TODAY ON THE FARM

I took a bunch of pictures this afternoon on the dog's daily romp outside the dog yard.  Until the new cows arrive and/or crop planting begins they get at least one good long romp a day.  Once those activities start it'll be only the dog yard and supervised walks to the mailbox and back.  The plan is to put up fence in the other huge area, maybe in 2 sections to give the house yard a rest from the romping dog feet.  So enjoy the dogs on this beautiful sunny warm March day--I certainly did!

Jam

Spice's fluffy behind as she snoops in the lower yard

See the open area under the building?  Yea, so did the dogs...

Harold--wondering if he should even try.

Spice--she didn't think twice about going under there.

Declan on the wrong side of the fence--as usual! 

Declan with Trace in the background.

Like mother, like son...Reid's fluffy behind trotting out to the field

Harold finds something really really good smelling.

Old Maddy dog--she still manages to keep up with the youngsters.  She is amazing.

Baby Reid--not so much a baby anymore.

This is darn hard to see, but it's all the TRI dogs.  Declan, Trace and Charlie. 

Spice out in the field.  She loves to play farm dog.

Harold--also loves the farm dog thing.

My sweet Harold-monster. 

Trace on the hunt, or something like that.

Hey Guys!  Over here!

Yes, Trace is also on the wrong side of the fence.

Reid and Declan--the first to discover today's poopapalooza prize.

Oh Lord!  Reid!  You are supposed to be a show dog.  I think we should take him in the ring just like this.

Word travels fast in the pack--look everybody--petrified, muddy, semi-frozen cow poo!

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A trio of sable roughs.  Spice, Reid, Harold.  Proof that I have lost my mind.

Declan and Maddy.

Way to go dudes!  Corrupt baby Charlie--yea he got a taste of the poo too!

This is part of the yard I want to fence this spring.  Yes, there is agility equipment in the yard already--jumps and a short tunnel.  Once the snow leaves and the sun comes out that means spring, right?

Another section of the area I want to fence.

Trace leads the chase game with Spice and Declan following.

Trace and Reid enjoying a run.

Charlie--not his best side.

Trace and Reid.

Declan and Reid in the yard--imagine that!

Trace--he has matured into an even more gorgeous dog.  But he's happy to play farm dog now.

Harold

Harold--despite his lack of coat, he is an exceptionally pretty dog.  And no, that is his true color--it is NOT mud and dirt.  Although, it could be--I believe he carries about 5lbs of dirt in his coat at all times.  Spa treatment??

Declan and Reid playing.

Hard to see because of the shadows, this is Spice out by the barn.

I love this dog--Spice is so pretty. 

Jam-bringing up the rear.  All the other dogs had returned to the yard. 

ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER...

 

 

 

 

It's sort of a collie, just not a real Collie.  Yep, it's a Border Collie puppy!  His name is Charlie and he comes from John Wentz of Big Yellow Boots Stock Dogs in WI.  Hey, at least all my dogs are herding breeds, well okay Maddy is a terrier mix, but I was told she has sheltie in there somewhere. ::-)  Here are some more pics of the little guy. 

Jam says:  Uh..this is MY spot.  

Oh well...he brought me a bone to chew on and he'll keep me warm.  I guess he can stay.

EMERGING FROM HIBERNATION

All right, so I wasn't really hibernating.  Although there were a few times I was completely stranded out here due to the amount of snow.  In spite of the long winter the dogs and I have made it to a few shows since the first of 2011.  In January and February we attended the shows in Des Moines.  Declan earned another point and a BOV.  Reid had his show ring debut and was promptly put back to grow into his legs.  He'll be out again at the Collie Nationals.  The kids have had some nice class placements and at Collie Club of MN, Declan was BOS to BOV both shows.   I love those rosettes!  Yes, I am a ribbon slut.  :-)
Here are some pictures of the kids, Spice and Declan at the CCMN in February.  Spice and Declan are both shown by their very best friend (i.e. the wonderful guy with the chicken!), John  Jola.  My thanks to Amy Ross for taking these great pictures!

Declan (Oak Knolls Riverton) - textbook Collie movement

Declan and John - a winning team!

Declan - Where Is My Treat??

Spice (Int. Ch. Oak Knolls Pumpkin Spice, RN, TT)

Spice - head shot. 

Spice on the move with John.  Again--classic movement.

SPICE AND CLASS

Spice and I started competition obedience class last night.  What a blast!  I had some nice compliments on Spice and her working ability.  She makes me very proud considering the obvious handicap of having me as her trainer and handler.  We learned some new focus exercises and I now have a new way of teaching the left pivot, which has always been a problem for me.  The goal for this year is to get her really going in obedience and agility.  We are trying for her rally advanced and beginner novice legs in February along with starting agility class.  I also found out there is a tracking class starting in the spring.  Not for Spice--but I am thinking that Harold will be going with that one.  I've already tried him on a handful of very short tracks and he is doing well with that.  Here's a recent headshot of Spice. 
Until next time...

EUREKA!

A few posts back I lamented on the loss of the thingy that connects the camera to the computer for dowloading pictures.  I had given up on finding said thingy when this morning while in search of yet another elusive item, found the camera thingy.  Yipee!!  I've downloaded some photos and found a few of the trip to Memphis in November. 

Aunt Judy and Kim at the Germantown Tree Lighting

Memphis Grizzlies Game

Super Grizz Fan Ben

Ben and me at the Memphis Zoo

OFA RESULTS

Spice's OFA results are in!  Elbows normal, Hips Excellent! Yea!  That means both Spice and her half sister, Lolly are both normal elbows and excellent hips as well as Reid's daddy, Bryce, who is also hips excellent! 

Weather Permitting

I do believe some day I would like to name a dog "Maiwae's Weather Permitting".  It falls right in there with the best laid plans...
Winter is playing some really wonderful (insert eye roll here) games this time around.  I decided to ignore it as much as possible and Sahra and I continue to attempt those weekly herding classes on Mondays.  I heard this morning from KWWL that we may get 2-6 inches of snow Mon-Tues.  Wonderful.  We moved our herding up a couple of hours so I can come home and take Declan to an obedience class that same night.  I figured why stop there?  Why not go all the way into idiocy?  This week we start competition obedience classes on Thurs. nights.  The great news is that so far the weather still looks okay for Thurs. ;-)
My hope is that by Feb. the weather will have worn itself into exhaustion and will no longer feel the need to screw up my weekly classes.  So I signed Spice up for an agility class on Tues. nights beginning Feb. 1st.  I know, the eternal optimist strikes again. 
Until next time or weather permitting...

Arrggghhh....

I have misplaced the cord that connects camera to computer.  It's not really misplaced, I put it in a safe place that I would remember so it would be handy.  Stupid.  I should have left it in the mess on top of my desk and I would have it right now.  While I love the fact that Manchester actually has a Walmart, they do not carry this elusive bit of technology.  So I've been putting off getting a new one because it involves a trip into one of the "big" cities.  I'll be breaking down on Monday and stopping to get one before Declan's obedience class in Waterloo.  I am missing out on way too many great dog pics.  Last night Harold and Declan were playing and stopped dead in their tracks to stare at the television when they heard barking dogs.  Of course Harold The Brave, went into guard dog mode and barked his head off at these intruders.  Declan stood there, nose poked the t.v. and play bowed.  Heck, that would have been video worthy.  And then there was the absolutely adorable pic that will never be of Declan with all of his gangly limbs and big ol' body doing his impression of a baby puppy on the comforter in the corner by the couch.  I wouldn't have been able to capture the soft snoring sounds coming from him, but the pic would have been so cute.
Apparently it's a really long winter if these are the things going on that actually capture my interest.  I think tomorrow I'll tackle some sewing and that jigsaw puzzle before my mind becomes a pile of mush caused by the repeated freezing and thawing of an Iowa farm winter.
Until next time...

"When you know better you do better."
— Maya Angelou

Seriously, I lost to a dog??

Harold in the tub--1 point for me
Harold wet, shampooed, rinsed, conditioned and re-rinsed - 5 points for me
Harold on the table being toweled off - 1 point for me
Harold vs. Me while being dried - 20 points for Harold.
There will be a rematch.  As soon as I recover.  Bring on the ibuprofen and a dry shirt.

2011

2011...wow...wasn't it just like 1991 yesterday?  If my memory will cooperate today I believe in 1991 I had one dog.  Huh, one dog.  I drove a sporty 2 door Dodge Challenger.  Huh, fuel economy.  My house payment was about what my current car payment is.  Huh, you mean I had money?  Life was good then and twenty years (yikes!) later life is still good.  It's been a serious of highs and lows, good and bad, devastatingly sad events and indescribably joyous ones. 
We greet this first day of 2011 with a pot of coffee, the dogs draped over every comfortable surface, my daily conversation with Jean and the knowledge that this year has the hope and promise of fantastic times.
May we all be blessed in 2011!
Until next time...

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....