Boxing Day

 

We have too many toys, as you can see from our overflowing toy basket. So mom helped us go through our basket. We threw away the really tasty, err bad, ones. Then we boxed up the ones we never play with to take to the animal shelter. The rest we threw in the washer and now they are not as tasty. But, we still have plenty as you can see!

Merry Christmas!

 Anyone who knows me knows I am just not the sort of guy who likes his photo taken. All that fussing. The flashing. The "sit, stay, Splash". It's just too much. I would much rather be out hunting the evil squirrel. Fortunately, this year Adhuil busted the ridiculous hat I usually have to wear, so here I am, my Christmas photo, in just dog clothes.
 
 



Here's a nice profile shot. I think I am ready for Hollywood!

At the bottom is Adhuil, just before she broke the hat.

I'm back

I had a little talk with the higher-ups around here, and we have concluded that while mom can have her own blog, I get to keep mine too. I'll post some photos of ME tonight, but for now, here's some video of my team (that's me and mom) doing first Jumpers class, then Tunnelers class at a NADAC trial a few weeks ago.

Tunnelers is my favorite, all tunnels all the time. That's the way, baby!

I've moved!

I just wanted everyone to know that my mom has moved her blog (and therefore my blog since I can't type) to our website. We hope to see you there.....woof!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Here we are being good dogs

We are normally very good dogs, but we had a slight lapse this week. Mom was reading "The Good Good Pig", which she was really enjoying. But it fell down where we could get it. Mom had us inside in our comfy x-pen because there were workers at the house. I don't like workers, I think they should go away. So I have to stay in my x-pen or else I would be bouncing off the glass door trying to tell the workers where I think they should go. Anyway, her book fell into our pen, so we did the only thing we could do, we ripped out every last page and chewed up the rest.


But earlier we chewed up my mom's book that she hadn't finished yet.

5 weird things

1) I like my toy hockey puck best of all my toys. It's more manly....err DOGly.
2) I do not like to ride in the car unless I am in my crate. A guy likes to be safe.
3) I like to watch tv, especially "Winged Migration". I have my own copy on DVD.
4) I like cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots, in that order. Better with ranch dressing, naturally.
5) When I was a puppy I took dance lessons!. Nowdays I do karate!

'gilities

We went to 'gility tonight. I did the dog walk (running! I am BRAVE). I also did a few jumping drills, but it was hot and I didn't really want to. I got kinda excited when mom crouched down and went "ready steeeeaaaadddddyyyyy GOOOOOOO", and did it anyway.

I also did the teeter some more. Mom thought (humans are so silly) that I was at the full height already. That's hole #7 on the adjustable teeter. But there's a hole #8 you silly mom. So tonight we moved up to #8. I can't say that I can tell the difference, and there is always a cookie at the end so who cares what hole it is just lemme at that teeter.

Hose = FUN!

I like playing with the hose. 


It is nice to get hosed off at the end of the day. 


This just makes us crazy! 


Jewel likes to get hit in the face with the hose! 


Sometimes I gotta get air.... 


Jewel goes airborne to get me! 


Now we have got the zoomies. 

My two nemesis (nemeses? nemesi?)

The evil squirrel. He taunts me. 


The house finch. I'd like to get my paws on him, too. 

I cost a lot of money

Mom decided she needs to get better photos of me than her old camera could take. It's kind of slow, like an old hound dog I guess.

So she took all her money and bought a new one over the weekend. The thing is, it's too complicated to actually use! Hahahahah!

But I do like that it does not flash in my face like the old one. She got some photos of the birds fighting over the feeder, and the evil squirrel also. She just has to figure out how to get them from the camera to my blog. I'll give her some tech support tonight. I am very helpful most of the time.

Hot Dog

We had agility tonight, even though it was about a bizillion degrees F. Mom is in an air-conditioned office all day, so she thinks it is okay to go out and fry like that.

I had fun though. I went on the FULL HEIGHT teeter. I am so cool.

I also worked on the dog walk, which is still at baby level. The big dog one is a bit rotted and the humans are worried my big bulk will bust it. I bet I would because I am HUGE. And scary, and tough.

We did the weaves also, and mom said I did them very nicely. I have a bit of trouble with my hind end falling behind, but I am working it out.

BTW the Nintendog is still here, and now it is barking sometimes when it wants a treat. Hmmmfff.

Oh I almost forgot -- I came this close to catching the evil squirrel today.

Nintendogs (!?!)

I saw this today, what a nasty shock this is:
Nintendogs

I sure hope I do not get replaced by this thing.

Agility report

I have a couple of things to report. The first is that a couple of weeks ago we all went in the car to an agility trial! I was entered in "Novice Tunnelers" class. It was so cool! I can't quite do the weave poles or all the contacts yet (although I am very smart and very close to being able to). So mom entered me in this class where it is ALL TUNNELS ALL THE TIME. The people set up 15 tunnels for me (and some other dogs), and I did the course perfectly three times! So I got an agility title from NADAC which is "TN-N". That stands for "Tunnelers - Novice". It was an all-time best weekend, I had a great time and I LOVE tunnels!

Anyway, last night we had agility class. I did the A-frame, which is at a low level and is no prob. Then we did the teeter -- I am now back to hole 6 of 7, so we are almost at full height. I had a little accident a few months ago: I fell off the dog walk and hurt myself in a kinda personal area. So mom took me back down to the beginning levels until I got my confidence back. It's all good now though.

We also did a jumping drill which was totally easy for me, just a couple of rear crosses, and some front crosses. I can do both, 'cause I like to watch my mom. I don't like to get very far away though. I am not a Border Collie you know. ;)

We also worked on the dreaded dog walk. I am doing pretty good on that, although we are still using the baby dog walk (it is lower than the full-size one).

Last, we did the weave poles. They are now in a channel the width of my mom's hand. I had a little trouble popping out, but if mom stayed really close so I didn't have to look for her, I was able to do it. I just need a little more practice. Mom says she will set up our weaves tonight and we will practice.

Oh, our landscaping is done! I will take a photo tonight and post it. I like the grass and the fountain very much. Mom says I cannot get in the fountain, but I'm not sure why.

After I was done with my agility, Jewel got to do some restrained recalls, and did some balance stuff. They set up a dog walk plank on two pause tables, and she got up there and walked back and forth. She also did some nice turns on the plank, and sat perpendicular to the walk. Mom and our teacher were both amazed that Jewel could do that, it was pretty agile for a Lab. We Labbies can do anything, don't they know that yet?

Flyball!

Last weekend we all packed up the car and went to a flyball tournament. The tournament was held by some of her friends in the Sacramento Flyball Club and was in Lodi. They called the tournament "Stuck in Lodi", and mom's been humming some annoying song ever since!

We didn't get to run, mom went to help out and we got to go and sit in our crates the whole weekend. I did meet some very nice people and we got a BIG cookie so that was pretty nice. Anyway it beats sitting in the dog run all weekend waiting for mom to come home and feed me.

In case you don't know what flyball is, here's the scoop. Humans make up teams of 6 dogs. They pick 4 of the dogs to run a relay race. The race goes over 4 jumps, then the dog has to hit a box and get a ball. Then they have to run back FAST with the ball and then the next dog goes. You can read more here.

All the dogs on the teams are crazed and bark constantly so it is pretty noisy and exciting. If you ever go to a flyball tournament, my advice is bring a chewie and some ear plugs for your human. And maybe some aspirin.


Here's the lanes where the teams run 


Here's the boxes the dogs run to get their tennis ball 

Practice makes perfect

Of course I am already pretty close to perfect.

Even so, we have been practicing a lot lately. Mom and I had a meeting and decided to go for my Rally Excellent title (RE). So we are entered in another trial this weekend. Just one day. We'll see how we do, and if we do okay, we'll enter what my mom calls the "furnace circuit" in the "north central valley". Mom says she calls it that 'cause it's hotter than you-know-what up there in July. Doesn't sound like fun to me, but if it involves a car ride well sign me up!

There are also a bunch of guys at our house. I may have mentioned that I do not like people outside my house. If they come inside, well that is another thing altogether. But not outside. I don't like the mailman, the UPS man, or the garbage man. Basically, I do not want anything left, and I do not want anything taken away.

These men just keep stopping by. They are not respecting me and my ferocious barking. They are doing something called "landscaping", which makes mom very happy but I cannot see why they are messing up my backyard.

Oh I met one of them once, he was very nice and I liked him. Once he came inside.

RA!

Hey everyone, I just wanted you to know we have been very busy recently. I went to a bunch of dog shows recently. I earned my Rally Advanced title, and I guess the AKC will be sending me another certificate soon. Afterwards, we visited the Red Barn booth and mom bought me a big chewie. I also begged very effectively and got some free treats from them, so that was great.

I have some photos that I will post as soon as mom can find that cable. We are having my backyard done. I liked it fine the way it was, but mom was not happy with something called "drainage". The bad part is, there are a bunch of strangers in my yard, and I do not like it.

It must be spring! 

Jewel does agility too

Last night was Jewel's agility lesson. She worked on the bobble board a lot. She's not as worried about it as she used to be. She also did this drill where mom stands at the side of the jump and Jewel just has to go through the standards. If she does she gets a click. Pretty simple, and she figured it out fast so she got lots of treats. Nice.

She also did a round-the-clock drill with the jump where mom tells her to stay, then calls her through. She is good at that one.

Jewel also did a very nice down-stay while the equipment was being set up.

Mom and Jewel meant to try out the stairs (we don't have any at our house) but they forgot.

I waited in the car and afterwards we went to Petco and mom bought me a Valentine's Day collar. It is so sissy lookin' I am glad I can't see myself.

Don't really love dogs

Last night we watched a movie together. It was called "Must Love Dogs". Which is dumb because it wasn't really about dogs. Not like the Puppy Bowl or something good like that. We did like the end where the dog gets to jump into the water. Jewel and I went right up to the screen to see that. Why don't they invent a "Smell-o-vision", that would have made it much better, I think.

Tuesdays are for agility

Last night was our agility group class. My friend the Vizla and my friend the All-American were not there. So there was only me and my friend the Border Collie and my friend the Border Terrier. I am Border-line so we were all Border in some way, ha ha ha.

I did the teeter totter very well, on the 3 setting. Mom was able to send me, call me, and run past me but not fast. We did round-the-clock up until about 2pm when I started to jump up onto the middle a little. We also did a jump before the teeter and that was no prob.

I also did a drill with two jumps side by side. I have to jump over one, and then come back over the other one. Mom holds her arm out to help me stay out. I don't like being too far away. The jumps got moved to 3 ft apart and I was still able to do it. This is going to teach me the 270 to a second jump that is so popular in agility courses these days.

Then we did drills with the weave poles, including some round-the-clock with that. Jumps before and after the poles too. I also did that Monday night, so I am getting better at that.

I must mention I have a hard time seeing my Alley-Oop in the dark. It's yellow, err Gray rather, and I just don't see it well. Mom says she will try to make it white for me. I think I would like that.

The stages of dog people

I guess Indy's mom had an unpleasant experience at a dog event, so I asked my mom to post her (crackpot if you ask me) theory of the stages of a dog person's life:

Stage 1: You are new to dogs and think everyone knows more than you, so you listen to everyone, even the kooks.

Stage 2: You've bred your first litter, finished your first title, gotten involved in rescue, and you know a little. You start giving unsolicited advice to everyone, esp. the poor Stage Ones.

Stage 3: You have too many dogs. You don't have time to train them all, let alone get titles on them. The expenses are mounting. You've been in dogs longer than pretty much everyone else you know, except that mysterious Stage 4 person you know. You've given up giving unsolicited advice, mostly because it's futile. You have a gaggle of Stage 1 & 2's following you around at dog shows, which is nice because they always bring you food and help you carry your stuff. You teach classes, do private consultations, run a rescue or therapy group, or a dog club.

Stage 4: You've finally realized that you can't help the rest of them. They won't listen, so why waste your breath. You concentrate on your own dogs, and finally have time to really put on some titles. You are less involved in the club thing, mostly because you can't stand another meeting. You've heard all the controversies before and it's just so tedious. You don't give advice or opinions to anyone, even when asked. You suddenly realize you have become the mysterious stage 4....

I'm annoyed

Mom bought a new scanner. It's annoying, she's playing with it when she should be playing with me.

Anywho, here's a picture of her first dog, his name was Mr. Fish. He looks kinda cool, he's got a frisbee so he can't be all bad. She says he was a stray, and turned out to be tennis ball-obsessed and a great frisbee dog. We probably woulda been great bros.


This dude's name was "Fish", don't ask me why 

The Great Bath Mat Mystery

We have had some mysterious happenings around our house. Every night, I, because I am so good and brave, sleep loose in the bedroom. Mike and Jewel sleep in crates. Sometime when we are all asleep, someone or something sneeks in and rearranges the bath mats.
It's a mystery....  Mom is a little annoyed by having to fix them every morning. She says she can't imagine who would be doing this in the middle of the night.

Could it be a burgler? A dog? A cat? A squirrel? I have never seen anyone, but I will keep my eyes and ears open. I'll let you know what I find out.

PS: The black thing is my toy Hockey Puck from Planet Dog.

Playtime

I am playing with Jewel. She's the one with the pink collar. I don't wear pink. 


Jewel's pretending to get me. 


Get her! 


I'm gonna get you! 


How fast can I zoom without getting off the bed? 


Jewel has an unusual method of getting off the bed 

Relaxing on my place

Just relaxin' while my typist finishes up 

We haven't done too much lately. We do a little obedience every night. Tonight we did some heeling and outs to the tunnel. Why I should go past a perfectly good tunnel entrance to a different one is a mystery to me, but hey if that is what I must do to get a cookie then just point the way.

I am just relaxing a little before bedtime while the typist finishes my blog.