ResqTails

I went out yesterday and took another short video clip to show where we’re at with training of Layla’s weaves now. I’ve taken the more visual grid guide things off the poles, except at the entries at both ends. I replaced them with guide wires, and now I’m taking the guide wires down little by little. You’ll see they are attached to one pole each, but no longer forming a complete guide. Next I’ll be taking those down. Hopefully the weather keeps on cooperating long enough that we can get to that point before we get snow again. I’m still working on me being on both sides of the weave poles, and running ahead of her and behind her, but this clip is short and I just don’t have the patience at this point to do all the fancy editing and stuff that a lot of you do with your videos. So, it just shows her going through one time, one way. Oh, and as a little side note, I do see that my stick in the ground weave poles are starting to look like they are about ready to fall over too. I may have to move them if I get some ambition later today. LOL

So, the snow melted off the grass again, and I decided that I’d get out my stick in the ground weave poles out while I could still pound them into the ground. Plus if they get snowed on, that’s fine.

I took Layla out to work on her weaving today. I am still using the grid guides right now. She is doing really well, I was pleased. I am trying to get her comfortable enough to weave regardless of where I am, so in the clips I am on both sides moving with her, and in another one I am behind her sending her into the weaves without me moving. In both clips she seems to be focusing ahead to the target rather than on me, so that’s good.

Let’s just hope this next storm on Saturday doesn’t bring much snow, and we can keep training!

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

Here’s some pictures of the field.

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…

This past weekend I got the chance to attend an agility seminar, by Jim Basic. It was focused on distance handling skills, something that I’ve never excelled in training with my dogs. I didn’t have a working spot, just went to audit the first two days, but it was such a good seminar, I don’t think that you had to have a working spot to benefit.

The first day focused on foundation skills to teach your dog to work away from you. I loved how Jim presented the drills. They were simple and they made sense. Nothing complicated, just the kind of thing that I needed.

The second day focused on more advanced distance work, and by the time the day was finished I was so impressed by how well all the dogs in the working spots were putting the skills together to accomplish much more complicated distance drills. It was really cool.

I came home with lots and lots to work on, but at least now I have a really clear idea in my head of how to start, and then build these skills. It was a really great weekend!

I just love this time of year! Everything is finally turning green again, and I feel like I’m coming to life again after a long winter. So, today we went down to our friends place to train with the dogs. She lives about 1/2 an hour away and the drive is a beautiful one. It’s through a gorgeous canyon with water running through it. It’s one of my favorite drives.

So, we worked on Obedience with Raven, Twist and Layla. We worked outside today, which proved to be a huge distraction for all three dogs. My friend has geese, chickens, horses and a goat all within eye and earshot of where we were training. It was a challenge, but a really nice day. We have alot of work to do at different outdoor locations before the first of June because that obedience trial is outside (Yikes!).

On the way home everything just looked so pretty and green that I couldn’t help but pull off for a minute and take some pictures. Here are my favorites of the day.