It doesn't get any better

That really should have been a post for yesterday but I was too tired to write it up! So I'll start with yesterday's runs...

My girls were awesome! Legend got a Double Q and picked up more points than she ever has in one day. Her runs were slightly on the brink of out of control but she was listening well enough to run clean. Lyric was just a little star as well and picked up her open jumpers and novice standard titles! She needed two tries at the chute but blasted through like a champ on the second try! I'm pretty sure I could not stop smiling all the way home.

Today was very nice as well, although with a lower Q rate. Legend started it off with a bang getting another really nice standard Q on a fun course. Then Lyric went into the ring for her first excellent run! Most of it was nice but she didn't finish the weave poles and she had one lapse of attention where she went over to the ring gates to admire all her fans! Legend had a beautiful jumpers run with just one bobble-I must have dome something to push her out because she went around a jump and that's rare for her, but the rest was awesome. Then Lyric went into open standard and had a perfect run going (right through the chute-first try!) until the weave poles. Just couldn't weave today, but everything else was great.

Overall I'm super proud of both of them, but especially Legend. She ended up 4/6 with a QQ and 48 points. That's really good for her. But finally, after months of fretting, agonizing and stressing over this dog I think she has really turned a corner. She's running so happy and getting faster all the time and not acting stressed hardly at all. I'm having so much fun running her again and I think she is too!

Another weekend rolls around

We've had pretty good weather this week for working the dogs outside.  Although it's also the kind of annoying weather where you sweat under your jacket but your ears are cold.  Anyway, overall everyone seems to be doing well.  I think we are making some progress in tracking, I'm doing some new things with Legend in obedience and Lyric is adorable in everything she does as usual.

Today was day one of a three day trial-locally.  Well, relatively local.  It takes about an hour and a half to get there but I can sleep in my own bed.  Today was excellent only so although I brought both girls with me only Legend competed.  She was having a nice run in standard but entered the weaves wrong.  Dang, stupid weaves.  Jumpers was clean-and very smooth.  She was really listening today and making nice tight turns and smooth lines.  No looking at off-course obstacles and tuning me out!

Lilly got spayed yesterday and is thinking crate rest time should already be over.  Even when I take her out on a leash she's trying to jump and run and spin. 

The picture is just for fun.  Not related to this post-have a great weekend!

Photos!

These are from the trial earlier this month.  They were scanned so the quality is not that great but still cute!

I got off work early today so all the dogs got to work.  It was a little windy but I decided to do some tracking anyway-he didn't seem to bothered by the wind and seemed to do ok even after a break over the last several weeks.  Legend worked on her open obedience and then some agility and Lyric rocked on some agility practice.  Hope she runs like that this weekend!

BCSA 2010

Well, we didn't come home with a ton of ribbons but we did have a really good time!

Wednesday Legend had a few off courses in JWW but a very nice standard run-with a knocked bar.  But on the plus side she did pass the CGC!  I made a last minute decision to enter her so I was going to be prepared if she failed but she did great. 

Thursday day we were back for more agility.  Legend almost Q'd in JWW-entered the weaves wrong and I don't remember what happened in standard but I know it was not an "almost." 

Friday was agility and Rally so I was really on the move! Legend had a nice standard run, then I changed my handling plan at the last minute and caused her to miss a jump.  Stupid handler.  She did finally Q in our last run of the week in JWW.  So even though she was only 1/6, she was just a hair away from being 4/6 which would have been great.  And all her runs were with good speed and enthusiasm.  Zodiac was competing in Rally and earned his final RAE leg!  His scores were decent but not stellar-but we haven't practiced and he's not that interested anymore so we really just wanted to finish our title at the specialty and we did!

Saturday and Sunday were obedience for Legend.  She didn't Q either day but did have some strong points.  Today her heeling was quite good-minus the lack of sits.  Both days she had to be told twice to retrieve on the flat and both days she didn't do the broad jump.  I'm not sure why she can't make the connection on that unless it's just stress.  Today she had to be called to come twice and never did drop.  Both days had beautiful retrieve over the high jump and rock solid stays.  I guess it's all I can expect given the amount we've trained, the summer kind of got away from us.  I'm still undecided about taking her on to utility if we ever get our CDX.  I think I'll go ahead and start working the exercises more and see how her confidence in the ring improves.  I'm just not sure how dedicated I am to getting her over it.  It seemed to take forever in agility and I worked on that constantly and was in the ring at least once a month or more.

The weather was phenomenal-agility actually moved outside because of all the complaints about the flooring at the event center.  I didn't mind running outside and enjoying the weather but the agility field sure is a hike from the event center if you were entered in multiple events!  Even driving some of the time it was still a hassle.  Plus moving all the crates various times, I'm so sick of loading and unloading vehicles!

The rescue dinner was fun, if a bit unorganized.  And the raffle did not have the quality or quantity of items it has had in the past.  That said I won a bunch of stuff so still fun I guess.

Our MOKAN booth did well and raised a good amount of money to help our rescue dogs and I got visit with a lot of friends.

We had a little dog birthday party for Lexie, Legend, and Lyric as they all have fall birthdays.  All in all, a good trip!  Oh, and we have a good application on Lilly (who was very good on her first big trip) so she may be adopted soon!  It was no one we met this weekend so probably won't be an agility home, but a good home nonetheless. 

Seriously?

For those of you who don't live in Missouri, Proposition B is a bill widely knows as the puppy mill law.  Essentially it calls for stricter regulations for large scale breeding facilities to improve the care and quality of life of those dogs. 

While at the BC specialty this week there was a vehicle with the following bumper sticker

Love your pet?

Thank a breeder.

Vote NO on Proposition B

So I started to wonder exactly which "breeder" I should thank for my dogs. 

Is it Zodiac's breeder who sold (or gave, not sure) him to a family that essentially left him to fend for himself in the backyard with no medical care, toys, training, or socialization?

Is is Legend's breeder who sold her to a family or single parent with a baby who didn't have time for her, kept her tied part of the time in the yard, and left her at the humane society when she was four months old?

Or is it Lyric's breeder who sold her with an underbite and two luxating patellas to a home that gave her minimal medical care, let her get heartworms and then gave her to another family who opted to euthanize her rather than treat her?

I love my dogs but there is no way I would ever thank any of these breeders.  And not that there aren't good responsible breeders out there but where your dog came from should not really have any bearing on whether or not you love him or her.  To even insinuate that it does is superficial and self-serving on the part of the "breeder."  If I had a sound, healthy dog with a good temperament that I got from a breeder I would happily thank them-but I would not love that dog any more or any less if it came from the pound or anywhere else.  And what about all our mixed breed dogs that we love?  Should we thank the irresponsible pet owner who let their dog have puppies with whatever dog was wandering the street?  I should certainly hope not!

I do have a some people I would like to thank though...

• Zodiac's first family (oddly enough) for having the decency to relinquish him to a no-kill rescue. 
• Happy Tails for asking us to foster him
• Nebraska Border Collie rescue for pulling Legend from the humane society and letting me adopt her
• Myself for refusing to put Lyric to sleep
• And whoever (God, fate, luck?) made sure she didn't come in on my day off, hate to know what might have happened!

The moral of this story...

Vote YES on Proposition B

Ok, I know this post does not specifically relate to why you should vote yes but it does illustrate one of the very poor points the opponents of the bill are trying to use.  Either way, who would rationally be against better care for these dogs and the elimination of puppy mills? 

And yes, I will be posting results and photos following our last day of competition tomorrow!

Zoomies!!

This is a video of Lyric after her bath-I think it's cute!

  I've almost got everything packed as we are leaving for the Border Collie specialty tomorrow.  And by we I mean all four dogs and me!  Now I just need to figure out how to get everything in the car...

Lilly, live and in color!

Finally some pictures!  These are all from today...enjoy!


Legend tries to get the frisbee out of the pool



Still trying



Silly Lilly



Begging for cookies



Cutie pie



Wrestling

OK, so they are not all of Lilly but here is a video of her and Legend getting the frisbee out of the pool.  This is Lilly's first experience with the pool-she's quite a little fireball! The video starts slow, but stick with it.  Lilly knows the frisbee is in there, Legend has to be prompted to check the water.  Towards the end the video is just Lyric chasing Lilly around the yard.  Pretty cute. 

Another slow blog week

Once again, it's Friday an I haven't blogged since the weekend. With my weekends (and sometimes the weeks) being so busy it seems all I do is catch up and then get ready to leave again. Doesn't look much better for the rest of the fall either! I'm working this weekend covering a clinic owned by a classmate and then early next week we leave for the border collie specialty. Which brought me to the realization that I really haven't worked much on Legend's obedence skills since the last trial. But we've worked some this week and she's been doing well. Both she and Lyric have been working agility nicely. Of course Lyric has to sit this one out!

Lilly is over kennel cough and is having a blast playing frisbee with the other dogs. She'll be hunting a home at the specialty next week.

The rest

So today was not as good as yesterday but still good.  Legend seems to have totally adapted to the floor and ran very well.  She got a Q in standard and 14 points and just missed qualifying in JWW-tough weave entry.  For those interested in my final opinion on the floor-I would definitely run on it again as my dogs did seem to adapt well and become comfortable on it.  Most dogs did seem to improve over the weekend however I did see some that continued to struggle with it even today. 

Lyric didn't get any Qs today but did have some success.  The finish to her jumpers run was nice and she did go through the chute the first time.  She did lose her focus a few times and still seems a bit apprehensive about getting on unfamiliar equipment but I imagine time and experience will help that. 

The perfect day

I know I haven't blogged all week but I've been busy working and getting ready for the trial this weekend.  Lyric has been working hard on chutes and tunnels (with some contacts and weaves thrown in for good measure) all week. 

Anyway, about the post title...today we had a perfect agility day-the girls went 4/4 and were just awesome.

Legend got a QQ today!  First one since sometime in the Spring.  I guess she finally agreed with me that she should get them both on the same day instead of one at a time.  Her runs didn't yield a lot of points though.  We were running for the first time at the new Events Center at Purina Farms and the surface is not the greatest.  The dogs were either slipping, or slowing down to compensate.  Legend didn't slip much, but she was running very conservatively and collected. 

The floor didn't bother Lyric at all, but she is a much smaller dog with less power and speed.  But she did great. She was clean in open JWW and got her 2nd leg.  She ran very smoothly except a little bobble in the weaves.  It didn't get called but she did lose her focus for a second.  Her novice standard run had a refusal at the chute and dogwalk but then she did it the second time.  She initially had an NQ for hitting the broad jump but then they realized they left in the tall boards and not the short ones so they let her rejump that and gave her a Q since she was able to do it correctly at the proper height!

And today is Lyrics' birthday!  I feel more like it was my birthday since they ran so well but then again, my birthday was earlier this week so I guess we can all celebrate!

Not to be outdone

Legend wasn't about to get outdone by her sister so she made sure to finish her MX today! She almost had the QQ but entered the weave poles on wrong side in jumpers.

Lyric rocked on her first open jumpers leg. It was sooo perfect and she got first place too! She's still struggling with the chute and dark tunnel so we will be working lots of chutes and tunnels this week. But tonight we are resting!

Lyric's new title!

Two days down and one to go at the agility trial this weekend.  We got off to kind of rough start yesterday.  Lyric had a few bobbles in JWW-one was my fault, then she found the dark blue tunnel to be a bit scary.  It was dark in there if you compared it to the yellow one!  She did complete the course, and got a decent time but ran out of refusals and didn't qualify.  She had a beautiful run in standard but wasn't going through the chute for anything.  So last night we make a substitute chute to practice on-a box, a tarp, and duct tape!  Doesn't have to be too sturdy for a nine pound dog to run through!

Today was better.  She had a great run in JWW to get her NAJ!  She was a little draggy in standard, not sure if she was stressed about the equipment, or tired, or just not very hungry.  She did go through the chute on the second try but it also took her two tries on the blue tunnel and the dogwalk.  Not sure why the dogwalk worried her because it's usually her favorite.  But it seems like most of her trouble is with getting used to various equipment.  She has been handling the courses and everything very well. 

Legend was a wild girl in standard yesterday.  She acted like a crazy novice dog.  Then she settled down (almost too much) for jumpers.  It was smooth and clean, but a little lackluster.  Got a few points out of it though.  Today she was having an awesome standard run but took down the last bar.  That was the only thing that kept us from double Q today as she had a good jumpers run and got yet another jumpers Q. 

We shall see what tomorrow brings!