Unveiling the Masterpiece!

Well, not a masterpiece, and still very much a work in progress, but Rex debuted his much-documented running dogwalk this past weekend at the Kee-Gigg trial in Cloverdale.  The first one was a horrible toenail-in-the-yellow, but the other five were quite nice.  He did a lot of good things and I'm really thrilled with where he is at this nascent point in his agility career.  He earned Qs in 4 of 6 runs.

Atta boy, Rex!

And then there is Miss Wicky, who once again ran very very well.  I don't have much video of her because I'm kinda superstitious and it seems like every time I have the video going, she has a horrible run (or I break my nose).  So though there's no evidence of it, she picked up Qs in each of Snooker, Steeplechase and .... Gamblers!  She almost Q'ed the other Steeplechase.  In AAC, an off-course in Steeplechase is a 20 second time penalty.  Well, Wick went off-course (into a tunnel - how strange) and still almost qualified as she was 19 seconds under time.  That would have been so awesome!  Oh well.

Here are the agility dogs in their keen harnesses.  Lou is hiding somewhere in the house, ashamed of his lack of harness.  :-)

Whidbey Island Sheep Dog Trial

We travelled to Susan Crocker's gorgeous property on Whidbey Island for a sheep dog trial.  We found a fantastic little cabin for rent, with a stunning view of the ocean:

If you are looking for a nice weekend retreat, check them out!

Aside from a stunning view, there were these cute little things on the lawn:

The trial field, while gorgeous, is not conducive to great sheep-and-dog photos so instead, here are some random ear photos.

Wick's awesome airplane ears.  

Lou tries uppy-ears on for size:

Oh ... Rex ...

But the best ears belonged to the donkeys.

Nomnomnomnomnom ...

So that's about it.  Lou had some very odd outruns, and his Sunday lift was, er, backwards.  On the bright side, he had two lovely fetches, so we will dismiss the outruns as just a mere blip and we will not at all entertain the thought that, at 9, he has entered the crazy years.  :-)

Lou says he's not crazy, he just wanted to try something different.  

And now if you don't mind, he's tired and would like to nap.

My latest obsession

**  With apologies to those of you who have already been (over)exposed to this on Facebook**

I don't teach my dogs very much.  They need to come when called, stay when told, and not lick.  That's it.   I'm a regular dog whisperer.

But every now and again, something catches my fancy, and I think "Hey, I think I'd like to train THAT".  Further, it seems that I like to teach things that meet the following criteria:

• Require purchase of expensive equipment (such as a dogwalk)
• Require purchase of training aids (such as smaller, fancier HD camcorder and a Manners Minder)
• Can be trained in my backyard 
• Can be tracked on overly complex Excel spreadsheet

Luckily, the running dogwalk met all these criteria and so much more!  Other benefits that are just icing on the cake:

• Learned that I was incredibly out of shape and vowed to change my ways (this is a work in progress)
• Convinced the neighbours that I am, in fact, insane (Gogogogogogogogo yay for you!!!!!)
• Found out that Wick can send to equipment such as dogwalks if I, say, practiced it every once in a while

So here it is, the short version of  Rex's Running Dogwalk Diary:

For those that truly have too much time on their hands, here is a painstaking, session by session account.  We'll see how it all works this weekend when Rex debuts his much-documented dogwalk at the Kee-Giggs agility trial.

Not a very good blogger

Well, I guess I'm not too good at this blogging thing.  And by not good, I mean I suck.  But I'm going to try a little harder, and will even venture to say that I will post at least once a week.  Ish.

The sheepdoggery has been going well.  Lou and Rex competed at Lee's Stirling Acres trial.  Rex was very naughty his first PN run (resulting in me running up the field, screaming thinly veiled threats).

His second run was better, and but for a bit of craziness at the beginning of the cross-drive, I was pretty happy.  Rex was happy he got to pen.  The sheep were happy that Rex didn't turn into a wolf.  A whole lotta #winning all around.

Oh, and Rex's momma and brother were at the trial.  Brother Nic had a spectacular run in Open 1, with a 92.  Momma Trax won Open 2, with an impeccable run.  Rex is clearly the underachiever in the family. :-)

Lou was lovely, as only Lou can be.  Neither run placed, but he gave me his all.  At 9, I am afraid that his days of charging up hills to bring me a sheep may be numbered.  Yet he still had a beautiful gather, even if he had to slow to a trot a few times to catch his breath!  It's ok, Lou, you're still the king!

Wick says she's really glad that we missed the agility regionals so that the boy dogs could run up a field to get sheep.  Yup, super use of the weekend.  Judging by the number of rodent-like things that Wick dispatched at Coldstream Ranch, I'd say she was in a bad mood.  Maybe 'cause she read this sign.

This weekend, we're off to the Whidby Island SDT.  Only running King Lou because I don't want to stay over for Monday, when PN runs.  The field for this trial is spectacular, and we're staying at a B&B that also looks very nice.  So if nothing else, it should be pretty!