When Dare came along and her breeder showed me how to get her ears to tip nicely, I was happy to oblige, although I really don’t think having tipped ears or not is earth shattering in and of itself. I really kind of figured that if I got the ears to tip, (which we did) that would be the last of the ear discussion I’d hear. Well…I was wrong. As of late, the hair on her ears has gotten a bit out of control. Here’s what I mean…

Several people have recently brought it to my attention that I really need to trim up these out of control ears. I find the thought a little daunting. I have visions of how my own hair has looked after I’ve attempted to “trim” it myself. LOL I’m convinced that if I tackle this on my own, Dare is going to look like the moths have been chewing on her ears.

No more procrastinating though. Today is the day. Nope, we’re not in a quest for diets for quick weight loss today. Today Dare is having pictures done with her friend Jet and I decided to break down and get her groomed up and get those cute little tipping ears looking proper again. I will tell you that I’m not doing it myself though. I’m taking her to a groomer friend and hopefully she’ll give me a little hands on tutorial on what to do. Stay tuned for how the ear “make-over” turns out…

Fortunately, both Zoe and Twist are in really great shape for their age. Some of the dogs that were also 9 years old looked lethargic and arthritic, and I probably would have assumed that they were much older than 9 if I didn’t know them personally. I don’t know if I’m just in denial that my dogs are getting older or what, but I don’t think either Zoe and Twist look like that. Zoe is starting to get a few white hairs in her muzzle, but she can still give me a run for my money on the agility course. Twist for his part is just ageless. I don’t think the passing of time has any effect on him. LOL He seems the same today as he did the day I got him from the shelter.

For that matter, Penny and Lucy are doing really well for their age too. Penny is 12 now and Lucy is 11. I can see on long walks that Penny doesn’t have as much energy as she used to, and she doesn’t seem as interested in giving jack rabbits a good game of chase like she did when she was younger, but she’s still very active. No signs of arthritis for her. Lucy is like Twist. I don’t think she’ll be needing any life insurance leads any time soon. She can still clear the 3 foot fence with ease, (much to my dismay!)

Anyway, I guess it should just be a wake up call for me to appreciate the good health that all our dogs seem to be enjoying. I really shouldn’t take it for granted.

And here is day two.

Anyway, I got home and my husband and I were watching tv and a commercial comes on. My husband says, “that’s the boy”. Meaning, Twist was on TV. Of course, I missed it. But someone else was watching and could stop the frame with Twist in it, and sent me a picture. (Thanks Cyn!) So, here’s the proof. Twist’s a movie star. Well, maybe not quite a movie star, but close enough for us. Good thing he doesn’t need to be all concerned about acne scar removal for his closeups.

The funniest thing to me is that he’s the only dog in the picture that seems to be distracted by something behind him. I don’t know if it was the cameraman, or what. But one good thing about out of site stays…I don’t have to watch him and be a nervous wreck. I just leave and hope for the best. Fortunately both today and yesterday, he held the stays, even with that poltergeist head move of his going on.

Raven also qualified in Rally today. So, that finished her Novice Rally title. She finished with a first place too! Best of all, she was comfortable and happy in the ring. It’s so nice to see her looking like she does at home when she’s working. She can do some really cute work, but I think her nerves were just getting the best of her for a while there. Maybe she’s grown out of that now.

So, one of the really fun things about the Specialty is all the special prizes. Our friend that organizes the Obedience portion of the specialty each year does a fantastic job! She makes sure that no one goes home empty handed, and usually you leave with so many things that you have trouble getting it all in the car! Makes for a nice relaxed, cheerful atmosphere at the show. No need for wrinkle creams to get rid of frown lines at this show! Everyone leaves with a smile on their face. This year, Twist got the special prizes, (but he’s sharing with his sisters). Here’s some pictures from today!

Twist getting his High in Trial ribbon!!!

Twist and Raven posing with all their goodies

Anyway, I think I’ve had about all the fun I can take for today. Gotta try to get some rest so I can get up early and drive to Salt Lake. I’ll post tomorrow about how everything goes at the specialty!

I also have to remember to pack up the items that were donated for the Sheltie Rescue of Utah raffle. Good thing I’m writing this post, since as I’m writing I’m adding to my packing list. LOL I got to serve as the Southern Utah drop off point for people this year and we got some nice dog beds and fleece blankets donated. I think it was a small pittance of what the Northern Utah drop offs received, but that’s ok. The person in charge said there was such a great response, she may have enough items to do more than one raffle. So, that’s good news for Sheltie Rescue!

I suppose I should probably try to get in some last minute training with both Twist and Raven, since he’s in Open A Wed. and Thurs. and Raven is entered in Rally. Which reminds me…I need to get to the post office and see if my trial confirmation has arrived for Thurs. yet. If not, I better contact Onofrio and see what’s going on. They’ve cashed my check for my entry, so I assume I’m entered, but it’s getting pretty late to not have the judging schedule and confirmation here yet.

I need to get the boarders information organized so I can get some help in here mid day on Wed. and Thurs. while my husband is at work. Bleh. That’s always a pain. I won’t complain too much though, since it’s nice to have boarders. I don’t think there is going to be much extra time to sit around and learn more about the latest acne treatments, that’s for sure.

I have to call my house cleaning account and see if they want me to come clean this week too. I kind of hope they want to wait a week, but at the same time, the extra money is always nice. Anyway…enough rattling on for now, I’ve got to get busy finishing up some of these things before it’s Tues. night and I’m wondering what happened to all my time.

Maizey and Layla hit it off like they’d known each other forever. Here’s a picture of Layla, Dare and Maizey up the mountains.

Then we went to the lake. Maybe we could have packed some lifejackets for pets, but everyone seemed to do just fine without them. Penny didn’t seem to want to swim much, but I don’t think she needed a lifejacket. I just think she got sick of Zoe and Raven barking out instructions on how to swim out and retrieve the sticks, while they waited at the shore.

Then we went to my parents farm and visited all the spring babies and also all their dogs. Do you think we could find a few more professional beggers to join this motley crew?

After such a busy day, we came home exhausted. Well, I guess not all the dogs were exhausted, but I know the people were. LOL I spent a good portion of the rest of the evening searching for the best shampoos for pets, after all the sights and smells that the dogs had been busy investigating that day.

Anyway, we sure did enjoy being able to get out and enjoy the nice sunny day with good friends!

Today, Twist did a much better job than yesterday on everything, his heeling was better, he got all his finishes and we were sitting on a score of 192 1/2 when we went in for the stays.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Twist layed down right away during the out of site sit.    So another NQ for us today.  The out of site down stay was really exciting.  Seriously.  LOL  Right at the end of the 5 minutes, we were all lined up to return to the ring, when the ring exploded into action.  As we came around the corner all I could see was that all the dogs but 2 were up and running around the ring.  So, I guess what happened was that a pigeon had flown down and all through the stays was walking around just outside the ring taunting the dogs.  Right before we came back, the bird actually came into the ring, and then decided to fly.  That was just too much for the dogs closest and they broke to chase it.  When they broke, so did the rest of the line.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it!  Anyway, there were three dogs that were qualifying up to that point, so the judge let them re-test the long down.  One was a friend of mine and her dog passed and Q’d. 

Anyway, my camera malfunctioned today and for whatever reason, my computer is saying that it can’t recognize the files, so I don’t have the video of Twist for today.  If I get it figured out, I’ll post it later.

Last year a friend of mine convinced me to try a diet with her and basically it involved just eating fresh whole foods rather than all the processed refined junk that it so easy and convenient. I felt so much better and I lost about 25 lbs. The problem is that ever since we went to AZ for DOCNA Championships last Oct. though I’ve had a hard time eating right consistently. In the last 6 months I’ve gained back around 5-7 lbs. Sometimes it’s just so tempting to try to find some fad diets that work, but I just don’t think anything but eating right and exercising more works for me. Since this is the last trial for this month until May, I think I’ll be able to get back on track starting next week.

Back to the obedience trial. Twist will be giving Open a try again. He’s such a funny boy. I know that he knows all the exercises, but he’s just so distractable. Hopefully with this being an indoor trial the distractions will be at a minimum and he’ll do great. He can do such nice work when he’s on. I should be able to update everybody tomorrow on how it goes.