Super Models

I LOVE getting pictures of Tate & Kort.
 
I am so lucky to have extremely talented friends that take awesome photos for me every time we get together.  Both my dogs are very photogenic, Kort is amazing & hardly ever takes a bad picture, Tate sometimes takes a bit of coaxing  to put his ears up, & get a proper expression , but when he feels in the mood he is awesome too:)

Amanda got some wonderful pictures on our walk yesterday, I had some fun & put some of my favourites in a collage of the boys.

Life & Death

This past week has had quite a few ups & downs .  All just natural life events but all lumped close together.

My moms best friend passed away.  Her name was Barb & I have so many early memories of her. She owned a dog named Willie.  He was always outside chained to his doghouse.  The kids in the neighbourhood were scared of him because if he got loose he was known to bite .  He never bit me :)  Sometimes he would sit on the front steps of my house with me, I wished he was mine.
Barb would pick me up every Sunday to take me to church.  I was about 6 at the time.  My mom bought me a special "church hat" to wear.  After church we would all go for pancakes.
Barb had 2 daughters & her younger one Suzanne babysat us.  She was very strict. Later when Suzanne had kids I babysat for her.

2 days after Barb passed away my mom's friends sister died. I didn't know her but felt bad for my mom.

I got a phone call this morning that my sister is going to have to put her dog to sleep today  She is in kidney failure & has been having seizures all night :( 
She is probably gone now, & I'm sad.

Yesterday afternoon I was at a baby shower.  My friend Jaime had a baby boy 6 weeks ago.  He is adorable .

Life goes on, nothing we can do about it. Sometimes bad stuff, but thankfully lots of good stuff to balance it all out.

A Herding We Will Go

Photo by Wendy Devent

On Saturday Amanda & I drove up to Louanne's Phantom Ridge Ranch for Kort's first herding lesson.  Up until now he has just been introduced to sheep & basically allowed to chase them in a circle, & do minor direction changes.  This time we wanted more from him.  He needed to stay further back from the sheep & change direction when asked.  Kort was being very stubborn!  He was having fun & didn't want to follow any rules, Kort doesn't think rules apply to him.  So when we demanded it of him, he did the avoidance thing.  By avoidance I mean he stopped & just ate sheep poop, lots & lots of sheep poop.  I was actually quite shocked by this!  My dogs are very prissy, they never step near, or even sniff poop, it's disgusting to them .  But there he was gobbling it down, it was making me want to gag !

I was also surprised by how little he respected Amanda while in with the sheep!  He always listens to her, but sheep are something he really wants, & she wasn't going to stop him, not with the flag anyway :)  Soooo we had to bring out the big gun, AKA, the paddle , dum da dum dum ......

He couldn't have cared less about the paddle either!! Amanda would bang it right in  front of him & he was like, whatever, gimme the sheepies!!!

Sooo , it was time for a lesson in respect, Amanda threw the paddle at his feet, he may have ran into it a bit :)   But that got his attention! geesh! what a dog. 

We ended with him being able to chase the sheep a bit, put the paddle away, & let him be happy.  At his next lesson we will be able to tell if he can come back from the paddle & still have the drive to work the sheep.  It's hard, this sheep herding stuff, the dogs need to listen , they can't just mindlessly run around in circles, & sometimes with a dog like Kort you have to get tough.  Hopefully he will be willing to follow the rules next time but we will see.  Some dogs just shut down, so you need to build them up again. 

I will know when I see Kort at his next lesson whether he has the heart for it or not, as long as Kort wants to continue I will see where it goes.  Amanda has her work cut out for her though!

A short video from the day......

I Will Follow You ♥

The Great Thing in this World is not so much where we are going,
But in what direction we are moving
Oliver Wendell Holmes

Photo by Amanda Labadie



Love ♥

In honour of Valentine's Day I present Brad & I, much younger....& thinner ;) ♥

August 11 1995

Fronts!

So how can a dog with a CD, a RE, & ready for a CDX, not know what "front" means??????!!!!!

This is what I had to ask myself a few weeks ago while I was out doing some training.  Kort was sitting nicely at my left side in the heel position & I asked him to front.  He didn't move, so thinking he didn't hear me I repeated the command, same thing, I asked again, he downed, really?? I moved position & asked again, he backed up , then downed !  OMG!!! my dog really doesn't know front!
I started to think about it, in CD & CDX work I use the "come" command for his recall & drop on recall, but in Rally I use both verbal, as well as hand signals for the front command.  Oops, somehow I neglected to train this with out luring , duh!

So we are now training it & it is not going well.  I have went back to using his perch, a small stool were he just puts his 2 front feet on.  He has no problem doing the fronts this way, standing & moving into position as I move around the perch, but he really is struggling with the concept of getting off his butt from a sitting position, then moving his entire body into the correct spot.  This would have been much easier 5 years ago when we first started training, I think I remember Amanda telling me something about this very early on, but I know everything right? :)  Ya, not so much it seems :)

Sojos

Me & my boys, taken by Wendy Devent

It's been about 3 months since I started to feed Tate & Kort  Sojos Dog Food  & I'm really happy so far.

Kort has been a struggle since he was a puppy to regulate his loose stools & constant diarrhea.  I've tried many many different dog foods & also went raw for a couple of months, but the result was always the same, diarrhea after about 3 weeks :(
I finally took my vets advice & went with a vet food that I was not at all happy to give, but it worked.  Kort was doing super until about 6 months ago when he started to itch. Then Tate was itchy, Tate has been on Origen Senior.

I have always tried to do the best for my boys,   or what "I"  think is right.  I am never influenced by other people or what they do with their dogs, I do what is good for me & my boys, period.  So when the boys started to itch I knew I had to make a change diet wise.  I have never been happy feeding kibble, but it was working so I saw no reason to change. I searched around & found Sojos, I had seen it before but never tried it thinking it would be too expensive for 2 large dogs, but it is actually comparable to kibble.

I am using the grain free variety.  It has raw freeze dried turkey as it's protein source, so the dogs are getting the nutrition of raw.  It's other ingredients are sweet potatoes, whole egg, broccoli, celery, apples, kelp, flax meal, pecans, pumpkin, cranberries, basil, ginger root, alfalfa, & of course all the calcium , vitamins & stuff, all freeze dried in their natural state, not cooked first.
You can read about it here.

Both Kort & Tate have stopped itching, & fingers crossed Kort has had no diarrhea. Hopefully I can keep them on this food, but if Kort slips backwards I have no problem going back on the vet food for awhile.

Perkins!!!!

Perkins a few years ago taken at Daycare by Wendy

I thought it was about time for a Perkins post :)

Perkins is a smooth mini Dachshund that Brad & I take care of.  He will be 8 yrs old on March 19.
He is part of our family & we think of him as ours when he is here.  Kort loves him & vice versa, I think because Kort was just a puppy when I started to look after him.  Tate & Perkins don't interact at all though. 

When I first started to work at Paws On The Run Perkins was in daycare.  At that time Amanda & Wendy shared taking care of him.  Perkins dad Brian has a job that takes him out of town quite often.
I fell in love with the little wiener!  I had never cared for the breed but Perkins changed that ♥
One time Amanda & Wendy couldn't look after him so I volunteered , he's been "mine" ever since :)

He has his own beds here , 1 upstairs & one downstairs.  He has his own bowl set, & he pretty much owns all the toys as well, or should I say , he has "claimed" all the toys as well.  He sleeps in our bed under the covers which is typical of the breed.  I have no idea how he breathes!!
Dachshunds are big dogs in a small package, both Tate & Kort respect him, he is top dog when he is here .

Perkins is also a miracle dog.  In the summer of 2010 he became paralyzed, pretty much overnight, he couldn't use his  back legs at all.  Brian decided to do the back surgery & it worked!! He had a long recovery, but today you can't even tell :)

This is Perkins the first time I looked after him after his surgery.....

I love the Perkins ♥

photo by Wendy Devent



20 Years

Happy Birthday to my one and only nephew Aaron, who turns 20 today, wowzee!!!

2 year old Aaron, & Brad, at our Wedding Rehearsal
 

 



All grown up !

My Hero

Diagnosed Oct 2011 with Stage 4 Cervical Cancer
Radiation
Chemotherapy
Bracytherapy

February 2013, 1 year NED ( no evidence of disease), which really means no new tumors or metastasis, the Cancer is too advanced to ever be "cured"

This is a face of Cancer & she is brave, & strong, & stunningly beautiful to me :)

 My Sister, My Hero  ♥

Keep Fighting Joanne!!!!

Wally's Beach

We have had some amazing warm weather the past few days! 
Yesterday afternoon Amanda & Jenilee were heading out to Wally's Beach & she invited Julia & I to tag along with them.  Julia has Weimeraners, a Cavalier , & a mini Bull Terrier puppy named Red, she just took Red out with us.  I left Tate at home as he is still a bit stiff in his front leg & I knew it would be a long walk.  I also have Perkins right now but thought it best he stay home as well.

Wally's Beach is about an hour away, but worth the drive as there is no one in sight for miles, just the way we like it when we have 10 dogs along !
Amanda brought out her crew, Vito, Wicca, Pixel, Leo, Brit & Boone, Jenilee had Scamp & Neena.  All the dogs ran & ran & ran , at one point I could barely make Kort out in the distance as he was chasing after Scamp, I think Scamp is his new love now, sorry Leo :)

My only complaint , not only with Wally's beach, but pretty much any place I run my dogs , is the burrs & sticks & brush that gets tangled up in their coats.  You add all that plus mud & wet snow , & I have one heck of a mess to clean up on the dogs.  Yesterdays romp took a half  hr when I first got home, then another 45 min today to brush out the rest as I has to wait for Kort's featherings to dry.

The snow at Wally's Beach had drifted so bad that we couldn't actually go down to the beach, but we still enjoyed walking along the road & the dogs could still run flat out, or critter through the bush.  Kort was really interested in the bush , there are coyotes out there although we didn't see any, but I'm sure that is what Kort was smelling.

Red fell in love with Kort, she would constantly kiss him, he tried to tell her to stop but she did not take him seriously, poor Kortie lol!  I think he secretly loved the attention, at one point after some kisses he got the zoomies & ran circles around us as fast he could with Red trying so hard to catch up, soooo cute ♥
At least I know that Kort will be amazing with the new puppy !

Amanda took some great photos for us ......

In this picture you can tell Kort actually does like Red :)

 

 

L-R
Kort helping his girfriend Red stay :), Leo, hiding behind Kort, Wicca, Vito, Brit, Pixel, Scamp, & Neena, Boone wasn't having any of the picture taking lol!

 

 

Goals

Photo by Amanda Labadie

I realized the other day that I hadn't done a post about my goals for Kort for this year. 
It got me thinking that maybe I wouldn't set any goals this year.  If I do, then don't go after them, it gives me anxiety, seriously.  I feel like I have let myself & Kort down.
 
So many times I have started up tracking with Kort, only to stop for one reason or another.  It upsets me, makes me feel lazy, like I'm not doing something I should be doing :(
Then I obsess over it, I'll say to myself, "it's such a nice day, you should be out tracking, or training, or whatever." The more I think about it ,  and the fact that I'm not doing it, the more stress I feel.

So I'm not setting any goals this year, I "hope" to get back in the Open Ring, with any luck I will be going to Medicine Hat in May.  I have been training in bits & pieces.  Sometimes we will be out on a walk & I'll call him to heel.  I always take the opportunity to use my "watch" command when I see another dog coming, Kort is getting much better at watching me instead of screeching at the other dog :)
I "hope" to get Kort's last leg in Intermediate Standard Agility, & his last leg in Intermediate Jumpers Agility this summer.  Of course I will need to get back into training, I stopped training Agility after our last trial in August.  If I do get back to training, super, if not, oh well, I just won't trial, the world won't end. ( I hope )
After all, Kort couldn't care less, now I just have to tell myself not stress about things so much as well.

Can You Hear Me !!

I have been meeting up with Amanda in the afternoons to take all the dogs for a run.  Kort needs to have more exercise, not just walking, but some good full out running, he definately gets that when we join up with Amanda's crew.
As you can see, the boys were very happy to be out :)

Photo by Amanda Labadie

 

Photo by Amanda Labadie