Tip Tail

Too many dogs have been trained in the old-school way for obedience. Well, mine are not! They are trained in the new-school way of fun and play and having a good time. And I think it shows.This is Levi in Open A last Saturday. He did so great! I did have to work to keep his spirits up because I get nervous. He didn’t qualify because he went down on his sit stay, but he would have otherwise with a pretty good score!

We don’t use any industrial equipment for training.. but we use lots of dog equipment. Jumps and dumbbells and fun things like that. And lots and lots of treats and praise and love!

Levi is very sensitive, and so needs short training sessions with lots of success. He has one leg toward his ASCA CDX, I really hope to get the other two before he retires. He’s 9.5 years old now… but I’m sure we can do it!

So I got a new little camcorder. It’s an RCA EZ300HD… which means, yes, it’s HD. Yay! It’s not the best quality HD in the world but it’s better than my other camcorder that records to DVD. This one doesn’t have all the options needed for agility recording, but it’s gonna be great for practice and obedience trials and for when I get my new puppy! It’s nice and small, too, so can fit in a pocket or purse.

Anyway so this is some video of Chase and me this morning trying out some different techniques for training a tighter agility turn. I am going to have to experiment with Chase for a while and see what works best. And I like having this little camera so I can film our progress to see what both he and I are doing.

I also worked with Tatum a little bit and that was fun. She is always so happy with her tail wagging and she just loves working and having fun. She even went up the dog ramps that we call the dog walk and the teeter! Her video will be on her blog.

Well it’s been almost a year since Lucy was diagnosed with Megaesophagus. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s a disease where her esophagus doesn’t work anymore and is enlarged. So it won’t push her food down into her stomach anymore.

Well I have to just tell you all that Lucy is doing wonderfully! I think she’s a bit skinny but my husband and the vet say she is fine. She eats a liquid diet at least four times a day. We put her kibble in a blender with water and blend it up, after letting it soak for an hour or so.

Lucy is in great spirits, she plays and my husband takes her to the dog park about 3 or 4 days a week. She’s 10 and a half years old, so she’s getting older too, but she’s happy and healthy now and doing well on her diet. The worst part is not being able to give her treats. But sometimes we do before we feed her to push the treat down. And sometimes she gets bully sticks, which she loves to chew, for an hour or so before we feed her again so that the food pushes down any bits that she has chewed off.

So we don’t have any POS systems in our house…. but then what would that have to do with Lucy anyway? LOL I dunno. We are just thrilled that Lucy is doing so well. A year ago we were putting her through all kinds of tests trying to figure out what was wrong with her, why she would regurgitate all the food she ate. Now we are certain she’s got some good years left. She’s my baby girl after all. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since Lucy puppy landed on a plane and came out of her crate bouncy and happy. Dogs just don’t live long enough. She is my sweet smooth collie girl!

I love all my dogs. I have two purebred collies I bought from breeders, Lucy and Levi, and I have four rescue dogs, Angel, Chase, Tatum and Muffit. Of all my dogs Chase has the most potential to go far in the dog sports I love. I am certain he can get a UD in obedience as soon as I start training him up. But none of my other dogs would be capable of it. Levi maybe would have been, if he’d had the right training as a puppy. Lucy had too many physical problems, though fortunately not mesothelioma. Tatum, Angel and Muffit are wonderful dogs but I don’t think will be able to really go far in dog sports.

Even getting a pet dog that is well socialized is very important. The first weeks of their lives puppies need to experience lots of people and things. If they miss out on this, they will have harder times when they are older.

So three weeks from today I’ll be on a plane to pick up my new puppy! Isn’t he sporting a gorgeous blue collar! And he is getting an amazing, wonderful, perfect start, thanks to his breeder.  I don’t think even Lucy or Levi had great starts from their breeders.  So I am going to love having a well bred and well socialized puppy to work with and love!

Because although I love doing the dog sports, the dogs are more my kids and my family and I love them to peices. That’s why the dogs that don’t do dog sports… I don’t love them any less.

Well since the couch is now gone to the dump (yay!) we need something upstairs in our living room that the dogs can lay on. So we are going to make some dog beds. I went and bought some fleece the other day, isn’t it cute? Blue with doggies, and the pink is breast cancer pink but I couldn’t resist the colors for Tatum. Now watch the boys will lay on the pink and the girls the blue. Oh well, that’s okay.

I also got some 3 inch foam padding for them. The girls are getting older (Lucy and Angel anyway) and as soon as I brought that home and laid it down, Angel laid right on it.  So I think they will like it a lot.  However, since Lucy is incontinent, we need to get some sort of water proof cover over the foam first. So we ordered some from the same place we got my mattress cover.

We got the cover from Allergy Guard Direct and we love it! We tried the ones from Petmart that they sell for dog bed covers, and the dogs just ripped them up when they scratched to make their beds. But the cover I got for my mattress holds up through scratching, and Lucy’s leaking, and washes really well too. So we hope that the covers come soon so we can start putting the dog beds together!

This second picture is of Chase and Tatum practicing their stays in the spot the old couch used to be.  I’m just so glad that thing is gone, no more puffs of couch stuffing all over to be cleaned up.  Though I do feel guilty that Tatum’s nest is gone.  That’s why we are going to make the dog beds. And they will be nicer and cheaper (I hope) than anything we could buy in a store or online.

So the only thing I did today that took much effort was to take that darn couch to the dump. I’ve been eating so much better, craving sugar like mad though, wanting to try diet pills but I know I shouldn’t so I can get better… and hopefully the down time will help me to feel better and get rid of any yeasties that might be in my body!

Since we are getting a new puppy in the house, we have to clean up. And yeah… our pack is pretty spoiled. We have this couch upstairs that is Tatum’s nest. And it looks worse now than this picture shows. She’s got some really nice depressions made in the cushions now.

Well we don’t want a puppy to learn how to chew up couches for fun! So this thing is going to the dump tomorrow. The worst part is I have to empty all the dog crates out of the minivan to put the couch in. But oh well, I guess the van is due for a vacuuming anyway. So maybe I’ll take it to the car wash on the way home.

I also want to organize all the power cords so the puppy will be safe. I’m going to follow the Ian Dunbar books, Before You Get Your Puppy, and After You Get Your Puppy. I haven’t had a puppy in ten years! Wow I can’t believe it’s been that long. So I’ve been reading up and refreshing myself on how best to house train a puppy and set him up for success so he learns to potty outside and only chews up his toys. But ya know how it goes, we have a dog’s house, and things get chewed, and we don’t get mad.

Maybe I’ll take this old Bob stroller to the dump too, and I’m going to take an old cat tower as well to empty out the house. Yay! I love getting rid of junk!

I think I’m starting to feel better.. maybe just a teeny tiny bit. But I went to the doc last Wednesday and I might have Candida. I read about Candida in the Whole Dog Journal a year or so ago, I didn’t even consider that I might have it! I’ll tell ya though, my sugar cravings have been huge lately, I’m not supposed to eat sugar as it feeds the yeast!

Okay so the anticipation is killing me. This is my new puppy! I am so excited! Of course he hasn’t come to live with us yet. He’s only a month old so far. So he has some growing to do, some love from his Mom and his brothers and the people where he is, before he can hop on that airplane and come join our family. But I’ll wait!This boy is a Danish Swedish Farmdog and I’ve been looking for one for a long time now. I adore the breed, and I think he will fit perfectly in our house. They are not easy to get here in the USA. But I’ve found a wonderful breeder willing to work with me!

I’m still fussing about names, but I think I’m going to call him Jet.  I think it’ll fit, though really there is no name good enough for such a perfect puppy!  Isn’t he a doll!?   He’s even playing already, tugging and being silly. So I hope he will love to play tug and with toys when he comes to live with us, because he’s gonna be spoiled rotten and get to do lots of stuff like flyball, agility, obedience, go-to-ground, and dock diving, and everything else he wants to try!

So on the way to get him, my friend and I might stop for some Orlando vacations or maybe Tampa instead… lol. But if all goes well, this perfect little boy should come to live with us the middle of July!

So I’ve been competing and training in agility for, oh, about five years now. Levi was my first agility dog, and he’s a collie, a bit long in the body and not very flexible. He is just about retired… and my new agility dog is Chase, a border collie. Chase is very flexible and very fast and we have had quite a bit of problems qualifying in AKC agility because the courses are so tight and twisty.

Well, last weekend I ran Chase in AKC agility. On a good note, he got his open Jumpers with Weaves title. Yay! It’s the only Q we got all weekend. Also last weekend I watched Front And Rear Crosses DVD by Stacy Peardot-Goudy. And for the first time I really was able to see, in her video, how a dog can collect and turn his body doing a front cross. I’ve never really understood or seen it before. And now I realize that Chase lacks this skill. He can jump and stretch out, but he doesn’t know how to collect and turn very well. And he doesn’t know how to do it on cue.

So, instead of giving myself a colon cleanse, I’m going to try to teach Chase how to collect and turn. So maybe we’ll have better runs in AKC agility. We do a pretty good job in ASCA and DOCNA, but the turns have always alluded me. Yeah I know I know, sometimes I’m a bit slow when it comes to learning things. But at least now I know there is something we can work on instead of just begin frustrated for not qualifying!

I don’t want to go into detail yet about what kind of puppy, as I want to make sure everything is going to work out. But I can’t help talking about it.

It’s a boy, and I’m thinking of naming him Jet. I have wanted a small dog for quite some time. And if you ask me the breed, I won’t be telling… at least for a couple of weeks. LOL. I apologize, this is just kinda a teaser huh! But I don’t want anything to go wrong, or to jinx things, and so I’m just trying not to get too excited (boy that’s hard!). Once all the plans are set in stone and the flight is scheduled, then I hope to post some pictures and more information. I have a whole list of things I want to do with a puppy!

And I’ve been feeling awful. I am going to the new doctor in one week. I feel like I have an infection in my neck, or that something is in my neck, that is poisoning the rest of my body. But I’m hanging in there, taking it easy, and trying to take things slow and take care of myself. Maybe a new dress or tuxedo shirt would be good to buy… to pamper myself. I love new clothes!

I plan on taking Chase to an AKC agility trial this weekend. I am going because a couple of my friends are going. I am not really doing AKC with Chase anymore. The courses are too tight for me and he’s so fast. But I’d love to get his Open JWW title, he only needs one more leg, so wish us luck!

Oh and just a note… no hassling me about having too many dogs is allowed. =P All my dogs are very well taken care of, get top of the line medical care, the best food on the market, and plenty of exercise and attention. So if you are tempted to criticize me about the number of dogs I have, just put a sock in it I don’t have the patience and will probably delete your comment since this is my blog! Bhahaaa.

I am so thrilled with Chase’s first obedience trial! Levi, Chase and I went to an ASCA obedience trial today. I was nervous… I always get more nervous in obedience than in agility. But the boys did great. Levi got his first open Q… his first leg towards his CDX! I was happy, though he only got a 171. If I can just get him that CDX I’ll be super happy, he’s 9.5 years old and a good boy. I’d like to have a CDX on him before he retires.

Chase is only 5, and has lots of years ahead. And he understands heeling now! Just watch the video!

It’s not the best quality of video but it’ll do. I want an HD camera but can’t afford one. Anyway, I’m so proud of my boy. He got a 189.5. He held his sit and down stays just fine. His tail wagging the whole time. People thought he was so cute… lol his tail wagging worries me because it means his drive is up and he could break a stay at any time. But he didn’t. He did great!

We are going back tomorrow too. I hope the boys do well tomorrow!