Vacation Report - May 2008

Jim had a week off work.
It was filled with this that and the other thing. :)

Go here for stuff that Jim did. Van work, garden work and such like.

Go here for our trip to the zoo. Warning this is fairly picture laden.

We also spent the weekend attending as volunteers at the Regionals trials for the Agility Association of Canada. We had a lot of fun. Saw a lot of dogs run. Some really good, some well... some that needed to do some more work on handling skills and/or focus. As volunteers we were treated well, though I found not as many messages of appreciation thrown my way as last year, thought that a bit odd. But hey, I did my job as best I could and had fun doing it. I stewarded, Jim ring crewed on Saturday. Sunday morning we listened to a sermon on the radio, and both of us ring crewed for the duration of the day. Jim received a Starbucks card for his help, I picked up a shirt and some pretty candles for helping out. OH! and in the Saturday raffle I won a new chair! Cool eh? Justin and Sassy stayed at gramma's house.

This morning Jim left at 700 a.m. to go the banner of truth Trust conference that he attends annually. He took a fellow pastor from town down with him.

So that's it. Justin and I will hold down the fort here this week. Jim will hopefully recoup some energies and life continues under God's good graces.

Cheers all!

Hitherto Unknown Ways to Traumatize a Cat

Give one cat toy to a toddler. A toy similar to this. :)
Forget that one dog is in the house as well.
One dog that coincidentally likes cat toys as much as a NON-traumatized cat does.

Consider ... jealousy levels of one dog.
Consider... ineptitude of toddler handling cat toy.

Consider.... I really tried for the wide-eyed terror look...but this was a best I could do. One cat very carefully watching where one dog was (behind me with a stern Sassy leave it), while watching out a boy child crawling behind sofa to give "toy" to cat to catch and play with.
We ended up settling for one toddler having his beloved Tagu playing with the cat toy, while cat found a safe place elsewhere in the house to hide. :)
End result: Provided humour for grown-ups in the house. :)

Our girlie Sassy

This is our girl Sassy. She is really very much my dog.

For the last couple of weeks I've been wanting to do a post on Sassy. She's done a few things lately which have caused me to feel so much pride for her.

1. She is a well-behaved dog. She knows lots and lots of things. Such as hand-signals to move to the left or right. Comes such as one-side, heel, wait, and so forth. And of course her favourite... where's the cat? :) This is, of course, said cat. Sparks is a large, lazy tom cat. Who when HE hears "where's the cat" immediately decides that not being visible would be a good idea. :) It makes us laugh. Sassy can seemingly be lost to the world, dog dreaming, and we can very quietly say... Sassy, where's the cat, and immediately she perks up her ears and looks around with this intense.....where's that cat so I can BUG HIM? :)

Lately Sassy and Justin have been ganging up on the cat. We don't really encourage this ganging up but we do allow it for 5 minutes or so...Just until Sassy starts to bark. :) We DON"T want her barking at the cat as the cat is family, squirrels on the other hand...do get barked at THEY are NOT family. :) But I digress....

2. Sassy has a strong tendency to not appreciate rude dogs at all. She is VERY quick to remind them that proper dogs don't rush into each other's space and so forth. We do not encourage this behaviour since in today's legal climate having a dog tell off another dog can land said non-dangerous dog in trouble in the province of Ontario.

Over the past couple of weeks she has met no less than four rather rude dogs. She was VERY good and very patient with them. One bichon that pulled the glove off it's owner and came bounding over with full intent to do what he likes to do...pounce on dogs. Sassy just turned her head and circled away so that I could catch him. One lab...same dog twice, being a typical young lab with "i have no brain And I got away from you!". Here I thought was major trouble waiting to happen as labs tend to bounce first and ask questions later... and Sassy stared this dog to a stand still and then said hi as friendly as could be, let me catch dog and return to apologetic owner. Of course second time around...I got a growl from her, but I did figure a growl is better than a snarl, and dumb owner should have had a better grip on young over-eager lab. :) Fourth time I think was just sheer wisdom on Sassy's part. We were walking along, minding our own business and a pack of young shepherds burst out of a house. I thought we were toast! One of these four shepherds was quite determined to get one of us, but I put that one of us behind me and acted big and tall and scary! Finally male owner (female was a bit of an idiot) whistled up the dogs and we left thanking God that nothing nasty happened. Sassy was an angel just standing quietly behind me. NOT doing her what would be normal for her....stand back "mom" I can handle this. :) She listened! She was VERY VERY good. :)

3. She's a game dog. As in she's game to try anything and do anything with me. From learning to jump after sticks into deep water (this was hard for her), to learning to play agility with me, to learning some freestyle moves and to learning to cope with a toddler in the house (having to share me). All stuff for a dog to learn and do and .... she's a good dog.

So I have a good dog. A dog I can be proud of.

For lots more doggy tales and information on how you can add yours to the "Dog Days of February" collection, go to Rebecca Writes who is featuring all things canine this month.

Day two without Jim

So I was up this morning at 630. Not quite what I had hoped for but obviously what God wanted from me. :) ah well....

Bunny that we got from the folks in Kitchener...NASTY little beast. Not pleased with her attitude toward life at all. She'll need some gentling that one will (in other words, needs to learn some manners). One of our other does (which I believe to be pregnant) is visiting our nesting box more frequently. Would be nice to have little ones. :) Of the two littles we had from dwarf bunny, the brown (a male) is significantly bigger than the black one which appears to be female. Hoping to sell black baby for $10.

Tried watching "the nativity". WAY to intense for a curious toddler. The way the movie started had Justin looking distressed saying bad man, bad man. I said, told him yes, that man was bad. Fast forwarded and watched a bit here and there, but just overall not something to watch with a toddler up and about, so turned it off and since I didn't want to pay additional rental on it, just returned it.

Justin went to Margaret's for the time I was working. Got there a bit early, so Justin could chill out and play with toys and such like. Then I left. Wondered how he would do, work (Subway) was very busy today so didn't have much time to wonder. Back to pick him up, Margaret told me that Justin was such a good boy. no crying, just lots of playing. Helped her husband Gabby do some wood and played in the sandbox.

We accidentally left "tagu" behind so we drove out to get him. Justin fell asleep before we got there. He slept in the car while mommy retrieved the wee beastie (Sassy guarded him) and then home. I worked in the gardens while he slept. even got the lawn mowed. At 6 I said, enough of this, this boy needs to get up if I'm ever to get to bed tonight. That took 1/2 an hour.

But he ate fairly well tonight. Ice-cream and mommy's green beans (for her supper), then later on (after our walk) some summer sausage, more beans with applesauce, and popcorn. A good meal overall. :) I would have liked to convince him to eat some of my meatloaf, but he's just not into that. Right now his protein sources are milk, summer sausage and eggs. We'll work with that for now. :)

We had a nice walk with Sassy, stopped at the store for mandarin oranges --- 5 lbs for $3. not bad I thought. Wish they tasted better..... :( also had chicken for 79Cents a pound. Good deal so I bought some.

Home, watched Thomas the train, some generic TV and then I finally convinced the boy at 940 that bed was good. :) I made a few phone calls...returned one to mom that no I didn't have her computer cables etc, confirmed with Jen that we can stay at her place next week when we are the GTA, and called Eva to confirm Sassy coming over to her place next week and that's about it.

so I've "peed" Sassy and now I'm off to bed as well. Keep well all! :)

He Just Wants to Say Hi!

I was reminded of this article the other day, and thought hmmm... I can't reproduce it, but I can refer folks over to it.

Article is called "he just wants to say Hi!" It is written by Suzanne Clothier.

This article talks about do interaction. How to determine if one's dog is "dog aggressive" or just has a well developed sense of it's own personal space.

Having a dog who does have a "well developed sense of her own personal space" this article makes a whole lot of sense to me.

The number of people I have met that I have had to warn them to keep their dog back .... always say, but my dog just wants to say hi! As this article says:

My experience has been that it is owners of breeds considered non-aggressive that cause the most problems in dog-to-dog interactions simply by being unaware that their dog is rude. To the owners of non-aggressive breeds, there doesn't appear to be any thought that rudeness can take many forms. Anyone can recognize that a dog lunging and snarling is being rude. Far too few folks recognize that simply getting into another's dog space - however sweetly and quietly - is just as rude in the world of dogs. Owners of rude dogs do not perceive their dogs' actions as rude; they see only "friendliness," as if the behavior for greeting people is the same as greeting another dog - it's not! Thus the classic line, "He's only trying to say ‘hi!'"

Your dog getting into my dog's space after she has done the normal stand off/away from your dog, turn her head away, etc is just asking for my dog to say BACK OFF BUDDY! in a very loud, non-damaging doggie language.

So when I ask you to keep your dog back from mine...despite the fact that "your dog is just wanting to say hi" means that I am protecting my dog. Doesn't mean that my dog doesn't like your dog, just means that she needs more time to decide if your dog is okay to her or not, and that she needs more time than yours does to "make new friends".

After reading this article I have learned the value of the following:

I encourage handlers to be quite active in protecting their dog - whether that means quietly walking away to a safer area, or, when that's not possible, literally stepping in physically to present the first line of defense. Stepping in between two dogs is a classic act of leadership. Dogs do it with other dogs all the time, so this same gesture coming from a human leader is understood and appreciated.

So just what else can one do to help with these behaviours?

There is no easy answer to that question. Certainly, no matter how aware or dedicated a handler, it is not possible to stop other dogs from being rude - or, more to the point, it is not possible to educate all other handlers so that they won't allow their dogs to be rude. I believe fools and rudeness are widespread, and to the best of my knowledge, there's no concerted government program to eradicate either rudeness or foolishness.

Here is Suzanne's advice: (read the article for more in-depth explanation)

1. Socialize your dog thoroughly with other dogs; for puppies, choose playmates of a similar age and adults who have been well socialized themselves. This means off-lead socialization, not sniffing noses at the end of the lead. The more experience a dog has with other dogs, the more refined his judgment will become about what constitutes rude or foolish behavior and how best to deal with it. He'll also learn how to be a polite dog himself.

2. When socializing your dog under someone else's instruction or guidance, be careful. Some instructors and trainers are appalling ignorant about basic behavior, and unable to set up a positive socialization situation. If you feel uncomfortable with a situation, remove your dog. It only takes a few seconds for a bad experience to leave a lasting impression, particularly on a young dog.

3. Watch your dog. Your dog will tell you all you need to know about his perception of the world. When you're with him, really be with him. Pay attention to his behavior. Position yourself and/or the dog so that the dog is always in your peripheral vision. Practice checking on your dog often. If he appears to be concerned, find out why. And then help him. Protect him.

If you can't watch your dog in a situation where there are potential problems, put him somewhere safe.

4. Be pro-active in protecting your dog. If you see a fool and his rude dog headed your way, do your best to protect your dog.

She goes on to list a whole bunch of do's and don'ts for your dog. Go read them. It would be well worth your time.

Basically what it comes down to for me is: we allow people to be shy, stand-offish, exuberant etc. and we as people find ways to deal with and allow this in each other, why don't we allow it in our dogs? Just as I get over-whelmed by pushy people getting into my space, I can expect my dog doesn't much appreciate it either. I choose to move away, stop talking etc. My Sassy will initially do the same -- move away, growl, turn her head away etc... but when all else fails she will "attack". Never with damage physically done, just lots of noise and shaking. Dog ways I think I more direct aren't they? :) I try to prevent the latter as much as possible, but some people just don't listen and loose dogs well...they are just a huge hazard.

Be alert! Watch your dog, watch other dogs, and protect your dog as best you can.

A Day or Two in my life

Well, I have an added bonus this morning... Sassy did not want to go for a long walk. Just a short walk around "the pond" and then home again. Just as we got home it started to drizzle in a serious manner so... I didn't get as wet as I would have if she had wanted to go for a longer walk. Rather cool how God planned that!

Took care of all the critters. The piggies need some new food so I'll need to get some of that today. Weird doing the mice this morning.... yesterday I sold my baby mice.... 34 of them! made $25.50. Can't complain about that! :) But now the pen looks so very empty! I can start feeding them less too, as the ladies made a mess having too much food! Silly mice.

Also picked up three VERY nice rabbits from a lady out in Glencoe (she met me in London). I hope to breed them and then sell the babies. Two of them are quite tame without a lot of attitude. One is just a tad bit attitudinal so I will need to be be careful handling her. They did quite well being in the shed last night. Now they are in the x-pen under a tarp on fresh grass. The tarp should protect them from the rain. :) Jim plans to build them a nice hutch soon.

I have to figure out how to move my rabbit pen with the baby rabbits. The brown baby startles easily and pops out of the nesting box when I move the cage, hard to catch, and when I do it just screams baby rabbit screams which isn't pleasant, so I have to figure something out to make that process easier for the baby (and me).

Did my physio yesterday. Will do a separate post on that since I want to document clearly the exercises she wants me to do.

That's it for an update.

House-keeping

For news about new family members go here.

For news about Sassy at her latest agility trial go here.

Just so you all know, I have a good hubbie. He didn't get mad at me for waking him up out of a deep sleep, and he was so VERY helpful and proficient yesterday in building needed supplies. His new-to-him table saw works great too!

Memories of Riley

So yesterday was a hard day.

We had old dog Riley put to rest.

He was a good dog. A mix between Shepherd-husky. Had some of the qualities of each, the shepherd's biddableness, and the husky independance and willingness to keep going. Riley wanted to please, and he very often did just that.

He did have his quirks.
He did not forgive. I was "the purveyor of all things evil". I gave him baths, groomed him, clipped his nails, enforced the rules.....all things evil. he often ran when I came out the door to the backyard...UNLESS I was bearing food -- and then well... I wasn't! (LOL). I was also the dog walker, feeder, petter and so forth. but mostly in Riley's eyes I was the purveyor of all things evil. Jim's mom was the purveyor of all things good, this is where he started out his safe life among people, and that is where his allegiance firmly lay. Jim was good to be "woofed at" for pettings. :)

He was a sensitive dog, the first to notice if someone was upset in the house, and if they were he'd plant his butt up against them and woof. Remarkable how petting a dog can calm a person's spirits. :)

He LOVED the snow. Jim has memories of Riley tromping through heavy snow chasing snow balls. The cold was harder on him as he got older, but the snow still made him smile.

I will probably never forget the day I decided Riley would ever always be walked on leash. Walking through a corn field. He decided to take off. I looked for that dog. Scared the socks off me, as he was getting forgetful of traffic. Finally went home, got Jim, we found him lying in the corn field with nary a care in the world.

For my husband's memories of Riley go here. He has the most recent pics of Riley posted there as well. It's a hard time, with good memories. Good bye Riley dog. :)

Answering the dog call

kim from Upward call has put out a call for dog pictures. so... here are ours. :)

Old dog Riley. He's a shepherd-husky mix. About 14 years old. Doesn't like the cold anymore and spends most of his time sleeping things off. :) Long walks now tire him out but good. he's a good old chap.


one of my favourite pictures of Sassy. :) Here she is about 4 years old, she's a year older now. Part of agility training is teaching a dog to down on a table. I taught Sassy to down on all types of things, which helps to fool-proof her against the vagaries of different tables. :) Willing spirit. likes to work but can be ever so stubborn about how to do it.

Our weekend Plans

This is where Jim and I will be this weekend. We are both volunteering.

Justin will be at Mom and Dad's (my parents) for the weekend.

The dogs will be at Mom's (Jim's parent) for the weekend. Eva will probably laugh when she sees Sassy. And that's okay. :)

I have to admit I"m rather nervous. They've asked me to gate steward most of the day on Saturday. Me... little old me, who has only gated for SMALL trials and who knows how "stressed out" people can get about this that and the other thing and that makes the gate steward a prime target. Ah well..... Hopefully I'll have fun anyways, if not... I can quit! (yeah right).

Why isn't Sassy participating you might ask?

1. They also compete on Sundays and with the regionals you pay for all the runs whether you play or not. And since I won't play on Sundays it would be wasted cash, and I'm just not big into that for some strange reason. :)
2. This year wasn't even an option as Sassy has been limping off and on her left back leg. Mind you after clipping her down....that might have been a hair problem....not sure. Will continue monitoring her.

Anyways, Jim got home safe and sound last night. He was very quiet.

I didn't sleep well because of the heat and someone took away the fan....have NO idea where it went...into the guest room perhaps? (Jim????) Happened while I was sleeping but I did wake up to ...huh? the fan? Ah well... hope he slept better than I did.

Anyways, need to go be productive. I tried doing my devotions but nothing is sticking in this tried brain OTHER THAN that fact that yesterday I made a booboo. Revelations 1 doesn't talk about the seven churches, it's Revelations 2 and 3 that do that. So my apologies for the error.

I offended my dog.....

Yes, I did.

I totally offended her.

Instead of spending 45$ to get her professionally groomed I decided I could do this myself. (boy the confidence of the unproven).

First I bought some clippers for about $50.
Then I warned her. :) yeah..like that tells her anything. :)
Then I gave her a good brush out and CUT out the worst of her tangles and brushed her some more, all the time warning her that this wasn't the end of it. :)
Then I gave her a bath. AND made her stay clean. (she wanted to roll in the dirt, and hide under the canoe) She was offended.
Then I walked her so she could get good and dry. By then the urge to roll subsided and the heat dissipated a bit so no more canoe hiding.
Then I started to clip her.

NOTE: I have NEVER clipped a dog before in my life.

NOTE: it didn't take Sassy long to figure this out.

After hitting snag number three Sassy bailed on me permanently. She left the main floor of the house, she HID in the basement. I found her, and said, okay lass, here's a cookie, you are a good girl. We're all done. She forgave me... but not the clippers. Evil eye they got! We called it quits for the night.

IN the morning, I'd had time to rethink my approach. I scissored the nasty areas.
THEN I clipped very slowly and from different angles.

She's shorter (in the hair).
She's trimmer (not neatly though).

I made some errors, which hopefully I won't repeat next time. :)

AND we survived.

My neighbours (Bob and Audrey) both said you can tell she's been clipped, doesn't look too bad! :) Aren't they gracious folks? :)

I should take a picture... but it's late at night and I'm not convinced this girlie will pose for me at this hour. and the lights not good now anyways. :)

Trying an experiment

Today I worked hard.

I moved our woodpile that was scattered around our shed into one long row under our hedge. Keeps all our wood together and it's nicely piled hopefully into piles that won't fall over. (really really hope they won't fall over).

Anyways, I'm not a professional woodstacker. :)

Well, in my removing and stacking of wood, I discovered a nest of wee field mice. Knowing mice as I do, I know that a wild field mouse WON'T come back to a rather badly disturbed nest so I removed the babies to discover that they are about the same age as my wee ones upstairs.

Thus began a quick on-line search. How does one care for wee babies about two weeks old. I learned hey...put them with a nursing momma...and 8 times out of ten she'll care for them alongside her own (as long as she's not too badly outnumbered). And since Aunty mouse appears to be nursing the babies as well.....

Being a somewhat kind-hearted individual I am hoping that my two girlies will foster these babies. We'll have to wait and see. I really hope they'll be fine.. they just have to survive one week and then eyes will be open, they'll be co-ordinated and they'll be eating grains and apples and such like. AND then.......

Then I can raise them to be big enough to be well um, be eaten by the dogs! (yes, I'm nasty) :) What can I say.. they are WILD mice. They are indeed as my hubbie would say.. VERMIN! And well... one does not encourage vermin to stick around does one?

Anyways, that's my story of the day. :)

Look who we spotted this morning....

We spotted this fellow on our walk this morning



Walking as bold as brass across the road. From one neighbours house to the one across the road with a nice big hedge.

Not a care in the world.

Didn't seem to care that Sassy was quite interested in him, and even Riley perked up upon viewing him.

One of the biggest opossum's I've seen in long time.

I thought it was rather neat. :)

Life this week

Life has been....shall I say a challenge this week in our household.

Monday.. I see lights dancing, everything is blurry, I get dizzy, VERY freaking when one is driving a car on London roads. Pull over. AH safe. Go into pharmacy, watch self closely so don't fall over. Get back into car, my hubbie drives. YEAH! (probably just total fear for his life at this point) :)

MASSIVE HEADACHE! BLURRY VISION. I am NOT a happy camper.

I even take something because pain is bad. (I hate taking stuff)

Make doctor's appointment, go in Tuesday evening. My hubbie at meeting, My MIL comes down to care for J.

Doc hems and haws. Threatens to send me to UH because wonders if I have brain bleed. But is not sure because some of my symptoms indicate migraine. Ends up making me promise that I will take myself in if I don't get better, or if I get worse, said he was 75-85% sure that it was a migraine, but a somewhat odd one.

The next day it's a wee bit better but I feel like I've been beaten over a head with a brick. Thursday I was just TIRED. Like just massively tired. Today (Friday) I'm fine. :)

Well...except for the fact that I tripped over a child gate and now have a badly sprained left foot. NOT FUN! Went to emerg...not broken, badly sprained, stay off it and elevate it. Take pain stuff if I need it.

And through it all, my hubbie, my sweet, generally patient hubbie, is fighting um...what shall I say here.... lack of being able to write sermons. It's Friday night, he's been working hard all week and has NOTHING (Well four pages) but basically nothing! FRUSTRATING!!!!! So not quite as patient.....

Makes him tired.
Makes me want to help and I generally end up not helping, and somehow I end up thinking that I make things worse.... ARGH!

And the old dog Riley has been battling diarrhea this week. Almost hit me with it this morning. I was unimpressed --- BUT very glad that I was smart enough to move quickly. :) he walks all sad and old looking. ARGH!!!! Now I can worry about the old dog too!

Then Sassy growled at the boy for petting her. Bad dog. Gets a spank and sent off to lie down. Get to re-worry about her and handling the boy and ARGH!!!!!

Do I sound like a whiney child yet? :)

So on a positive note
1. I made a brand new recipe for a meatloaf that my hubbie really likes! he does! it's too spicy for my taste...but he likes it! YEAH!!!! I like making him happy! :)
2. J. ate good today!
3. I got the fridge cleaned out, the counter well cleaned
4. the boy was well-read too, fed, cleaned, pajama-ed, and bedded. :)
5. the dogs were walked...by my hubbie this afternoon (they had a good walk this morning).

So life isn't completely bad...just been a bit rough this week.....

Recent Big Discussion

As you know, I like to do agility with my dog Sassy.

I LOVE doing agility. Do I do it as often as I would like? no.

1. can't afford it
2. don't have time as I've an active toddler
3. it's winter and cold outside, so practicing outside doesn't happen so much
4. life is just life....

BUT I do like to get out and be involved at least 4-6 times per year. I love it when Sassy does well and will crow about her until the cows come home. :)

Anyways, that's not what this post is about. I'm part of the AgilCan yahoo group. it is the message board of the Agility Association of Canada. Here after called AAC. Right now they are having a huge discussion on the fact that it used to take 300 points to qualify for the nationals (at the regional event), and in 2008 it will take 400 points to do the same thing.

I can understand their reasoning. Too many people were qualifying for the nationals. The nationals are our "prestigious event". Too many people, too many dogs, too hard to find a good location, too hard to find enough volunteers, which all leads too hard to find people to host it.

There are times when I think the AAC needs to switch from being a volunteer run organization to a paid position organization. But that's another topic.

People are mad because they as "members" weren't consulted. They are all offended that this seems a surprise decision (and Yes, I do have to concede that fact it caught me off guard), but more that this surprise decision was made without having everyone vote on it first. Seems a bit silly to me.

If you have everyone vote on this issue, where do you draw the line? It's an issue like every other issue. Let the board handle it. We have a board. We elected them. We have to trust that they will use their brains, their statistics and such like in order to come to a good decision.

Yes, 100 points is huge jump. BUT we have 1.7 years to prepare! The best dogs should be able to get 400 points. That's not requiring 6 clean rounds, that's 3 clear rounds and at least one pretty decent run. Over two days, most dogs should be able to do that just fine.

Would I have liked to see an incremental increase? yes. Would have been easy enough to implement. say 350 this year, and then 400 the following year. People probably would have been less upset with that.

It will cut out some dogs. Guess what? That's the nature of having a competitive sport.
It doesn't stop people from entering. You can still go and say you ran at the regionals, AND if perhaps you happen to qualify for the nationals WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maj0r party time, and if you can make it to the nationals and have another good weekend...well then just rock on!!!!

If not, like thousands of other competitors out there....go .... ah well... it was another learning experience and we had fun trying.

So why else are people upset?
1. It's not fair (is a huge complaint)
2. We weren't notified
3. Agility is supposed to be all inclusive. 400 points will exclude me or my best friends dog therefore I'm not coming cause you really don't want to include me
4. Should have differences for the size of dog involved. ie. the really small dogs should only have to shoot for 300 points, and everyone else for 400 points.
5. offering alternatives. Like...let everyone run and only let the top X% percent go to the nationals.

My answers to the upset reasons
1. STOP WHINING! Trust your board to make good decisions.
2. STOP WHINING! Trust your board to make good decisions.
3. GET OVER IT! These are the top levels of competition for our organizations. Not everyone can be top dog. you have all year to run around with your best friend and your dogs. do that. Know that this is competition at it's best. we can't all be the best. and who knows, you can come you can try and perhaps you and your dog (or your best friends and their dog) might have a totally rocking weekend and you just might qualify. It's happened before. (it's called being the dark horse of the competition) (or dark dog as the case might be)
4. I can see some merit to this idea, but then more cries of unfairness will happen. Some small dogs can totally knock the socks of some of the good big dogs out there. So... if there are a few less that can do it, guess what...it's YOUR choice in dog and breeding. Live and love your dog that you chose to live and love. Don't whine about it. I can see doing small dogs at 350 points. Not 300, but then a small dog course should be set up with all the challenges that larger dogs have to face. Make for an interesting challenge that would! :)
5. I can see the merit the having only the top x% go on to the nationals. It would really limit the number of dogs going. Make for a smaller nationals. Would be easier to put on. How do you choose the percentage numbers? What if some in the top percentages don't want to go to nationals (life, $$, etc interfere) would you do down the list and say okay, dog number 3 can't go so let's see if dog number 23 wants to? That might be insulting... You'd want to make sure enough dogs go to the nationals to afford putting them on. So there's lots of things to consider with that scenario as well.


I would love to go the regionals with my dog. It would be a complete hoot!
I won't because
1. it runs over a Sunday. And Sunday is a day of rest and worship... for the whole tribe!
2. I don't think my Sassy dog would cope well. She gets tired at one day trials. By the end of the day she is just shot. Too many dogs, too much noise and not enough just me time. Two days would wipe her out, and day two would probably be a complete waste of time for her. And I'm NOT spending $90 to trial for just one day. Just not doing it. :)

So what do I do instead? I volunteer. I am SO looking forward to it this year. The regionals AND the nationals are close to home! I get to volunteer at both of them!!!!!!!! Isn't that great or what!?!?!?! :)

Unimpressed he is

My hubbie is rather unimpressed with what happened yesterday.the

The machine that keeps the computer going when the power goes out (very needed when using a computer to do video editing). It blew up.

He has the joy of the smell of burnt computer components in his office. Not fun.

BUT when it blew up, it fried the computer it was attached to.

More smell of burnt components.

He's not, at this point, completely sure what all is fried. He suspects the motherboard is toast.

This is irritating as he just purchased a brand new CPU for this very same motherboard. So to make the CPU any good, he has to get all the right components for it.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sums it up pretty well.

I think today I'll send him off to London to see if he can
1. return the power back up machine (I think that's what it's called)
2. find a motherboard he can use
3. do his computer things so that his frustration with the whole thing eases up, which will help him do the work he needs to this week.

ON the way he can take the younger dog to the vet as well. :) Then the boy and I can stay home and get back into a routine more conducive to healing his ear infection.

On a brighter note.....putting the older dog in the kennel overnight prevents night-time accidents. Sure I had to get up at 5 with a noise I couldn't identify. By 530 that noise became a discernable bark! Ah...Riley wants out! He needs to "do his business". YEAH! No smelly mess in the kitchen. He runs outside and does what he has too. We had a lovely walk around town afterwards. :) Happy dog, happy human, life is good. (although a wee bit tiring from being up early). :)

Silly dog, cute boy

First... the cute boy.

Our son has this book with punch out animals in it. He really likes it right now, so we set it up on the living room table for him to play with. This merely helps to keep the animal pieces around so they don't get completely lost (otherwise there's no point to the book). Anyways, he's sitting at the table, calls him mommy to come sit sit. So I come sit and he shows me his match (it's on old burnt out match). He's striking it on his book and trying to light the candle sitting in front of him. He's says Hot! Hot! with this wide eyed expression. He does this over and over again. I told him he was just too cute! :)

Now for our silly dog.

As you know, our dog Riley is getting up there in age. He's always been a dog alert to his surroundings with a bark and flight reflex. This morning we were out for our walk...and boy oh boy is it cold out there! Anyways, he's doing this "high alert" thing. So I"m looking thinking there's got to be something out there that's odd. I see nothing. He stops, he starts barking and trying to run away. I look again. I see nothing. Here I"m having an argument with a dog about moving forward who just wants to run away, and then I see it. A large pile of snow at the end of someone's driveway. he's scared of it. I send Sassy up to. Sassy....go...table! Sassy runs and lies down and then rolls all over the place. Goofy dog. And then Riley like "oh.... okay, nothing scary there." Silly dog. Have to admit though...he made me laugh. :)

Snow! We have SNOW again!

yes, I know, it's only barely covering the ground...but we have winter! Snow has come again.

I thought yesterday the way the wind felt that we would get snow.

My hubbie mentioned it was snowing a wee bit when he got home from church.

And this morning when I got up to walk the dogs we had SNOW ON THE GROUND!

yes, I am happy.

Interesting responses from fellow early morning walkers.
My greeting "we have snow, beautiful snow"

First person "yes, isn't it great?"
Second person "yah, I'll have to adjust my driving habits now"
Third person "I was hoping it would stay away"
Fourth person --- absolutely no response.

Sassy ran around like a young idiot. She likes snow.
Riley was in his "I'm not sure I"m awake mode" this morning. But when he did connect with his surroundings he seemed pleased as well. Very alert for the last part of our walk.

Freestyle

One of the sports I tease around with, with my dog Sassy, is Freestyle.

This is a fun clip of some of things one can do with Freestyle


Some better quality ones with a REALLY good freestyler can be found at this site. Not sure that the clips are working right now, but when they do...make sure you watch the one of the Gladiator.

Though I must admit....when I first saw this particular clip I was sold on doing freestyle if I should ever find the time and figure out how to do some of the training needed for it. Of course...it doesn't help that I just LOVE the movie Grease...which my hubbie happens to hate...so I haven't watched it since we've been married...but ah well...that's a tale for another day. :)

Rarely seen footage

Rarely seen footage.

Sassy and Riley actually laying down together.

If I hadn't taken the picture I would have thought I was dreaming it.

I guess this is what happens when you go from two dog beds clogging up the kitchen to only one big one.

Mind you though, it hasn't happened since. Sassy would rather lie on the floor than share a bed with Riley. Riley on the other hand, couldn't care one way or the other.