Mommas boy ♥

I always thought Tate was a mommas boy, until I got Kort. He is never away from my side, it is very comforting, his presence makes everything better in the world ♥

Tater Tuesday :)

In 2007 Tate got his Tracking title, few things have been more important, or meant so much to me. Tracking is not for the faint of heart, you must be dedicated in so many ways. You have to track in all weather conditions, & all temperatures, you have to wake up at the crack of dawn, or track into the dark, depending on the time of year & the conditions. You have to be a cheerleader & a motivator for your dog, your dog has to love to track or he just won't. There is nothing you can do if your dog won't track.
Here are some pictures of mine & Tate's journey to our TD. We had entered the year before & failed, he got whistled off on the 2nd leg, few things in my life have been so disappointing :(
It just wasn't our time......

Snow......

Pouring Rain....

Spring......

Summer......

Fall......

Winter, it was -30 this day.......

This is the very start, the rest of the caravan has arrived & I am heading toward the start flag, I was sooooo nervous! .......

Approaching the 30 meter direction flag, after this we are on our own :).......
You can see the famous Sleeping Giant in the background, he rests on Lake Superior......

The first leg of the track, Marie Babin the judge, & Julie the tracklayer, follow along behind .......

Tate & I on the 3rd leg of our track, these next 2 pictures were taken by the judge, Marie Babin, then later sent to us, how nice was that !!! .........

Tate & I at the glove, I was crying :) ......

Tate was very excited to have found his glove ! ......

Posing with the tracklayer ......

This is an aerial view of our track, it was 400 meters long with 4 turns.....

Tate & his friend Dawson who got his TDX this day :) ......

Black & White

Black......
This is Tate's nose :) It "used" to be black, now he is loosing pigment on it, weird huh?

White......
This is Nalo, he belongs to Amanda's sister Sabrina, I got to groom him, cute huh !

Progress

I am finally enjoying training Kort again !
I never entirely did "not" enjoy it, but I like to see results, & if I don't, I get frustrated. I am trying to work on that :)
For awhile it was such an effort for me to even go & train. I had no motivation for anything.... scenthurdle, agility, or obedience. I kept plugging away though, sometimes having to drag myself to class, & it is finally paying off. Kort is going to be a star someday, I can see it. He has the determination & the brain to be one. I am finally figuring out how to train him properly. I am finding out what makes him tick & what he needs.
I can't thank Amanda enough for all of her encouragement in obedience, scenthurdle, & agility. Sarah has also been such an inspiration for me in agility. Both Amanda & Sarah have natural talent, incredible knowledge, & passion, they just "get it" when it comes to knowing what is right for your dog. I am so lucky to have them, plus they also put up with my moods & back talk :) I always have to have the last word, a fault of mine, but I'm getting better, or at least I'm trying.
Even though I may disagree with them at times, I always listen & absorb what they tell me, then I think about it later, sometimes they are right, but sometimes I am :)
Now I understand what Liz meant when she asked me what my hurry was? Kort is so different now then he was just a year ago. Sometimes the dog just needs to grow up.
Anyway, I wanted to thank these gals, your help & patience with Kort & I means more then you will ever know :)
Thank you !!!!

Mr Perkins

Perkins is having a sleep over tonight & I realized I hadn't blogged about the little wiener in awhile!
He is doing awesome & just had his 7th birthday on Monday :)
Here are a couple of pictures for ya all :)

A Perkins montage I put together ......

Perkins like to be warm & comfy when he comes to work with me, I'm happy to oblige :)......

Tater Tuesday

Tate poses beside Brad's "baby" in 2005 :)
A 1981 Seca......

Tate's Performance ad.......he's earned a few more titles since then :)

High Score in Caro Rally with a 199/200 in 2007......

Tate got his Rally Advanced Title in 2007, in 3 straight trials, with high scores of 98, 97, & 94..

Chillin on his 5th Birthday in 2007......

Sweet Sixteen !

Today my neice Adrienne turns 16 years old ♥
Happy Birthday!!!!!!

More Christmas Videos

Ok, here is another 2 videos for you :) You can see how I drive my family craaazzzy!! However it is me that is like the family historian. I have always been the person who takes tons of pictures, & now videos. In my family that is a good idea as people kind of drop off like flies LOL!
Here you can see Katie who is now a mom of 2, Jadyn is 3 yrs old & Avah is 6 months. Katie is my cousin Judy's daughter, I have talked about Judy alot, she was very close & special to me, she died of a brain anyurism on my birthday in 1996, Katie was only 16 yrs at the time, how proud Judy would be right now to see Katie married & a mom of 2.
In these videos you will see Katie's husband Brad, my brother Brian, sister in law Wendy, my Uncle Billy, who I refer to as Papa, he is Judy's dad, Katie's grandfather & Jadyn & Avah's great grandfather.
Enjoy !

Christmas Videos :)

I just found my videos I took at Christmas, I cracked up watching them but mostly this one so I thought I'd share :)



This one I just had to post because I love the horse!!......

Coming Along

This morning I took Kort to another Obedience Fun Match. I was very happy with his heeling, we did a Rally Excellent course, & a Open Obedience course, he was focused & did very well.
In Open I did a heeling pattern but no figure 8, a drop on recall, a retrieve on flat, & a retrieve over the high jump. The heeling was awesome, a teeny lag once but sits every time. His retrieve on flat was fast with a crooked sit in front, we are working on fronts :) His drop on recall could be better, he still takes a couple of steps before dropping, we are also working on that. The retrieve over the high jump was not so great, he ran around on the way there but jumped the way back. I did it one more time running with him toward the jump, lots of praise , then that was it!! We packed up & headed home.
It is a fairly nice day so I got home grabbed Tate & went for a nice long walk with the boys .
They are both peacefully sleeping beside me now.
I have to say that I am so enjoying Tate these days. He is doing so well, he is happy & playful & full of life again. It is so sad to think how skinny & sick he was last year before his neuter :(
I can't get enough of watching him as he runs around with Kort, bouncing & playing. It makes my heart happy & I appreciate every moment of it ♥

How Do You Temperament Test?

These pictures are from 1993, this is Drake, my nephew Aaron & my sister Debra. I was trying to get a picture when Aaron grabbed Drake's cheeks & pulled! As you can see by the following picture Drake couldn't have cared less & posed for the picture :)

Before......:)

After......

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 ♥