Resq TailsThe trials and triumphs of rescued dogs

So, here are another set of pictures from last month that I never posted. We took a walk up on one of the mountains nearby and these were the pictures.

They all were excited to get started….

As we went further, no one had walked on the trails yet, so we had to make our own.

Eventually most of us decided that we’d let my husband make the trail and we’d just follow.

You’ll notice that the exception to that statement is Lucy. She just can’t stand to not be in front of everyone blazing her own trail. Then Layla soon decided that she was too big to waiting for someone to make a trail for her either and broke out of the formation. Here she is making the leap….

And then sinking into the deep snow. What a silly girl!

Here’s my favorite bridge on this walk….

and Dare coming back over to check on why I’m not coming…

And a little sheltie “family” picture….

And then the races as we went back to the truck. Penny was the judge, and obviously Twist got distracted at the startline. What a shocker!

Looks like Zoe is the winner, and…..Twist is still distracted. LOL

And finally the best place to be when you get home from a cold winter’s walk…

So, I got to looking and for some reason I never posted the pictures that I took of the dogs last month. I thought I had, but my memory deceived me. LOL Anyway, we had a storm that dropped about 7 inches on us, and the dogs had a blast playing in the fresh powder. It was deep enough on top of the other snow we already had that Layla was getting lost in it. Didn’t slow her down though.

/>

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.

So, I’ve been spinning and spinning over what to do lately about agility trials coming up this spring. The big debate is what to do with Zoe, Layla and Raven. Sorry if this gets really long and drawn out…if only you could hear the debate in my head. LOL

First of all I don’t know what direction to go with Zoe. Zoe and I have tried a variety of the different agility venues that are out there. NADAC/ASCA, USDAA, DOCNA and AKC. In recent years we’ve focused mainly on AKC agility, with a little DOCNA sprinkled in here and there. I just can’t decide whether to continue doing AKC with Zoe, in hopes of getting her MACH2. She’s already 9 1/2. In looking back at what it took for us to get her MACH, I think we’d be looking at the liklihood of it taking two years of trialing to be able to finish a MACH2. She’s got the speed points, but she needs 18 more pesky double q’s. In two years she’ll be almost 12. I don’t even like to think about her getting older! Even though I’d really like to think that she could still be running in two more years, I don’t think I’ll want to jump her at full height at that age. Thus the debate…In my fantasy world where I have unlimited funds and time, I’d say “yes, who cares if you get the MACH2, just keep running and see what happens”. In my real world where there is a very real limit on both time and money, I think it really doesn’t make sense to spend both on a title that is probably not within our reasonable grasp.

Then Layla…I had hoped that she would be ready to enter in Novice agility in March for the Sheltie Nationals, (since they are in AZ this year). However, I never expected that she was going to come up lame and we would lose more than 2 1/2 mo. of training time this fall. Now we are behind where I expected to be with her training. It’s also the worst time of year for training more than just pieces, since we’re mostly training in our barn now. So, I can’t decide whether to try to enter her anyway…or just bag my plans for Sheltie Nationals this year.

Lastly, Raven. Raven just goes crazy to do agility and obedience at home. She has an absolute hissy fit if you go out to train one of the other dogs and she has to wait inside the house. When she gets to the trials though, she’s a totally different dog. She acts like she needs a cheerleader to get around the course. All the confidence and speed that she has at home is lacking. She just doesn’t have the temperment that handles the trial environment well. That having been said, she still has been able to get to Excellent and earn one leg towards both her AX and her AXJ. I’d really like to finish those titles and then just let her do agility at home and forget about trialing with her. It just seems so odd to me to have a dog that is just coming up on 5 years old that I wouldn’t be trialing with.

Anyway, the decision is coming up the quickest for the crew here is for January. There is an AKC trial that I’d like to enter, but I don’t know who or what to enter. LOL I think it’s a waste of funds to enter Zoe, but I can’t imagine going to a trial and not running her. I’d like to enter Raven and hopefully get closer to finishing off that AX and AXJ. And…I’m toying with the idea of entering Layla in Novice FAST, just to see where she’s really at, but I also think it’s just rushing her. Any thoughts??? Besides that I’m crazy. LOL

Here are some pictures of most of the crew here playing in the snow. I’ll do another post of Dare’s pictures.

So this picture has Twist, Dare, Raven and Layla in it. Course, all you can see is Layla’s legs cause she’s such a shortie. LOL

Zoe looks vicious in this one. Silly girl!

Go Layla Go!

Then I got several of Dare and Twist

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.

So, I rarely get the chance to photograph Raven playing with the other dogs. Usually I only get to see her playing when I watch from the window when they are in the yard. It’s really odd. But…finally the other day I had the camera out and she and Layla started playing. Raven seems to be convinced that using the paw is the way to get play started. LOL She even switched feet once she got things rolling. The picture of the two of them at the end cracked me up. They looked over at me like. “What? We weren’t doing anything…”

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…

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