CollieTag Archives

We Three are Tired

Oh boy.. the tournement is over. We had an awesome time. Chase did great, as usual. He ran fast and clean and got more points. His team broke out twice.. which is really cool and I’ll explain it later. Okay maybe it’s not that cool because we don’t get points for that run, but it was nice to run so fast. And after we had to slow our passes down and determine what speed we needed to run to still win but not break out a third time.

Tatum also did good today, she played with a few dogs and pooped and peed. Just one poop a day but that is better than none. Two pees a day and that is better than one! She is going to be a great collie doing flyball! She is still shy but when she gets used to being at tournaments she’ll be fine. This was her first flyball tournament she came to socialize in, and he had her tail up a lot of the time and was exploring. Though she did get spooked some too.

I’m tired… had a margarita to drink and now I’ve toast. But it was yummy. Going to go to bed and sleep in tomorrow, then drive home whenever after I wake up. Zzzzzz Chase and Tatum are already asleep.

Cynthia

March 30, 2008

Flyball

10 comments

Chase, Collie, Flyball, Tatum, Travel

Too Busy to Rest

I was just looking at my calendar and realized that yes, I am going to be much too busy this spring. As usual, I guess. Lots of dog sports going on. And my Husband wants to squeeze a camping trip in there too… we didn’t go camping at all last year, and we both missed it. So this year we have to squeeze a couple in between my dog events. I’m going to need some vehicle tracking to even figure out where I am.

This weekend is Flyball Tournament in St. George. Then the following weekend is a weekend off. After that, April 12th, I’ll be in Colorado doing agility. April 19th we are going camping. April 26 is a USDAA trial I’ve entered Chase in. May 3 is a 3 day AKC agility trial. May 10 I’m going back to Colorado just with Chase for USDAA trial, and then finally on May 17th I’ll be able to stay home that weekend.

Ugh! The worst part will be missing flyball practice. I wonder if someone would take Chase for me, on those rare weekends when he’s not coming with me.

Cynthia

March 25, 2008

Agility, Daily Posts, Flyball

13 comments

Agility, Collie, Flyball, Travel

Flyball Practice Pics

Here’s a crowd of dogs at flyball practice… you can see Chase and Tatum in the background in their x-pen. And Muffit in his crate. I had him in the pen but… silly boy jumped out, he was too excited. So he got the crate (did I mention I got that crate for free? Driving by a house it was set up in the yard with a be FREE sign on it. Score! Perfect size, double door foldable wire crate. Destiny…).

So anyway we had fun at flyball practice today. I love taking pictures as much as I love running Chase. This is a picture of Whatsit… yup, that’s his name! I love his name, cute as a bug… both him and his name. Not sure what his mix is, but he’s loved by our flyball captain (okay he’s loved by everyone, but he lives with her). He tries his best to do flyball but doesn’t manage to bring the ball back. Goof!

Border Collie, Chase, Collie, Flyball, Muffit, Tatum, Thunder Paws

Thinking of Closing Collie Rescue

As you may or may not know, I started Utah Collie Rescue, Inc., at the beginning of 2007. I have been doing dog rescue for about 10 years, probably more like 11 or 12. I’ve mainly been fostering, I love to foster and help out the dogs that need a place to stay until they get their forever home.

Well, with the return of Muffit and the addition of Tatum to our pack, we now have six dogs. And so our days of fostering are over. Well.. if not over, at least we won’t be able to take any more fosters until our pack gets smaller. Which means when a couple of our dogs die.

And… really, I’m actually quite done with fostering. I am tired of seeing the poor dogs come into our house and being so needed, underweight, broken, and sad.

So without being able to take fosters, I’m not sure what we can do. We have not foster homes that work with Utah Collie Rescue, and so we really can’t take any collies at this time.

I’m not sure if I should close down UCR completely, or let the bank accounts hand around if they are needed? Hrm. Stress… I feel bad, but I do have to accept our limits.

Anxiety, Collie, Rescue

Pics from DOCNA trial

Okay so I managed to get off my rear and get the camera and load the pictures onto my laptop, and then onto flickr. Hey that sounds like a lot of work.. well, it is for me since I’m so dead tired! LOL.

I didn’t take these pictures until after I tore down most of the setup and put the collies away. Chase was still out because he ran the very last course, beginners jumpers, and so he got to wait a little bit longer.

I wanted to get some pictures of the dogs with their ribbons but I had packed them all up and didn’t want to get them out anymore. I get so tired at the trials that, toward the end, I just want to sit around and be a vegetable. Now I need some walk in tubs in my house so I can just climb in and have a nice hot, relaxing bath!

Chase is sitting very nicely by his crate. I remember when I first starting bringing him to trials, I wouldn’t trust his down stay at all. But now, he is doing really well. So when Tatum is goofy and doesn’t have a stay I just have to remember that all my dogs start out without a stay… and then the get one. Stay is so important!

Agility, Chase, Collie, Levi, Tatum

Good Day at DOCNA

Well, back from the DOCNA trial. As it’s after 9pm I’ve been back for a while, and the muscles are starting to stiffen up. But that’s okay, it was a fun day. I do wish I could run Levi and Chase both well at the same trial. Today was Levi’s day. He got 3 out of 4 Qs. Two Standard and One Jumpers. Chase only got One Q, in Snakes and Ladders. He is strong in that, though. The Gamblers I messed up because I wasn’t sure about my course. And the Standard he was blowing his contacts so we trained instead.

Muffit did pretty well.. though most of the day he was wide awake and very over stimulated. Not until about 2pm did he start to settle down. He will stay home tomorrow, one day was definitely enough for him.

Tatum did great, she slept most of the day and come out to play and work occasionally. I walked her over to another building where they were doing obedience and conformation fun matches… and that made her nervous but she didn’t die, and later she was fine again.

Levi went through the obedience fun match and did great! I was impressed and we used minimal treats. So.. I’ll be entering him in ASCA obedience this summer to see how he does and get that CD. I took Chase though too, and he needed a treat on his target stick to pay attention to me. It is still hard for him but we are working on it.

The dogs are now very tired and sleeping. The Mum is also tired, and will be sleeping shortly!

Agility, Border Collie, Chase, Collie, Levi, Muffit, Obedience, Socialization, Tatum, Training

I Want to Bury my Head in the Sand

I am just burned out with Rescue. Seriously. I don’t want to do it anymore. I want to stay home with my dogs and entirely ignore the overpopulation issue, all the tens of thousands of dogs that die every year because people don’t understand them, expect them to humans in suits, and abandon them.

It’s a horrible problem. It’s all over the stupid country. And all the good things that all the good rescues are doing seem like a tiny dent in the overall huge metal monster that it is. But we can’t take any more dogs into our home. At seven, we are packed. At six we are packed. At four we were okay and could do a foster or two. But at seven we cannot take anymore. Even at six, or at five, we wouldn’t be able to take anymore.

So I want to ignore the problem now, I want to bury my head in the sand, and pretend it’s not there. I want to work with my own dogs and love them and focus on them. I want to get Tony into a home, or a foster home. We are overwhelmed and overstressed. I have our used cisco router maxed, with all the internet stuff I do for rescue.

I won’t ignore the problem. I can’t. It’s too prevalent and anyone that has any dealing with dogs even in a very small way knows about it. The problem is there. It’s talked about. We have to be aware of it. And I’ll continue to talk about it, and be aware of it, and push rescue instead of breeding. But maybe, in my house full of happy dogs, maybe here where it’s safe and cozy and there is so much love and joy, maybe here we can ignore the problem and just be happy with who we have.

Dog Address Labels

I want some new return address labels.. the ones I have at work in my desk have my maiden name on them… so yeah, it’s been almost five years, maybe more, since I bought some. And I don’t know why, but I love return address labels. I like fancy ones with dog pictures and nice text. Even though people just end up throwing them away. I always buy checks with animals on them, too. Go figure.

So Vistaprint is having a sale on their Address Labels. If you use coupon code â€œBlogAddress75â€ at checkout, you’ll receive 75% off address labels! That’s a nice savings, and they have some good choices. I do need to get some business cards from them too for Collie Rescue. As I’m going to be putting up a jar at the next Collie Specialty for donations. And cards are nice to have there too.

So off I go to order address labels and business cards and spending more money! Even though I don’t have much money left, entering all the trials I have been. And flyball tournaments too. So many dog things, so little time… and never enough money! But I can put my new address labels on my envelopes!