Resq TailsThe trials and triumphs of rescued dogs

We made it home from the agility trial. I just have to say…I don’t know how all of you out there can manage to go to a trial and come back that same night, upload all your videos and then write a blog post. It amazes me. LOL After being at the trial for 12 hours, I’m just beat. I tried to get my videos uploaded onto Youtube at least, but I didn’t have the energy to blog after that. Anyway…the girls did great.

On Friday, Raven finished her Open FAST title the first day. However, I wasn’t on top of things and I didn’t remember if it was her second or third leg, so I didn’t move her up. Bleh! Bad mom. She also Q’d in her Ex A Standard run that day, so she only needs one more leg for her AX. Here’s her Open FAST run.

Layla had her agility debut on Friday too. She started out really well in Nov FAST. Qualifying with a total of 75 out of 80 possible points. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw her score. Here is her video.

Next was Layla’s Standard run. It didn’t go quite as well. She decided that she needed to visit the jump setter really bad and then she didn’t want to weave. I think both things are just common green dog mistakes though and other than that, she did a good job. Here’s that run.

Last of all was Jumpers with Weaves. It was such a nice course, was really excited. Layla did the first two jumps and again the urge to say hi to someone was just too much for her, and she left me to go see the judge. The problem is that she took an offcourse jump to do it. Bleh. So, even though she then came back and finished the rest of the course under time, we couldn’t have the one wrong course and Q. She also seemed to get really sniffy at the end of the run. I didn’t know if she was stressed, but I don’t think so. She’s always been a real sniffer, it’s something we’ve tried to work on, but I think by the third run she finally decided that the arena dirt was just too interesting to pass up on anymore. LOL Anyway, here’s her last run of the day.

All in all, I was pleased with both the girls. Ricky you mentioned when you saw one of Layla’s videos that it’s nice to see a friendly Sheltie, and I have to agree. I definitely love that Layla thinks everyone is a potential friend. I just need to make sure that she understands that we visit our friends after we’re done running. LOL

We got to see Dare’s half sister Tennille again, and her “brother” Captain this weekend too. I couldn’t believe how much Tennille had grown. She is almost the same size as Dare already and she’s 7 weeks younger. Anyway, here’s a picture of them all together. Dare on the left, Captain in the middle and Tennille on the right.

This week is getting away from me quicker than I expected. LOL We had a really nice weekend! Friday started off with an obedience lesson for Twist and Raven. We have lots and lots to work on before the Utah Sheltie Specialty at the end of April. That’s good though.

Saturday and Sunday we spent at the DOCNA trial. I only had Zoe entered, but then they offered day of trial entries, so I broke down and entered Raven for the last run of the day on Sunday. Zoe had a nice weekend. She was really consistent and Q’d with first place in 8 of the 10 classes that she ran in. The other two were my fault. I got lost and sent her into an offcourse tunnel on one class, and realized it too late to get her turned around, and the other was a class called Strategic Time Gamble, and you make up your own course to accumulate points in the opening time period of 30 seconds. Then they blow a whistle and you have another 10-15 seconds to cross the finish jump. The problem is that you can’t finish too early or too late, it’s more a gamble of whether you can estimate how many obstacles your dog can complete in a certain amount of time, and I suck at that. We crossed the finish jump too soon, and lost the Q. Raven Q’d in her one jumpers run, which should have finished her Beginner’s jumper title.

Zoe did qualify in the North American Challenge Class though, and that is DOCNA’s qualifier for their Championships, so if we decide that we can get away (time and moneywise), we are qualified to go to Prescott, AZ in Oct. for the Western Championships. That would be fun!

The next few days are going to be busy. I am sitting waiting right now for a client to pick up their dog. I hate waiting for people. It seems like that’s what a majority of my time is spent doing with the boarding kennel. Waiting for people to pick-up/drop-off dogs. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could count on them showing up at a specific time, but you just can’t. People tell you that they’ll be there at one time and then show up hours later. It’s very frustrating because it means that you are tied to the house, and can’t leave.

Anyway, in the meantime, today I’m trying to get a packing list together so that I can be ready to leave Friday morning for Salt Lake. Zoe is entered in a DOCNA agility trial this weekend. I was only planning on travelling with Zoe and Layla this time, but there is an obedience ring set-up on Friday if we can get there early enough that would be ideal training for Twist and Raven. So…it’s looking like I’ll be bringing all the Shelties but Rogue this time. She’ll have to stay home with her dad and keep things in line here.

I have a three boarding dogs going home tomorrow, and at least one coming in, and then I have agility class with Zoe and Raven, and somewhere in between that I’d love to get a chance to bathe everybody. It’s not looking real promising though. LOL I almost forgot I have the cats that I’m watching for some friends while they are in Indiana too. All in all, it’s going to be a busy last half of the week, but I think alot of it is going to be spent hurrying up to sit around a wait for people.

So, I thought that Layla’s “wait” had come along far enough to test it out on some group pictures. I was wrong. LOL Here’s some of the outtakes.

Setting everybody up….

“Did you see her drop something?”

Hmmm…wonder what I’m missing behind me?

Woops! We’ve lost someone…..LAYLA!

Wait, wait, there she is! She’s back, but not for long…

Layla says: “I’m outta here! I’ve got much better things to do than sit and wait for you to snap my picture.”

We’ve obviously got a ways to go before she’s going to make group pictures an easy task again. LOL

So, we went for a walk yesterday and Penny found this hole in the snow. I don’t know what it went to, but the series of pictures that I got just cracked me up!

After wallowing around in a pool of my own disappointment for most of the day yesterday, I was brought to my senses by the dogs running and playing in the sunshine (and mud) in the yard. They weren’t disappointed at all by the fact that I’d cancelled our trip. They couldn’t have cared less. LOL They were enjoying the day. It was just what I needed to refocus my thoughts onto being grateful for what we have, not focusing on what we don’t have.

1. The fact that my husband can’t reasonably take vacation time off work right now isn’t something bad, it just means that he still has a job, (which is something to be grateful for, not begrudge).

2. Even though we didn’t get to actually compete at the Nationals, I need to focus on the fact that it was a nice accomplishment to meet the qualifications.

So, a big thanks to my 7 happy, muddy dogs for reminding me of what a great life we have!

We’re home, and we had a really nice weekend at the agility trial. Raven finished her Novice FAST title, and probably would have qualified in her Ex JWW class too, except for the fact that I forgot she was running in Excellent and nearly missed her turn. I realized my mistake in time for her to still be able to run, but it was rushed and I think my mistake made her nervous from the start. She had a refusal at the first jump and then she went on to finish the run nicely. I was really pleased that she was able to recover that well. I think the year off has helped her alot.

Zoe and I still didn’t get that last Excellent FAST leg that we needed for her title, but that’s ok. She’s still running well, and we’re having fun. I did alot of thinking over the weekend about whether or not I wanted to continue to compete with Zoe in AKC and try for a MACH II, and I think I’ve made my mind up that it’s just not worth it for us. Zoe’s going to be 9 in June, and it took us a good solid two years worth of trialing to get the first MACH, and I just don’t think I want to be pushing her that much as she approaches 10. Not that she’s ready to retire by any means! I just think we’re going to switch over to another venue for now. DOCNA is the most appealing to me because the courses tend to be a little more open and flowing, and it also offers alot of options in jump heights as the dogs age. I think it will be a nice change of pace for us.

Layla had a great weekend too. We went back to visit Barbara and Jim at Sheltie Rescue to finish her adoption paperwork on Thurs. night. While we were there she got to play with the two other 4 mo. old Sheltie puppies that are available for adoption as well as Abbey, Barbara and Jim’s own Sheltie girl. Then she got to go play with her friends Tatum and Muffit at Cynthia house. They ran and ran and barked and had a great time. Friday and Saturday Layla came with us to the agility trial and she got to do some attention work in the new place as well as socialize a little. She even did some targeting by our crating area. The biggest thing she learned was how to do stairs. Didn’t take her long to figure out the stairs at Cynthia’s house and at the trial site, and by the end of the weekend, she was prancing up and down them like she’d been doing it for years. LOL Once again, I forgot the camera, but fortunately Cynthia had hers, so when she has time, maybe we’ll post some pictures of the crating setup at the trial.

This week is going to be hectic! We’ve got a bunch to squeeze in before we leave on Thurs. to go to Farmington for our first agility trial of the year. It’s a three day trial, but I’ve only entered the first two days. I’m pretty nervous about running with Raven again. It’s been almost a year since she’s trialed. She was getting stressed out at trials so we took so time off competing, tried to concentrate on our training, and did some fun little demo things to try to build her confidence. I guess it’s about time to see if it’s helped her.

Zoe’s pretty steady, so running her doesn’t make me nervous, we just have fun! I’m hoping that Zoe can finally get that last FAST leg that she needs to finish that title. Distance work with Zoe has always been a weak point. LOL

Layla is coming along to just get used to the trial atmosphere. This will be her first trip! I think she’s going to do well, (I hope). She’s a really good little traveler on the short day trips that we’ve taken so far.

Rogue and Twist are going to stay home to keep Penny, Lucy and their dad company for the weekend. I doubt that Rogue will be very happy about being left with him, but I just don’t see any sense in stressing her out more than normal in a trial environment, till we can get her medication regulated. If we can get things figured out for her so that she is comfortable at home then we might start taking her on the road a bit again, but until then we’re just slowing things down for a while.

We’ve been walking as much as possible this winter to keep everybody busy. I thought I’d post some of the pictures from our walks. It cracks me up because on nearly every walk, Penny and Zoe end up together, Raven has Layla hot on her heels, Twist and Lucy head off to make their own trails, and Rogue stays with me.