Nearly Wordless Wednesday... Patient Pooches

Sorry, these aren't great photos, persay but they demonstrate how patient my dogs need to be (so they want you to think!)

Sophie waiting for breakfast...

Seriously, breakfast NOW!

And, the final patient pooch shot this morning, from the broken screen window on the deck...

C'mon.... let us in!!  We want in!

Hehe, pooooor Spike and Sophie, learning their patience. Yup, it's a tough life my dogs lead!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Black Dog Crew...

I really have lots to be thankful for.... a nice place to live, a good job, the ability to attend Grad School. Even that my tooth (it's a long story, involving excuciating pain with a bruised tooth) is getting better. But, mostly I am thankful for long weekends I can use to study, cook a turkey and hang with the pups.

They even got presents, little turkeys! Strangely enough, Murphy eventually managed to steal them all and hold onto them until I took them away. She dazzled the black dogs by running circles around them, jumping at their ears until the dropped the toy and she grabbed it and ran. It was pretty amusing, I have to admit. Ah little terrier, someday they will stomp on you!!

Murphy with Sophie's mouse... look at that evil little glimmer in her eye!

Spike's bear. Yum, yum, squeaking toys!

Sophie with her mouse back.

Murphy with all three... the bear, the mouse and the moose. Little hog!!

Once they all had a little play, it was time to cook. I can't trust Sophie in the kitchen, at all, (shocking, I know!)  so I sent the big dogs out for a nap in the sun. That didn't last long, as my little jumping bean demonstrates her true terrier tenacity...

Once the turkey was in, it was time for a play in the yard. It's a gorgeous day out... it's been unseasonably warm which is amazing after the great lack of a summer we had. So, it's really hard to resist the pleading eyes of "please, can we play, please?!?".  And, Sophie had a bad week, to be honest. I was in a haze of pain myself with my stupid tooth and didn't notice how awful she was feeling until she refused to walk up the back stairs by herself to come in. Instead, she stood at the bottom and barked at me, until I went to help her. She wouldn't even get on the couch by herself. Or the bed. So, she's back on pain meds for a few days until her hip/knee calms down again and she's feeling better. The end result?  She's brutal to get a photo of, as she's a streak of running lab. :)  It's awesome to see!!

Anyway, playtime in the yard...

Little Murphy in the pile of leaves.

Spike just dying for me to throw the ball!!

Fight for the ball.... yup, she's a fiesty little terrier. Poor Spike and his ears will never be the same. Soph merely tries to outrun her.

How I'm training Murphy to run faster... chasing the black dogs!!  By the way that's Soph on the left. She's looking skinny again! I do try to keep all three in skinny form, for the sake of Sophie's hips and dog sports for the other two, but her ribs are a little more obvious again than I like. She'll likely get a little extra the next couple days, which trust me, she'll love.

Pretty girl. The only half decent photo I got of her, alone.

Mr. Spike. 

Attemp at a family photo. Too bad noone would cooperate and look at me!

Happy Thanksgiving from the black dog crew... 

Sophie (left), Spike (middle), Murphy (duh! in front), Spike's fav dead soccer ball- lure to keep them all looking at me! 

Spike runs agility

I can't believe how time is flying... it's October already, and I am now in the off season for flyball and agility. I think that's a good thing as Spike and I ran at two trials and I have a whole list of things to train over the winter. But it was fun and he loved every minute of it!!

The first weekend was D&S Dogs annual Starter's Trial. It's intended for dogs like Spike, as a first agility trial and it was small, lowkey and lots of fun! I entered Spike in 2 Standard rounds and 1 Jumpers round. No need to post results; we didn't Q in anything, but I was able to shake the nerves off and by the end of the day was earning way less faults! The last round of the day was the Jumper's round and that was an incredible moment for me; it was then I realized I had an agility dog, that Spike is fast and that I am hooked on agility! He flew around the course, with me merely stumbling behind, yelling "GO!". And, he went! One pesky wrong end of the tunnel was all that stopped us from getting our first Q.

The second weekend was a much larger trial with 320 runs per day. I entered Spike in 2 rounds each day; Standard and Jumpers again. Needless to say, the Standard runs were better than the Starter's trial but I still need to work contacts, weaves and my own confidence. As well, Spike has a pesky habit of not seeing or taking the tire jumps so I must work that with him this winter too.  Day 2, was two rounds of Jumpers and the first round was so-so. Second round Spike shone. We nailed it, until the bitter end when the lousy tire jump was all that stopped us from Q'ing. However, he was grinning and flying around that course!

I also took Murphy both weekends and she had fun playing with other pups. She even met a Mastiff puppy, who at 10 weeks of age was already bigger than her. At 8 months, I suspect Murphles is pretty close to full grown at about 13 or 14 pounds of solid terrier fury.

Sophie even got to come with, the second day of the second trial. The days were long and I didn't want to leave her alone so she came and hung in a crate with us. She got out for some good walks and some clicker training by the ring as I worked on her excitement levels and focus. She's happy staying home and she's happy coming with. And, I have to admit, it was nice to have her there as a bit of a distraction, as I had lots of downtime.

I learned some things about myself this weekend. I love agility. I mean, I really love agility. The challenge of the sport, the quietness around the ring, the support from the agility community (that groan from the crowd as Spike missed the tire at the end of his run said it all to me!), and the chance to hang with my boy in an environment that doesn't stress him and in fact allows him to come alive and show me what he's learned is worth so much to me! And, I learned that I can do things I never thought I could... rear crosses, yelling go and trusting Spike to go, working in the ring, and not letting nerves get me nearly as bady as I thought they would. Yup, agility rocks! I can't wait for Spring and trialing!

Spikey, overjumping the 22" jumps. We trained him at 26", but he measured at 21" on the nose, so only has to do 22" jumps in competition. Makes me happy....

And, Murphy playing with Cinch who belongs to Shirley, my fabulous agility coach extraordinaire.

Thanks to Megan MacLean for the photos.  Can't wait to run Spike some more and get more fabulous photos of him looking so happy and focused. :)

Wishmaker's Walk for Wishes

As some of you may now, my family experienced one of the biggest shocks in one lifechanging diagnosis, just over three years ago.  My niece Katherine...

was diagnosed with ALL, the most common form of childhood leukemia.  As a result, our lives have been changed forever. Fortunately for us, Katherine recieved excellent care and is well on the road to being just fine. 

But, also as a result of this, Katherine was granted a wish from the Children's Wish Foundation! How cool, hey?

And, Spike and I have the opportunity to give back!  We are walking with the Pediatric Angels team (it's the nurses from the hospital ward Kath has spent time on!) to raise money for the Children's Wish Foundation.  So, if you would like to sponsor us, I would be grateful! And, I've promised Spike if we reach our goal, all three pooches in this house get an extra meaty bone that night! So, please, don't let Spike down, and support a good cause!!

Check out our page... http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1000440

Flyball weekend

I played flyball last weekend with Spike. It was an amazing, crazy weekend, full of laughs, a little tooth pain (I hate dentists but have finally cracked and made an app't. My mouth still hurts), lots of speedy dogs and exciting titles won.

We had the privilege of watching a dog earn their 100,000 point title; a Jack Russell who clearly loves the sport. And, many other dogs ran well, scored lots of points and set personal bests.

As for Spike, he steadily improved the whole weekend to the point, he was consistently running under 5 seconds, as long as I got my passes right. When he was able to run a 2 foot pass (which I am getting more and more often!!), he was able to set a new personal best of 4.6 seconds. Very, very proud of that little dog.

And, Spike earned this...

It's a rosette, for earning his Flyball Dog Champion-Silver title (1000 points).  Not shabby, for the third tournament we've run in.  Last tournament I questioned why I was running flyball; Spike had a meltdown and wouldn't come out of his crate at one point. He was uncomfortable and nervous, but this tournie there was none of that; he was happy, strong, and ran like CRAZY!  

Anyway, Spike, post tournie... this is why I run flyball. A happy, tired dog!!

And, I just have to add this pic because it shows how skinny Spike has gotten! Not a great pic, but shows his new and improved dainty self. If you look closely, you can see ribs even. Yup, he's positively scrawny.

Ah, tired dogs are good dogs!

Sophie got presents!!!

It's Sophie's lucky day!!  Jean, a kindly soul sent Sophie some liver support stuff to help her out while she takes Deramaxx.  Sophie is THRILLED!  I am even more THRILLED!!

Thank you SOOOO much Jean, I cried a little when you offered!!  This is why I love the dog community; people understand, care and support and it means the world to me that you did this!

Hmmm, pretty box!!!

Supplements are GREAT!  

Content Sophie. 

Yup, the world is a pretty darn good place today.  Hug your poochies, and be reminded, there's still good people out there.

Someone decided...

...the other day that the broom needed to be punished. Or maybe just dismantled.  All I know is I found the poor broom lying on the deck looking like this....

My deck is a mess from that poor broom as well as a couple pots someone thought needed rearranging and digging in.

I am still not sure who did this, but my money is on this one...

She's refusing to talk, pretending she's innocent.

Silly Murphy, it's never a dull moment with her around!