My latest agility trial!

Weekend before last, we attended a USDAA trial in a new location at a horse farm near Canton.

We hadn't entered on Saturday since they didn't have Snooker on that day (for me). And it was a very good thing we didn't because it rained, and rained, and rained, all day. The trial was outside on grass and those poor folks were soaked to the gills!

It was still raining on Sunday, but by that time they moved the trial into an open air horse arena with the oddest flooring we've ever seen....a combination of carpet bits and sand. Have to say it may have been different, but all of us dogs loved running on it!

This was a small one ring trial, so Mum only entered me in Snooker on Sunday, and entered Gracie in Standard and Gamblers. Well Gracie had her two runs before me and sure to her 'modus operandi' at new places, she was pretty unfocused. She came back to Mum every time, but Mum had a lot of trouble getting her to do more than three or four obstacles in a row and she would run off a couple of times during her runs. But, DOG, was she having fun!

There was a wall length mirror on one wall of the arena, and Gracie would stop and look at herself one or two times during the runs. Folks told Mum she was admiring herself, but Mum knows Gracie better; she thought it was another dog she could play with, goofy sis.

Snooker was the last event of the day and Mum knew we had to go for it, yet again, to try and get that SQ we need. Many folks had pulled from the trial so there were only about four 16'" dogs and one 12" dog running. And they are all very good, young and speedy.

Mum and I went for four of the five reds with a 7, 6, 5 and 4. It was nice and flowing, a couple of tunnels, six weaves and the rest just one jumps. I ran really, really well; nice and speedy, until Mum came up to the red after the five and got too close to it, so I refused it. She did the same thing on the 2 going into the close and yes, I refused that one too. (That's the result of my current Gamble bubble problem.)

I finally went over those jumps but the refusals cost us some time...time I needed to get through the tunnel, six weaves, tunnel closing and the buzzer went off as I was going into the last tunnel which would have given me 53 points. So I ended up with 46.

That gave me second place in the 16" class. No 16" got the SQ, it went to the one in the 12" height that got the 53 points.

So for the eighth time, I got second place in Snooker going for that elusive SQ. Mum counted up my Snooker Q's and she thinks I have a total of about 12 now. So when I get the last SQ, I may also get my Snooker Champion (maybe even the Bronze, depending on how much longer this takes) title at the same time. (Friend, Elf, will know more about those metal titles that Mum knows :).

The nice thing is that lots and lots of our new friends ran up and told us what a great run it was...and that they are certain we'll get that SQ soon. Mum felt really good about her strategy too, and if not for the two refusals, we would have had those 53 points. We also know we'll get it, since I'm running really, really well, just a matter of time. Mum was super proud of how I ran this run, super proud!

Next trial may be in August, or we may take a day and drive three hours up to TN for a day in June/July...not sure yet. But I am ready!

Wordless Wednesday!

Oh, I think Columbia needs to sign me up!

Book Review: The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs by Nick Trout

You may remember the book 'Tell Me Where it Hurts' by Nick Trout. Even though it was published back in 2009, we remember reading it a few years ago. We got it from the local library and really enjoyed it.

Now Nick Trout has released another book that we highly recommend.

"The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs' is a really quick, fun and entertaining read. And no it won't make you cry (since I've been asked that a lot lately :).

'The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs' will make you giggle on occasion, wonder what's around the corner, and in the end say...awwwwww. It's a feel good book, through and through."

It's the story of Dr. Cyrus Mills, son of a long time, small town, well respected vet in a fictional town in Vermont. After inheriting the veterinary practice following the death of his father, Cyrus takes over the practice with one goal in mind...to get the heck out of dodge.

But the lives of dogs, cats and those in need takes over, Cyrus' endearing, caring and concerned nature takes over, and he learns that life in a small town has it's advantages with both two and four leggers; and maybe, just maybe you're really home at last.

We think you'll enjoy the book! It's a recommend for your summer reading list. Get the 'The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs' on Amazon, or get the Kindle version!

And, thanks to the nice folks at Hyperion (click to read an excerpt) for sending us a free copy of 'The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs' for reading and reviewing!

Split nails hurt like heck!

Gracie and I were zoomin' around the cabin last week with Mum cheering us on, when suddenly Gracie didn't finish her last lap.

Mum went around the cabin looking for her and found her in her 'dug up dirt cool spot' and she started licking at her back foot. Mum looked down and saw blood all over Gracie's pinkie toe.

Mum took Gracie inside to take a look and saw that Gracie's pinkie toe nail was split almost half way down. Ouch!!! Out came the first aid kit, peroxide to clean the ouch, Traumeel cream to numb just a tad and help heal it up. And then she added the dreaded vet wrap.

Mum was able to later look even closer at Gracie's nail and noticed her toe was very red, sort of bruised, at the base of the nail. Which probably means that Gracie got the nail caught and got it twisted too. Big ouch! Since I've had a dislocated toe before, Mum was sure checked to see if the toe was dislocated or broken, just in case. But Gracie didn't show any signs of either.

Over the next few days Gracie had to go out with her foot wrapped up (something she did not like) with one of Mum's socks tied up to her hock to keep it on.

Since Gracie was signed up for a trial on Sunday, we weren't sure she could run, and decided to just wait and see. Mum could always see if she handled Gamblers well (with just jumps, tunnels, chute) and then see how she felt for Standard and hitting some of the contact obstacles.

By Saturday, Gracie was feeling better and even let Mum trim a little off the nail, and dremel a little to make it smoother, so she wouldn't get it caught on anything.

So off we went to the trial on Sunday. A good friend of ours watched Gracie in Gamblers to see how she was handling her toe during the run and neither one of us saw any discomfort.

Mum ran her in Standard and even though Gracie was a kind of unfocused, she took her nice running dog walk like a pro, even hitting the contact! Woo hoo!

Here's a photo of her nail today (it's really dirty since she just came inside from the morning jaunt, and is ready for more dremeling). But it's looking real good and doesn't even bother her if Mum touches, now.

She healed that split nail up really quickly! Split nails can be very bad if split further down than Gracie's, even to the point of having to have a vet take the nail out. So glad we didn't have to go there!

Tree felling day!

We've been keeping our eye on this tree since we arrived at the cabin last April. 

About a month ago, it lost one of it's major limbs. With all the wind storms we get on top of our mountain we started getting a lot of concerns about this tree, especially after one of the storms had 60 mph winds for well over 12 hours. That was a very long night!

A couple of weeks ago the tree fellers showed up and took down that tree. Look at that guy way, way, way up there! You sure couldn't get Mum to do that!

They topped off another tree near our fence line that had been hit by lightening before we moved in. Good guys, they just missed my weave poles!

And there was one other big pine that was leaning toward the cabin, and surely would have taken out the roof if it would have fallen. They barely topped this one off and fell this over 70 footer toward the road. It was very, very cool and felt a little like a man made earthquake. We barked!

Later in the afternoon we had a few remains that needed cleaning up, so Gracie got busy!

"What?!? I'm just cleaning up after the tree trimmers!' ~Gracie

Book review: 'Unsaid' by Neil Abramson

I've got a pretty good list of favorite books of the year, and I just added one!

'Unsaid,' by Neil Abramson, is one of the most powerful, heartwarming, thought provoking, moving books we've read. It will make you dig deep into your relationships and understanding of all animals, whether they are your 'best friends' or the many species of four-leggers you may experience and encounter in your life.

Helene, a veterinarian and wife of David, a high powered attorney in New York, had escorted hundreds of animals to the 'other side.' But when she dies, she haunts and is haunted by the life she had to leave behind, including the myriad of rescues and the husband now charged with their care.

The story centers around Cindy, a chimpanzee who Helena helped teach sign language, and who may hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of animal communication and understanding. When David takes on the case to save Cindy much is learned and garnered about the value of life and the human/animal bond.

We highly recommend this book as part of your planned summer reads, you won't be disappointed!

Get the book on Amazon, hardcover $9.60, or for your Kindle for only $3.79.

Special thanks to the publishers at Center Street and Hatchett Book Group for providing us a free copy of Unsaid to us to read and review!

The new JohannTheDog!

Mum and I are super excited to show off the newly redesigned and improved JohannTheDog.com!!!

Over several weeks I helped Mum redesign and paw out some of the pawsomest products I found on the Internet; from dog agility gear, clothing, trial and training gear to cool dog beds, dog collars and harnesses, bowls, tough dog toys, plush dog toys, interactive and intelligent dog toys and much more!

Go check it out, and remember when you click on one of the links you'll be taken to the store that carries that product for purchasing. And if you purchase through JohannTheDog.com, we get a little commission that helps keep our site up and running and keeps us recommending all the super cool dog stuff we find! Then 10% of what we make we donate to dog shelters and rescues in need!

So be sure and bookmark JohannTheDog.com for all your dog shopping needs!

A few weekends of agility!

Over the past month or so, Mum, Gracie and I have competed in a few USDAA trials!

One in Gainesville, one in Canton, and one in Alpharetta. Since I'm working on my ADCH, Mum hasn't entered me in anything but Snooker and Gamblers for well over a year, as those are the only Q's I need for the title. And since I'm almost nine years old now, she's conserving my energy, like I need that, BOL!

The cool thing is that at the last trial we attended in Alpharetta last weekend, I got the last Q for my Masters Gamblers title, with a super nice run and 2nd place. Out of the past three Gamblers runs, I've gotten two Q's. Mum always knew I was a pretty good gamble dog, and it's really showed in the past few trials.

But now I've been refusing some jumps and other obstacles when Mum is closer to them. And Mum finally figured out why. I've got the Gamble bubble going on...that's the invisible area when Mum is closer to an obstacle that I'm now running around the outside of it, feeling like she's crowding me, BOL!

So Mum's got a plan to help me work more on being fast working closer to her, along with distance, aka more Snooker skills than Gambler skills.

But the cool thing is that for the last four Snooker runs, I've gotten 3 Snooker Q's, mostly 2nd place, but just not the final SQ that I need for the ADCH. I have well over 15 Snooker Q's, which is pretty cool.

Gracie has been improving more and more over the last trials, to the point that at our last trial she didn't run off at all during any of her runs! And for a couple of her runs, Gracie's BC came out in full force....she was focused, super fast, had great distance and made Mum really stay on her toes!

Over the past few trials Gracie has Q'd several times in PII Jumpers, getting her PII Jumpers title, along with her PII Snooker title.

And at the last trial she got her first Gamblers Q. And oh was that run a work of art!!! Gracie almost mowed down the judge she was so focused on the jumps and tunnel. And Mum sent her to a tunnel well over 30 feet away and it was a discrimination to boot! Gracie took exactly the tunnel entrance Mum wanted her to to set up for the next obstacle. What a good girly.

Mum even corrected her on the her final jumpers run, pulling her off a jump and Gracie didn't stress out at all! So Mum thinks that it's finally time to get serious about training a few more things that she feels Gracie can handle now....like the teeter and contacts; so we can enter her in some Standard and maybe even pairs runs.

For years, Mum wanted to run Gracie only in runs that she would be able to run fun and feel more free, and not require her to 'be more controlled' to keep her from stressing. And it's worked. But now they can maybe get down to some business! Yeah!

We're signed up for another trial in a week or so, just one day. And then again in August, Sept and Oct, I believe. Can't wait!

Now we're talking Spring!

Spring has finally arrived on the mountain!

Here is the beaUtiful Dogwood that's right in front of our cabin. We're showing off the underside because it's so tall!

The Cherry Blossom is just beginning to open up!

And, you can see the green slowly making it's way up the mountains.

Another one of the most beautiful Dogwoods just down our ridge.

And who couldn't resist, Gracie, a dog with Dogwood!