Puppy Fever

OK, I KNOW that I cannot have any more dogs. I really don't need another puppy, but darn do I have puppy fever! Just look at the cute puppies at Hagaren. Today's picture of Fiyero is just so smoochable! I am probably one of the few people in our breed who really like dogs with limited white, so Alphonse just catches my eye. And then there are the cuties at Solstices blog, and I am waiting eagerly to see the Chaselets that are coming before too long. Then I am fully aware of a few others who have litters coming. Oh Grace, wanna have more??? I think not, she just took off. LOL. SoI guess I will post a Peace baby picture.

Lazy weekend again

I can really tell that my anemia is getting worse. I have hardly no energy at all. And it doesn't help when the weather is so cruddy either! I suppose I should go to the doc and get back on IV therapy, but I just hate it so much. Its expensive and it doesn't work for me like it is supposed to. Its supposed to get my iron up enough to last, but it never really takes well. Oh well. So instead I had a completely lazy weekend. So did the dogs. You can see my quilt and pillow never left the couch, and were well used.

This is Music. He was puppy Nine. He is the sweetest boy, and he made his mom so proud this weekend. Joyce took him to their first show and they were reserve on Saturday. Pretty good for 2 new competitors. As you can see Music has a bit of a coat issue, but under that coat he is pretty nicely built. We adore this guy and are so pleased that he and Joyce had such a good weekend.

Honest Scrap Award

We were given the Honest Scrap Award from Rah the beautiful blue dobie at I dream of OTCH. So we need to be honest about 10 things. Magic decided as the award came from Rah and noone else does obedience here he should get to be awarded. OK?

From Magic!

1. I was the cutest puppy in the litter.


2. I really want to eat a cat, any cat, but Sam the most.


3. I love my birdies. I like when Mom lets me be by them. I take good care of them, and protect them from the other dogs.


4. I eat anything, you name it I will eat it.


5. I am a cardigan and not a short border collie! I just have a beautiful long fluffy coat.


6. I am a better mouser than that stupid cat Sam- I kill them and eat them, he plays with them and lets them go.


7. I don't think heeling is worthwhile unless Mom has treats.


8. But I love agility!


9. And I like being a therapy dog, specially with older people.


10. I like most other dogs, but I sometimes fight with my big brother Kazin.


So now we need to pass the award on to 7 others-
Garrett at Ramsey Farms
Janet at Simple Things
Penni at From Down Here
Judy at Maiwae Collies
Kristine at House of Cardis
Dennis at Dennis' s Diary of Destruction
Marigold at Goat Philosophy 101.
Enjoy all!

Training

So, Sunday night, Magic was doing scent articles relatively well. He is just learning, but he was consistantly bringing me the correct one. Last night, no sniffing at all, just grab the closest and bring it back. Not sure what to think of that. So after about 3 attempts, (one unscented article and one scented) we decided to practice a stay instead. So the bugger had to do a sit stay while I worked with Rinnie.

Siren, does not have a natural retreive. So last night we started working with the dumbell. In less than 10 minutes we went from what the heck is that to Ok I can put my mouth on it. I can pick it up off the floor. She isnt holding it yet, but I think she did really well just to pick it up. Of course after the failure with Magic, some success was nice!

No limp now

Well, Magic seems just fine. I was pretty sure that whatever he did was pretty minor, and all is well now. And since it is raining again today, we will just practice some scent articles today and not worry about agility for a few more days.

Agility-not so good

Well not horrible either, but we have had better days. Magic was super excited to be at agility, it has been months. He spent about an hour whining and complaining about having to wait his turn. We had jumpers first, no start line stay at all, but as excited as he was I didnt expect it. I swear he was so happy to be there you would have thought he was jumping 16 inch triples, he was just flying. The run went very well, a Q and first place. That earned us our jumpers title. But then next up was both rounds of standard. First round we had a momentary off course-Magic just loved contacts and decided the A frame was just too good to miss, and headed up a couple of steps. He came back off, but off course we were. Ok, not a problem-no one in our class qualified, so he actual earned a first place, for what its worth. But unfortunately, Magic came up limping. After a few minutes he seemed fine, so we thought perhaps he stepped on a burr or something. Second round of Standard was a tunnel to weaves to 3 jumps. By the second jump he was limping again, so we pulled and went home. He seems fine now, not limping, but we are going to have a few days of easy crate rest and see how he is. I think perhaps he just was jumping so hard he tweaked a muscle a little and I think he will be fine in no time. But we will watch.

Peaces win picture

Agility Practice

Last night Magic and I went out and did some practice in the yard. I have a really tiny yard, so the problem we run into is that he cant get the same speed he gets in real trials, but at those speeds, we did pretty well. We first practiced hoops- we have a hard time qualifying in hoopers, mostly because i have problems with un-numbered courses where I have to think! But all in all it went well, Magic still doesnt see the need to run through those hoops, but seems to be willing. Sometimes though, when I am trying to work a layerd out, he will go right around the distant obstacle. Somehow I need him to understand when I need him to run out to the obstacle, versus out around it. Not sure on that one.

Then we went to the back yard and focused on weaves. We ran through them both directions with the cages first. Ok, no problems there, but that was expected. Then we practiced without cages for the remaining time. Surprisingly, he managed all the various entries very well. He did pop out of the poles twice, but only when I was not moving and trying to just send him. Hopefully we wont have too many sends to weaves since we are in novice in everything, but I did want to practice them.
All in all it went well, but again, trials are much larger spaces and much more going on than in the tiny yard when Mom has cookies!

WOOHOO Scout

Huge congratulations to Graces sister Scout for her awesome showing at the Cardigan National Specialty. You can see her picture at the Simple Things blog!

Also, it was nice to see that some of our midwest corgi folk picked up some performance legs. I noticed a few rally, agility and obedience legs. Great job every one.

Agility next weekend

We haven't done any training with Magic since last fall. No classes of any kind, next to no training at home and all the agility stuff was put away for the winter. So I get the bright idea to enter a NADAC trial next Saturday. Today the hoops came out and we did about 5 minutes of practice. All I could squeeze in due to company coming, but we did a few short sequences. Tomorrow the weaves come out and a jump or 2. I know Magic will have a great time at the trial, I just hope we can have a little control and maybe one or 2 successful runs!

Playtime

Our houseguest

We have a houseguest this week. For those of you who haven't met her, this is Wishes. Wish stayed with me for a while and I helped with placing her into her new home. Which lucky for me is only about 20 blocks away. So sometimes Wish gets to visit us. This time she is staying for a week. She is a very sweet dog, and she fits in with our family pretty well. Well, except for the fact that Peace will not leave her alone. I mean Peace is in her face non-stop. Wish hops up on the couch, Peace follows, she gets down, Peace follows. I am really hoping she tries to give a little lesson to Peace about getting in other dogs faces. Apparently Peace has not learned that at all! But so far no, Wish tolerates it, or walks away. So maybe I need to send Peace to someone who has a girl that will teach her before she gets too much older? Grace has not been a good teacher of manners.

Wish wants her family to know she is doing wonderfully! She has been having a great time playing tug with Magic, she thinks Grace and Siren are fun, but could someone please put Peace in another room?

Missing the National

So many blogs about people getting ready for the National. I admit I am sad, and jealous and depressed and ... I do wish everyone who goes great success, not everyone can win, but we can all have success. I did send a couple of photos, so will be there in spirit. Those going will probably recognize the photo from the blog. So those of you who are going, remember us at home, give us some updates and enjoy every moment.