Agility in Perry!

Over New Year's Weekend, Gracie and I got to go to a USDAA trial in Perry. It was our first time there. A bit of a long drive, so we only went on Friday and Sunday.

Mum entered Gracie in three runs per day, and me in just Gamblers and Snooker to try and get those last few Q's for my ADCH.

Well, I got the first days gamble, but took a little wrong turn, so I was over time in the gamble area, but Mum was super proud! It was a bit of a toughie, two jumps to the right, then into the chute, then I needed to come out of the chute to the left and take a couple of more jumps. Went into the gamble and took the first jump, then I veered to the left and had to come back to take the second jump. Then I took the chute and came out going right instead of left, but Mum got me on track and I took the last couple of jumps, but the buzzer went off before that last jump. So close!

Mum planned out my snooker, but didn't plan very well, so no Snooker on the first day. Rats!

Gracie ran her three runs on Friday - Standard, Snooker and Jumpers. She was pretty wild on her first run, and ran off, but came back. She also wouldn't have anything to do with the teeter, despite the fact she and Mum had worked on it all week before. And there was a teeter in the snooker, so no Q there either. She ran off from Mum in the Jumpers, but Mum got her back and she zoomed through the last 6 obstacles, taking jumps way in front of Mum with go ons. But it took too much time to get her back and she was over time by about one second. But Mum was proud of that last go with Gracie!

We rested on Saturday, and then headed back on Sunday.

Same runs for both of us on Sunday. Gracie ran her Standard and was absolutely perfect and amazing through the first half of the run - the jumps, frame, DW and table (with a super quick down). Then came the teeter which flipped her out, and she ran off again. But Mum got her back.

Then she ran her Snooker and Jumpers, both fairly speedy and super nice! Gracie came out with two first places in those two runs, good girly! Mum wanted to sing it to the rooftops, along with background music provided by guitars with a yamaha fc5 of course!

I had Gamblers and Snooker again. Mum's opening plan and our run for the Gamblers in the opening was perfection, but I didn't get the right ques from her on the gamble, rats again!

Then she planned out my snooker, it was a long one. In the opening she planned two sixes and a five. The closing was a tunnel to tunnel, with two jumps right in between. But we maneuvered it all fine. The seven in the closing was a jump, six weaves, jump. Just as I was about to go take the very last jump, the buzzer went off. So I got 44 points, and the two SQ's got 40 points, I was fourth. So close!

But we had a super time, met some new people too!

We think Gracer really did well this past weekend. She now has two snooker Q's and one jumpers Q in PI.

Icy mud!

Have you ever seen icy mud?


We did last week! It's been raining a lot here recently, but not cold enough for snow.

One morning, Gracie and I went out in the morning to do our business, and started feeling all this weird, ouchy stuff under our feet. The rain had caused the mud in our back fenced area to be all jagged, and then it got cold overnight and turned those jagged parts to upside down icicles!

We needed some scanner software to get a bigger, better pic for you, but here it is! Ouchy stuff!

Just a dusting, but snow fun nonetheless!

Well, wadda ya know? It snowed last week!

Lucky us, who drove three hours back and forth to Perry for Agility the weekend just before, are very grateful the weather decided to be super nice and wait to snow until we got home!

We didn't get much, about 1/2 inch, but it was enough to give a nice white cover; and a white background for a pose shot.

Of course, Gracie and I had a good wrestle...look closely, I'm arroooing for my life here!

And a good attempt at a tumble...'bringing you down, Gracie!'

It was a snow boxing match, it was! Gotta watch Gracie's right hook, it's nasty!

Then after, a nice time for a little bird watching break...

And then time for treats! And the official 1st snow photo of the year!

We are really glad that we got a little snow! But we expect more in the next month or two.

Many of the locals say that we should expect one big snow dump, about 10 inches or so sometime each winter. Sounds like fun! Maybe then we can get a super nice pic, totally suitable for the next xbox 360 new release on snow dogs...bring it on!

Did you get any snow last week?

Dogs looking to Crash the Super Bowl!

It looks like dogs, and even human agility, may be Crashing the Super Bowl this year!

Here are two of the five finalist of the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest; two of them are in line to air during this year's Super Bowl broadcast. The Super Bowl is being in our old hometown of Indianapolis, Sunday, February 5th at Lucas Oil Stadium!

So, go vote and let's show 'em how great agility is!

Going somewhere?

Took us a while, but Mum finally gave me a shot at the suitcase trick!

I have to say, being in a small confined space and being still really isn't my cup of tea, but Mum helped me to enjoy it as much as possible. Turned out, it wasn't so bad and I kind of really liked it after a while.

Here's my first real try.

Fun stuff!

Mum let Gracie have a go and it was definitely something she liked, she just didn't fit in the suitcase as well as I did, BOL! Maybe she'd be better served as a TSA agent and she can 'discover' me.

I think she would be much better suited for one of those Dishwasher Jobs, you know licking the plate and all? She'd really like that!

She's gonna keep trying though with the suitcase and see how 'small' she can get in there! She liked it :).

Happy Howlidays!

Our little agility yard!

I thought I'd give you a little peek at our mountain agility yard!

Our back 'yard' has a really big deck on the back of the cabin, beyond that is a lower level, and then a big berm that goes up and makes an upper level.

Here on the north side of the berm we have our jumps, good for working on distance, 'cause Mum can't run beside the jumps very well, not a lot of room.

Then going down the berm, which is just about the same grade as a down dogwalk, we have our dogwalk training board. Works really well taking the jumps, then working the dogwalk with distance as Mum stays on the berm.


On the south side berm we have our teeter, and on the lower level our weave poles. The space around the weaves is pretty tight and makes for good independent weave training and rear cross entries.

Further out from the weaves (out of the photo to the right) are a couple of jumps. Mum likes to send me out to the jumps and weaves and then run on the other side of the trees next to the weave poles. More great distance work.

There are a lot of 'obstacles' among our obstacles! I keep telling Mum she needs to look into Doctors medical malpractice insurance, just in case, BOL! But we like it just the way it is, and the neat thing is that all those 'obstacles' among our obstacles makes for newer and different challenges!

Stick!

More fun with sticks, BOL! Oh yeah! Gimme, gimme, gimme!


Sticks have become Gracie's preferred major reward for doing the teeter!

Go Gracie!

Lucky us sticks are readily available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for miles and miles and miles! I think we need one of those super cool funny t shirts with Gracie's big mouth and sell it on eBay. What do you think?

Raining here a lot the past few days, so no stick fun for us until it drys out soon. Weather is looking very mild for the Holidays. We're going to have some special food and presents Mum says. Can't wait!

Congratulations to the winners of the AKC Agility Invitational!

We want to extend our congratulations to the winners of the AKC Agility Invitational held this past weekend in Orlando.

2011 AKC Agility Invitational Winners - From Left to Right:
24" Class - Yvonne Mancino & Doberman Pinscher "Flare"
20" Class - Karen Barrattt & Bearded Collie "Miller"
16" Class - Stephen Carazo & Australian Cattle Dog "Rogue"
12" Class - Cathi Winkles & Poodle "T"
8" Class - Dana Pike & All American "Tangle"

Important links:
Final Round Results
Full Results
Courses
Videos

Photo and information courtesy of the American Kennel Club.

Fun with friends!

When we were at agility practice last Sunday, we got to run with our best agility bud, Cosmo!

His Mum and he joined us for practice, and then we got to meet one of our first Twitter buddies too, Anna from Happy Healthy Pup came to watch Cosmo, Gracie and I run our last runs.

It was so great to meet her! She's a positive dog trainer in Atlanta, and also does body work and consults for nutrition and healing. She even brought all three of us treats too! How cool is that!

Anna was kind enough to give me a little body once over and was happy to report that all my muscles, joints and alignment felt really good. Not bad for not having an adjustment since last April! Mum knows I'm feeling good, especially with my new supplement. It really seems to be keeping me nice and loose.

Whoa, Anna, whatcha touching there?

We took a few minutes to get some nice photos of all of us. Here are the three musketeers - Cosmo, Gracie and JoJo.

And here we are with Anna!


After all the photo taking we went for a nice little walk together, then the humans headed out for a nice early dinner and socialization while we took naps in the car.

It was a long, super fun day with super fun friends. Sure hope we get to do it again real soon!

Practice last Sunday!

Gracie and I were lucky enough to get to go to agility practice again last Sunday!

We both got to run three times.

My runs were pretty good! Mum was happy with my enthusiasm and speed.

Gracie got to run too. Mum had her run the excellent level course. She's still got a few issues with the teeter, which we can work on more at home. And we found out she needs discrimination work with the dogwalk and the tunnel. But overall nice little runs from the Gracer!

Squirrels, how dare they?

Those squirrels, how dare they?

Seems like they've built their home right next to my fence. Neighbors....can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, I guess.

Here's an up-closer view of their little home/nest.

And this shows just how close they are to my fence! Yes, I said my fence! You can see the nest way up at the top on that tree that's leaning.

Ha! Maybe that tree will fall down in the next big storm and I can finally get rid of my squirrel-y neighbor! Or I could have Mum get some smith equipment and take care of the little bugger that way, BOL!

The best dog videos of 2011!

There were some pawsome videos released this year. Dogs of all shapes and sizes entertained us, made us laugh, warmed our hearts and made us cry.

Here's our list of the best dog videos of 2011!

There were so many good vids shared online this year, we couldn't just stop with these few. So check out below our Honorable Mentions and more! I think, these pups sure do deserve for someone to buy gold bars online from Golden Eagle to reward them, or at least get some nice doggie biscuits, BOL! Don't ya think?

Honorable Mention!

Nevada the Diving Dog
Jub Jub Nose How to Balance
Living with an English Mastiff
Uchida Geinousha -- handler of the most jumping rope
Gus vs Pool
2011 Dog reacts to Earthquake in the Washington DC Metro Area
Throw the stick!
Biscuit the Climbing Dog

Vids with a message!

Dog Trainer Saves Dog with CPR
Coffey & Cujo vs. Stachelhalsband
Will Young - Come On

For the agility and dog sport nut!

Lee Windeatt Weave Proofing 2011
Dogs in Motion
Horse Agility
Richie - Cat Agility
Tereza Králová and Nice vs. Lisa Frick and Hoss - jumping large (AWC2011)
Dog vs Sheep Trick Showdown
Sue Runs Zip in Wheelchair for Glory Run at Five Flags Agility Trial 12-3-11

Best commercial.

Lotto 'Lucky Dog'

Rainy day fun!

We had lots and lots of rain here today! But it was nice enough to stop, just in time for our biggest play time of the day after dinner.

Everything was muddy out, so we had some fun on the back deck.

Hey, look at that, I have a cold!!!! BOL!

It's supposed to get colder here in the next few days, may even need some fleece jackets!

Hope all of you up north and even west are staying warm, and those east and north of us are staying dry!

We're hoping that if Mum doesn't have to work too much, we may get to go hiking this weekend. Sunny and in the 50's sounds pretty nice to me!