Paws Off Course

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:23:00 +0000

Rainy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:06:00 +0000

Fall in the Pacific Northwest is easy to identify; it's when the rain starts again.

Our backyard currently resembles a swamp.

The driveway is coated in gigantic puddles.

The trails where we run are underwater.

The "wet dog" smell never leaves the dog...

Rainy days (or rainy weeks, or rainy months...) like these are a good times to do some mental exercise with the pups.

So, grab a clicker, your pooch, and a handful of cookies and go have some fun! :)

Seafair Hydroplane & Air Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Almost every year since moving to the Seattle area we've done Seafair stuff - run in the Torchlight 5k, gone to see the air shows and hydroplane races, eaten disgusting festival food, and so on.

This year, I was out of town.

But, luckily I just found some long-lost pictures from the 2008 events still on a memory card!

So, here you go. And if you don't like planes.....well, sorry.

First, some disgusting festival food:

Then some hydroplane races:

And some air shows:

Never complete without the Blue Angels:

Oooooooh!

Aaaaaaah!

and then PUPPY!

Oh my gosh, isn't he freaking adorable??

He was sitting next to us.

I loved 'im. :)

Oh wait.

This was supposed to be about airplanes wasn't it?

Right, sorry:

Wags to Riches

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:25:00 +0000

We participated in a fun event on San Juan Island this past weekend, and it was for a good cause, too!

The Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor invited us (the Washington Mixed Breed Dog Club and...Dazzle) to come and do some doggy entertainment during their annual Wags to Riches fundraiser. Of course we agreed, and so "Two Mutts and a Dash of Dazzle" boarded a ferry and headed to San Juan Island.

The APS-FH were wonderful hosts; we got to stay in a very nice little place at the event site.

Dazzle approved of her new sleeping quarters.

Meanwhile I was intrigued by the 4th of July ducky in the shower...

The actual demo was on Sunday, so on Saturday...

...Dazzle learned to be a good swimmer!

After a full day of fetching tennis balls in the pond, she finally perfected her swimming skills.

Perhaps it was the motivation the other ball-crazy dogs provided?

Trooper (the barking Mal) would like me to correct myself. He is not ball-crazy, he is Dino-crazy.

We would do anything for his beloved green Dino-Butt.

And his sister, Zoe, couldn't care less about his devotion and was more than happy to steal Dino-Butt.

Dazzle chose to follow Zoe's lead, and also took a turn in stealing the green Dino-Butt.

Sorry Trooper.

Wally, an Aussie/Border Collie and Dazzle's best buddy, was much too kind to participate in any Dino-butt theft activities and preferred to stick with the tennis balls.

Good boy, Wally.

Saturday night we got to witness an incredible thunderstorm that passed over the island. The rooms were lighting up, the rain was pounding, and the whole house was shaking.

During the night, little miss Dazzle-the-thunder-phobic-dog succeeded in clawing me to bloody bits. She also succeeded in pushing me off the couch.

The good news: Sunday was beautiful.

The demo went fantastically well.

We did Rally, Competition Obedience, some Team Obedience, and Dazzle finished off with a trick show.

Overall the APS-FH had a hugely successful, entertaining, and well-run fundraiser!

Kappa!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Wow.

The puppy mill Eskies are quite a pitiful bunch. My own little Eskimo has some crazy behaviours that unfortunately are proving quite common for the rest of the group too.

She barks. All the time. No kidding, this little girl barks like, 24/7. She also walks in circles while she barks. Just around and around and around. She also loves to tear up my clothing, but that's a forgivable puppy thing.

After a few baths and about 16 hours of brushing (that's not exaggerating), she looks pretty decent. Pretty darn cute even.

I named her Kappa.

For two reasons - the first because Kappa are old folklore creatures who are described as "mischievous troublemakers" (a very accurate description of this little pup!) and secondly I named her after the Phi Theta Kappa honour society.

Now that I've had her awhile, she is settling down. I've been able to interrupt the barking and teach her some of the basics like sit, down, leash walking, housetraining, and of course a recall.

While she doesn't bark at me or at the walls anymore, she does still bark at Daz.

Although she's really smart and caught onto clicker training instantly, she still hasn't caught onto is the fact that Dazzle hates her. Honestly, I don't blame Daz because Kappa frequently does stupid things like, oh I don't know, jump on her head:

Dazzle isn't shy about expressing her opinions.

Anyway, after a month here little miss Kappa has actually turned into a wonderful, well adjusted, little dog. Upon returning to the Humane Society she got adopted almost instantly. Perhaps because she's so darn cute.

I will certainly miss her, but truth be told, I do hope my next foster is not an Eskimo.

Are they cute? Yes.

Are they sane? Not so much.

I think I've seen enough of these white fluffy dogs for a little while. There are still quite a few living at the Seattle Humane Society waiting for homes, and plenty more getting some much needed TLC in foster homes before they go up for adoption.

Are they photogenic? Well, yes.

Again? So Soon?

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:36:00 +0000

Nobody thought it would happen this soon - but once again Washington has busted a puppy mill. A big one. We worked late tonight at the shelter getting as many dogs as we could processed and sent out to foster homes. You can read more about the raid and watch the news story video here or here.

I did end up taking one home. She is a four month old female - and she's in need of a name! If you watch the video in that second link, she's the pup shown cowering in the back of her crate. She is definitely a cutie...

I'll get some pictures of her soon - Dazzle and I are off this weekend to do the filiming for her first movie.

On another note, you can now follow Daz on twitter! Here is the link for that:

http://twitter.com/KatnDaz

Photos of "Puppy" soon, I promise! And please, send me some name ideas. :)

Oh yes, and last but not least - Bu, my foster from the last puppy mill raid, got adopted within a day of her becoming available! Congratulations little one!

Speech!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:51:00 +0000

Dazzle learned a new trick!

Pardon? What's that you say?

Oh, you want me to show you what she learned?

Okay. :)

Enjoy:

Let's Pretend...

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Let's pretend, just for a minute, that Dazzle herds sheep and not discs.

Are you pretending?

Good! Then you may proceed and click play:

BOO!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Says Bu.

Bu who??

Who the heck is Bu?

And is that pronounced like "Buh" or "Boo" or "Bou" or what?

Bu, - pronounced like Boo - is my new (and actually my first) foster dog. Many of you probably know about the various puppy-mill raids that have been going on. Well, little Bu happens to be one of the nearly 600 dogs that are victims of those puppy-mills. You can read a little about the situation here.

Bu is a three year old Yorkie (one of the Skagit dogs for those that care to know), weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds. When we picked her up from the Humane Society for Seattle and King County her name was Buttercup. Now, don't get me wrong, Buttercup is a cute name - but what are you supposed to call the dog as a nickname? "Butt"? We also tried out "Buttskie" and "Cuppie".

Yeah.

That's just not going to work here. Thus, her name quickly shortened to just Bu and it has since stuck.

When we picked her up she was a bit of a mess. Shaking, scared out of her wits, and smelling strongly of urine.

Dazzle's reaction....stunned horror that I actually brought that thing into the house.

But never fear. She'll get over it.

Peanut was slightly concerned as well. After all, she has always been considered the "baby" in the house and despite her slim figure, is nearly twice Bu's weight.

The little Rat (as she is affectionately known) got acquainted with everyone and then began trotting all over the place checking everything out. I got tired just watching her!

As I learned when walking her from the car to the house, she was not leash trained. Nor did she much appreciate wearing a collar.

Note Peanut's eyes bugging out of her head as It approaches.

It was drizzling outside (in typical Seattle style) and Bu was most definitely not impressed by the wet outdoors.

Oh hi there - my toes are freezing. We go back inside now please?

After investigating the house, yard, and other canines in the house - it was bath time.

My gawd, get me out of here!

It suddenly became very apparent that, when her hair is flattened, her ears are in fact...huge.

Ok ok ok, I promise I be good. Just no more bath-times please...

Once she dried off and puffed-out she was much happier.

And that much cuter....

Within the first day, she became hopelessly attached to me. She is so friggin' small that she can squirm out of the gates we have set up in the house and she does so whenever I leave the room. If I somehow manage to escape her for a few minutes, when I return she bounces up and down like a bouncy ball, little body wiggling the whole time.

Training has begun. She has figured out stairs, leashes, crates, food time, and grooming. Housetraining is going surprisingly well (I think Dazzle's look of disgust when she pottied in the house helped).

Because I like training with play, we've been working on building some play drive. She isn't really into dog toys but I can play with her if I have some scraps of paper handy. For whatever reason she really enjoys playing with paper things (most of all those annoying paper bracelets you get when you go to museums and such - she LOVES those!)

So far we've got a nice snappy down and a decent sit and recall. We also have the start of a stay, spin, and release word. I'll try to get some video of that stuff.

I am currently trying desperately not to fail at my first foster attempt. She sure isn't making it easy for me.

How Good is Your Hand/Eye Coordination?

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:50:00 +0000

How about Mouth/Eye coordination?

Today I taught Dazzle a new trick - the classic Ring Toss (or Ring Drop) game. They say it is good for very young children to improve hand/eye coordination.

When I started teaching her this my plan was to break it down into very simple steps - first pick up the ring like this, then go touch your nose to the top of the pole, then drop the ring. I figured if she did all that the ring would fall onto the pole, right?

Well, appearently that kind of learning was beneath her. She, quite simply, just learned that she had to put the ring on the pole to get a reward. She understood the concept perfectly! And she figured it out in less than half an hour, less than half of a half hour actually. Golly Pete, sometimes I underestimate this dog!

Here is the video of her new trick, be sure to watch the bloopers at the end. :)

Waz Up, Pup?

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:35:00 +0000

It's been awhile...well, alright....it's been a long while since I posted anything. Sorry 'bout that guys. We've still been doing stuff, life has just been getting in the way of taking the camera along.

In the mean time, here are a few agility videos from Dazzle's recent trials for you to enjoy:

First up is the ZAP NADAC trial from back in November. I was running several other dogs (not my own) at this trial but nontheless Dazzle kept her head and the teamwork was nice!

Then in January we did our first ever CPE trial - in the freezing cold. Still a lot of fun though. Dazzle loves the "take as many obstacles as fast as you can" games:

And last but not least, our most recent trial - the RHR USDAA, also from January. Dazzle did awesome with the exception of knocking the first bar (it's killer, but not as bad as knocking the last bar!). The major brag here was the Daz got her first ever Steeplechase Qualifyer and did so with the 4th fastest time - even with a really wide turn. Way to go kiddo!

Oh and one last video (because I still feel bad about abandoning you guys). Here is a video from Christmas and the major Seattle snow!

Speaking of snow...it's snowing right now. Maybe we'll head out for some photos...

Flopsy, Mopsy, Conttontail and Peter

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Okay, well, not really.

We only have two bunnies, and their names aren't Flopsy, or Mopsy, or Cottontail, or even Peter. Their names are Roo and Amber and they are my newest fosters!

Pretty cute huh?

As usual, Dazzle is none to thrilled with the new additions. She probably wouldn't want me to tell you this, but.... she's scared of the bunnies.

Oh yes.

My doggy that can leap tall building in a single bound, move tennis balls with her intense eyes, go through weave poles, traverse planks, and run across see-saws faster than the speed of sound is.........scared of a rabbit.

*sigh*

She's a goofy one alright.

Anyway, these little guys are a lot of fun - and they are up for adoption!

So, yawanna hear a little more about 'em?

Roodleoo:

Roo is just an all around great bun. She is female rex rabbit and about 7 pounds. She is very friendly - comfortable around not only people, but also around crazy border collies like Daz!

She is actually brindle and white and has mezmorizing markings on her very fuzzy and soft bunny-butt:

That's right - don't you dare call it brown or calico or anything else, that's brindle.

Like I said - she is very happy around people and eager to come and greet me in the mornings. The only negative thing about her is that....um...wait. Yeah, I can't think of anything negative. :)

Such a sweetie.

Now about Little Ambery.

(Is that not one of the cutest things you've seen all day? Come on now, you know it is!)

She is smaller than Roo, also a female rex but only around 4 pounds. She is more adventurous and confident than Roo - and as such, a little pushier than Roo. But despite that she seems less people-savvy (yet she is more Dazzle-savvy!).

When I got them she did have a URI and didn't really like taking the meds for it, so that may in fact be the only reason she is less of a people-bun. If so, I'm guessing that it will pass with more time.

Has she won you over yet?

No?

Well, in that case, I'll leave you with this:

As with all my fosters, these little cotton-balls are available through the Humane Society of Seattle and King County.

Did You Catch the Game?

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Dazzle did!

Little miss D won the Sports Fan catagory in Dogster's Annual "World's Coolest" photo contest, beating out 340 other entries!

World's Coolest Dog Photo Winner!

Also her buddy Kaine won the purse-dog catagory! Way to go you guys! Both doggies will be getting a special treat tonight I'm sure.

Here are the prizes they won:

Febreeze Pet Odor Eliminator gift pack of toys and samples
ConairPet gift set including brush and trimmer (Daz will be passing hers onto Popcorn and Peanut....)
A Furminator deShedding Tool
One-year DogsterPlus membership
100 Zealies (Dogster currency)

NOM's the Word

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Helloooo

Every so often I get inspired and take some "studio" type photos. Today happened to be one of those days. However, one of my two studio lights died just as we got started. :( Dang it! But I really wanted to take some pictures!

Why am I telling you this?

Well, because I took photos anyway and as a result of a dead light, these are all "one-lighted" - so I wanted to apologize for that. But I thought some were kind of cute, so I decided to go ahead and share them with you anyway.

"Enuff talk! It's NOMz time!"

"If you iz no delivering of Nomz, I eatz your photo"

Okay okay okay! Calm down sweetie, delivering of Noms will begin shortly.

"YAY NOMZ!"

"I iz ready for NOM delivery!"

I think these photos are really much easier with a point-and-shoot.

Curses this shallow DOF!!

So many a good shots that could have been end up looking like this....

You can still appreciate that though, right? Good.

Ya know, most of the time she is actually quite sane, I swear.

Ah, but we aren't done yet.

How could I call this a "studio" session without doing some doggy-dress-up photos?

"Srsly? Get it off. Now"

Oh but you're so cute in a tie!

How about some glasses then?

Ha! And people think I teach her things!

Little do they know, she actually does her own reading.

I think she'd make a good librarian, don't you?

After the glasses I tried to get her to pose with a toy but by then she was fed up enough.

She promptly took the toy and hid under my desk.

Oh well, 'till next time.

Dogster's 4th Annual World's Coolest Dog Show!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:26:00 +0000

Last year in the 2007 Dogster contest Dazzle won the big title - "World's Coolest Dog". This year she again made it to the finals in not one, but two catagories! AND little missy Peanut showed that she can be a cool dog too by also having a photo in the finals! The photos in the finals will now be reviewed by some judges to decide which wins their respective catagory. Here are the Doodles' finalist photos:

Sports Fan:

Working Dog:

And Peanut in the Car Dog catagory!

Keep your fingers crossed for 'em!

Bubbles!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:53:00 +0000

I recently watched a video of Josie, a little border collie (in Texas I think...), blowing bubbles in a bowl of water. (link) I decided to teach Dazzle that trick as well (of course!). Since I get plenty of "how did you teach her that?" questions I decided to videotape the whole process from start to finish - hopefully it will answer some questions people have!

You can skip to the very end if you just want to watch her blow some bubbles.

Enjoy:

The Leaves Have Fallen

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Say hi to Lark everybody

Good job.

To me, Lark and Daz look nothing alike....but to others....well, yeah.

So, let's get this straightend out right now. That way, I won't have to bug you later for getting everything mixed up.

Say it with me, this is L-A-R-K.

Lark loves to play with Dazzle's toys.

She would actually love to play with Dazzle too, but unfortunettly (most of the time) the feeling isn't exactly mutal.

The only way I got some good in-house interaction between the two was to bring out....

THE GIANT ORANGE BALL!

That is, until Dazzle got fed up and just stole it, then tried to lay on top of it so Lark couldn't take it back.

Brat.

Poor Larky, she tries so hard.

Time to do the only thing that can really cheer them both up - go for a hike.

Three days ago when we went on these trails there wasn't a leaf on the ground.

Now?

Let's just say that I got lost - twice - because I couldn't even find the trail.

"We iz lost nao?"

Not to worry kiddo! We go left here, I think.

POP QUIZ! Who is this dog?

If you answered "Lark" congratulations, have a lollipop.

If you answered "Dazzle" please stop now, review the beginning of this post, and try again later.

"I iz a Dazzle!!"

The strange thing about these trails - the deeper you go, the greener it gets. Check it:

Dazzle couldn't quite belive just how green it got...

"SPRING TIME!"

Hate to break it to ya hun, but no - it isn't spring yet Daz.

NOM!

Nobody ever did teach Dazzle the whole "size doesn't matter" thing. She is convinced that the bigger the stick, the more fun it will be to play fetch with.

Um, yeah...that isn't a stick dear, that is a tree trunk.

Eventually, instead of bringing me half the forest, she decided it would be much more fun to bring me roots.

*sigh* And just when some people thought she was sane.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - time for your final exam.

Who is this?

(HA! And there's no ears to help you out this time either!)

2008 NADAC Championships

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:15:00 +0000

What does mid-september mean to you? The end of summer perhaps. Usually a sad time. But for us it means a long road trip and 7 days of agility competition.

Peanut, even though she isn't competing, was excited to tag along

The agility that I'm talking about of course, is the NADAC Championships. They were once again held in Gillette, WY. On the way there we stopped in Missoula MT for a USDAA Trial the weekend before.

The trial site of the "A Rover Runs Through It" USDAA trial was really neat.

There was lots of stuff to look at between runs...

Daz did really well (as usual for USDAA). She only missed one Q all weekend and it was my fault (of course). She finished almost all her Starters titles that weekend (SSA, SS, SR, and SG) as well as her AD (Agility Dog) title! Way to go kiddo! After such a good weekend we were feeling pretty good about Champs which would start that wednesday.

So on the road again, we headed on from Montana to Wyoming.

It was a familiar site, people slowly queuing up outside the doors to get the best crating spots as soon as the building was opened to the exhibitors. I wonder if Daz remembers the place...

The gifts for the exhibitors were really great this year - we got BALLOONS! We didn't get any balloons last year!

The pacific northwest was very well represented:

Daz and I both seem to enjoy the "high stakes" runs. Yeah, they say you should always run your very best and that there is really no difference between a regular trial and Champs - but if that were true why would we bother coming? And it's impossible to deny that you run just a little harder at a championship event. We like the adrenaline rush.

The only problem, there are a LOT of dogs. We had an average of two runs a day and the days went from the time we got up at 5:30 AM to well past dinner time each night. We got back to the hotel around 10 or 11 each night.

How about a few pictures of those doggies?

Ceilidh

Blue

Amber and Kody

And what would an agility event be without the occasional PUPPY!

This is Kash. I think he is THE cutest golden pup ever.

I think Blue is getting tired of all this boring talk....

Let's see, what else.....

Oh yeah, the raffle. The raffle is HUGE at Champs. Each state or region makes a basket to contribute. Usually the baskets include "native" things. For the PNW basket we had some locally made toys, leashes, and candies for example.

It wouldn't be the NADAC Champs raffle without the armadillos.

If you don't know, don't ask!

Next to the raffle table was the awards table. These are the Special Awards which are sponsored each year by different people or groups.

There were even special awards for the cancer surviving dogs and handlers.

And, of course, the championship trophies for each division and height class:

While we were waiting for the awards, my heart melted at the sight of this little dude's ears. I mean, check it:

Cocoa looks pretty happy about something, but I have no idea what.

Alright, enough pictures. I can only show you so much with pictures (mostly because for most of the event I forgot to take my camera out....ooops.)

How about a quick run down video? For those that couldn't be there, or those that were and want to bring back all the memories, enjoy!

Now I know I'm forgetting something here....what else do you want to know?

Oh wait, what about results? I think the PNW group did pretty good this year! Can you spot Daz?

She's the one with the trophy and the pretty purple Regular Agility Champion ribbon.

Yup, that's right. Despite our wild year, the little miss stuck with me through it all and pulled it off. This year my goal was just to be able to physically RUN at the event - anything else would be a bonus. But that's what Daz is all about, those bonuses, always going above and beyond.

Alright alright, enough wishy washy fluffy stuff. Here is the video of our runs - both the games and the Regular events:

In some ways the event came and went in a blink, in other ways it seemed to go on and on and on. In the end, it all balances out. It was really great being there, but we were happy to be heading home by the end.

Little Dee was pretty exhausted by the time we got home, but before she slept it all off I was able to snap a few award photos of her.

So that was our big event. We worked towards it all year, and now it's over. I guess it's time to set next year's goals.....

Dazzle is a semi-finalist in the WWF Awards!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Dazzle has made it to the Semi-final round in the first annual Worldwide Fido Awards. She and 3 other dogs are now competing head-to-head for the chance to win Best Trick and go to LA and be on the TV special for the final round of the competition.

You can vote for the video once a day until the end of September.

Non-Doggie Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:45:00 +0000

We had family come and visit this summer so we did some of the usual tourist sight seeing.

Here are some completely random non-doggie photos.

Summer-Time Swimming Lessons!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:28:00 +0000

Dazzle has a secret.

Although Daz loves water more then life itself, she can't actually swim.

Most people see her in the water and just assume that she loves to swim as well as splash around, but no. If ever her ball gets too far out, instead of swimming she stand up on her hind legs to go and get it:

Yes, she is kinda bizarre that way - but we already knew she was a little different didn't we?

Well, this summer I decided that at three years old it was about gosh darn time she learned to swim, so off to Bainbridge Island we went.

For awhile it wasn't going so well....
So we took a break and played in the sand for awhile.

Well, we tried to take a break. Daz however, was all business so we kept practicing.

Her confidence was definitely building!

For the first time she started jumping into the water.

But no doggie paddling action yet.

She really needed a break from the water so we found the one thing that can always distract her - a stick.

Ok, enough with the stick. She is quite obsessive about all things woody, so, like many good things, it must be delivered in moderation.

!!! Alert !!!

Flying Peanuts approaching!!

And Crazy-Monster-Popcorns!
Hehe. Come on now, who could not love a little puff-head like Popcorn??

Daz says enough with the pictures, let's get back to the water!

Okay okay...

The sun was starting to go down. The shadows were getting long. This was her last chance to become amphibian.

And then....

......just as I was loosing all hope....

...the little miss pulled it off and started doggie paddling!

Hurray!!

She, Dazzle the wonder dog, figured out how to swim. It was a long hard battle and there were moments when it looked doubtful we would ever get to this point, but here we are.

Now, finally, we can go home and rest!

Some Aussie Love

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:27:00 +0000

I think everyone could use a little more Aussie in their lives! How about some pictures of a couple of the most handsome Aussie Shepherd boys I know:

Spike!

Spike would much rather I put the camera down and throw his kong.

INCOMING!

Who could that be? Ah, of course. Jackson!

J shows off his new talent - getting goodies out of the trees!

Silly man! He's always good for a laugh. :)

Say Hi!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Say hi to Lark!

Larky is learning all kinds of new tricks during her stays here but we couldn't be all serious and learning all the time so we went out to play.

Lark and Dazzle were pretty good at sharing

Most of the time...

They really did play together nicely. Maybe because Lark doesn't keep jumping over and on top of Dazzle like some un-named Aussie!

Such goofy girls!

Woof in Boots

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:29:00 +0000

Dazzle blistered and then cut open her pads while practicing agility the other day. Poor thing. I knew full well that keeping her inside until she was fully healed was not an option so off to PetsMart we went to pick up some booties.

She actually doesn't seem to mind them at all, as long as she got to keep playing!

If anything, I think she was playing harder than usual.

Now, overshooting the ball is normal - but to do it every single time? Good grief girl, slow down!

It looks like she managed to get this one right? Nope. She just couldn't quite slam on the breaks fast enough.

This one?

It ended in her doing something resembling a summersault....and still missing the ball. .
.
Despite the impressive air display on this attempt she was, yet again, a little over the top:

Surely you can guess by now, but in case you still need help - no. she did not catch this one either.

Then, right as I was beginning to loose all hope, she made a catch. :)

And boy was she proud of herself!

With that catch, we decided to quit while we were ahead and turn back to home.

Better luck next time!

ShakeShakeShake!

noreply@blogger.com (Agility Pups) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:50:00 +0000

While we were in Canby Oregon for the USDAA Regionals, and the temperature hit 115 degrees, we decided to leave the agility rings behind that afternoon and go find some place to cool off. In doggie-terms means "BEACH!".

I brought Lark, a two year old girl belonging to our agility trainer, along as well because her family was still competing in the afternoon events and she really needed to cool off. So no, in case you were wondering, Dazzle's ears did not suddenly stand up and nor did she turn tri - it would be Lark you are looking at in those photos.

In case you didn't know...

Dazzle. Loves. Water.

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Time for some shakin' photos (tell me, can you take your dogs to water and NOT get some shaking photos?! I don't think so)

A cute series of Lark:

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You gotta love the Bully in the background looking at Dazzle like "dude, what the heck?"

"oh Hai!"
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This is a Dazzle pounce:

And this is a much more graceful looking pounce by Lark:

I think Lark is just all around more graceful than Daz....actually...I am sure of it.

"Look ma look! I gots me a stick!!"

Kersploosh

A rare shot - me with the pups. This was taken before I sucked it up and brought my camera out into the water. I am very happy to annouce that the camera did indeed survive the expirience

Dazzle, the hunter. What is she hunting? I have no clue, but she looks very cool doing it.

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"We come play in big water again sometime, yes?"