Highlights

Ash getting his Canine Good Neighbor Title this year

Tarn with his High Score Rosettes

I hate how far behind I am on here! No one reads blogs anymore anyway. It's now mostly just for me. Way too much has happened to even remember now so I'll just post some highlights. 

Recently I entered Tarn in his first Rally Trials. He passed all 5 trials with some great scores and some low scores. The low scores were totally handler errors and that really pisses me off, something that I caused by dumb errors. His highest score was 97! He got 3 Highest Score in Class, earned his Rally Novice Title and 2 legs towards his Intermediate Title. The Rally Novice Title also earned him his Versatility Novice Title with the CKC and his Versatility Dog Title with the Flatcoat Club of Canada!! We are now on a break , at least until I am better off financially. 

Tarn also earned his Grand Championship in August going  Best of Breed at the Westwinds Sporting Dog Specialty in Okotoks. 

Ash is still kicking and barking just as much as  before! I have never owned a Collie that has barked as much as him! He has alot of arthritis, his body is way older then his actual age. He will be 10 on January 5, 2025. I've been taking him to Rehab where he gets laser therapy, acupuncture and deep  massage. He still needs his medicam however to help with the pain. Not that it stops him from running around like a fool with Tarn!

We are still in love with this house in Lomond and I love puttering around in the back yard or in my plant garden. 

That's' about it for now, hopefully I'll come back sooner then a year and a half to update! 

NACA

I travelled to Sherwood Park for the NACA Dog Show June 2-5 2023. It's great as my sister Debra lives there so I can stay with her. Tarn did really well. On a whim I decided to enter him in the CGN test. To my surprise he passed!! Yay Tarn! He also took Best of Breed at all 4 shows. At 2 of the shows his litterbrother Loki was also entered. On the first day the Judge Mary White pulled him out in Group which was a thrill! The Sporting Group is very competitive in Alberta with alot of top dogs as well as professional handlers in the ring. On the 3rd day Tarn won a 2nd in Group!!! This was under judge Jean Desile, so awesome! He got 89 Top Dog Points putting him in 3rd place for Flatcoats in Canada. He also got 5 more Grand Champion Points , plus the 1 he got for beating Loki the day before, put him up to 18 points. 2 more and he will have his Grand Championship. I'm looking forward to Tarns future in Conformation.

Finally an Update !!

Holy moly where has the time gone!! My last post was over a year ago! So much has happened but I can't remember it all so here are some highlights! Last April 2022, while training Tarn, he passed out for just a few seconds. I thought it was a seizure at first but he came out of it so fast I knew it wasn't. I made an appointment with my vet and there she discovered he had a heart arrythmia. I didn't fool around so down to Calgary I went for an echocardiogram. Things got crazy. His heart was barely pumping and was very enlarged. He was first diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. I was told to prepare myself and that it was very possible he could just drop dead on me. I couldn't believe that my 8 month old puppy was given a death sentence. To make it worse it was just 5 months since I had lost Lync. What the hell did I ever do wrong for the Universe to pick on me! He was put on a ton of medication and very very limited exercise. I switched him from his raw diet to kibble. There is some proof that raw diets aren't the best for the heart. I didnt care if it was true or not, I was going to do whatever I could. Fast forward to more echocardiograms and holter monitors and also a visit to a Canine Specialist Cardiologist. It is now 1 month past a year since the fainting spell. Tarn was found to not have Cardiomyopathy but a condition called Focal Atrial Tachycardia which he was most likely born with. It is not a hereditary condition , just luck of the draw. His entire litter was tested and none of them have it thank goodness. At his last check up in March his heart is almost back to normal. He runs and plays and shows no signs of any heart trouble. The cardiologist says he may eventually grow out of it completely! He is still on kibble and heart medication for now. In the past year Tarn has finished his Canadian Show Championship, going Best of breed over 5 Champions from the puppy class for his first points! This past January he won Best of Breed and got his first Group Placement, a 3rd! He is doing Obedience, Nosework and we just started Field Training. He is a bit behind where my other dogs have been at this age due to 5 months of him pretty much doing nothing. Last week he took his Designated Odour Test and passed all 3 hides with scents of Wintergreen, Pine and Thyme. This earned him his D.O.T. title! Tarn is such a special part of our family and I'm just so glad I took the chance and opened my heart up to him.

Tarn

A couple of days after loosing Lync I drove out to his breeders house for a walk. It was comforting to be there with her. Lync loved going out there to train, play and visit. It was a happy place for us both. While walking Liz mentioned to me that Avey, who has MuddyFlats Kennel, had a male puppy that she and Liz co bred. They had held on to this puppy with hopes of finding him a home in Alberta with someone who would show him as well as doing other Performance Events with him. Liz and Avey wanted to know if I might consider giving him a home. I went home and talked to Brad about it. We decided to make the drive to Camrose and go see him. It was difficult. I cried as he licked my face. I missed Lync so much. We decided to bring him home and give it a week. I needed to make sure I could open my Heart to him so soon after loosing Lync. I also wanted to make sure he was a good fit in our home and that Ash would accept him. It only took a day for me to decide, I wanted him. I let Avey and Liz know. To my surprise Avey offered him to me free of charge. They would like to co own him with me and one day allow him to be used for breeding if they chose to do so. I was so thrilled! Of course I said yes! Tarn has helped to heal my heart. He has been the best puppy. He is smart and energetic and I absolutely adore him !I still miss Lync so much but my Heart doesn't hurt as much. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that Tarn was there because I needed him. The Universe had chosen this path for me and I am very blessed .

Lync

So it's now been 5 months since I had to put Lync to sleep. I'm just now able to write about it. Lync was entered in our local dog show November 19-21 2021. He had a fantastic weekend. He won Best of Breed at all 4 shows. He won a Group 3rd one day and he would of had a Group Placement on the last day but he was showing signs in the Group Ring of not feeling well. He also won Best Male Veteran 2 days and Best Veteran in Breed and Group on the last day. I had to pull him from the Veteran Group Competion. There was a wonderful entry of Flatcoats at this show, 17 to be exact with 7 Specials which made his wins all the more wonderful! On Sunday when I put him up on the grooming table before Group Judging I noticed something was wrong. He wasn't wagging his tail, licking my face or trying to pull my mask off. When I brought him to ringside he perked up so we all thought he was hot as the building was quite warm. I gave him to his handler and sat down to watch. As soon as he started to move I looked to my friends and said "something is wrong with him " To make a long story short I ended up bringing him to the Emergency Vet Care straight from the show. A day later we were in Calgary seeing a Specialist. Covid meant I had to wait in the van while he was examined. Within 15 minutes the Vet called. I couldnt believe what I was hearing. Lync's belly and chest were filled with fluid. He had a tumor on his heart, it was hemangiosarcoma. Lync was just 8 years old. I knew the risk of this happening when I decided to get a Flatcoat. Cancer is in every single line of Flatcoats. Some live to old age but a huge majority never even see double digits. I made the choice right then to end his suffering. I went in the clinic and sat on the floor with him. He was so sick he wasnt even engaging with me. He just wanted to lay down. His handler Pat who lives in Calgary came down to say goodbye as well. Pat, the Vet and I sat on the floor. While Pat and I patted him and told him what a great dog he had been and that we loved him, the Vet ended his suffering. I was devasted. Lync was my Heart. My constant shadow. He only had eyes for me. He loved me so much, and I him. I was comforted by remembering our summer we had just spent together. I had quit my job in June and Lync and I hit the road together. We travelled to compete in Dog Shows, Field Events, Sprinters and Barnhunt. We visited my sister in Sherwood Park for a week. We had the best time together . My Heart still hurts. There is an emptiness there now. How I loved that boy.

Lync

So so much has happened. At the moment all I can write is that I had to put Lync to sleep on Tuesday November 23 2021. I am heartbroken. He was only 8 years old. I will write more when I'm able.

Ash!

I don't post very often about Ash as he is not doing any performance things and he is done showing as well. Rest assured though that he is enjoying his life to the fullest. He is probably the sweetest dog I have ever owned and we love him very much! On September 14 Ash had to go to Calgary for teeth cleaning as well as needing some extractions. He wasn't able to have it done in town as he was high risk to put under anesthesia. When Ash was neutered he would stop breathing. Ash is MDR1 mutant/mutant. This is a gene that affects Collies and Collie crosses. It makes them super sensitive to medications and anesthesia. Some Collies are normal/normal and some are normal/mutant so they are less at risk. Anyway we drove down the night before as he needed to be at the clinic early. The surgery went off with no issues, yay! He needed both lower right side back molars pulled. The one had extremely inflamed roots and the one beside it had a cavity down to the pulp. Poor Ash must have been so uncomfortable! He also had 2 lower front teeth pulled. One had started sticking straight out for some unknown reason and I'm really not sure about the other one but I bet it was also moving. It's been just over 2 weeks since the surgery and everything is healing nicely. He still has stitches but those will dissolve soon. I am now brushing Ash's teeth. He is my first Collie that won't let me scale his teeth so brushing it is! Hopefully he won't need any more surgeries in the future.

Barn Hunt

On September 11 & 12 I entered Lync in a Barn Hunt Trial. He had competed at the Open Level a few times before but not since Covid hit. He had never managed to Q in those trials. Going into the September Trials it had been 2 years since we competed. On Day 1 we had 2 Trials, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. At the 1st Trial he Q'd! I was actually shocked as I was not expecting to! Not only did he Q but he came 1st in his large dog class and then 1st in the entire Open Class! he found both rats in just over a minute! In the afternoon he Q'd again! I was so excited! He got 3rd in his large dog class this time. He found the first rat right away but it took him a bit of searching to find the 2nd one. On Day 2 he alerted pretty much right away, he ran in, veered left and frantically dug at a tube so I called it, Nope! it was not a rat, darn, that would have given him his Open Title. We won't have another trial close to home until next September now. I will have to decide if I want to go out of town earlier. There won't be any trials until Spring now so I have lots of time to decide. There was a Sprinters Trial this weekend in Strathmore but I decided to skip it. I'll have to wait until Spring for another trial now as well. He should get his Advanced Title at that one as he is just needing 200 points for it. This really has been an amazing summer for Lync. I might try him in Nosework for something new. Ash has already taken a beginner class so if I continue on with Ash in the classes I will teach Lync at home.

Summer Time!

 

Lync at the Sprinters Trial

Lync and I are having the best time this summer! So far he tried out Sprinters and earned his Novice Sprinters Title. On August 20,21 we travelled to Strathmore once again for a Sprinters Trial. Lync earned his Sprinters Title with tons of points toward his Sprinters Advanced Title. 

On the August 28,29th weekend we went to Wabamun to attend Lync's 2nd Hunt Test. On the first day he passed and was able to add the Junior Hunter Title to his list of accomplishments! In a Hunt Test you need 3 passes for the title. He got his other 2 in July. On the 2nd day of the Hunt Test I put Lync in as we were able to just relax and enjoy it as we already had our title. Lync got all the way to his last mark. It was on land, previously to this mark he spotted a live bird in the water. I could not get him to take his eyes off it! Finally he was able to concentrate long enough to pick up and deliver his bird. The next mark was the land one. Lync kept peering over his shoulder at the water looking for the live bird. He wasn't paying attention so he did not see his bird fall. Needless to say he had no idea of where to go tofi nd his bird. That earned us a big fat fail! I was actually disappointed. I think because it was the last mark, all he had to do was pick it up and bring it back to me and we would have passed. Oh well, something to work on!  At the Club Barbecue on Saturday  night I won a gorgeous framed , limited edition duck print! I have already hung it in my livingroom . 

Junior Hunt Title

This weekend we are entered in a Barnhunt Trial. We have not been to one in 3 years! I hoping he remembers what he's looking for! 

We have one more Sprinters Trial in October. I am undecided as to whether I will go. We often get snow the end of September and I'm  not one to do highway travel on snow covered roads so we'll see. 

Westwinds Sporting Dog Specialty

 

On July 31 2021 I entered Lync in the Sporting Dog Specialty held in Calgary AB. It has been 2 years since he has been in a show. I was surprised how much more he has matured ! He looked fantastic. H e ended up winning Best of Breed, there were 9 entries. Lync will be 8 years old on the 24th of August.  There are alot more things I want to do with him and I'm so thankful he remains in such great shape !

Sprinters

 

Lync and I had another great weekend. We travelled to Strathmore to compete in a Sprinters trial. Lync had a blast! Sprinters requires the dog to run a 100 yard dash and they are timed.  The times are then converted into points. Lync's times were consistent, 9.1, 9.2 or 9.0 in 8 runs.  He received enough points for his Novice Sprinter title and is well on his way to his next level. We compete again in August.

Lync's First Hunt Test

This past weekend, July 3, 4 2021, I entered Lync in his first Hunt Test. He is at the Junior level right now. To earn the title of Junior Hunter you have to have 3 passes. Lync is well on his way with his 2 passes earned ! The last time I trialed Lync in any Field event was in 2014 and Lync was just a year old. So here we are 7 years later!  I really love doing this with Lync, to watch him doing what he was bred for is a thrill. I don't know why I waited so long. 

There is another trial at the end of August I want to attend with hopes of getting 1 more pass to earn the title of Junior Hunter. 

    

Getting set for our water mark, Lync has spotted the gunner

Lync with his passing Rosette

Good Boy!

Bringing home the duck

Changes

 Life has a funny way of deciding what is best for you. You might not see it at first but eventually it becomes clear. 

Take me for instance. My life has been difficult this year for a number of reasons.  For instance my husband is bi polar. This year has been really hard on him. He has been in & out of the hospital 4 times.  The last time did me in. I was mentally exhausted . I found working and worrying about Brad just too much. Something had to give and that something was my job.  My last day of work was June 10. I haven't regretted it for one minute. My stress and anxiety levels have gone down considerably. At this point in my life I can't ever see me going back. It's just what I needed.

I'd also like to address the "anonymous" person that left the hurtful comment on my blog. Shame on you, shame on you for not having the courage to identify yourself. Shame on you for not addressing me in private. Shame on you for not taking the time to find out what was wrong with Brad, or if you knew, not to care that he has a mental illness. Just Shame On You !

New Homes

 Lync and Andi's puppies are growing by leaps and bounds! They are pictured here the day they went to their new homes with their new owners.  Stevie was kept by the breeder of the litter and Hennessy was kept by the owner of Andi, mom of the litter 💗

MuddyFlats Bokeh ~ Remy

MuddyFlats Nightscape ~ Hennessy

MuddyFlats Shutter Speed ~ Stevie

MuddyFlats Dark Room ~ Molly

Puppies

Lync and Andi's puppies arrived on March 5 2021. 2 liver girls, 1 black girl and 1 black boy. all are healthy and doing well .

Puppies!!!

 

Lync

Andi

I am so excited to announce that Lync is going to be a father again! Andi was bred to him at the end of December. The puppies are due around March 4 2021.Fingers crossed that all goes well. 

Happy Birthday!

 Yesterday Ash turned 6! I cant believe that he is almost a Veteran! I took him for a run yesterday with my friend Amanda and a few of her dogs. He enjoyed himself.

Different

 

This will be the first time in 12 years Kort won't be here for Christmas or the traditional Christmas photo in front of the tree. Here is this years picture with just Lync and Ash.

Kort

 

On Tuesday October 20 2020 Kort was put to sleep.  He died peacefully while I held his head in my hands. 

He went downhill rather suddenly. He had a episode on Oct 12 at 3 in the morning.  I found him trapped under the end table.  He lost the use of his back legs for a bit as well.  Then I noticed his neck , chin, and muzzle were swollen.  I took him to the vet but they couldn't find anything. He had no abscesses on his teeth and the only concern was that he had lost 6 pounds.  During the following week he developed a cough, wouldn't walk up or down the stairs and just looked sick.  On Oct. 20 I brought him back to the vet for a chest xray, hoping to find out the reason for the cough.  He had pleural effusion, fluid around the lungs. It could have been caused by any number of things, none of them good. I made the decision to let him go. He was 12 years and 5 months old.

Kort was an amazing performance dog.  He did whatever I asked and he did it well.  He had titles in Obedience, Rally, Agility, Scenthurdle and Herding. He was also a Canadian Show Champion.

The house is quieter without him, not in a good way.  We miss him so much.  He had a good life and was very much loved. Sleep softly my Kort say hi to Tate for me. 

25 years!

Yesterday Brad and I celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary!! 25 years of marriage, it went by so fast! We spent the day watching our Wedding video , sipping on mimosas and eating pizza, it was a great day !