Well Chase, our black border collie rescue, turned 8 years old. We got him a Birthday Pizza from Ma and Paws, with double the fixin’s. He loved it, as you can see. All the dogs love the birthday pizzas and we split them up and pass them out to all the pack.
Chase’s birthday is just a guess since he’s a rescue and we didn’t know it for sure when we got him. So his birthday is September 21, 2003, because I figured the first day of Autumn (usually anyway) is a good and easy day to remember. And I love the autumn so it’s a fun time of year for me.
He gobbled down his share of the pizza and so did the other dogs too. Happy Birthday Chase!
Oh and I have to put another picture in of little Jet trying to get onto the counter, too, he’s just too small to reach!
It’s strange, still, to only have five dogs now. It’s actually been strange to have had only six. Since Angel passed on in May 2010, I still kept trying to count for seven dogs. I hadn’t gotten used to six. And now I’m going to have to count for five dogs only.
Yeah, my husband and I would count dogs to make sure we had them all around. Home safe. Not getting out or running amok.
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I think I am coming to terms with losing Lucy. I’m still very sad, and last night cried again in bed before I went to sleep. I miss her so much. I wish that I could have put her in a bed, given her meds, and kept her around like I would have kept a person around. But dogs don’t work that way… and seriously, it’d be nice if we could put people out of their misery, too. Lucy was miserable. It was her time to go. I just still miss her so much.
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Today we took a trip to the desert to let the dogs run. It was a short trip. Long drive, about 45 minutes, and it was too hot to let the dogs run for too long. But they did have fun. Levi isn’t very strong anymore and can’t go very far. I sure hope he’s okay when we go to camp. I will take it slow for him, give him what he needs, and sit around on the beach of Lake Tahoe all day if we need too. Which, really, won’t make me sad at all, sitting on the beach all day!
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I am trying out a new gallery, too, so above are the thumbnails. Though I’m not quite so sure how it works, yet, and I may just add the images individually too.
When it’s hot out, and I don’t want to go for a walk after work… and when I just can’t decide what dogs to take with me when all of them want to go, I sometimes will just stay home and train.
Well yesterday at work I was thinking why not work all the dogs at the same time? I can do some stay work and mat work and have them really be good pups!
This is a long video, about 10 minutes, I didn’t edit it much since the in-between treating part is kinda fun to watch too. At least for me. feel free to fast forward. LOL. They all did really well. Tatum was the worst, which means we need more stay work with Tatum. Jet was the second worst, which is bad, since he’ll need stays in obedience! Lucy was also pretty bad but she’s old, 12.5 years old now, and she has a hard time moving. When I pushed her down I put hardly any pressure on her at all. I just touch her and she goes down easily. But still, I might not work her anymore. She loves the treats but it’s too hard for her to move.
Chase and Levi were solid as rocks. Good boys! They have had a lot of obedience training those two.
It was fun, I’m thinking I’ll split them up in pairs of 2 for a while since this is a new thing and I want to reinforce their stationary-ness for a while. And treating one or two dogs, while working one, will be a lot easier than treating four or five. LOL
Oh, Muffit doesn’t have a stay at all. So he didn’t get to work. He’s my husband’s hiking dog.
I know I don’t post that much, and I apologize, but maybe I do more quality than quantity…. hmm? Hehe, I can hope so, anyway.
last weekend our local Sighthound club put together their first local Lure Coursing Ability Test. It was a blast! I entered Jet and Chase and they both LOVED it!
If you do not know, the AKC recently set up a new Lure Coursing test for all breeds. Before it was you had to have a Sighthound only to compete in Lure Coursing. Well a zillion people complained about this because not only Sighthounds like to Lure Course and chase stuff! This is even a titling event, and you know me, always wanting more letters on my dogs’ names. Jet and Chase are my only two dogs that care about chasing things. The Collies couldn’t care less about Lure Coursing or chasing things, though they do like to chase sheep around occasionally.
So here’s video of Chase and Jet doing some Lure Coursing. Jet was so funny. On Saturday I take him and we go to watch, and he’s rolling on his back and being a goof, saying hi to everyone, people and dogs. Not really knowing what we are doing. Until we went down to the field and he saw the lure and he FREAKS out and screams at the top of his lungs at that lure. It’s just a dumb plastic bag goof! LOL. Anyway day two… he’s all business, knows where we are and what we are doing. No fooling around for him on day two. He wanted that Lure!
I only got video on Sunday, not Saturday. The guy running the Lure lost both of the dogs on Sunday. I think maybe he needs more practice running the lure.
The grass was really long, some of the dogs may have gotten grasses in their ears and eyes, which isn’t good at all. Ugh. We checked Chase and Jet all over though and I think they are fine. So that’s good. Maybe they needed some toro zero turn lawn mowers to tackle all those weeds. But alas, the dogs pushed the grasses down okay.
The sighthounds raced first, then the other breeds raced after for the CAT. Chase and Jet both got 2 legs towards their CA titles. How fun. I hope they offer this again soon, we had a blast!
Last weekend Chase, Jet and myself went to Las Vegas for a flyball tournament. It was pretty fun, though busy and loud. And windy. And Saturday was too hot and Sunday was too cold.
Our teams did pretty well. Both teams placed in their divisions on Sunday. Only one team placed in their division on Saturday. But really I go because the dogs have fun, and to get points for titles. Not really for placements. Though I do like it when we do our best.
On Friday before the tournament, and Monday before we went home, I took the boys out to Lake Mead. Jet has never swam before, but he did this time! I was thrilled. Ignore my dumb yays on the video because I was just happy to see Jet swim.
Jet was cold after swimming, poor boy. I needed some hand dryers to warm him up. Maybe I should put a hair dryer in the van that can be powered by the van itself. Do they make such things? Hrm..
Anyway, Jet’s box turn was pretty good, I think. We barely had enough people to race dogs, box load, and shag balls, so I didn’t get any video. Bummer. I wish I did because I want to make sure Jet’s box turn is holding up good. From what I saw I think it was, but it’s hard to tell from way back in the lanes when Jet is up at the box.
Jet ran a singles of 4.6, which is good. I know he could run faster but I don’t train for speed. I train for accuracy and consistency in agility and that’s my primary goal. So I’m happy with how he is doing. Jet was start dog on his team, Chase was third dog. Chase is usually start dog so it was fun to have to pass him this time for a change. Even passing Chase had consistent 4.7 times. That’s what he usually gets starting too so that tells me that my passes were good and tight. I only early passed him I think 3 times the whole weekend so I was happy with my passing for the weekend too.
Next weekend is agility… I need to sleep for three days first, but I have to work instead!
Well we had a lot of fun! The flyball tournament went really well. Our handlers really need to work on tighter passes, or else we have to slow down our seed times, but that’s okay. The dogs had a great time most of all and that is what is most important.
Jet did awesome and I’m happy to say he had a really nice box turn. His rear end did hang once in a while but all and all he did great. The first day he got a bit over excited and crossed lanes to chase the other dog a couple of times, but he got the hang of it and the second day he was solid in his lane.
Here’s some video of the races. The first one is short, the second day is a bit longer.
Day One:
The second day has a few closeups of his box and I’m really pleased with how he’s doing. I did some slow motion of his box too.
Day Two:
I’m dead tired, as usual. And I need some blackhead removal since my skin has broken out from the hotel water. But all in all I’m doing okay, vertigo and all. LOL. I still am having some vertigo which sucks but I think it’s getting a bit better. I’m going to check out a doctor next week and see if he can help me out too.
So now it’s back to work. I’d rather be at home resting during the week, playing with the dogs during the weekends. Hopefully I can do that when I retire in a couple of years!
Well, tomorrow I leave for the flyball tournament. I’ve been having vertico for the last week, and accompanying nausea, and I’m not really feeling much better, so I hope I don’t just hate the whole weekend. I usually can push my discomfort to the back of my mind and body well enough to function, and possibly even enjoy myself, so I hope I can do that this weekend too. (Doc says I probably have a virus in my ear, whatever.)… Continue reading »
Well it’s that time of year for sure. Snow is on the ground, and it’s wet and icky outside. So I have had to move my training indoors. Fortunately we got a lot of training in last summer. I think Jet and Tatum both have a really good handle on agility, and next year they are both going to be competing on a regular basis. I suspect that Jet will move up in the ranks faster than Tatum. But I’ll… Continue reading »
Tip Tail is about two Smooth Collies, two Border Collies, and one Danish/Swedish Farmdog. Our adventures include dog training for obedience, agility, and flyball, and anything else we can fit in! We also love to just play and have fun. We all live in Salt Lake City, Utah. The human behind it all is me, Cynthia!
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The Dog Pack
Levi - CH Pembroke Faded Glory
Chase - Spirit Chasers Spice
Tatum - Tatum Tot Spice
Muffit - Spicy Love Muffit
Jet - Stolta Ebbas Einride of Sweden
In Loving Memory... Kip R. Dog Angel - Angel Pumpkin Spice Lady
Lucy - Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius
