ResqTails

Thought I’d share some of the pictures that I took while we were in Idaho Falls for the Obedience trial. One of favorite things is to go down on the River Parkway and walk the dogs when we’re done at the trial. There are just lots and lots of great chances for pictures. Well, that is if you can keep Twist from trying to vacuum up every crumb of bread he can find along the banks where people feed the geese and ducks. LOL

Speaking of the geese…here they are on the edge of one of the Falls. I just thought it was so funny how they sit there.

and a close up….

And some silly tongue pictures…

And now the opposite tongue…

Finally everyone cooperated.

And how about a little wind through your hair? LOL

You know it seems like a lot of people are taking their pictures with their phones. I always carry around my huge camera when we are going somewhere to take pictures, and sometimes I think it would be nice to have the convenience and option of using my phone instead. Maybe while I’m looking, I’ll do some research on cordless phone reviews too, since I can’t even walk to the dog kennel with my cordless phone, without it cutting out. Bleh!

Well, the conflicts between the rings for regular obedience and Rally worked out just fine. We were able to finish with Twist’s Open A obedience just in time for them to start the walk-throughs for Dare’s Rally class. Then, she was able to finish in time for us to be ready to go back in the ring for stays with Twist.

Twist was qualifying today when we went in for stays. He was very distracted though so it wasn’t one of his better days. He had trouble transitioning from one exercise to the next and getting refocused, but nevertheless, he was qualifying. But, he went down on his out of site sit stay. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for him.

Dare did a great job. She was first dog in her class. I always hate going first. Makes me nervous and I like to watch how other people go through the course. But, it worked out fine. Dare scored a 98 out of 100 and ended up in a tie with two other dogs for first place. Of course, they break the tie based on time, and we were slower than the Border Collie, but faster than the Westie, so we ended up in second place today. I’ll post her video on her blog.

I’ve been joking around with everybody because the clothes I brought for the weekend matched the dogs. But today, I wore black, so maybe it was Dare’s day. I told Twist I’d wear the brown outfit for him tomorrow, so maybe he’ll finish his CDX tomorrow. LOL Then I can switch back to a black and white outfit for Dare on Sunday. Wouldn’t it be nice if the dog’s success in the obedience and agility rings was directly affected by our outfits? Hehe, I think I’d spend a lot more time shopping for women’s apparel if that was the case. Since it’s not, maybe I better stick to good old fashioned training instead.

I was going to post about what we’ve been up to, but I’m sitting here and it’s just a blur. Isn’t that silly? It’s hard to believe it’s already Aug. 1st. Our summer is fast slipping away from us. Although it’s still hot and muggy for here. These daily thunderstorms are making it just humid enough that our swamp cooler is about pointless. It’s actually cooler in the boarding kennel where I use a small air conditioner than it is in my own house. How’s that for priorities?

Anyway, this week came and went like the rest before it, way to fast for my liking. We did go to the park to train with our friends one day. We also have been going to the beginning agility class that our friend is teaching. This Tues was our second week. The instructor is in her 70′s and she is the person that got me started in agility. She is a very strong personality who doesn’t like to admit weakness. LOL This time around though, before she started the new class, she offered that if I would come and help her set up for classes, (moving equipment, etc.) I could run Dare for free. So, it’s a great deal for me. Although just a little sad to me to see her getting to the point that she needs help.

Yesterday was the highlight of the week for us. Utah held it’s very first ASCA Rally Obedience Trial. I entered Dare in Novice B for just Saturday. I didn’t go with really high expectations. Actually I didn’t know what to expect. I figured I could get Dare around the course just fine, but I was really sweating the fact that in ASCA Rally (even in Novice), they have the dogs do an honor (Either a Sit or a Down with the handler either in front of, or beside the dog) while the next dog is working through the course.

I was nervous because even though Dare has worked on Stays, we don’t work them with me standing directly in front of her, or beside her in heel position. When I tried it this week, she seemed to think that we were going to be working, it just didn’t process with her that it was a stay. LOL Thankfully…my friend asked in the briefing yesterday if we could take a few steps away from the dog while they did the honor. He said yes, and that was enough for Dare to recognize that we were doing a stay. Yay!

So, are you ready for the results? There were like 17 dogs in our class, ranging from seasoned veterans just out to try the new Rally program to total newbies like Dare. Dare tied for 1st place with a 199 out of a possible 200! Woot! They break ties like that by comparing the time it took you to complete the course, and we were the slower team, so we took second place, but I was still on cloud nine! I’m so proud of my baby girl. What a nice way to debut! I’ll post the pictures and the video on her blog later today.

Here’s a picture of Dare and I with some of our friends and their dogs that were entered yesterday too!

That gives me a lot more confidence heading to Idaho Falls in a few weeks for AKC Obedience. I have Twist entered in Open A again to see if we can’t get that last leg for his CDX. Dare is entered in Rally Novice. Should be fun!

As planned we went somewhere different to train on Friday. Not part of the plan was the rain. So, Dare and Raven got to do some agility in the rain, and the good news is that none of us melted even though we got pretty wet. LOL Actually I think the dogs liked it being a little cool. Dare has been to this place before, but just as an observer when Layla was working at the agility field. Raven has never been to this site. Both took it in stride. I was really happy with them both.

I do have to say that even though it was a new location for the girls…I don’t think it was a huge challenge, because the only other person there was a friend of ours. I think for Raven especially I still should try to get to more typical park settings, with new people milling around and kids, etc.

Today was the UKI funmatch. Raven was the only one entered. It was held at a place she’s never been, but again she did well. Her biggest issues where not with the new location, but with the judge moving in closer to be able to see her contacts. Raven came to a near standstill on both the A-frame and the dogwalk. I think it’s just a matter of getting her used to someone else being out on the course with us. Definitely one of the disadvantages to training alone a lot. Other than the space issues with the judge though Raven did a really nice job. I didn’t get any video. Sorry!

We were going to let Dare meet some sheep today, but the person with the sheep was sick. So, that will have to wait for another day. We did have a good lesson with our obedience instructor yesterday though.

There is also progress on the fence project. I’ll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

As usual, I’m about 4 or 5 days behind in posting pictures or video. We had friends here visiting last week, and we went on a really fun walk on Sat., but I’m just getting around to posting now. We didn’t go as far across the country or anything, just up the mountains nearby. That’s probably good though, because we didn’t find ourselves needing any Chicago auto repair for this trip.

Here is a picture of Layla, Dare and Maizey enjoying the perfect weather and gorgeous trails.

The girls had a great time. We all had a great time really, except for the snake, (which reminded me of Diana and Miley), and the cockle burrs. The girls all managed to find the bush of cockle burrs and poor Maizey had to sit for quite a long time while we patiently tried to free them from her pretty ears. Dare kept grabbing brushes out of the bag and bringing them to us, like, “Will this help?” “Do you want to try this brush?” Eventually she gave up on the brushes and started bringing us poop bags. LOL Maybe she thought we could use them to throw the burrs away. She’s such a nut!

Here’s a picture of the three pretty girls, before the cockle burr incident.

After a nice relaxing walk, we all piled back in my car, not the Toyota Corolla that needs a water pump and came back home. It was lots of fun. Thanks to Maizey and her mom for joining us on our walk!

I haven’t been posting as much about Dare on Resqtails since I started her a blog of her own, but I just couldn’t resist posting these photos. I wanted to get pictures of her at a year old, and so we went to a friend that does awesome photography. His name is Keith and you can see some of his other work by visiting Utah Dog Blog He shoots at a lot of the agility trials as well as doing studio sessions. Anyway, I thought they were so pretty, I just had to share them. These are just a few of the photos, I’m having some others printed and I’ll get them framed, but these give you an idea of what a great job Keith does and what a beautiful girl Dare has grown up to be. She doesn’t even need any natural acne treatment to make her look great in her close ups.

I’ll just stop with two of the pictures. LOL I think you get the idea. The ones I ordered for framing are one of her in a headshot, one sitting and another laying down. The one laying down is my favorite. But I don’t have it yet, so I can’t share it with you. Maybe after I get them and get them on the wall, I’ll take a picture of the “gallery”.

Talk about a grab bag of stuff today. LOL First, I got a call from a friend that is trying to get her puppies out and about to as many new places as she can. She heard there was a carnival in town and thought it would be a new experience for the puppies. So, I drove into town and met her there. Well, the problem was that even though they set up the carnival yesterday, they weren’t opening it till 4:00 pm today. Bleh. So, the carnival was somewhat of a bust, except that we got to walk around some really odd looking things in that park.

Then we went to another park to train for a while. All the dogs did well and we had a few distractions which is always nice.

Then back to the house for lunch and to take care of the boarders. I figured I better keep working on the Distance Drills, so I did take Layla out and did the same drill as yesterday, but with a different obstacle. The weave poles were already out in the yard, so I decided to try to accomplish two things at once. I’ve been working on Layla’s weaves, thankfully…she did great on both the distance and the weaving part. Woot! I didn’t have time to set up the camera though. Sorry. I think tomorrow I’ll try then next step of the distance drills and I’ll try to get video.

Later in the afternoon I went down and picked up my friend and her puppies and we went to Parowan for a puppy play day. It was fun. Nothing really formal about it, but it’s a nice opportunity to get together with other puppies and work on whatever everyone feels they need help with. I have to say, I enjoy the play days, but it sure does make for a long day by the time I get home. I feel like I’ve been running all day. No need for Lipofuze today.

After Zoe managed to complete her Elite Gamblers title this last weekend I got to thinking…maybe improving her distance skills wouldn’t be impossible after all. I keep putting it off with her because she’s older and I just know that teaching her new skills turns into such a fight sometimes. Especially since she’s an opinionated girl that thinks that she knows how everything is done already. LOL But the way she’s running, she’s not ready for the retirement home, checker boards, ping pong tables and a hammock just yet. So, maybe I should just give some distance training a try with her. What do you think?

I thought I’d set up the first drill today from the beginner’s day of that Jim Basic distance seminar that we audited last year. For sure I’ll work it with Layla, and I might even see what Zoe thinks of it too. We’ll see how it goes. I have every intention of my younger dogs having better distance training than Zoe got in the beginning. I’ll try to set up the camera and post something later on this evening.

Day 1 of the ASCA trial went great! It’s another super small trial. I love that it’s small, it makes the atmosphere nice and relaxed. II don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing for the club that’s putting the trial on though, so I sure hope they were able to make enough to cover their expenses.

It’s always fun to catch with everyone and hear all the new dog news. A friend of ours is expecting puppies. That’s always exciting news, but at the same time, I’m glad it’s not me having to worry about prenatal vitamins and all that kind of stuff. I just like getting to play with the puppies that someone has to do all the work and worry about.

Zoe q’d in 5 of the 6 classes we ran today, one of them even being a Gamblers class. That’s the hardest one for us. I was really happy about that run. I did get some video of a few of the classes, but I haven’t had a chance to upload what we got yet. Maybe tomorrow after I get home, I’ll get the runs up for the weekend.

After the trial I took the dogs on a walk, thought I’d give Dare a chance to burn off some energy since she didn’t get to do much while Zoe was running at the trial. I got some fun pictures of Zoe along the way. I think she had a pretty good day.

Ok, so here’s the before and after pictures of Dare today.

I’m still getting used to it. Doesn’t quite look like my little wild child that I’ve grown accustomed to anymore. Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I kind of like all my shelties with their individuality and their not quite conforming to the picture perfect standard. But for now, Dare is a very pretty girl, and he ears look much more like they are supposed to look. No guarantees that it’ll stay this way forever though. LOL