Medicine Hat Agility Trial

Well the trial is over & I am beat. It was a trial full of emotion for me. I had Tate entered in all 8 events. Tate loves agility, it's his thing. His happy face when on the course warms my heart. It is funny how things turn out, & I believe everything happens for a reason.
On Sat. morning Tate was in his first event which was gamblers. He was going along well, but was ignoring my directions to go out & jump & there was no bounce in his step, he was refusing jumps as well., I was annoyed at him, if you know Tate he tends to blow me off, Tate is a funny boy, always doing his own thing, & only if he feels like it. I thought this is what he was doing.
In the afternoon he was in standard. We did 3 obstacles & he just stopped & sniffed a jump. I knew then that he was not well :( I told the judge he was done & took him off the field. Poor Tate has not been eating well either, & on that day it had been 2 days with no food. He does this sometimes, always has, so I wasn't too concerned. The problem is he is so thin he can't afford to drop any more weight. He has a vet appt. on Fri so we will see if there is anything yup.
After the second run I took Kort for a walk & cried my eyes out. It is hard to see Tate like this, especially doing agility. He is only 9 but he is an old 9, I think his agility career is over.
I cried because my young dog is gone, & in it's place is a dog with a young heart, but no longer the young body to do things he loves.
I cried because I was mad at him as I thought he was blowing me off when clearly he wasn't. I hate that I get so serious about a dumb game. After my cry I went back & talked with Amanda, she suggested pulling Tate from the rest of the trial & putting Kort in his place. You can do this in AAC agility, but if the dog runs at a lower height then he should be it is called FEO, For Exhibition Only, that means that even if Kort Q'd he wouldn't actually get the win.
Kort is just coming back from 6 months off of agility & he is not in trial shape so we entered him in 16" instead of his regular 22" he jumps.
Kort amazed me ! He listened , followed my direction, & any boo boos he made were my mistakes in handling. He dropped a bar in one of his jumpers runs so clearly you can see he is not quite ready to compete officially.
I have a plan to get him in shape, I am borrowing a bike from Wendy & there is a monster hill nearby that we are going to do twice a week.
So like I said , everything happens for a reason, Kort will be a fun dog to run , & hopefully Tate will just be happy to tag along for the ride & visit with his friends :)
Amanda videoed us all weekend , thanks Amanda, you rock !!

Here is Kort, my new agility superstar :)) ......

What is A Title ?

Sometimes I get asked why getting titles on my dogs is so important. I usually can't explain it as well as I would like.
Below is an explanation that was written by Sandy Mowray & it explains it better then I ever could :)...

What is a Title, Really ?
Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores; a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honor the dog, an ultimate memorial. It will remain in record and in memory, for about as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better in that regard.
And though the dog itself doesn't know or care that it's achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans, where such things count.
A title says your dog was intelligent, and adaptable, and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that please you, however crazy they may have sometimes seemed.
A title says that you loved your dog. That you loved to spend time with it because it was a good dog, that you believed in it enough to give it yet another chance when it failed, and that, in the end, your faith was justified.
A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few. That in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved, and loved greatly in return.
And when that dear short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend. Volumes of praise in one small set of initials after a name.
A title is nothing more than love and respect, given and received, and permanently recorded.

What Would You Do ?

Do you know someone that always seems to have trouble follow them?? No?....
Then you haven't met me :)

This morning on my walk I passed a house that has 2 dogs, mixed breeds. These dogs go crazy if someone with a dog walks by their house. The owner knows this as they have built a smaller fence within their fence to keep them back. The problem is they can get over the smaller fence if they want.This morning they wanted to :)

They can get to the corners & stick their heads through, the barking, snarling & growling is awful. Kort of course reacts by barking his fool head off at them. I was so annoyed I walked up to the fence & wacked it with my flexi yelling at them to get back. The younger of the 2 did so, she mostly acts out due to the older dogs aggressive behaviour.
Then I hear the owner yelling at me, something about the dogs being in his yard & how I was in the wrong by being too close to it with mine :)
Yeah, sooo, if you know me, (smirk) I don't let people push me around, so I yelled back.
I told him how vicious his dog is & how he knows it as he has built the 2nd fence, blah blah blah.
He keeps yelling so I tell him I'm going to call the police, he tells me to go ahead,umm,ok, thanks I will :)
I walk around the street to find his house # & there he is in his truck with his 2 dogs & he's taking pictures of me!!! What the F!!!....
he slowly moves forward & stops right beside me taking another close up, of course I stick out my tongue at him, mature I know, I would have given him the finger but I had the dogs leashes in my hands :)
I continue to walk as he drives in the opposite direction...about 5 min later, while my back was turned "scooping ", I see the truck coming by again out of the corner of my eye, the bastard is following me!
I wait until he turns the corner & I go down the back sidewalk so I'm not on the main street.
I'm not sure if he was trying to find out where I lived, or trying to intimidate me.
Anyway, I did call the police, the officer on the other end called it "suspicious behaviour" & they are going to pay him a visit.
I also called the Animal Services at the request of the officer, they told me what I knew they would. The dog is in it's yard, & until it gets out & chases or bites someone they can't do anything about it..nice huh.
But damn it, now I've lost my favourite way to walk, I won't walk by the house again for obvious reasons.
So what would you have done ??

Guess .....

what Tate gets to do this weekend ?......



yup, he gets to play agility!
We are headed to Medicine Hat for a trial this weekend & Tate is entered in all the events.
He is in 8 runs, 4 each day, he will be soooo happy :)

Infection

Because I am morbid I took a picture of my infected elbow :)....please don't look at the picture below if you are at all queasy about such things :))
It actually looks better in the picture then it really is, the picture doesn't show how swollen it is or how red the skin is all around it.
It also doesn't show that it hurts like HELL! :)

Puppy !

This is my sister's new golden puppy Sawyer & my beautiful niece Adrienne, can't wait to see her again in person....both of them :)

Medicine Hat

This weekend was the Medicine Hat Obedience & Rally Trial.
I had Kort entered in Open & Rally Advanced. Tate was in Novice !!

I'll start with the Tater Dog.....he had some good moments & some bad moments. His good moments were during his heel on leash, he seemed to be enjoying himself & didn't lag too much. His bad moments began with the off leash heeling. He started off ok, but right after our left turn he veered wide & went off to sniff a yellow dot on the floor...hmmmm. I was thinking oh oh, there go's the ball game :) I called him to heel & he sort of followed, then the about turn...well, lets say I did alot of heeling on my own & leave it at that. The recall was interesting, Tate usually flys across the ring & jumps up on me he is going so fast. He actually walked to me then sat about 5 ft away, yup, there was no touching that boy.
We NQ'd, no big surprise.
I think I will try him once more in July, I'll see how that goes & make my decision then about his obedience career.

Kort Kort Kort, what can I say ?
I think Amanda said it best, everyone has a challenging dog once in their life & I have mine now. It makes me crazy, not knowing what to expect from him.
In Red Deer he was amazing, totally focused & pulled in high 90's for scores in Rally.
On Sat. in Medicine Hat he was the most difficult that I have ever experienced with a dog in all the years of training. His run took over 5 min. It was so painful I wanted to cry. Many times I thought about asking to be excused, but then I didn't want him to get his way. I think the problem happened with the off set figure 8 & the food bowl & toy. It blew his little brain & he just could not think of anything else. He refused to sit at all, it took minutes to make him sit, the more stubborn he got, the more stubborn I got. To say I won would be a lie, I'm not sure what I accomplished by continuing on when Kort was clearly unfocused & not doing his part.
The funny thing is I passed, serious, I got an 82, a far cry from the high 90's he got for his first 2 Advanced legs, but we Q'd & now he has his RA.

Today I moved him up to Excellent. He started off great, I was pumped, he was my old Kort, then the first sit came, again I had to ask him many times to sit, he did , eventually. The course was the most difficult & challenging course I have ever seen, it had layered signs, twists & turns, circles & many many left pivots! Kort started to get better, but then it happened, the chewing on my leg by Kort!!!! Damn this dog, everyone , including the judge thought it was entertaining, I however was not so impressed :) I lost 10 points on a station the we completed properly, the moving stand, however the judge docked me the 10 points for not pausing at Kort's side after walking around him :(
We also lost 10 points because the darn dog decided to take a jump instead of listening to me :) :)
Soooo, our first Rally Excellent leg was a score of 70....not stellar, but a Q. Oh, his honour was perfect, we got it out of the way first & I was very pleased with Kort for staying even though we were honouring for Amanda & Pixel!!

Now for our first attempt at Open.
Kort's off leash heeling was AMAZING!! He scored a 38.5 out of 40 !!! How cool is that! He did his drop on recall, & his retrieve on flat! He surprised me by running up to the high jump but then deciding to run around it, both ways. Amanda thinks he may have been overwhelmed by the sheer size of it, the jumps we practice on are much smaller. Next came the broad jump & as I expected he refused the first command to jump, he went on the second command but walked through it :(
However.....now pay attention!....Kort did his out of sight sits & downs ..seriously!!!! Amanda even video taped them !!! That alone made my weekend!

I have alot of training to do between now & the next trail in July. I won't give up on my dream of having a Utility dog, that dog is Kort, he just hasn't realized it yet, I see the potential & that is what frustrates me, he can do it, now I just have to convince him :)

BFF'S :)

Kort & Perkins are best buddies...I took this picture the other night (with my phone) of them sleeping...Perkins had to tip Kort's bed over to the other side first however, it was hilarious to watch! Of course Kort wouldn't dare make his best bud get off his bed, so he snuggled up beside him......

Just Stuff

Lots of stuff is happening this month....I'm so tired these days, yesterday I got home from work & fell asleep for 3 hrs, I never do that!!! Then I went to bed at 10 pm, & slept until 9am this morning! Wow!!
Tonight I have Scenthurdle practice, I am looking forward to it because we haven't had a practice for awhile .
Tomorrow am. I am bathing Tate, then meeting my friend Kim for a walk in the Coulees!, Perkins is coming to stay for a week so I'm sure he will also enjoy the walk, stay tuned for cheesy video :)
Sunday I am bathing Kort.
Next Friday is the Medicine Hat trial, Kort will be competing in Open for the first time, & I entered Tate in Novice!! Kort will also be looking for his last Advanced rally leg, & hopefully we will be getting our first Excellent leg as well !!!!
I am a bit nervous, but more excited then nervous, this trial is so great, it is small & quiet, just what I like.
At the end of the month we will be going back to Medicine Hat for an AAC agility trial. I just entered Tate this time around. I won a free trial entry so he is entered in everything ! Amanda is going to run him in snooker though, I don't understand it & I want to watch him in the ring with someone other then me, lots of cheesy video after that weekend!!!
Ok, I'm off to work.....

3 today !!!!

So hard to believe !! ......

Kort says Happy Birthday to his brother Duffy in Edmonton!