Quad Cities Agility

Vinnie was really good this weekend - no Qs, but a couple of really nice runs. I got two good start line lead outs. One was successful and one was not - we have homework! I also was able to practice my blind crosses with him a couple times and I am loving them! I am looking forward to more trials next month (six weeks, but who's counting?)!

Scruffy to Sexy

 Friday was groom day and it was REALLY overdue. I normally groom the little beast every other weekend, but I think it's been almost four weeks! Yikes! Three hours later, he's back to his normal clean self.

From Scruffy Beast:

To Sexy Beast:

Vehicles...

My goal this weekend was to get Frank some time on working vehicles. There are four "elements" to Nose Work: interior, exterior, containers and vehicles. I am feeling really good about his work in all the elements except vehicles. We have not spent nearly enough time working on them. Friday we took the truck and the van to an empty parking lot to practice (the neighbor has dogs that run loose on occasion, so I won't practice vehicles at home). Frank did awesome. He is really seeing value in the vehicles now.

We went to the elementary school today to practice. I had driven by and noticed that they had a skid loader and a large truck filled with bricks that I wanted to use. Frank really did will today - the "weird" vehicles were no issue. Unfortunately, the humidity messed with the camera and all the footage is just fog.

But, I do have video from Friday:

(thanks for the music Tammy!!)

ICDOC

Vinnie and I went to the ICDOC trial in Davenport this weekend. He only ran in jumpers both days as I have pulled him from standard for the summer to reteach his contact performance. It was a great trial and fun to visit with everyone and watch a bunch of really great runs! Vinnie was a little rock star. He held his start line position both runs and didn't move one little foot - good boy! The icing on the cake was two clean runs. I see areas I could definitely improve, but overall, I think we had pretty good teamwork this weekend!

Carolyn was kind enough to video us with my iPad this weekend and I downloaded the iMovie app to give their editing program a try. It's a neat program, but is going to take some getting used to!

Friends...

Nose Work

Frank and I finally got a chance to go to the high school and elementary schools to do some Nose Work this weekend. I have been eyeing the bleachers at the high school and the playground equipment at the elementary school for ages. It rained this afternoon and I figured right after it finished would be the perfect time to go since all the kids would still be inside. I was right and we had a good time. Frank really enjoyed searching the bleacher area - you can see his tail is up and he is focused on his job. When we headed across the street to the elementary school, it started to rain and there was one little bit of thunder. Frank was a bit concerned about getting his hair wet :-)

DMOTC

Vinnie and I had a great time this weekend in Des Moines. We have been working very hard on his start line and it is paying off. We had two great days of start lines and came home with lots of ideas to work on!!

Thanks Tammy for flipping us!!

Friday:

Saturday:

Fourteen!!!

Happy 14th Birthday Robin!!!!

Still looking handsome!!

Apparently ear size increases with age:

Or maybe not? How could you resist this face?!?!?
(four months old)

Robin enjoying his birthday cupcake (minus the frosting!) this afternoon:

This weekend I attended a Nose Work seminar in Chicago (Melrose Park to be precise). I learned a LOT in the thirty hours I was away from home and not all of it Nose Work:

1. There is a reason that I hate rush hour traffic in large cities. Note to self – it is waaaaay less expensive to take I-80 than I-88! I’ll bet I spent almost $20 on tolls!! A really nice lady at the seminar gave me great directions on how to get to 80 to get back home.
   

2. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover! The Super 8 that Vinnie and I were staying at was near the O’Hare airport and the neighborhood didn’t look promising. First appearance of the motel didn’t look good for us either. However, our room was awesome!! It was huge, had a really nice leather recliner, marble (?) sink and shower surround (although a slight slip in the tub could end up with you taking a bath in the sink!) and a really cool leather and wood headboard. There was a restaurant in the building that had me drooling by smell alone!
   

3. I need a new mattress!! How do you know when you need a new mattress? When you go to a cheap motel and their bed is MUCH nicer than your own!
   

4. Here’s that “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” thing again: Saturday morning, there was a man leaning up against the motel entrance as I was going back and forth loading up the van. “You going to the Nose Work seminar?” he asked. I had to ask him repeat himself as I didn’t understand him at first. Turns out he lives in Alaska (where they don’t have hardly any dog seminars of any sort) and he has flown to 4-5 seminars here in the states just so he can help teach up in Alaska. He was originally from Texas so he was an Alaskan with a Texas drawl.
   

5. For Your K9 is an interesting place. They offer tons of activities for dogs including daycare, dock diving, obedience, Nose Work, agility, rally, etc… Their building is an old warehouse in an industrial area that has been divided up into different sections for their activities. It was pretty neat to see their dock diving area. The most interesting part of their building was the bathroom. The women’s room was a large (10 x 10) room with two toilets and two sinks – no stalls. Hmmm… I was really tempted to get you all a picture, but I thought it would look a little odd if I went in there with my camera.
   

6. I learned a LOT at the Nose Work seminar. I have quite a few things I want to try with the boys.
   

7. My new IPad is great for taking notes. There were four or five other people there using them for note taking. A couple of them had the keyboards. Might have to look into one of those. I am getting pretty fast at typing on the built in keyboard though.
   

8. On the way home, I ran into quite the storm. I learned that I get a perverse pleasure from driving in a thunderstorm and watching the fantastic light show and listening to the Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque voice warn me about the dangerous conditions in which I am currently driving. (Cow… Another cow… Nope, same cow – name that movie!!)
   

9. Penny is good under pressure (and in water!). And, she is incredibly clean right now from mother nature’s car wash.
   

10. Dean Koontz is warped, but I still love listening to his books in the van.
    

11. You can’t hear a Dean Koontz book over pounding rain and wind.
    

12. Driving in a severe storm works best with loud rock music!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!! May your day be filled with green things!!!

Davenport weekend

Vinnie and I had a wonderful weekend. We had LOTS of awesome food. Ummm... except for the Potato and Kale soup day.

Hey Tammy: "No soup for YOU!!".
http://youtu.be/J02RdkvI6zo

I think Vinnie and I are getting a little bit better. We have a bit of a break until May thank goodness. Bring on the agility classes - I really need some help (that's me, NOT Vinnie!).

Vinnie finished his Open standard and his Excellent A jumpers titles this weekend. Good boy Vinnie!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy third Birthday Vinnie!!! I can't believe it's been three years!

Nose Work!!

Vinnie and Frank and I have been doing a lot of Nose Work since Vinnie and I went to a seminar in November. The boys love it and it's lots of fun to see them do what comes naturally. Becky took video of the class tonight and put this movie together. Frank starts at 6:15 and Vinnie at 12:15. If you ever get a chance to do this with your dog, I highly recommend it! Hmmm... Tammy - I wonder if you could do this with one of your CATS!!

Davenport

Vinnie was such a little rock star this weekend. We had some really fun courses from Lisa Potts and Terry Smorch. Vinnie did everything I asked (only better)! I really need to work on some handling skills, but I'm trying!

How did I get so lucky to get this boy??

Snow Dog!

It was finally sunny/warm enough to go outside for some fun. The snow is already starting to melt. Fingers crossed that the weave poles and jumps can go back out in the yard in a few days!!

Happy 2012!!!