Friday, March 30, 2012

Happy 25th Birthday Jordana

I cannot believe my baby is 25!
Last Sunday was Jordana's Birthday and she came over to celebrate!
Grandpa also came over to celebrate!
We call him the Cookie Man!
The big dogs get so excited to see him and know what to expect and it did not take long for the puppies to catch on!
The puppies were getting small cookies but quickly discovered they liked the ones the big dogs were getting better!  So Dad broke them up with a hammer so the puppies could have them.  Can you say spoiled?
What a WONDERFUL day spent with Jordana, Dad, and the dogs!!!

Happy Birthiday Jordana!
May everything you wish for come true!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Spring or not...

The calander said yesterday that "Spring Begins"
so I expected pictures like this...
and this
and this
NOT...
or
or
but the dogs do love it!
Even Hershey!
And this is what we got today!  And it is snow like crazy right now!
I feel like I am stuck in Groundhog's Day!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

NADAC Agility with WOOFF in Lewiston Idaho

This past Friday I loaded up all 7 dogs and headed out to Lewiston Idaho for a weekend of agility with WOOFF! This is my second year in a row to travel to this trial. Last year I saw the beautiful NATCH ribbons they have and hoped I could get one some year. The stars were in alignment and I was going in to this weekend needing 1 Jumpers for NATCH-3 and Versatility NATCH-3!
It was a nice uneventful drive with the greatest co-pilot! True discovered she likes chips and Crunch & Munch. I saw mountain goats just after entering Washington on Highway 730. I saw something white sitting on some rocks and it ended up being two mountain goats hanging out in the sun looking over the Columbia River. That was awesome to see!

Friday night I had 5 runs – 2 Weavers with Kant, a Hoopers and Weavers with Echo, and a Weavers with PITA. Kant was the only one to Q and she did it in both Weavers classes. In Weavers Round 1 she was the only Elite dog to Qualify; in Round 2 she was one of three.

I got a great corner room at Motel 6 with grass right outside my room; all the dogs were wonderful in the room.

Saturday started out with Jumpers and I did not get it with any of the girls. Then it was Chances and again we struck out all 3 times. Kant finally gave me 2 Q’s in both rounds of Regular but PITA and Echo continued to not qualify. So out of 12 runs for the day we got 2 Q’s; I have not had a day that bad in a long time. I cannot even say there were pieces that I liked. But Sunday was a new day.

Sunday turned out to be a MUCH better day! We started the day with Chances and all 3 girls got it! Kant and Echo’s runs were a bit smoother and PITA made me work for it but we got it and now she only needs 1 more Chances to be Qualified for NADAC Championships! We went on to Regular next and both Kant and PITA got both Elite Regular rounds with very nice runs! I finally was feeling connected with all the girls! Echo did not Q in either of her Regulars but there were pieces that were great so she came in to this weekend needing 4 Regulars and she still needs for Regulars to be Qualified for Champs. Next was Jumpers and I was worried since Kant had not knocked a bar yet and it is not very often we qualify in all the jumping classes in a day. The Jumpers was also a very technical course and I was watching dog after dog take off-course jumps. We got to the line and I just thought we will do our best!! I realized at jump 15 all the bars were up, jump 17 all bars still up, jump 19 still up and only 2 more jumps to go, remember to party WAY past the last jump, and WE DID IT!!
A clean beautiful Jumpers run for NATCH-3 and Versatility NATCH-3!! And I am taking home one of those beautiful ribbons! We ended Sunday with beautiful, speedy, qualifying Tunnelers runs for all 3 girls.

We were packed up and pulling out of Lewiston by 3:30 and home by 10:30. The weather was great all the way home and the dogs were awesome.

Thank you WOOFF, you are an awesome group, and thank you Craig for wonderful judging, a great attitude, and bringing some fun courses especially that Jumpers on Sunday! I cannot wait to go again next year!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Ring in 2012 with Agility and a couple new Shelties

Boy this has started out as a very busy year!! It is already March and I am not sure where January and February went. I would like to go back to New Year’s Day and a day spent with Jordana and the dogs.

What a great way to start out the year!

Jordana was here and we did one day of agility at the NADAC New Year’s weekend Fun-raiser. I have been running PITA to get her qualified for NADAC Champs
so it was fun today to watch Jordana run her.
And I enjoyed getting to run just Kant.
Both dogs were entered in all 5 classes. We started out the day with Regular and it was PITA’s first time in Elite Regular.
PITA could not hold it together to Q in either Regular or Chances
but Jordana and PITA had the best ever Open Jumpers run and then ended the day with a smokin’ Tunnelers run. Jordana really enjoyed running PITA again and was impressed with how fast she is.
Kant and I got 1 Regular Q but no Chances.
We did get Jumpers, and ended the day with Tunnelers that will go down in the record books; I went down with a beautiful slide and all Kant could do was bark at me and when I did get up to finish the course with a Q Jordana said “PITA and I beat your time” gotta love kids!! That day was what agility is all about!!

I am very proud to introduce Eris and True!
The newest members of our Sheltie family!!
Eris is the Echo puppy that I called Heart.
Welcome Eris!!
The meaning behind the name:
Eris is the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth most massive body known to orbit the Sun directly. Eris is also the Greek goddess of strife and discord.
True is the Echo puppy that I called Star.
Welcome True!!
I cannot believe it is true that I have two sheltie puppies.

Happy 2012!