Oh Yeah, You Blend

Horsefeathers – Wendi Pencille’s great photography of Nina and Tish from this past weekend at Ebb Tide CPE agility. You can get some sense of just how muddy it really was – it was boot-suckin’, pudding-like mud. It was FILTHY. But we had fun – Tish ran fast, which was a huge improvement, plus she mostly stayed with me – she made up her own course, but I was happy that she was moving forward well and working with me – now she won’t compete again until she’s closer to being ready (she was actually better outside than inside, it seemed to me). I think I had a touch of heat exhaustion yesterday and left after Standard, since I was feeling yucky. Lisa came and ran Hobbes, her “girasset” (Basset hound who looks like he’s part giraffe), and she also ran Austin once – there is allegedly video of Austin’s competition debut, I can’t wait to see it.

Demi is making her AKC agility debut “just for fun” this weekend. Good luck Demi and Ron! Run fast and have fun!

Thanks again to Jen K, who very took video of four of our runs on Saturday (it was ridiculously hot and humid, then cold and drizzly by Sunday) – and then figured out how to send them to me so I can download them and save them, since Flip videos are now getting deleted after 30 days.

Nina Fullhouse May 14 2011

This video shows NINA HOLDING HER START LINE STAY LIKE A CHAMPION (at the first run of the trial, no less)! A good Fullhouse run, lots of points, but all I cared about was that we FINALLY had a start line stay at a trial again – and the next day she stayed EVERY SINGLE TIME! I expect I will probably have to pull her again, but this is just HUGE for us!  I set her up way back and at an angle, but she sat and stayed!

Nina Jumpers May 14 2011

This is Nina’s Jumpers run. I had pulled her from one class already for not sitting at the start. I should have pulled her here also, although she did at least pause (SUNDAY SHE HELD HER STAY EVERY TIME! FOUR SIT STAYS WITH LEADOUTS NO LESS!). Especially enjoy the bit right near the beginning when she scuttles on her back legs like one of those lizards. This was a fairly nice run aside from the start, we were really communicating well for most of it, although you can hear her bark at me a few times when I’m not clear about where she’s going next, I am happy with my timing on most of my crosses as well. This was a pretty complicated course for CPE, even taking into account that it was level 4/5/C.

Tish_Fullhouse May 14 2011

This is Tish’s first-ever run at a trial – it was Fullhouse and we got a whopping 5 points or something, but she did work with me a little bit and it wasn’t too bad for a VERY green dog in a new place with a whole new environment. She’s coming to one more trial for fun (outdoors this time) and then she probably won’t trial again until she’s actually mostly ready.  Her tail was up and wagging the whole time.

Tish_Snooker May 14 2011

This is Tish’s first-ever qualifying run in her first-ever trial! This was a Snooker run and we got a triple seven plus the first obstacle in the course, for 26 points. Running a dog who isn’t trial ready by ANY stretch of the imagination is a bit excruciating (I entered her because I am bad about getting to matches and I’ve been trialing so much I haven’t really made the time, and level 1 CPE is great for very green dogs since the courses are very simple and there’s no teeter and no weaves), but she stayed with me better than she did in our very first run, which is the previous video – Fullhouse. Tish loves everyone and had to go and visit everyone, so the runs were sort of “do an obstacle, visit a ring steward, do an obstacle, visit the judge…). I need to remember to make my cues much bigger and slower for her, and I should be asking her to down stay at the start like I do in class, but this looks much better than I was worried it actually was.

So Tish came along with Nina and me to All Dawgs CPE agility trial today. I entered Tish since we haven’t been able to get to many fun matches and I wanted her to play some agility somewhere other than where we train.

She did very well (earned her first Q in Snooker by the skin of her teeth thanks to Sue B’s quick wits – they hadn’t changed the times for the small dogs and we were one point short of a qualifying score, but Sue pointed out that Tish had been in a tunnel when the buzzer sounded, so they offered us the two points from the tunnel or a rerun, so we took the two points and squeaked in a Q!), but she is definitely nowhere near trial-ready (on the plus side, she is definitely a very friendly dog, and had to go and visit everyone in the ring during our runs, ring stewards, the judge, the scribe, the timer….). I think she had fun, she sure got lots of cookies and the tail stayed a-wagging the whole time. I found it interesting having to switch myself between Nina (experienced, high-voltage maniac dog) and Tish (babydog, prettyplease could you come back from visiting that bar setter and jump this for me?). I’m glad we went! More for Nina tomorrow (we are working on those nasty old start line stays, so she’s not running if she doesn’t stay, we ran two out of four runs today, and one of those probably shouldn’t have been allowed).  I feel like a meanie for taking her off for not staying, but I think it will benefit us both in the long run (especially since I hope that if we can start off under control, we can actually STAY under control, which might help with things like, oh I dunno…CONTACTS?!?).

Happy birthday to our A litter!  It was one year ago today that you came into the world, and now you are out there, living good lives, running and playing and barking and chewing and licking and wagging and smiling your wide happy Vallhund smiles.  You were a lot of work, and a LOT of laundry!  But boy, were you worth it:

Jack, who was born first, so happy and comfortable and truly a member of his lovely family, who send us pictures of him smiling:

Jack

Demi, born second, happy and waggy, loved by her family, already a Canine Good Citizen and agility in her future!

Demi

Austin, born upside-down, but living rightside-up with his family of Basset brothers and sisters and road trips and agility to do!

Austin

Loki, living the good life in her mother’s native land of Canada, with doggy friends and a family who loves her:

Loki

Mikko, secure and happy with his German Shepherd brother, his Penn State jersey, so much a part of his loving family.

Mikko

Tish, who stayed right here, with her happy nature and clever mind:

Tish

and Riley, born last but not least, with his sweet personality, awesome young family and his new love: agility!

Riley

You have all done such wonderful work with your puppies, it is so hard to believe that they are already one year old.  We consider you all part of our family, and we are lucky to have you!  So happy birthday to Jack and Demi and Austin and Loki and Mikko and Tish and Riley, may your lives be long and happy!

Love,

Amanda and Jim, and Nina, your mother!

Congratulations to our Höckgårdens Eddy (Emil) on his first CKC championship points at Brockville Ontario today.  Best of breed yesterday, best of breed AND A GROUP 4 today!  He is halfway to his title!

He apparently showed wonderfully with a happy wagging tail and an enthusiastic attitude, yay Emil!

Kate’s blog post here is eerily similar to the non-stop round-and-round discussions I had in my head, with Jim, with Ulla, and with anyone else who would listen (or who didn’t escape or cut me off before I got going) during the long and painful weeks when I was trying to choose between Tish and Loki (Diziet).  In the end, I kept the dog my heart wanted, and because agility is my first love, even if she turns out to be unfinishable, she will hopefully still be an awesome agility dog.  But she is certainly not the conformation prospect that Diziet was (at least at the ages they were when I was deciding).  To be fair, Tish was actually nicer than Diziet in some ways at 8 weeks, but Diziet was definitely much nicer conformationally when I made my final decision (which I agonized about up to and including the day she left).  Ultimately, Tish was just the one who demanded to stay here, she was the one whose personality wedged into our hearts.  And even though I will breed another litter, and Tish is certainly a breeding prospect, temperament and personality have to be at least as important as conformation no matter what.  I could not imagine placing a dog I loved unless I was sure that the new home would allow it a better life than I could offer.  Keeping the dog you love, even if it’s not perfect, has to be the right thing to do…at least for me.

Jim and Tish

I’d say she’s settled in well, wouldn’t you?