Resq TailsThe trials and triumphs of rescued dogs

So, this morning we’re packing up the rest of what we’ll need for a three day ASCA agility trial in Farmington. Zoe is the only one I have entered this time. I had originally planned on entering both Zoe and Layla, but on re-reading the rules for eligibility for ASCA, Layla isn’t old enough to compete yet. In hindsight it was a blessing all the way around really. I thought her first AKC trial went fine, but it definintely showed me some spots that need training and more experience before we enter another trial, and when I entered Zoe in this trial my husband was still working…so money wasn’t quite as tight as it is now. So, all in all, for once it seems that things turned out just as they should have.

Anyway, I am just taking Zoe and Dare with me this time. Dare is going to be trying to get her CGC this weekend, and I also still needed to get her microchipped. So we’re making a stop at our friends with Sheltie Rescue of Utah and chipping her this afternoon, and then we’ll head on up to the trial. I’ll try to get video of whatever I can throughout the weekend, but no promises that I’ll get it posted before I get home Monday night. No promises for Tues either, since after I get home from the trial I have to turn around and drive to Cedar City for an appointment with our accoutant to get the taxes done.

Anyway…I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

So, my friend that I train with calls it doodling when you work on the little bits and pieces of heeling position and obedience exercises. I find doodling to be a really useful tool in not only teaching and reinforcing heel position, but also in giving you something that you can use for a quick little warm-up routine for obedience before you go in the ring. I use it for keeping my dogs connected before we go in the agility ring too.

Anyway, today I took Dare out and we worked on the “finish” part of the recall in obedience. I want her to be able to “finish” from both sides. Right now, I’m still using both a verbal and a hand signal. I will have to fade out one or the other before the skill is ready for the obedience ring. We also are working on an “in” which means that she needs to be aware of her rear end and move it as much as needed to keep her body in heel position. We are also working on reinforcing heel position by just taking one or two steps forward with her in position. For agility we are working on directionals, though I have serious doubts that I’ll be quick enough to use them when I really running a course. LOL So today we worked on “right”, “left”, and “back”

I think it was Diana that mentioned that it was recommended that she have Miley weave around her legs for a part of an agility warm-up routine. It sounds like a great idea, so I think I’ll be searching for videos to help me figure out a plan on how to teach Dare to do that next. Anyway, here’s a short clip from our training today.

I thought I better write a quick update. Last week passed in a blur as usual and I didn’t get anything posted.

I’ve been working on getting our little office/laundry room textured and painted, and now I’m just waiting on my husband to finish up his part of staining the cabinet doors and hanging them. Then I’ll post pictures.

Things have been incredibly slow for both the cabinet shop where my husband works and also here at the boarding kennel. They layed off employees again at his work. One was a close friend of ours. Feels like a repeat of last year already. The only good thing about it, without much work at the shop, it gives my husband some time to work on finishing up projects around here, like the office. The computer at his work had miscalculated his vacation time that was used last year and so he had some left, so they let him just trade it out for the materials that we needed to make the doors for the cabinets. As for the boarding kennel, things always slow way down after the holidays are over, but this is ridiculous. I haven’t had this slow a month since I started the business. I’m going for nearly a week at a time without a single boarder. It’s scary.

The dogs are all still doing great. Layla and Raven are entered in an AKC trial at the end of the month. Can’t believe it’s only a couple weeks away now. We’ve really been working on Layla’s tire and her broadjump. Hopefully, she’ll handle them both without any problems at the trial.

The weather is still cold, but warmer than it has been. We still have too much snow on the ground to train outside and we are supposed to get snow each day this week, but so far, it’s not turning into much.

I totally embarrassed myself on Sunday. I had gotten an email through one of the lists that they were bringing Jim Basic back again this year for another distance seminar. Well, I got all excited and emailed and said I’d love a working spot in the beginner part. Then, I looked through my bills and reality set in. Unless things really pick up, it’s just not going to be possible. So, I sent out an email explaining what was going on, and unfortunately…didn’t pay any attention and sent it out to the entire dog agility list, not just to the person putting on the seminar. Ugh! Talk about embarrassing.

Oh, one of my friends down here that has Belgian Malinois is going to have her first litter in about 6 years. I got to go with her to the ultrasound a few weeks ago and yesterday for x-rays to see how many puppies to expect. Looks like at best count, 8 or 9 but they were packed in there pretty good, so there may be more. I get to go help with the whelping, (don’t know how much help I’ll be), so I’m really excited!

I guess that’s about it. I need to get out and take pictures of the dogs and some video, but I haven’t done it lately. Maybe later on this week…

GOODBYE 2009…FULL SPEED AHEAD TO 2010!

Another year has come and gone. It was a year packed with lots of memories. Some I’ll cherish forever, and some I wish I could forget. LOL Looking back though, I can honestly say that I’ve learned something from all the experiences, both good and the not so good.

I really don’t know where to even start. I have good news, training updates, and lots of photos to share.

First, the good news. Over 2 months have passed since Layla came up lame. I have to admit, the pessimist in me had begun to give up on her ever being sound again as time the weeks and months passed. However, last Saturday I thought that she looked sound. Everyone that’s seen her agrees! I haven’t seen her limp for a week now, and I have weaned her off the anti-inflamatory meds and she still is doing great. Woot!!!

We have the next couple of months off of trialing, so I hope to take advantage of that time to focus more on training.

DARE: I am working on foundation skills for obedience and agility with Dare and she’s doing great. Her beginning heelwork is coming along really nicely. We are also working on her “wait” and “stays”. Her “sit” and “stand” are great, but “down” remains her least favorite signal. LOL Lately we’ve been working on “right” and “left”. She prefers “right”, right now. I’m have been able to transition it from how I started with her facing me, to having her walking on either side and still turning. Next I want to transition it to going through the jump standard, (without the bars up) and turn either direction. Honestly, I don’t know that I’ll ever actually think fast enough to get a “right” or a “left” out when I’m running a course, but it’s fun to train anyway.

LAYLA: I just got the new One Jump, Two Jump DVD from Clean Run and if Layla stays sound, I hope to start working through the skills in that DVD with her. It will be a nice winter project. I’m also still working on her Novice Obedience. It was so fun to be able to work with her on some Obedience the other day. She is such a cutie!

TWIST: Twist is still working on his Open Obedience. I really hope that by next summer he’ll have his CDX.

RAVEN: I had every intention to start re-training her A-Frame, but the weather changed on me too fast. I’m afraid that all the agility equipment is going to have to come in the barn next week to be stored for winter. I’m sure that we’ll figure out something else that we can work on that can be done in the barn or house.

Last but definitely not least, I have pictures of Dare’s first fall and first snow. I’ll post them separately though, since this post is getting to be pretty long already.

As usual, it’s taking me about a week to get settled back into routine after being out of town. I meant to post sooner, but never had the chance.

Twist was entered in three days of Obedience this past weekend. Unfortunately, he didn’t qualify any of the days. The good news was that each day he did better. On Sunday he had finished all the exercises and was qualifying and actually in first place with a 191 when we went back in the ring for our stay groups. Then it happened. Right as we walked into the ring, (hadn’t even put the dogs in the sit yet), he squatted and pooped in the ring. Agh! That’s never happened to me before. So, we were eliminated and there went his Q. All in all though, I was really pleased that he was doing the exercises, and that he was holding his focus for three days straight. That’s a big accomplishment for Twist. I think that the next time he competes, he’ll qualify for sure. A friend of ours took these pictures of Twist for me. I just love them.

Dare also went along just to have the experience of traveling out of town and being at the trials. She did great. I couldn’t have been happier with her. Here are some pictures of her on a walkway that runs along the Snake River and the Falls.

Anyway, it was a great trip. I hope we get to go back again next year! It’s one of my favorite trial sites to visit.

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

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of activity around here. I knew it was going to be busy, but I really didn’t have a clue how busy! The middle of the month Cynthia and I had a trip planned to fly to Newark pick up her new Danish Swedish Farmdog puppy, Jet! We’d been waiting, (not patiently I might add LOL) for what seemed like months for him to come. To check out what a cutie Jet is you should hop on over to Tiptail and read all about his adventures! www.tiptail.com

That would have been plenty exciting and fun in itself but just a few days before we were scheduled to leave, I got an email from Judy with Himark Shelties in Florida. I’d been on a waiting list for one of her puppies. She was writing to let me know that a puppy had become available that she thought was just what I was looking for. Judy and Dave Guaraldo have consistently been producing some of the top ranked performance shelties in the country for years. They are even being spotlighted in this summer’s issue of the Sheltie Pacesetter.

I have to say that I was a bundle of mixed emotions. I was so excited to meet this little girl! At the same time there is always that question of when, (if ever), is a good time to introduce another dog into the family. Also, since I’ve been involved in rescue, our dogs have mainly been rescues. I think I felt a twinge of guilt for looking at buying from a breeder, (regardless of how reputable), when there are so many Shelties in rescue. However, while I absolutely adore my rescues, at times the baggage that has come along with them has made competition Obedience and Agility a real challenge. So, to make this long story shorter…the conclusion I came to was that Cynthia and I would fly down there and meet her and make the final decision then.

Well, I’m sure that you’ve all guessed…we brought her home with us. She is everything that I was hoping for and more! All my hesitancy is gone. I can’t thank Judy enough for matching me up with and entrusting me with this little girl. We’ve named her Dare. All the dogs in the house have been quite taken with her too, which is wonderful. Layla is thrilled to have a new playmate and even Zoe is playing with her. Here is quick clip of Dare and her littermates the day we met them tugging on a toy. I’ll post more pictures in a separate post.

Ok, so I finally got it together and took a picture of Raven with her ribbons from the obedience trial last weekend. The only thing I wish is that the club would have had a ribbon for completing her title, but that’s ok. This picture of her makes me laugh because if you look close you can see her teeth, it looks like she’s trying to smile for the picture. LOL

I’m behind as usual in posting about the weekend’s trial. It always seems to take me a day or two to catch up after I get home from a trip.

Anyway…Raven earned her CD this weekend!!! I wish I had a picture of her with her ribbons, (she had a 2nd place on Sat. and took 1st place on Sun.) but I fell down on the job. The weather was so bad on Sunday that we had all been drenched in the downpour of rain that lasted all morning and partly into the afternoon. By the time she finished up her class that afternoon, we all just felt a little chilled, soggy and wanted to get home to a nice hot shower more than anything else. That’s my excuse for not sticking around to take pictures.

So, now Raven’s ready to move on to her Open Obedience work. Yay! Should be lots of fun. She’s already got a better broadjump than Twist, although that doesn’t take much. LOL We’re still working on her dumbell and some other pieces, but I’m sure they’ll come along.