Another Year Over

Christmas 2017

In 4 days we will be bidding farewell to 2017.  It was a pretty good year me and my family, 2 more deaths however.  Seems we have them every year, it sucks getting older.

Anyway, another year at my job , which I love, most days haha.  Myself and Brad remain healthy as do the dogs, touching wood!

In 2018 I want to finish Lync's Rally Excellent title and just maybe enter 1 trial at the National in August for his CDX.  I swore I wouldn't do another outside show but he will be a year older and maybe more mature?? maybe ??!!

I am also going to start Ash in Obedience, I would love to put a CD on him as well as some rally titles.  He would probably make a good Scenthurdle dog as well but I get ahead of myself!

Kort will be 10, who knows, maybe I will enter him in a Veterans class for some fun, he did like the show ring. I will most definitely do another Veterans Obedience trial with him.  So fun!

This year in October will mark the last payment on a consolidation loan Brad and I took out 5 years ago.  Pretty thrilling for us!!

So we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to.  Bring it on 2018!

Ash

Ash and his buddy Lync play tug while Kort tries to get in on the action 

Ash was neutered today, I am so so relieved it is over with and he is doing ok. I had him tested to determine is MDR1 status and he is mutant/mutant. For those of you who have no idea what this is google it !

His vet is well read on this condition and I trust her completely.  Ash is the 3rd of my Collies she has neutered. Of course Ash never does anything the easy way.  He was, as my vet put it, scary to anesthetise. When too little was administered he was very agitated. If too much was given he would stop breathing. He was never in danger of cardiac arrest but it was scary. My vet had another vet monitor him while she performed his surgery. She also said if he was ever to need more surgery she would send me to a specialist.

Right now he is resting comfortably with Lync by his side.  I will bring him to work the remainder of the week to keep an eye on him. I know I will have trouble restricting his activity for 7 days. He is also not allowed physical activity for 3 weeks, that sounds like a long time!  Ash and Lync play hard together so I will need to separate them for awhile.

Anyway it's done and over with, soon I will begin training him in Obedience, can't wait!

2 New Titles!!

Last weekend was our local Dog Show here in Lethbridge.  I entered Lync in Novice Obedience and Ash in Conformation. Well what a fantastic weekend we had.  I still am floating on Cloud 9!

Lync and his mom Kona

I'll start with Lync, Day # 1 he passed!! I was so thrilled, we have been to 6 trials before this one and NQ'd in each one, so passing was about due!
Day # 2 he passed again, giving him his CD title!!  Wow it's been 7 years since I put a CD on a dog. Day # 3 I almost didn't enter, I decided to put him in, thanks to Amanda, for practise in the ring.  He has a wee bit of ring stress going on so we need to work on that. Well you guessed it, he passed again !! We also went High Score in Class!  Then I got a surprise that I won't soon forget.  There was a special trophy offered for High Aggregate Scoring Novice dog in either the A or the B class, Lync ended up winning this Award . What was even more special was that Lync's mother Kona also won this award 4 years ago on the same day!
I was very honoured and proud to accept this award with Lync, we have worked very hard and are becoming a great team together.

Now for Ash, on Day #1 there were 2 shows offered.  In the morning I showed him myself, we were the only entry so we won Best of Breed and got to have some fun in the Herding Group as well.  In the afternoon I ended up with a conflict with Lync in Obedience.  I was lucky to find someone to show him for me! There was a female entry and she won the Breed so no points for Ash.
Day # 2 I had someone show Ash for me again. Ash won Winners Male for 2 points putting him at 9, 1 point to go! 
Day # 3, Ash won the points again and finished his Championship!!! Yay !! So exciting!

I will now take a bit of a break until the new year before starting Open training with Lync.

Catching Up, Again !!!

New RATN and RATI titles!!

I keep neglecting my blog, days go by and then by the time I think of it a month has almost gone by!

Lync and I went to Strathmore a few weeks back to another Barn Hunt trial. We NQ'd the morning trial but Q'd in the afternoon to complete our Barn Hunt Novice title!! The next day we were allowed to still compete for our Instinct title as we were already entered . I was excited when Lync found the right tube to complete that title as well!

The next 2 trials we had moved up to Open. In Open you need to find 2 rats and there are 3 other tubes as well, 2 with litter in them and one without. In Trial 1 Lync found the first rat right away ! yay! He then went to a corner where he excitedly pawed at another container, even though I thought it was too close to the other I called it, it was not a rat tube. I was disappointed that I had rushed into calling it before I had checked the other side of the ring. We are learning though! I wish we had been able to try the tunnel as well. In Open he tunnel has a turn in it. When looking in it appears dark.  Lync has trouble going into one that he can see out the other side so I knew he probably wouldn't go into this one but wanted to at least try. In the second trial I called rat again and it wasn't a rat.  I am having some trouble distinguishing between when he is actually on a rat and when it is just a tube containing litter.  We will keep at it though as we both enjoy it so much!!

Our next trials wont be until the spring so I have something to look forward to :)

Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend, September 29, was Brad and my 22nd Anniversary!  I can't believe it's been that long! We went to Waterton to celebrate it.  It was very sad to see how much damage the summers fire did to the landscape.  It came so close to the townsite and had it not been for the hard work of the firefighters the townsite would have been lost! Thank goodness it wasn't .

Most of the shops and restaurants were closed however, the owners just decided not to reopen after they were evacuated because of the fire. I guess it saved me money as there were less places to shop!

The weather cooperated and it was a lovely relaxing weekend until we were coming home.  A full on  blizzard with whiteout and slippery conditions all the way to Cardston. I just crawled along going no more then 50-60 kmp.  Then like magic it turned to just rain and then dry the rest of the way home.

The dogs were all happy to see each other and are fast asleep now.
I'm already looking forward to next year, I just love Waterton!

Scary how close the fire came to The Historic Prince of Wales Hotel

All the mountains looked the same, totally void of trees