Whisker question

How many of you trim your cardigans whiskers? I never have, but since Peaces injury was on her muzzle, the vet shaved the one side. That was 2 weeks ago, and the shaved side has whiskers starting and they are under 1/4 inch grown. Peace is entered in her next show in about 3 weeks. I am thinking at that point they will be around 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long. Do I now leave them with that side growing, or trim both? Her scab should be gone, but the hair may still be a little shorter on that side. I think I can get away with it, though, its on the non show side, so only at the table would the judge really notice it.

Please let me know what you would do?

Shut Up, Dawn!

I have to learn to shut up! Go ahead, say what your thinking, you would be right. Tonight we were not allowed to give commands in agility class other than our release words, praise where earned. I learned that Magic totally relies on my verbal directions and he really doesn't get the body language thing, so if I am out of breath, or don't get the commands out fast enough, he is confused. He doesnt think to look for me as much as to listen to me. which really does explain why we are better at distance where he gets directions rather than looking so much to my movement. So I need to learn to be quiet, while he learns the movement. Not sure if I can do that!

Cardigan Corgi Puppet

I got home from work tonight with a huge list of things to get done. I was thinking I was going to be frazled after a tough day at work. Look what I found waiting for me. Isn't he cute. A red cardigan corgi puppet! He was a gift from Talie's family. Thank you Ron, Sharon, Brendan and Talie! They thought he looked like Magic with the ear fluff and the fluffy coat. The little card talks about the 2 breeds and has a little story attached.

I just think he is darling! Now, I need to find a place of honor where the real Magic won't find him. Maybe in the china hutch.

Review of the years goals

Well more than half the year has passed, so I think its time to revisit my goals for the year.
First, my non dog goal was to knit socks. Well, I am not done, being a very slow knitter, but I am working on them, I have started the heel on the first sock.
For the dogs, I had hoped to meet the following goals:

Magic - Goal was to earn a couple of agility titles -to date this year -AKC NJP, NA, Nadac NJC
Additionally he earned his UKC UWP, and FO titles
Grace - Goal was to finish her UKC championship and her AKC RA - to date this year - UKC Championship earned, but still need to go to an AKC rally trial
Peace - Goal was to enjoy her times in the show ring, and pick up a few wins - to date this year - Peace has 5 points toward her AKC ch and has earned her UKC CH including a Best in Show win.
Siren - Goal was to start working towards performance - to date this year - we have done some training, but not enough.

OK, not too badly done so far, considering the financial issue. We haven't been able to attend as many events or training opportunities as I had desired. So for the rest of the year I think Magic will be done trialling, except for limited events. Grace will need to go try to finish her RA- maybe in Rochester? Peace will continue to show toward her AKC Ch, Lake Elmo and maybe Rochester? Siren, well I think I will really begin to work with her, just need to put together a plan.

I am pretty proud of all Magic and I have done, its been quite a variety, and its been wonderful. For my first cardigan, I couldnt have asked for a better boy, but i need to start working with the rest of the crew.

The Garden

This is the tomato side of the garden. We have gotten about a dozen so far. Some big, some small. Yum.

I am really happy with our garden this year. Last year it was fallow for the year. The pups came in the beginning of May and then my father in law became ill and passed away, so we just did not get it planted in time. I did go down occasionally and add compost. I am thinking that the year off was a really good thing. We are getting so many beans that we

can't eat them all. I may research canning some, as the ones a I froze the year before we didn' t much like after freezing. Maybe I will try dehydrating some?

Last nights second guest

Wishes is visiting with us for a couple of weeks. We love Wish, she is the sweetest girl. Unfortunately, she is part of the invalid crew, having broken her foot last weekend.

She is doing well, and her and Peace are spending time hanging out with Kazin, and the other 3 are spending time together. We keep rotating the groups into the main family areas.

Peace had her drain tube removed today, but the stitches are starting to itch. She woke me up last night scratching at her cone, so I am thinking she will be wearing it a while longer. I am thinking this is so cute, her girl, Brenna and her girlfriends signed Wishes cast.

Company this evening

First our Granddaughter, Kristyonna came to visit, with Mom and Dad of course. Hard to believe she is 5 months old already. What a sweetheart she is!

Peace update

Thanks everyone for the good wishes for Peaceful. Peace is doing well. She is not pleased with the cone though, and still cannot manage to move around without crashing into things, or just into the ground when she insists on sniffing while moving. But her wound so far is doing good. Unfortunately we do not know where this dog came from. We are looking around, but no luck so far. To be on the safe side, she is getting her booster shots a couple of months early, she is not due until early September, but I would rather be careful.
Last night was quite humorous for us though. Peace was in the big kennel in the living room, and apparently decided the bedding was not in order. She scratched around for a while until she got up a big enough hump that she could get ahold of it with her mouth. Next thing, she has the blanket inside the cone, covering her face, with her nose pointed to the ceiling, banging around the crate. When she finally dropped her nose down, and the blanket fell out of the cone, she promptly laid down on it, so maybe it worked just like she wanted! But it was sure funny from the outside.

Peace's Injury (not too gross, but not pretty)

Well just this morning I was emailing with a bunch of people trying to see if we could get some majors built for some shows that are coming up. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we are going to get any girl majors in the near future. But maybe some for the boys, and of course we can pray for the cross over. But not in Peace's near future.
I was just starting my lunch, getting ready to do the online entries, when I get a panicked call from my son saying Peace needed to go to the vet. It seems when they were outside today, some kids came by with a large husky-like dog. Apparently Peace stuck her nose out the fence to visit and the Husky tried to remove it. He pulled on her so hard that she has fence marks indented into her face, and he ripped open a wound through her face, into her gums and teeth. The original wound was about the size of a nickle with hanging flap of skin and a tear. Fortunately, he did not get her eyes and David was right there beating him loose. So off to the vet we go, where poor pitiful Peace got stitched up. Because bite wounds need to drain, they inserted a drain tube, but did try to repair as much of the tear as possible. She has a couple of stitches and has to wear her e-collar as they are worried about her scratching it open. She will have to have the drain removed in a few days, or as soon as it stops draining. She has antibiotics and Rimadyl for the pain and hopefully to help the swelling stay down. They iced her face at the clinic so the swelling is down and the fence marks do not show so badly. She is still groggy, but she thinks she can't walk with the e collar, so she is staying pretty calm so far. Poor baby.

Wednesday Night Class

The field where we take our agility class is near a marshy, woodsy area. As a result, there are often toads on our field. Last night at class, Magic spotted a little tiny toad hopping in the grass. It was no bigger than a dime, but man did that tiny little toad cause him to be totally distracted all night. We have worked on other distractions, like other people playing tug, or ball and I can get him away from that, but a teeny tiny toad-no way was he leaving that. And once we placed the toad outside the fence, he spent many, many minutes scouting the ground for others. I guess the next little toad we find will have to come home and live with us for a while until we learn that leave it means toad too! (Grasshoppers too, but I cant catch one of those!)

Wordless Wednesday

David and Siren

Dave's first time showing in the classes. He has taken a dog in for winners a couple of times, but not in the classes. Siren was a bit nervous. David was a bit nervous too, although he wouldn't admit it. He says he really doesn't want to do conformation, but he also ran Magic in the weight pull and he would like to train his girl(Siren) for that. But I explained that although he can train her for that, he also needs to train her for obedience toon because its a good foundation. He also says he wont do agility because its too much activity, but I am still trying to convince him to give it a try.

UKC Show, Day 2

Today turned out to be a good day too. The weather cooperated, although it was not as windy and a bit more humid and overcast, we had no rain and by afternoon it was sunny.
We started the day with Magic earning his Family Obedience title, with a 96 which is an excellent rating. Then came Open, which stunk, seriously stunk. Oh well, next time. Open was quickly followed by Rally, as they had to wait for us to finish. Magic went first where he again earned a 91 and a Q. Then it was Graces turn, and she did OK considering she got no warm up time and came right out of the kennel to run right after Magic. She Q'd with a 85. She was so eager and happy she bounced her way around the ring so we had a few tight leashes, but otherwise I was really pleased with my girl.

Next up was Peace, who again today got 2 Group 3's and finished her UKC championship. My first bred by!

Last today was the weight pull. I know I said I wasn't going to enter, but everyone was asking us to and volunteering to loan us a harness, so we decided to go for it. The boy did super today. He again won his class, but today he PULLED. Magic ended his pulls today with a 564 pound pull which is 22 times his body weight (he only weighs 25.4 pounds). And his last pull was a successfull pull-when he pulled that weight we quit. He seemed hot and tired and I didn't want to push him to the point where he quit. By the time we got up to those weights, we had pulled a huge audience from the conformation show. Everyone was cheering for the boy. Not bad for a little guy!

UKC show

The UKC show today was wonderful. The weather was perfect, not too hot. Magic Q'd in Rally to earn his first leg with a 91, not a bad score. He Qd, with first place in his weight class for the weight pull and earned his UWP title. He also managed to break his harness during his last pull, so good thing he isn't entered for tomorrow. Peace was a ring sniffing stinker today, but earned a Group 3 in show 1 and a Group 2 in show 2. Siren seemed to enjoy herself, but was beaten by Peace. I need to start training her for obedience, I think she is ready.
Tomorrow we have Rally with Magic and Grace and family obedience for Magic and Magic might try for a leg towards his CDX, but I am pretty sure that we wont Q there. Yesterday they were predicting rain tomorrow, I hope not, another day like today would be wonderful. Pictures will come tomorrow, I hope.

Grace = Guilt

OK, even naked I guess Grace should get to go to the dog show, since the rest of the corgi family is. Since UKC shows allow day of event entries, I told Grace last night that if she is a good girl she can go to the show on Sunday and do some Rally. Gosh I hope I can make all these events work together. UKC shows are usually pretty laid back and the clubs both state they will work with conflicts as much as possible. I hope so, because I truly have expectations of having to be in 3 places at once. It might be a circus though. Saturday we will have Magic doing both Rally and the weight pull, and both Peace and Siren in conformation. Then Sunday will be Magic and Grace in Rally, Magic in family obedience and Peace in conformation. Those who know me, can vouch for the fact that I am a little (or a lot) nuts, but I do like to keep busy! I did want to see if Talie wanted to go show this weekend too, but I honestly don't think I can fit another dog in! Sorry Talie, I will take you to the next one, OK?

Mad dogs, Mad Mom, Goofy Grace

Well I was partially right. Only 2 dogs got baths last night, Magic and Peace. My back would only handle the 2. Magic wasn't too upset, he pretty much goes with the flow. Peace was a very good girl during her bath and grooming, but the little shit, she conned David into letting her outside and she rolled in the dirt. Damp dog + dry black dirt dust=grey dog. Little brat will probably have to have another bath! I will see how much of the greyness is still there Friday and decide.
Grace though was very funny, she really is a smart girl and clearly understands that baths means going to the dog show. First she ran to the tub hopped in and waited for her turn. After I took her out twice, and locked her out of the bathroom, she went and sat ON the grooming bag. Apparently someone wants to go too. Good thing she is completely naked, or I would enter her just because she guilts me into it. She is a wonderful dog, but darn she has a mind of her own!

Tonight is bath night

And although I really do like spending the time and grooming the dogs, somehow today the idea of bathing 3 dogs just feels overwhelming. This weekend Siren, Peace and Magic get to go play at the dog show, so I suppose they should not be mud puppies. I am sure that by the time I go to bed tonight I will have 4 pissed dogs, M,P & S because they had a bath, Miss Grace because she didn't. She is a funny dog, she wont go in the pool and get wet, but when it comes to the bathtub for baths, she is right there, ready to go. She is the only dog I know who loves the whole process, well except for nails of course.

Teeter work

Magic and I went back to agility class last Wednesday. We need to fix the teeter issue. I spoke to Michelle about it and we decided that we are going to approach the issue of his teeter fear, by not letting him do the teeter. So first I took him to the teeter in leash, and stepped 2 feet on the bottom, rewarded like crazy and lifted him off. Just once. Then we went and waited our turn to run the course, with the teeter near the middle. We ran the course, Magic got to the teeter faster than I did, and bailed after 2 steps. I went back and asked him for it again, he ran on I quick swooped in and gave him lots of treats and picked him off. Did that about 3 times, set him down on the ground after the teeter and finished the course. Second run through, and we are going to start at the teeter, I pick him up and put him on the down side of the teeter, right at ground level, reward and start our run. Last run through of the night was a course with the frame to a tunnel, then jump to either weaves or teeter. Magic wanted to go to the teeter, Magic tried to go to the teeter, I had to call him off the teeter 3 times to get through the weaves. HMM, this sure seems to be working in his head, as that teeter sure was calling him. Now, of course he hasn't done the whole thing, becasue I wont let him, but the feet are sure pulling that way after just one class. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

As for me, Michelle was trying to teach the class a blind cross. I could not do it on the course. I just could not do it. It is so much easier than a FC, and yet I could not do it. What the heck. I am so glad we went back to class, I need it so badly.