Stroll Down Memory Lane

Yeppers...it's been me and my dog since I was a toddler.  The first pic is a terrier that I have no idea what his name was.  The second pic was when I was about 3, I think.  This was Duchess, the first dog we had that I can remember.  She was a GSD mix from the local humane society.  I was about 12 when she died.  Grandpa and Grandma didn't want me to come home to an empty house after school, so I came home to another humane society baby.   

This is Polly.  She was a terrier mix and a wonderful companion for many years.  I got to name her and she was the first dog that I ever took an obedience class with.  She would also let me dress her up and put her in a stroller.  And she considering her terrier roots, she never, ever left the yard.  After Polly died Grandpa said no more dogs.  He caved, of course, see next picture.

Grandpa finally gave in and said yes to another dog.  But he wanted a male this time around.  Probably thought he could balance out all the females that way. :-)  This was my first trip to the humane society to get a dog.  I walked in and fell in love with the first dog I saw.  It was a girl.  Grandma said we were getting the beagle mix boy.  I wanted to take them all and cried hysterically all the way out the door and home.  This dog is Charlie.  I named him too and he became one of the best dogs we ever had.  Charlie did have beagle in him.  His legs were shorter like a beagle but his body screamed labarador.  I believe grandpa said he was built like a brick shit house.  Thank Grandpa.  He diligently protected the neighborhood, the home, his people and especially me on our long walks.  During the latter part of Charlie's life I got a wild hair and we got a 2nd dog.  This was a first in our household and it took a while to bring everyone around to the thought of a 2nd dog. 

This is Sophie.  A Wire Fox Terrier, she was my first AKC registered dog.  Bought from a pet store.  Oh well, live and learn.  She was an expensive dog, having Leggs-Calves-Perthes disease requiring major surgery.  She was obedience trained and I was hoping to make an attempt at trials, but she was never completely solid in movement after her surgery--some days she was fine, some days she limped.  Eventually as she aged she became my grandma's dog, then my mom's and finally came home to be with me in her final years.  She ruled the house until the day she died at age 14.

 MURPHY.  This is the dog that changed my life in so many ways.  He was a humane society puppy of cocker spaniel and brittany mix that my boss had gotten and then realized the time commitment to a puppy was not his thing.  It was mine and Murphy and I became inseparable.  Murphy earned 17 titles in his lifetime thru UKC, MBDCA, NAFA (flyball), etc.  He did everything I ever asked of him.  He learned to fetch, do scent articles, track,  play flyball wlith a 3 year old handler, visit elderly patients at the nursing home, be patient and only bark a few times at me when we did agility and in general be my best friend for 14 years.  He was the first mixed breed dog to really show in obedience and agility in the area.  One gentleman would see him and always ask "How is the little miniature Golden doing today?"  He was a wonderful ambassador for mixed breed dogs and I regret that he isn't around to compete now in AKC.  He would have loved rally.  When he left me there was a huge hole even though I had other dogs at the time.  There will never be another Murphy and in some ways that makes me very sad.

Murphy, age 10 with some of his many awards.

For the last street on this memory walk, this is the only picture I have of the flyball team that Murphy ran on for several years called the Speedy Desperados.  We weren't speedy but we were a bit desperate. :-)  After all we were running with Murphy, Chip- hound mix, Zeke- terrier, Molly-bichon frise and Kazan-siberian husky.  This was a far cry from today's flyball teams that are heavy into the border collies.  We had fun that tournament long ago and that 4th place win was hard fought for!

 

Did Someone Say Thunderstorm?

Rain?? Thunderstorms?? Not uncommon in Iowa, if it's spring or summer.  "Hellooo...Mother Nature?...it's WINTER...oh, I see...early April Fool's joke is it??...Does this mean for April Fool's we will have 2 feet of snowfall?...no, no, I wasn't suggesting that you do THAT!"

(Excerpt from early a.m. conversation with the weather.  Names have been changed to protect the insane...uh I mean innocent)

Nearly the end of 2010

Holy cow!  2011 is rapidly approaching and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to 2010.  My grandma would tell me that as she got older the years went by more quickly.  Once again, grandma was right.  As I age I find that time zips by and I'm left wondering how I'm going to squeeze in tasks, chores, training and showing and not feel I've missed out on some little thing.  I did a pretty good job this year of squeezing it all in and with the last part of 2010 coming to a close I feel good about the year.  Yes, I do believe I will put 2010 down in the books as a good year.  I didn't want to say a great year because that puts too much pressure on 2011 to top it.
I continue to be blessed with my family--Kim is still healthy, Scott and she are happy and living in a wonderful TN community, Ben is 6, healthy, happy, full of the joy of life and not too old for a good snuggly hug (just don't try to kiss him!), Aunt Judy is doing good and her family is healthy and happy as well.  I have truly amazing friends who continue to plug along and alternately forgive my weirdness and kick me in the rear to get me back on track, especially dear Jean who continues to put up with me at least once a day.  And where would I be without my dogs?  Jam is my rock and best buddy even tho he hogs the bed, steals Ben's Christmas stocking candy and eats prune cakes off of the counter.  I love them all, except right now Declan has discovered that the Christmas tree has ornaments above his line of vision and has buried his nose inside of it to figure out what's what. 
What will 2011 bring?  Besides several feet of snow and the obligatory April tax return, I truly have no idea.  Plans have begun for the usual training classes and shows and heaven knows that "Wanted" list of titles continues to grow. 

Until next time...

Maiwae's Allstar Singular Sensation - "Reid"

MAIWAE'S ALLSTAR SINGULAR SENSATION
(UKC/Int Ch. Anstett's Allstar Is Bryce, CD, RA, TT x Int. Ch. Oak Knolls Pumpkin Spice, RN, TT)
Here's a sneak peak of Baby Reid taken from his International show pic in Nov. and he's changed since then!
Co-Bred and Co-Owned with Sahra Jola/Allstar Collies in La Crosse, WI - Reid lives with Sahra and her family, but will return to Iowa for an extended visit in April so I can enjoy him, spoil him and in general probably wreck all of Sahra's work

Oak Knolls Riverton

Oak Knolls Riverton
(Am/Int. Ch. Oak Knolls Streams of Silver x Oak Knolls Anstett Ms. Demeanor)
Winners Dog and Best of Opposite Sex under j. Jon Cole for his first point.
Shown by handler John Jola of Allstar Collies, La Crosse, WI
Photography by Susan & Lennah

Int. Ch. Oak Knolls Lollipop

INT CH. OAK KNOLLS LOLLIPOP 
(Ch. Oak Knolls Beau Ideal, ROM x Ch. Oak Knolls Strawberry Shortcake, ROM)
Lolly at her first AKC show to earn her first point.under j. Jon Cole
Shown by co-owner and her best friend Sahra Jola/Allstar Collies of La Crosse, WI
Photograph by Susan & Lennah

WHAT'S NEW?

Yes, yes I know I am horribly behind in blogging our activities.  Since we are snowed in until Rick comes tomorrow to plow us out I got busy with some paperwork and then got bored with that--so here I am, blogging.  Here's the updates since the International shows.
Internationl Shows/Hutchinson MN:  Spice, Lolly and Trace all earned 4 V-1 ratings to receive their Int. Championships.  Trace also had one BOB.  Baby Reid went on a winning spree and sucked up a bunch of medals and rosettes from the Babyklasse (3-6 mo. olds) with 4 SG-1 ratings to earn both his National and Puppy International Championships and along the way had a Bred By Puppy Group 1 followed by a Bred By Puppy Reserve Best In Show for one show, and...2 Bred By Puppy Group 2's, one Bred By Puppy Group 3 and 4 Puppy Group 2's! 
The following weekend we all headed up to the Minneapolis KC shows (I don't even want to discuss the ICE issue, let's just say I was grumpy and irritated most of Sunday because of it), Declan earned his first major Reserve to Amy's Gideon and as usual Declan had a blast.  Everything he does is with total joy.  We then took a break and Aunt Judy and I took a trip to Memphis to visit Kim and family for Thanksgiving.  More on that to follow.
Back from TN and off to show again.  By this time I am totally sick of driving and wish at least one dog had opposable thumbs and a driver's license.  We were off like a herd of turtles to the great north, again, this time for obedience and rally.  My non-ending thanks to Peppi for housing us for so many visits this year and for her moral support.  (Not to mention her babysitting Harold and Declan during the TN trip).  This trip was worth it as Spice finished her RN and Jam earned two BN legs.  And we got to be there to watch Amy's return to the obedience ring and her marvelous performance with Zander for his first BN leg! 
This weekend we let everyone else have fun and on Friday I swapped out Declan and Lolly for Bejing and Reid while Sahra and John took the trip to St Cloud.  Again, a worthwhile trip but frankly I'm happy I'm missing the driving.  Declan was WD today for his first point!  And Lolly was WB in roughs today (at her 2nd AKC show--yesterday she was RWB) for her first point!  I could not be happier and know that Sahra is lighter than air now--she loves her Lolly girl.
That's it for 2010, options for 2011 remain open although the push is on to get more points on Spice and Declan and continue our training.  I was going to throw in an agility class but now I'm worried the weather will be uncooperative. 
Until next time....

Coming Attraction...

I know it's only Tuesday but I'm half packed for the weekend again.  This time we are heading to Hutchinson, MN for a two day, 4 show International Show hosted by IABCA.  Sahra and John will be coming up and we'll all get to spend some time with Peppi, Brian and Amy.  Despite what I have read on another blog, posted their by an obviously uninformed person, the International Championship title is truly a title of worth.  The dogs are judged based on the country of their origin by judges who are required to give a written critique of each part of the dog as per the breed standard.  The UCI has been in existence for over 30 years not only in the US but multiple foreign countries as well. There are a large number of UCI judges that are also AKC judges.  For each critique the dog receives a rating number of how well the dog conforms to the UCI breed standard.  Not every dog that is judged receives a rating high enough to qualify for a UCICB which is the rating required for the international championship.  Three UCICB's are required to earn the title.  At the last IABCA show there were many dogs that were disqualified and excused from the competition.  This is not a situation of "pay us the $ and here is your title certificate".  The UCI's titling program follows closely the FCI's titling program which is how exhibitors overseas earn both their National (country) Championships and their International Championships.  This is why you see approximately 20% of breeds showing at the IABCA shows that are not AKC recognized breeds.  It certainly does not mean they are not truly a breed of dog, there are more breeds of dogs overseas that are not recognized by the AKC than one might believe.  After all that's why each year the AKC has new breeds being brought into their program.  Since your dog is judged against the breed standard and not against other dogs (until Best of Breed, etc), you can complete a title without competition.  But you can also receive a non-passing certificate or be disqualified for lack of merit.  I hope that his may educate some about the validity of other venues for earning titles.  I don't even want to go into the UKC Championships, they are also a worthy title, but I am not educated in their titling requirements as of yet.  I do have dogs registered with the UKC and look forward to not only more performance, but also some conformation shows in the near future.
On a personal note, I enjoy doing different things with my dogs and not all of them involve AKC events.  Should everyone do as I do?  No.  We all choose our paths and do what we enjoy.  My only request is to educate yourselves and not make inaccurate statements that may prevent others from enjoying an activity.  To overtly slander a particular activity is just poor sportsmanship.  Or is it a case of "those who can, do" and those who can't, bitch about it?
Until next time...

The End of the Rally Weekend

It was an entirely awesome way to end the weekend.  Trace qualified with a 94 for his first U-RO1 leg.  Jam qualified with a 96 for his second U-RO1 leg.  And Harold was spot on with a 97 for his final leg and his U-RO1 title!  No class placements today as there were four perfect 100 scores.  Harold also got a medal for finishing his U-RO1 title.  I am so proud of my boys--they were terrific this weekend and I couldn't have asked for anything more out of them.  Now I have to determine how to get all the items into the trailblazer for next weekend's run to Minnesota and the International shows.  I think this calls for some celebratory chocolate!
Until next time...

UKC Rally Day Two

It's hard to believe that day two could be better than day one, but it was!  Poor Trace, another NQ due to the stand.  UKC standards for judging seem to be much sterner than AKC and because I had to place him in the stand and not do just a signal and/or a light touch, he NQ'd.  The judge was so nice, she went over all the dogs score sheets with me after to offer advice and said it was a shame because he only lost 2 points on the rest of the course.  We will try again tomorrow.  Harold had another good run and ended the day with a 94 and 4th place for his 2nd leg!  Jam redeemed his handler and today pulled a 97 with a 2nd place!  I was so proud of my boys, especially Harold who hasn't been worked seriously in 6 months.  Of course it's always especially sweet when Jam pulls out a good performance.  I love that boy.  Did I mention the placement rosettes?  Yea I'm a ribbon slut, so what? ;-)
I also won a wonderful basket full of goodies in the raffle, so it was definitely a great day at the dog show!
Until tomorrow...

UKC Rally Day One

The knee survived, but then again we didn't even have a "Fast" sign to do, which was great considering my status.  I got there way early as I wasn't sure of how many obedience entries were before rally and got to see some very nice obedience runs.  The High In Trial dog had a 198.5 in Utility and it was a gorgeous run.  One of the true joys of UKC for me is that they allow altered mixed breed dogs to compete in performance events.  The High In Trial rally dog was out of Level 2 and was a sweet mixed breed girl with a 100! 
Our day was good overall.  Trace was hindered by his handlers inability to read a sign correctly and also her lack of knowledge on the stand requirements for UKC (which I am re-reading tonight) and he NQ'd a run that should have been nice.  Bad, bad handler.  Spice had a pretty pathetic performance and NQ'd--apparently her sit was broken today.  Jam had a beautiful 1st half run and then I must have tightened up because he reverted to his "I'm not having fun" signals, so no sits and an NQ.  Harold redeemed us today.  This was the dog I was actually concerned about and he pulled out a 95 and 1st place!  The club gives out rosettes for class placements and a toy--so both Harold and I were really happy. :-)
On to tomorrow...

A PRAYER FOR MY KNEE AND OTHER WORN OUT BODY PARTS

I think we may need to start a prayer circle for my knee and various other disfunctional, worn out body parts.  The next three weeks will be riding on just how well the knee brace works and the size of the ibuprofen bottle.  Herding lessons continue on Mondays which beats me up the most but is by far one of my favorite activities.  I traded training Bejing in herding for John Jola and he is going to show Spice for me in conformation, Spice and Declan will continue their herding and next Monday, Harold will be going for a shot at it.  Declan and Lolly will be starting obedience classes on Tues. nights beginning 11/16.  And of course we have the semi-daily agility foundation work with Spice. 
The weekends will be the most fun, or not, depending on the drive :-)   This weekend we have the local UKC rally and obedience trials in Cedar Rapids.  Jam, Harold, Spice and Trace are all entered in rally level one.  I just hope there are more dogs entered so I don't have to do them all back to back.  Then we head out on 11/13 and 11/14 for the International show in Hutchinson, MN with Spice, Trace and Lolly.  That's 4 shows in 2 days and I'm sure will be loads of fun but totally exhausting.  Apparently I love Minnesota waaaaayyy too much as we head back up again to Shakopee for the next weekend with Declan in conformation.  I had some plans to enter the Des Moines obedience trials after Thanksgiving but decided it was time for a break as December looks a bit busier than I had originally thought.
Yep, I'm nuts, but then everyone knew that already!  Until next time...

SIOUX FALLS REPORT - DAY 3

By day 3 I almost didn't give a crap anymore.  I was exhausted, my knee felt like it was on fire and detaching itself from the rest of my leg one fiber at a time and the coffee with the extra expresso shot DID NOT WORK to keep me awake.  The day ended up really great in the end.  Amy and Brian came to the show and did the walk in and wipe up scenario going Winners Bitch and Winners Dog in Smooth Collies and Winners Bitch in Rough Collies-all for majors.  Jean's Ebbie was Winner's Bitch for a 4 point major to finish her Championship!  I think all three of them are ribbon sluts--(insert hilarious laughter here) ;-)
Spice sucked it up and let me take her into the rally ring again.  Apparently she is not going to trade me in for a better handler, at least as of today.  I redeemed myself and relaxed and didn't freak out too much and she qualified for her 2nd RN leg with another placement, this time a 3rd place.  I think she might be a ribbon slut too....
The dogs and I came home this afternoon after a good nights sleep at Jean's.  We are all happy to be home again and I am just positive that the elves will appear this evening and unpack the trailblazer by the morning.  What? No elves? Okay, how about fairies?  I'll take fairies to unpack.  No fairies either?  Hmmm...dogs don't have opposable thumbs and Jam would probably organize some type of protest if he was asked to unload the vehicle.  Shoot...guess I have to do it myself.
Until next time...

SIOUX FALLS REPORT - DAY 2

What?  It's morning already?  What the heck happened to sleep?  After another round of coffee at the Kum and Go, off we went.  Day 2 was great!  Again I played support staff.  Did I mention that John and Sahra let me groom Bejing on Friday and Saturday?  It felt wonderful to be grooming a smoothie again.  Poor Bejing, he took it like a man and stood for all my fussing around.  I did see him look at John more than a few times with that "save me from this fool" look. 
It was a great day for my dogs too.  Spice had another run at Novice obedience and cleaned up her stand with a perfect performance.  No feet moving at all!  Yea!  She had another fun day too.  Better performance on the on leash performance but worse on off leash today.  Good recall, but again no sit in front, no finish.  It was my fault on the finish because instead of telling her to swing, I gave the signal.  Bad, bad handler.  She did her long sit until about 15 seconds to go and then laid down.  And on the long down made it halfway thru and then came to me.  I was happy that Dan Herald was our judge because he has at the very least a good sense of humor.  When we didn't qualify he looked at me and I said, well at least we both had a good time.  He laughed and told me that "yes, it was a good fun match" to which I replied, "yes, but an expensive one".  Rally Novice B went much better, but I wasn't sure Mr. Herald would laugh or cry when he saw me again.  Spice was hindered by an overanxious, uptight, idiot of a handler and still managed to qualify with a 94 and 4th place.  In all honesty, I was not happy with the score--I felt it was high.  I would have given her a low 80's.  Apparently the judge knew the dog could do it and gave her the benefit of that knowledge.  I'm sure if he could have scored me seperately he would have NQ'd the handler. :-) 
Trace qualified for his 3rd leg and RN title with a 98 and a 3rd place!  I was proud of Trace, he did it in three shows and although his first 2 legs were prettier, he tried his best and once again outshined his handler.
After a short shopping trip around the vendors we headed back to Jean's for a yummy supper of turkey and taters.  By now I needed a caffeine i.v.
Onward to day 3...

SIOUX FALLS REPORT - DAY 1

Three day shows are awesome!  Three day shows are exhausting.  Which just proves that a glass can be both half full and half empty.  Jean and I went over to the show site on Thursday to set up and grab a big chunk of grooming space.  That went really well and the weather was perfect.  Smooth Collies thad the dubious honor of showing at 8 am all three days so I was glad that the areas were almost all together by the time we arrived on Friday a.m.  Since I was entered in obedience and rally only for the weekend I was happy to play support staff.  Truly, it is one of my favorite jobs and it's incredibly relaxing.  The only bad part of the entire weekend was my knee.  Thanks to good friends I had a good knee brace to wear and between that and a large bottle of ibuprofen my walk only slightly resembled that of the tin man.
Spice was fabulous in novice obedience with points lost mainly due to her handlers ineptitude on the on leash heeling and failing to keep the leash from tangling all over the place.  Her stand was shakey on my return with some foot movements (which the judge NQ'd her on and I thought was excessive, just my opinion).  Her off leash heel was pretty good and her recall was fast and straight, but with no sit in front and no finish.  She broke the sit stay too.  I was still really pleased because she had such a good time!  Considering we practice alone and she's never done any classes or done any sit stays with other dogs, yea I'll take the NQ proudly. 
The bummer of the day was that Jean had a terrible reaction to her flu shot and ended up sick at the show on Friday and could hardly walk by the evening.  So we all missed her company for the rest of the weekend. 
And the drumroll moment of the day was the eyecheck on Reid....he is NORMAL EYED!  Yippee!!  Dr. Betts about gave us heart failure when he said "there is something wrong with this Collie"..."he is normal eyed".  A lesser person would have decked him for that, but since he shared his cookie with Reid it was pretty hard to be mad at him.  :-)
Onto day 2...

On The Road Again...

Yes I can hear the Willie Nelson song playing in my head.  We are headed out tomorrow, on the road again.  The Sioux Falls show is this weekend and we are once again headed to Minnesota and the hospitality of the Runge household.  I'm truly looking forward to having some extra time to hang out with Jean, we don't get to do it often enough.  As usual Jean and Don have opened their doors to all my dogs.  If they ever tear down the old boarding kennel I will cry!  Is it a good thing or a bad thing that my dogs all recognize the area when we hit the exit ramp and Maddy (the usual front seat navigator) gets all excited when we pull into the drive?  Yea, they've all spent many hours up north.  Poor Don, I feel for him sometimes when I visit.  Guess I'll have to stop and get a pie or something to ease the pain. 
The show should be fun.  I truly like the venue and am terribly excited to trial with Trace (fingers crossed he should have his RN this weekend!) and Spice.  Spice could be the highlighted entertainment for the weekend.  We have worked on rally a few times because I realized there were bits of rally that she didn't learn in her novice CD work.  She hasn't had a lot of work for her CD, but is solid enough and such a happy worker that I figure what the heck.  If she bombs I'll release it to the universe and move on.  I suspect we will all have a blast no matter what.  There will be a large group of us showing this weekend and I have such fun with everyone that is attending. 
I'll update next week with hopefully good news and at the very least some amusing antedotes. 
Until next time...

OVERBOOKED AND LOVIN' IT!

I feel fantastic right now and so I've booked a few activities along with the daily training routine.  Now I'm not so sure I haven't overbooked myself a bit.  I realized the other day that I have no free weekends until Christmas.  I was in a huge training and showing slump.  Now, I don't mean conformation-that's been an ongoing project depending on the dogs.  But for a long time I felt like I had lost my drive to do other activities with the dogs.  No more of that, I have my mojo back. :-)

This next weekend it's off to Sioux Falls for obedience and rally with Spice and Trace.  Followed by Jam,Trace,Spice,Harold at the UKC trial for rally, then Spice and Trace at the International show, Declan and Trace at Shakopee, and assorted dogs (because I'm not sure who to enter in what yet) at the DMOTC rally and obedience trials.  Herding on Mondays, puppy and adult obedience classes starting on 11/16 and that's just November.  Can't quite decide on Dec for sure.  There is a UKC show in Minnesota on the same weekend as an obedience and rally trial in the same area.  I am entering the APDT show followed by the possibility of Skokie which depends solely on who has coat or not.  Agility classes start after 1/1/11 and I have options for 2 training centers, and I've already signed up for another obedience class starting on 1/3/11.  Hmm...I think I need a nap after thinking about all that.

Until next time...

REID HERDING

I do believe that Sahra has created a herding monster in Reid.  He had his first exposure to sheep on 9/26/10, all on leash and for a brief time.  He showed real good interest and about pulled Sahra off her feet.  Due to his age, John has said he can only herd once a month and then he will progress to every other week and then up to every week.  Reid's next time (pictured above) was on 10/18/10 and after a brief on leash period, Sahra unhooked him and OMG! that boy has some talent in there.  Or at least a ton of drive to work with.  Ahh the promise of youth...

ANOTHER REID UPDATE AND PICTURES

Reid at Puppy Class Graduation - of course he would be the puppy to sing his own praises!

Reid at about 4 months - doesn't he just make you melt?

REID UPDATE

Here are pictures of Reid that Amy Ross took, I have lost track of what age he was here, maybe 10-12 weeks?  I don't even know what to say about Reid.  I call him the "Uber-Puppy" because he is the smartest puppy I have ever seen.  Not that he doesn't have a quirk or two.  He learns easily and quickly but Sahra has said he requires a different approach than alot of puppies.  That's fine with me!  Sahra has had Reid everywhere and he has experienced both tracking and herding, both of which should be potential titling areas.  I am drooling to get my grubby hands on him for agility too.  I just love him to pieces, can you tell?

INTRO AND HERDING

I'm very behind and way out of order on some of my posts, so bear with me.  On Sat. Oct 10th I added another dog to the group.  Meet "Declan" - a tri smooth boy FINALLY!  I met him at the Lake Elmo shows and as it usually happens fell in love.  Amy Ross and Brian Elwell of Oak Knoll Collies were kind enough to say okey dokey, but then the potential of moving and a new job interfered.  With that all worked out I asked about him again and Sahra and John Jola brought him down from the Hutchinson MN shows.  I am thrilled with him, he is structurally so sound and light in movement and his fun loving, bouncy and outgoing personality is reminiscent of his daddy, River.  This is Oak Knolls Riverton aka "Declan" a week after arriving here at his first herding lesson.   Also, there are pics of him as a baby puppy and about a week ago here at the farm.  He has a future in herding for sure and debuts in the show ring in November.  

Mason CIty Day 2

Quick report from day 2--it was definitely Trace's weekend--today he was Select Dog for his first Grand Championship point!  He isn't all that jazzed about showing in conformation anymore, I had the chalk box out and he just looked at me like "are you serious???"  I do believe he enjoys rally much better, at least yesterday he had a wagging tail and happy face. 

Onward we go--Sioux Falls for obedience and rally, UKC rally, International showing and more rally and obedience.  Maybe we'll even through poor Trace in conformation again just to see that look again :-)

Until next time...

Quick Update and Mason CIty News

I have been having a wonderful time lately training the dogs.  I try to do something new every day and change it up, so one day we do a little obedience, another day some agility, some days it just a walk.  Harold and I made a couple of attempts to lay tracks, but had horrid crosswinds and that's just too hard to start a new dog with.  I'm waiting for a nice calm day or two--but it's nearly always windy here, just need it to be a calmer one direction wind.  Spice and Trace started herding lessons.  Oh and we have a new arrival, Declan a tri smooth Collie boy.  He is just working on standing and looking gorgeous at this point.  Sahra has baby Reid out dipping his paw into various activities, a little herding, a little tracking (which he is a grade A whiz at), a little obedience and loads of social time.  I just marvel at how of all the puppies that could have survived in that litter, Reid has turned out to be such a stunner and so dang smart it's downright scarey at times. 
Jam, Trace and I headed out this a.m. to the Mason City show for rally.  Trace had a fab run and only my handling error of getting him tangled in the leash and screwing up his swing finish prevented a higher score.  But then I was thrilled with a 95 and 4th in a class of 9.  That's leg #2, one more to go!  Trace is already prepping for transition into Advanced/Excellent.  Jam, poor Jam, so impaired by his handler.  Jam was totally up and ready to rock today.  He actually WANTED to be in the ring.  It was a dead on amazing run with a minor bobble on the Halt, Stand, Down.  He sat, stood and then only did a 1/2 a down--the butt just wouldn't hit the floor.  Then on the Honor Exercise I totally messed him up and NQ'd him.  Dumb, dumb, dumb Judy.  Poor Jam-he worked so hard.  But we had a happy time and I'll take that. 
Tomorrow it's back to Mason City again, hopefully we will have a successful day again.
Until next time...

A NEW POST TO GO WITH NEW TITLES!

I'm baaack....
I just got tired of blogging and had too many other irons in the proverbial fire, but I have some down time now and so my hope is to blog more often for at least a while.  So what's up with this new title thing?

Sahra and I went to an ATTS (American Temperament Test Society) on Sat. and I tested Trace, Spice and Jam and all three passed!  So now all three can sport a TT after their name.  Here is a link to their website so you can see what we had to do:   http://www.atts.org/

On Sunday Sahra had Bryce and baby Reid in herding lessons so I tagged along and took some pics.  All I can say is Bryce is a herding maniac and Reid, according to the instructor is "very keen on sheep", and had not seen a puppy that young, so keen on sheep, especially in a Collie.  In fact he lamented the fact that he has not had any Collies that he has had any success with.  I think he is anxious to see Sahra, Bryce and Reid back.  So next time I'll tag along with Spice and see if we can give him another thrill.  :-)

More later as training is ramping up once again and we are after the next titles on the furry kidlets.  More pics too after I get them downloaded. 

Until next time...

SNOOZING

I have to tell a sweet story from this afternoon about Reed and Trace.  I couldn't get a picture without interrupting the scene which is a shame.  I looked out the kitchen door and saw Trace sprawled on his stomach with Reed laying on top of him chewing on Trace's ears.  Trace just laid there like a very patient uncle.  I opened the door and told Trace what a good boy he was and then as usual when he is happy, he had to come inside, stuff a toy in his mouth a woo-woo around the room.  Earlier this morning I caught Reed curled up with Trace snoozing out in the yard, just like Trace and Reed's mom Spice used to do.  While I doubt Trace will really miss Reed when he leaves, I can rest easy knowing that future Spice babies will be well cared for by their Uncle Trace.

Here is Reed in his favorite snoozing spot on the bottom shelf next to the ceramic dogs.  He took over this place about 3 weeks ago. 

INTRODUCING...

This is "Reid" at 6 weeks and 2 days old.  He learned the puppy agility tunnel this past weekend when his co-owner and owner of his daddy Sahra Jola was here.  With a daddy like Bryce who is definately an "Allstar", how could this little guy not be starting agility so soon in life?  Sahra and I have great hopes for this survivor of the Spice/Bryce breeding.  So without further ado I introduce to you:              MAIWAE'S SINGULAR SENSATION