• LeviChaseTatumMuffitJet
2

Pictures from the Park

January 24, 2012

Just some fun pictures from when we went to the dog park last weekend. I love the park after a fresh snow, when the sky is perfectly blue. I love that color of blue.

Only Tatum and Jet went. I’m still not taking Levi. I don’t know, his park days may be over… we’ll see. But every day he seems a little bit worse. His poor old body just can’t repair itself anymore. Makes me very, very sad.

Tatum

Tatum and Jet

Blue Skies

Tatum and Jet

Playing

Why not take Muffit or Chase? Well, Chase isn’t dog friendly at all. He’s actually pretty dog aggressive. And Muffit goes hiking with my husband so much, that I don’t take him out myself. He’s my husband’s hiking companion. :)

: Jet, Levi, Tatum
: , , ,
1

A Levi Update

January 19, 2012

Levi and Tatum

Levi and Tatum

Well Levi seems to be doing okay. I watch him like a hawk, I’m sure I’m super paranoid. I haven’t taken him to the park in a couple of weeks. The last time he went, it really went slow, and I think it took him a day or two to recover. He wasn’t in a lot of pain, but he was tired. So we’ve been sticking to walks around the block. He’ll go about 3/4 of a mile before he starts walking behind me and loosing his oomph. I try to take him about three times a week.

He’s going to K9 Nosework Class again at our local training center, Calling All Dogs. He just loves it. I was worried about his first class, wondering if he’d hurt the next day. And if he did, I would have taken Jet or Tatum instead. But no sign of Levi hurting the next day, so I’ll take him back again. He does love it, and I really want to spend time with my old 12 year old boy.

He practically needs a medication cart for all the supplements he’s on. But I think they are helping. And the acupuncture helps too. So he’s rather expensive for us now, but he’s worth every penny. The last three or four days he’s been grumpier at the other dogs. And I think it’s because he’s feeling better. I guess it could be because he’s feeling worse, but usually he’s grumpy when he feels good, so who knows. :)

He’s my boy, and I’m glad he’s doing okay.

: Levi
:
0

Going for Non-Reg Obedience

January 17, 2012

Playing in the Snow

Playing in the Snow

Well, I’m going to do it. We have a three day AKC obedience trial the end of March. I’m not going to do all three days, since I have to work Friday, and I’m taking off most of that week already for a Denise Fenzi seminar in Colorado Springs. But anyway… my obedience instructor reminded me of the new non-reg obedience classes, especially Graduate Open. And so… I entered Chase on Saturday and Sunday. I’m nervous! It’s all like Utility but a bit simplified. I hope he can do it all. His weakest things are signals from far away without verbals (Grad Open allows verbals and is closer). He’s also fairly iffy at go-outs, but the go-outs are from between the jumps, not clear across the ring. I don’t trust his directed jumping yet, he can blow me off like he did in agility, so we’ll see about that. And I’m not sure about his articles… but he’s getting better.

Dang, that’s a lot to be unsure about. LOL. I go back and forth from day to day thinking he’ll get it, to he won’t get it. I guess going in the ring is the test. It’ll be kinda fun, I think. And why the heck not. :)

I’m putting Jet in Beginner Novice. Which is all on leash, so I think he’ll be okay. Though I still think he’ll get nervous and I don’t know what to really do about that. I’ve been working on keeping him happy and playing games, but the ring… well, we have an ASCA obedience trial in Feb and I can get him in Rent A Ring again, so hopefully that’ll help. It’s at the same time as agility so that’ll be interesting to see how he does.

So anyway, that’s the plan for March obedience wise. I hope I can relax when I go. Maybe I need to look up the best ebook reader so I can sit and read in between. I love to read, it really does help me relax.

: Chase, Jet, Obedience
: , ,
1

Coats in the Park

January 4, 2012

The Park

Well, there’s not much going on! :) So I haven’t been blogging much lately. In about three weeks Jet and I have an AKC agility trial. That’ll be fun. I hope we remember how to do it! I haven’t done agility much. Just been working, covering shifts for coworkers who have too much leave and have to use it, or lose it. Me, I use mine during the rest of the year and so I don’t have much left. It’s okay, it’s really quiet during the holidays so that’s nice.

Levi, Chase and Jet have been doing more Cyber Rally. Levi got his first Q. Though every day I worry he’s just getting worse and worse, older and older. This park trip was a lot for him. I feel bad that he’s still not back to how he was before that darn party. Maybe he never will be. Breaks my heart.

Chase got his second Cyber Rally Q, and Jet got his third, for a title. It’s been fun, and with the lack of snow and the weather in the 50s here in Utah, we’ve been able to get outside, which is nice.

I’ve been staying indoors a lot, though. Maybe I should look for some Sous Chef Jobs for something to do inside. But instead I sit on the chairs and watch TV or read. I do like to take it easy.

: Daily Posts
: ,
6

Automatic Tracking Video

December 28, 2011

Swivl

Well, it’s finally here. This is not an ad post… it’s just something I found. :) I’ve been looking, forever it seems like, to find a device that will follow me with video while I’m doing agility, or rally, or training, or whatever. Looks like finally someone invented the darn thing! Swivl

I have one of those big Canon Video cameras, though, which this won’t work with. But I also have an Android phone, which it will work with. I wonder if the big clunky cameras are just on their way out, and most everyone will eventually switch to phones or tablets for video. That’s fine with me, though of course it’d be a bummer if I can’t sell my camera eventually. But someday I do want an iPad. I just can’t justify it now. I have my Macbook, and I have my Android phone, and I really can’t afford a tablet. Maybe some day. And I love using iMovie to make my videos on my Mac. And as ya’ll know, I take a zillion dog videos of sports and of training. Usually I put my camera on the tripod. But sometimes I just need the camera to follow me around, especially in a small place like training, or a far place like an agility trial. I quite often don’t have anyone with me to video. Or at agility trials, I get tired of begging people to video. So many people just hate to video! This would solve my problems!

It’s not out until 2012, and it’s $160, but I actually think that’s a pretty good price. I’d use it ALL the darn time! I’d like it to be able to keep me zoomed in, but it doesn’t do that yet. Maybe eventually. And I bet there will be more manufacturers out there making more types like this soon. They are marketing it for bloggers… or vloggers, I guess. But heck, they should market it to the darn dog sports crowd. I bet they’d get a lot of interested parties!

: Daily Posts, Training
:
3

Cyber Rally-O

December 27, 2011

So this is pretty cool… Cyber Rally! I know there is also Cyber Agility, but I have not done it. I don’t really have a good place to set up an agility course, and I’m lazy, but Rally, now that’s something I can do.

I registered up Jet, Tatum and Chase with Cyber Rally-O, you can check out their website: Cyber Rally-O Website. And they also have a Yahoo Group that I’ve joined, though I’ve gone Digest because I don’t keep up well with email lists.

The above video is Jet’s first Q. Woot! Three Qs for a title. I’ll need to pick some other courses and get them done, too. There are a couple of indoor training places here that I can rent and set them up. Nutshell: you set up the course and video and submit the entry. They tell you if you Q or not.

Some people may poo-poo it, saying well you can use treats and practice as much as you want before hand. But really, so what? I’ve always wanted do overs. :) And you still have to train everything first anyway. The dogs have to know how to heel and do all the exercises. You can’t lure them through with treats (that’s an NQ). And yes you can treat in stationary exercises. And if you have a reactive or shy dog that doesn’t do well at trials, this is awesome. Like I said, you still have to train for it, so I think it’s pretty cool.

: Jet
: ,
0

Tatum and Jet at the Park – No Levi

December 26, 2011

Jet and Tatum

First of all, Merry Christmas. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

I’ve been taking it easy the last weeks, which is nice, no dog sports. Well, I did do some Cyber Rally-O with Jet that was pretty fun. I’ll have to post about that next time. Otherwise, I’ve been spending time with family and friends and taking the dogs to the park, going on some walks, and taking it easy. Been really nice. I wish I could have more time like this to just live. Oh I’ve been working, too, but that goes without saying. And in only another week, I’ll be able to say “I can retire next year…” oh that’ll be nice. I can retire in 2013, so I’m looking forward to that!

I haven’t been taking Levi to the park, though, just Jet and Tatum. I miss taking Levi. He still isn’t back to normal quite yet. I’ve been taking him on walks around the block, a mile or so, to work him back up to the park. But I think maybe next weekend he’ll be coming with again. His back still hurts. Maybe he needs a discectomy to help his back, but maybe not. He’s been getting a little better every day. And he’s being rather obnoxious at home which is a sign the’s feeling good. So that’s a good thing. I am realizing approaching EOL, which we say with software… (End Of Life), but as long as he’s happy and doing well, I’m happy with him too. He’s not going to keel over dead tomorrow or anything.

January will bring another agility trial. Maybe Jet and I can pick up another Double Q. We haven’t done agility in a couple months, now, but that’s okay. I think we will both remember how.

: Jet, Levi, Tatum
: , ,
2

Taking A Break from Flyball

December 21, 2011

Chase Flyball

Yeah, I’m going to be taking a break from flyball for a while. Until I retire. Which is one year, 7 months, and some odd days away. I feel bad for Chase, because flyball is his most favorite thing. And while I do enjoy it, I just can’t do as much as I’ve been doing lately. So flyball is the thing that’s going to go.

I have 29 agility days planned with Jet in 2012. And he’s doing really well. I want to qualify him for AKC nationals, and go to AKC invitationals next December. So in order to do all that, lots of other things have to take a back seat. Mainly flyball.

I’ll miss the team and the fun. Hopefully none of them will end up in any heroin detox rehab treatment centers while I’m gone. ;) But I can’t afford to travel to the tournaments. I wish we had some locally but we don’t. And I can’t take the time off work to travel, either. That’s the hardest thing, is getting the time off work. Oh I can get the time off work, my coworkers are really nice, but I only have a limited amount of leave every year, and this year I went way too low. I ended up with only 10 hours of annual at one point, and I need more of a buffer than that.

So until I retire in 2013, August, I won’t be doing flyball. Maybe I’ll do some agility with Chase again, to keep him active. I dunno. I don’t enjoy agility with him that much, I just can’t keep up, he’s too fast. But he likes it, so if I can afford it, I’ll try to enter him a little bit.

: Chase, Flyball
: ,