A little update

Things sure have been busy around here!  Two weeks ago Pepper was entered into an agility trial at Aberdeen with Kim Anderson as the judge.  We walked away with another Advanced Jumpers Q.  We just need one more to break into Masters Jumpers.  We were soooo close at a Starters Standard Q but alas, that table got the better of us.  I am hoping to work with Pepper on the table over the winter to find out what will help her to go down faster on it.  There must be something I am doing wrong which is causing her to take her sweet ass time!  Taz got to come along for the day because we had an open house.  He was a model canine and did not once freak out!  I am finding that the spazzing is happening with less frequency but we are still diligent at keeping him sub-threshold.

Taz has been doing great in agility.  We usually have only one or two freak outs a session.  Not to bad if I do say so myself.  I try to keep him occupied (or in his kennel if I need a break) and do a lot of treating for even looking at a dog without reacting.  He really loves to learn and will excel at agility once he learns some more self-control and collection.

Tonight we were at Grandma Munro's house after the funeral.  There was 9 adults there, 6 of them Taz was not very familiar with.  Not once did he growl or show insecurity!  He got lots of attention and gave lots of attention back.  He has come along way with strangers!  He made me very proud tonight.

Impulse Control.... we are getting some!

Last weekend was Taz' weekend.  We have not yet had a weekend where it is just Taz and I working at learning.  Usually it is Pepper and I at an agility trial or flyball tournament.  Well last weekend was the Impulse Control Seminar put on by the Saskatchewan Agility Association.  Cheryl Bartlett was the teacher.  There was 10 working spots and Taz got one of them!  We worked on three main tasks.  First, no mugging for treats!  So very hard when you want that cookie!  Taz has done some work on this in that past as he LOVES to jump and steal the treat for your hand.  I have had to work hard to teach him to not gnaw my hand to pieces to get the treat.  We still need to do some work on when a treat is on the ground or when it is dropped as he likes to divebomb for them.

Second, we learnt how to pigeon peck.  It's a game of time expansion.  Shirley had taught us this over the summer time but I found that Taz would start moving his feet after a count of 10.  Did you know that counting one click treat, one two c/t, one two three c/t... all the way to 10 click treat actually takes 60 seconds?!?!  Try it for yourself!  It is amazing how quickly you can have your dog sit or lay down for 60 seconds just by expanding the time by one second each round.  The whole goal is for the dog to realize how to lay hip shot, head on the floor and to actually relax.  Cherly mentioned it will take a count upwards of 200 to achieve a relaxed state.  Eventually I will be able to say Relax to Taz and he will lay down on the ground, roll onto one hip, put his head on the floor and let the stress just roll off of him.  It was fun to teach Taz to put his head on the ground.  I think this will help us to get passed the 10 count without moving his feet.  We are currently up to a count of 8 with his head on the ground!!  Progress in one week!

The last exercise was how to teach turns to a dog.  For example, Pepper's turn, Taz' turn, Pepper's turn, Taz' turn.  The end goal is to be able to say Pepper's turn and for Taz to realize he will get a chance and doesn't need to flip out.  This one will need to be practiced every day and with different dogs.  Pepper will be getting some good practice as well.

We had a one on one session on the next day.  I audited just about all of the dogs and had a helper take notes while I was working with Taz.  We did a lot of work with him just watching a person running sub-threshold.  We also did some work with him watching another dog sub-threshold.  He did very well!

Not once did my reactive dog have an episode the whole weekend.  He had plenty of opportunity to tell off other dogs and people.  But not once did he freak out.  He has come a long way for sure!  He had strangers holding his leash and feeding him treats.  He was close to other dogs but not to close that they were in his bubble.  He showed he can work with other dogs out.  I also gained some insight about his prey drive.  Cheryl said that it is really high.  That just means more work on our part, working him sub-threshold until we can lower his bubble and raise his threshold.

All in all it was a very good weekend for Taz.  We have lots of work to do and lots of time to do it in.  I have started to do work at flyball with him sub-threshold and with a clicker.  Have to get through that lizard brain to the amygdila and mark his behaviour when it is appropriate.  He will be able to learn new behaviours to replace the ones that are not working or are not appropriate.

Thank you to Cheryl Bartlett for helping me make a better canine citizen out of Taz!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

As I sit here, watching television and doing laundry I find myself thinking about all the things that I am grateful for.  Today is a day to be grateful for everything and everyone we have.  I am grateful that my dogs and cats are in good health.  I am grateful that my husband made it home after being in Alberta all week long.  I am not grateful he came home sick though.  I am grateful that my parents are enjoying themselves on their vacation.  I am grateful for my sister, her husband and my two nephews.  I am grateful that we get to eat turkey tomorrow night's at my sister-in-law's house.  I am grateful that I have a wonderful job that gives me money to feed my dog sport addiction.

Speaking of dog sports, maybe tomorrow I will practice some collection work with Taz.  The weather sure has been nice enough.  We finally have summer... except the sun starts setting around 7pm these days. Agility classes have started again for Pepper.  We have been doing some work with teaching collection, extension and switch in motion.  Something we definitely need.  She handles like a dream as long as I queue her in time.  I am still waiting to hear when Taz' class will be and can't wait to start teaching him more control on the field.  Over the winter, I can see us learning a great many things.  I have entered Pepper in the November trial.  After that, it is a waiting game until next year.

From my household to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Taz!!!

 This is Taz . 

This is his favorite past time.  Playing with the ball!

Taz joined the Munro family household in February 2008.  His birthday is September 24, 2007.

Baby Taz

Taz's favorite past time besides playing ball is chasing the cats.  Gizmo enjoys the game, whereas the foster cats do not.

Gizmo lounging

Taz is still working on his flyball skills.  He has his Flyball Dog (FD), Flyball Dog Excellence (FDX) and his Flyball Dog Champion (FDCh) titles.  We are still working on him being comfortable in the lane and I hope that next year he will be burning up the lanes again.  I had the opportunity to time him the night before the Diamonds tournament.  With no dog in the other lane and not having to pass a dog, he clocked in at 4.69 seconds.  Mighty fast!

In the meantime, we are working on his agility skills.  He is going to have to jump 22inches and has some very stiff competition.  The handling skills I will have with him will be vastly different than the skills I use with Pepper.  So far he is proving to be faster than Pepper on the agility field as well.  He needs to learn some control but that will come as we work through the different exercises.

Taz jumping 22 inches

We are most fortunate to be able to watch his brother Flash grow up.  We are also fortunate to be able to watch him excel at agility and know that Taz has that same potential.

Flash descending the A-frame

Happy Birthday Flash and Taz!

Busy Month!

Boy this month sure has been busy for Pepper!  We started the first weekend of September in Regina with the Good2Go flyball tournament.  Pepper's team got into the groove and really started to rock the lanes!  I also got into the groove with her on Sunday and was able to pull off a few one foot passes with Holly.  My little princess has come along way from a year ago when she had troubles dealing with a 7 foot pass!  Rage was able to pass Pepper extremely tightly (one foot) as well.

This past weekend was the Diamonds in the Ruff's (our club) flyball tournament.  It was a SUPER busy weekend for all!  Taz got to come along and hang out in his kennel.  He enjoyed being included in the excitement even if he was not running the lanes.  Taz and I were able to fit a bit of training in and he made an executive decision to approach some strangers for a sniff which landed him load of cookies!

Pepper has started to pick up speed and broke her own personal best time.  Her new personal best is 4.81 seconds.  When we get our passing down, she will gain a few more hundredths of a second.  She may not be able to sustain that speed all weekend but I am happy she can bring it when called upon!  Needless to say, my legs were killing me from all the sprinting, trying to bring her home faster!  Here are some photos courtesy of Anita Yee.

Pepper starting

Pepper bringing home her ball!

For this weekend we shall be switching gears to run in two agility trials.  On Saturday, it is the Michelle Wudrick Memorial Trial and on Sunday it is the D & S Annual Starters Trial.  We can only hope for a Q or two this weekend.  We seem to be stuck in a 5 fault rut that is keeping us from getting Qs.  Our instructor Shirley says that some times it is better to not move up too quickly.  I know we are close and there are a few things we need to work on (like our table) but we shall get there.  I am proud of how far we have come over the last few years.  I remember thinking "how am I ever going to keep up with her when she really gets some speed"  as she was not yet able to work away from me.  Now she is comfortable with a few feet of distance and an awesome lead out.  It sure shows how much she has grown up in the sport!!

I will keep all of you posted as to how we do on the weekend!  I am hoping that someone will be there with a good camera to take a few pictures of our runs!  Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Pepper!!!

Saturday, September 4th was Pepper's 4th birthday!  She has been a part of the Munro family for 3 years and 8  months now.  I still remember the day we got her.  We had just moved into our new house the day before.  We drove to the Saskatoon SPCA in hopes of finding the right dog.  There she was, sitting in a kennel, waiting to interact.  We took her out and played with her and talked about her.  We found out she was just turned in that day and the family had 24 hours to change their minds.  It was hard waiting but we prevailed.  We drove back the next day right before close and picked her up.  She was ours!!!

Grandpa holding Pepper for the first time!

She was exposed to the entire Munro and Holfeld family that Christmas as we had Christmas supper in our new house.  She was well behaved!  Everyone loved her and she was entertaining!

The next year, Taz joined our pack!

Taz as a young puppy playing with Pepper

And here is were we are now at with Pepper!  She is a flyball athlete and an agility star!  She makes me proud every time she steps into the agility field or the flyball lane.

Starters trial last year

Happy 4th Birthday Pepper!

Cuddly Kitty

Tonight Rebel has found the fun of watching the fish on Fishville (game) on my laptop.  That's right.  He is curled up in my lap, sleeping now.

Not the best picture but he is snoozing!

The cursor is fun to watch as well.  He tried to catch it with his paw as I was moving it around the screen!!  Perhaps this is the start of him loving peoples!  I do not know where Riki is, but I be he is just around the corner.  It helps that both kitties love Gizmo and snuggle with him.  I think they learn from watching him.  If it's okay for Gizmo to curl up between two humans, it is okay for Rebel to as well.

Random Shots

I love to blog about the dogs but find that just writing is not enough!  I want pictures and video to go with our tales.  When it is just me around,  it is hard to train agility AND take pictures of my dog's running.  Tonight, however, my husband was home.  He got some great shots of the dog's jumping.  Here are the results!

Taz jumping 16 inches

Easy as pie!  Let's try 22 inches....

Taking the easy road.... "You can't make me jump THAT!"

So to twart his attempts, I brought out a second pole.

If I must!

Look at those ears!  I swear he is going to use them to fly!  Lovely position on the feet! He did not drop the bar once tonight!

He can even pay attention to me while jumping.  We are still working on his forward focus so that this does not happen all the time.

Whatcha got in your hand mom? Come on and throw it already!

Let's not forget about Pepper!  She was supervising the photographer making sure the best shots were taken.

Yes?!?!

Pepper showing off her jumping skills....

26 inches with ease!

After all learning sessions with Taz, I like to end with some easy exercise.  Tonight we had the frisbees out.  He loves to catch the frisbees and here is a little video to show off his catching skills!

And to end off the night... a tired Taz!

Jump work

The sun was shining, the air was a bit cool and Taz was at the agility field for a small jump work session today.  There were 4 handlers and 5 dogs present.  A nice small group!  Taz was the second dog to practice.  His brother Flash got to go first because they only had to learn to jump 22 inches and the distance between the jumps was 8 feet.  The bigger dogs needed 10 feet between jumps.  Flash got to the point of having two bars up at 22 inches.  He has already started trialing but needs some polishing on his jumping.  He is a real kangaroo!

Taz was next up to try jumping.  The 4 other dogs stayed in the ring about 10 feet back with their handlers seated.  He did not even bat an eye at them!  I lined him up, put him in a stay and proceeded to run him over the 5 jumps at 16 inches.  All bars stayed up!  One jump was increased to 22 inches and double barred.  Back to the start and off we go!  He left that bar up!  Repeat exercise on the other side.  Success!  I did find out that when Taz looks back for the toy, he knocks bars down!  We got him up to two jumps at 22 inches with success!  He even shifted his weight nicely and landed quietly!!  We ended there as it was quite hot out.  I put him back into the SUV with some water for a break.

The other dogs got their turn.  Spike was awesome and will have no trouble joining Pepper at 26 inches!   Before we left for the day, Flash and Taz had another go at it!  Taz finished the session off by having all 5 jumps at 22 inches AND managed to leave them all up!  SUCCESS!  We now have a good foundation for continued success!  Some more one jump work is needed for forward drive and then to teach him collection. Starters trial next year, here we come!

Fun in a field

Saturday was spent at Craven for the Good2Go flyball tournament.  Taz got to spend some quality time with Dad for the day.  The foster cats came home from Petsmart.  Man was it hot!  Pepper decided to sleep upside-down while waiting between races.

We headed to the Poop Guys' acreage on Sunday for some flyball practice for Taz.  The rain every Thursday has made it difficult for him to progress.  I set up the one jump work with Spike in the other lane.  Rebecca was kind enough to hold and release Taz.  He loves her now since she usually has treats!!! We were doing great!  Taz was ignoring Spike and running right for his tuggie the way he should.  We got some good distance up and then Spike decided to run right at Taz.  OMG I am thinking, please let there be no fight!  Taz ignored Spike and kept running for me!  HALLELUJAH!  A step in the right direction!  When Taz got to me, I gave him tonnes of treats, verbal and physical praise.  Rebecca came running over and joined in.  We figured that Taz was pointed right at Spike, possibly giving him the stink eye and Spike decided to try and tune him in.  Pretty darn close to the real thing of running in a lane.  Taz will have to learn to watch where he is looking because most dogs do not like to be stared at.  In any case, he did what he was supposed to do and ignored the dog running at him.  I will take this small step in the right direction and we will build upon it.

Before we even started practicing some flyball, Pepper and Taz got to run around in Rebecca's huge field.  This field has grass that is about 3 feet high.  Taz was doing his best kangaroo impression running through the grass.  Pepper did not have to bound through the grass, she plowed through it!  They had loads of fun.  We plan on going back on the weekend for some more flyball work and fun in the field.  If I remember to bring my video camera next time, I will try to record the kangaroo in action.

Success!

With the damn weather being so rainy over the past few weeks, Taz has not been able to practice outside the agility ring.  Today we had a few small successes!  We were two car lengths away from the ring with his kennel facing it.  I opened the door and put him on a boundary.  Because I had changed the difficulty of this task, I kept it short, about 30 seconds.  He STAYED in his kennel, did not react and actually laid down!  HUGE SUCCESS!!!

I decided to up the ante by dropping the leash and walking away.  He continued to STAY in his kennel!  Another success!!  I closed the door and covered it so that he could take a break.  While he was taking a little break, I watched some of the action on the field.  After about 5 minutes, I got his Mutt Matt (R) and laid it close to the kennel.  Again, I brought him out and put him on boundary on the matt.  He laid on his one hip, a nice relaxing pose and watched the action.  And there was action this evening!  The dogs were doing front crosses and pin wheels with a tunnel and 5 jumps!  Lots of dogs running!  I clicked and treated him while repeating boundary every few seconds.  He got a treat every time he looked a the ring and back at me.  Not once did he get up off of the matt to react!! 

I thought it would be good to test him again.  I dropped the leash and walked about 8 feet away, turned around, clicked because he was still on the matt and walked back!  I was able to repeat this about 6 times, getting all the way to the ring without him leaving the matt!  He did beautifully!  Back to the covered kennel for a few more minutes of rest.

We went through some Watch That, Look at Me and you get a treat exercise without asking for the "watch me" part.  It's called "offered focus".  It was beautiful!  I am going to have to bring my camera and take some pictures to add to the blog because a picture is worth a thousand words!  Diane mentioned that he is learning how to watch tv and not react.  Slowly he is learning control!

This coming weekend will see Riki and Rebel at Petsmart.  These guys are in need of a holiday and so am I!  Tonight Rebel has joined us in watching TV.  Another huge development for them.  I must rework their bios this weekend as their personalities have changed!

Latest Menu

Okay I have made a few changes!  Take a peek and let me know what you think!

Come Dine with me

Hors D’oeuvres

Asian Beef Salad in Cucumber Cups

Roast Garlic and Goat Cheese Struedel

Naked Grape Sauvignon  Blanc

Salad/Soup

Melon Soup

Yellow Tail Bubbles

Main

Canadian Maple Orange Glazed Salmon

Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf

Dilled Carrots

Gallo Pinot Noir and Proprietor’s Reserve Pinot Grigio

Dessert

Layered Lime Pie

Beringer White Zinfandel

Come Dine With Me Dinner

Okay guys, I need some help with this menu.  This is what I have so far.  Let me know what you think!  I do not drink much wine, so the wine pairings definitely need help!

Starter

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Sauvignon Blanc

Salad/Soup

Melon Soup

Champagne with Kir Royale

Main

Canadian Maple Orange Glazed Salmon

Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf

Dilled Carrots

Pinot Noir or Gewürztraminer or Pinot Grigio

Dessert

Layered Lime Pie

White Zinfandel

Thoughts?!?!  If this goes well, I just might serve it again for my friends!  The only thing I have made so far is the Salmon.  I tried it today and it was delicious!  I am busy scouring the Internet for recipes for the rest!

What a weekend!!

WOW!  Was this past weekend ever great!  We spent the whole weekend at the D&S regional fundraiser trial at Ebon Stables.  The sun was out both days!  We only got rain for the last round of the day.  The wind picked up something fierce!  This year I brought along my full tent to house Pepper in.  Good thing I did as Taz came out both days at noon to just chill and take in the sounds of an agility trial.  He did really well, only flipping out once at the lab running in the HUGE puddle about 50 feet away!  It was along the lines of, she should not be having that much fun DAMNIT!

Pepper and I managed to get our very second Starters Gamblers Q on Saturday! She now is in Advanced Gamblers!  We also managed to get our very first Starters Jumpers Q on Sunday.  It would have been two Q's in jumpers but silly mom rotated too soon and pulled her off of a jump.  One thing we learned is that I need to re-teach Pepper to down on command since we waste sooo much time on the table with her staring off into space, ignoring me.  TAZ has a better down than Pepper!!

Riki and Rebel have been making great strides again!  They now both come to the couch first thing in the morning for scratches.  Rebel jumped on the couch tonight to say Hi to Gizmo.  He actually allowed Ken and I to pet him for about 5 minutes.  Truely AMAZING!  He is still laying on the couch purring as I write this post.  Maybe he will fall asleep for a few minutes!  Rebel has made it his mission to attack Taz on a daily basis.  Sometimes Taz deserves it, especially if Taz has been trying to chase them and sometimes he does not.  Poor Taz does not know what to do except avoid him.  I try to watch the two of them and stop Rebel if he is just being malicious but am not able to always catch him.  They have also been coming downstairs when we are watching tv at night to see what is going on.  I swear they are looking for Gizmo.  When we had company a couple of weeks ago, they were actually on the back landing just around the corner from the strangers in the house.  Riki played peek-a-boo with the boy on the second day.  We need to have visitors over more often!

This coming weekend will see Pepper in Moose Jaw for the Furry Flash flyball tournament.  We will be traveling with Jen and Spike.  I am hoping that the weekend will be awesome for racing!  Points earned and fun had by all.

Working for Dad

Today is flyball day in the Munro household.  You can tell that it is flyball day because both dogs sprint around the house!  Taz is extra diligent in waking up Dad.  There is generally ALOT of excitement in the air on flyball day!

I had a very STUPID accident at work (I spilt scalding hot water on my lap) so Ken had to do all the work at flyball.  It was a hoot seeing him bring Pepper and Taz back from the box!  Taz even was into dropping his ball for the tuggie!   I was able to gain a different vantage point and could really see Taz looking into the other lane (even when there was no dog).  Hint, watch how his ears flop around; they look off if he is looking at the other lane.  Unfortunately looking at the other lane, also means not watching what he is doing which leads to fumbling the ball at the box.  Silly boy!  Ken did very well at not driving Taz back home but we have more work to do!  I hope to be healed up enough for Tuesday when Taz has his first agility class in over a year.

Since dog's and human's tend to go in and out when the weather is nice a bumblebee decided to come in!  I looked down the stairs to Gizmo, Riki and Rebel all focused and playing with something that moved pretty darn fast.  Thinking it was just a spider, I descended the stairs to investigate.  As I was getting closer, I noticed it was a bee and boy was it getting mad!  It started to fly and Gizmo proceeded to pounce on it.  He managed to jump about 4 feet in the air to grab it.  He sure can twist in the air!  Now I have had to deal with a dog getting stung by a bee/wasp last year and it was not that pretty.  I decided it was not worth it for these three to get into trouble and proceeded to shoo them away from the bee.  The bee made its way to the window in the laundry room. I shut the door to trap it.  I had to grab Gizmo and shoo Riki out of the room before the door closed.  They were very intent on getting their prize!!

I do not know how long it takes a bee to die without food or water and  I had to use the bathroom. I ventured into the laundry room.  I was wise to watch were I walked because I did not need a bee sting on top of burns!!  I found the bee crawling on the bathroom floor.  I quickly grabbed an empty container to trap it!  Thinking that was good enough, I left the bathroom.  A couple of hours later, Ken goes into the bathroom and finds two cats circling the container.  

If we move it, can we get at it?

 Iz only tapping it!

After some quick thinking with a piece of paper and ceiling tile, the bee now is back in nature outside of my house and the cats are mad I spoiled their fun!

We are sulking!

Weekend Fun

Man was this past weekend fun!  The days blurred by!  We were out at the Warman Diamond arena for a flyball tournament.  Diamonds in the Ruff had a total of three teams running each with a green dog.  The teams had awesome placements at the end of the day.  The green dogs were exhausted by the time the weekend was done.  Some growth was seen for one green dog.  Zoey (JRT height dog) was a trooper all weekend running about 80 percent of the time.  She managed to get as many points as a couple of the big dogs on her team!

Pepper managed to collect over 800 points this weekend.  She was a very solid dog.  She only messed up once on Sunday when she stopped to look through the crowd.  You see on Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa came to watch her run and she expected them to be there on Sunday after lunch as well.  Just goes to show you how smart she is and that she remembers these things!!! 

Taz was a wonderful cheerleader!  He was content to lay in his kennel, taking in all the noise and commotion.  I took him for many potty breaks and tried to take as many opportunities as possible to work with him around dogs in that stressful environment.  He got to meet a dog named Buddy outside the building and everything went smoothly!  He initiated the contact that involved eye contact, was easily called away and wanted to go back to say hi again!  I think it helped that Pepper was there as well but I will take this as an accomplishment!  The more positive greetings he can have, the better!

Gizmo, Riki and Rebel have been having the run of the upstairs 24 hours for a couple of days.  All's I can say is Boy do those cats like to get into trouble!  They tend to run around like maniacs!  I came home yesterday to a picture knocked down and the kitty condo knocked over.  I can only imagine what is going through their minds! 

Riki and Rebel are still making great strides.  Riki LOVES to flop over next to me to get his chest and chin rubbed.  It is becoming a morning ritual now!  Riki will also flop on his side in the kitchen while I am cooking.  Just watching the world go by!  Rebel likes to sit on a chair under the table.  What better way to spy on you!  Rebel is continuing to put Taz in his place.  Pepper has put Rebel in his place a time or two now, usually around feeding time.  Both of these cats will love a home with dogs in it! 

My how time flies!

Okay, sorry about the long wait in between blogs but life has been busy!  Riki and Rebel were at Petsmart a week ago and all went well!  They were model citizens and seem to get right back into the groove of the house quickly.  This time they came home with no leftover food so it must not have been THAT traumatic for them!!!  Gizmo was very happy to see them again, that's for sure.

Taz got to have a one-on-one session with Shirley from D&S Dogs of Course on Wednesday.  We started to work on teaching him how to jump 22 inches properly.  I can tell you that I have my work cut out for me with this boy!  Running softly, not challenging him so he can actually think.  I wonder if I can apply this to flyball as well?  If we get a practice this week, I will definitely try!

I was off this week so that meant that the dogs had to supervise my every move.  This made for very little sleeping time as we were busy working around the house.  Taz got to go to doggie day care twice this week and he did well both times.  Venessa said he was not playing but he was walking around amongst the other dogs.  This is a HUGE improvement from last year!  He will continue to go, about once a month if Ken can drop him off.

Sunday was the New Hope Dog Rescue Walk-a-thon.  The organization raised over $6,400!  Way to go guys!  Pepper and Taz joined me on the 5 km walk.  I thought that for surely Taz would have problems.  Running people, hmmmm he does not like.  Bicycles, he does not like either!  Dog walking beside him who is not Pepper... that went well!  Three quarters of the way through the walk, Taz actually went nose to nose with Manix (a big foster) and it went really well!  No snapping, snarling or lunging.  I was quick to praise Taz (should have had treats and a clicker on me) on every good interaction he had with another dog.  The power of a pack of dogs walking is HUGE.  I could see Taz grooving with the dogs around him.  He might not be up for playing with every dog out there, but I can definitely tell that when we start walking with Flash (his brother) and Zoey (Flash's housemate) we can make it work.  I am hoping that Flash and Taz will become closer and play the only way that brothers know how!

This coming weekend is the River Runners flyball tournament.  Taz is not running in this one, I am aiming for him to debut in the fall again.  A year and a half off will do him some good.  We have been able to solidify him on his job.  We just need to get him comfortable passing a dog.  There always has to be something to work on!  Look for us in the racing lanes at Warman!

Street Cat is at PetSmart....

These next two weeks see the foster cats from Street Cat fill up the cat area at our local PetSmart.  This means that for this week, Riki and Rebel will be living in a very spacious kennel for the public to see in hopes of an adoption.  It would be so good for these two to find their furever home(s)!!  If you get a chance, slip out to PetSmart and check them out!  These two are good with cats and dogs.  Rebel still reminds Taz that he does not like to be chased and believe it or not, Taz does back off!!

Over this past week, Riki, Rebel and Gizmo had run of the upstairs during the day.  The only thing that they got into twice was digging in one plant.  Well it was more like pawing the dirt out.  I have since moved the plant to higher ground so that their little kitty paws can not get into trouble.  Also someone.... not mentioning cat names here, managed to knock over Gizmo's food container (which sits on the floor).  The three cats all had a good feed of food.  Not too much funny looking poop in Riki and Rebel's litter box so I do not think they got much of Gizmo's food.  Needless to say, three cats were not fed their supper that evening just to be on the safe side.  They were all happy, however, to eat breakfast the next day!

What a Rush!

Our adventure to Lloydminster starts with the decision Friday night to wait out the horrendous storm that hit Saskatchewan.  Winds up to 100 km/hr.  Reduced visibility due to blowing snow.  All made for terrible driving conditions.  A teammate decided to travel that Friday night.  It took her 4 hours to get there.  The trip normally takes 2.75 hours.  We decided to leave first thing Saturday morning.  That meant getting up at 4am to pack the SUV to be at another teammates house for 5am.  There is safety in numbers and three of us decided to travel in a caravan.  It took us 4 hours to get there.  The roads were all iced over, of course.  Graders were out around 6am taking a little bit off of the roads.  The winds were much better but still terrible.

Racing started at 10 am instead of 8.  River Runners and KAOS did not arrive until closer to noon.  Pepper brought me the ball each heat.  We had tonnes of clean runs on both days.  Her tummy got the best of her in one race when she left the lane to go get the morsel under the chair we had passed!  By 2pm, all the dogs seemed to be feeling tired from the drive.  After the races, we all proceeded to the hotel, fed the animals and sat down for dinner at 7pm.    Good conversation while eating good food made for a great end to the night.  Ken was out by 9:30pm and I shortly followed suit.

The drive home was uneventful.  The roads were nice and dry.  What an interesting start to the racing season!

The foster kitties had the run of the upstairs all weekend long.  Ken's sister came in to feed them so they got see someone they haven't seen before.  They played shy of course but I believe their tummies got the best of them.  Everything in the house seems to be in one piece. All of the plants survived.

Countdown is on...

The count down is on for Pepper's first flyball tournament of the year.  Lloydminster here we come!! Pepper will be running on an all girl team with Abby, Bandit, Rage, Holly and Heidi.  Racing position does not matter for Pepper.  Taz is coming along for the ride.  No sense in leaving him home alone.  The sounds and stress of the building does some good for him.  He will be safe in his crate!  It will feel good to get into the racing lane again.

With that being said, Gizmo, Riki and Rebel will have run of the upstairs for the whole entire weekend.  I do hope my plants survive!  Spider plants are fun things to play with!!  Now to line up someone to come feed them.  You can not have hungry kitties you know!!

I am also excited that the premium for the D & S trial (Let the Dogs Howl at the Full Moon) has come out.  I quickly printed it off last night and only got it part way filled in.  I will finish it off tonight and put it in the mail tomorrow.  I am definitely planning my flyball tournaments and agility trials carefully.  I plan on sticking close to home for agility trials.  It does not yet pay for Pepper and I to travel.  Maybe next year we will get to the Easter Bunny trial!

FREEDOM!!!!

Okay so only for a few hours Gizmo, Riki and Rebel got the run of the upstairs!  Everyone is over their kitty colds but I will not take any chances.  They will get to play for a few hours each day and I will be monitoring them for signs of getting sick again.  I can say that Riki and Rebel sure did have fun running around the upstairs.  Rebel found a rogue sunbeam to lay in.  Gizmo is busy sleeping in a pile of blankets out of Taz's reach!

Just For Fun

Friday night was spent in a small group playing the game of Jacks with agility equipment.  For those of you who do not know how to play jacks, it is quite simple.  You bounce a ball and pick up one jack. Bounce the ball again and pick up two jacks.  Bounce the ball again and you pick up three jacks, etc.  For Pepper's class, the ball was the weave poles.  Oh you dreaded weave poles!  We need more work with this piece of equipment.  Angles, entrances and drive!  Pepper decided yet again that making her own course is more fun than listening to me. And why not when one gets rewarded for doing an A-frame correctly!  Needless to say, she got into a bit of trouble and THEN decided to listen to me!!  She repeated this behaviour at class last night as well and got into some serious trouble!  Time to take the contact equipment out again and just work on jumps, weaves, tunnels and tire!!

Taz played the game as well.  For his level, the table was the ball.  For bonus points, they had to down on the table.  Well laying down on command is Taz' speciality!!!  We must have racked up 4 extra bonus points.  I still have tonnes of work to do with him.  He needs to learn how to judge jump distances so he does not knock bars down.  We ended the game on a positive note with him staring over the edge of the table at the ground.  I knelt down to see what he was looking at, sticking my finger under the table looking for any misplaced treats.  He had a blast!  We walked into the ring in style without incident!  He is getting much better at walking through a crowd of people without feeling overwhelmed!

Gizmo is still patiently waiting for his cellmates to be sprung from their room.  Due to a nasty kitty cold that has hit our place, Riki and Rebel needed to be segregated while they all got better!  Riki ended up going on antibiotics last week.  I will be giving them an extra couple days of rest before they get turned loose during the day again.  Gizmo will be soooo happy to be playing with his buddies again!  Maybe we need another cat for him..... no wait.... scratch that.... slap my hands..... Gizmo is enough to deal with and drives me crazy every day already!!

Agility Fever

This past weekend saw Pepper and I tearing it up on the agility field out at Aberdeen for the Saskatchewan Agility Association's March Madness trial. Pepper placed well on both days, earning either first, second or third place. Sunday morning saw use really work as a team for the Gamblers round and we walked away with our very first Q!!!! I was so proud of Pepper!

For those of you who don't know the game of Gamblers it is quite simple. Obstacles are worth a certain point. In the opening sequence (usually around 40 seconds), you have to complete obstacles correctly to gain the points. This event had two mini gambles in it and we aced one of them! We ended up with 58 points, many more than what was needed. After the first 40 seconds, a whistle will go off and you have to run to the main gamble. We nailed this gamble!! Since we earned more than 20 points and completed the main gamble, we got a Q!! Pepper was a star throughout the whole run as well. I managed to find a rhythm that worked and that kept her from barking at me.

The rest of the runs on Sunday were soooo close for us to get another Q but they were slightly out of reach. We were over by .57 seconds on the Standard course. Yes the run was absolutely clean! She had an awesome independent A-frame touch! Her weave pole entry was awesome! I collected her before sending her through which seems to be making the difference these days!!! On one of the Jumpers runs we got 5 faults. We were under time but just by that one little screw up cost us a Q.

Taz got to spend the weekend at home with dad chillaxing! He ended up going to the in laws and played with their mini-poodle Smokey. I came home on Saturday to a tired Taz. On Sunday I came home to a clean Taz as dad and he went for a walk and he got a tad bit dirty. The mud puddles they must have found!!

This Friday is JFF night again. I can't wait to try some more master/advanced course. They really help you to think and see what the dog sees. I am glad that I put Pepper in JFF. It has helped us to prepare for real trials. Soon you will see Taz running at trials as well!

Petsmart and JFF update

Well Riki and Rebel both survived their week at Petsmart.  No takers yet on these two cuties!  They did, however, do an awesome job!  They were timid at first with the volunteers but they did manage to over come their fears!  It was good that they went to Petsmart for the week because we found out that Gizmo has a kitty cold that will take two weeks of rest and medicine.  With them gone for a week, he finally got some much needed zzz's!  When Riki and Rebel come back, they will spend a good week back in the room just to give Gizmo more time to get better.  I think after that, they will get to spend the day out but the night must be spent in the room so that Gizmo doesn't have a relapse!

Two weeks ago, the JFF game was Beat the Clock.  Pepper loves her contacts apparently and kept going for them instead of the tunnels.  Can you believe it?  A border collie that wasn't honing in on the tunnels?  Strange eh?  Taz, on the other hand, did tunnel after tunnel after tunnel!  He is sure focused!  Give him a straight line (like in flyball) and he is a happy camper!

Needless to say Taz placed second in his group and Pepper placed 6th (those darn contacts drawing her attention)!

This week was Helter Skelter.  A fast paced game that spirals in then back out again.  Pepper did not have a very good night last night and seemed a bit off of her game.  About half way through she realized what we were doing and started to show some interest!  Poor girl is tired now.  Hopefully she sleeps through the night without any problems.

Taz has already gone to bed.  We don't go to bed fast enough for him some evenings!  He has put himself in bed (his crate).  He did really well tonight as well.  He sure is focused on my voice (especially tone).  I was able to call him away from the big scary people that were on the edge of the ring.  He took a jump and noticed them there.  A happy call and some clapping got him directed on me again.  We have lots of work to do with his contacts.  He knows he does wrong since he puts himself back on them.  We will have to work with the stairs and teach all about the angle!  I did have to calm him down a bit as he started barking at me... I know, a sign of frustration.  After we took the last jump he got lots of praise for being out there playing.  Knowing that he is usually reactive after working, we managed to get out of the ring with out too much of a fuss!  He did start, but I managed to re-direct him.

More practice is needed and we will get there!  Next weekend is an agility trial at Aberdeen.  Pepper is entered.  Taz will come along just to be in the area.  He has to deal with that type of stress as well.  Hopefully in two years he will get to start trialling!!

Riki and Rebel... new pictures

I finally found time to download the pictures of Riki and Rebel from the digital camera!!  So here they are.

This is one of Rebel's favourite spots to lay during the day.

And here is his other favourite spot!  Notice the nice ray of sunshine he has found!!!

Don't count Riki out!  He also has his favourite spot on the back of the other couch in the living room.  He can also be found lounging on the cushins (those pictures did not turn out too well).

And if he is not on the couch, he is wrapped around this chair in a corner!

Rebel lays the smack down....

Taz, in his usual fashion, likes to get in the face of the cats and pester them.  This morning Rebel would have none of that nonesense.  He issued a low warning growl and when Taz did not back off, out came the paw.  Smack dab on the side of Taz' nose followed by a hiss.  I heard a distinct thud so I knew that contact had been made.  No claws came out so he was lucky it was just a warning tap!! Taz continued to stare at Rebel in disbelief for a few seconds before turning tail and running for mom!  He came to me with his head hanging low.  Poor boy deserved it as he likes to pester the cats.  Gizmo loves the game.  These guys, not so much.  They have not figured out the joy in playing with Taz!!  The resulting arguement put Rebel in a bad mood and he would not accept petting from me.  Two minutes later, when the food came out however, he had forgotten about the whole incident!!

Riki and Rebel take on PetSmart

Riki and Rebel will be gracing PetSmart with their presence from February 27th until March 6th.  Come out and visit with them!  They need all the people handling in the world.  They guys are maturing by leaps and bounds!  Today, while I was sitting on the couch, they both jumped up and laid down beside me.  AMAZING!!  They do enjoy being petted and scratched and often will roll onto their backs!  They will follow me in to the bathroom for more attention so they are starting to understand where the love comes from!  Now to get them to come downstairs more (I think watchdog Taz is getting in the way of their fun)!

Now on to doggie news....

This friday night is Just For Fun again.  We get to play a game called Beat the Clock.  I will have to look that game up on the internet to get a feel for it before friday night.  Taz and Pepper will be playing the game so this will be interesting!!  Saturday is the usual flyball practice, except we will be at the Metis Centre so we have more room to run back.  I am hoping to keep working on Taz passing Bandit as he is doing sooooo well at the building.  He does love to growl at his tuggie when he gets up close to me!!  Saturday night will also see Taz working on his manners while another dog and handler are running the agility equipment.  Step one in creating a better mannered dog is a jar of peanut butter and lots of treats!  I am thanking Shirley in advance for her time and knowledge so that I can get Taz back into the learning mode for agility.

Sunday will see us out at Sondog Agility for another Just For Fun day.  I will bring Taz for a run or two, except the style will be different as it is NADAQ instead of AAC.  Pepper and I had fun the last time and it will be good to get Taz out onto a different surface, even if he will make a fool out of himself.  I will be taking lots of preventative measures with him while we are passing other dogs on the way in and out of the ring!

And so begins another busy weekend for us!

FREEDOM!!!

So last night was the first night that Riki and Rebel had run of the house with Gizmo.  Everything, and everyone has survived!  Nothing was knocked down and there was no mess!!!  Gizmo is extremely tired today, which is good.  A tired kitty is a good kitty.  Riki and Rebel seem to be quiet this morning as well.  No running up and down the hallways yet.  Last night it sounded like they were running the Indy 500 down my hallway.  I am glad that they had a good time.  They will continue to have run of the house all the time.

All dogs are tired as well.  Funny how they can sleep and sleep and sleep!  Recharging their batteries for a romp in Rebecca's field tomorrow and flyball on Saturday.   I still have to post the videos from the Just For Fun night last friday.  Taz had a perfect run and we got a nice mention from Shirley.  He loves to jump and run!!  Pepper did awesome as well.  Working on those handling skills.  I noticed that the more clear I am with my commands and body language, the quieter she is on the course!  Practice, dear Pepper, practice!

Inmate #2

Alright... got a picture of Inmate #2 aka Rebel.  It's not the greatest picture (don't where why there is blue in his eyes) but you can see he is very similar to Riki.

Yes, that is my lovely foot in the picture as well.  These guys are pretty resourceful.  They managed to steal Ken's sandwich this morning while I was out of the kitchen for 2 minutes.  They did not get through the plastic all the way but they were determined!  I swear they tagged teamed the sandwich stealing.  Will have to triple my efforts to keep them off of the countertop in the future!

Inmates

Finally, got a picture of Riki to put up on my blog!  It's not the best, as it was taken with my cell phone but you will be able to see just how funny this guy is!  I poked my head in the room last night and this is how he was chilling!

Rebel is exactly the same but his face is a wee bit different.  The only way I can tell the two apart is that Rebel has a collar on and Riki does not!  Doesn't he look so proud??

Taz had an awesome weekend at flyball!  He got to practice passing Rudy in his lane and it was wonderful!  If he keeps this up... things will be great for him!

This friday is the Just for Fun night for agility.  Come out and watch Pepper and Taz have a go at it!

Weekend fun!

Boy this past weekend was a busy one!  Pepper and Taz got to play a game called Dare to Double in the Friday night Just For Fun league with D & S Dogs of Course.  I have played this game before with Pepper and found that my best laid plans always went out the window so this time I decided just to make it up as we went.  Well did that ever go wrong!  Besides her stopping and sniffing the ground because of the lack of direction, we went over time and our points got halved.  Bummer eh?  It was fun nonetheless. 

Taz got to go out and have fun as well.  We have now found out that he doesn't know how to collect himself before a jump (he likes to fly to the jump) and ended up taking down a bar.  This, of course, caused him to shut down for a few minutes.  I did get him to do another tunnel and the A-Frame afterwards but boy, do we have work to do!!

Flyball Saturday was AWESOME!!!  I had two successful passes with Rudy where Pepper brought the ball back to me.  You see last year, Pepper and Rudy collided in the racing lane when she was coming back with the ball.  Now she is giving up the lane early to him to avoid another collision.  Taz had the pleasure of running past Bandit (who was standing still) and Hazel.  He ignored Bandit each time!!  Next week, maybe we can have them move a bit to simulate Bandit taking off.  Taz is getting the hang of this flyball thing!!

Sunday saw Pepper running in another Just For Fun league, except this time it was at Sondog.  Slightly different rules and some different equipment.  I can tell you she enjoyed running on the rubber covered dog walk and A-frame.  The Hoops were something new but by the time we were done all 6 runs, I believe she understood that "through" meant to go through the hoop!  She had loads of fun and so did I!!  I can tell that she likes to work at a distance and really reads my body language.  I accidentally pulled her off a couple of jumps just by rotating too much too quickly!  We will be working on that in the future!!

Last night Pepper had her normal agility class and we brought out the weave poles.  Our instructor had us send the dog through on side (handler on the right hand side) to see if the dog's could find the entrance and work the weaves.  Well that was a piece of cake for her!  Next challenge.... off side weaves (handler on the left hand side of the weaves).  Well she found the entrance but only did one weave.  We had our work cut out for us!!  By the end of the night, however, she was able to weave through 6 weave poles, off side with a jump infront of and behind the weaves.  YEAH Pepper!  For everyone out there learning how to weave, your motivator is the key!  It must be thrown low and at the right time!  Weave poles are fun and should be trained that way!  Don't worry about speed because that will come with confidence!!

Now for a lovely little break of no dog sports until the weekend again.  Look for Pepper and Taz tearing it up on the racing lane at Paws 'n Train this weekend!  I love tired dogs!!

New Year and back to training!

Boy, it's been a tough few weeks without flyball or agility to distract the dogs!  All's I can say is that Pepper and Taz are much happier now that we are back to the sports!  They also seem happier now that mom and dad are back to work during the day instead of being home where they have to keep an eye on us.

Taz got to try his paw at agility again.  He has joined the Just For Fun league at D & S Dogs of Course and he had a blast!!!  I have found out that he is MUCH faster than Pepper and will require a lot of handler focus.  Could it really hurt in the end?  I don't think so!  I believe that getting him back into agility will help with his reactivity.

At this same JFF night, Pepper decided that being a hound was better than running the course.  The course is on used carpetting and it smells ooooo so yummy to her!  She just had to stop mid run to sniff the ground.  It's too bad as she would have had a smoking time and no faults.  Instead she got 5 faults and her time was a bit long.  The next JFF night is in a week.  I am hoping to have the video camera there and have someone record Pepper and Taz's run for all to see!

Now that we are back to flyball, it seems like the countdown is on until the next tournament.  Lloydminster, here comes Pepper!  Taz likely won't be ready until the fall as he needs more proofing but he is coming along quite nicely!  He still gets really excited but his focus on me and the tug is much better.  He loves running against Candy.

Gizmo (the inmate cat) has gained two foster brothers.  Their names are Riki and Rebel.  These guys are long haired black kittens with yellow eyes.  Foster mom has to take some pictures and put them up here for all to see.  These two are feral kittens who are coming around to the human touch.  Rebel does not mind being picked up and carried a few steps.  He definitely is more trusting than Riki.  Riki was the first to come out, however, to meet Gizmo, Pepper and Taz.  He came nose to nose with a dog and survived (so did Taz... no scratches yet)!!  They get the run of the upstairs during the day and play with Gizmo.  They have not broken anything yet... knock on wood!  Taz is happy to have more things to chase around the house!