Feedly, yes yes yes

I love Google Reader, but it's being discontinued. I searched around for an alternative and found Feedly.

Feedly is amazing. I added a category on there called "Dog Agility Bloggers".  Pretty much everyone is there. Well, except me, but I don't post anything worth reading!  Except maybe some cute pictures?

Anyway, I do highly recommend subscribing to the Dog Agility Bloggers feed. You will learn a lot!  Whatever feed reader you choose, it will be worth your time.

<< Ki says Ping has waaaay too much energy for a Friday morning.

Friday night lights

Around here, Friday night is pizza puppy night. Ping went for a stroll outside on leash. Since she is from the country, she isn't really used to leash walking. It's so interesting watching her react to what she sees. We went only as far as the next house, then across the street to visit a friendly neighbor.  She was unsure of the cars, and really unsure of motorcycles, and really really unsure of the stupid kid with the motorized skateboard (good judgement call there, Ping!).  She was not at all afraid of the rattly old truck thought -- clearly she's seen that before, and she followed it with her eyes trying to see who might be in it.

We also worked on crate games a very little. Mostly tonight we worked on NOT JUMPING UP ON MOM.  She prefers to jump up and bite at my nose when she is very pleased.  I prefer a sit!

Crate games

It has been crazy busy here with Ping our new Border Collie puppy. It is Good Thing that puppies are so fun to train because otherwise we would kill the little darlings.

Ping and I are on day 3 of crate games. We've had about 6 mini-sessions in all.  As of tonight, she is starting to accelerate to the crate and I am increasing distance. As of this last session, I started naming it "get in yer crate!". It's a long name but something I'll actually remember.

After crate games I took Ping and Ki out to the yard to destress. As I predicted, the office is a hot spot and it will be a long time before they can be together in there. If ever. BCs are funny about resources, and the office hangout's a big one.

I did a free shaping session later with a small stool. It took a little zen time on my part, but eventually she look toward-ish the stool and in a short time she was standing on it.

Leash practice is up next. She doesn't really know how to walk on a leash at all. It's tough though -- she is at 5 months, dead center of the secondary fear period, and she's not used to traffic. I keep it very low key in my driveway and use chikin'. She likes her chikins.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Last Friday I drove up to Redding with the two Labs, Splash and Jewel, and Ki-Ki. We stayed with our friend Beth and her two mini-Aussies, her Border Collie Paige, and her foster dog Retta.  The next morning we loaded up my crew and Retta and drove to Bend. It's a lot further than I thought! It took almost five hours each way.

Ping breeder lives in Smith Rock State Park. Like, right in the park.  Here's what it looks like there.  Beautiful area.

We got the new girl and started the long drive home. We didn't get back to Redding until after 10 pm. Beth's dogs were very happy to see her!

We slept in a bit the next morning, then I loaded all FOUR dogs up and we hit the road to Sacramento.  Go in about 2pm and went straight out to the yard with all the dogs to get used to one another.

I did some clicker loading Sunday night, and on Monday started working on free shaping. I got a sit and a down. We worked in the yard on some weeding and just spending time together.

Starting early Monday morning, Ping had some problems with diarrhea. It got progressively worse through Monday early afternoon, and then she starting vomiting. We headed off to the vet and she got fluids, Lomotile and Flaygal.   We did a full screening including culture.  Preliminary results show giardia, which makes sense since Ping was a country dog.

Today, I re-watched the crate games video.  We did stage 1 and 2.  I was unable to use the leash, as Ping is in no way leash trained. She thought the leash was a toy and a reward.  Since she's so good off leash (country dog!), I took the leash out of the picture for now. I have to work on walking on a leash as a separate trick. Once we have that, I'll add the leash back into the crate game.

Another one!!!

We are all loading up in the car in a few minutes to go get our new puppy, Ping. Ping is an almost 5 month old Border Collie female.

Splash will be TEN YEARS OLD on May 13!  It's hard to believe I've had him that long, and that I've had a blog almost as long.  I remember the old Dogs With Blogs group, we were one of the first. Our first great friends were Cal the WonderDog, and Johann The Dog.  How time flies.

Ki is now 4 1/2 and he is doing well in agility. He would be doing much better if he wasn't saddled with a crappy handler. We are working hard to become a smooth team. Ki is very sensitive to the least motion, and I think his job in life is to force me to be a smooth, consistent, and reliable teammate.

However, it's time to get a new pup going.

In class just two weeks ago, I mentioned to my instructor, Kathie Leggett, that I was starting the search for my next pup.  She said she'd look for me and see if there was any litters upcoming.  The next day, she emailed me about a lone pup left from a litter born last November!  The litter was bred by an old friend who did agility at one time. Nowadays she uses her Border Collies on sheep and cattle.

The little girl pup with the panda markings was spoken for, but the woman had some medical problems and in the end it just didn't work out.

We haven't even met Ping yet...we are heading out today to go meet her!  So exciting! Except for Ki who will Not Be Pleased.

I'll post photos soon!