Christmas photos

Gift opening happened Dec. 23rd for the dogs because our family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve with a semi-traditional Ukrainian Vigil Dinner. Which is followed by gift giving.  I knew it would be too chaotic to have 4 young kids and 5 dogs all opening presents in the same small room.  So the dogs got their presents a day early. :-)

Coyote started in on his (he's a gift opening pro):

Then Dazzle got started:

He made short work on the shipping box I used:

Once he had it pried open, it didn't take long:

Instead of getting the toy out, he chose to continue turning the box into confetti:

Coyote was still working on his:

 But it didn't take long. I used a lighter weight box for his:

Buster needed a bit of help, but got out his new Antlerz chew:

After he got the rope toy out, Dazzle started in on his second gift

 A Skineez! The dogs really like these stuffing-free toys:

King got his out with help from his dad:

Dazzle got a Jumbo Himalayan Chew which was supposed to last a long time, but he had it crunched up in about 10 minutes.

Too much excitement... I need a nap

Dazzle discovering the chew:

What's in there Bear?

It's a Skineez!   He's not as interested in the toys, but he liked the chew bones

Official Christmas photo by my parent's tree (left to right: Bear, Dazzle, Buster, King, Coyote):

Are you SURE all the toast is gone?

Dogs in the temp yard at my parent's house. My parents shoveled out the fenced in area and cleaned off the deck so Bear wouldn't be buried in the snow :-) The snow that is in there now was what fell just before we arrived and then during the visit.

We're done, can we come in? I had no idea just how often the dog door at home gets used!

Dazzle is obsessed with basements (where we train at home) so if anyone got close to the basement door, he would run over.  Sometimes he just sat in front of the door looking hopeful :-)

My husband left this morning with 3 of the dogs to get back home, but I'll be staying up here till next year.  It has been a great Christmas! I hope everyone reading this also had a wonderful Christmas holiday.

Santa is everywhere!

I stopped by Home Depot today to check on the wheel (almost done!) and Santa was sitting right by the entrance.  Dazzle went to say hi, so I took his photo with him :-)

Dazzle visits Santa

Taken with my camera:

 Taken with Bass Pro camera (they can't move the camera but the photo was free):

Snow photos

I don't know if we got the 5" of snow that was predicted, but it's plenty for me!

Drift by the back door

Bear trying to avoid the deep snow

Dazzle sitting in the drift- big falling flake in front of his nose

Bear just finished his business and makes a bee line for the house at top speed. Once inside, he flies onto the nearest lap to warm his feet.

Looking for ???

Results of playing "snow plow"... 

UKC Agility Show

Dazzle has a new title to add to his collection UAG1 (level 1 Agility).  He finished the title with a 2nd place ribbon and score of 196 out of 200.  Only lost 2 points for a crooked dogwalk entry or exit (not sure which) and 2 points for entering the table on the wrong side. Sorry, no photos or video.  I had entered twice for level 1 just in case, but ended up scratching the second level 1 run since I didn't need to stress my knees for it.

We tried twice for level 2 Q's, but the darn weaves got us both times.  I have concluded it is the actual weave set that is the issue since he doesn't have an issue with other weaves.  It's an old spring base set (spring base required in UKC) and the poles are all leaning different ways.  Dazzle kept skipping the poles that were leaning into his path.  Another issue may be that I think they are 20" spacing instead of 24" between the poles but I'm not sure on that.  So I have given up on the level 2 Q.  That's 6 tries so far (this show and the last show) and it's been the weave poles all but 1 time.  The one time he got the weaves last year, he took down a jump bar.  I was told that I CAN have someone else run him as long as it's not a "professional" handler.  So if he gets the level 2, that's how it will have to happen.  And it will likely be somewhere with a better set of weaves.  Since so few places around here have UKC agility, that's why I said it's likely he won't get that title.  Oh well, plenty of others!

Dazzle killed his ball machine

Well the Go Dog Go machine is dead.  It was a used model, so I don't know how much use it got prior to our getting it, but it died.  We're going to see if my brother in law can fix it.  Because of the snow and ice (and cold) I'm reluctant to throw the ball for Dazzle.  So I have been motivated to start on a new adventure.

My goal:
Create a stationary platform for this wheel to spin on:

It's a wheel my dad made and Dazzle has been having fun with it, but I want to put it on a platform with rollers so he can use it as a stationary exercise wheel.  I started with the challenge of finding rollers (like those in a conveyor belt).  But all the places I called had "minimum orders" of $50 or $100 and the rollers weren't going to cost that much. 

Eventually (thanks dad!) I found a company that had some in stock and it was in Cinci.  The nice guy there took pity on my plight and GAVE me the rollers for free!  So I got the rollers today and then stopped by Home Depot on my way home. 

Unfortunately, the company with the rollers didn't have the mounting brackets to go with them, so I was doing some brainstorming on how to create brackets with the guys at Home Depot and they liked the challenge so much they offered to pick-up the wheel from my house and build the frame for me!!  I can't believe my luck!  So hopefully before the end of next week, I'll have it back, ready to go and will post some video of Dazzle using his new exercise wheel :-)

Another Q and Flyball practice

Yesterday (Sunday) was a VERY long day!  We started by getting to the show TOO early.  On Saturday, there were notes posted on the score boards saying that Sunday started an hour earlier.  Because these were hand written notes, placed prominantly, I thought it was a schedule change.  I took it to mean that everything was being moved up one hour.  So my class was supposed to start at 10:20, so I thought it was instead going to start at 9:20.  Wrong.  The note was just a reminder that the show started at 8 (as scheduled) on Sunday instead of 9 (as scheduled) on Saturday.  So we arrived WAY too early.

Thankfully Dazzle was happy to relax in his crate while we waited.  I got him out when there were still a few people waiting to go in ahead of us and warmed him up a bit but didn't go over the top with it.  I think it worked well and he had a good level of "readiness" going in.  Then he saw the jump and the toy in the figure 8 and his brain went out the window :-)  He REALLY wanted to go check out the toy and until we got there, that's where his focus was. 

It was a jump, right into the figure 8 around both a toy AND food.  He gave both a very careful inspection and sniff, but didn't pick up the toy (YEA!!) So we lost points for the sniffing/distraction, but then I had my dog back.  He did even better once we got halfway across the ring.  We ended up with a 93, but since it was an "extra" run it didn't really count for anything as far as titles go.  I was just REALLY happy he left the toy!

The photographer (Dick Clark) was at this show and I got the photos from the Dayton show in September .  I'll most likely get ones from this past weekend too but those weren't ready yet.

After a celebration, he went back in the crate while I worked the check-in board for Advanced and Novice Rally.  About 4:30, I was on the road north to Columbus for a Flyball class.  I had a bit of time to kill so we stopped at the outlet stores so I could get some thermal clothing. 

At Flyball class, Dazzle did great.  He really liked the jump chute and was getting the hang of getting his feet on the box.  We also did a bit of sleeve work and practiced his release cue.  His strength and confidence has really increased.  He was one tired pup by the end of class! And by the end of the 2 hour drive home, I was pretty tired too :-)

New title!

It wasn't his usual precision, but we managed a 91 and got the RE title!  No placement ribbon, but we did get a nice title rossette shown below with his prize from yesterday.

Nice judges and nice courses today and yesterday.  We'll be going back tomorrow for the practice.  I want to try something different and see if it provides a balance between the over amped, ready-to-go dog I had Friday and the "Ho-hum, no reward waiting" dog I had today.   

RE Q

Went to a Rally trial today at QC

We got a qualifying score of 94 and 4th place.  We would have had 3 additional points if Dazzle hadn't "yelled" at me at the start.  He was SO ready to get going! After the first sign, he settled into working mode and did well.  We still would have gotten 4th because there was a 100 and two 99's :-)

Just one more Q needed for the Rally Excellent title.  I'm entered tomorrow and Sunday, but they are predicting a snow storm tomorrow.  So if roads are bad, I might skip tomorrow and just go Sunday. Have to wait and see what it looks like in the morning.