Bailey!

I went home for *counts* 20 hours so I could bring home some junk and go to the 4-H kick off meeting.

Bailey freaked out. She was unresponsive, spacey, stressed, etc. but we worked through it and she even *gasp* got comfortable enough to play with her frisbee, and tug with me! Then we did a rally course demo (with the frisbee in my back pocket... I treated a couple of times during and threw the frisbee at the end, she STILL wanted it! YIPPY!)

Then we practiced just heeling on the mats and she was ANIMATED, HAPPY, and just GREAT! We worked on a LOT and it was SUCCESSFUL work! We did some signal stuff (come, stand in motion, down, sit), retrieve, heeling... and she was just great!

I'm so excited now! We CAN do it, we just need to get out and practice!

I'm just so excited about Bailey, wish I would have had a camera because her gaze was fixated and her TURNS were like we'd practiced... she didn't bump me, forge... nothing, it was GRAND!

Go Bailey!!!

I think I've decided to come up to Duluth for a day (or weekend) in July when they have their big dog show. Since I've got a place to stay I might as well. Then if we're ready for obedience (possibility) we can show in that but we'll be doing rally if nothing else. Buzz will be in Novice B, and Bailey in Advanced A. Should be fun, and then we do APDT before the speciality!

NADAC April 21st

Today was pretty good. It was grand seeing all of our friends again... though my "plan" didn't go as planned (do they ever?). I thought we'd be running regular first, but we ran tunnelers... which showed I hadn't shown in a while! My handling was off and caused her to miss two tunnel entrances. We GOT them but I was just being weird... so we were over time by 4 seconds. That's ok though because she really had fun and was moving at the end.

Then we had regular and encountered weaves at the third obstacle. I asked her to enter them, she tried 'em, missed... called her back did the happy "yay! GOOD girl" when she came back and tried again... she was stressed *crap* so we went on. Tunnel, a frame, jump, tunnel was part of the couse then we took the last jump and she led me to her treats. It worked well, she was VERY happy and it was grand. Just wish we coulda done that first.

It was fabulous seeing everyone again. I miss them all SO much, they're SO nice and awww... it was just great. I wish I was going again tomorrow but my dogs are pooped (though Buzz didn't run we worked quite a bit at the trial), groomed, and Bailey even had a bath... it was a BUSY day!

I want more agility and class and friends! But now I need to buckle down for finals... *sigh*

Random Ramblings...

So, as I sit to write things for my dreaded math portfolio... of course my mind goes to the dogs!

Everytime I think about who to enter in what for the TCVESSA Speciality, I just contradict myself. I hate wasting money, so I don't want to enter too much stuff where I know I'd miss a ring time. Last year I just entered altered sweeps one day and then obed/rally the next. That worked fine I guess but I want to do more. It's my goal to do rally both days. The current proposed plan is this:

(Speciality only on Thursday and Friday but supported entries on Saturday and Sunday)
Thursday: Bailey in altered sweeps and Rally

Friday: Bailey in Rally and Obedience; Buzz in Rally

Saturday: Bailey in Agility (STD & JWW) and Rally

Now, I REALLY need to think if this will stress my dog out too much. The reason Buzz is only entered once is because it'll probably take me all summer to be confident enough to enter him in Advanced again. We have a LOT of work to do. Therefore, if I don't think he's ready, we'll enter in Novice B "for fun" and I'll use it for training. But if he is magically ready, then I don't want to overdo it. ONE day will be PLENTY. Bailey stresses SO easily. I don't want to do too much but she LOVES Rally! And it's GREAT for building her confidence because she has yet to NOT enjoy herself in Rally. Depending on what this summer looks/feels like weather-wise I'll see if we actually enter agility. It's outdoors on grass, and really nice but if it's hot, she's NOT going to have fun or run well so that'd be a total bust and stupid on my part.

I just can't wait to WORK with my dogs regularily again and enjoy them! Hopefully we'll have a grand summer and I can post training stuff instead of my ramblings that stop me from doing my homework...

some pictures

Hard work pays off... we're getting better! The dog that I never thought could hold a square stack, is now almost able to. We need to work on a little more enthusiasm and a little less concentration then the whole image will be better. Just ignore the scraggly dog... I stripped her out but was too lazy to do anything with the top coat except near her tail. Someday soon I'll do a full groom and more photos. I love seeing how she's progressed.

One of Buzz's favorite past times (from this summer).



And then Bailey just sticks her whole head in there!


We LOVE our agility instructor, and this is how we wished her happy birthday! I was so proud of my dog that day and it's all thanks to her!

ramblings

It's been another one of those "dangerous thinking days" here at college. Inbetween the occasional burst of being productive school-wise I've been thinking about "dog stuff" as my friends would say.

I had plans to finish Bailey's CDX by the end of the year, but in light of recent developments... I think we'll be lucky to finish her CD. Not that I don't think she has the potential, but I don't have the money to bring her to the classes we both need. So, we'll continue to play around, and I'm still thinking about what our schedule at the TCVESSA speciality will be like.

As of now, I just want to find a close show where we can go one day to do rally. She's enjoyed that a LOT so far and is much more relaxed in that ring. I need to find run throughs and good classes before we enter the obedience rings again. She's fully capable, except for those nerves and my novice-ness. We're learning together though.

She is entered on the 21st in NADAC. We're gonna go play in TUNNELS! I'm very excited about that especially since we will hopefully be running regular first. I have PLANS to pull her off the course to a BIG CHICKEN PARTY! This will probably be after the weaves unless they're at the end. It'll really depend on the course as to what I do.

I'm sure we'll have tons of fun, espcially since we'll get to see our friends again!