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!

The Horror, 2010 Edition

Thanks to Jen and Sheena for the great Santa pic.

Extreme Makeover, Part II

Rex has learned to do the teeter now.

His first session at full height:


And here's his next few sessions:


His first sequences with the teeter, weaves and jumps.


And from yesterday, more sequencing.  He's such a fun little guy to train.  Can't wait to run him in a trial!  But first, I guess we should learn the rest of the equipment.  :-)

All hail, the champions!

Congratulations to Patrick Shanahan and Riggs, the 2010 USBCHA National Champions.  This proves that nice guys CAN finish first.

Although I like to think I taught him everything he knows about double-lifts.  :-)

Extreme Makeover - Sheep Dog Edition

Hello. Rex the Dog here. You may know me from such hits as
Walking Gigantic Sheep Through Grass


or maybe you've seen me in Soaking in Tub Softly


How about my performance in Splendour in the Grass?


Well, I've embarked on a second career. Don't worry, I'm still doing the sheepie thing. But I'm also learning this new thing called agility. It's like doggy obstacle course. She Who Blows the Whistle gives me wieners and tells me I'm clever, so I like agility. To date, I've learned to jump the hurdles and to weave the poles.

At first, I just walked through a set of poles.


Then there were more poles.


And the wieners just kept coming!


Before I knew it, I was doing the weave pole shuffle, which makes She Who Whistles and Yells very happy.


Suddenly, there were a LOT of poles out there. Still, the wieners kept coming so I kept weaving.


Even in the rain, we practiced, which is weird because She normally does not let us outside when it rains.


So after a couple of weeks of training (though not every day, because She is too lazy/disorganized), I am now weaving 12 poles.


Apparently, I am going to learn to tip a teeter-totter next. Wick tells me I'm gonna get spray cheez, so I'm quite keen to get started!

But again, don't worry, my heart still belongs to the sheep. This is just a hobby, and a really good way to earn wieners!

Wick at the AAC Nationals

I've got some candid photos from our road trip, but this video summarizes how much fun we had in Calgary.

Wick at the AAC Nationals from Kristi Oikawa on Vimeo.

Thanks, Wick, for the wild ride. My life would suck without you.

USBCHA Finals - Webcast

The 2010 USBCHA Finals will be webcast live and FREE! Click on the poster below for more info.




From the Nationals website: For the first time ever, the USBCHA National Sheepdog Finals will be offered as a live streaming broadcast over the Internet. We will film and stream all of the semi-final runs on Saturday (40 runs) and all of Sunday's 17 runs in the double-lift finals. This web cast will be live, unedited, complete, and FREE. We hope you'll join us as we bring our sheepdog trials into the Web 2.0 age. Our partner in this endeavor is 5:00 Films, and we're delighted with them so far.

Catching up from Calgary

Another very delinquent post! Here are some pics from the Hilltop field trial. How late am I in getting these pics up? Well, I'm getting ready to head back to Calgary for the agility nationals. I will probably post those pictures sometime around December.

If I get packed for Calgary in a timely manner, then I will upload the photos and video from the Calgary Stampede stockdog shootout thingy.

Anywho....

Annual "wide open spaces" shot. Isn't it a purty field?


Not so purty were the Angry Ewes. "We are very angry. And we are going to take it out on your dog".


Louanne, the future is out there. :-)


I call this next series "Ladies Who Shed".

Louanne:


Chris:


Lee:


Lisa:


Shout out to Brother Nic!



Lou and I approach the post with some trepidation (and not a few bug bites):


Such ... big ... sheep ... (whimpers)


It was going pretty well until we lost them on the turn from the crossdrive panels.


That ain't right.


My heroes have always been cowboys. :-)

Run Wick Run!

I'm totally delinquent in putting these up but here are the photos of Wicky at the 2010 BC and Yukon Regional Championships. My little minx ran her heart out for me. She was competing as a 16" Vet for the first time (she's almost 10, I think) and she wasn't really sure why we were jumping such puny jumps. However, as she does at whatever height you jump her, she kept the bars up, made all her contacts, none of her gambles, and even managed to pick up a 2nd place in one of the Jumpers rounds. At the end of the event, she had about 405 points and is qualified for Nationals at Spruce Meadows.

Wick, you don't get enough training time, you don't get to trial enough, and I'm sure that sitting in the van at sheep dog trials is getting really boring. I will regret not spending more time on you, because I will never have as talented an agility partner again. You rock.

All photos courtesy of Wild Hare Photography.

Wick says "Srsly, I'm jumping sheltie height here. And who are you calling old?!?"


Wick has always been very camera-aware.


After 9 years, she still rubs her hair off in the poles.


Go Wicky!


Pictures like this make me want to tape her ears so that they're pointy. :-)

Dogs on Furniture

Collies as art. Or ... Rex, what the eff are you doing?

25/52, If Only You Knew How Much ...

25/52, If Only You Knew How Much ...
Originally uploaded by voteforbear

Whidbey Island SDT

We went to the Whibey Island SDT on the weekend. What a glorious place! Gorgeous views, great sheep, and a lovely field. The shedding ring was on a raised plateau and mowed like a putting green.

Hello, girls!


Lou takes it in from the peanut gallery.


Lorne Landry's Cassie.




Brian Nelson's Pleat.


Little Lucy on Saturday.






Some kind of hawk:



Lou is overcome with drowsies.