Monday, May 28, 2012

A little memorial

Spent the weekend taking the dogs to the park. They loved it.  I hope you all remembered our fallen this weekend.


Saturday, May 26, 2012

Bed blog hop

It’s not every day that V is allowed on the bed. This is what happens when he is.



Crazy monkey.




And a blog hop!

Friday, May 25, 2012

May Pawpal

Our Pawpal this may was the very own doggy dessert chef and her dogs Pee Wee and Big B. and boy did they spoil us!

The gang here are starting to learn. If the box goes on the bed. It’s for them.

the booty.




Everyone LOVED the toys!

the ball was a big hit at the park for both V and Me, I no longer have to grab slobber balls!

The only thing the dogs haven’t gotten yet is the frozen popsicles. I made them and there waiting in the freezer for the summer heat to return.
I’ll make sure to snap pictures.

Our PawPal this month was Kirby the Dorkie. An incredibly cute little guy! You can see his post on his package >here<.
If you want to get your very own monthly PawPal then please sign up!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Wobble

Went to the home improvement store today. I find myself there a lot and it’s an incredibly dangerous place full of pots and plants and ideas.

I was there with a purpose today though. A wobble board for agility training.







I ended up getting a 32x32 cut of board.






He took to it like a fish in water.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Public service announcement

This is a warning to all doggy moms.
Paw parents beware.

It was too late for me but you can prevent your dog from becoming a pot head.

V was hooked on his first sniff.
 
After he stumbled from the pots he was very mystified by the gurgle of this water fountain.  

Apparently it was speaking his language. 


This is the gorgeous swagger of a pot head. don’t be fooled. This isn’t a sharp border collie stair, this isn’t the ‘eye’. this is glazed from looking at one too many lawn adornments.

one too many lawn adornments.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Lesson 1

I had my first one hour lesson with Geri today.
It was amazing. I’m so packed with information I think my head is going to explode so I’m going to get as much of it out here as I can so I can reference back later.

V in her x-pen not really listing.


  • *I don’t play enough with V. play is the key to teaching V agility.
  • *he’s not an obedience dog. He’s an agility dog. Stop expecting him to be a perfect obedience dog and let him be an agility dog.
  • *play play play play play!!!!
  • *play is nothing but pray drive and rabbits don’t jump into the dogs mouth, they run and struggle. This is key.
  • *playing with Max is going to hurt my agility progress more then anything else right now. I need to prevent it as much as I can. I need to be the key to his ability to play, not the other dogs.
  • *he needs to learn a little control when in an x-pen.
  • *balance balls can be found at Wall-mart for cheep.
  • *there should be no commands in his training right now. Just actions. treats and play.
  • *12 inch wide X minimum of 10 feet long board between two cinder blocks. This is V’s new ground and anything is possible on it. If he falls off, don’t even oops. Just get back on. After this becomes as natural as four feet on the ground, unbalance it. Let that become his natural ground too.
  • *build his balance and confidence on anything I can. Blocks and wood and bowls and anything else I can think of.
  • *bang game for future teeter training.
  • *don't stop doing what I'm doing with socialization. 
 yeah. still moping. honest, he had more fun then the pictures show.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Howling at the… sun?

Took the time today to photograph the solar eclipse.

Time-lapse style. 

Eve and V in front of some nice eclipse sun leaf patterns. 


My favorite picture for the day.









Twas brilig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Cheshire cat in 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

4 months


V is 4 months.
19 lbs.
16 inches at the shoulders.

He got his final round of puppy shots today like a pro and is good to go for a year.

Such a handsome little man






I cant help but wonder what jump height he’ll be at… 20” or 24”…. mmm… unless he stop growing right now then he’ll be 16” and wow! That would be a big advantage over all the little dogs! A itty bitty Border!

Saturday blog HOP!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

history in the making

I’ve been holding this news in till I explode.

 Falcor says 'OMG!' to the news.

ready?



Tuesday the 22nd is going to be me and V’s first of many private lessons with Geri Hernandez.
USA International Competitor for 2008 and 2009 with her dog Focus who was the 26’ AKC National Agility Champion.

The amazing Stephanie Spyr got the two of us in touch and I can never thank her enough.

I feel like something big is happening in my life for me and V and I cant wait to see what unfolds.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

April PawPal

Our pawpal for April was a little late, but boy was it worth the wait!
The box arrived from Genny and Chuck with much excitement from the dogs, Falcor tried to chew it open before I even got the camera out.
Making them behave before getting to open it was an exercise in punishment. Ha!

Feet on the box

And then it opened!!!

The box was full of a warm lovely blanket for Eve.

Trust me. She’s spent the last few days sleeping on it. Eve is addicted to soft blankets. <3

There was home made treats too!


Bacon and cheese
and


chicken and berries.

There was much love for the treats that are almost all gone.












And a toy!


Sunday, May 13, 2012

First ever trial

Our first ever Agility trial, an AKC event in Ontario CA by Norco Dog Agility Club.
It was like crack, a very fine grade of crack with rocket booster propelled Borders.

                              Epic fail of the day, only picture of trial I took that doesn’t have V’s big fat head crowding it.
 V sucked the knowledge out of all the other dogs... really he just ate grass

We spoke to a number of runners who where very kind and willing to share the knowledge. Giving out suggestions like candy on Halloween.V also got lots of hugs and love, ah, everyone loves a puppy.

Our booty from a vender. New tug leash, very sleek and snazzy for my boy.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Pet Week Monday

For National Pet week Black and White is going to host a few of our most favorite pet blogs for your viewing pleasures.






Featuring her three Border Collies, Cedes, Moss, Ember and her Boston Terrier Scully.



 
Wow. Just wow. I’ve been reading Full Tilt for a long time now and it’s been a wonderful blog to learn from. She teaches everything from Stock dog work and Agility training. Such a great blog!



 
I haven’t been reading Team Small dog for a long time but it’s a gem. Between the antics, the shared knowledge and the amazing writing style this is a must!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

zoomies






Went to the park today, after zoomies V worked on 2o2o with the contact equipment they have there. Also played a nice long game of come. I’m very pleased with how strong his recall is.


                                                  pretending to be a happy pack.


Eve and Max came with over to the agility side and I feel will from now on, it was nice to have a little added distraction of dogs V knows to the mix.
Dogs he doesn’t know is very ‘meh’ to V. family is everything to my boy.

Friday, May 4, 2012

crashing

Eve and Star are still going at it like the Bitches they are.
Our local amazing dog trainer Tiffany reviewed our situation and gave us some tips to help the girls. Like take them on extremely long tiring walks before putting them together and going for yet another extremely long tiring walk till there legs turn to stumps. 
Something about the exhaustion will help reset the bitchness.
If nothing I’ll get in shape for agility faster this way.
It all sounded much better when Tiffany said it.
he just looks so rabid...
V got himself a fancy head halter to help with his massive amount of pulling on a lead despite my best efforts to teach a heel.
He’s ether going to learn heel or his head is going to fall off… right now he dose a lot of glaring at me, and eating. Lots of treats and praise to get him used to the halter before we even take our first step outside.
I’m such a wet blanket.
In other equally unstoppable news… I lost the last year’s worth of writing and two separate manuscripts when the flash drive they had been saved to crashed.
Oddly it causes the same brick in stomach feeling that I get when Eve and Star fight. Maybe I’m getting stomach cancer.