Siren at the weight pull

I was really proud of David and Siren last weekend at the weight pull.  Siren is David's first dog.  Although we have had dogs for David's entire life, he really wasn't interested in them at all.  Cats he liked, but dogs, meh, not so much.  He didn't hate them he just didnt have any interest.  But that changed when Grace had the puppies.

I never intended to keep 2 puppies.  But then something happened, David fell in love with Siren. And we made a deal.  He could keep her, but he had to do something with her.  And he is. Rinnie earned her weight pull title last weekend.  She is not a natural puller, but Dave trained with her worked through her issues.  And David worked smart with her.  Knowing that she is a little unsure about all the people, dogs and commotion, he asked her for one pull on Saturday. Empty cart is 300 pounds which is enough for Rin at 28 pounds to qualify.   She pulled it quite quickly and relatively easily (6.5 seconds), and most importantly happily. Then he let her stop for the day.

On Sunday Rin pulled the empty cart again happily 8.12 seconds.  Seeing that she was still happy, seemed confident he asked her for more.  She pulled 376 in less time, 7.84 seconds and then 452 in 12.62 seconds, still happily working.  When they got to 528 pounds, he set her up and she surprisingly started pulling without being asked and bumped Dave.  David did the right thing and called the foul. They got started again, and wouldnt you know, she ran into him again which was the second foul and the last.  But Dave and Siren pulled that weight anyways and again she did it happily. She placed 4th Sunday.

David is pretty proud of his girl, and of her awards. I am pretty proud of both of them.

David and Siren

My son David has always been a cat person. He has grown up with dogs, but always just preferred the cats. With the puppies coming along, David became more and more interested in all the dogs. Dave voluntarily spent more time with Grace and the babies than I truly expected. Which resulted in his really badly wanting us to keep Siren. I had not planned on keeping 2 puppies, as I knew with Grace and Magic and a new pup I would have my hands full as far as training went. 2 pups, triple the work. So we made a deal, he could keep Rinnie, but he had to help train her, and I am expecting he title(AKC) her in something. Well, by 8 weeks I knew what a smart little girl she was so I started working with her. But then I stopped. This is his dog-he needs to do it, right? Fast forward to this summer and I have asked David to help out a bit at shows lately. He doesn't care for conformation, and won't even think about agility because he is anti exercise (his words). But he did run Magic through a couple of pulls at the weight pull trial and liked that. Last night I finally convinced him to start working with Siren on obedience, as that is the foundation he will need no matter what he goes on to do with her, right?
I had Rinnie heeling at 10 weeks, so its not new to her, but it is new to him. He was simply amazed at how smart his little girl is, she got it right away. amazing huh! I really hope he will stick to this. I am hoping I can get him to try rally with her still sometime this year. Fingers crossed!

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.

David graduated Friday and is now on the job hunt. The graduation ceremony was held downtown in the Pantages Theatre and was very nicely done. The schools culinary students did the food for a reception after, and although we didnt get much more than a taste, it was wonderful. We followed the day with a dinner with my mom, brother and nephew Leo. We were at Benihana which was a riot with a 3 year old.

Saturday morning at the dog show, Peace was WB,BOS for 2 points. Also, her brother Music was reserve. Then we had Leo's 3rd birthday party in the park. Unfortunately I got a bit sunburned in spots. The night was capped off with a nice time at Darryls 40th class reunion. Lots of driving between the travel to all of them, but it was nice.

However, this morning as we were on the road to the dogshow, we have some car issue, and didn't make it. I apologize to the other competitors for the drop in points, but we really were stuck. However, we were able to get the car fixed relatively quickly (about noon) and got home around 1. I dont know how anyone did today and am eager to hear.

Hope you all had wonderful, and maybe slightly less hectic weekends!