without mentioning Buddy....he was a cockerX that my mom & sister brought home from a grocery trip to Safeways! No, he was not for sale on the shelves, however, he was outside with 2 young children in a cardboard box. In the box were his littermates also. The children said they were going to be put to sleep if no one took them, so, my mom brought home Buddy.....I hope his littermates had the same luck. Buddy was born in 1979 & lived to the ripe old age of 18yrs....he was my mom's constant companion & she misses him to this day.

I also came upon these 2 photos taken of Ben & Drake in front of the same tree, but 6 years apart.....look how much the tree has grown in the photo of Drake. Ben, is 12 years old in his photo & Drake is 3 years. I am really having fun looking at all these pictures I haven't seen in years!

Reality Check!

I'm going to stop complaining about the recent snowfall now.........I found this shot of Tate in Thunder Bay, taken in March 05.........we had so much snow in our backyard I had to shovel pathways for him so he could walk around!! It was cool, like his own private highway!

A better look at Tate's Boots

Here are a couple of better shots of Tate with his boots on.......they even have reflectors for night time walking!!

Spring Weather Update

So today we wake up to mega snow & freezing temperatures! It was -21C with the windchill when I headed out with Tate for a walk(at 9 am. this morning).....Tate was very annoyed at having to put his boots on again, but I know that if it is more then -20 he will start picking up his feet within a half hr. of our walk.
As you can see by the photos, the wind was blowing quite strongly, Tate wouldn't admitt it, but he was glad to have his boots on!
This is Tate looking at me & wondering why I kept taking pictures if my finger tips were numb!! I was wondering too, so I put the camera away after this shot & started for home & a warm cup of coffee!

It's Baaaaack!!!!!

Well I guess it's payback time.....I have been bragging to all my family & friends back in Thunder Bay about how wonderful the weather is here, & how we haven't had snow since February.....well, this is what I woke up to this morning. Plus it's cold to boot, minus 18 with the windchill.

These are views from the front & back of my house & it's still coming down! It will be snowing all day today & all night too...oh joy!

Paybacks a @#$%* isn't it!!!!!

Computer class

So, Wendy is over at my house right now & drinking wine, well, we're both drinking wine!!! Anyway, she came by to give me lessons so I didn't have to spend 3 hrs on one blog post.....the problem is, because we're drinking, I probably won't remember anything I have learned. So, I guess she will just have to come back again!!! (& drink more wine , of course!!)

Oh, the picture is of Tate last year on his 5th Birthday.

Meet Ben

So I'm getting a little better at this scanning/posting thing. Wendy will be so proud! This only took me 20 min. to do....yippee!! There's no stopping me now, & I have a captive audience to view all my favorite shots! I'd like to introduce you all to Ben, my very first collie. I got Ben when I was 15 yrs old. This was taken in 1982, 26 yrs ago!! , probably before most of you were born! He was 7 yrs old in this picture. Ben was such a smart collie , probably the quickest to learn new things, if only I could have a second chance with him now, knowing all I have learned in the last 33 yrs.

Computer "Challenged" !!

Oh my goodness!!!!! It is 11:13 pm. & I have been sitting at this computer since 8pm.!!! Why you ask???? Well, Wendy, my boss at Paws On The Run , kindly loaned me her scanner to scan old pictures that I have tucked away in albums. That way, I can share my favorite storys & have pictures to go with them......however, I have NO idea what I am doing!! So, it has taken me all this time to scan this one picture & get it to post......the sad thing about it is , I can't even remember now how I did it!!!

Anyway, this is a picture of my collie Drake....he was from the same kennel as Tate......this was taken in 1994 while in Niagara New York.....we were competeing at the Collie Club of America National Specialty. There were 33 open sable males in our class....needless to say, we didn't place!! Enjoy this picture, I may never try this again!.....Good Night!