Video post

When you're too lazy to blog.  :-)

My girl, Wick, at the K9 Cliffhanger trial last weekend.  Didn't get the gambles, but still lots of good stuff from my crazy dog.

Lou and Rex swirling around in slow-motion.

And the Rexxon Valdez, also at the K9 Cliffhangers trial from last week.  Or, as he is more formally known, Rex ADC SGDC.  Yes!  We have achieved alphabet soup!

Welcome to 2012!

Happy New Year!  May it be your best year ever!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Two days of awesome at Fido's Farm

The dogs and I headed south to Olympia, WA, for 4 hours of lessons with Scott Glen.  The lessons were held at Fido's Farm, a literal doggy paradise with huge fields, small pens, and everything in between ... and lovely, not-dog-broke sheep!  North Country Cheviots, to be precise.  I love their bunny ears!

The traffic was non-existent, so we got to our lesson over 1.5 hours early.  The dogs had a nice run in one of the fields.

When two worlds collide:  Hello Kitty meets Alta Pete - Aim High versus Do What You Can!

One of the highlights of any trip - Red Lobster!  So good, I couldn't even save a biscuit for the dogs.  

Lou was zonked from his lesson.

Wick was zonked from ... who knows what?  But it's always a good thing when Wick is sleeping, so we won't analyze root cause.

At the end of our lessons on Tuesday, Scott was nice enough to pose with the Hello Kitty stick.  He is an awfully good sport.

Wick got to do a little agility in the sun.  At 11 years old, she still has a ton of go.

The collies bid farewell to Fido's.  What a glorious sunny day!

Seattle's skyline always makes me smile.

Scooby Snacks make me smile too!

And perhaps the biggest score - massive sale on Coach bags at the outlet store!

It was a fantastic two days with Scott.  His understanding of dogs, sheep, combined with his timing ... let's just say he can make my dogs look pretty good.  I've got some things to work on with both the boys, and hopefully we're turning the corner on Rex's angst/tension driving.  Lou and Rex really enjoyed practicing shedding on the lovely, sheddable Cheviots.  It doesn't get much better than private shedding lessons with a man who OWNS the shed.  If you have the chance to attend a clinic, or take lessons, I can't recommend him highly enough.  I understand that he will be the next instructor for the Online Sheep Dog Training Course and I am so signing up!

Oh, one of the fun things about Fido's is that they've got agility equipment too.  I rented one of the rings and ran Wick and Rex through a few sequences.  For Rex, it was his first time seeing some of the equipment (slatted dogwalk, rigid tire).  Even though he must have been tired after his sheep lesson, I thought he did great!  Even ignored the sheep in all the paddocks surrounding the agility ring.  What a good little dog.

TMT November 3

1. What are you thankful for this week?This week, I am thankful for miracles and Good Samaritans.  My boss and his wife were in a horrible plane crash and they literally were pulled from the burning wreckage by people who jumped out of their cars and ran into the fire.  Because of these brave men, my friends are alive and should make a full recovery.
2. How do you deal with a squeaker/shrieker/noisy dog?My Bear dog was a bit of a squeaker.  I guess I dealt with it by sighing deeply.  :-)
3. What would you say is ONE skill or attribute needed to be successful? I think that you need to be prepared.  Like a boy scout.  Was it boy scouts that were prepared?  Or was it the cubs?  Beavers?  Brownies?  Mmmmm .... brownies .....  What was the question again?
4. What are your favorite games?My dogs like Charge of the Light Brigade, where they storm out of a door and run in a straight line AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.  Then they return to me, their benevolent dictator, and line up, waiting to be sent again.  It's a stupid game but they like it.  I like Texas Hold 'Em but I giggle when I have a good hand, so I'm pretty easy to beat.  I also am not good at holding my cards in a discreet manner and often get reprimanded by the dealer.  I should probably only play online.
5. What are some of your strategies for dealing with winter?My strategy is living in a place that doesn't really have winter.  In Vancouver, we have "it's raining" and "it's not raining".  We've entered the "it's raining" season, and my coping strategy is to cover up the white leather couch with a series of unattractive blankets.  Hopefully, this will see us through to next July, when "it's not raining" starts.

May the Force Be With You ... always

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi

She's lost her mind

Ashamed, I am.

Do or do not.  There is no try.  Though I am trying really hard to go to my happy place.

Come to the Dark Side!

We have cookies!

Even Lord Vader needs to nap.

Falling into Fall

It must be Fall on the West Coast.  The leaves are turning, the grass has been cut for what I hope to be the last time, and we've got only one more agility trial this year.

At the last trial, Rex missed two dogwalks (gasp!), so I thought I'd run him over it a few times, as well as work on a few other things.  Hopefully, he remembers some of this stuff at the trial this weekend.