How do you explain to non-dog people why you do agility?
Thursday, February 28th, 2008 Posted in poodles, trials | Comments OffI had dinner tonight with some friends and some friends of friends. Everyone but me fond of cycling. "Do you go cycling with Jay?" "No, I can't keep up with him." "Oh, get a tandem." "No, I spend my weekends at dog agility competitions." "You ...
Starting Agility….
Sunday, February 24th, 2008 Posted in training, trials | 2 Comments »I will be teaching a very beginning agility class--Fundamentals of Agility--starting this week. I'm very excited, I haven't done any teaching since last spring, when I had to stop for my surgery and subsequent healing. But of course, it's got me ...
Yep, definitely spring.
Friday, February 15th, 2008 Posted in off topic | Comments OffThe tree frogs (http://www.naturepark.com/treefrog.htm) were singing up a storm last night. I'm sure that lots of female tree frogs were lured by the sound. And the bobcat wandered through the front yard early this morning. I wasn't fast enough to get ...
It Must Be Spring
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 Posted in off topic | Comments OffAt noon today, I saw the neighborhood bobcat (he's seen regularly in the neighborhood) walking down the neighbor's driveway. I've only caught glimpses of him before, but this was close (the dogs were yelling at him from the safety of ...
High Energy Dogs
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 Posted in poodles | Comments OffElly and Dancer and I had a lesson with Cheryl today, and I was stunned at the energy level of both dogs. The weather was nice today, and I was feeling pretty good, but the girls were manic. When I ...
The Demands of Conformation Showing…
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 Posted in poodles | Comments OffDancer's breeder, Vikki, shows Dancer's sister Nickel in conformation. She went to a big show last weekend and left me thinking about the differences between conformation and other dog sports. I adore agility--but I'm never going to show in conformation. Years ...
Elly and Dancer did well at the RAT NADAC Trial
Sunday, February 10th, 2008 Posted in Photos, poodles, trials | 1 Comment »Elly took second place today in Open Regular, with an excellent speed of 2.97 yards/sec... despite doing the weaves twice (something about the footing). That was the Q needed to complete her Open Regular title in NADAC, thereby giving her ...
My skinny naked dogs
Saturday, February 9th, 2008 Posted in Photos, poodles | 1 Comment »I took the dogs to the groomer yesterday. I should have taken a "before" picture, because I think Katrina worked a miracle. I gave her two dreadlocked darlings (they could have been badly clipped doodles) with mats in their topknots ...
Learning to Learn (and Teeter Training)
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 Posted in training | Comments OffI have used clicker training with Dancer since she was a tiny puppy, and Vikki (Dancer's breeder) did some clicker training even before that. When I get out the clicker and a handful of treats, Dancer looks around to see ...
Raw Diet
Monday, February 4th, 2008 Posted in poodles | Comments OffElly has taken up supplementing her carefully designed diet with whole raw food--specifically field mice. She caught two field mice (voles) last week. It's not easy, either--it takes her half an hour of vigorous digging--so you know she has to ...