We’re off again! This time we’re headed for Prescott, AZ for DOCNA Championships. Should be lots of fun! Three days of agility We are leaving first thing in the morning. It’s about an 8 hr drive. Thank goodness Randy is going along this time so we can take turns driving.
Zoe is the only one entered this weekend, but Layla and Dare are tagging along. My mom is coming in to take care of the rest of the crew here. I’ll try to post updates if we have any internet service at the hotel. Well, that and if I’m not dead tired by the time I get back the hotel at night. LOL
I don’t know why it always takes me about a week to update this after I get back from a trial, but here it is already Thurs. and I haven’t written anything.
Zoe and I finally finished her Ex FAST title this weekend!!!! I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever finish that class. LOL Here is the video of Zoe’s FAST title run. FAST rarely runs just as I hope and this was no exception. We had a bobble at the tunnel, (she took the wrong end, so we ended up having to do it twice to get the points). Fortunately, she still had time to get the send. The “send” portion of the course was a sequence of two jumps out to the dogwalk. I’m really proud of her, she handled it like a pro!
We also got to see Dare’s half sister Tennille. She’s just 7 weeks younger than Dare. What a cutie! Here’s a picture of Dare, Captain and Tennille.
We’re back! We had a great time at the IKC Labor Day trial. I only entered Zoe and Raven for the first two days, but they both did really well. Zoe double Q’d both days, with 3 first places and one second place. Raven earned her first Ex. A Standard Q, and two Open FAST Q’s this weekend.
The only down side was the Zoe still wasn’t able to finish her Ex. FAST title. Raven did really well the first day of the trial. She was eager to run, and kept up decent speed around the course, even if it wasn’t quite like she runs at home or practice. The second day, though, she seemed to be more anxious…I think I’ll take that information and just enter her in one day of a trial next time. I want to keep her attitude happy about trialing.
Here are some videos of the girls Standard runs from Friday.
We’re getting ready to head out for an agility trial this weekend. Zoe and Raven are entered Friday and Sat. Layla and Dare are going along for the experience, and for a semi-private lesson with our Obedience trainer.
All the dogs are bathed, I just need to dremel some toenails…get packed up and leave. Should be a fun weekend! I’ll try to get some video this time.
It’s already Thurs. and I don’t know what’s happened to the first part of the week. A friend of mine is having a yard sale tomorrow and Saturday, and is letting me take some stuff that I’ve had sitting around here over to throw in with her stuff. There are just a couple of hitches to that. She wants to set everything up today, and it’s still cloudy and when I walked outside to take care of the boarders a bit ago I saw more lightning, so I don’t think that we’re done with the storm that came in yesterday. The other problem is that I need to go through and clean off all the dust that’s accumulated on the stuff that’s been sitting in the barn waiting to be sold. I guess I’ll do some cleanup this morning and try to get it hauled over there this afternoon.
Then tomorrow, I’m going to head to Parowan to do some Obedience and possibly some agility at another friend’s yard. She has open practice on Friday mornings, and since Twist’s obedience trial is coming up next weekend and it’s outdoors, I thought this would be a good chance to get some training in a semi-new place, with dogs that he doesn’t see each week. I think I’ll also take Layla since she’s never been there, and Dare for socialization. The bummer about it is that I’ll have to leave here by a little before 6:00 am to get there on time.
Sat. I need to help out with the yard sale, (since I’m pretty much taking my stuff over and then bailing out on her Friday), but my husband’s parents and grandparents are both coming in from out of town to visit. I don’t know how that’s going to work out. They aren’t dog people, so I’m always in a fit about trying to get the house cleaned for them, but this time…I’m just to rushed for time to do a whole lot. I never look forward to their visits even though they are just really nice people. I think it’s just that our lifestyles are so different… They are spending the night in a hotel at least, so I don’t have to worry about that part.
Sun. we’re supposed to have a barbeque at another friends house, and I’ve got to get the food together that I’m assigned to bring. I guess if I survive till Sunday, this will be the least of my worries. LOL
Layla and I have been working on her agility since we’ve got the equipment back out in the field, and she’s doing really well. My mom was here today and so I took advantage of having someone here to video her run. So…here it is. We still have a lot of training to do, but we’re having fun!
P.S. don’t look at all the darn weeds coming up in the field. I’m trying to keep on top of them, but it’s tough. LOL
I’m not complaining, honest. LOL I love summertime, but doing much of anything in the middle of the day now has become nearly impossible because it’s really gotten hot the last week or so. We were talking at agility class today about changing classes over to an evening for the rest of the summer. Would be much nicer for the dogs and for us. Here’s a picture I got after all the dogs were out playing in the yard yesterday afternoon. It’s not a great picture quality wise, but just look at the length of that tongue! Layla says “it’s hot, mom!”
Well, I didn’t find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow this morning, but just the site of something so beautiful was enough to start my morning off nicely! I was really pleased that the camera caught the colors so well.
The boarding kennel has been keeping me busy lately. Which is a mixed blessing I suppose. It’s of course great that the business seems to be taking off, but it’s also nice when it’s slow and I have more time to just spend with my own dogs.
Training is going well though, Twist and I have been working on his broadjump for Open Obedience and I think we’re making progress. It’s been really nice having the agility field back again. Raven’s doing nicely with her obedience training, but her agility contacts still aren’t what I would like them to be. I think I’ve tried just about every method for training contacts, (2ox2o, using stride regulators for a running contact, 4 on the floor), but none seems to work for her. I am kind of stumped right now. Zoe’s still running great, even though we haven’t been able to trial as much as I would have liked this year. It’s hard to believe that she turned 9 today! Seems impossible. I wish I could just freeze time so that she didn’t get any older. Doesn’t work that way though. Layla’s 10 months old now, and is coming right along with her training too. Penny and Lucy are doing still doing great, although Penny wishes that all the afternoon thunderstorms that we’ve been getting would end.
I guess that’s about it, for what’s been going on here…
I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to be able to get the agility equipment back out of the barn this year. Ever since I decided to let the boarding dogs run and play out where the agility field used to be, I’ve been trying to get another area cleared for us to move the equipment. It was a much bigger project than I expected!
Three acres might sound lovely, except that when a good portion of the acreage is growing weeds, it’s a bit discouraging. The area where we’ve moved the agility field now was covered in dead weeds from last fall that were nearly as tall as I am. Those had to be raked out and burned before I could even tell what kind of a mess I had growing underneath them. That took what seemed like forever!!! Then I tackled the new crop of weeds coming up this spring. I was beginning to lose heart when my husband suprised me last week by renting a tractor and tilling up the rest of what was left and leveling out the big bumpy areas. (What a great guy!) So, after a bit more leveling by hand this week, I now have a somewhat manageable, though not perfect new agility field again.
We got all the equipment out just in time to get a few runs in between the afternoon storms that we’ve been getting each day. It was perfect since our regular agility class was cancelled, once again. It felt so good to get back out and be running again, it’s been waay too long. Woohoo!
I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off, once again. Twist, Raven, Layla, Angel (the foster sheltie) and myself are packing up and heading out to go to an obedience trial in Farmington this weekend. Well, Angel’s not going to the Obedience trial, she is just going back to Sheltie Rescue of Utah, since they are now back from their trip to Bucharest, so her brief stay with us has come to it’s end.
I’m really hoping that Raven will be able to finish her CD this weekend. She got her first leg at the Sheltie Specialty at the end of April, so she only needs two more. Twist is just entered on Sat. of this trial to see if our work on the broadjump has improved to the point that he might be able to qualifiy in Open for the first time. I’m a little nervous. Ok, I’m a lot nervous. Obedience always makes me more nervous that agility does, for whatever reason. I love it though.
Layla is going along to have a lesson tonight, so I’m really looking forward to that. It’s always nice to see if we are making progress and then what areas still need our attention. Anyway, hopefully we’ll have lots of good news and some pictures or some video to share when we get home…
They are spending the night in a hotel at least, so I don’t have to worry about that part. 
