Goals for 2016

We have had a very busy year and I am looking forward to 2016 and new adventures.

I always have a list of goals, I hope to accomplish but the overarching goal is always to have fun with the pups. While Sophie is a sports competitor and Swy is in training, they are always first and foremost spoiled family members. I try my best to ensure that they are happy and engaged while we strive to meet our yearly goals. But if they don't have fun or never compete, its not the end of the world and we will just re-evaluate plans and activities as we move forward :-)


Goals for Sophie
- earn her Onyx Flyball title. She needs 3,058 points to achieve this title. We have a very small team with a lot of young dogs close to ready to race. My goal is to get Sophie her Onyx and then move her to part time or back up as needed by the team. I am sure she would keep playing the sport forever if I let her but it is a physically taxing sport and I don't want her to get injured or over do it.

- compete in more barn hunt events and get her RATO title

- compete in Rally Novice event

- Swim more


Goals for Swyatt:
- learn to weave

- full runs in preflight or singles at Ufli event

- try out a USDAA Quarterly event

- try Novice at Barn Hunt event

- more hikes

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Years Eve and 2016!

A Saturday morning of classes

I was finally home for a weekend. The first time in a long time so Sophie and I were able to make it to obedience class and agility class on Saturday.

We are finally taking a Rally class in hopes of competing later this year. Class went fairly well. We went through an AKC Novice Rally course and an Advanced Rally course. I have a list of things we need to work on but overall I was pretty happy with how we did. A lot of the points we lost were handler errors LOL

Things to work on:
- moving from Sit to Stand.
- pivot to the left
- figure 8s with food distractions

For me:
- read the signs closely!!! I missed a few halts and would have Sophie go straight to a down or whatever else was requested.

Agility: well that didn't go so well. But I will save that for another post.

We ended our morning of classes by meeting my parents for lunch at an outdoor cafe. Sophie was wonderful and laid down next to my chair the entire time. Though she did give me the puppy dog eyes hoping for some food (lucky for her my dad is a pushover and she got a small bite of food)

A busy Saturday

The weekend was as usual too short but still very nice!

Sophie says "it was a busy saturday, so I had to nap afterward!

 Saturday we had our last obedience class for 2 months. It wasn't our best class. Something must have smelled particularly yummy because her nose was up in the air sniffing a majority of the class. And holding her down stay was hard. But she did pretty well on her stand for exam (the wiggles were to a minimum).

We will be switching into Rally class starting with the January session because our agility class schedule changed and we can no longer make our Adv II (Novice/Open) class :-\ I am not too thrilled by this because I like our current instructor but it was either make the change or drop agility.

Agility went well, we had a substitute and Sophie loves her.We actually are taking some semi private lessons with her which is going to be so useful! We worked front crosses and serpentine, all of which I really need to work on. I also need to remember courses better. :-)

After agility, my training partner mentioned she was going to a Hike a Bulls' hike. I have wanted to go for months now but something always got in the way. Luckily, they still had a few spots open and I was able to sign up.

Off we went on a 3 mile hike. I loved it! Sophie goes on a lot of hikes, but always with dogs she knows. HikeABulls gives us the opportunity to check out new hikes and walk with new dogs in a controlled environment. There is no face to face greetings, you start off with lots of distance and can adjust as your dog gets comfortable.

Sophie did well, no reactivity (could also be she was tired but I will take the positive experience :-) ). But we walked next to an elderbull named Kelly and Zainey (agility friend).

Made it back to the car right as it start raining. I am hoping we get to join more walks in the future.

Few pictures from our Saturday:

First HikeaBulls' Hike. Look at the storm clouds coming in!

Our friends Zainey and her mom

Not nearly Wordless Wed

Sophie after a 1hr30min Agility class and a 5 mile hike.

Her crate is big enough for her, I swear! She just tends to curl into a ball and the angle of the picture is funny.

I finally signed us up for rally fun match on 9/16. I got the check and form out the day after it was posted so I am hopeful we nabbed a spot.

We had a wonderful weekend: agility,5 mile hike, flyball and another 5 mile hike.

I had not been to flyball practice in a few weeks. It was nice to get back into practice with my teammates. Sophie had a good practice. We were working on building her speed with handler runs. Handler runs mean another teammate releases her from the start line. I am a few jumps away, as soon as she passes me on the way to the box, I take off running in the opposite direction. It is supposed to cause the dog to push off the box faster so they can chase you.

When we used to do these, Sophie would run over to me and not understand why I was standing to the side and not playing. Now she gets it and races past me and then races to catch me. Usually she outruns me and/or nearly takes me out! My teammate was excited that he was able to run her. Up until now Sophie has refused to run for anyone else. She would stand there looking for me even if I was only a few feet away. Progress for sure!

Our hikes were good. We ran into a lot of dogs on narrow paths and she would sit to the side and wait for her treat. ::HAPPY DANCE::

Class break, no rally again and cute puppy picture for fun

Since obedience classes are on hiatus and no flyball tournament until next month, Sophie and I are enjoying some down time. Which really means Sophie is mowing through her antlers and getting very annoyed that her travel bag hasn't left the room in weeks!

Oh and I dropped the ball on registering for Rally...again. They opened registration on Monday. I got paid Wednesday and sent the check Friday. It was full by Thursday :-P

And now a cute puppy picture just because. She was such a rolly polly as a puppy!

Thank you very much Jodi for the Versatile Blogger Award. I am working on picking blogs to pass the award to and will do that this weekend! :-)

Not much to report recently. Work has been a little crazy and hours long. I don't get home in time to enjoy any of the sunlight so our walks have been cut short. We have been doing a lot more indoor training and playing.

We have a month hiatus from Obedience class. Once it restarts, our instructor suggested we move up to the next level. The class moves at a quicker pace and is designed to get you into the obedience ring.

On that note, I will be sending our registration in for our first Rally event in October! Sophie is officially registered with APDT so now just to sign up for the rally event. It is a little more expensive than I thought. Flyball fees are split amongst all dogs running from our team for a weekend and also based on how many heats your dog runs. I usually pay around $50 for a weekend of racing. For 2 Level 1 entries, I am paying $50. I was going to sign up for all 4 classes but eep $100 is a lot of $.

Now for some pictures from our Sunday agility practice.

Slow week for us

No rally run thru for us. We were first on the waiting list but no one canceled. Now we have to wait until Sept.

This weekend, I have another wedding to attend so no agility class for Sophie. But we will go out on a hike Saturday afternoon which should make Sophie fairly happy :-) I will try to get pictures this time!

Flyball tournament next weekend! This has been a hard year for us in terms of getting to practices and tournaments. So many weddings, including my sister's that my weekends have just been busy. I am hopeful that next season we will be able to compete a little more.

In agility news, we are now working on a four on the floor contact for the A frame. Our trainer does not feel comfortable training the running contacts and has been using the four on the floor with her border collie. So a few of us with bigger dogs have been given instructions on how to train this new contact. Sophie and I have our work cut out for us!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Weee we are behind

Life has been hectic. Sophie spent the weekend with my parents while I flew out to MA for a friend's wedding. Finally getting caught up with work and life in general after a long weekend away.

So quick update on us:

I have been working with Sophie on the wobble board. Some progress, she really loves cheese so that has helped a lot! I will be bringing some cheese with us to class on Saturday.

We missed signing up for the rally fun match since I could not find my checkbook. We are on the waiting list, fingers crossed we get to do a run through.

Next flyball tournament is in 3 weeks. Hoping Sophie gets her FDCH-G title, she only needs 250 points.

And now, a picture of Sophie at daycare, doing what she does best :-D

RallyFun Match in 3.5 weeks!

After my previous post about training, I found us a Rally Fun Match to compete in. No titles or points but a judge will be present and give us a score. I think it is great practice for us and I am looking forward to it.

Now I just need to work on Sophie's finish left, stand and pivot left. We have an issue with the left hand side apparently, lol!

I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Agility class tomorrow and then maybe some swimming on Sunday.

I have been trying to learn to use my camera in manual mode. I spent last Sunday at an agility show. I took over 500 pictures and then edited about 100 of them. Here are a few of my favorites.









The rest are on my flickr site.  While, I will never make a living off of photography, I am definitely enjoying getting out there and trying to learn!

When do you know if they are ready?

Sophie and I have been taking obedience classes on and off her whole life. We have been with our current trainer for over a year now. We are in the class for Novice Obedience Competition. This is our second time taking it because I like the instructor and it fits our schedule. The class adapts to the dog's level of ability and a few of us are taking it for the second/third time so it isn't all novice obedience anymore. The eventual goal is to compete for her CD.

But first I want to give Rally a try. There is a competition in August with the AKC. I just don't know how to know if we are ready. Her instructor seems to think we should be fine so maybe its more a hang up with me than Sophie.


On a separate note, we had a nice relaxing weekend. Sophie went to agility class on Saturday. She did the A Frame at full height without thinking twice. Still no teeter but we are working on it. Sunday, I spent the afternoon at a local agility trial taking pictures. I will post some once I get around to editing them :-)