Neighborhood Watch

Cardima was home sick one day this week, and in addition to doing fun things like laying about feeling sorry for myself, doing bills, and doing laundry, I caught these pictures of the Cardis doing their neighborhood watch. Whenever it's daylight out, and I'm at home, you're likely to see at least one, and usually two, Cardis in the window. They keep track of all the two legged and four legged movements around our place, monitor the birds and squirrels at the feeder, and often drive me crazy with their need to sound an alert if the wind changes direction. But, they do look awfully cute draped over the arm of the couch, side by side, with their stubby little front legs poking out in front of them.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Show Day, Club Meeting and Puppies!

No, Mikey did not finish this weekend. The show was essentially a bust for Mikey and me. Oh well, there's always another day, another judge, and another show. Mikey had fun; for him there's no difference win or loose, it's just an good time either way. After our class I did enjoy wandering around trying to get some fun photos. I can't decide if the motion shots I got are really neat or really bad. What do you think?

Later in the day was the Bluebonnet Cardigan Club meeting, which was fun for all with food, an Easter egg hunt for the dogs, costumes for the dogs, and friend Doris brought her puppies out for socialization, which means everyone got a puppy fix! We always try to cover all current and upcoming holidays at our club meetings (which is why we usually do a White Elephant gift exchange in November) so costumes had a St. Patrick's Day theme, activities had an Easter theme.

Currently re-reading 'The Fiery Cross' by Dianna Gabaldon.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Be patient, there are lots of photos, it may take a while for all of them to download.

Get Ready to Giggle

Just a quick post with a couple of funny videos I found. The kids aren't going to last too much longer waiting for their morning walk.

The first video is from a guy that does incredible Frisbee with his two dogs. This video is a hilarious spoof on 'Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better', I think this video is pure genius! If you want to see these great dogs doing Frisbee search in YouTube for 'Superstar Frisbee', it's an excellent video too.

The second video is bloopers of someone trying to do a Christmas video with their Bearded Collies. If you have ever tried to teach your dog to do anything, you will identify, and the added sound effects just left me giggling uncontrollably!

Sit back and enjoy!

TGI(almost)F

Thursday evening, and you know what that means. Agility class! This week was Holly's turn and we were doing a 13 obstacle course tonight. Which was good because my knees and hips were so not happy with me tonight, but when we're running courses there is a lot of down time waiting for your turn. Plus, running Holly is just easier on my body in general.

Holly gets a gold star for tonight! She really is making steady progress. The only two things she is having trouble with right now are the weave polls (which is my fault because I am not drilling on weaves at home enough between classes) and the teeter totter. Agility teeters are designed to return to the same side down position after the dog goes over it. And Holly hates that the teeter starts going up right behind her as she gets off. For a dog that is generally not afraid of anything, this is one thing that scares her. So she waits as I ask her to let the teeter go over gently, but then rockets off the teeter so she can be as far away from it as possible when it starts going back up. And this is really ok if there is a strait line to the next obstacle, or plenty of distance to get her turned. But tonight there was a diagonal line from the teeter to the tire jump, and the distance was short, and we just couldn't do it. Every time Holly ran off the teeter and was so worried that it took her several strides to start paying attention to me again, and by then she was past the tire. Frankly, I don't blame her for being scared of the teeter. It has never whacked her, but she is an awfully little girl, and that teeter sweeping up behind her must make her feel like it could hit her as it goes back up. We'll just have to keep working on it, she's generally a very brave girl, and maybe we'll just have to hope for stait lines from the teeter in competition.

What are the kids up to now? When it's not Mikey's turn to do agility, when we get home he gets a special treat of tearing up a coke box, so he's busy making coke box confetti. And Holly is tired and indulging her favorite comfort habit - holding a toy in her mouth and kneading it with her paws. She will eventually fall asleep with the toy still in her mouth. She always does this when she is sleepy or just feeling particularly content. Kind of like a kid sucking their thumb. It's just the cutest darn thing!! Also note her sleepy ears at half mast. Ain't she a doll!?!

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Get 'Er Done!

I mostly just want to share the photos I took this morning while walking the dogs, but I also want to gripe just a little.

I got mostly everything on my list done this evening (including brushing the dogs teeth, good cardima!). I need either a few more hours in the day or a maid. Or maybe both! Can I get an Amen!?!

Seems like the kids could at least be taught to vacuum up their own hair, right!?!

Anyway, I noticed on our morning walk yesterday that the moon was still up, and the clouds were beautiful, so I took my camera on our walk this morning hoping for more of the same. Enjoy!

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

What Is Possible?

Beyond even the skill and training evident in these two videos, what really strikes me is the joy that they bring to their performance. Horse and dog, man and woman, you can see the joy that they are sharing. Performance at this level can be technically precise, but without the joy of partnership, it becomes just a robotic drill. And that is one of the reasons that I enjoy working with my dogs, even learning things like silly tricks. The pleasure of sharing our adventure together. True partnership with an entirely different species is a feeling that just can't be described, but if you get chills watching these two videos, you know what I'm talking about.

And in answer to the question 'What is possible?' I say 'More!' When I see performances like these, I realize that for Holly, Mikey and I, more is possible.

Jack Fell Down, And Broke His Crown

Well, I didn't fall down, but I did break my crown. My temporary crown on my tooth that is! They put another temporary on, and I really need to make an appointment this week to get the root canal done. Sounds like fun, huh!?! It's been a long day, and I ran around after work doing things like running the dogs on the bayou, grinding dog nails, doing dishes, and sending a long overdue e-mail response to an old friend. Didn't get all the house work done that I had planned to do, but I still have tomorrow. And I spent a little time with the kids practicing silly tricks; high five and bow. Wednesday evening I have a Bluebonnet Cardigan Club board meeting, and Thursday night is agility class. It's going to be a busy week!

Mikey did great in class last Thursday; advanced class was no problem for him. Considering there were two females in heat in our class, he did amazing. He definitely thought they were charming little ladies, and was definitely flirting, but he got right down to business when we ran our course! Such a good boy! This week will be Holly's turn.

I skipped out on doing agility with my dad this weekend because I was not feeling so well; joints really hurting and my digestive system not cooperating at all!

I really need to get to bed early tonight, so I will leave you now with some pictures of the full moon that I took this weekend.

Currently reading 'Innocent Traitor' by Alison Weir.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Front-cross, Back-cross, GO!

And that's what Holly, Mikey and I practiced with my dad this weekend.

For those of you that are not agility crazy, a front-cross is when you send the dog to an obstacle, like a jump, and run to get ahead of them so that you can signal a change of direction. A back-cross is similar, but you send the dog to an obstacle and as they do the obstacle, you run behind them and then come up beside them after the obstacle to signal a change of direction. (I have tried to make a little diagram below to help this make sense.) Go is simply a command to the dog that means go in a strait line, as in 'Go Tunnel', meaning go in a strait line from where you are and then go through the tunnel. These are things that I have worked on before, but my dad set up a very tight, intense little course this weekend that really pushed me (and the dogs) to perfect these.

The front-cross is a good one for Holly, because she is a little slower, so I can actually move fast enough to get out ahead of her. The back-cross is a good strategy for Mikey, because he's so fast that I could probably never get ahead of him while running a course. Plus, my dad thinks that doing front-crosses with really fast dogs (like Mikey) is hard on their shoulders, because they have to kind of slam on the brakes when you come out in front of them (which can stress their shoulders), and then pivot on their shoulders to turn with you.

Technically this all sounds fairly simple, but in practice, not so much. This really is more advanced stuff. It takes physical coordination, and careful attention to your dog so that you aren't calling out commands too early or too late. And this takes a lot of work from the dog, because they really have to be paying attention to you, and stay mentally on their toes.

The problem I had doing the front-cross with Holly was that I was getting out ahead of her and calling out the command to change directions too fast, which kept causing her to knock the jump as she went over it, because she was trying to change direction before she had fully left the ground for the jump.

The problem I had doing the back-cross with Mikey is that I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't go behind and then up beside him fast enough to give the command in time for him to know which direction I wanted him to go, resulting in him spinning in a little circle after the jump looking for me and trying to figure out what I wanted him to do.

That's what practice is for. . . I definitely am learning a lot by training two dogs at the same time, especially because they are so different to work with; the strategy for running a course with Holly is almost opposite to the strategy for running a course with Mikey. Yes, definitely learning a lot, but it can be sooo hard on my little brain!

In any case, we all had a great time, and totally enjoyed being outside on an absolutely gorgeous morning. Training with my dad is always fun, because he always has something challenging for us to work on!

Also, I entered Mikey in a supported show here in Houston in mid- March! Remeber, he only needs two more points to finish his comformation title!

Currently reading 'The Virgin's Lover' by Philippa Gregory.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.